"Oh, for God's sake, stop pacing!", Pansy exclaimed.

I knew my nervousness had been grating at her nerves ever since I had risen from the bed about half an hour ago. I could not help it, though. It was obvious that not everybody was happy about our relationship, and while nobody had said anything about it in the great hall, some would undoubtedly confront us in the hallways. More so, I had just brought a member of another house into the Gryffindor common room, and a Slytherin no less.

Even my fellow Gryffindors, who had seemed to take this rather well, would most certainly dislike the idea of a Slytherin in here.

And then there was Ron. Although I had made it quite clear that there would only be friendship between the two of us, nothing more, he seemed to be adamant that we were meant to be together. I was quite sure this was what convinced him that I had to be under some kind of spell; he was not willing to accept that I preferred somebody else over him, much less Pansy Parkinson. Had he thought clearly about it, he would have realized that it was nearly impossible for me to be under a spell. Even though he did not know about Ginny's potion I had reacted much too willingly and thought too clearly to be forced into my actions. My surprise and my embarrassment were things that could not be faked while under the Imperious, and he knew just as well as me that a love potion would do anything but keep me from telling everyone about our relationship, as evidenced by Harry's sudden Romilda Vane infatuation.

"Seriously, if you don't stop it right now, I will just drag you back down here and fuck you until you can't move anymore", Pansy growled at me threateningly, before taking what she had said into consideration and adding under her breath: "Come to think of it, I might do that anyways."

"Later", I said, finally having decided that I could not put this off forever.

The moment we reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the common room we were surrounded by people, some driven there by distrust towards Pansy, some by pure curiosity.

"How the fuck did this come to happen?", was the first question that was directed at us. It was Parvati who had asked. She was one of those who seemed to be liable to support us, so I decided to answer her question (or at least get as close to answering as I could without embarrassing Pansy by telling them that our relationship had evolved from her plotting against me, or embarrassing myself by telling about the potion that Ginny had slipped into my drink.

"Well, Slughorn had us do a potions project together, and things just spiraled." I shrugged noncommittally.

"Nothing more?", Lavender asked, disappointed. Clearly she had been hoping for some juicy details for the gossip mill. Things I would rather keep to myself. However, Pansy seemed to have other plans. She grinned in that infuriatingly smug way that always left me unsure whether I wanted to slap or kiss her and stage-whispered in a sultry voice:

"I could tell you a lot more", she grinned, and I half contemplated draping my hand over her mouth and dragging her back to my room to yell at her to stop her from the embarrassing things that were bound to spill out of her mouth, "but what we do in my room, in Hermione's room, the room of requirement, in the library or her parents' house", she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "only concerns me and my little she-devil."

I was quite sure my cheeks had by now turned the color of the chairs that adorned the common room: a fierce Gryffindor red. Lavender, however, only giggled.

"Not so much Miss Priss now, Hermione?", she asked me teasingly. I just huffed.

"I am not a prude!"

"She's right, you know?", Pansy added. "After all, she was the one who suggested that we..." This time I did put my hand in front of her mouth to stop her while leaning close to her ear, whispering "Say too much, and you won't get any for a week", into it.

"That's blackmail!", Pansy exclaimed. I simply smirked at her.

"No, it's not. It's bribery because", I let my finger travel down the length of my chest "you want this."

The flash of a wizard camera brought me back down to earth. I shot the culprit a withering glare. Cormac McLaggen. Of course.

"If that picture ever appears on the Daily Prophet you are dead."

"Couldn't help it." He gave me a smile which, I suppose, was meant to look charming. "You just look so hot I could not resist."

I very nearly choked on my tongue trying to find an appropriate response to that. I knew of course that he was an asshole and sexist, but trying to talk up a girl of whom he knew she already was in a relationship, and in front of her girlfriend no less, that was rich even for him. Being that blunt did not seem to be his usual style as well. But before I could decide whether to just slap him or hex him, my girlfriend had already taken action.

"Listen, McLaggen", Pansy growled, standing nose to nose with him in a matter of seconds, a look of unadulterated fury marring her features "I know very well how hot my girlfriend is, and she does, too, I've told her often enough, so as long you've got nothing useful to say I suggest you piss off right now and delete that picture as I don't wanna have you jack off your tiny excuse of a dick to a picture of my girlfriend!"

I had seen Pansy insulting people often enough(having been on the receiving end of her ire myself more than once) to know that right now she was not making empty threats, but was totally livid right now. Chances were good that if he made the mistake of talking back at her she would indeed hex said "tiny excuse of a dick" right off.

Of course, Cormac did not know Pansy as good as I did, or he simply was too sure of himself, because he did not have the good sense to back off but instead turned to me and said:

"Come on, you and I both know you can do better than a female Slytherin, and a bitch at that."

This time, Pansy was not the only one hard pressed not to draw her wand, and though I was quite mindful of the fact that I did not want to end this day in McGonagall's office, the urge to defend my girlfriend and teach him a lesson was just too big.

H/P

"So, Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson, pray tell me why Mister McLaggen is lying in the nursery with exploding furuncles all over his body?", Professor McGonagall asked us, sending a well-placed glare at us over the frame of her glasses that instantly had me squirm. I disliked being in her bad books, it always made me feel uncomfortable. Pansy, on the other hand, seemed to be completely unfazed by the prospect of getting detention or a reprobation. Instead, she simply shrugged.

"Obviously, the Furunculus doesn't go too well with that head enlargement hex I used." That was not the answer McGonagall wanted to hear, and Pansy knew that, too.

"Miss Parkinson, may I hear the reason for your fight", she stated calmly, although I could tell that Pansy's flippant attitude grated on her nerves.

I surprised both McGonagall and Pansy, but even more myself, when I simply said: "Nobody gets to insult my girlfriend" as an explanation.

H/P

Needless to say, McGonagall did not except my explanation, earning us both three weeks of detention. Separate, for which I blamed Pansy, who had asked McGonagall whether we could "clean up" the room of requirement together during our detention. Combined with a suggestive wink, it was easily discernible that she was talking about sullying rather than cleaning. Thankfully, she missed out on adding that we already had done so, as this would surely have gotten us three more weeks: sex on the school grounds was illegal.

One good had come out of this, though: I had completely forgotten about the situation with Ron. That was, at least until I had my first detention polishing the quidditch trophies in the west wing.