The following morning Ginny woke Hermione up as the sun rose so the girls could eat breakfast before quidditch preparations began. Upon entering the great hall they sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table and began to discuss the morning's plan.

"I'm going to try and catch Blaise just before the match starts so his mind isn't on the game," Ginny whispered whilst buttering a slice of toast.

"What do you want me to do?" Hermione asked, grabbing a spoonful of baked beans.

"I want you to sit right next to the Slytherins, preferably someone like Pansy Parkinson."

"Really Gin? You know how much I dislike her."

"That's the point. You don't like her, but she has had a chip on her shoulder ever since Malfoy jilted her before the war." Ginny took another piece of toast, "so when Malfoy is playing, and he sees you talking to her, it is going to be a major distraction. Especially as he thought yesterday you might be softening towards him."

Hermione's lip tilted, "not bad… and what about you Miss Weasley?"

Ginny took a big bite of toast and wiggled her eyebrows, "don't you worry about me Miss Granger, I have my plan all under control."

.

Ten more points to Gryffindor, that Ginny Weasley is a fire-cracker!

"Don't need to tell me twice," Blaise muttered flying through the air tailing the said red-head holding the quaffle yet again. His mind travelled back to earlier that morning when she had caught him before going into the changing rooms.

…

"Hey Blaise" a soft voice called from up the hill. Blaise turned around and saw Ginny walking down towards him till she was by his side. She was already wearing her quidditch gear and had her long hair in a plait down her back.

"Princess," he smouldered.

She grinned before looking at up at him through her eyelashes, "you know, I could think of a whole other range of words for you to call me." Blaise raised his eyebrows but before he could say anything in reply Ginny continued, "maybe I could teach you some of them later? Say, in the clocktower courtyard?" She finished by taking hold of his broomstick and tugged it towards her, so he was looking right down into her eyes.

"Why the courtyard?" Blaise said slowly, as if it took a lot of effort to get out

Ginny smiled, her soft peach lipstick accenting her hair, she started to continue down the hill before turning to walk backwards and called "I hear there are a lot of storage cupboards."

.

Hermione laughed as Ginny did a loop de loop with the quaffle and Blaise who had previously been following her continued straight on, suitably distracted. Ginny flew higher into the air and threw a powerful shot into the Slytherin's third goal. The cheer that erupted from the Gryffindors seemed to break Blaise from his trance and he shook his head, seemingly trying to get back into the game.

"So why are you sitting here Granger?"

Hermione looked to her left to see Pansy Parkinson squinting at her, with a slightly wrinkled forehead. Hermione sighed, "I'm trying to distract Malfoy from trying to find the snitch by making him think I am planning something with you." Pansy raised one eyebrow, and Hermione groaned "I know, we're too old to be playing stupid games, but I can't let him win. He turned me into a kitten and made me snog McLaggen!"

Pansy face screwed up in disgust, "I heard about that. I mean, I am by no means fond of you but no one deserves that chauvinist's presence, let alone his lips." Hermione frowned at the memory. "So your plan was to merely let him think that we are coming up with a scheme?"

Hermione sucked in her cheeks, staring at the pitch and the blond-haired boy flying around glancing across at the stands every few seconds, "yeah, that's about it. It's all about deceiving the mind." Pansy laughed breathily, and Hermione looked at her, "you have a problem with that? I would have thought you would be as keen as any of us to get back at Malfoy."

"Oh believe me, I would like nothing better than to see Draco Malfoy's reputation knocked down a few pegs, it's just your plan doesn't really do that." She interlocked her hands and leant in towards Hermione, "sure your plan makes him realise he has been deceived, but to everybody else in the school it is just another Slytherin loss. If you want my help, I want to be in on a real hit."

Hermione laughed, "I'll ignore the fact that you are treating this like an assassination, but your idea does intrigue me. Do you have any particular event in mind?"

Pansy wore a cat's smile as she gazed directly at Draco and stood up, taking Hermione's hand. "Come with me."

.

"Yeah, Demelza! That last goal was brilliant!"

"200 to 10, Slytherin are going to be thrashed in the cup!" a chorus of Gryffindors cheered in response.

Ginny pulled Hermione to the side, jostled by the group and splashed slightly by butterbeer. "Did you see Malfoy?" she laughed, "I saw the snitch fly by him at least five times!"

"Yeah, it was brilliant," Hermione smiled, "listen though, Pansy and I actually got to talk, and she has an idea."

