Ok, so I know my updates have been a bit all over the place lately, but I'm now in full on revision mode and it's getting harder and harder to keep updating on a regular basis. However, I promise I'll try to post a chapter midway through each week around Wednesday or Thursday and I'll see how it goes.

On a different note, I'm sorry to everyone who came up with theories about the mysterious presence alongside Draco and Hermione in the hospital wing, but you'll have to wait until the next time to find out who it was! There is still a surprising twist at the end of this chapter though, so don't be too disappointed ;) Please keep reviewing and so on and generally being amazing- I love all the feedback I'm getting! Also, thanks to everyone who's taken an interest in this story so far- I know I write this every week but I'm honestly so grateful.

Hope you enjoy...

10. Building Lies

What Hermione hadn't expected when she got back was an interrogation; the minute she'd stepped through the portrait and into the common room she was face to face with all three of her best friends. Harry, Ron and Ginny were all sat on the sofa, their arms folded. Hermione glanced up at the clock on the wall on her way over and saw that it was well on the way to becoming midnight. The fire in the grate was almost dead, the flames weak.

Ginny was the first one to notice her arrival, rising to her feet when she saw Hermione standing at the foot of the room. The others got up as well, following her lead. 'Hermione,' she said in a stern voice, 'you've got some explaining to do.'

'I know…' Hermione said hesitantly, slightly taken aback at Ginny's rather fierce expression.

'Where have you been all afternoon?' Ginny demanded. She didn't sound angry, but hurt. Then again, Hermione had abandoned her at the Quidditch match without a word or explanation.

'I told you Ginny,' Ron interrupted. His eyes came to rest on Hermione, dark with anger. Hermione gulped. 'She was off somewhere with that bloody ferret Malfoy. She told me she was going to see him earlier, didn't you Hermione?' he asked her with a smirk as cold as a Slytherin's.

'Ron,' Harry cried. 'Don't be so rude! Hermione would never do that.'

'What is with you, Ron?' said Ginny.

'We had an argument,' Hermione explained matter-of-factly, too tired to sound annoyed. Her friends had a right to be curious. She just wished they weren't and that they would leave her be, however she knew deep down they wouldn't really be her friends if they did that. 'But it's true what Ron's saying,' she continued.

'What?' Ginny and Harry said at the same time.

'I did go and see… Malfoy,' she confessed, being careful not to say 'Draco'.

'What?' Harry gasped. 'Why?'

'I was doing it for Ron,' Hermione lied. 'I didn't tell him when I was mad at him, but I went over to the hospital wing, and I asked around. I wanted to make sure Malfoy didn't know it was Ron who hit him. Or if he did, I wanted to make sure he wouldn't let his farther… you know…' She trailed off.

'Why did it take you all afternoon?' Harry questioned. 'It can't have taken you this long,' he pointed towards the clock behind him. The hands now read ten to twelve. 'Not even prefects are out this late, Hermione. What happened?'

'I…' Hermione began, racking her brain as she desperately fought for the right words. She had to be convincing, and she certainly couldn't tell them the real story. 'He- Malfoy was really mad. He was going to tell his father immediately. He… he was planning on getting Ron expelled,' she said, noticing that Ron had paled a little as she spoke. 'And I couldn't let that happen. So I went to the library. I researched for hours, trying to find a spell that could make Malfoy forget or… or just… something. Without harming him.'

'Why don't you just kill the bastard?' Ron spat.

'Ron,' Harry warned.

Hermione ignored them both. 'I found a spell that sort of… changed reality,' she pressed on, elaborating on her story as much as possible. It had to pay off. 'I snuck back into the hospital wing after all the nurses had left, and I cast the spell. I made him believe it was the Slytherin that had tried to score the goal that hit him, not Ron. Kind of like an alternative version of events that's loosely based on what really happened. Then… I came back here. And here we are. The end,' she finished, folding her arms and sighing. 'Happy?'

Her story was met with silence and blank stares as her three friends took the time to process what she had just said. Ginny was the first to speak. 'Well, that's awesome!' she squeaked. 'You did all that for Ron even after you fell out.' She smiled smugly at her brother. 'Now he just seems ungrateful.'

'It's ok, really,' Hermione insisted. She was relieved that her story had apparently payed off. The only person who didn't look convinced was Ron.

Harry pushed his glasses up his nose, rubbing his scar in thought. 'So that's why you weren't in lessons. I thought it was because you were mad at Ron or something, because when Ron's in a mood, I know you two have had a few differences. And Ron was really moody all afternoon. It was really quite annoying.'

Hermione laughed. 'Oh, that was another reason,' she assured him. That part was true, at least. 'It just gave me more motive to flunk lessons.'

'You didn't miss much,' Harry said. 'And lucky for you, we had a supply for Defence Against the Dark Arts.' That is lucky, Hermione thought. Snape, who now taught that subject (Professor Slughorn had replaced him as potions master), wouldn't have let her get away with skipping class, that was for sure.

