A/N: So, here is the next chappie. I was so excited by the response to the last one! It was my favourite, too. Although, I apologise for the typos. :p

To answer your question Preciousblue: I thought Tom Felton did a great job of Draco in HBP and he received the right amount of screen time. It added depth to his character in prep for final flicks, revealing more than just the spoilt pureblood bully that he was portrayed as in earlier flicks. He played the bad boy well, until he lost it and brokedown in the bathroom! hehe Prof Slughorn was just as I imagined, and I think Daniel Radcliffe deserves more credit for his role - he's really mastered the book character on screen. Anyway, I mostly enjoyed the humourous teen love issues and Harry on Felix! hehe

Back to more pressing matters: Chapter 14! Enjoy!

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Hermione Granger was caught in a state of confliction as she stood staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. More specifically, she was staring at her neck, flicking back and forth between the wand in her right hand and the revived hickey. This was what it took for Malfoy to hand over her wand? No matter how many times she questioned it, no logical explanation availed.

What's more, never mind him questioning how on earth she had managed to get into his room, he was more concerned about her and Blaise. She expected a reaction much worse to the one he had exhibited. Despite his unpredictability, her fear of what he might do far outweighed his actions.

Draco Malfoy was no longer acting the way he should.

Hermione cast a glamour charm over the offending mark and purposely sought to wear a v-neck t-shirt to re-affirm her control on the matter. After all, she did have her wand back, and she had discovered a thing or two about the Head Boy. The only downside was that her intrigue had been exacerbated, not eased. She was consumed by the uncharacteristic demeanours, or misdemeanours, of not one, but two, prats of the Slytherin rat pack.

Reclaiming her wand had also brought with it a newfound, almost addictive, enthusiasm in class. It was as if Hermione had been holding her breath underwater to the point of manifesting an enormous desperation for air upon surfacing. The professors expressed wonderment at her eagerness to utilise her wand and demonstrate her skills. In reality, she knew that she was trying to prove herself, to overcome her guilt for losing her wand so frivolously, and to a Slytherin.

"Hermione, you've done the same spell, like, ten times. I think McGonagall recognises that you have mastered it already," Ron pointed out, a little worriedly. Hermione was in a frenzied state.

"I just want to be sure that I am not fluking it!" she snapped.

"Hermione," he placed his hand on her forearm in an attempt to bring her back to reality, "I don't think you've ever fluked anything." She shrugged him off, turning her head to glance at a few snickering Slytherins behind her, who had overheard.

"Watch it, Greengrass," she seethed.

"What are you going to do, Granger? Transfigure me too? I think that feather has suffered enough torture," she mocked, the Slytherin girls laughing. "How'd you manage to get your wand back, anyway?" she continued, the girls all grinning knowingly.

Hermione's expression was one of pure loathing. She needed to give them something to be riled about. "Rules of persuasion, Daphne. How do you get what you want?" she retorted, knowing full well Daphne's reputation. She saw the Slytherin's eyes narrow in understanding before the characteristically calculating expression came to fruition.

"As if a Gryffindor could ever pull that act on one of our boys, maybe you've been fantasizing a little too much, since your boys don't deliver," she remarked snidely, loudly enough for Ron to hear. He turned around.

"You wish, Daphne," he simply said, facing the front once again. Hermione laughed as she saw Daphne scowl. It brought her back to reality. She really was overdoing it. After all, Professor McGonagall had already awarded her an 'E'.

Hermione sat in the Great Hall, reading over her Arithmancy notes before her class test. The morning post was flying through as she looked up at the interrupting noise. Her inclination to see one of the owls approach her was validated as a school barn owl flew overhead, dropping the envelope onto her text book. Se quickly hid it at the back of her book.

"Who's that from, then?" Ron asked sleepily, yawning in the process.

"Probably just notice to pay my subscription for The Prophet," she dismissed haphazardly. Her parents rarely sent her anything by owl. She glanced over at the Slytherin table looking for Blaise, only to have her eyes land on the Head Boy who happened to be glancing back at her at the same time. It was the strangest thing to catch him looking at her; she almost wanted to yell 'What?' across the room but he simply looked away just as quickly, an uncertain expression on his face as he flicked over his housemates present. Blaise was not there, and she knew that Malfoy had put two and two together that she was searching for him. It was no wonder that she had avoided them both all week for perhaps the umpteenth time this year; she had gone from one extremity to another with that lot.

She averted her attention back to her table as she heard mention of Dean. A few sixth years were whispering with Ginny, giggling and shooting fleeting glances at Dean on the other end who sat quietly, absorbed in his thoughts. Hermione smiled with satisfaction. It suddenly brought to mind something else.

