Author's Note: Many thanks to Piggylette for pointing out my error in this chapter. I have about 3 different copies of this story and the one I uploaded was one of the ones that later got edited. Thank you everyone else for your wonderful and inspiring comments.

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CHAPTER VI

Hermione awoke the next day, in her own bed, a little tired. Her head was buzzing; she remembered clearly what Malfoy had whispered to her the previous night. What was she going to do? Still lying in the dark, Malfoy's words repeated themselves in her head. 'We'll trick Granger into taking a love potion and make her fall in love with me', he had said, 'Weasley would hate his precious Mudblood friend to be infatuated with me'.

Hermione thought about Malfoy had said as she got out of bed, got dressed and made her way towards the Common Room. What was she going to do, she repeated in her head, before another voice piped in. Did she want to do anything about it? Hermione gasped; had she really just thought that?

She decided not to think about Malfoy, and almost succeeded until she stepped into the Great Hall. Whilst walking to join her friends at the Gryffindor table, her eyes strayed over towards where the Slytherins sat. Almost instantly, they rested on the figure of Malfoy who was saying something to Goyle. Her eyes stayed locked on Malfoy as both he and Goyle raised their heads and stared back at her.

Don't look away, she told herself. She kept eye contact with Malfoy, blocking out the rest of the students, as she made her way steadily towards Ron and Harry. Reaching the seat next to Ron, Hermione sat and finally looked away from Malfoy. She wasn't going to tell her friends what Malfoy was planning yet, she needed to work out how she felt first.

While they ate breakfast, Ron and Harry kept asking her questions about what had happened. When she continued to give them short one-word answers, the two boys soon got bored and left to return to the Common Room. As they left the Great Hall, they discussed the subject of Hermione and came up with reasons as to why she wasn't telling them anything.

"Harry, you don't think anything's going on between Hermione and Malfoy, do you?" Hermione heard Ron's panicked voice as they moved out of ear-shot. She grimaced, they were catching on. Just before she, herself, rose from the table, she risked a glance at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was still watching her; how long has he been looking in this direction, she wondered, making a point of walking slowly towards the exit of the hall.

"Hermione!" Malfoy's slightly out of breath voice came from behind her. When he had caught up with her and she had turned to face him, Malfoy cleared his throat and started again. "Granger," he sneered, in his usual manner, "don't you think it's about time we met up again to discuss the Yule Ball and next Quidditch Match?" Hermione rolled her eyes, how could he have been so different last night, and how could she have thought that it was going to last.

"What are you looking at?" His voice sounded slightly insecure, yet he kept his eyes cold and emotionless.

Hermione shook her head. "Nothing," she replied, feeling her face turn a shade of red. "Meet you here tonight at eight?" Malfoy agreed and walked off, looking down each corridor that he came to. Watching him, Hermione wondered what he was looking for. Suddenly it came to her, Pansy! They had forgotten to let her out of the cupboard last night! Hermione's face dropped, she had to find Ron and Harry.

Quickly, she ran down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room to find her two friends.

"Ron! Harry!" She gasped, "Pansy!" She spoke in one-worded exclamations with her face flushed, yet they seemed to understand what she meant.

"It's alright Hermione, we took her out of the cupboard last night before you got back," Ron laughed, looking as Hermione smiled in relief, "she was a bit shocked and is walking around wondering who she is, but we think that'll wear off." Ron smiled, "it's not like anyone's going to notice if she's even the slightest bit slower."

Hermione relaxed as much as she could; questions continued to run through her head. What if Malfoy spoke to her about his plans; she thought desperately, she wouldn't know what he was talking about.

