Phido Strauss is a made up name, made up name, made up name, Phido Strauss is a made up name, dow de do da day. (To be sung to a tune mixed between Campdown Races and the old "I know a song that'll get on your nerves" riff.)

If you think their relationship's moving a bit too fast… well… many are faster. She isn't losing all her morals just yet though, don't worry.

Harry couldn't help but notice that Hermione seemed to be spending far too many dances in Malfoy's arms. At first he dismissed it, knowing that Hermione was probably hating it after their falling out, but then he noticed the way Malfoy leant in a bit too close to talk to her, breathing in her ear. Normally this would have caused Harry to lunge at Malfoy, ramming his wand down his throat, but Hermione was smiling, giggling, enjoying being with the slime ball.

He shuffled over to stand beside Ron who was unsuccessfully trying to chat up Parvati Patil who stood looking unimpressed, one eyebrow raised at Ron's fantastical claims.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the England team will have booked me by the end of this year." Ron cracked his knuckles in what Harry supposed he thought a manly fashion. "We've already been in negotiations ever since Phido Strauss came to that match against Slytherin last year, and James Matthews has been on poor form as keeper for months now." Parvati rolled her eyes, clearly not taken in by Ron's words, and turned away.

"Nice try, mate." Harry murmured, slapping his friend sympathetically on the back. "I really thought she was falling for it then."

Ron sighed. "It was worth a shot." He grinned. "What about you, been chatting to anyone nice?"

"No, but listen, haven't you noticed Hermione this evening?"

Ron raised an eyebrow in mock confusion. "Uh, well she's not really my cup of tea, mate, but if you're asking my approval…"

"I don't mean like that. She's been dancing with Malfoy nearly all evening."

"So what? She can't be enjoying it. Just leave her to her duty. I mean, look," he pointed across the room. "Macmillan's over there dancing with Elouise Midgen. They must have been told to try and dance with other people or something."

Harry considered this. "But she's been dancing with him for about three dances now, and look," they both swung around to look the other way. "she's smiling and laughing at everything he says."

Ron laughed. "Oh, Harry, come on. Hermione hates Malfoy after that whole "betrayal of trust" thing he pulled on her."

"Well it doesn't look that way to me." Harry huffed.

"You're a good date." Draco whispered as they swayed. "But I think your friends are starting to notice something's going on."

Hermione looked over his shoulder to see Harry stood glaring at them, arms folded. She sighed. "Why aren't your friends more bothered?" She asked, noticing how, rather than taking the betrayed stance Harry had adopted, Blaise and Nott and the rest were nudging each other boyishly and kept glancing over in their direction.

"Um, they're just a bit more forgiving than Potter and Weasley are apparently" He avoided looking into her eyes until the moment had passed. "I think we have been dancing too long though. It's passed obligation now." He smiled at her one last time, and swung her around to be caught in the arms of Harry.

He held her far further away than Draco had done, so their dancing felt far more formal. "So what was that about?" He asked her.

Hermione shrugged, feigning confusion at his suggestion. "Nothing." He raised an eyebrow at her. "He's a prefect, I'm head girl, it's a duty."

"Not one I've ever encountered before." Harry grumbled. He twirled her round, making her giggle. "You haven't been this happy in ages." He mused. "I like to think it's my amazing dancing technique, but something's suggesting otherwise."

"No, Harry, it's definitely your dancing." Hermione laughed, looking down at his shuffling feet. "Don't worry about me." She told him confidently.

A hand tugged at her as she left the Great Hall alone, and pulled her into an empty classroom.

"Nice evening?" Draco stood before her, studying his nails in what she guessed he though a nonchalant manner.

She straightened out her dress. "Very nice thank you, even though my date abandoned me and left me to the clutches of another man." Draco strode over to her and before she knew what was happening, had bent in to kiss her. His lips were far warmer than she'd ever have expected, and smooth too. It was only a short, too short, time until he broke away, looking down at her.

"Well your date must have been a prat, doing that to you, but I'm sure he's very sorry." She reached up this time, sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him down until their lips met. She felt his tongue dart across her lips and shivered with the sensation.

"He's making it up to me." She breathed.

Draco laughed. "I'm sorry about that, Granger, but you know it was the right thing to do."

"Granger? Don't you think you're in a better position than anyone to call me by my first name now?"

"I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her, smiling a real smile, the joy in which could only be reflected in the one she shone back. "Force of habit."

Hermione wriggled out of his arms and sprang to sit on one of the desks. "I like this, you know." She admitted. "Far more so than I thought I would. It was all so wrong in principal…"

"But so right in practise." He finished for her, moving to sit beside her. "So you reckon it could work?"

She shrugged. "I don't see why not, unless…"

"Unless… what?"

"Unless your reputation is all true and I've only got about a week of your time before you get bored and find someone else." Hermione gushed.

Draco sighed. "Well, I guess the reputation is true, but only because I've never been in a proper, official relationship before, not what I'd class a relationship, anyway. Experience suggests that men and women have completely different ideas of how to define "Being in a relationship"."

"So, is this what you'd call an official relationship?" She asked, almost afraid of the answer.

He grinned at her, as though amused by her even needing to ask. "Of course. I called you my girlfriend, didn't I? I don't do that to just anyone, you know."

"Yay, I'm special!" She teased.

"In all senses of the word." He agreed.

She shoved him off the desk.

So that was how life was now. And, for the first time since discovering she was a witch and the stresses of life with Harry potter began, Hermione felt truly at ease. Her meetings with Draco were erratic. Mostly centralising around the Advanced Potions lessons. He had moved to sit beside her permanently, and Hermione had found than an unexpected perk of this was that she had become almost immune to Snape. He simply refused to acknowledge her in anything but a civil manner. How strange.

Outside of potions, their meetings were similar to that first one after the Halloween Ball. The thrill of potential discovery was so appealing that Hermione's stomach churned with excitement whenever she walked down a corridor alone.

She still caught Harry eyeing her suspiciously, but always put it to the back of her mind, reminding herself that she was doing nothing wrong, and that it was none of Harry's business what she did in her free time.

Ron, to her surprise, didn't seem to suspect anything, even though she was sure Harry must have let him in on his own thoughts about Hermione's change in mood. He laughed off any insinuation Harry made, enquiring about Hermione's whereabouts when she disappeared for hours at a time, and, for some reason, couldn't seem to care less. She was almost offended.

"So… how was Charms?" Draco breathed as he planted kisses down her neck.

She sighed happily. "Fine. Boring. Learnt about the many variations of wand movement when producing a summoning charm."

Draco laughed. "I do love it when you talk dirty to me." She joined in the laughter. "So, how are Potter and Weaselbee?" He asked, mocking interest.

"They're fine." Hermione humoured him, knowing what he was doing. Only a week before she had pointed out that they didn't talk very much, and all good relationships were based on good communication. "Harry still won't get off my back, and Ron really doesn't seem to care, so a complete role reversal in that camp."

"And you're fine with that?"

"Sure. It's irritating, I grant you, but they'll get used to my not being around so much soon enough."

"And you're not worried I may genuinely be stealing you away from them until you've lost all contact with them, and only then will I make my move and feed you to the Dark Lord?"

"Draco, that's not funny."

"It is if you have a particularly dark and cynical sense of humour."

"If you say so."

Bit of a random place to leave it, I know, but I had to cut it somewhere. Ta for the reviews. This chapter is especially for bookworm708 who reviewed a lot and requested I get a move on with updating.

Hope you're getting a feel for where this is going cos I'm not. Yet. I will.

Please review

JustADoll

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