"Hey, Harry," she nudged. His head was on the table, he was having a quick snooze, it seemed.

"Hmmm?" he mumbled.

"When is your last practice before the game against Slytherin?" she asked, lowering her voice for his ears only.

"Next Thursday," he muttered, turning his head away. Hermione looked over at Ginny, who was struggling to stay awake. Heavy lidded, she was quietly eating an apple.

"Harry, stop fucking around and get some sleep at night. It's not sustainable," she whispered.

"I can't help it," he managed to reply, forcing himself to sit up, rubbing his eyes as a half-smile of recollection crossed his face.

"Ugh, Harry, it's for your own good."

"You wouldn't understand." He grinned over at Ginny. Hermione was slightly hurt by his comment.

"I understand perfectly," she replied tersely, glaring down at her food. Harry, sensing her change of tone, turned to her.

"Hermione, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's Ginny, she won't give me a break!" he sighed. Hermione stared back at him, mouth agape before breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Are we talking about the same Ginny?" she had to ask. Harry just glared at her.

"Trust me, I am not complaining, but with the game coming up against Slytherin, I really need to have my attention and energy focused on that."

"Well, why don't you tell her that? I'm sure she'll survive." Hermione replied, the amusement apparent in her voice.

"Think you can tell her for me?" Harry asked meekly. Hermione shook head, shooting him a reprimanding look.

"Ginny and I don't even talk about school work, Harry. I doubt she'd appreciate it if I pulled her aside and said that her boyfriend told me he is too tired to focus on winning the next quidditch match, or school work for that matter, because of their overzealous bedroom antics. And, in saying this, she should cool off for a bit."

Harry chuckled at her reasoning. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Oi, what are you two whispering about?" Ron interjected, leaning over the table.

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

"I'll see you both later." Hermione stood up, giving Harry a reassuring pat on the shoulder before make her way to the library.

Seated at her usual table, Hermione opened her Arithmancy book and retrieved the envelope. She opened it hastily, unfolding the parchment. There was a note, and a blank second sheet.

'Hermione,

I had to write it out as the book would not allow for magic copying. Sorry if it a little hard to read. I was in a bit of a rush.

Let me know what you think.

Blaise'

Hermione could not help but feel disappointed by the brief message. She put the note down and stared at the blank piece of parchment. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the small piece of parchment he had handed her last week. It had been there ever since.

She unfolded it carefully and looked down at the two word spell.

? Solitario Occhi

Sighing, she pulled out her wand and muttered the words, paying no head to the significance of the question mark.

Nothing.

The parchment remained blank. "Now what?" Hermione muttered under her breath. She tried again but to no avail. Reluctantly, Hermione stood up from her seat and wandered over to the foreign language section. She guessed the spell was of Italian origin but had no idea what it meant. She was caught by a particular title.

The Roman Source

She pulled out the book, coughing, as she disturbed the dust that had built up around its edges, and opened it. There was a chapter on common Italian spells. Scanning down the alphabetical list, her eyes landed on the exact phrase and she read the translation. 'Lonely Eyes: Used to ensure that only particular individuals can reveal concealed information meant for their eyes only.'

Hermione looked back down at the spell Blaise had written on the parchment, this time recognising that the question mark might bear some meaning. She walked back to her desk and muttered a series of possibilities as she repeated the spell.

"My Solitario Occhi?"

"Hermione's Solitario Occhi."

Still Nothing. In frustration she tried one more for the hell of it.

"Granger's Solitario Occhi," The once blank parchment revealed a hurriedly written list of ingredients in dark green ink, titled 'L'etat d'Esprit'. Hermione groaned at his sense of humour.

Typical.

Relieved to finally be getting somewhere, Hermione scanned down the list. It wasn't especially foreign, save for a few specialist ingredients she immediately recognised as probably being the cause of all the side effects. She had heard of them all, but one.

'Blue Blood'

Hermione suddenly felt annoyed. Why hadn't Blaise just simply shown her the potion being made and the ingredients? He was taking such a text book, research focused approach to it with her, keeping her at a distance, when he had all the ingredients hidden somewhere. She headed to Arithancy with a new found aggravation.

It wasn't until that evening in the Great Hall that Hermione finally spotted Blaise. He was sitting next to Nott, who was discussing something animatedly. She kept her eye on him all evening, and the moment he stood up and walked out, she followed.

He turned into the hallway to take the stairs down to the dungeons.

"Blaise!" He stopped and turned, surprise on his face to see that she had called out. Hermione jogged up to close the distance between them.

"Hi Hermione," he said, somewhat distractedly.

