The same night, as Alex and Briana were upstairs engaging in other activities... Blaise, Chuck, Kaylee and Letha all sat together in the Great Hall, enjoying their dinners. Draco sat down to join them as Kaylee tilted her head and gave him an interested look, "Where's Briana and Alex?"

"They said they're having an important talk," he explained, serving himself a plentiful helping of food.

"So then... this is the perfect opportunity! Speaking of important talks, as we are...", Kaylee began.

"Perfect opportunity for what?", Draco asked, confused with a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"Whether you've made up your mind yet!", Letha pressed. "About Briana!?"

"What?!", he exclaimed, taken aback. "How do you know?!"

"Come off it! Everyone knows, it's quite obvious! Plus Kaylee is practically my sister, she can't keep a secret from me," Letha explained. "And I am hurt that everyone in our group was TOLD about this from you except for me!"

"Shut up, Letha! This discussion isn't about your feelings, it's about Draco's!", Chuck took over. "Soooo? Any developments, old chap?"

"Since when did you start saying 'old chap'?", Draco asked.

"Stop trying to change the subject, old chap."

"I'm not, pal."

"Then tell us, old chap! Go on!"

"What am I supposed to tell you?", Draco looked around at their increasingly anxious expressions.

"How you fancy Briana so much that you've come to the conclusion that you're mad for her," Blaise said, half-sarcastically.

"Okay," Draco said simply. The others sat in silence for a minute, half-confused.

"Okay, what?", Kaylee stared at him. "Okay, what Blaise just said is accurate?"

"Yeah," he answered shortly again, busying himself by stuffing his face with food.

"Oh my Godric!", Letha and Chuck yelled in unison.

"I knew it," Blaise smirked at Draco. "You have to do something about it then."

"Why's that?!"

"Because if you don't, somebody else will," Letha said. "I don't know if you've noticed, Draco, but there are tons of guys here who fancy Briana from afar. One of them might make a move before you do and then... well, she might start seeing someone else."

"Personally," Kaylee added. "I think Briana fancies you, and she's just patiently waiting for you to come riding up to her on your white stallion."

"Do you really think so?", Draco thought over all that they were saying to him.

"Yeah! Just go for it, mate!", Chuck fist-pumped.

"I know you have other things that may be more important," Blaise gave him a secretive look, being the only one at the table who knew of Draco's task. "But Briana is able to bring out the best in you, and I have a feeling that if the two of you got together everything would be less stressful for you."

"Plus, once you get that out of the way, it's just one less thing to worry about, yeah?", Chuck pointed out.

Draco sat, thinking deeply for a minute, before announcing to his group of friends, "Alright, I'll say something. But I don't know when so don't expect anything grand to happen overnight!"

Each of his friends made some sort of celebratory remark and movement before Chuck winked at him and Letha sent him a gigantic, excited smile, clapping her hands together in excitement for her friends.

Alex awoke the next morning with vivid memories from last night rushing back to his mind. Then he had a horrible realization: he had slept with Briana, Draco Malfoy's best friend that he liked. He held his head in his hands, filling himself with worry. Looking around, he saw Blaise, Chuck, Draco and Flint all sleeping their beds still. It was only 7 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, after all. Alex then noticed that Briana wasn't even in his bed anymore. She must be awake and roaming the castle already.

Being a bit of an early-riser himself, Alex got out of bed to get dressed then head to the Great Hall for breakfast. As he walked down the corridors, the very little sun shone through the many grey clouds littering the sky. Once again, it was a cold day with bitter winds every now and then. The ground was muddy and wet, so it must have been raining last night. The weather would only get worse from here; it was only October 2nd.

When he finally reached the Hall, Alex found it was just as he suspected: Briana was already sitting at the Slytherin table, nibbling on a piece of toast. He quietly approached her, sitting across the wooden table from her. She gave him a warm, small smile as he poured himself some pumpkin juice. He looked dreadful, in the sense that he seemed to be nervous, scared, a bit sad and very alert. It didn't take more than a second for Briana to figure why this was, and she sympathized with him because she was sort of feeling the same way.

"Alex," she spoke to him quietly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm gonna die," he told her with a freakishly serious expression upon his face.

"No you are not, it's all going to be alright," Briana wondered which of them she was trying to convince more.

