Flashback:

"Granger?"

"Look at this… Do you think that's Hermione?"

"I don't think you're an enemy."

"I think any girl who'll be with you'll be very lucky."

This is… terribly awkward, Hermione thought. Aloud, unfortunately. She'd just witnessed Draco jumping up and down his bed, hitting his head on the ceiling, blushing and him getting hit on the head once more, with his Ancient Runes book.

"W-what are you doing here?" Draco asked, trying and failing to sneer. He was humiliated, and hit on the head twice.

This is abuse, he thought. Being with Granger is abuse!

"I… I was about to… er, ask you about the Potions assignment?" she replied, making it sound more of a question than an answer.

"Ha, ha… Very funny, Granger," he said sarcastically. "Tell me the truth."

The color in his cheeks slowly, but not entirely, drained, they were still a light shade of pink.

"Demanding, aren't we?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "I came to apologize and offer a truce… since we have to work together, and all."

And you forgot the part where you want him to snog you again, a naughty voice reminded her.

"No!" Hermione cried. The Slytherin raised his eyebrow.

"Come again?" Hermione twiddled her thumbs.

"Er… I… wait, who are we talking about?" she said, trying to make him forget what she said. Draco isn't the type to forget, unfortunately.

"You screamed 'no' ridiculously loud," he stated. "Are you infected with Potter's stupid habit of screaming to disrupt the peace?"

"N-no, I mean… Can we just get on with the truce, so I can get out of here and you… can go back to jumping up and down your bed?"

"Fine," he huffed. The Gryffindor held out her hand. "And what am I going to do with that?"

"Shake it," she said. "To make it official, of course." Draco reluctantly held her hand, and as soon as he did, he found that he couldn't let go. Well, neither can she.

"Um, Draco… You can let go now," Hermione said.

"Me? Isn't it you?" Draco sneered. "Ha, I knew you couldn't get enough of me, Gra—Hermione."

"You wish," she shot back, she examined their hands. "Sticking Charm. It lasts for… 12 hours. God knows how I'll survive but how about my homework?" she asked, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Your homework? How about my status?" Draco moped.

"Nobody cares about your status, Draco," Hermione scoffed.

"No one cares if you fail your classes either," the blonde retorted. The Gryffindor ignored him.

Maybe he'll go away if I do, she told herself. After about 15 minutes in silence, Draco said, "I'm bored."

"No one cares about that too," she told him.

"I'm going to jump on my bed," he declared.

"Go on…" she said uninterestedly, then she realized she had to jump if he did. "No, wait, Draco… DON'T!"

"You said I could," he teased, hopping onto his bed, bringing her with him. "Being with you may not be so bad after all."

"Ow!" she yelled as Draco did his first jump.

"If you don't want to get hurt, you need to jump with me," Draco goaded. "Come on, it's fun." He held out his free hand, to help her up.

She looked up, meeting his eyes. He was smiling; his usually 'combed-to-perfection' hair was tousled reaching his silver eyes which were light and laughing. He looked better than ever, and she, forgetting that they were supposed to be sworn enemies, took his hand.

"Count of three, we jump," he said, still smiling. "One… two… three!"

They looked like kids again, not 17 year-old magical folk. Kids who didn't have a care in the world, and whose work was to have fun. But that couldn't last, well, not forever.

They jumped so high that, like what happened to the blonde, their heads hit the ceiling, and they fell over each other. In fact, the same position they were in the Common Room.

Draco thought Hermione can't take his breath away, because he was already out of breath, but she did, as soon as he saw the vulnerability in her eyes.

Hermione thought Draco couldn't sweep her off her feet, but where was she now?

They both thought they knew what they wanted, but what is this?

"Hermione," Draco said, it sounded as if he was pleading, pleading that she would just give in, let whatever should happen, happen, but being the intellectual one, she couldn't allow it.

"Dra-Draco… I – I need to… We need to… stop," she said, unsure of what she was saying. She needed to stop, but did she want to?

No! the voice said in her head, the voice of her heart. What are you doing? Don't do this!

But it was already done, Draco moved away, but only after she saw hurt flash in his eyes.

"I – I guess we need to plan that Ball, huh?" Draco said, his face was that indifferent mask again, his voice back to being cold, but his eyes, those silver orbs, showed the truth. He was biting his tongue, trying not to lash out harsh words he knew he'll regret.

