Flashback:

"I'm a Malfoy, and Malfoy's aren't secretaries! This is abuse!"

'What the fucking hell have I done?'

"I'll give you some advice, Zabini. Stay away from her or you'll regret that you were ever born."

Hermione Granger cracked an eye open sleepily and was pleased to see a sleeping angel right next to her.

When did I die and how did I go to Heaven? she mused.

The angel's platinum blonde hair covered his eyes and a ghost of a smile was on his lips. His breathing was even and – where were his wings? And was Heaven really emerald-green with silver linings?

Do angels usually hold your hand as you sleep? Or mumble, "10 more minutes, Mother," when you shake them? Do they have silvery grey eyes and look startled to see you?

"Granger?" the angel inquired and upon seeing their hands in each others, jumped back. "What are you doing here?"

Then slowly, ever so slowly, it dawned on her.

"M-Malfoy?" she stammered, turning beet red. "I, um… er, good morning?"

This was no Heaven, and that was no angel. Oh, and the gods were cruel.

Despite his confusion, he still managed a smirk. "Ogling at me, were you, Granger? Ha! Even Hermione Granger, the Golden Girl of Gryffindor, can't resist me."

She turned a darker shade of red, but now it wasn't because of embarrassment, rather, it was from anger.

"You're so full of yourself, aren't you, Malfoy?" she snapped. "Would you like a mirror saying you're the fairest one of all?"

Draco, who didn't know a thing about Snow White, smiled and said, "Nope, not when the whole population of girls in Hogwarts says so, I don't."

"Cocky git," she muttered under her breath. "Pompous, arrogant, irritating, conceited…"

Draco's smirk grew wider. "Listing down my attractive qualities, love?"

That remark earned him a black eye, and a retort of, "What half the population of girls think about you, Draco Malfoy, is that you're gay."

As the pain lessened, and his moans and mumbling of profanities subsided, he walked toward the bathroom and upon hearing the water running, he knocked and yelled, "Granger, if you're quite done there, I would like to see how much damage you've done to my face. And, love, I'm not gay."

"Go away, you cockroach!" Well, it wasn't his fault that she wasn't a morning person.

!i!

"Hello, Blaise," the sickly sweet voice of Daphne Greengrass drawled. Blaise sighed, turning around to see his ex-girlfriend smiling in a sadistic, and slightly mad, manner. Amazing. She was totally the person she wanted to see right now. A cherry atop the fairly disastrous day – to be more specific, week – he had. Just great.

"Hello to you too, Greengrass," he said, not bothering to use her first name. "Why are you here so early? I was expecting you to be in your room, planning to curse me to 'eternal pain and suffering' like the other day. What happened to that? I actually enjoyed the peace."

Daphne glared at him, and he can practically feel the "death aura" spewing off of her, but he couldn't care less. "Don't worry; I finished that last night—"

"So? Get on with it, Greengrass," he said, spreading his arms wide, still completely calm.

"—but then I realized…" she continued, still glaring daggers at the only Zabini present. "You're not worth it," she paused, adding dramatic effect to what she'd said, "since you pine for disgusting blood traitors like that Weasley and for people who are supposed to be in the mental ward like Loony Lovegood over there." She jerked her head to where Luna who was reading her Quibbler upside-down.

"But what should I expect? You, after all, were just a result of a dysfunctional contraceptive charm." At this comment, Blaise had stiffened, and his hearing became fuzzy, caused by the blood that came rushing to his head. It took quite a while until his hearing came back to normal, exactly when the blonde girl had said the one thing you shouldn't say in front of Blaise Zabini.

"—it's a wonder your mother even knows who your father was, having so many of them!"

Blaise had just whipped out his wand a well-aimed Bat Bogey Hex hit Daphne, making her shriek like a banshee. Every head in the Great Hall turned to them.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," said the auburn-haired Weasley, closer to Blaise than he had observed.

She was in the other side three seconds ago, Blaise thought, dumbstruck.

Bat-like Bogeys were coming out of Daphne's nostrils. "Tell me, how many times had your mother dropped you on your head when you were a baby? I thought Purebloods had class." She threw a disgusted look at Daphne, quickly replaced by a sneer. "You could clean your nose, you know. It's vile. Are you sure you're a Pureblood?"

