The next morning Hermione was silent as she ate breakfast. She was deep in thought, though she knew in a bit there was going to be an explosion. She hadn't seen Harry or Ron since the day her and Malfoy kissed. Ron's temper was sure to come out. At the moment, though, they seemed to ignore it.

"Hey Hermione, D'you think you could help me out later with that essay from Snape, I'm having some trouble with the conclusion," said Ron, looking at her hopefully. Hermione mumbled a reply. "Uh, is that a yes or a no?" Ron asked, confused.

"Hermione, will you come to watch us practice tonight?" asked Harry. "We'd really like you to be there." Hermione didn't respond. Ron waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't respond, but kept eating.

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Bet you 3 sickles that I can get her to wake up," Ron said, grinning. Harry smiled. "You're on!"

"Guess what Hermione? I haven't done any homework at all this week," said Ron loudly.

"Yeah, well I haven't done any homework at all this past month," said Harry louder.

"Well I haven't done any of my homework at all this past month AND I've been copying it all from Dean" said Ron, even louder than Harry.

"No, you haven't!" said Dean, turning around and glaring at Ron.

"How would you even know, Dean? I could be copying it from you and you wouldn't even notice" Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah right Ron, like that's even possible." Ron sniffed.

"Say what you like, but you just don't know about my master skills."

"Yeah? What kind of skills? Candy skills?"

Ron turned red. "No! My skills in. . . . as a ballet ninja."

"A ballet ninja." Dean repeated.

Ron nodded."With the grace of a ballerina and the violence of a ninja, I've got it all, "Ron said proudly.

The table became quiet at the sound of Ron's proclamation.

"What? You guys are so jealous. Not everyone can be a ballet ninja, you know."

They stared.

"Ron, did you eat any candy this morning, because you're acting weird. More than normal," said Harry, looking at him carefully.

"NO of course not!" Ron shook his head. "Honestly Harry and Co., you always think the worst of me. I'm hurt. I really am." Ron said, giving them all his puppy-dog eyes. There was a chorus of "ugh!" across the table. Harry frowned. "I still don't believe you," he said, running his hand through his untidy black hair. A girl at the Ravenclaw table swooned at the sight, but Harry took no notice.

"I'm tellin' you 'arry, I haven't got a secret source of muggle candy that you don' know abou'!", Ron said through a mouthful of oatmeal, whilst shaking his spoon at him in a mildly threatening manner. The oatmeal splattered on Harry's glasses.

"HEY!"

"Honestly, you two are such idiots," said Ginny, rolling her eyes. Ginny had been watching them all from her seat next to Dean (who was distracted by Ron's evil glares). " But very entertaining idiots," she mused. She turned abruptly toward Hermione. "Hermione, Professor Snape asked me to tell you that your last essay received a T and you now have detention with him tomorrow at 8:00."

That got Hermione's attention.

"WHAT!" she shouted, snapping out of it. Ginny smiled.

"You two owe me . . . 6 sickles for my trouble," she said triumphantly. Grumbling, they handed over their money. Hermione's eyes narrowed as she looked at them. "You bet on me!" Ron shrugged.

"Yeah, so what if we did?" Ron challenged. Just as Hermione was about to answer, Harry cut her off.

"Never mind that! Hermione, we need to talk." Hermione frowned, but didn't reply.

"Oh yeah Hermione, I completely forgot, we need to talk," Ron said earnestly. She looked at both of them who were staring up at her."Fine," she said after awhile. Harry cleared his throat. "Why di-"

"YEAH HERMIONE, WHAT'S UP WITH YOU AND THE SECOND MAJOR GIT IN THE SCHOOL???" Ron shouted.

"Second major git?" Harry asked, smiling a little.

"Well, of course Snape is the first, you kno- DON'T DISTRACT ME, I AM TRYING TO DISCUSS THE SITUATION WITH HERMIONE IN A MATURE WAY!"

Hermione scowled at him. "Ronald, I refuse to talk to you if you shout at me."

"FINE, THEN I REFUSE TO TALK TO YOU!" Ron shouted. Then he grinned at Harry. "You see? I told you I could handle this. I've totally got it down. Way better than you." Harry rolled his eyes. "You sure told her, Ron. Continue eating." he said. Ron took his advice, digging into his plate of food.

"Okay Hermione, why did you do it? Why did you kiss Malfoy back? Why did he kiss you in the first place?" Hermione sighed. "The situation is complicated, Harry. I don't know if I can explain it." Harry nodded. "Just tell me one thing: Do you like him?" "No, absolutely not, "she said, glancing at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was currently in a heated discussion with some girl. She could see him gesturing with his hands . . .

"How dare you imply such things?!" Malfoy hissed at a dark-haired girl, getting in her face. She shrank back and averted her eyes. Malfoy was surprised and annoyed at the girl's boldness. She had just asked him, or really demanded that he tell her "Why'd you kiss that awful Granger girl? Are you in love with her or something?". "How dare you question me?" Malfoy practically shouted at her. "Who do you think you are?"

"M-Martina Davis?" she said tentatively. He rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you that girl that was in that rag Spy Girlz?" He asked, referring to that small interview she had. He took a closer look at the girl. She was shaking. 'Serves her right.' He thought.

"Uh . . . yeah."

He snorted. 'Another jealous fan'. Malfoy had already encountered 3 other girls who were distraught over his "consorting with a Gryffindor." The last one was rather big and scary looking; he hadn't waited for her to finish before he ran down the corridor. Luckily, no one had seen his act of cowardice. He did have his good looks to think about, after all.

He found that with a bit of yelling and dirty looks they fell silent and scampered away. But Martina seemed to be different. He realized that she was still rambling on.

". . . and well I know with your high status going around with Granger will bring your popularity down, and also she's a disgusting mudblood with a freakishly high IQ. I can't imagine why you would dump her for Pansy, I mean, isn't Pansy prettier than her? I don't think girls mind so much that you're with Pansy, but that Hermione Granger? Friends with Potter and that ugly Weasley? If I hadn't heard about the . . . incident from Laurie, who heard it from Francis, who heard it Lucille, who heard it from both Anna and Sarah, who-"

"Shut. Your. Mouth. NOW!" Malfoy growled at Martina, who instantly stopped talking and cowered again. 'This girl needs to make up her mind. Is she scared of me or not?' he thought, frustrated that his intimidation techniques were failing.

"Martina! Think about who you are talking to!" whispered one of her friends sitting next to her. Martina paled. "I-um, I apologize, Draco. I'm sorry."

"Damn right you are, girl," Malfoy muttered. Just then the door to the Great Hall opened.

"Draco! Don't think I didn't know that you insulted me yesterday!" said Pansy, rushing into the hall. She stood next to him, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. Malfoy looked at her. "Bravo Parkinson. It only took you 24 hours to realize that. That's a record! Took you 3 days last time." She sniffed.

"So that's what you think? That I'm slow, then?" She asked, taking the space across from him. She glared. He was about to answer her when something hit him in the face. It was a white owl, not his own black one. Tearing the owl off his face and throwing it in Pansy's, he grabbed the paper that was attached to the owl's leg. He noticed that everyone seemed to have a paper like him. He took a closer look at it.

It was purple.

And Granger was smirking at him.

A/N College Girl now, have off the entire month of January and I said, hey I could update. Sorry nothing really happened this chapter . . . next chapter will be better when I get around to it.

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