Disclaimer: I really shouldn't be writing this right now. I should be getting ready for band practice. Now, I dunno if JK Rowling plays an instrument, or if that instrument is the flute... But, if she does, she certainly doesn't play it in the High School Band at my school, which happens to meet a week before school starts. (Grrrr....) So, since I am using the art form of procrastination so that I don't have to get ready for band practice, and it is a week before school starts, I guess I am not JK Rowling!!!

AN: I'm hurrying! I'm trying to at least finish the ball before school starts.

~*~*~**~*~*~

McGonagall walked by Snape and Shaylee. "It's your turn, Severus. Good luck..."

Severus grumbled as he stood up.

"Don't worry, Sevvy! I'm going with you!" Shaylee said as she bounced out of her seat. "And my turn is right after yours, so you can just stay with me the whole time!"

"Great," he answered sarcastically, though he stopped and waited for her.

It was Severus' turn to walk around the Great Hall and make sure that there was no rule breaking. He was sure one of the main reasons that Shaylee wanted to patrol with him was so that she could stop him from noticing any rule breaking that might be going on.

"Well, let's go! We have to make sure there are no evildoers!" Shaylee struck a pose that caused Severus to keep walking-- in an opposite direction than she was facing.

"Funny!" Shaylee said as she caught up with him. Without any warning, she popped up on the other side of him, and when he looked at her, she stood up on her tip-toes and moved so that he couldn't see behind her.

Severus sighed, exasperated. "Shaylee, who are you hiding and what are they doing?"

"What?" Shaylee tried her best to look innocent. "I'm not hiding anyone!!"

Then, with some quick, fluid movements, Severus sidestepped Shaylee and saw a person dressed as a black cat lap dancing with a dog, which made the situation even more amusing to Severus.

He sighed exasperatedly and as he walked towards them, the entire small group around them froze. "Do spare me from any cross-species mating here, please..." he said sarcastically as the cat jumped up and the dog looked up at him sheepishly.

"Ten points off of...." Snape paused as he realized that, because of the costumes, he didn't know what house to deduct points from.

He groaned and asked, "What house are you in?"

The cat whispered, "Ravenclaw" and Shaylee giggled insanely as the dog muttered, "Slytherin, sir..."

Severus looked even more peeved that he had just accidentally taken points off of his own house, and turned to walk away, with Shaylee following him, unable to stop laughing.

Finally, Severus turned around and glared at her, causing her to stop laughing, though when he turned back around, she started snickering softly.

"Ooooo! Look Sevvy!!! Our mutual student is going outside with his date!!! I wonder if they're going to snog in the bushes..." For a second, her face looked highly critical, but then she beamed and cried a little too loudly, "Let's go watch!!!"

Severus groaned. "I wasn't even aware that m- I mean, young Mr. Malfoy was coming..."

"Yep!!! And, they'd kill me if I told you who his date was, but you wanna know???"

"I know that he had told Ms Parkinson that he was going with a friend of the family, but I am thoroughly aware that he was probably only using that as a decoy to keep her away..."

"Of course!! But, guess who it is!!"

Severus looked at her and said sarcastically, "Evidently you want to be killed by a Malfoy... Who?"

"It's someone forbidden!!" Shaylee gave him a hint.

"Great. Just what I need... Lucius storming in here when he finds out his son came with someone forbidden..."

"Nah. His daddy knows!"

"Then it isn't forbidden..."

"Yes it is!! Because Daddy Lucius wanted Draco to take her for eeeeeeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiil purposes-" (Shaylee seemed to be getting a little hyper as she explained this using large hand motions) "-and Draco did. But then he started liking her... And, so he took her because he wanted to, not because Daddy Lucius said. And it's 'forbidden' for the rest of the school too, because if someone likes one of the two, they don't like the other one, which really doesn't make any sense, does it?" Shaylee stopped to take a deep breath.

Severus just shook his head and said, "You lost me around when you were talking about evil purposes...."

