A/N

Sorry about the really late update. exams ): if there are any mistakes here like spelling or anything, I'm sorry! just tell me and I'll correct it when I have time.

A month had past since Cormac McLaggen had asked her and a month was left before the Christmas Party. Now that she was sort of going out with Cormac, her plan seemed to be going accordingly. She just needed to wait for the party to come for it to be over with. She didn't like Cormac to be honest, not even as an actual friend, she especially didn't like his personality. His cockiness and vainness of oneself annoyed her to the bone and the way he thought that everything about him was just perfect disgusted her. He was good looking she had to admit, but Hermione preferred personality over looks, if he wanted to get anywhere with her he might as well begin with a change of personality.

Over the past month, it had consisted of avoiding helping Harry and Ron with homework, avoiding listening to Ron and Lavender flirt, doing homework and studying with Zacharias in the library, and trying to avoid Cormac totally. Whenever they were together, which was usually between times after lessons in the Gryffindor dorms, with all the other people around, all he talked about was Quidditch... Quidditch.... Quidditch. Hermione couldn't believe that he didn't know by now that she hated the sport... Not hate, but a huge dislike for it. Didn't the whole school know? If only he was like Viktor... Harry... or even Zacharias. Zacharias...

He had been smiling at her more often, though it didn't seemed to be forced. It just came to him naturally and it in fact made herself smile, that was something that she liked about Zacharias, he had a skill of making people smile, if only people would pay attention to how he really was...

Now that Lavender had 'replaced' her as the new member of the Golden Trio, Hermione now hung out with him. They did pretty much everything together and he was smarter than she had first thought. He wasn't the show off or rude person people saw him to be. He was just a blunt guy who said what he thought, most of the time without thinking, if you tried to understand him you would realise that he didn't really mean to sound as rude as he sounded. He was just quite to himself but would be open and friendlier if you were closer to him.

She hadn't received any letters from Viktor or written any to him. He was of course, busy with Quidditch and the season was currently at its high so he didn't have any time for himself. His coach was pushing him too hard in her opinion, but if her brother liked what he was doing, she had no choice but to follow through with it.

Hermione was walking by the Black Lake again and could feel the gentle breeze against her face. There was a sweetness albeit the coldness of the wind as it carried the scent of the lake's water in a rather unusual way today. The sun wasn't shining as it had been covered like a blanket with the grey clouds. The day seemed gloomy but she didn't really care, class was over and homework was done, now she had time for herself.

A sudden sound of friction between pebbles was heard and Hermione could feel somebody's eyes on her. They were very familiar but they weren't friendly ones either, it was impossible to make a mistake in guessing who it was as soon as the person opened his mouth.

"What are you doing out here mudblood? Get out of my way!" Draco Malfoy sneered.

"Oh, hello there Malfoy, I didn't realise you were here," Hermione began as if they were in friendly terms. "If you haven't noticed, I come here all the time. Have you finally recovered from the unfortunate accident by Hagrid's hut?"

She smirked as she saw the colour on Draco's face drain out slowly and turn him even paler than he already was. His left brow twitched for a moment before the familiar vexed expression of his replaced the fear on his face.

"You will not tell anyone of this!" he said furiously. "I just tripped and hit my head and fainted. This stupid school should make proper pathways by that half bloods stupid hut. The stupid giant should leave the school already too. My father shall know about this!"

Hermione tutted as he spoke and continued to hold the smirk on her face. "Malfoy, we're witches and wizards, we have wands, use them."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"If you can't see anything, you should obviously use your wand and use the light charm spell."

Draco scoffed and glared at her though not his usual menacing one. It had softened during the past month and his teasing and belittling words had gotten softer too for some miraculous reason. Could he be the infatuation that Alice was talking about? But there was a possibility that the infatuation boy was Ronald. He was nice to her at times and sometimes tried to flirt with her in really awkward ways. But then again, he was apparently dating Lavender so the possibility may not be one.