Harry seemed to know what she was thinking. "It's okay Hermione," he attempted to reassure her, "I'm sure that Malfoy would willingly repeat whatever his plans are, especially if they're really awful." Harry finished his sentence grinning, almost gleefully. Hermione glanced at Ron. He was looking into the distance, a look of panic spreading across his face. A pang of guilt hit Hermione; maybe she should tell them what Malfoy was planning. It might, at any rate, control Ron's nerves.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione began to relate to her two friends what she had been discussing with Malfoy the previous night. "And so," she concluded, "when I am under his spell, he will convince me to do something really bad to you." Hermione breathed in deeply, it had been such a relief to finally explain it all. She didn't know why, but all of a sudden her eyes filled with tears which soon began to roll down her cheeks.

Ron, who had been listening, standing shell-shocked, moved closer to her and held the sobbing girl. She was uttering small words which he couldn't make out. "He's going to make me lose my position as Head Girl isn't he," Hermione said, lifting her head and wiping away a few tears.

Ron and Harry didn't say anything, both were lost in their own thoughts. Hermione sniffed quietly and tried to think rationally. "

I know," her eyes lit up as she faced her two friends, a fresh idea having just formed inside her head, "I could pretend to take the potion and be in love with Malfoy. Then I'd be able to tell you what he was planning and we can go from there."

She looked up hopefully at her two friends. They were looking back at her; both their faces sporting wide grins. Thank goodness, now I get to be around Malfoy again, Hermione blushed, why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

"Hermione," Harry had noticed that Hermione's face was now red, "are you sure you're alright with this?"

"Yea, I guess," Hermione tried to sound uninterested, "I mean, if it'll help Ron." She looked around at her friends. "So, that's it then," she told them, "we'll start planning tonight."

The remainder of the day had passed quickly. Seamus had managed to turn Harry into a tomato, by forgetting to include an ingredient. Ron had laughed hysterically at his friend, much to Seamus' embarrassment, until Snape had informed him that he was to test Malfoy's potion. This had stopped his amusement instantly.

"Sir .… I can't .… err …. I …. I can't," Ron had stammered, obviously worried about the possible outcomes. What if I'm turned into a tomato, he thought with a shudder, or worse." With a small gulp, Ron had made his way towards the front of the classroom to where Malfoy was already standing, a smirk spreading across his face.

Ron's eyes widened as Snape ladled out some of the bright orange potion from Malfoy's cauldron. Bringing the large spoon up to Ron's lips, Snape sneered and said to the rest of the class, "let's all keep our wands at hand, should something accidentally go wrong."

Hermione had frowned; there had been something about the way he had said accidentally that had made her shiver. She had watched as Ron sipped from the edge of the ladle and held her breath waiting for any effect that would take it's toll on her friend. The potion had been on that would change someone to look like the person you desired most. This particular potion was not a necessity for students to learn, but for some reason Malfoy had convinced Snape to let them make it.

Hermione had allowed herself to relax, it seemed Malfoy hadn't had some ulterior motive when wanting to feed Ron his potion. In amazement, she watched as her best friend's face began to transform itself. Her eyes had widened as suddenly the figure that had once been Ron, now completely resembled that of Draco Malfoy.

Finding herself looking at an exact replica of Malfoy, Hermione was so shocked she almost fell off her stool. She looked round at the class; Harry had gone bright red and was looking away from Ron embarrassed, Neville was grinning stupidly in the direction of the front of the room, most of the girls were staring bleary-eyed at Ron.

She stifled a giggle as she continued to look at everyone's expressions, until she reached the face of Malfoy. Draco was looking at Ron, a distracted look on his face. I bet he never thought I'd most desire him, she had thought before the real problem hit her. The person I most desire is Malfoy? No, it can't be, there must some mistake, Hermione shuddered as her eyes rested on Ron who was still standing at the front of the class.

Hermione snapped back to attention when she had heard the evil sneer of the Potions master in her ear. "And don't think that it's not true. This potion would never lie." Hermione snapped her head round, how had Snape known what she was thinking?