'You dodged a bullet there,' Ginny laughed. She turned again to her brother, who was still glaring daggers at Hermione, although he was refusing to say a word. He obviously didn't believe her, and it didn't look like anything she could say would change that. Thankfully, people tended to believe her over Ron. 'Oh, Ronald,' Ginny said in despair. 'Grow up, you ungrateful pig! Hermione is not secretly dating Malfoy behind our backs, or whatever it is you think she's doing. As her friend, you should trust her. She wouldn't lie to us.'

'She is lying, though,' Ron muttered back, throwing one more glare in Hermione's direction, before stalking up the stairs to his dorm in silence. After a minute or so, everyone heard the door slam.

Hermione gulped, her throat suddenly very dry. She felt awful. On top of everything, what made all the lying worse was the fact that she couldn't get Draco out of her head. She didn't care about Ron, or even what Ginny or Harry may be thinking. Filling her mind were images of Draco's eyes and lips and his hand in hers, his breath against her cheek…

'I'd better go after him,' Harry said with a deep sigh. 'And you guys should go to bed too. It's late.'

'Yeah,' Ginny said with a yawn. 'I'm suddenly very sleepy. Coming, Hermione?'

'Yeah,' Hermione replied, following her friend up to the girl's dorm. It didn't take her long to get ready for bed. All she did was brush her teeth and shove on a pair of pyjamas, not even bothering to brush her hair, which she knew would get even more tangled in the morning because of this. But, at that moment, she didn't really care. She was so tired she could feel her eyelids drooping before she even climbed under the covers. Before she could drift off to sleep, however, she was interrupted by a voice.

It was Ginny. 'Hermione?' her friend called, her voice thick with sleep.

'Yeah?'

'Why did you shout Malfoy's name when he fell?'

'What?' Hermione spluttered, although she knew very well what Ginny was talking about. She couldn't believe that had slipped her mind. She hadn't even realised that people may have heard her- how could she have been so stupid? 'I didn't say that,' she said unpersuasively.

'Yes,' Ginny said, 'you did. I remember it, and everyone else in the stands heard you. Parvati and Lavender wouldn't shut up about it when you left.'

'Really?' Hermione said, trying in vain to sound surprised. 'I wasn't even aware I said that. I guess I was so mad at Ron; I would have screamed the name of anyone he injured. In fact, I bet that's who he was looking out for! You know, when he wasn't concentrating. For some reason, he wanted to get at Malfoy… and he did.'

'Yeah,' Ginny said thoughtfully, taking the bait. 'That makes sense. Maybe it was because he was convinced you had something going on with him?' she suggested, although Hermione could tell she was nervous to put her suggestion forwards. 'You know how protective Ron gets. And you must know it's because he… likes you.'

'I know,' Hermione said with a frustrated sigh. 'And I already explained the Malfoy situation to him. I assume he didn't tell you that I met with Malfoy- before the Quidditch match, I mean- to discuss an Ancient Runes project. Ron saw us and got the wrong idea.'

'Hmm,' Ginny murmured. 'You're right, Ron didn't mention that. But, Hermione?'

'Yeah?'

'You know you can tell me anything, right? No matter how crazy.'

'Of course.'

'Well… alright then. Just as long as you know I'm always here for you.'

'I do. Thanks, Ginny.' Hermione had never felt so guilty in all her life.

That night she could barely sleep. When she woke the next morning, she found herself feeling even more tired than she had been previously. She got out of bed and changed into her uniform mechanically, but her movements were much slower, and her head was pounding. Glancing around the dorm, she also realised she was the only one there. She didn't dare find out the time, for fear of how late she actually was.

Groaning, she stumbled down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, rubbing away the sleep that had crusted around her eyes with one hand as she attempted to comb her knotted hair with her fingers using the other. At the foot of the stairs hung a large, guilt-framed mirror, and Hermione couldn't help but take a peek at her reflection. She almost fainted at the sight. I can't go out like this, her mind screamed as she stared at herself in horror. She didn't think she had ever looked worse. There were huge purple bruises under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her skin had a weird green tinge to it. Hermione's hair was known for being notoriously wild, but never before had it been quite this out-of-control. Her usually tameable brown curls were sticking up in every possible direction, and had seemed to double in volume. It looked as if she'd sprung an afro overnight.

That decides it, Hermione thought savagely. I am skipping breakfast. She needed time to sort herself out, and possibly wake up a bit more. Spurred on by the need to make herself presentable, Hermione raced back up the stairs and to the girl's bathroom. First, she splashed water on her face, then spent the next half an hour or so raking a brush through her mane of hair to try and control it. It was still a little frizzy after she was finished, but it would do. All the while she had been thinking about the day before: her confusing and slightly terrifying feelings about Draco, and her slowly disintegrating friendship. Since when had her life become so complicated? And it was all her fault.