Shaylee glared at him. "Lucius made him take her, but Draco actually likes her, which I think is very romantic...."

"And how do you know all this...?" Severus looked skeptical, though slightly worried.

"Well, I am the PE teacher, and they meet in the pool. I can peek in there any old time I want to. Besides, I was the one that got them together in the first place!!"

At Snape's questioning look, she added, "Oh, I just hexed Draco to fall off the Diving Board in the Pool when they were the only ones there. She had to save him...."

Severus looked thoroughly shocked, then said, "You drowned a student?"

"I knew she would save him! Plus, I waited until I knew that he was all right!"

Severus just rolled his eyes. He then started walking towards the doors leading outside.

"Sevvy? Um, Sevvy?! Where are you going?" Shaylee walked briskly after him. "When I said we should watch, I was just kidding!!"

Severus stopped right before the door, which was open to let a breeze in, and looked outside, where he saw a genie and an Arabian Knight sitting on a bench and talking.

Shaylee stopped right behind him, and screwed up her eyes and plugged her ears. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that eavesdropping isn't nice?"

Severus just looked back at her with a glare and whispered back, "Didn't your mother tell you not to drown students?"

Shaylee looked hurt and she paused before she whispered so quietly he could barely hear her, "The only thing my mother ever said around me was, 'Is it a girl, Jeffrey?' "

Snape looked at her questionally, but his attention was grabbed by something being said outside. Apparently, he was satisfied, as he stepped back, and took her arm.

"I guess you were right..." He beamed down at her. "No evil purposes here."

Shaylee seemed awfully quiet, and "un-hyper", and Severus was shocked when he looked down and thought he saw a small tear in her eye.

Taking his years of teaching experience and being surrounded by his nieces and nephew into mind, he asked softly, "Will you tell me about it?"

Shaylee looked up at him, looking slightly surprised. She paused for a moment, then said softly, "My mum had two boys, but she had always wanted a girl. You know, someone whose hair needed braided, or who needed advice about boys..." A slight smile broke on her face as she said, "It turns out, if she'd waited a little longer, she would have had to give advice about boys to one of my brothers...." Her grin faded as she continued, "But, when she was pregnant with me, she got really sick..." She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She turned her head away. "She died two hours after I was born... She had her girl for two hours."

She took in a deep breath. "I haven't even thought about it since I was about 14. I actually needed that advice about boys...." She grinned up at him. "I flooed my brother instead..."

Severus smiled at her. She sighed happily. "That was nice, getting that off my chest..." She looked up at him mischievously. "You'd make a good daddy, you know!"

Severus just blushed and his mouth fell open as she giggled and said, "Why don't we go dance? There aren't any evildoers! They'll wait until it's my shift to do anything wrong."

Snape rolled his eyes. "And you'll let them, of course!"

"Nah, unless it's a really good prank!"

Severus sighed as she pulled him on the dance floor, where a new song had just come on.

They stood there for a moment, trying to figure out if it was a fast dance, or a slow dance, and finally Severus led them into a fancy two step.

"Oooo," Shaylee commented. "Sevvy can dance..."

Snape just looked smug as the words started.

She's blood, flesh and bone
No tucks or silicone
She's touch, smell, sight, taste and sound

But somehow I can't believe
That anything should happen

"Um... Is the music speeding up, or is it just me?" Shaylee said nervously and started listening to the music closer.

I know where I belong
And nothing's gonna happen

At that, the tempo sped up, and Severus said with a sly grin, "Hold on." Shaylee didn't even have time to ask why, before he spun her out and back in as the chorus started.

'Cause she's so high
High above me, she's so lovely

"Woah...." Shaylee said faintly as she came back to him. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

She's so high, like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite

"Many, many years of lessons," he answered as she spun out again, this time to the side, and on her own accord.

She's so high, high above me

The music went back into the two step for a moment, but then sped up as soon as it had slowed down.