"Draco is going to kill me," he shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"I imagine he'll be angry, but he won't hurt you," she told him honestly. "And he'll be mad at me, just the same."

"Bloody hell, I'm so scared though."

"I'm sorry, Alex."

"Why are you apologizing?", he stared at her intensely. "Don't think I regret the decision I made; it's what I wanted and that hasn't changed. I just guess I hadn't exactly thought out all of the aftermath."

Briana nodded, "Well, it's like you said last night: even if all of them are furious with us, at least we'll both have one another."

Alex nodded solemnly at her before downing the rest of his juice. About fifteen minutes later, Chuck and Blaise came walking into the Great Hall still looking half-asleep. Briana could hear Alex whimper slightly as the two of them sat down on either side of him.

"Good morning," Blaise said sleepily.

"Morning," Briana replied.

"I don't recall seeing you two at dinner last night, then we go upstairs and see you two crashed on Alex's bed?" Chuck recounted as he served himself some fruit. "What's with that?"

"Draco told us they were having an important talk, remember?", Blaise added.

"Must have been a very important to talk nearly three hours," Chuck chuckled lightly as Alex groaned and Briana's cheeks picked up a pink color.

Not too long after this exchange, Letha, Kaylee and Draco made their way to join the others at the table. Kaylee sat herself next to Chuck while Letha and Draco both sat on Briana's left side. Alex hadn't eaten anything; just sat there making very very small talk with the others, though now that Draco had arrived, he seemed to be taking deeper breaths and was covering his face with his hands.

"So how did your talk go, then?", was the first thing Draco said as he started eating his breakfast.

"It went wonderfully," Briana answered, glancing at Alex.

"Good. So when do we get to hear what it was about?", he asked them.

"Yeah, I don't like being left out," Chuck added. "We're best mates, remember Alex?"

Alex nodded, looking down and cracking his knuckles nervously.

"Well... It's a bit.. difficult to explain... We're still trying to figure out exactly how to inform you," Briana said slowly.

"How difficult could it be?", Kaylee asked, giggling.

"It's not something we can just-"

"Come on, just spill it!", Chuck egged her on.

"Yeah, I mean, we're all mates here," Blaise said. "No secrets, yeah?"

"But it's not that easy-", Briana started, getting irritated.

"No secrets!", Letha exclaimed.

"Alright, you guys really want me to just throw it out there?!", Briana suddenly exclaimed.

"Yes!", they all answered eagerly, except for Draco who was watching her carefully and Alex who was practically hiding underneath the table.

"Fine! Alex and I had sex! He decided to lose his virginity to me!", she whisper-yelled dramatically, exasperated and slightly annoyed at her friends. But she was still apprehensive and nervous for their reactions.

Alex's entire face was red, though one couldn't tell because he was covering it up with his hands. Kaylee and Blaise had their mouths hanging open, Letha had both hands to her mouth and her eyes wide, while Chuck laughed disbelievingly, exclaiming, "No way!" about three times in a row.

"I'm not lying, Chuck. That's what happened. Are you happy I told you now?"

"Oh my...," Letha put a hand to her cheek in a worried manner as she stared at Alex's head.

"Brilliant job, Alex!", Chuck suddenly outburst, patting Alex on the back. "You know how many guys must be envious of you right now?"

"Shut up," Alex whispered to Chuck as a warning.

"Oh shit, I totally forgot...," Chuck mumbled, feeling guilty as he then turned to watch Draco.

All of them were staring at Draco by this time, whose narrowed eyes were continuously bouncing back and forth between Briana and Alex. He was clenching his jaw as he gripped the table so tightly that his knuckles were getting sore.

"Draco..." Briana called his name quietly, watching him nervously.

"I'll be leaving now, before I say or do anything to hurt either one of you," he said in an excruciatingly calm manner before standing up and striding out of the Great Hall.

Briana stared after him before turning back to her friends at the table. Letha sent her a look full of worry while Kaylee smirked, saying, "And you were dogging me for sleeping with Chuck..." Blaise was giving her mixed emotions while an eyebrow was raised, and Chuck smiled cheekily at her, winked then proceeded to pester Alex, who had sat back up now.

"Alexander Whittaker!", Chuck exclaimed, a smirk on his face. Alex stared at him, having a feeling he knew what was coming. "Here you are, the baby of the group... Always quiet and innocent, but then BAM! One morning, suddenly that Alex is gone! You're like... On my level now! I mean, you got it in with Briana!"