"I guess so," she replied, trying not to look at him.

!i!

"Hey, Vain Italian!" Ginny waved. "Over here." Blaise looked up and laughed. He rushed up the stairs. "Does this mean you want to talk about it?"

"What?" Blaise asked, then it hit him. "Oh. Sure, it's not like I keep it a secret. She became too… interfering," he said shortly.

"I don't get it," the redhead said.

"She was always paranoid, thinking that I'd leave her… the day before, when she saw me talking to you in the hallways, she took it as a bad sign." He paused. "Not that it was, though. She said I… I'm not being… to put it lightly, she thinks I'm not acting like the boyfriend she wants me to be." Then he let out a big sigh and ran a hand through his hair once again, in a gesture not unlike Harry's. "But how the hell would I know what she likes if – if she won't tell me?" He sighed again, letting out his frustration. Then he gave Ginny a lopsided smile. "I'm sorry… I got… carried away. So now, I'm starting to think that – that I'm never going to be good enough." He didn't know why he was opening up to her, but he couldn't quite stop the words from coming out. The way she looks up at him, her brown eyes full of understanding, makes him sure that his secret's safe with her.

"You know what, Blaise? I think you're a great person, and all the House prejudice makes others… blind to what we truly are. She's not good enough for you. Not the other way around." She flashed him a smile.

"It's getting late… I bet Potter will be looking for you," he said, not having anything better to say. He held out his hand for her to shake, saying, "Thanks, Ginny."

Ginny stared at his hand and laughed heartily. Blaise raised his eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"We can do better than that, can't we?" She hugged the dark-haired Slytherin, who was taken aback. He wasn't really accustomed to hugging anyone. But he shrugged inwardly and thought, 'It's just a hug, nothing personal.' But he can't be sure.

!i!

"Hey, Luna," Colin called out. Luna turned around and smiled.

"Hi, Colin. Something you want to tell me?" she asked, then looked Colin over. "You have a lot of… wakspurts floating above your head, is something wrong?"

"Er, no… I was just wondering… if you want to go to the Ball with me. Um, that's not a question… D'you… d'you want to go to the Ball with me?" He finished, flashing a nervous smile.

"Oh… sure, Colin. That'd be fun," she said in her usual dreamy voice. "See you around; I still have to finish my Herbology essay." Then she skipped off, singing to herself.

"Phew," Colin mumbled. "That was easier than I thought."

"Hey, Colin!" Neville's voice called out. "Guess what?"

"What?" Colin asked.

"I asked Terry to go to the ball with me!" Neville exclaimed, his smile so big, it looked like it hurt.

"Really, Neville, that's great!" Colin said, though not quite as excited as he should be.

"How 'bout you? Asked someone out already?" the older Gryffindor asked.

"Yeah, I asked Luna," Colin said, forcing a smile.

"Great, great," Neville said, but he was still thinking about his success. "Well, I'll see ya 'round."

"Yeah…" he said, but his friend already dashed off. He sighed. At least Neville's with someone he really likes.

!i!

"Harry, I reckon I'll die if I try to do homework without Hermione again," Ron said, his head throbbing.

"C'mon, mate, it's not that bad," Harry said. Ron glared at him, and he amended what he said. "Fine, it's that bad, but… we lived didn't we?"

"Barely," the redhead groaned. "I think I'll get a 'T' in my Potions essay and a 'D' in everything else. Let's go have a few rounds in the pitch, to get my head off this nightmare." Harry shrugged and agreed, checking his watch.

"We still got 2 hours till extra Potions," Harry stated. Ron's face fell.

"I forgot that," Ron said, slightly disappointed.

The two took their brooms, and ran to the pitch. "Blimey," Ron mumbled as they reached their destination. Harry brushed the hair off his eyes and his jaw dropped. It was his girlfriend and the Slytherin hugging! He advanced toward them, trying to be as quiet as possible and tapped Ginny on the shoulder.

Ginny removed her arms from Blaise and turned around, surprised to see…

"Harry?"

A/N

Me: Here's the chapter I promised... The characters are taking a coffee break, reckon they'll be at it for a while.

Disclaimer: I do not own the HP series, if I had, my internet will be WHOA, and my room would be big. And my whole house'll be air-conditioned. ;)

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