"Can I talk to you…about the list?"

"Oh, so you got it?" he remarked irately. Hermione stood there, unable to comprehend his aggression.

"Yes, I got it! Forget it!" Hermione turned and started walking away, mentally berating herself for trying.

"Wait!" he rushed up to her side, walking with her, and suddenly pulling her into an empty classroom. Hermione crossed her arms angrily, leaning against a desk, looking down.

"So how did you manage to get your wand back?" he asked, totally off topic.

"What does it matter?" Hermione was not in the mood.

"Just wondering what it took for Draco to give it back. Unless, you stole it back?" Blaise cocked an eyebrow eagerly.

"I attempted to, but it was harder than I thought. We came to an arrangement in the end," Hermione offered reluctantly.

"You and Draco agreed on something?" Blaise chuckled.

"Well, it wasn't really agreed on," Hermione muttered, frowning as her hand came up to her neck, gingerly rubbing. "Look, it doesn't matter, I don't really want to discuss it," she finished nervously.

"Is everything okay?" Blaise asked, a hint of concern edged in his voice. Hermione looked at him. She couldn't say anything. Whatever it meant, it would stir trouble. She merely nodded. "I have my wand back don't I?" she tried to joke. Blaise remained quiet.

"I read the ingredients, and I wanted to ask you something," Hermione started, desperate to change the topic. "Nice revealing spell by the way."

He smirked knowingly. "I thought so," he grinned, his mood changing. Hermione relaxed a little.

"Why give me an ingredients list when you have been making the potion right here in the castle?"

"It's the Blue Blood that threw you off isn't it?" Hermione nodded, furrowing her brow.

"Why should I have to research it, when you could just show me what it is?" Hermione replied, feeling downtrodden. Blaise walked over to her.

"Of course I would if I could. I've never seen the ingredient. Draco adds that in…he's the only one who knows what it is, who has it, and who knows where to get it. He won't tell me." Blaise admitted.

Hermione immediately thought back to the locked draw of Malfoy's desk. "It's the second last ingredient we add," he continued. I don't know why it has to be the second last, but it is, and we have to wait exactly 14 days before we add the last ingredient. I can write out the procedure if you think that will help. I only know it from what Draco has instructed. His book only lists the ingredients."

Hermione pulled out the parchment from her bag and looked down the list at the last ingredient. "One drop of mandrake puss," she read aloud.

"Yep," Blaise sighed. "You shouldn't be walking around with that. The reversing spell is Solo Occhi. Hermione's breath hitched at the way he said it as the parchment became blank once more.

"Mandrake puss is extremely strong, there must be something in the blue blood that needs to be neutralised once it's activated in the potion." Hermione wondered aloud.

"That's where we went wrong in the batch you took," he confessed uncomfortably. "The last ingredient was added one day too late because of the quidditch match we had on. Strong stuff, whatever it is."

Hermione was feeling slightly distressed by the admission. "How did Malfoy react?" she asked.

"I haven't told him."

"Were we the only two who took that batch?" Blaise nodded. "Malfoy, obviously had a lot more," he half smiled.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. "Well, I'll see what I can find out," she shrugged turning to leave.

"Hermione, wait." A sense of déjà vu came over her. She reluctantly turned to face the Slytherin.

"About the other day –"

"No need to explain," she dismissed. Hermione could feel her cheeks flush at his mention of it.

"Just hear me out, Hermione!" he replied with frustration. Hermione was startled by his insistence.

"Okay," she replied meekly.

"I want you to know that when I said I'd wanted to do that for a while, it wasn't because of dutch courage, or anything that might be a result of the potion."

"Okay," she said to hide her nervous discomfort and her building giddiness. He stepped closer again, standing merely inches from her.

"I've wanted to kiss you since the end of sixth year," he finished, before pressing his lips to hers, quashing her ability to speak.

Startled and shocked by his confession, Hermione found herself responding to his movements as they stood kissing in the empty classroom. His tongue grazed over her lip, as she willingly parted them to allow the Slytherin entrance. The situation was thrilling to say the least, as his tongue circled around hers, caressing, drawing her in closer. It was the most sensuous kiss she'd had to date, and she was melting at his touch.

Blaise's hand came up around her waist, pulling her in closer. She could feel his arousal this time, yet it didn't frighten her like it had with Dean. She felt empowered, wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling him closer. With newfound confidence, she goaded her tongue into his mouth, letting it explore.

Neither heard the classroom door open.

"What's going on here?" Blaise and Hermione broke apart, breathless, and turned to identify the intruder. The cutting eyes of the Head boy were focused back at them with determined malice.

A/N: I will say nothing this time... hehehe