Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of he characters.

Chapter 16

It was October and nothing unusual happened after the lion incident.

"Draco, come on with those boxes." Hermione called to Draco who was far behind her with a pile of boxes in his hands.

"Hermione these box aren't the lightest thing in the world. I'm going as fast as I can." He called back to her.

"I still don't understand why you just didn't carry them one at a time, like I'm doing, instead of piling them all up at once."

"I told you I have to meet somebody soon. I wanna get there early."

"Who is this person, you're going to meet anyways?" Hermione asked him, walking slower so that Draco could catch up with her.

When he was walking along side with her, he looked at her with a frown and then turned his head away. "It's nobody important. I just need to ask someone a question."

Hermione kept looking at him, hoping he would turn around to face her, but he never did. "I wish you weren't so secretive, Draco. You know you can tell me anything." Hermione thought to herself. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

They got back to their dormitory and dropped off the boxes. "Well I'll see you later Mione." Draco said and walked out the portal.

"Alright. Bye." Hermione called after him. She sighed. There was so much to do this month for Halloween. She didn't know if she could take it anymore. It was her idea for the decorations they were doing, but she never realized how much work it would be to do it. "I s'pose I should go and get those other boxes." She said to herself. She got up and walked out the portal.

She got the rest of the boxes full of Halloween decorations and made her way back to the Dormitory. As she was walking, she spotted a familiar face.

"Hey, it's that boy that I saw that night with the lion, Conan." She said to herself.

He wasn't alone, with him were four other Slytherins boys, Hermione had guessed. They all seemed older than Conan and they were all surrounding them.

"Hey pussy foot. Do you know what time it is?" One of the Slytherin said. Conan didn't answer. He just stood there with his face down.

"Oh lion got your tongue, huh?" Another one said.

"We should enlighten his memory what time it is. Its time to get his ass whooped. You know you could've avoided this if you just stayed out all night like we told you to, but instead you came running back like the pussy you are and then made up a stupid lie saying you saw a lion and that dumbass Malfoy told you to come back." The third Slytherin said.

Hermione glared at them. 'How dare they!' She said mentally. She would have broken it up, but they weren't doing anything but talking, so she couldn't go in. Not just yet. She then noticed that Conan was shaking slightly. He balled he hand in a fist and squeezed it tightly.

"I told all of you jackasses that I was telling the truth. So why don't you gits get a life and maybe a girlfriend, if that's even possible, and leave me the hell alone!" He exclaimed. His face was scrunched up into a glare of anger, as he kept on shaking.

There was a moment of silence for both the boys and Hermione were shocked. One of the boys quickly got over his shock and in a blink of an eye, had Conan by his robes pinned to the stonewall.

"You'll regret every saying that." The boy said in between gritted teeth and pulled his hand back and balled it into a fist. Now was Hermione cue to step in.

"Hey! What are you doing to him?" Hermione called out, putting her boxes down and walking over to the group of Slytherin.

"This is none of your business." Said the boy who was holding Conan.

"Put him down, now." Hermione said slowly. The boy gave a grin and purposely dropped Conan to the ground. "Anything for you sexy." The boy said after he dropped Conan.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Do you know who I am?"

"Oh I know who you are perfectly. And if you weren't in Gryffindor, I would try to snag you. But that didn't stop Malfoy, now did it?" He said and guided his hand towards Hermione, but she quickly grabbed it and held it tightly, twisting it, not painfully, just enough to show she meant business.

"Touch me, and I'll break your risk." She said in a deadly voice.

"Feisty, aren't you?" He said, the grin still on his face. Hermione and the boy stared at each other for a while until Hermione finally let go of him.

"Conan, come with me." Hermione told him, and started walking.

"Um okay." Conan answered, following her.

After Hermione picked her boxes up and started walking, she talked to Conan. "Are you alright Conan?"

He nodded and then looked at her. "You remembered my name."

She smiled at him. "And why wouldn't I remember it?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'm so use to being called bad names; I didn't think anyone remembered it, that's all. What is yours by the way?"

"My name is Hermione. Have they been picking on you for a while?"

"Yeah. Ever since I went back to the Slytherin house that night."

"So I guess Draco was telling the truth then." Hermione thought to herself.

"Where are we going?" she heard Conan ask.

"We're going back to my Dormitory. I need to work on a few decoration for the school for Halloween and I doubt you want to go back to the Slytherin House,"

"I don't."

