Yeah. I really hope you guys will like this chapter, cos it's my favourite chapter of this fic currently.

Oh yeah, someone asked me if I could email then when I updated Changing Tides.

So if you want EMAIL NOTIFICATION, email me at decembi@yahoo.com with the subject line Changing Tides. Or you can put *** three stars in your review, and I will add you to the emailing list. ^_^

One last question.. DO YOU HATE PARRY?

Thanks! Happy Reading! ^_^

Chapter 12 : A Smile and Chocolates

   Someone up there must really hate me.

  There is NO other way about it.

   I was just about to kiss Hermione (the less you picture it, the better) when suddenly.

  "AHHHHHHH! Quick! Everybody move!"

Filch arrived.

  You know, I'm seriously doubting the concept of time.

  Sometimes time moves at such a fast speed, you can't grasp anything that's happening. And sometimes time seem to stop moving, and everything just moves in slow-mo.

  I experienced both times tonight.

  First it was the slow-mo time, Draco was about to kiss me. And it seemed to take forever.

  Then all of a sudden, a scream broke out.

 Filch had arrived, broom in hand. Ready to beat up all the "no-good hanky panky hormonal teenage couples" in sight.

  Draco and I froze in shock. Suddenly, it was like we were finally comprehending the fact that we almost made the worst mistake of our life.

   Time started flying like crazy.

  I couldn't think. I couldn't move.

 And if it wasn't for Draco grabbing my hand and pulling me all the way back to our rooms, I would probably be beaten to pulp by Filch now.

  I looked now at Draco. We were both breathless. Cheeks flushed.

  "Er… thanks." I muttered looking down at the ground. "I froze a while there."

  "No problem. You can always count on your local superhero, Draco Malfoy to come to the rescue." Draco grinned.

  "Don't get use to the idea of me playing the damsel in distress." I said smiling back at Draco wickedly. "I'm usually the villain with a bottle of glue in hand."

  "Right." Draco rolled his eyes.

 We looked at each other awkwardly.

 "Well… I'm tired. Good night then." Draco said, turning around to go to his room.

  "Er… wait." I said, fidgeting a little.

  "Yes? Any last superhero requests?" Draco tilted his head towards me. "Don't ask me to fly to the moon though. The man living on the moon is way creepy."

  I smiled. "Don't tempt me."

  "Well…" I looked straight into Draco's eyes. "You know just now at the Venus statue, before Filch came in like the terminator. What DID you want to do?"

  For a moment, I thought Draco lost his usual sense of composure. But then it was such a short moment, I really couldn't be sure.

  "Eyelash." Draco said.

  "Eyelash?"

  "Yeah. There was an eyelash on your cheek and I was going to do the gentleman thing of wiping it off."

  "Well thanks then." I said as nonchalantly as possible.

  "No problem."

 Draco turned and went into his room.

  When Draco left, I practically ran into my room.

  I closed the door shut quickly.

  Then leaning on the door, I fell down to my knees.

  No doubt about it, Draco wanted to kiss me.

  "Hermione?"

  "Yes?" I looked up from my breakfast.

  "Did something happen to you? You are acting really strange today." Harry asked concernedly.

  "Me strange?" I smiled. "NO WAY!"

  "Yes you are!" Ron chimed in. "You are giving this weird creepy smile. If I didn't know better, I would think you are in love."

  "Ha ha." I said, looking back down on my plate. "I guess I should stop smiling at you guys, since I creep you guys out."

  "Thank you." Ron smiled, and patted his chest. "I had always wanted to talk to you about your creepy smile. And now that I have, I feel like a load has been lifted off my chest."

  I turned to Harry. "Talk to me quick. I think my intelligence is dissipating from me."

  Harry laughed. "Well on the good news, I did meet Parry last night and told her I didn't like her, although she is a very nice girl. It was surprisingly easy."

  "Yeah, considering how I was the one who told Parry. It was surprisingly easy." Ron said dryly.

  "What!" I glared at Harry. "How can you get Ron to talk to Parry for you!"

  "Hey!" Harry said indignantly. "I was there, it was just that it wasn't my mouth moving."