First class and fancy free
She's high society
She's got the best of everything

"No, only the best dancer as a date," Shaylee chided him with a wink.

What could a guy like me ever really offer?

"Dancing lessons?" she suggested as she came back from her last spin and Severus laughed.

She's perfect as she can be, why should I even bother?

"Do I even have to say? Maybe you can dance....?" Shaylee laughed as Severus looked at her skeptically. "I think we get it. I can dance... You can't...." "Hey! Ouch!!"

Cause she's so high
High above me, she's so lovely
She's so high, like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite

"How about Persephone?" Severus joked and Shaylee agreed with a whoop.

She's so high, high above me

The instrumental part was fast, and more like the music that Shaylee was used to. "Yay! Freestyle!! I don't look stupid!!" "Are you sure about that?" Snape said snidely, studying her. Not missing anything, Shaylee slapped him on the shoulder.

The music slowed down again, and they started dancing together.

She calls to speak to me
I freeze immediately
'Cause what she says sounds so unreal
'Cause somehow I can't believe
That anything should happen

Severus grinned as he realized that's how he felt. He most definitely didn't deserve Shaylee.

I know where I belong
And nothing's gonna happen

Shaylee groaned as the music sped up again. "Evil, fickle music.... Evil evil...." She seemed to be floundering for a word, and laughed as Severus suggested, "Purposes?"

Cause she's so high
High above me, she's so lovely
She's so high, like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite
She's so high,

"Fickle, fickle, evil purposeful music!!" Shaylee joked as it, once again, slowed down and finished.

high above me

They smiled at each other as the song stopped, and Shaylee said happily, "Come on, let's go find some rule breakers! And I'll try not to hide very many!!!"

~*~*~**~*~*~

Draco sat down and faced Hermione, who was looking back at him comfortably. "Yes? What do we need to talk about?"

He took a deep breath. He'd been thinking about the most delicate way to handle this, the one least likely to make her run out on him before he had the chance to finish his story. He hoped he had figured one out.

"Well," he started. "You know how my father is..."

Hermione looked up at him sharply and nodded.

"And, you also know that there have been rumors floating around, about how I was just like him...." Hermione nodded softly, knowing how hard it was for him to talk about it.

"Well, a few years ago, that became true. My father and his friends used me as a gopher for them if they needed something done at Hogwarts for the Dark Lord." He swallowed painfully and continued, with Hermione listening. "My father gladly gave my services to the other Death Eaters, claiming that they would get all credit when it was through. They didn't know it, but my father's real plan was to inform the Dark Lord upon my Coming of Age all that I had done, so that I would already be a higher rank."

Hermione, always the sharp minded one, knew that there was a point to this, but she also knew it was hard for him to talk about it, so she reached for his hand and listened quietly.

"They say the Dark Lord knows everything.... He found out."

He sighed. Now he was getting to the hard part.

"Needless to say, he was very pleased, and this Summer, he gave me my own assignment. My father was adamant that I must get it done. He was so worried about me doing it right, that it was just like the old days, when he was actually telling me how to do his assignments."

Hermione was looking at him worriedly. "And, did you do it?"

Draco sighed and looked at her in the eyes. "You were the assignment, Hermione." He ignored the confused look in her eyes, and the two shapes he saw standing by the door and continued. "I have no idea why, but The Dark Lord needed you, and I was supposed to befriend you enough to lure you there."

There were tears in Hermione's eyes. "Thank you for warning me," she said as she tried to stand up and leave. Draco was definitely not going to let this happen. That was exactly what he had been trying to avoid.

"Hermione, I hated you back then," he tried to explain, as he blocked the door.

"Oh, thanks," Hermione said, tears now running down her cheeks.

This softened Draco's voice. "But I don't now."

Hermione thrust away his arm as he tried to brush her tears away.

"I can't believe you! You lied to me! I thought you actually liked me! I fell for you! If it weren't for you, I could be in th-" "Yes, I lied to you. But I'm telling the truth now," Draco interrupted.