She watched as Snape made his way towards Ron at the front of the class. "And now," he said, looking around at all his students, "enough of your dribbling, we use the Jalube potion to restore the subject back to their original form." Snape produced a flask which contained a blue liquid. Handing it to Ron, he watched as the red-headed boy appeared before him.

Hermione was still staring shocked at the place where Ron now stood; how could she have seen Malfoy? Taking a quick glance at the Potions master, Hermione gasped. She thought she had seen a small smile cross his face; had he seen anyone in the transformed figure of Ron? she wondered.

Almost running back to his seat, Ron looked even paler than usual. Every set of eyes in the class followed him to the back of the class before the students, one by one, returned their attention to what Snape was saying.

"And Mr Weasley should have noticed some strange effects going on whilst under the influence of the potion. Some say they see images of those who others desire," he sneered in the direction of Hermione, "others believe that that they become almost blind to the world

around them."

Hermione, upon hearing these words, froze. Had Ron seen who she desired most? She looked at her friend out of the corner of her eye and saw that he had been looking suspiciously around the room. Intrigued by this, Hermione turned her head to face him, "how could you," he mouthed in her direction, his face screwing up in disgust.

Ron had not uttered another word to her that lesson, and because they had different subjects the rest of the day, she did not see him again until that evening when they sat down in the Great Hall to eat.

"Ron?" she asked, "what happened after you took that potion?" She could see that Harry, too, was interesting in learning what had happened, even if he did look a little nervous. Ron began to explain that he had begun to feel as though he had taken the Polyjuice Potion; as though his body was being stretched in several different ways at the same time. He explained how his vision had suddenly become blurred, as though shielded by a translucent cloth. Then, all of a sudden, he had been able to see clearly again, but everything had changed.

"Harry," he looked as his best friend, "you don't like Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw that left last year, do you?" Harry gasped and looked shocked, "only she had appeared in your place," he rapidly added. "And Hermione," he paused.

Hermione gulped, she knew what was coming. In her head, she begged Ron not to say anything; not now that they were surrounded by all the other students.

"Well, we'll talk about that later." This made Harry choke on the piece of bread he was eating. Throughout the remainder of their dinner, he persisted to ask Ron who had been in Hermione's place.

"It's not fair, you've just told everyone that I like Cho; you can at least tell me who lies in Hermione's deepest desires." Ron frowned, and replied in a short answer.


"It's different; Cho's left Hogwarts." Harry grinned, so they're still a student, he told himself. Who could it be? As he looked around the Great Hall, trying to work out who it could be, his eyes rested on one figure; Malfoy. No, it couldn't be, but, he added as an afterthought, it would explain a lot. He allowed a gasp to escape his lips whilst he frantically searched Hermione's face for any clues, it was Malfoy, it had to be. Hermione had a crush on his arch-enemy.

Hermione looked away; she was convinced that Harry now knew who Ron had been talking about. Deeply ashamed, Hermione lowered her face and stared into her empty plate. At least, she argued, it was Ron who had tried out the potion. It could have been worse; Malfoy could have drunk it.

Having just thought about him again, Hermione raised her eyes, allowing their gaze to drift over to where he sat at the Slytherin table. She watched as he ate his food, laughing with his friends. Occasionally his own eyes would find themselves looking in her direction and he would give her a small smile. Each time this happened, Hermione would look away, embarrassed and annoyed that he had caught her looking at him.

When back in the confines of the Gryffindor common room, Hermione realised with a start that there were now only six days until the end of the month. Harry and Ron were discussing their next Quidditch match in the corner of the room, the promise they had made earlier to Hermione forgotten.

Sighing and shaking her head, Hermione made her way up to the seventh-year's dormitory and finding her own bed, rifled through her drawers until she found what she was looking for. Drawing out a piece of parchment and a quill, Hermione closed her eyes and thought about what she was going to do. She would have to come up with some kind of plan so that she would still be in control of herself, she reasoned, but she'd have to be able to convince Malfoy that she was completely under the Love Potion.