It. Has. Been. Two. Years.
That is such a scary thought...to be honest, I completely forgot about this story until I got a review from nightskyandglowinglanterns. So this one is for you.

Disclaimer: Hasn't changed in two years, I still don't own Harry Potter or it's characters...


DPOV

She stormed out of Potions again. Without a word.

What did I expect? For this all to go perfectly? Fat chance, Granger already hated me enough already. Having not spoken in two days probably isn't helping the situation, but what am I supposed to say? 'Oi Granger! Quit ignoring me so we can pretend to be a couple again!'? Not likely.

Not to mention Krum is badgering me, 'Vhy aren't you being vith your girlfriend?' which quickly developed to 'Have zhe two of you ended zhings?'

Which to me, is translating to 'I win'.

HPOV

The library is no longer a safe haven, no longer my quiet escape. He is always there. So naturally, so are his squealing fangirls. I caught him looking over at me a few times, he tried to look apologetic but the glee was pretty evident. That look, above all else, is what made me avoid the library at all costs. He clearly thinks Malfoy and I have broken up because of him.

We haven't. You can't end what never started. But Viktor Krum doesn't need to know that. The more he disrupts my peace, the more I want to speak to Malfoy again and restart this charade.

Unfortunately, that isn't much of an option either, I still haven't forgiven him. I can protect myself thank you very much. Though I was slightly irritated when Ron gave me a victorious speech about how he was right and the genius Hermione Granger was wrong. That in itself almost made me run straight down to the dungeon and demand to see Malfoy, but I still have my pride.

Harry is finding all of this pretty amusing, he's about the only boy I willingly spend time around now and he uses that time to point out all the ways Ron, Krum and Malfoy are trying to get back on my good side. I can't help but feel he's making most of them up though, and I quickly found that a good way to shut him up was to mention Cho Chang. He quickly found a new subject to over-analyse. Luckily, Ginny is never around when I use this tactic, it would break the poor girl to hear what he had to say.

Anyway, all of this adds up to why I'm currently sitting by the lake. It's the only soothing place I have left. Although yesterday, Malfoy found me here and seemed to debate between staying to talk to me and running for his life, like a good ferret.

He chose to be a ferret, which I was very thankful for.

DPOV

"You might as well forget it."

"It's none of your business Blaise."

My so-called friend decided he'd spend my third day of exasperation teasing me about my current situation. That I could get any Slytherin girl I wanted, possibly in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too, but I was spending my time worried about a Gryffindor Mudblood.

Proves how much he knows. I'm not worried, I simply wish she'd speak to me. An insult, just one word, anything!

"Just tell Krum you ended it. It'll make you seem less pathetic." Blaise laughed. I seriously want to hex him.

"Do you really not understand my situation, you moron? I can't do that. The whole idea is that he stays away from her, not that I give him a reason to be near her."

"I thought the whole idea was you keeping her to yourself because you'd get jealous?" Blaise winked and nudged me.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him further from me, standing up and admittedly, slightly raising my voice. "Where the hell did you get that idea? I've made it clear from the start about what I'm trying to do, but all you do is to try to make it that little bit harder for me. Do me a favour and piss off." And with that, I walked out of the common room, not wanting to hear what he had to say.

Out of nowhere, I crashed into someone who seemed to have a brown bush resting on their head. I didn't say a word.

She seemed to be debating copying my tactic, but she lifted her head and looked me straight in the eyes "Malfoy."

I let out a sigh of relief. There. One word. It made me feel so much better. She was talking to me, she wasn't angry anymore. Or not as angry. The look in her eyes however, told another story.

"I'm still mad at you. And I don't intend to make up any time soon. Or at least, act like before." She began, "But I've been thinking, and this is stupid. All it's doing is making Krum more and more suspicious, drawing his own conclusions. The least I could do is openly show my irritation, then it would seem more like a couple simply arguing."

Snapping back to my former self, I retorted "I thought you didn't want to play my 'little game' anymore?"

Hermione remained calm "I don't, but it can't be helped. All Krum is doing is interrupting my quiet and it seems the further I pull from you, the more he just hangs around. I can't read in peace anymore."

I smirked and leaned against the dungeon wall "So you want to be my girlfriend again because you can't read in peace? Honestly Granger, that sounds slightly desperate."

Her eyes flashed dangerously "Fake girlfriend Malfoy. Contrary to your obvious belief, none of this is real. And I am not desperate! You're the one that's been following me for two days trying to build the nerve to talk to me."

Damn, she'd noticed that? Well, I hadn't exactly been following her, it was more of an inner argument whenever I saw her, which often resulted in my eyes following her every movement before deciding I didn't exactly want to die just yet.

"Delusional as always Granger. Now if you can bear being away from me after two days without my presence, I need to talk to Blaise. He needs help with his schoolwork. See you, 'love'." I chuckled and turned to return the way I came, fully intending to talk to Blaise again, but about something completely different to stupid schoolwork. If that asshole can go without mocking me again.

Maybe I shouldn't tell him.

HPOV

I rolled my eyes as Malfoy left and began to wander back to the Gryffindor common room. The only way I would class myself as desperate, is that I am desperate to get my quiet place in the library back. There is absolutely no other reason. I'm not desperate to prove Ron wrong, though that is a plus. I'm not desperate to stop listening to Harry talk about Cho, though I feel I could stand to hear less about her apparent perfection.

And I am certainly not desperate to talk to Malfoy again. That would just be mad.

"Hermione, where were you?" Ron asked as I entered, "I've been waiting to play Wizards Chess, thought we could have a nice, friendly game cause we're you know, friends."

"Wizards Chess is never a friendly game. It's barbaric, Ronald."

"You just don't want to play cause I can beat you every time." Ron teased, then he shrugged and looked down "We could do something else if you want. I don't mind, you pick. Though please, don't say homework."

I was about to give him a lecture about how important homework was to our lessons and therefore our futures, but then he raised his head with a slightly hopeful look on his face and I couldn't help but smile softly. He was trying so hard to put things right between us.

"I'll give you one game of Wizards Chess. Just one."

Ron grinned and set up the pieces and I sat down opposite him. Fred and George sat down next to us and began a running commentary, which is what I eventually blamed for my loss. A bad excuse, but it works.

Later, Ron and I were sitting on the couch, talking about the upcoming Triwizard tournament and who'd be chosen by the goblet to compete. As Ron mentioned Krum for Durmstrang, I grew tense again and began to think.

Ron was being this way not only because he wanted to make up for his overall behaviour, but also that he simply wouldn't have to deal with my 'decision' anymore. Now that Draco is supposedly out of the picture, he feels comfortable again. I suddenly felt I'd betrayed one of my best friends and I needed to set things straight.

"Hermione," Ron began before I could say a word, "it's great to be talking again, don'tcha think? I mean, I missed you." He thought about his words for a second and added "Yeah, w-we're friends right?"

I forced a smile "As strange as it seems, I missed you too Ronald." I can't do this to him. He can't know about it.

I can't tell him.


Phew, done. Sorry if the characters seemed different, it has been two years after all.

Throughout writing this, I repeatedly listened to 'I Just Wanna Be Mad' by Terri Clark. I love it and it kinda links ^.^

Please review and let me know whether it's worth continuing after so long.