Chapter 9

Draco walked out of the bath and saw Hermione sitting there. "Are you done?" She asked him. He looked away, nodded and rushed out of their dorm. He stood outside the door for a few seconds before deciding to talk to Blaise. He knocked on his dorm door and waited. "Oh, hi Malfoy," Luna said as she opened the door for him. "Oh, uh, Lovegood, may I come in?" he asked nervously. "Oh, yes, come in," she stepped aside and he walked in.

He found Blaise laying on the couch staring into space. "Blaise? Blaise!" he called him. "Blaise!" he shoved him to wake him up. Blaise sat up abruptly and looked at Draco. "Oh, hey mate," he said. "Lovegood rubbing off on you?" Draco asked in a whisper. "Wh-no! Not at all. I was just bored." he said brushing his question off. he looked at Draco and saw that he was worried. "What's up with you?" he asked Draco.

"I need to talk to you alone," Draco said, nodding towards Luna. "Oh. Uh, Luna? I'm going out for a few minutes with Draco. He needs to talk about something," Blaise said to Luna, who shrugged and walked into the bedroom. "Did you just call Lovegood 'Luna'?" Draco asked as he walked out. "Yeah, why not," Blaise said as he followed him. "'Why not'? Since when are you on first-name basis Blaise?" he asked

"Since I got engaged to her. Don't you call Granger by her first name?" Blaise asked him indifferently. "She'll probably have a heart attack if I call her by her first name," Draco said as they headed down the stairs. "Huh, I expected that you two will at least get along," his best friend stated matter of factly as they headed out into the grounds.

Draco chuckled and looked at him. "We do get along, we're just, not on first-name basis," he said. Blaise cocked his eyebrows, and gestured for him to continue. "That's who I want to talk to you about," Draco said and slumped against a tree. "You want to talk to me about Granger?" Blaise asked as he sat down beside him.

"Not about Granger, but it concerns her," he said and sighed upon seeing Blaise's befuddled look. "Remember last time when we smelled Amortentia?" he asked. Blaise nodded and he continued. "I had smelled apples, petrichor and new books. But this time I didn't smell books. I smelled perfume. Log fire perfume."

Blaise's eyes widened and he smirked. "Who's perfume is it, Mr Slytherin Prince?" he asked sarcastically. Draco rolled his eyes and gulped before dropping the bomb. "Granger's," he said and quickly looked away.

"Granger? Granger, as in Hermione Granger? The girl who hates your guts?" Blaise asked, genuinely sorry. "How do you even know that it's hers? Maybe you guessed wrong, or she borrowed somebody else's perfume," he said, trying to make sense of it all.

"No, mate, I saw the bottle. it belongs to her. I smelled it on her, and I remember smelling it on her earlier too," he said, nervously. "So, you're attracted to Granger, who absolutely hates you?" Blaise repeated slowly. "I- No, I'm not attracted to her. I think. W-we just became acquaintances. We're not even friends yet. I cannot even possibly be attracted to her," Draco said in frustration.

"Okay, you need to calm down Draco. It's just perfume. There must be a hundred other people who wear the same perfume. It doesn't mean that it is Granger." Blaise said to comfort him. Draco sat in silenced as he stared off into space. Both of them stayed there for what felt like hours but was just 10 minutes when Draco suddenly stood up. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe it's someone else or just the perfume. Thanks," he said and waited for Blaise to get up. Blaise looked at him and shrugged, not knowing what he did.

They walked back into the castle and headed up the stairs. Blaise stopped in front of Lupin and Tonks's portrait and stared at her. "Draco," said Tonks, sounding civil. "Tonks," he acknowledged. Tonks's brows furrowed and she looked at him intently. "You didn't call me Nymphadora as everyone else does," she stated and looked at him inquiringly. "I was under impression that you didn't like to be called Nymphadora," he said. "Why would you care about how I feel. we haven't even met before," she said matter-of-factly. "But we are cousins, aren't we?" Draco said with a small smile and walked into the common room.

He stepped in to see a satisfied-looking Hermione walk out of the Potter's dorm and head into their dorm with a slight smile. He chuckled at himself as he thought about how he was wondering if he was attracted to her no even 5 minutes earlier. He could never be attracted to her. Right?

So, I sat down to write this chapter, and I didn't even know what I was going to write about. But, I think that I managed okay, didn' I? Tell me in the reviews if you did, or if you didn't.

By the way, I am up to 3000 views! I barely expected like a hundred at the max, but hey!

SLYNNR: I think so too. I mean, I could never imagine falling in love with my bully days after I am forced to marry them. I wanted it to be more realistic. I mean, as realistic as it can be. Thank you for reviewing!

ro781727: Thank you for choosing my story! And yeah, Ron ain't doing himself favours. But, maybe he would realize his mistakes, and try to redeem himself. You never know.

Read and Review My Dear readers!

Until Next Time,

Cheerio!