"Hermione!" Ron shouted.

Hermione and Draco, noticing the crowd at the door for the first time, broke apart. Hermione, face flushed, turned to Ron.

"Ron, I—"

"What the bloody hell are you doing with this—this?" Ron demanded, pointing at Draco.

"Well, he was good enough for you, wasn't he?" Hermione snapped back.

"I never did anything with him!" said Ron indignantly. "He tried to pull something on me, but I didn't let him!"

"Hey, I'm right here," said Draco, waving.

Ron and Hermione continued arguing, voices raised.

"Ron, Hermione, shut up," Harry said. Looking surprised, both of them complied with Harry's request. "Hermione, we know what you're doing here. But why are you here, Draco?"

Draco raked a hand through his hair and shook his head. "Dunno, really. I just heard that Hermione was going to destroy the Internet, and I wanted to stop her, so I went and talked to Flitwick. He knows about this kind of thing."

"Not too surprising," said George.

"Anyway, he told me to come here, so I did. And Hermione was already here, and she had these—" Draco bent down and picked up a comically large pair of scissors. "And I asked her why she was doing this, and she said it had ruined the perfect balance of her perfect life, and she needed to end it all, but she didn't want to kill herself, so she'd settled on this instead."

"So you've gone mental?" Ron asked Hermione. Hermione made a huffy noise and said to Draco, "Go on."

"Well, I told her it didn't have to be that way, that I've always ... thought of her ... I don't know, just, there's more to it than me hating her." Draco looked at Hermione fondly. Harry felt his gag reflex acting up and squeezed George's hand as though it were a life raft. George looked at him and shrugged.

"And so," Draco continued, "Here we are. Got a bit distracted, I suppose."

"Oh. Well." Harry looked at Hermione and tried his hardest to keep his expression neutral, though the image of her kissing Draco was difficult to purge from his mind, and that ... well, he didn't feel so neutral about that. "Hermione, do you still want to go through with it?"

Hermione hesitated before saying, "I don't know. It doesn't seem like such a bad thing now, fan fiction, unlikely pairings, snogging..."

Ron's expression grew ever darker. George was clearly holding back laughter, and Wood was looking at Ron with concern and maybe something more.

"So don't do it," said Harry. "It's a trend, Hermione. A fad. It's going to fade. In fact, I bet it's already subsided."

"You think so? Really?" Hermione asked, sounding dubious.

"I think so. Unless there are couples who were, you know, meant to be." Harry tried not to look at George.

"Like who?" Draco asked, sounding hopeful.

"I don't know," said Harry. "We'll see. For now, why don't we get back to Hogwarts? And Hermione, leave your scissors here."

And so, after Hermione performed the necessary Memory Charm, they piled back into Wood's car, with Harry perched on George's lap and Hermione and Draco entwined as Ron glowered in the front seat and Wood tried desperately to make conversation. With Wood at the wheel, it was a short drive, and soon enough, the group was on its way back to Hogwarts. Right before they left, though, Wood took Ron's hand, put a slip of paper on it, and closed Ron's hand shut.

"Write me," he said simply before nudging Ron into the fireplace. Ron's face turned red and remained that way after they'd Flooed back to George's flat.

"You really think it will be normal again?" Hermione asked Harry after he'd said goodbye to George and he, Hermione, Draco, and Ron walked back to Hogwarts.

"I hope so," he said.

The first thing Harry saw upon entering was Neville and Luna. But they weren't making out or worse this time. Instead, they were holding hands, and after they'd said hello to the group, they returned to a conversation about Wrackspurts.

"Well, maybe it wasn't a completely bad thing," said Ron, remnants of blush still hanging on to his face. "I've wanted them together for a long time."

"That's sweet, Ron," Hermione said, smiling at him. Draco scowled and Ron just looked confused. He glanced at Harry, who shrugged and noticed as they ascended the stairs that Lavender and Parvati were talking as they normally would, no kisses exchanged. Dennis Creevey gave them a guilty look and a nod as Draco split away from the group without a backward glance, and when they stepped through the portrait hole after saying "Pulchritude," all was as it should be again.

There weren't many people in the common room, just Dean, Seamus, Ginny, and a few younger students whose names Harry couldn't remember. Dean and Seamus were playing Exploding Snap while Ginny sat nearby, a book open on the table in front of her.

"Hi," she said as they approached.

"Hi," they replied in unison.

"Where were you all?" asked Ginny.

"California," Harry said. "Had an errand to run."

"Oh. Right." Ginny closed the book. "Did you all want to play Exploding Snap? I think Dean and Seamus' game is almost done."

"I should read," said Hermione.

"I should write," Ron said, reddening again.

"I'll play," said Harry, smiling at Ginny.

"Brilliant," she said, giving him an uncharacteristically shy smile. "Now, what's this I hear about you and my brother?"