  "You are so sensitive." I said dryly to Harry.

  "Did Parry take it well?" I asked concerned.

  "Hmm… not considering the way she screamed, pulled her hair, stomped around, did this weird little funky dance and started crying enough to save the world from drought, I would say she's taking it excellently." Ron said. "Though therapy would be good."

  "Doesn't it make you feel proud?" I looked at Harry.

  Harry blushed. "Ok, ok. I'm a jerk. Can we move on to something else? Like today's pie for instance."

  "No way!" Ron smiled. "This is the first time I'm not the jerk here. I want to savor this moment."

 I was about to add in my two cents when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

  "Hi Neville. What's the matter?" I asked curiously.

  Neville blushed, and looked at his shoes. "Er… I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure. But do you think you can look at my face. I mean I'm not that ugly."

 Neville quickly looked up, his face even redder. "No it's not that! You are really pretty."

  Aww… gee-shucks. Is there a sweeter guy in Hogwarts?

  I think not!

  "Ok. Flattery will get you anywhere. What do you want me to do?" I smiled.

  "Well it's just that I heard about Parry… she has locked herself up in her room and I heard some girls complain about not being able to sleep because she was crying all night. And since, Parry doesn't seem to have many friends… and she seems pretty close to you… so I was wondering…"

  Neville held up a box of chocolates. "If maybe you could give her this. You know… to cheer her up."

  Neville's face was so red, he was definitely going to erupt any moment.

  I smiled. "Sure."

  "Thanks." Neville passed me the box and ran away so fast it was like his pants were on fire.

  "You know what?" Ron said laughing.

  "What?" I said warily.

  "I have never seen Neville run so fast before, not even from Professor Snape." Ron smiled. "And you want to know why I think his running so fast?"

  "Because he is extremely shy around girls." I replied.

  "No, no, no!" Ron said shaking his finger.

  "It was your creepy smile that did it."

  "Hmmm…"

  "Hermione, can you stop hmmmming. It's annoying." Draco said. "If you want to ask me something, well ASK ME!"

  "You will think it's silly." I said.

  All the lessons were over, and Draco and I were walking towards the Great Hall for dinner.

 "Since when have I thought anything you said resembled intelligence?" Draco said, giving his usual smirk.

  "Well, this is even sillier." I said. "But I will ask anyway."

  "But you must promise not to laugh." I said sternly.

  "What? I'm not allowed to mock you?" Draco paused, he pretended to be in deep thought. "I'm not sure I'm physically able to do that."

  "Well at least promise not to tease me about it." I said. "And swear it on whatever shred of honour you have left."

  Draco arched his eyebrow. "Ok. I swear as the wonder prince of Hogwarts to not tease Hermione on her deep dark silly secret."

  "Well… do I have a creepy smile?" I asked finally.

  Draco was stunned for a moment. "What? This is it?"

  "Yes." I said annoyed. "This is it. So do I?"

  Draco looked at me thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, your smile is pretty creepy."

  "Great. I should have never mentioned it." I sighed.

  "Now don't be sad." Draco laughed. "I heard some guys actually like creepy smiley girls."

  "Thanks, Draco. But PLEASE stop comforting me." I said to Draco.

  "Well, no need to thank me." Draco said. "I'm just Mr Nice Guy."

  "What's with the box of chocolates?"

  "Oh. This?" I waved the box of chocolates. "It's for Parry, from Neville. I guess you can call me cupid."

  "Neville? Squeaky boy?" Draco shook his head. "Who could have thought?"

  "Well I think it's sweet." I said.

  "You would, wouldn't you?" Draco smirked.

  "Oh, of course Mr. Wonder Prince of Hogwarts doesn't give girls chocolates. He doesn't need to, he is already oozing with so much charm and perfectness, all the girls just run to him. They are the ones that give HIM chocolates." I said sarcastically.

  For a moment, Draco was silent.

  Then he wiped an invisible tear from his eye.

  "You know me so well."

  "Stop it, you are giving me goosebumps!" I said.

  "Well as a matter of fact, I did receive a box of chocolates today." Draco smiled.

  He took out a box of chocolates from his pocket. It was a small box, but one could tell from the packaging it was extremely expensive.