"Chuck! Stop it!", Letha was giving him a stern look and he backed off. She then turned to Briana and Alex, "I demand an explanation from the two of you!"

"Yeah, I don't quite understand why you guys... did that," Blaise said.

Alex was sitting up again now, "Well I was telling Briana all about Bridget, this girl I really really like, and the conversation started to take another turn about how YOU GUYS are constantly treating me like and referring to me as the baby of the group, all 'innocent, sweet and baby Alex' twenty-four/seven! Briana asked why I thought that was and I explained to her that I was inexperienced and a virgin, basically everything you guys like to make fun of. And believe me, when I offered up the idea, Briana did not want to do it. But I kind of persuaded her into it."

"No, we BOTH came up with reasons as to why it made sense and why it was a justified action. Alex doesn't like me that way, and I don't like him in that way either. We're just like best friends and I don't want any of you guys to think otherwise," Briana finalized.

All of their friends nodded in understanding, though Chuck was still showing hints of his smirk.

"That's the most I've heard Alex talk since I first met him!" Letha said.

"Things change, you know," Alex retaliated.

"Well who the bloody hell is Bridget?! Come on, tell us the story!", Kaylee advised Alex.

Briana stood up to leave, "Why don't you tell them the story and I'll go off and find Draco..."

"Oh, alright then...," Alex answered. He began to tell his and Bridget's story to his friends' eagerly listening ears as Briana stalked out of the Great Hall to find her best friend. If that's what he still was, anyways.

Twenty minutes after a wild search, Briana found Draco outside of the castle on the far side of the Black Lake where most of the Slytherin's would reside. He was sitting on the edge of the water, black pants rolled up and his bare feet dangling in the dark water. The long sleeves of his white button up were rolled up too, and as Briana slowly got closer to him she could see how distant his eyes were.

When she was standing right next to him, he continued to look off into the distance but she knew that he was aware of her presence. Wearing the black dress that she was, Briana kicked off her shoes and let her feet dangle in the water next to Draco's. After they had sat in silence for a few minutes, Briana attempted the conversation she was sort of dreading, but knew had to be brought up.

"Draco. I know that you're angry with me," she said quietly.

He didn't look at her still, asking coldly, "Why did you do it?"

"Draco... I want you to know that Alex and I don't fancy each other at all. It was merely an act out of friendship, I was only trying to help him out." Briana furrowed her brow, sort of talking to herself now. She was on a roll, and got into one of her trances where she couldn't stop talking, "And we were both quite hesitant about the idea, at first. But we sort of came up with ideas as to why it was okay, you know?"

"I don't really think that I expected that from you, of all people."

"It's not like we planned it. Erm, well I didn't anyway...," Briana began going off in a bit of a speech, speaking more to herself than Draco. "Alex fancies this girl he met sooo much, but he felt so inferior because of all of us babying him, INCLUDING YOU. But I know that I made the decision to take part in the deed, and what's done is done. I knew it wouldn't be the easiest thing to tell you, but can you please come to terms with the fact that this whole thing wasn't planned at all, and there is nothing going on romantically between Alex and I."

Draco was staring at Briana now, knowing that she forgot he was there. And she kept talking, "It's kind of funny that I've got to explain all this to you. I feel like it's sort of automatic that I am doing this, I mean, seeing as we're best friends and all... But in my mind, it seems to be more than that. Like there's a reason I had to explain to you that there's nothing going on between Alex and I. Like we're more than best friends..."

Briana broke out of her reverie and looked around to meet Draco's blue eyes, filled with the slightest bit of confusion and a grand amount of hope. Briana's eyes widened for a second before she buried her face in her hands. She was finally coming into contact with her feelings for Draco. They were real. They existed. They were there before she even realized it was a possibility. Briana loved Draco; but as more than best friends.

"Why did you stop talking?", Draco asked her quietly.

"Because I realized what I was about to say," she replied at the same, low volume.

"What were you about to say?", he was watching her carefully.

She sat up and looked at him, "I'm afraid to say it."

"I'm in love with you, Briana," he said suddenly.

And from across the lake, Alex, Blaise, Chuck, Kaylee and Letha were all there to witness Draco crash his lips down onto Briana's.