"That's what I thought."

They reached the portrait with the lady with the rose in it and she let them in. "Wow. This place looks a lot different than the Slytherin common room." Conan said, amazed at the mixture of the Gryffindor and Slytherin colors.

Hermione dropped the boxes on the floor with the others. "Yeah. It took me a while to get use to. I was only use to seeing the color gold and Red." She sat down and looked at Conan. He was clearly nervous. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. You don't have to be nervous around me." Hermione told him and gave him a warming smile.

"Sorry. It's just a habit. I don't do well when I'm around strangers. You would think I'd be use to it by now." He took a seat and Hermione looked at him with curiosity.

"Why would you be use to strangers?"

Conan looked at her then to the ground. Hermione frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask you something so personal. I guess you can say I like to know what going on, but you don't have to tell me, not if it makes you uncomfortable." She pulled one of the boxes towards her and started looking for something in it, although there was nothing she needed from it. She just wanted something else to do than to keep looking at the painful expression on the boy's face.

"In the muggle world," Conan started, causing Hermione to look up at him. "I'm an orphan. My Mother died giving birth to me and my father died when I was three. I've been in an orphanage every since and I've been adopted about seven times, but since I was a wizard, odd things kept occurring to me and my foster parents thought I was cursed, so they sent me back to the orphanage about a month or two later."

"Conan, I'm so sorry that your parents died. My parents died too, about three months ago. I was so sad when it happened, but Draco comforted me in my time of need."

"This guy, Draco Malfoy. I hear a lot of bad stuff about him. I also heard that you're his girlfriend. Is that true?"

"I guess you can say that." Hermione said and smile coming to her face.

"I don't understand. I thought Gryffindors and Slytherins are mortal enemies, so why are you two together?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that story, Conan. Anyways, how do you know that we're together?"

"Almost everyone in Slytherin knows that. They are always talking about you and him and how much they hate you two. That's really the only time they don't pick on me is when they are talking about you."

'So they know about me and Draco.Voldemort must have told their parents who told them.' Hermione thought to herself. She looked at her watch. "It's almost time for lunch. I'm gonna change out of these clothes. I'll be back here in about a few minutes or so, then we can leave together, okay?" Conan nodded and Hermione ran up the stairs and into her room.

Conan smiled to himself. 'She seems very nice. Nicer than what anyone has been to me since I got here.' His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the portal open and someone came in.

"Hey Hermione. I'm back." Draco said not paying attention to whom he was talking to. He jumped in sudden alarm when he spotted the little boy sitting on the couch.

"How in the bloody hell did you get in here?" Draco asked after he regained his voice.

"Hermione did." Conan said in a matter-of-factly voice. "Are you Draco?"

"And what if I am?"

"Damn. You're moody much. How the hell did you even hook up with a woman like Hermione?"

"Listen kid. I've only met you for about a second, so don't get on my bad side got it?"

Conan rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Draco glared at him. 'Who the bloody hell is this boy! He looks familiar, but I can't place my finger on it. Oh well, whoever he is, I don't like him.'

Hermione came down the stairs and smiled when she saw Draco. "Hey you're back."

"Yeah. Sorry I took so long." Draco said, his mind off of the boy for the moment.

"It's okay. Oh and by the way, this is Conan. He's that boy we saw that night with the lion."

'That's where I remember seeing him. That was the boy I told to go back to Slytherin house. Well Now I can see why he belongs in Slytherin.'

"Come on. Lets go to lunch you two." Hermione said cheerfully and headed out the door followed by Conan and Draco.


"Are you nervous about the competition, Harry?" Hermione asked as they sat down in the Great Hall, eating lunch.

"No, no really. It'll be fun, I hope." He replied back.

They were talking about the up-coming Dueling tournament, for almost the entire lunch break. Harry was accepted into the tournament that week, and Ron and Hermione were doing there best to try to help him any way possible. Although she was happy for her friend, she couldn't help but feel a bit sad. Draco had also been accepted into the tournament, and right now, she didn't know whom she wanted to win. Her best friend who she'd know for years, or her boyfriend, who she just started to feel affection for. She talked to Draco about it, but he told he didn't care if she root for him physically, he know she rooting for him mentally, which she was.

"So did you think of any spells that you might use?" Ron asked him.

"Not really. I was just gonna cast spells as I go along."

