Chapter 9-

'Sally, tell me. What's the latest news?' demanded Gunther,

'I have a lot of information for you,' Sally's eyes sparkled.

'What is it?' asked Gunther eagerly.

'Well, I am not going to tell YOU,' said Sally as though it was the most obvious thing ever.

'Excuse me?' asked Gunther giving her an odd look.

'I am going to tell the woman who is in charge of this whole plan,' said Sally lifting her chin up. 'I deserve to meet her after my hard work,'

'What! Are you crazy? She would never meet you,' declared Gunther.

'Sure, she would. She does want the information doesn't she?' asked Sally smiling wickedly. 'I am the only one who has it,'

Gunther rolled his eyes. 'Fine, I'll let her know that, and then arrange a meeting,'

'Perfect!' said Sally happily and apparated. Gunther rolled his eyes and wondered how long he would have to put up with demanding women.

llllllll

'Draco, let me go. I have to go to work,' giggled Hermione.

'Later,' mumbled Draco and pulled her closer to him.

'No no, now!' Hermione wriggled out of his hold and got out of bed.

'Hermioooneeee,' whined Draco.

'Yes?' asked Hermione playfully.

'You are mean,' pouted Draco.

Hermione laughed and proceeded to dress up. Once she was done, Draco got out of bed, too. She told him that she would fix breakfast while he got ready. He agreed grudgingly and let her go.

He could hear her humming in the kitchen while he got ready. He wondered what he would do when she would leave. He was really getting used to her. Her smile, her laugh, and the way she walked and talked. The sex…God, he would definitely miss that. But that was not the only thing. Her very presence made him so happy. He speculated why he felt the things that he was feeling. Why did he care so much? Why did he want her to stay with him? He needed to talk to a friend. He needed to talk to Blaise Zabini. He knew Blaise would probably be freaked out, no doubt he would have heard about their relationship by now. Still- Draco knew that he would help him. With that happy thought, he went to the kitchen. He saw that Hermione was reading The Daily Prophet.

'Why do you read that nonsense?' questioned Draco.

'It's good to know what's happening in the wizarding world,' replied Hermione.

'You can ask me, you know. I generally know everything that's going on in the wizarding world,' pointed out Draco.

Hermione didn't reply and continued reading the paper. Draco rolled his eyes and said, 'Okay, whatever. It's your wish. I am going to go see Blaise,'

'Zabini?' asked Hermione frowning. Thatgot her attention.

'Yes, why?' asked Draco.

'Nothing,' replied Hermione and went back to her paper.

'He's a really nice guy, you know' said Draco wryly. He had guessed what was going on in Hermione's mind.

Hermione put down her paper and gave him a kind smile. 'Draco, I'm glad to know that you have such a high opinion regarding your friends, but I hope you do remember that all of you used to hate Harry, Ron and I,'

'Well, we all have changed now,' said Draco lamely.

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, 'Okay, off you go,' and went back to her paper. Draco smiled at her and left.

llllllllll

Draco apparated outside Zabini's building and entered it. He reached his apartment, knocked twice, and waited. When Zabini opened the door, Draco walked in without invitation and said, 'I need your help, man,'

'Well, hello to you too,' said Zabini sarcastically.

'I really need your help,' said Draco urgently.

'Oh, so you remember your friends now? Where was I when you started going out with Hermione Granger?' asked Zabini curtly.

'Blaise, it's a long story. I can explain,' said Draco,

'What is it?' asked Zabini curiously. Draco looked serious and he could sense that this was something important.

'Well, the thing is, Hermione and I aren't dating…well, not exactly,' said Draco awkwardly.

'Wait, what?' asked Zabini shocked.

'We are pretending to date…no we were…I mean, I don't know. It's all so confusing!' said Draco aggressively.

'What do you mean? What happened, Draco?' asked Zabini.

'Okay, I'll tell you from the beginning. Do you know that Ron dumped Hermione at the aisle and all that?' asked Draco.