"Really? Granger and Parkinson teaming up? I never thought I'd see the day."

"Turns out Malfoy can bring out the best in us," Hermione winked. "Pansy was telling me about Malfoy's childhood and how he used to do ballroom dancing at his family's prestigious dance for the Sacred Twenty-Eight ." Hermione pulled Ginny further into the corner, "tonight, Pansy is going to try her best to get him to think about that moment during dinner, and while she is doing that you and I are going to cast a memory spell." Hermione spun her wand around like a baton.

"And who will he be dancing with?"

"That's the best part," Hermione grinned, "whoever he touches first gets thrust into the illusion. As Blaise is always sitting next to Malfoy, he will be his dance partner."

Once the plan was agreed upon, the girls left the corner of the common room to join in the festivities, a fire burning in their eyes.

.

Pansy walked into the great hall, pushing both doors open wide. She's been hiding around a corner for ten minutes until Draco and Blaise had finally walked in to dinner so that she could follow them. Taking her place opposite them at the table she waited until the plates magically filled with food before striking up the conversation.

"… Father is still driving Mother up the wall," Draco muttered to Blaise and Theo, "despite defecting before The Battle he has no power. Nobody will take his council anymore and he does nothing but complain."

"Well I remember the days your father had all the control." Pansy prompted

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, unamused. Pansy scratched her neck and continued, "don't tell me you preferred it when everyone looked to him for advice?" Pansy scoffed, "he used to make us ballroom dance every year at the Pure Blood Ball!"

Draco's mouth tightened in displeasure, "that's true. He used to make me practice with Mother in the weeks leading up."

"Thank Merlin she did," Pansy laughed, "otherwise I fear my feet would have been permanently disfigured!"

"Why exactly did you feel the need to impose on our conversation just to reminisce over times of old, Parkinson?"

"Maybe I just thought… if we remembered the times we didn't loathe each other, we could get back on mutual turf." Pansy stared eyes-wide, challenging him to decline the offer.

.

"Quick!" Ginny nudged Hermione's arm so enthusiastically she almost knocked over the gravy boat in front of them. "Pansy's giving the signal."

Hermione looked up to see Pansy scratching her neck, "okay… now."

"e novo memorias!" The girls subtly direct their wands towards Draco, and a slight breeze washed across the Slytherin table.

"Now we wait," Ginny whispered, her voice increasing in pitch with excitement.

The girls watched eagle-eyed, waiting for Draco to touch Blaise. Their smiles soon turned to lines however when Snape walked alongside the back of the Slytherin table, leaned down beside Draco to whisper something in his ear, before hitting him up the back of the head.

Ginny visibly paled and turned to Hermione who had her face in her hands. "Oh my gosh. We are dead. We're actually dead."

Hermione looked up just as both Draco and Snape seemed to freeze before the former stood up and turned around to grasp the professor's hand and waist. A silence gradually fell over the great hall as the two started to turn around the room. An eerie smile was plastered over Snape's face, presumably mimicking Pansy's from Malfoy's memory. The hall, including the head table remained silent as the couple completed a lap around the room, and it wasn't until Draco went to give the professor a twirl that Minerva finally stood up.

"Finite incantatem," the couple stopped dancing immediately, however only released each other after a few seconds as the realisation of what they had done came over them. As soon as they were back to normal Draco headed straight over to the Gryffindor table. The girls' eyes darted all over the hall, looking for help. Fortunately, Minerva followed Draco's gaze and reached the girls first, before asking them to follow her to her office.

Avoiding the holes burning through their backs, Hermione and Ginny followed the headmistress out of the room.

"The girls are going to be scared out of their mind," Theo whispered as Draco followed them out of the great hall.

Blaise shook his head, "Granger maybe, but not Weaslette. She'll be thinking about how to prevent the backlash from Draco," his lips tilted in the corner at the idea. His eyes flicked up and landed on Pansy, "don't think we don't realise you sparked a conversation right before we caught a live version of Witches Come Waltzing."

Pansy sucked in her cheeks, and glared defiantly at Blaise, "Draco can't do anything to me. This makes us even. I said as much before." She picked up fork to stab a sausage on her plate, "now he has been suitably brought down a peg, we can finally return to mutual ground," she showed her teeth in a smile, and raised her fork to eat.

Should the pairs finally talk to one another, or is it too late to go back? Let me know your thoughts. ~C