"That isn't very smart, Harry." Hermione stated.

"Yeah I know it isn't, but what other plan do I have right now? I learned plenty of spells these past four years. I'm pretty sure I can hold my own in the duel."

"Yes, but this isn't the little dueling club we had in second year any more. We actually have a class for Dueling. Competition will be fierce."

"Hermione, I appreciate your concern, but I think I got it handled. It's just a little tournament."

Hermione sighed. "I guess you're right, it is just a little tournament, just like Quidditch is."

"What!" Harry and Ron blurted in unison, startling at her a bit.

"Are you kidding me, Hermione? Quidditch is not just a petty game. Quidditch is the game." Ron stated.

"Exactly. A Dueling tournament compares nothing to the excitement of a quidditch game. I don't care who says different." Harry added. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Speaking of Quidditch, have you thought of any good plans this year, Harry?" (I forgot to tell you guys Harry has become the Gryffindor captain.)

Harry grinned. "Of course I have. That's all I've been doing this entire summer, well that and homework."

"When is our next practice?" Ron asked.

"I wasn't able to get the Quidditch field this week, so we have practice on Wednesday and Thursday this week. I'm trying to find everyone to tell them." He replied.

"Then let's go find them. They got to be around here somewhere."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Are you coming?" She shook her head.

"No. I have to be somewhere in a few minutes. I'll see you later though."

"Alright. See you later." He said and got up. "Yeah see you." Ron added and followed after his best friend.

Hermione soon got up after them to go to Rielly for her training.


It was the night of the Dueling tournament, and everyone was excited. This one was the first tournament of the year and no one wanted to miss it.

The area was set up just like it was five years ago during the dueling club. The only difference was that there was two areas set up instead of one and the teachers' table was still where it always was. Hermione was one of the first people in the Great Hall. She had to set up the matches. She put together the fourth and fifth years together and the six and seventh years together. In about 30 minutes she was finally done. It would have took less time if Draco was helping her, but no one was allowed to see the matches, except her and the teachers. She finally opened the doors, allowing some of the people who were waiting outside in.

In about an hour or so, the Great hall was filled with noisy Hogwarts students. The competitors were also there, waiting anxiously for their matches.

When he thought everyone was ready, Dumbledore stood up from his seat and asked for everyone's silence. When all was quiet, he started his speech.

"Welcome, students of Hogwarts, to our first Dueling tournament of the year. Before we start, I would like to go over the rules. Firstly, none of our competitors are allowed to use any of the Unforgivable curses. Also, there will be no physical contact with your opponent. Wands only and nothing more, if you do you will automatically forfeit the match. You lose if you, one, fall or step off the dueling stage, two, if you give up, and three, you do not get up from the stage floor in ten seconds. The rewards for winning, the winner will earn your house a total of a hundred and fifty house points. They will also receive 100 sickles."

Their was a sudden loud applaud coming from the crowd. When it settled down, Dumbledore continued.

"Madame Hooch will be refereeing the fourth and fifth years which is the table to my right and Professor Perry will be refereeing the sixth and seven which is the table to my left. To all competitors, you have already been assigned an opponent. The referee that has been assigned to you will tell you whom you've been matched against. I bid you all good luck. Now let's start this tournament!"

Everyone applauded, some even whistled and stomped there feet. Theydid anything to show they were excited and ready to see this tournament and to cheer on whom ever was in their house. This reminded Hermione of the Quidditch games.

Although she did watch some of the four and fifth years duels, Hermione main focus was on the sixth and seventh table. The competitors were amazing! They were lashing out spells at each other and dodging the ones they could deflect. Their aim was so accurate, although some loose spells did go flying towards the teachers' table, which was leveled, to the dueling area, but the teachers were already prepared for there was an invisible barrier about them.

Finally it was Draco's turn. He was up against a sixth year. Hermione watched in astonishment, as Draco quickly beat his opponent in five minutes. Everyone around the table stood quietly, just as astonished as Hermione was.

"That was really amazing Draco," Hermione mumbled so no one can here her except him.

"Thanks." He replied and she smiled.

Harry was the last match of the first round. Harry, just like Draco, also finished as easily. Everyone in Gryffindor, including Hermione, clapped like mad when he won. "That was wicked, mate. You're sure to win this." Ron cheered as Harry stood beside him. "It was only the first round, Ron. I still have a way to go."

