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A couple of days had passed since the incident at the Black Lake, and Hermione had managed to get out of her full-fledged depression after the first night. She'd gone back to looking at her list, and had decided that she needed to change some priorities. She didn't just need a fuck-buddy. She needed someone she could talk to in the dark of the night after love making, she needed someone who could understand her, who shared her interests.
So Dean Thomas had been eliminated.
And, after a lot of thought on the matter, so had Myles Evans. He was too much like Ron…and not in the good sense.
So that left her with three people, and she'd decided that it merited a new list. She'd written down the cons of each candidate.
Bartholomew: A little too tall for my liking, we have nothing in common except our muggle roots, and he plans on becoming a full-fledged Model when he graduates. Do I really want to be with someone who makes money off of his body (not that modeling is a bad thing!)?
Draco: Six years of bad blood between us, insufferable prat when he wants to be, and amazingly able to come off as superior even when he isn't trying.
Blaise: Never spoke to me before this last year, there's been rumors considering his sexuality (although the episode in the lake shows that he's at LEAST bi-sexual), and can be horribly intimidating.
Sitting in the library she went over her list and smiled. As always she was there by herself, Madam Pince was off to lunch, so she didn't have to fear anyone looking over her shoulder at her list. For a moment, she was free to scan the pros.
Bartholomew: 'Little Bartholomew', looks chiseled in his underwear, gorgeous, sexy.
Draco: I have a weakness for blondes, beautiful eyes, a wicked sense of humor, quite sarcastic in a way that intrigues and amuses, and I also have a weakness for the 'bad boy' in him. His smirk, when not laced with malice, weakens my knees, and he's amazingly mature. He's cheeky, I sometime compare him to Seamus because of the mischief I read in those silver eyes…amazing eyes…beautiful laugh whenever he chooses to do so.
Blaise: Most intelligent boy in Hogwarts, he and I could discuss the things that leave Harry and Ron looking at me with obvious confusion. We connect in a mental level, and are much alike. He's studious, mature, responsible, and a smile that makes me lose my breath. I believe that he'd be a tender lover. Maybe, maybe he could be a Neville.
"Mione?"
Putting away the list quickly, Hermione looked up at Harry with a guilty smile. She hadn't been spending as much time with him and Ron as she used to, and she'd felt their longing gazes on her—they'd missed her, and she had them. "Hey Harry."
"What are you up to?" Harry asked, sending a quick glance to the paper she'd placed in her bag.
"Nothing much, just making lists, you know me." Her smile was genuine. She was glad from this distraction because she'd realized that while she'd found enough faults for each candidate, she'd found far less virtues in Bartholomew, and all of them had been based on the physical. It bothered her.
"Ron's jealous." Harry announced to break the silence.
"Of what?" Hermione asked, surprised and intrigued.
"He thinks you're seeing someone behind our backs."
Her brown eyes widened. "He's jealous of me?" She snorted. "What is it with him and petty jealousy? He's very happy with Lavender at the moment."
"And he loves her." Harry nodded. "But he's used to being your elder brother in a way Mione, and he's jealous of this guy just like he is with all of Ginny's boyfriends."
A breath of relief escaped her lips. Good. It was a brotherly jealousy. That she could deal with. "Well, I'm not going out with anyone at the moment so he doesn't have to worry about it yet."
"Oh?"
And it was the way he said that that bothered her. "Yes. I won't lie to you Harry, I'm lonely." She turned to her best friend and reached for his hand, squeezing it. "I guess, now that Voldemort is gone and everything is returning to the way it was supposed to be, I've suddenly realized that I'm a teenager, you know?"
He nodded.
"And I'm looking for a boyfriend." Of sorts. "I actually have some candidates, and I've been testing them out these last days and I've managed to narrow them down to three. Now, well, I'm seeing which is more compatible with me."
Harry smiled at her sadly. "That's my Hermione, even if it deals with your heart you have a formula for it."
She smiled. "Aren't I a bore?"
"No." His voice was soft. "You're far from that."
Uncomfortable for some reason, her smile was forced and she pulled away, looking around them. What was going on? He was her best friend! There wasn't supposed to be uncomfortable silences between them! "Well, it's a good thing, because my candidates are from Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
He blinked. "Slytherin?"