Zabini nodded. 'Sure, everyone knows that,'

'Well, okay. Anyway, so he left her and she was devastated. Obviously. Apparently, she couldn't take the pain anymore. Which is why, she decided to take revenge on him. Guess who she came to with her super-duper plan?' asked Draco sarcastically.

'Why did she come to you? It doesn't make sense.' Zabini looked bemused.

'Because Ron hates me,' said Draco matter-of-factly.

'Oh…' said Zabini thoughtfully. 'So she wanted to make Ron jealous?'

'That's what I thought, but apparently not. She just wanted to make him feel bad. Anyway, that's not even the point! The point is that we started having sex recently, don't ask how it happened, and I might just have feelings for her,' confessed Draco.

Zabini stared at him. 'I need a second to digest this,'

Draco rolled his eyes and asked, 'Are you done?'

Zabini grinned and nodded. 'Sorry, man. Anyway, are you sure you have feelings for her?'

'I-I think so…' said Draco.

'Give me a yes or no. Black or white, no grey area in between.' said Zabini firmly.

'Uh…' Draco tried to imagine his life without Hermione and failed. 'Yes. I have feelings for her. Now what?'

'Now you let her know that,' said Zabini simply.

lllllllll

Ron walked to the reception and asked the receptionist if he could make a phone call. When she said yes, he quickly grabbed the receiver and dialed Sally's number. It had been a few hours since she had left in a rage! One ring, two rings, three rings and on and on it went for about a minute. Finally, Ron gave up. He was sure she was still mad at him, about what he had told her. He was worried he might lose her. Subconsciously, he walked out of the hotel.

He had planned that after their phenomenal night together; he would tell Sally that he was in love with her. That would have been all right if Sally hadn't somehow coaxed a secret out of him and then gotten mad at him. It was a nightmare. The only girl he had loved this much was Hermione. But he knew that he loved Sally more. She was like a bright light on a dark gloomy night. As he walked, he realized that he had somehow reached the café where he and Sally had had lunch for the first time. He stared at it and felt even more pain at his loss. Maybe she would forgive him. That was his only hope. He kept walking and reached a park behind the café. The park was spread out on a large piece of land. As Ron walked through it, he realized that it consisted of practically everything you would want to find in a dream park. It had a large play area for children and a romantic lake for lovers. There was a sea of flowers, which looked lovely and could cheer up the gloomiest person on earth. Ron felt better as he looked at them. He sat on a bench deciding that this would be his favorite spot to think from then onwards. He loved it because it was quiet and lovely. Just as he thought this, he heard some voices from behind the bushes. A man and a woman seemed to be talking. The man sounded eager.

Ron heard the woman say, 'I have a lot of information for you.' With a start, he realized that it was Sally's voice. He jumped up from the bench and walked behind the bushes so that he could hear more clearly.

He heard the man ask her what the information was.

'Well, I am not going to tell YOU,' Ron heard Sally say.

'Excuse me?' replied the man.

'I am going to tell the woman who is in charge of this whole plan,' said Sally.

'What! Are you crazy? She would never meet you,' the man exclaimed.

'Sure, she would. She does want the information doesn't she?' Ron had never heard his sweet, darling Sally sound so…evil before.

When the man finally agreed, he realized that there was something fishy going on. He wanted to find out what they were talking about. He leaned closer and heard the man say that he would arrange a meeting. He heard Sally say 'Perfect' and then the conversation ended. Ron quickly hid in the bushes expecting Sally to appear. He planned to surprise her. When she didn't appear for sometime he walked to the other side of the bushes and saw that there was no one there. He was stunned. He could see that there was no other way out. A tiny doubt began to creep into his head. What had Sally been talking about and how had she left the park?

Yes yes, I know! I didn't update for two days! But I was busy. Really. I had tons of homework and assignments and projects to submit. To make it up to you I wrote an extra long chapter. I am VERY sorry. I promise I'll update tomorrow. Please bring it up to seventy reviews? I will update tomorrow no matter what though. You guys are amazing. Thank you for reviewing and putting this story on alert and/or favorites! Your reviews are so encouraging and totally make my day! Thank you thank you thank you!

-EpitomeOfImperfection