"Not really. The way the matches are set up, if you win your next match, you're going straight to the finals." Hermione said when she walked over towards them. She wasn't supposed to tell them how the matches were set up, but it wouldn't hurt to tell. They were going to find out soon anyway.

"Really? That's it?" Harry asked, surprised.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. But don't go off gloating to everybody that you're going to the finals after this next match up."

"Hermione, you know I never gloat. Besides I might not even win the next round." He was so wrong. Just as easily as he beat the first person, he beat this person. Again the crowd went wild.

Before Harry had his marvelous victory, Draco had one of his own.

Hermione was so busy watching Draco and Harry's duels; she didn't notice a certain sixth year student, winning his duels and at a fast pace as well. The semi finals had finally come and it was Draco against Ricardo. They stood their wand in their hand, waiting for Tori to say go. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut a knife through it. Finally the anticipated words finally came. "GO!"

Immediately, spells were being called out from the two teenagers.

"Stupefy!" Draco voice rang. A sudden stunning spell came hurling towards Ricardo.

"Barriertronia!" He yelled. Out of know where, a barrier blocked Draco's attack, sending it flying back towards Draco. Shock at what happened, Draco just barely dodged it.

Standing back in his stance, he got ready for another attack. "Expelliarmus!" he exclaimed and a string of scarlet light flew out of his wand and straight towards Ricardo. He did nothing but smirk as it came closer. Draco could have sworn he got him and gave a smile grin, but it soon turned into a disbelieving frown. In the midst of the spell hitting the amber headed boy, Ricardo did a back flip to avoid damage.

'What the hell!' he thought to himself.

"Lumos Maximus!" Ricardo voice roared, before Draco could recuperate from his last astonishment. Sudden the tip of Ricardo's wand shown off an amazingly bright light, almost as if you were looking directly into the sun. Draco as well as everyone else had to cover their eyes to prevent damage to them. Draco was in confusion and awe at the same time. He had never seen such a bright Lumos spell ever in his life! Too busy covering his eyes; Draco didn't hear the spell that Ricardo blurted out. In less than a second, Draco was on the floor.

"Nox." He heard the amber haired boy say, the light so starting to fade away. Draco slowly got up, letting out a painful groan. He started breathing hard; the attack was too much for him. That one attack was too much for him! How powerful was this kid!

'I have to get on the offensive. If I don't I just might lose.'

"Stupefy! Expelliarmus!" Draco called one after the other. One by one, the spells, flew out his wand, and once again aimed towards Ricardo.

"Barriertronia!" As the spell got closer, a barrier covered the teenager, causing the spells that Draco cast to fly back at him.

"Barriertronia!" Draco called. The barrier came, but it was weak. It broke once the second spell hit. Draco fell back by the force of the blow. He tried to get up, but he was extremely weak from the impact. "1...2...3..." He heard Tori calling.

'I have to get up!' "4...5...6..." 'If I don't I'll lose I can't lose, especially not to this guy. Please get up!' "7...8...9..." 'I can't it's too late.' "10! Ricardo is the winner!"

The crowd stood silent, amazed at the battle that occurred. Finally, the Gryffindors started to cheer and clapped madly. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw started to applaud soon after. With a smug grin, the Gryffindor boy walked off the stage.

Draco had finally gotten up and slowly walked off the stage, a soft groan showing his body was in pain. 'Who was that guy! I've never seen anyone ever like that before. It was as if he wasn't human. His agility, his power, his coordination. He's obviously had experience before.'


The Gryffindor common room celebrated that night, but Harry didn't win. It was Ricardo who had the glorious victory. This surprised almost the entire school, Harry especially, but Gryffindor didn't care. They won the points.

Harry also didn't seem to mind. Hermione asked him if he was disappointed that he didn't win. He smiled and replied. "I am a little, but at least all the attention isn't on me. And besides, there's always the next tournament."


It was almost Christmas and everyone couldn't wait for the Yule Ball. It seemed wherever Hermione went, there was someone talking about what they were going to wear, or stating how they couldn't wait for the ball.

Hermione sighed. This was going to be a lot of work, trying to get this ball organized. Her training has gotten much harder and that was talking a lot out of her. Her homework pilling up every night. Draco was acting distant once again, and to top it all off, she had no date for the Ball! Draco was her boyfriend, but she was pretty sure that the school would notice her and Draco if they come to the Ball together.