She smirked, nodding, enjoying his surprise. "Yep."
"Who?" Harry wanted to know, and like that the uncomfortable silence disappeared. "What have you been holding out on me?"
"Well, two are from Slytherin."
"Two?" He hollered amusingly. "WHO?"
She was suddenly shy. "Draco and Blaise."
For a moment Harry didn't seem to know who she was talking about, until his eyes widened like saucers. "Malfoy and Zabini?"
"Well, they don't want me calling them by their surnames anymore." She said, mostly to herself.
"What? Since when?" Harry was comically confused. "What has been going on these last days Mione?"
And she told him. Told him about the truce, about catching Luna and 'her boys', about Hermione's resolve to get a fuck-buddy (something Harry blushed at) and about how everything had taken a turn at the Black Lake. She even mentioned what had happened between Bartholomew and herself, and Blaise, Draco and herself.
When she was finished, Harry was blushing a red that could compete with Weasely Red. "So you're saying," he'd asked with a gulp "that you, Malfoy and Zabini, for lack of a better word, nearly shagged while in the Black Lake?"
"If Luna hadn't been attacked, it might have led to that." She nodded.
Harry shook his head at the mental image, obviously something he wasn't enjoying. "And do you think that those two, or even Bartholomew, can be your—and I'm using your words here—you're Neville and Seamus?" He paused. "Or are you just looking for one of them? A Neville or a Seamus? Or someone who is like the both of them?" He looked pitifully confused yet determined to help her sort this out as best he could.
T hat was why she loved him more than Ron. The redhead would have exploded with fury at her for liking Slytherins, but Harry? No, he was understanding, and supportive, even if he was blushing more than a virgin at a strip-show. "I don't know Harry, that's why I'm so confused."
"Um, Mione?"
"Yes Harry?"
"I know I'm going to hate myself in the morning for saying this." He looked embarrassed. "But, from what you've told me, you're attraction to Hollows is purely physical, and…as much as I hate myself for this…your basis for liking Zabini and Malfoy are more concrete. You like Zabini for his intelligence and you like Malfloy for his, for his—what exactly was it again because I'm finding it hard to find something on my own?"
"His personality in general." Hermione responded with a smirk at what Harry had said. "Ever since the truce, and even before it, Malfoy—Draco—has shown me a nicer side to him, a side I like a lot."
"Right." Harry shuddered. "Well, Mione, as I see it, you'd have a more Seamus-Neville relationship with one of them, not Hollows. With Hollows it'd be purely physical and you'd end up getting bored—or worse—hurt."
She sighed, looking into the shadows of the Library. "It'd have been so much easier to do as everyone expected and fall in love with you Harry."
"Yes, it would've." She missed the seriousness in his voice, and the slight pain in his eyes. When she looked at him it was gone.
"Thank you, Harry, for always being by my side no matter what."
"You were always there for me, Mione. I love you." He gulped. "You're the most important person in the world to me, and I, I, I want to see you happy."
Her smile was dazzling. "Well that's good. Because I need your help."
Harry frowned. "Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"
"Well, you see, I have MUST BE POSESSIVE and MUST BE JEALOUS on my list." Hermione announced. "And you're going to help me see if those Slytherins are either."
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Why the hell was she holding Potter's hand?
Blaise frowned as he looked up in the Great Hall at dinner and everyone saw them enter together. During the late afternoon news that Hermione had declined Bartholomew's petition to be his girlfriend had spread throughout Hogwarts. Draco and himself had been more than smugly pleased at that because they knew that that left them as the only two on her list.
Of course, they'd never thought of Potter until then.
"It seems that they got back together." Georgia, a fourth year Slytherin, announced to Marjorie, a friend of hers.
"Back together?" Draco growled, turning on her viciously. "What do you mean back together?"
The fourth year looked up at him in terror, shaking in her boots. "You m-m-mean you didn't know?"
"Didn't know what?" Blaise snapped, as irritated as Draco.
Georgia gulped, hiding behind her shivering friend. "During the war, Granger and Potter, well, they were together."
The silence from both Slytherin boys was a sure sign that hell was about to break loose.
Georgia cleared her throat. "Together together." She looked terrified at them when she realized that they were waiting for her to continue. "They lost their virginities together."
"Where did you hear this?" Draco's hiss could compete with Nagini's.
