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Chapter 5: Big Grins and Lesbians

Her eyes shot open in shock. "Malfoy!" She gasped.

Malfoy stared at her with bleary eyes. He had clearly drunk a bit and was disoriented from the kiss. "Have we met?" He asked, obviously quite confused. "I think I would have remembered you."

"Um," Hermione stalled. He didn't recognize her! Well, if Malfoy didn't know that he had been kissing Hermione then Hermione would never have to face the shame of kissing Malfoy. "I don't think so," she lied glibly.

"No, I think we have." Malfoy persisted. "Were you at the ball Mother threw this summer? How would you recognize me if we'd never met before?"

"Er," Hermione bit her lip. "Well, there's no escaping it is there?" She said, thinking quickly. "How many wizards have hair and eyes like that, eh? You must be a Malfoy. You all look alike."

"That is true," Malfoy smiled. "I'm Draco," he said, extending his hand politely.

"Er, May," Hermione smiled weakly, accepting his hand. "Um, sorry, but I have to go now. My friends waiting for me."

And with that she was gone. But what she did not hear was a very confused Draco Malfoy muttering, "Where have I heard that name before?"

Hermione rushed back over to the bar where Jule and Phil were still talking and giggling flirtatiously. "Ju—Leela," Hermione said, tapping Jule's arm frantically. "We need to get out of here, now."

"Not now, May," Jule shrugged her off, still looking at Phil. "Me and Phil are having fun."

"Leela," Hermione ground out. "I just hooked up with Draco Malfoy. I think we need to leave." That got Jule's attention.

"Right, let's go," she said quickly. "Bye Phil, see ya round." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she and Hermione dashed off to retrieve her broom. Getting it quickly, Jule and Hermione raced outside and quickly climbed onto the Nimbus 2000. "Let's get outta here," Jule yelled, kicking them up into the cool night air.

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When they had safely reached Gryffindor Tower again, and after Hermione's ears had stopped roaring, Jule had imperiously sat her down and demanded a full explanation. After she received it though, she wasn't exactly sure how to react.

"Why would you kiss a complete stranger?" She asked slowly.

"This, coming from the Saliva Queen?" Hermione asked sarcastically, struggling to pull Jule's shoes off of her feet.

"Well, yeah," Jule admitted shamelessly. "But that's me. You, you're not that kinda girl."

"Well, maybe I wanted to be," Hermione said, not looking Jule in the eye. "Can you take these spells off me? I want to get back to my room, and if Malfoy's there and sees me like this, well; even he can put two and two together."

"Sure," Jule said mildly. She waved her wand in front of Hermione's face, muttering, "Reventio." Hermione turned around to look in the mirror and saw herself again. She was relieved and disappointed, all at once. Sticking her tongue out at herself, she made towards the bathroom to change back into her school clothes.

When she came back Jule looked as if she hadn't moved a muscle. She stared at Hermione expectantly as Hermione faltered in front of her. "Here's your dress back," she murmured, holding out the garment. "I hope I didn't stretch it out."

"I'm sure you didn't," Jule still didn't move to take the dress. "Why don't you keep it?" Hermione glanced up in shock. "It looks better on you than it ever did on me, and it's too tame for me."

"But everyone could see my stomach!" Hermione cried in surprise. "And it's low cut, and it's really short! You call that tame?"

Jule just shrugged. "I have plenty that are lower cut and plenty that're shorter. Besides, there was still material over your stomach. It was sheer, but I like the feel of the wind against my bare flesh." She smirked devilishly. "Or the feel of bare flesh against my bare flesh."

Hermione blushed slightly. "Thank you," she whispered, running her hands over the soft material. "Maybe this means we can go out again without me stealing your clothes."

"Of course not!" Jule exclaimed, indignant. "Next time we go out I'll make you wear something else of mine! Just try not to look so good next time, I have a lot of clothes but they will run out eventually if I'm forced to keep giving them to you!"

Hermione blushed again. "Thanks," she muttered. "I should go."

"OK," Jule said jovially. "'Night, May."

"Oh yeah," Hermione remembered. "You can't call me that in front of Malfoy anymore. He might notice."

Jule just shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, when you get down to the common room, tell the other girls they can come up. I banished them for the night, said me and you needed the room."

"I'd wondered where they were," Hermione said, smiling. She left and walked contentedly down the stairs.

"Hey," she called to the girls waiting sullenly on the couches. "Jule says you can go up now."

"Have fun, Granger?" Lavender sneered at her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, perplexed. They hadn't told anyone they were going out.

"What do I mean? You just hogged our room for the last three hours so you and Jule," she sneered and practically spat the name, "Could have a nice little lesbian date, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, stunned at the accusation. "Jule and I aren't lesbians; she's spent half the time since she got here making out with boys, Harry being one of them."

"Yeah, and the other half she spent making out with the girls," Parvati put in. "I saw her, in the girl's toilets, making out with that butch girl from Ravenclaw. It's sickening, really, the slut."