"A penny for your thoughts?" she heard Rielly say. She looked up at her teacher and smiled. "It's nothing, really."

"Is it about Draco?"

"Did you read my mind?"

"I don't have to read your mind to realize that something was wrong. Also, you aren't concentrating on your task in hand. Now tell me, what's up?"

Hermione eyes were suddenly fascinated with the classroom floor. "Draco is only partially the problem, but he is the main one too."

"What happened?"

"Well, he's been acting very distant ever since school started and whenever we are together, he doesn't seem very happy. He may smile at me, but his eyes are a different story. They look almost depress and full of secrets."

"Maybe, the reason that his eyes look like that is because he does hold secrets from you, really depressing ones at that. I haven't known Draco very long, but it seems that he is a very complex person. No matter how long you know him, you'll probably never figure him out. I should know, I know someone almost exactly like him." Rielly's eyes seemed to grow softer once she finished that sentence; Hermione assumed she was thinking about the person she was talking about.

"I guess you're right. I just can't help but feel sad almost every time I see him."

"Don't worry, Hermione. I'm sure Draco will come around soon enough."

Hermione gave a sad smile. "I hope so."

Hermione was walking to her next class, her mind in deep meditation mostly it was on Draco. Her train of thought was ruined by a familiar voice calling her. When she turned around, she saw Harry walking towards her.

"Hermione, didn't you hear me? I called you about ten times." He said once he caught up with her.

"Oh sorry. I was thinking about something, but it isn't important any more. So what's up?"

Harry kept shifting back and forth, putting all his weight on one leg and then switching to the other. "I need to ask you something." His voice was different than usual. "Hey, how about I walk you to your next class."

"But Harry, your next class is all the way on the other side of the school. You'll be late."

He gave her a grin. "So what if I'm a little late to class? It won't be anything new."

"But-"

"No buts about it. I'm walking with you and that's final." He demanded in a playful way.

There was no arguing with him. "Alright, but if you get in trouble, don't blame me."

At first their walk was silent, then Harry started making small talk with her.

"So, I heard that you were making the decorations for the Yule Ball,"

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy with it. I never realized how much work there needs to be done."

"If it has to do with work, then you must really enjoy it."

"Ha, ha. Very funny." She said sarcastically. He gave her a grin.

"Have you found a date yet?" He asked her. She hesitated for a second, thinking about Draco, but she finally shook her head. "No not yet. What about you?"

Harry smiled shyly. "Yeah, that sort of why I'm here. You see there's this girl that I want to ask out, but the thing is I don't know how to do that. I came to you since you're a girl, maybe you can help me."

"You want to know my opinion of how you should ask her out?"

"Yeah."

Hermione thought about it. How would she want someone to ask her out? "Well, I s'pose I would want him to look me straight in the eyes so I can see that he's sincere about it. Then I would want him to complement me like how I'm so beautiful or how smart I am. Then he would ask me to be his date. I'll say yes and then he'll tell me bye, right after he kisses my hand gently." Hermione finally ended and blushed slightly when she saw Harry looking at her. "Sorry. I got a little carried away. So, did I help any?"

Harry nodded and grinned. "Yeah. You helped a lot Mione. Thanks." Hermione smiled. "No problem."

They walked in silence again, until Hermione felt someone grab her arm. She turned around to face Harry. "Harry what are you doing?" she asked more confused than angry. She stared his hand, which was wrapped around her risk and looked up at his face. There they met each other's gaze. His green orbs stared intensely into Hermione's brown ones, almost as if he was trying to put her into a spell, and it was working. She couldn't keep her eyes off of his.

"Hermione," he finally spoke "I can't tell you how much you mean to me. You're everything that I wish for in a woman and I would be honored as your best friend, and hopefully your future date, to escort you to the Yule Ball." His voice was low so that no one in the hallways could hear except for her.

Hermione was in shock. Had her best friend just ask her to the Yule Ball? Could she say yes? But what about Draco? Her mind sent a hundred questions at one time. "I-I," She stuttered. What was she to do? "Y-Yes?" She finally let out. The answer surprise herself more than Harry.

"Y-You will?" He asked eagerly. She nodded nervously. 'What the hell am I doing?'

"Great then I guess we're going together then?" Another nod.