Georgia looked close to tears.
So Marjorie stepped in. "We overheard her speaking to the Weasley girl some months back. Said that she hadn't wanted to die a virgin."
Blaise cursed, as did Draco, but he cursed in Italian.
Laughter from the Gryffindor table caught their attention. Hermione sat on Harry's lap, playing with his glasses, while Ron was gawking at them before bursting into laughter. Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, Ron had been eating at the time, and his food, half-chewed, spewed out onto the table. The girls squealed in disgust while the guys made faces.
Potter was whispering to Hermione, and she had a far off look in her eyes as he spoke. His face was half hidden by her hair, but hers was blushing scarlet and she smiled quite pleased, before bursting into laughter at something he'd just said.
She nodded as she continued listening to him, and then froze, looking at him incredulously.
Blaise frowned, jealousy and anger burning in his throat. What had Potter said to make her blush like that?
Then, before anyone could blink, Potter's hands went to Hermione's face and drew her in for a kiss. Hermione yelped into his mouth and went completely still as Harry's fingers grabbed fistfuls of her hair, mouth smashing against hers hungrily.
The sound of something breaking tore Blaise away from the sight, and turned to see that somehow Draco had broken his goblet with his death-hold. His hand was cut and bloody, yet he didn't seem to notice, his cold silver eyes were on the Gryffindor couple.
Finally pulling away from the kiss, Hermione seemed to be scolding Potter, and the sight made Blaise feel slightly better. But then, Potter started laughing and said something into her ear.
She went still and made as if to turn in their direction before Potter quickly turned her back in for another kiss, yet it looked more as if he was whispering against her lips more than kissing her.
Leaning forwards in his chair, Blaise narrowed his eyes. What was going on?
A smirk appeared on Hermione's face, and a mischievous twinkle appeared in her eyes that Blaise would have found irresistible if she were looking at him. But no. She was looking at Bloody Harry Potter. Dammit!
Getting up from Harry's lap, Hermione acted as if the eyes of the whole hall weren't on her as she turned and, to everyone's surprise, straddled Harry's lap, facing him. Her skirt rode up her creamy thighs and she flicked her hair back before eyeing Potter, her back to the Slytherin table.
Blaise saw the fear in Potter's eyes before she swept in and kissed him hungrily.
Hearing his goblet begin to crack, Blaise slammed it down onto the table. The sound resounding in the silent room. No one made a sound. Everyone was watching the couple with perverse interest. The boys were obviously trying to gulp, while the girls tried to keep from looking too jealous. Even the professors were too shocked to say anything.
"I will not allow Potter to ruin this for us!" Blaise might have been the more intellectual one of the two, but right now his rage was keeping him from thinking. Seeing Potter's hands once again in her hair as he returned the kiss, Blaise made up his mind. He was going to stride over to the Gryffindor table and kill Harry Potter.
"Sit." Draco ordered in a cold voice when he noticed Blaise beginning to rise. Sensing Blaise rebellious this evening, he looked at him, the deadliness of those silver eyes causing the brunette to sit back down again.
"Are you just going to sit there and let him put his filthy hands all over her?" Blaise hissed in fury.
"Bloody think for a moment Zabini." His voice was dark. "If we kill Potter in front of all of these people we'll have earned a cell together in Azkaban and no Hermione." His eyes never left the couple. "So what does that tell you?"
Blaise suddenly smirked, understanding. "We wait for him to be alone and then we kill him."
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Laughing as they left the Great Hall, Hermione swatted Harry for having kissed her like that, frightening the hell out of her. But then, when he'd told her of Draco and Blaise's reaction, she'd taken her revenge by kissing Harry even better, because she wanted to know how far she could push them, and had Harry gauge their reactions. He was half hidden by her hair so the Slytherins wouldn't know that he'd been watching them most of the time.
Of course, neither of them mentioned the boner he'd been sporting ever since. Or that he'd cum in his pants when she'd been extra naughty and had very discreetly humped him in front of everyone else.
"That was just evil!" Harry laughed, face red, as he pulled off his glasses to clean them. They were suspiciously foggy. "I can understand the Slytherins now!"
Hermione chortled very unladylike, leaning on Harry for support as they made their way to the Gryffindor Common Room. Her knees were wobbly from having laughed so hard.