"Huh?" Hermione asked, still shocked at the attack. "Look, whatever Jule's sexual orientations, I don't share them. And who are you to judge her, anyway? What difference does it make whether she kisses one person or five, and what difference does their gender make?"

"That's exactly what you'd expect a lezzy to say," Lavender spit, an ugly look on her face. "You know, all those years I wondered when you never had a boyfriend. I guess now I know why."

"I am not a lesbian!" Hermione yelled. "And who would care if I was anyway? It doesn't make any bloody difference!"

"It's against God!" Parvati yelled back.

"Fuck God!" Hermione let out.

There was a shocked silence in the room. Lavender and Parvati stared at Hermione with eyes as round as dinner plates while Hermione wondered at her own audacity.

"How dare you—" Lavender started.

"I dare," Hermione put in coolly, voice like ice, "Because I am Head Girl, and you are not. I dare because I am a much stronger witch than you are. And I dare because I am right and you are wrong. I am not a lesbian, and I don't care if Jule is or isn't. And if I hear of you slandering either one of us again, I will hex you until your ears fall off. And don't think I won't hear; I may be out of your little gossip loop, but that doesn't mean that I don't have other means of gathering information at my disposal."

Lavender had turned white. Without saying a word she turned and stomped up the stairs to where Jule was waiting. Parvati started to follow, but then turned to look at Hermione. Smiling widely, Hermione waved at her and blew her a kiss. Parvati ran to catch up with Lavender.

Grinning widely, Hermione made her way back to the Head's common room. She had just told off Hogwarts' two biggest gossips, a.k.a. bitches, and she had never felt better. In fact, even seeing Malfoy waiting in the common room couldn't put a damper on her mood.

"Where've you been?" He asked coldly, glaring at her as though trying to freeze the grin off her face. "And why are you so happy?"

"Out," Hermione practically sang. "And that's absolutely none of your business."

And with that, Hermione danced into her room and slammed the door behind her.

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Draco was confused. More confused, in fact, than he had been in years. The whole night had been a disaster and there had been nothing he could do about it. It had started with dinner, where something in the food had upset his stomach and made him almost puke in Pansy's pug-like face. Then, he had learned that his animagus lessons were to be held with the two Gryffindor mudblood bitches. Hell, one of them had been teaching the damn class!

Then had been all the bickering with Granger. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy a good argument; it was just that Granger was much better at it than he was. They had both resorted to childish insults in the end, but he had had the unpleasantly distinct feeling that she had been the winner. And it had given him a horrible headache.

And that was the best part of the lesson too. The thing had dragged on for ages and all he had done was grow a little fur. He wanted to change all the way, dammit, not enough to have a crappy Halloween costume. He wanted to change completely, to howl at the moon and race gracefully through the forest. He wanted power.

But the lesson had gone badly and there was nothing he could do about it for the time being. It had set him on edge though, so in order to relieve that tension he had gone out clubbing. But not even the small, unnamed club on the outskirts of Hogsmeade had kept his interest long. It seemed that nothing could lately. That is, until he saw her.

A mysterious girl he had never seen there before, but recognized from somewhere, although he was damned if he knew where. She was… beautiful. Not in a classic, Malfoy way of course. To be beautiful in the Malfoy sense would have been pale gray eyes, sickeningly pale skin, and pale blond hair. Pale, pale, pale. But not this girl. She had the pale skin of course, but he doubted it was natural. It hadn't really suited her; nothing else about her had been that dull. Her hair was black and red, her eyes were chocolaty brown, and her dress was black. And even though her appearance held more black and white than red, he knew that that was the color that suited her best.

Her face had been alive, more alive than any Malfoy beauty. Her make-up was red, fiery, like the way she danced. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were pink from dancing and excitement and a love of life that shone clearly through her face. And her ruby lips had been so soft, so delicious… When he kissed her she tasted like cinnamon.

And now here Draco was, alone in his common room, just back after the beautiful stranger named May had left him. She had run away from him shortly after realizing who he was, but had left him with nothing but a first name, and although he had searched for her, it had all been in vain. She had disappeared. It was almost like Cinderella, he mused, except sexier, and with more spit-swapping. So, he had left the club, sick of the place after that.

Just as Draco was considering putting his tortured brain out of its misery and succumbing to sleep, Granger walked through the door, looking flushed and happy, and wearing a ridiculously large grin on her face.

"Where've you been?" He asked coldly, glaring at her as though trying to freeze the grin off her face. "And why are you so happy?"

"Out," the mudblood practically sang. "And that's absolutely none of your business."

She pranced into her room and slammed the door behind her.

"Bloody twit," Draco muttered before stomping into his own room and flopping down on the bed.

A/N: Lalalalalalala… Getting interesting, isn't it?

PREVIEW:

"Now, to your great disappointment, I am sure," Snape said silkily, smirking ever so slightly. "You will not be permitted to choose your own partners. They will be assigned to you as follows." The entire class, on both sides, groaned. Snape never assigned partners fairly. "Bulstrode, Patil; Crabbe, Potter; Goyle, Thomas; Malfoy, Granger," the list went on, but Hermione wasn't listening.