  "It's from one of the girls on my top ten list, you know the one we made yesterday." Draco said, opening the box of chocolates. "I think I may ask her to the dance."

  And just like that. Time stood still again.

  "So…" Draco said waving the opened box of chocolates in front of me. "Want a piece of chocolate?"

Dedication time!

I would like to dedicate this chapter to these wonderful people:

Illusion – thanks so much! ^_^ It's so nice to know people think I'm funny… well remotely anyway. ^_^

Kriss – thanks! ^_^ I hope you like what is happening!

Fire Soul – thank you so much! You are so sweet! And far too nice! ^_^

Chocolat Elf – you are always so funny! ^_^ Thanks! I hope you aren't disappointed cos there are no passionate kissing… (yet)

 Wyrm – thank you so much! ^_^ you are so so so nice! And you don't know how happy it makes me to heard that I make people laugh!

JMS – yeah! I wanted to give people a shock! ^_^ thanks!

Hpdancer92 – thanks! ^_^ I'm so happy I actually managed to surprise people a little…

SoshilaDove – heehee! Thanks! ^_^ I gotta admit I ended it in a cliffie a bit on purpose… but I thought it was a nice end.

Jocelyn Padoga - ^_^ lol! Now, I will give you a golden bracelet to match the ring!

Rei-chan – glad you liked the candy floss! I love candy floss! ^_^ I'm sorry.. if this update was a bit late. At least there's no cliffie!! ^_^ Here's a chocolate bar.

Chanzo – haha! ^_^ ooh I would so love to write Hermione slapping Draco… that would be so awesome… *makes note to self* definitely writing a slapping scene. ^_^ Dedicated to you of course!!

Dawniky – oooh! ^_^ haha, I promise you *in black and white* Harry will definitely dance with a girl named dawn at the dance! ^_^

Stormy Phoenix - ^_^ to get on your good side! I promise no cliffies for the next few chapters! See no cliffie in this chapter!

Xtreme Nuisance – lol! ^_^ I never thought of Harry popping out, though it would be a fun scene to see. I would imagine Draco and Harry fighting it out… ooooh..

Gothendergirl666 - ^_^ I'm sworn to secrecy, can't tell you whether they will go to the dance together. Bob the Llama rocks! ^_^

 Roswellbfan - *wells up in tears* ooooh! You are so sweet! I'm so happy I can actually be something that resembles funniness! Thank you! ^_^

HHGGDDMM – oops! ^_^ please don't delete my story! Here's one hot pipping chapter right from the oven!

Katina Wellson  - ahh thank you so much! If everybody that hates me are like you, I wouldn't mind people hating me at all! ^_^

DemonWitch666 – you are as funny as always! ^_^ LOL, I love your flying monkeys. Heehee Hermione is nosy, mostly for my evil purposes! MUAHAHA… ^_^ maybe you can teach me Albuquerque sometime!

Dark child – you are so nice! ^_^ hope you like this chapter!

Pookyber – ooh! Me too! I love D/hr.. they are such a cute couple!

Elle-poohbear – ooh! Thank you so much! I will strive to do better!

Emma – thanks! ^_^ I really hope I'm improving with each chapter…

Gandella Raye – oooh! The fanfic loves you too! ^_^

PotterzGirl - ^_^ I hope this chapter will save you from the near death! Ooh evilness.. doncha just love it? ^_^

Snowbear - ^_^ heehee.. I am evil. I promise to be a good girl now.

Ezmerelda – thanks so much for reading! ^_^  yes cliffhangers are cruel! Therefore I will hand you my bag of cliffhangers *passes bag to Ezmerelda* there.. no cliffhangers for a long while.. till I get it back from you again! ^_^

Crissy the Amazing – AHHH! ^_^ this is the first time somebody said my writing had an innocent style. And I don't know why, but I feel so damn complimented. ^_^ so thank you so much! I will continue being innocent ^_^ till the monsters get me…

Lisa-Ann – yes master! No brats please! ^_^ ooh.. do people hate parry so much? *note to self* Must do poll. Heehee…

Thank you… ^_^ till next time…