Harry had told her that at one point Blaise had gotten up as if to come over and kill him, but Draco had stopped him. That'd been a disappointment, because she would have loved to see their reaction up close and personal, and to see what they would have done—especially since they didn't have any ties to her and thus their making a scene would have been odd.
Maybe that's what Draco realized.
The thought made her smirk. He was devilishly clever and cunning.
"I think we proved that they definitely like you." Harry announced in her ear, as if expecting their conversation to be overheard. "They looked like they wanted to kill me."
"Oh please." Yet she smiled smugly at the thought. Still, the smile disappeared. "Dammit! I left my book bag in the library when we left!"
Harry pushed her towards the Common Rooms. "Go, I'll get the bag and be right back."
"Thanks Harry." She leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek. "You're the best friend a girl could ever dream of." With that she entered the Common Room.
Harry sighed when the portrait closed behind her. "But obviously not the best boyfriend a girl could dream of." Shaking his head sadly he went towards the library, never realizing that they'd been followed, or that he was in immense danger.
In the library, Harry went to the table Hermione always sat down on and sighed as he picked up her ever heavy book bag. Honestly, the girl had to have some muscles to be able to lug this around with her everyday. He smiled sadly. This was one of the reasons he loved her.
"Hello Potter."
Harry looked up at the chillingly dark voice and cursed when Malfoy and Zabini stepped out of the shadows, wands drawn.
"Did you like touching Hermione tonight?" Draco asked in a voice so calm it was frightening. Not even Voldemort had been this terrifying. "Because you'll die for it."
Zabini smirked, obviously enjoying this immensely.
Harry was suddenly glad that these guys had turned to the light. They'd have made terrifying Death Eaters.
"Malfoy. Zabini." He forced his features neutral, his voice cool. It wouldn't do to let them know that he was pissing his pants.
"Not even going to try reach for your wand?" Zabini taunted, twirling his in front of Harry's face. "Not smart, but then again Gryffindor are known for brave stupidity and not brains, aren't they?"
"Hermione wouldn't like it if she heard you say that." Harry answered coolly.
Zabini's eye twitched. "Don't say her name. You're only making matters worse for yourself."
Harry leaned against the table, looking at them with slight indifference. "And what have I done this time to have deserved being cornered with wands at my throat?"
"Are you playing dense or are you usually this thick skulled?" Draco hissed. "Hermione is ours."
"Of course she is." Harry agreed, taking both Slytherins by surprise.
Blaise frowned and shared a confused glance with Draco before turning to Harry once more. "Come again?"
Despite the fact that two very dangerous men were pointing their wands at him, Harry smiled. "I'm disappointed in you Zabini, after Hermione you're supposed to be the smartest person here in Hogwarts. Maybe Hermione was wrong, maybe you aren't that smart."
Zabini was silent.
Draco narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What game are you playing, Potter?"
"And you. How she can like your 'personality' still has me dumbfounded."
"Doesn't take much to do that, Potter." Yet Mafloy sounded slightly confused.
There was silence, yet they hadn't lowered their wands.
Harry shook his head. If he was going to lose Hermione, at least it was to guys who were in love with her—even if they didn't realize it yet. "You haven't gotten it, have you?" Silence greeted him. They seemed…worried…and THEY weren't the ones with wands at them! "Mione and I put on a show back there." More silence. "She wanted to make you two jealous."
A slow smile dawned on their faces.
"I guess we won't have to kill you yet." Malfoy sighed, obviously disappointed, as he put away his wand.
"Well, we could hurt him just a little." Zabini offered. "He did touch and kiss her."
Malfoy considered it. Actually considered it! He then sighed and shook his head. "Nah. Hermione wouldn't forgive us." He turned to Harry. "Night Potter."
With that, he and Zabini left Harry as if they'd been having a lovely chat and not as if they'd been planning on taking his life that night.
When he was sure they were gone, Harry shuddered. That'd been more frightening than facing Voldemort. Hopefully Malfoy nor Zabini ever got it in their heads to become the next Dark Lord.
Oh, I think Hermione will keep them straightened out.
With that he hurried to his Common Room before they changed their mind and came back to hurt him a 'just a little', just for the heck of it.
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Next chapter will have more Draco-Hermione-Blaise interaction…
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