Hermione watched him go, and halted, stuck between whether she should go after him, or stay back. I mean, should she just swallow everything down and go after him? It certainly wouldn't help her mood, and Hermione was obviously a stubborn person. But in the end... Hermione bit her lip. It was their day out, wasn't it? It would just complicate things to have arguments now, especially if they bumped into anyone. Hermione slowly and quietly followed Draco, wherever he was going, an appropriate distance back. She looked up, and maybe she was wrong, but saw Draco turn his head ever so slightly and flick his eyes towards her. They continued in silence anyway.

They rounded a corner into the main square of Hogsmeade. Draco turned to go into Honeydukes, and Hermione stopped at the door, nearly barging into him. Draco stopped, as if he was about to turn and talk to Hermione, but he just turned the handle of the door and disappeared in. Hermione sighed. She knew she was the one in the wrong this time, walked down the entrance steps, going round to the side wall of the building and propped her foot up, waiting for Draco, and also out of site. It was probably only a few minutes, but after ages –for Hermione- a tinkling of a door was heard, and familiar sounding footsteps resonated on the stone steps. Hermione was about to lean off the wall and walk over before she heard a few giggles from some girls that sounded quite near to Draco. Hermione narrowed her eyes and inched to the corner of the wall to see what was happening.

"Hey, Draco." The two girls chorused, waggling their fingers at him. He nodded, and looked slightly bemused. It looked as if he wasn't really bothered to flirt with these two, and would rather watch their antics to get to him. "So..." One girl said. It occurred to Hermione that they were probably both in Slytherin. No other girls in any other house were bold enough to go and talk, even flirt, with Draco Malfoy. "What brings you to Hogsmeade?" Draco fleetingly looked at the floor.

"I'm here with Granger." He said, and it was hard to pick out any strong emotion in the neutral tone he spoke in.

Hermione was still, and anticipated what the two girls would say.

The other girl, who hadn't spoken yet made a gagging noise. Hermione's eyes went to Draco, who hadn't reacted.

"You were paired with Granger?" The girl with short hair exclaimed. "Ugh, you poor thing!" Hermione scowled when she saw a ghost of a smile tilted Draco's mouth, and he simply shrugged.

"Natalie and I here didn't want to risk the chance of being paired with someone despicable" – Hermione's mouth went aghast- "like her, so we didn't take part. We're just bunking." Her friend giggled and agreed.

"Imagine!" Natalie giggled, referring to Hermione being despicable, and her gaze went to Draco. "Her and Tulip would be black and blue by the first day." Hermione's mouth was set in a hard line, and there was still no noticeable reaction from Draco. Hermione had gathered by now that the two girls' names were Natalie and Tulip.

"So, Draco," Tulip said, and her voice lowered as if she didn't want to be heard. Hermione had to lean forward slightly to hear them. "What's Granger really like?" Draco took an intake of breathe, and his head tilted.

"Well... She's her. She's Granger." Was all he said. Hermione didn't know whether she should be happy or angry at his response. Natalie snorted loudly.

"What, you mean her filthy blood, her snotty attitude," she counted off her fingers, "the know-it-all personality, the fact that she's a stupid teacher's pet, those imbeciles she calls her friends..." In the midst of her name calling, she looked up at the sky. When her eyes were on the course of going back down, they caught on Hermione, and she fell silent. Draco and Tulip looked at each other curiously, before slowly turning round, and seeing Hermione. Hermione herself wasn't feeling embarrassed, or even mildly humiliated. The thing that came to mind was the fact that Draco had done nothing while Natalie had been 'describing' her. Her mind suddenly seemed to blank and empty, and all she wanted to do was walk away. Hermione calmly walked in front of Honeydukes, and eventually in front of them without even glancing. She would've carried on walking, but Draco held her sleeve. Her eyes went to her sleeves, and then to him. Without hesitation, she shook his hand off harshly, and continued walking.

"Granger. Wait." Draco called to her. She looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

"What, aren't you afraid you'll be infected by my snotty attitude?" She called back.

The two girls at least had the grace to look ashamed.
_
A/N: No make up for you guys! I like a good argument. But don't worry; they'll eventually patch things up. Hopefully. Thank you all so much for reading! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you guys.