"Then I'll see you later. Bye." With one swift motion, he guided Hermione's hand up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it. This caused many by-passers to stop and stare, but Harry didn't care, he was too happy to be down right now. He smiled and walked away to his next class, a smug grin on his face.

"I can't believe I just did that." She murmured to herself and kept walking to her next class.


"Ginny! I need to speak to you!" Hermione told her as soon as she entered the common room and saw her.

"What's up Hermione?" she asked.

Hermione looked around. "You haven't seen Harry around, have you?"

"Yeah he's in his dormitory. Why? What wrong?" Ginny barely let out the rest of her question before Hermione pulled her up out of her seat and rushed to the portal. Ginny was surprise that Hermione was that strong. "Hermione wait! What going on?" She called out to Hermione who finally heard her begging pleas. She stopped and let go of the girl. "Sorry Ginny, but I have to speak with you in private, can you come with me to my dormitory?"

"Yeah, sure."

They reached Hermione's Dormitory and sat on the couch. "What's wrong with you?"

Hermione lay on her stomach on the couch. Her face was deep inside the cushion of the seat. "Ginny, I'm such an idiot." The cushion muffled her voice, but it was clear enough to make out.

"Why what happened?"

Hermione hesitated. "Do you promise not to get angry at me or tell anybody?"

"Well, of course not! When have I ever?"

"Fine. Well the truth is," another long pause. "Draco and I have been seeing each other, as in dating."

Hermione picked her head up to look at Ginny's reaction, but was surprised when she saw a grin on her face.

"I knew you and fancied Malfoy. I could tell."

"So you're not angry."

"Well duh! I would never be angry with you for loving someone, even if that someone is a mortal enemy of the mine. But how long has it been going on?"

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't know. It just happened, but I do know that we first kissed about four months ago."

"Wait. That doesn't make any sense. Four months ago was August. School didn't start till September."

"Oh yeah that's right I didn't tell you?" Hermione said more to herself than to Ginny.

She then started telling her the story about her summer, and unlike the time she told Harry and Ron she included the part with Draco and her chat with Voldemort.

"All that happened to you?" Ginny asked almost in a worried tone.

"Yeah."

Ginny got up and run towards Hermione to embrace her in a big hug. "Oh Hermione, I'm so sorry about your loss of your parents. That must be so hard for you to bare."

Hermione gave a weak smile. "To be honest, I wasn't really thinking about them at all."

"Are you serious?"

"It's not like I don't care for them. I love them from the bottom of my heart. It's just that, I don't know, I just don't feel sad. It was a shock to me at first, of course, but I can't bring myself to mope around like I was before."

"Wait. None of this explains why you brought me here."

"I brought you here because Harry asked me to the Yule Ball."

"Oh. I can see your problem. So I'm guessing Harry doesn't know about you and Draco?"

"And your first clue was?" she said sarcastically.

"Well there are two choices. You could either tell Malfoy that you're going to the Yule Ball with Harry or tell Harry that you can't go to the Ball with him."

"Can I pick choice three?"

"Which is?"

"Hide under a rock until school is over so I won't have to deal with any other Student activities with my fellow school mates."

Ginny chuckled. "I doubt you can hide for that long."

"Yeah. I guess you're right, but what am I suppose to do. I don't want to hurt Harry's feelings, yet I don't want to give Draco the wrong impression."

"Well why don't you discuss it with Draco, see what he thinks."

Before Hermione could answer, the door to the portal opened and soon arguing was heard.

"Why won't you shut the hell up? Don't you have somewhere else to be, beside bugging me?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't come here to see you. I came to see Hermione. I was hoping not to run into you."

"Don't have any other friends, cause I'm getting tired of you always coming here everyday."

"Why? It's not like you and Hermione are doing anything, you don't even seem like you're her boyfriend. I would be a better boyfriend than you would."

"Listen kid! I would have no second thought about knocking the hell out of you!"

"You wouldn't dare! Hermione wouldn't let you!"

"I really don't care! She doesn't control me!"

"What are you two doing!" Hermione blew, causing the two boys to jump.

"Hermione, hey! How you doing?" Draco asked nervously. Draco looked past Hermione and saw Ginny sitting there, obviously confused.

"Were you here the entire time?" he asked.

Hermione nodded. "Oops." Draco muttered and Ginny giggled.

"It's okay, Malfoy. Hermione already told me what's going on." She got up from her seat. "Well I gotta go. I'll see you later Hermione."