"I couldn't find my wand in the dark!" he muttered/stuttered. "Look, I don't have time to waste and talk to you, you filthy little mu- thing. Get out of my way, I'm off to the other side of the lake."

He then marched off and was soon followed by Crabbe and Goyle who Hermione had just realised were behind him by a few meters. They were looking at her suspiciously and were whispering to each other. Hermione couldn't help but feel interested in what they were talking about.

"You didn't need to tell me where you were going," Hermione said, wondering if Draco would answer her. Her guesses told her that he wouldn't but his action contradicted what her mind had told her.

"It just sort of slipped..." he mumbled, now a couple of meters away from her. "Stop talking to me!"

"You're the one who's answering her," Zacharias said, in a rather rough voice.

Hermione turned her head to the right to find that Zacharias had just arrived. He was standing rather tensely and seemed to be reaching for his wand.

"Did he hurt you?" he whispered to Hermione.

"Oh! No," she said, surprised by his question. "Just a little bump against the wall."

He looked unsure at her metaphor but now stopped reaching for his wand. He smiled at her and started asking her about her day. As they spoke, Hermione noticed that Malfoy was only still a couple of meters away. He was walking ever so slowly... Was this a clue to the possible infatuation? He turned his head around for a moment and their eyes met. Even from afar, she could see just how stormy his grey eyes were, it scared yet fascinated her, it was as if there was another person hiding behind a masquerade of false pretense. There was a sudden softness to his face before something shot through his eyes... a memory... a thought... the ultimate truth- a rule... it took control of his face and he now suddenly sneered at her. The masquerade was back.

"Hermione? Were you even paying attention to what I was saying?" Zacharias asked, with a small smile. He didn't look offended though.

"Er- sorry." she said, smiling with an embarrassed look on her face.

"It's all right," he said. "Probably thinking about homework?"

"Yeah..." She felt guilty for saying so. Hermione hated lying...

Walking along the Black Lake with Zacharias was a routine for the two everyday now. It was a sort of exercise for them really, to be able to stretch their legs from the long days of sitting on a chair and studying. The walk also allowed them to think about other things besides school and relax for a bit which Hermione quite liked. Contrary to common belief, Hermione did not always like studying. She needed a break- she was a human after all!

"What's that useless ferret still doing here for?" Zacharias asked her, when he realised that he was only a few meters away. "I thought he was supposed to have left?"

"I don't know," Hermione said.

"Never mind- Forget about him." he said.

He stopped walking for a moment which made Hermione stop to and bent down to pick up a few pebbles. He threw one into the Black Lake and instead of just sinking into the dark water, it bounced a couple of times as if it were a ball.

"You can do that?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, you can't?" he asked with a smirk.

"Don't show off now!" she said, smiling with him.

He chuckled. "Want me to teach you? Here- if you don't mind..."

Hermione suddenly felt his chest against the back of her head and the warmth of his hands on hers. Knowing that she was right handed, he brought her left one down and lifted her right one up after putting a small and smooth pebble into it.

"Relax your arms and just let me do everything." he said into her ear.

Hermione caught her breath in her mouth as she felt his skin softly against hers. For some reason she was nervous. She had never been so close to the opposite sex, apart from her father, Harry, Ron and Viktor. Viktor was her brother but before they were and when they had been dating... Never mind about that. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Malfoy watching them with disbelief. He appeared to not look so happy as he was stamping his feet against the ground like a baby before running off back to the castle with Crabbe and Goyle on his trail.

Zacharias brought her arm back gently before pushing it forward, making her release her grip on the pebble. She watched as it glided across the air, forcing its way against the wind before gently touching the water. Hermione, who had experienced her throwing of pebbles to always end up sinking found herself surprised and proud of herself as it bounced about four times before inevitably sinking.

