Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Author's Note: Hope you liked the last chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, and keep reading! I would like to thank Your Imperfection for the idea for the last chapter. Please, everyone, give me more ideas!

Chapter Eighteen

The next day, Hermione woke up really, with a queasy stomach. She knew that she was going to need to tell Blaise about Draco, but she wasn't too excited. She changed into jeans, a sweater, and sneakers, and pulled her hair back into a high ponytail. She grabbed her bag, and began walking to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She entered the Great Hall and looked around for Blaise. The room wasn't very filled, and she spotted him easily. He was sitting away from the rest of the Slytherins, and not eating. She hurried over to him, and put her hands over his eyes from behind.

Getting close to his ear, she whispered, "Guess who?"

Blaise pulled her hands away and stood up. "We need to, ah, talk." He pulled her out of the Great Hall, and they walked down the corridor together, in silence.

"I brought your jacket," Hermione said, holding up the garment. "You left it last night."

Blaise took the jacket and turned to his girlfriend. "I came back last night, to get my jacket. I almost went in, but, then I heard Draco tell you that he liked you. I knew this, and I was fine with it, but when I heard you say that you also liked him, well, that made me think that something was wrong."

"How much did you hear?" she asked him, wringing her hands.

"Just that you liked him. I couldn't bear to hear anymore, so I left."

"Well, I don't know if this helps any, but Draco and I decided we would be better as friends. I like you so much more than him, and he and I don't do very well dating. At least, we are assuming so. I don't want to break up with you, I want to go out with you some more. Please, don't break up with me."

Blaise was quiet for a while. Finally, a smile softened his face. "How could I ever break up with you?" he said, wrapping his arms around Hermione's waist and pulling her into a hug.

Hermione practically melted into his arms. She held him around his neck, and buried her face in his neck. She was so happy that Blaise was taking her back. She knew that he didn't have to, and that it would take a lot to regain his trust, but she was willing to try. As long as he was.

The day passed by quickly, and the days passing that. Finally, it was the morning before the big Halloween dance. Hermione and Draco had done so well planning that it wasn't really necessary for them to do anything on that Saturday. They just needed to get to the Great Hall about half an hour before the dance started, to make sure that everything was set.

Because they had the day off, Draco slept in until noon, but Hermione was up by eight. She and Ginny were going to spend the day in Hogsmeade. Hermione had used her Head Girl power to convince Professor Dumbledore to let them go to Hogsmeade for some pampering. There was a small, unknown spa in the outskirts of Hogsmeade, which Hermione had discovered in her sixth-year, and she was very excited to spend the day with Ginny. They hadn't really had any girl time in a while, and Hermione was interested in any new things that was going on in her friend's life.

Hermione and Ginny spent the day together, getting pampered. Their nails and hair were styled, and they were waxed in multiple areas of their bodies. They each bought new dresses and shoes, and made it back to Hogwarts about three hours before the dance. They snuck into Hermione's room, making sure no one saw them. They wanted their transformations to be a surprise.

Ginny was sitting on a chair in front of a mirror and vanity that Hermione had magically created. Hermione was standing behind her, using her curling iron to make big, loopy curls from Ginny's long, crimson hair. Hermione had always been jealous of Ginny's hair, but she had come to love her own hair, and knew that it would probably be impossible for her to dye her dark brown hair that color.

"So, who are you going with to the dance?" Hermione asked Ginny, concentrating on her hair.

Ginny sighed. "Sadly, only Harry."

"Hah! You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"I don't mean it like that," Ginny said, smiling. "I love Harry. It's just that, I feel like I'm going to the dance with my older brother. Like I'm going with Ron. It's kinda...weird."

"Well, it would be illegal if it were your real brother. I don't think they would let you into the dance if you went with Ron. Besides, maybe something will become of this date. Harry's a good catch."

Ginny looked down. "I don't really think anything with come from the dance if I go with Harry."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, cocking her head.

Ginny sighed. "I'm not really suppose to tell you this."

"What?"

"Well, Harry and Ron have been talking...about you. Apparently, Harry isn't completely over you. I mean, I'm not saying that he's planning on confessing his love to you at the dance, but he's been thinking about you. A lot. I don't think he wanted to break up. He misses you."

Hermione was quiet for a moment, shocked. "How did you find out?" She asked finally.

"Ron told me. I don't know why. I guess he thought that you should know, and since he's still a little uncomfortable around you, he probably thought that I would be willing to tell you, since we still talk and stuff."

Hermione thought for a few minutes. "What am I suppose to do now?"

"I have no idea," Ginny said. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you. Because, now it's going to be even more awkward between you two. He just got over the fact that your dating Blaise. If he feels like you are acting differently around him, well, I dunno."

"Does he know that Ron told you?"

