Hermione opened the stall door and walked out into the bathroom to the sink. She looked up at herself in the mirror above the basin and ran her fingers through her now messy hair. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen from kissing.

"Crap!" she exclaimed. There was a hickey smack in the middle of her neck. She had been wearing turtlenecks for the last few days, but it was getting warmer and she was wearing a t-shirt. How was she going to hide this? She didn't have time to go up and change. She'd just have to position her hair in a way that covered it. She sighed and let the bathroom, heading downstairs.

The great hall was crowded as usual and Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor table, being careful of her hair. There was no room near Harry or Ron, and so she squeezed herself next to Ginny.

"Hey, Hermione! Where've you been? I think they're about to serve dessert" Ginny exclaimed.

"I was, um, in the library. Lost track of time" Hermione said, hoping that she didn't sound too guilty.

Ginny nodded slowly, her eyes scrutinizing Hermione's. "Something's different…" she said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Hermione avoided her gaze and began to pile her plate with the little food that was left.

"What happened?" Ginny asked, grinning.

"Nothing!" Hermione laughed "I was in the library!"

"You are such a liar!"

"Am not!"

Harry's face appeared from beside Ginny. "Hermione! Where were you?"

Ginny laughed. "Not in the library, that's for sure!"

Harry looked confused. "What?"

"I was in the library!" Hermione protested.

"Okay, fine. You were in the library." Ginny said and then turned to Harry, 'No she wasn't' she mouthed.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I saw that"

Harry shrugged and began talking to Ron again.

Ginny looked at her for a second and then her eyes widened. "No…." she said quietly, surprise in her voice.

"What?" Hermione asked, her heart thumping. Could she possibly tell?

"We're going to have a talk after dinner" Ginny said slowly, furrowing her brows.

No. There was no way Ginny could tell. She was being paranoid. Ginny probably thought she had been making out with someone. Maybe she had seen her hickey. Hermione patted her hair that was placed strategically around her neck. That's what happened. Okay, that's not so bad. I mean, making out wasn't that big of a deal. But Ginny seemed to think it was, which led Hermione to wonder whether Ginny did know what really happened.

As Hermione finished her last bite of dessert, she hoped desperately that Ginny had forgotten about the whole thing, but she knew that was just wishful thinking since Ginny had been giving her looks throughout the rest of the meal. Her suspicions were soon confirmed when Ginny grabbed her arm as she was walking out of the hall and dragged her to a segregated corner, away from the crowd of students.

"Okay, don't kill me, but I need to ask you something and you cannot lie, okay?" Ginny whispered as if spies were listening in.

"Okay…"

"Did you… did you have sex?"

Hermione felt her face become hot. She tried to act as normal as she could. "What?

"I'm only asking 'cause I saw my friend once right after she did and her face had this… look on it and I asked her and she's like 'how did you know?' and so you have a similar look and so I thought…" Ginny said quickly, trailing off at the end and shrugging.

Hermione forced a laugh. "Um, even if I had, who would it be with? I don't even have a boyfriend" Hermione asked.

"Oh my god! I forgot! Nobody ever has sex without a boyfriend! Why, it's an atrocious thought!" Ginny said sarcastically.

"Well… I wouldn't… I mean, I'd have to be in a committed, loving relationship…" Hermione said. That used to be what she had wanted, but that had obviously gone out the window. She and Malfoy's relationship was nowhere near committed or loving.

Ginny made a pout. "Come on, Hermione! It's just us girls! I won't tell anyone! I swear!"

"There's nothing to tell! I didn't do anything!"

Ginny sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I believe you, I just thought—" she stopped mid-sentence, her smile widening. "What's that?" she said, pointing to Hermione's neck.

Hermione felt her stomach flip. "What's what?"

"That thing on your neck!"

"Oh! That! That's, um, a bruise"

Ginny giggled. "No! It's a hickey!"

"No it's not!"

"Well, okay. It's a bruise. How'd you get it?"

"I…um, you know, fell"

"What'd you fall on? Someone's lips? Come on, who did it?"

Hermione knew Ginny didn't believe her in the slightest. She might as well come clean… sort of. "Fine. It's a hickey"

"Yeah, but who did it?"

"A… a guy"

Ginny groaned. "Come on! Ple-e-e-ase? Just tell me about the hickey!"

Hermione sighed. "Fine. I… I made out with someone…"

"Who?"

"Just some guy"

"Hermione, I didn't know you were a slut!" Ginny giggled.

"Hey! I'm not a slut!" Hermione giggled as well.

"Was it the same guy you had sex with?"

Hermione smacked her forehead with frustration. "I didn't have sex!"

"Okay! Okay! Fine, you didn't have sex!"

Hermione opened her mouth to talk, but stopped. The last few students started to file out of the great hall, Malfoy and his goons among them. Hermione felt her heart skip slightly at the sight of him, vivid images speeding across her mind. Malfoy glanced over at her and sneered.

"What are you looking at, mudblood?" He smirked, stopping in front of her and Ginny.

"Scram, Malfoy" Ginny said angrily.

"Ooh! The littlest Weasley is angry! Let's run away!"

"Go to hell" Hermione said icily. She knew he was just covering, but his words stung. "Let's go, Ginny"

"Was it Malfoy?" Ginny asked smiling as they walked away.

"Was what Malfoy?"

"Was he the guy you humped?"

Hermione felt her heart skip a beat. "What? No. No!"

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "Hermione, chill. I was kidding"

Hermione forced a laugh. "Right. Sorry"

Draco lounged lazily on the couch in the Slytherin common room. The images from earlier that evening in the broom closet were still fresh in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He needed to see her. But he was a little nervous. He felt bad calling Hermione a mudblood after dinner and he wasn't sure if it was in his head or not, but her "go to hell" seemed all too real. He sat up and yawned, then checked his watch. One a.m. He really wanted to see her, but that seemed impossible. She was probably sound asleep, far away in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

"Hello Draco" he heard a girlish voice say. He turned to see Pansy standing next to the couch. He felt annoyed by her already.

"May I join you?" she asked.

"Yeah, whatever" Draco shrugged lazily. Pansy smiled a sickeningly sweet smile and slowly walked over in front of Draco. She hopped on his lap, straddling him and then began to stroke his chest with her fingers.

"You look kinda sad…. maybe I could cheer you up." She cooed. She pulled him up straighter by his tie and kissed him. Even though he found Pansy incredibly annoying, he normally would accept her advances. She was hot, after all, and what teenage boy would turn down sex from a hot girl? This particular time, however, he didn't feel like it. He felt her hand slide down his torso and he pushed her away. "I'm not in the mood" he said grumpily.

"What do you mean?" Pansy pouted.

"I mean I'm not in the mood"

"But why?"

"'Cause I'm not"

Pansy made a huffing sound and stormed off to the girl's dormitory, emitting a high pitch squeak of anger as she ascended the stairs. Draco didn't care, though. He stood up and stretched and began walking off to bed, wondering why he hadn't been in the mood… and if it had anything to do with Hermione.