"Just – you – wait – you – you blood-traitor!" she screamed in outrage.

Ginny smirked, one which could've given Draco Malfoy a run for his money.

"I'd be waiting long, then."

Pandemonium struck the Hall, student's choosing sides, whispering in low voices, but in Blaise's opinion, it was too loud for his liking.

"Did you see how she did it?"

"Oh gosh, poor Daph…"

A blinding flash of light topped it all. Dennis Creevey.

"Hey, Colin! Look at this photo, it's bloody awesome!"

That's when he decided it was too much. He didn't like the spotlight. He didn't like loud places, neither did he like a girl doing the dirty work for him and most of all, he didn't like cameras. He turned on his heel, determined not to look back and careful not to have any eye-contact with anyone, and stalked off.

Surely no one will see him go, not with all the people standing up and arguing, dueling and fist-fighting… not even the teachers, who still has a problem making the young wizards settle down.

But he was wrong, of course.

Obviously, Ginny saw him leave though the chaos in the Hall was raging full force. Not lifting the hex that she gave to the Slytherin, she dashed toward the doors of the Hall.

But there was another one, one with jet-black hair and piercing green eyes.

Harry James Potter.

His grip on his fork was so hard, it actually snapped into two. He was seeing red, and his head hurt. And this time, it wasn't from his scar.

!i!

"Are you completely off your rocker?" Terry Boot asked, feeling Cho's forehead.

"I'm not crazy, Terry!" she said indignantly, swatting her friend's hand away. "I'm not," she assured them.

"B-but… What kind of stupid joke is this, Cho?" Mandy Brocklehurst asked. "I mean, no one in their right minds—"

"Is it a crime to ask questions now?" retorted the raven-haired girl. She just asked… asking was never wrong… wasn't it?

"Actually… asking isn't a crime… the answer to your question is just too obvious," Padma Patil said, inspecting her nails.

But why, why wasn't it obvious to her?

"What is it then?" she asked, biting her lip. Surely it can't be…

"Yes!" her friends chorused.

…no. "Why are you even asking? Michael is dreamy. He loves you. You've been dating for—"

"—three months, I know," Cho said, exasperated. "I know."

"I can think of three reasons," Luna, who was reading the Quibbler just a while ago, said out of the blue. "It's quite simple, really. Firstly, Cho might not want to go to the ball—"

"Codswallop," Marietta Edgecombe scoffed.

"I wasn't quite done," Luna said, shooting a cold glare Marietta's way. "Where was I…? Oh, right. Cho might not want to go to the ball, which is highly unlikely. Secondly, Michael may have not asked her yet and lastly, she might not want to go with Michael for some reason like maybe… she doesn't know how she feels about him anymore or she likes someone else."

Awkward silences must be banned, Cho thought.

"So, Cho…" she said. "What is your reason?"

Cho followed the urge to look directly at Luna. Luna's pale eyes pierced hers, and she got a feeling that she knew. She knew what Cho herself had been denying.

"M-Michael hasn't asked me yet," she said, her voice wavering slightly.

It wasn't a complete lie… every time Michael asked were the exact wrong ones. And Cho always thought of Colin, who had been avoiding her for weeks.

Colin never smiled or said 'hi' to her. Never comforted her anymore, neither did he take pictures for fun. He'd always been with his friends and her heart ached when she saw him with other girls, laughing and smiling with them. She's even seen him kissing one. Just a small kiss on the cheek, but it still makes her heart feel like it was stabbed.

The most she got out from him was a curt little nod, and a reluctant little wave. And that was three weeks ago.

Her friends were still gabbing on about the Ball and usually, she'd be part of it, but now she felt less than enthusiastic.

A flash of blonde hair was what snapped her back to reality. Colin.

"I, uh… need to finish my Arthimacy homework… bye," she said, running off.

This didn't go unnoticed inside their group. After 5 tense seconds, Lisa Turpin asked, "Did Cho just ditch us for Draco Malfoy?"

A/N

Me: I hate myself. I haven't been able to update because school started, and honestly, Second Year is a back-breaker. And my mom threw out this important piece of paper, thinking it was scratch. Oh, and when I log-in, I read more than I write.

Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

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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