"I don't think so. But I'm not sure. You don't think he would get mad at me for telling you, do you?"

"I'm not sure. If he doesn't find out that I know, then we should be okay."

"But that means that you have to act totally natural around him. Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so. Hopefully." Hermione stepped back from Ginny, and said, "Ta-da!"

Ginny looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was in ringlets that rolled over her shoulders and framed her face. "I love it!" she cried. She stood up and gave Hermione a hug. "Thank you, so much."

The two girls changed into their dresses, and finished their makeup. Ginny's dress was black, and stopped a few inches above her knee. It had spaghetti straps and a semi-deep scoop neck. She was wearing black heels, and, because it was a Halloween dance, black cat ears with white stripes and a short tail in the back. Hermione had painted on whiskers and rimmed Ginny's eyes in extremely dark eyeliner. The final effect was very sexy.

Ginny was meeting Harry in the Gryffindor Tower, so she left Hermione about an hour before the dance. Before Hermione shut the door after Ginny left, she could hear catcalls and whistles in the corridor, which made her smile. She knew Ginny wouldn't be embarrassed by this.

About thirty seconds after Hermione shut the door, Draco opened it from the outside. Draco's breath got caught in his throat, and all other thoughts cleared from his head when he saw Hermione. Her dress was white, and skin tight. It was knee-length, and the bottom flared out slightly. It was strapless, and revealed some cleavage, but nothing too slutty. She was wearing white sandals with two-inch heels, and her hair was wavy. It grazed her shoulders and hung down her back. She had on rabbit years and a cotton tail on her back. Draco couldn't help but look at her.

Draco had also changed for the dance, and Hermione was amazed at his transformation. He was wearing a black suit, with green accents. His black shoes looked expensive, and she could see a gold watch on his wrist. Wherever Draco went, he flaunted his wealth, even if he didn't mean to. Hermione had assumed that he would slick back his hair, but he left it loose and floppy. Hermione didn't know this, but Draco had continually worn his hair without gel after he saw Hermione's reaction to it on the train. He had only worn it like that on the train because he had packed his gel the night before, and so he wasn't able to put it in that morning. However, he liked how she looked at him when his hair was loose, and wanted to keep it like that.

"You look great," Hermione said, finally finding her voice.

"You, too," Draco said. They stood like this for a few more moments, in silence.

"So, um, who are you going with to the dance?" Hermione asked.

"I'm going stag," he admitted. "I, ah, spent so much time planning for the date, that I completely forgot I need a date. It's actually kind of funny."

Hermione nodded, smiling weakly.

"I'm assuming you are going with Blaise?" Draco said. Hermione nodded again.

Hermione didn't know why it was so uncomfortable. Maybe it was because neither was use to the other looking how they did at the time.

A knock on the portrait door made both jump. Draco opened it to Ron, who had his arm wrapped around Ginny. Ron barely glanced at Draco, and pushed his way past. When he got to Hermione, though, he stopped.

"Whoa," he said, giving her a once-over.

Ginny smacked his arm. "Stopped gawking, Ron, it's uncomfortable for everyone in the room."

Ron mentally shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Did she tell you about...you know?" he asked. He had remembered that Draco was in the room at the last moment, and didn't want him to know that Harry still had feelings for Hermione.

"About...Ginny's date?" Ron nodded. "Yeah. Was she not suppose to?"

"I kind of promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone. You have to swear that you will act normal around him. We don't want him mad at us."

"How am I suppose to act normal around him?! I just found out that...well, you know."

Ginny sighed. This was getting annoying. "How about we just go back to Hermione's room?" She turned to Draco. "Obviously, we don't want you to know who we are talking about, so if you could just not, like, listen, that would be great."

"Whatever," Draco said, shrugging. "I should probably work on some homework anyway."

The trio went back to Hermione's room. Once the door was shut, Ron turned to Hermione. "Look, you can't let Harry even think for a second that you know that he still likes you." He kept his voice down.

"I will, don't worry," Hermione assured him. "But, it's not like I'm going to act the same around him. I mean, I'm going to be looking for little signs, that he still likes me. I can't help it, I'm curious."

Ron sighed. "Okay, just...try not to make it obvious. He's already hurt enough."

"Are you ever going to tell him that you told me?"

"Probably, at some point."

Hermione nodded. "I guess you guys should probably go. I'll see you at the dance."

Ron and Ginny left the room. After the door had shut, she lay facedown on the bed (so as not to mess with her hair) and contemplated this news. She couldn't believe that Harry still had feelings for her. The most important thing, though, was to keep Blaise in the dark. If he knew that Harry still liked her, he might think that Hermione also liked him. After the Draco fiasco, Hermione wanted to make sure that Blaise knew she only had eyes for him.