Hermione calmed down, and her cheeks turned bright red. Without any words, she turned around and sat back on the bench. Draco looked at her warily, and she looked back expectantly, waiting for the rest of the story.

"I'm not going to do what my father says. I'm not becoming a Death Eater, and I'm most definitely not giving you to that S.O.B."

Hermione was looking at him, but not in his eyes.

"You know why I'm not going to do those things?"

He moved his head, trying to get in her line of vision, and said, "Because you've changed me. I don't want to do any of those things anymore. We can beat them."

She looked stubbornly the other way, and Draco took a hold of her chin, and made her look in his eyes. "I'm not doing these things, for the same reason I'm telling you the truth."

Hermione looked at the air over his shoulder, and he moved so that his eyes were right in front of hers. "I love you, Hermione."

Hermione inhaled a deep breath of air as she studied his eyes.

A grin broke through her tears. "About time, Draco..." she said, as she engulfed him in a hug.

~*~*~**~*~*~

Oh, I'm so happy!!! Awwwwwww..... OK, now that I got the sickly sweet part done, I can get on to the death and violence... Er, I mean.... I'm just kidding!!! (I hope.... you never know what will pop into my head!!) So, review, and tell me what you think of Shaylee's gay brother, Hermione blowing a fuse, and Draco Malfoy turning all sweet on us..... ^_^ And, thanks to all who reviewed!!

Wakabuchi: LOL! Thanks a bunch!! And, I could understand you perfectly. And, thanks again! I hope you enjoy!!

Sapphirell: LOL! Thank! And he told her. Was it what you expected?

darkened-soul: Heehee. Yep. Thanks a lot! I forget which one you wrote, but if I actually took time to review it (I know-- I'm a hypocrite) then it has to be good!!

shadows-zephyr: Hehe... Nice use of symbolism there... And thanks!!

Meg: LOL... Truth comes before marriage... Usually. ^_^

dracosgurl_chrissy: Forgiven!!! ^_^ And, I hope you enjoyed the little talk... ^_^

Lady Coia: Heeheeeheee. Well, here it is. As soon and long as I could get it with Band Practice going on.... ^_^

islandgirl4: Hehe... Sorry bout that. Well, here's more. And, thanks!!

IceLily2: LOL. Oops... That's come up a lot lately.... Well, I hope you like how it turned out.... ^_^ If not, too bad! }:)

Cute-Kitty: LOL. Lucky Charms are good. And, you should feel special.... Your marshmellow thing gave me an idea for later in my ficcy.... ::cackles evilly:: Hearts, stars, and horseshoes, clovers, and blue moons, pots 'o gold, and rainbows, and me red balloons!!!!! Ahem.... Sorry.... ^_^

FantasyIsMyLife: I agree with you! That's why I cut out about a paragraph of the song at the end. It was getting tooooo long.

Draco-Malfoy-Severus-Luva: LOL... Yep... Soon, but not yet. Hehe... Isn't someone hyper... Wow.... You are acting like Shay.... I think most peeps think that's be a compliment, tho.... So, thanks anyway!!!

angel-of-hogwarts: Hehe.... I'll think of you all those times when I'm just laying there, thinking how I should go write, but I'm too lazy to stand up.... And thanks! Shay and Sev even got their own song this time!!

Dying Angel1: Well, maybe we can plot against that person... Hmmm.... We could torture them by giving them bits and pieces of fanfiction, but only once a week, and not all of it! ::cackles evilly:: LOL, thanks a lot!

diane: Oooooo, yay! Thanks a lot, and sure!!

girldevil: LOL. I updated ASAP. And I hope you like!!

ShadowRogue: LOL. Yes, being evil is fun.... Though, I try to hold back on really evil cliffies, good ending points basically hafta be SOME sort of cliffy.... And thanks!!

darkmarkgrl: Oops! Got off a little too soon. Sorry!! ::catches cookie and gobbles it up:: Hehe, thanks!!!!!