"Oh my god!" she said, turning around to face Zacharias as she lifted her head up. She gave him a hug. "Oh Merlin! Thank you so much! I've never done that before! And-"

She stopped talking as she found her arms had found its way around his neck and his hands on her waist. Her breath caught itself in her mouth again and she lost her words. How had this happened? It suddenly clicked in her head. Zacharias was the other guy!

He was blushing now as he looked into her eyes. Hermione could see the colour of his eyes change from green to blue to brown... He suddenly leaned slowly forward and pressed his lips against hers. For a moment, her mind went blank. Nothing was going through her head. It took a while before it finally hit her that she was kissing Zacharias. Strangely, the nervous feeling in her stomach disappeared and she couldn't feel anything except the touch of his lips and the curiosity of her mind. There was nothing really in her heart that made her heart beat rapidly like it had been when she kissed her brother a few years ago. She was confused.

Zacharias pulled her closer to him and added a little pressure to his kiss. It made her squirm and she felt her lips react to it. She suddenly had a warm feeling in her heart and thought that maybe this was something she had to get used to. After all, she had only kissed one guy in her whole entire life so maybe she did have feelings for Zacharias? Or was she just confusing herself?

She suddenly felt guilt tug at her heart as she remembered that she was 'dating' Cormac. They hardly ever did anything together except talk about Quidditch, but kissing Zacharias felt like cheating on him even though she had absolutely no feelings for him.

Zacharias suddenly stopped kissing her and looked her in the eyes. He was still hugging her and Hermione wondered why her arms were still around his neck.

"That was unexpected..." he said, slowly and unwillingly letting go of her. "I'm sorry, it was an act of impulse. I hadn't expected myself to kiss you. Sorry about that."

"No it's all right," she said, not exactly knowing what to say. "Um, that was..."

"Fantastic." he said, smiling at her. "To be honest, it felt heavenly, but I still feel bad because I stole that kiss from you... You don't have feelings for Cormac right?"

Hermione froze for a moment, trying to find an answer to his question. She wasn't sure what to say after the kiss had happened. "Um, I don't know. I don't think I do."

"That's good," he said, still smiling. "Hermione... I want to tell you something..."

She looked at him and already figured out what he was going to say. The problem was, she didn't know how to respond to him.

"I think I love you..." Zacharias said, nervously. "Well... Ever since that trip to see Edward, even when the other hot vampires surrounded us... you still outshone them in my opinion. I think you're beautiful."

She didn't know if her jaws dropped or not. She was once again confused.

"You don't need to tell me anything now, Hermione," he suddenly said. "I just wanted you to know that because I felt bad to not tell you anything about how I feel about you."

"It's okay. I just don't know what to say to be honest." she said.

He nodded. "I understand. Do you want to go back to the castle?"

"Okay."

As they walked back, Hermione's head were filled with thoughts and questions. She needed to figure out everything that had happened soon. Until now, no guy apart from her brother had actually loved her. No guy had ever loved her. But now it felt like they did. Cormac McLaggen loved her? Zacharias just admitted he did. Draco possibly did with his behavior and all for evidence and Ronald? She had always been jealous of the other pretty girls who had all the guys falling for them but now she knew how they felt. Stressed out and confused.

Before Hermione knew it, she was standing in front of the Fat Lady. Zacharias was still next to her and he was staring at her.

"We're back." He said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Hermione nodded, not exactly looking at him.

"Goodbye then." he said.

He then walked off, back straighter than usual as his shoulders were usually hunched in a laid back position.

Hermione watched him and sighed, wondering if she was able to keep their relationship as platonic as possible from now on. She didn't exactly have any feelings for him, but at times, she felt as if they were more then friends- like earlier today when he had kissed her. She took a deep breath and muttered the password to the Fat Lady before walking into the Gryffindor common room.

She saw Cormac sitting on the biggest armchair in the room, surrounded by his friends. He had the same cocky expression on his face as usual. When he saw her watching him, he winked at her and grinned. She ignored him though and headed straight for the girls dorm. She had had enough of boys for today.