She was the one who had followed Draco that night. She was the one who'd persuaded him she could help. How could she help? If anything, she was putting him in more danger. Ron was the closest to the truth, and after last night it seemed that Ginny was beginning to have her suspicions as well. How long until one of them found out? And then what would happen? It was bad enough already that her secret relationship with Draco was drawing her away from her friends. She could feel them growing more and more distant as she continued to spend less and less time with them. Surely soon, if not already, they'd start to ask questions, like where had she been? What was she doing all that time on her own? She couldn't come up with excuses forever. And she was beginning to have serious doubts about what she was doing. It took a lot of self-persuasion to tell herself that no matter how hard it was getting; she was doing the right thing.

'You're doing the right thing,' Hermione mumbled to herself as she headed to her first lesson of the day, her usual pile of books hugged to her chest, making her feel more secure. She ended up missing breakfast, and although she hadn't eaten since breakfast the previous morning, she found that she wasn't hungry in the slightest. In fact, the thought of food seemed to make her stomach lurch uncomfortably. Maybe she was ill.

'Hermione!' The sound of someone calling her name caused her to turn around. When she saw that it was Ron running up behind her, she immediately started walking away again. But Ron was unusually and annoyingly persistent. 'Hermione,' he called again, running round the front of her so that he was now facing her. She continued forwards in the hope that he would move out of her way, but he just ended up walking backwards along with her. 'Hermione I need to talk to you.' Hermione kept walking. 'Please,' Ron begged. 'Look, I'm sorry I've been such a… a… Well, I'm sorry I haven't been the nicest of people recently. It's just…'

'What?' Hermione snapped, stopping in her tracks. Ron stopped too. 'What do you want?'

'To apologise,' Ron said earnestly. 'I was thinking about what you said last night. Well, actually, Harry talked to me about it,' he added timidly.

'And what?' Hermione cried, glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster. 'Let me guess- you had a sudden epiphany. You saw the light. You realised that there was no way in earth your best friend Hermione Granger would ever, ever fraternise with a Slytherin because- oh, I don't know- they've mocked her all her life and called her names such as 'muggle-born' and 'mudblood'. Well, congratulations.'

Ron's cheek's flared red. 'Something like that,' he said quietly after a brief silence. 'I know what you said makes sense. It does. And I knew all along, from the moment you first started explaining things to me, but I convinced myself that you were doing something with him… with Malfoy.' He practically spat the name as if it was the foulest word he had ever spoken, which just happened to make Hermione even angrier, despite the fact he was confessing to her. 'I made up this story in my head,' he continued with a shrug. 'I guess I started to believe it.'

Hermione sighed. What was she going to do with Ron and his erratic mood swings? 'That's all well and good,' she said gravely, 'but you can't expect me to forgive you every time you do something like this, Ron. You need to control your anger. It leads you astray.' She looked up at him meaningfully. She knew that now was not the best time to be angry at Ron, for that would just set him off again.

Ron looked down at his feet sheepishly. 'I know,' he said in defeat. 'I know, Hermione, but when it comes to you I just get all defensive. You know it's only because I-' He stopped suddenly, a look of sudden panic crossing his face, as if he was about to say something he would regret. Sadly, Hermione already had a good idea of what that something might be.

'What?' she asked innocently.

Ron closed his mouth and then opened it again, reminding Hermione of a goldfish. 'Harry believes you,' he said, changing the subject. 'So, as your friend,' he continued rather forcefully, 'I should too. But know this- if I ever find out you have been lying to us in any way, we are no longer friends. Clear?'

Hermione nodded, trying to calm her tremulous insides. 'I understand.'

'You have been acting rather strangely, recently, there's no denying that,' Ron added with a light shrug.

Hermione paused, and idea springing to her head. 'Want to know why I've been acting strangely?' she said with intended softness. She continued before Ron could reply. 'It's because... I've been too afraid to do this.' Without another word, she stood on her tiptoes, closed her eyes, tilted her head upwards and kissed Ron on the lips.

It wasn't a very long kiss, their lips just touching briefly. Ron's lips were soft and warm and surprisingly delicate as Hermione pressed hers against them. When she pulled away, she noticed that Ron was standing in the same position, having not moved an inch, just staring at Hermione. She stepped back and looked into his eyes. She saw that they were filled with an undeniable love as he looked back at her, sending a fresh wave of guilt washing over her. She had felt guilty even as she was kissing Ron, for she had felt no sparks flying. Her heart hadn't been pounding as she had stepped forwards; she hadn't been sweating or feeling tingly all over; she hadn't felt like it was the right decision, and the fact was simple. She did not love Ronald Weasley as he loved her. Not in that way, anyway. Her decision to do what she did had been practical, and for her own benefit. She'd needed to give Ron a reason that explained her recent behaviour, and now he had one.

She stepped back another pace, although Ron still hadn't moved. 'I'll see you in class,' she whispered with a secret smile, a smile that felt wrong. Then she turned and left Ron standing there, heading in the completely wrong direction. It looked as if she'd have to find an alternative route to her first lesson. One thing was for sure, she certainly hadn't expected that that was to be her first kiss. She hadn't expected that at all.