Hey guys, I'm baaaaack! Sorry for the slightly late update, I try and update every three to four days but I have been hiking all weekend. I had to sleep in a field. In a field. In a FIELD! I'm so proud of myself though, I'm not a 'hiker' but we managed 30km, which was pretty good. Thanks to Malibu Baybreeze and Cherryberry8, you guys keep me going! The song for this chapter is Paradise by Coldplay, please read and review, I own nothing and on with the story!

Hermione woke to the soft sound of snoring. Glancing across the bed she saw Ginny sprawled out with her red hair fanning over the pillows. Hermione groaned slightly when she remembered the events of the previous day, her arm was bound in a bandage and she could feel the lump protruding out of her head.

She then remembered Ginny meeting Blaise, and grinned evilly. The two had stared at each other for quite a while before Blaise finally snapped out of it, said an awkward goodnight to them both and sped out of the room. Ginny had remained slightly gobsmacked, but then she excused herself to shower, her eyes dreamy. Hermione had fallen asleep whilst she was in the shower.

Hermione stretched out on the bed and glanced over at her clock; it was half past seven. She still had to tutor Draco today; according to Lucius an attempted rape didn't get her a day off. Bastard. Still, it would take her mind off of it.

Ginny stirred beside her and glanced up groggily. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she gave an enormous yawn. "I had the weirdest dream. You had been attacked, then carried to your room by a gorgeous blond, and then visited by an even more gorgeous Italian."

Hermione giggled, "Not a dream Ginny, and that gorgeous Italian is called Blaise Zabini."

Ginny shot up straight and gaped at Hermione, "He was real, wasn't he! They both were! Oh my God, Blaise is hot! How are you not interested in him?"

Hermione shrugged, "I like him, but I couldn't picture a relationship with him. He's more an 'older brother' type."

Ginny grinned wolfishly, "I'm glad you don't like him like that, it will make it all the easier for me to swoop in. I have a feeling, though, that you don't see Draco as the brother type."

Hermione could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks, and she glanced at her hands nervously. Ginny apparently noticed, because she gave a bark of victorious laughter before leaning towards Hermione, "Has he kissed you yet? Have you kissed him?"

Hermione didn't say anything, feeling her cheeks getting even more flushed. Ginny was euphoric, "You have, haven't you! Tell me everything!"

Hermione sighed; this was so predictable of Ginny. "I just kissed him on the cheek because he might have sort of bought me a horrifically expensive necklace."

Ginny gasped, "He bought you jewellery!? Hermione, this is a really big deal! Show it to me now!"

Hermione obediently got off the bed, all the while cursing Ginny's crush-radar. Grabbing the box from her desk she climbed back on the bed where Ginny immediately snatched the box away from her. She carefully took out the beautiful golden necklace and sighed romantically, "Hermione, it's beautiful! See how the sunlight catches the ruby and makes it glow. He definitely likes you!"

Hermione giggled nervously, "I'm not usually swayed by things like jewellery, but the necklace is very pretty. I just can't get involved with Draco, though. There's too much at risk."

Ginny hummed sympathetically, "I understand. By the way, I never asked you how you're feeling, are you alright?"

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, it could have been a lot worse. My arm hurts slightly, but I'll get over it. Under all the blood, the cut wasn't actually all that deep. It'll heal in no time."

"That's good," said Ginny, "it was all very dramatic last night. I think I gave Mrs Malfoy a miniature heart attack when I hurdled out of Lucius' office after hearing the news. By the way, Lucius is so scary! But I can see where Draco got his looks from." She added thoughtfully.

Hermione grimaced and threw a pillow at her, "Gross, Gin! He's like, fifty!"

"I'd bet five quid he isn't a day over forty three."

"You're on."

Ginny grinned, "But you have to admit, he has great hair. Better than yours!"

Hermione scowled at her friend, "Thanks for that. Ugh, I'm never going to be able to look at him in the same way again! He's an international drug-lord, Ginny!"

Ginny threw her hands up defensively," Alright, alright! I was just stating the obvious!"

Shaking her head, Hermione walked over to the massive closet and picked out some jeans and a hoody. Throwing them on, she walked towards the bed.

"Do you want to go to 'official breakfast' or 'unofficial breakfast'?"

"Depends, where will Blaise be?"

Hermione giggled, "Probably at 'official breakfast', but we will also be eating with captain scary-pants."

Ginny shrugged, "Whatever, as long as Blaise is there. Give me ten minutes to get dressed."

Forty minutes later Hermione guided Ginny down to the breakfast room, feeling slightly shabby next to her friend. Ginny was wearing a blue miniskirt with a cream blouse and a chunky pink belt around her waist and brown leather ankle boots. Her hair was expertly styled and she had just enough make-up on to look sexy but not slutty.

Entering the breakfast room, Hermione saw everyone sitting around a large square table, two seats to a side, eating breakfast. She smiled shyly at Draco, who grinned back at her. A quick glance to her friend told her that Ginny was being very flirty, and a quick glance at Blaise told her that it was working.

Rolling her eyes she sat down at an unoccupied side and grabbed some toast. Ginny sauntered up to the seat next to her and sat down, still eyeing Blaise. He and Draco wee opposite them, Lucius was on their right and Narcissa was on their left. They couldn't actually see Lucius' face as it was stuck in a newspaper.

Narcissa smiled kindly at Hermione, "Hermione, dear, how are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but okay otherwise, thanks for asking." Hermione replied politely.

Without removing his head from behind the newspaper, Lucius spoke, "Miss Rivers, what do you intend to do with your friend during Draco's tutoring?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, something she wouldn't have done if he could see her, "I was thinking she could join in and help, sir. She knows some French."

"That's good. I was also wondering-" he was cut off by the doorbell and finally removed the newspaper, turning to Narcissa, "Do you know who that is, dear?"

She shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I don't. Must just be a delivery of something."

They all went back to eating, but two minutes later one of the staff showed the doorbell ringer into the room. It was Pansy.

She was wearing an outfit similar to Ginny's, but her top was two sizes too small so her breasts were bursting out of the top and her skirt was three inches too short, so if she bent over they would almost definitely be regaled with a view of her panties. Her make-up was grossly overdone, accentuating her pug nose. Overall she looked like a complete slut, again.

"Good morning, everybody!" she chirped loudly. "Thought I'd join you for breakfast. It has just been too long since- who is that?!" she accused, pointing a finger at Ginny.

Hermione could understand why; Ginny was gorgeous. She was probably the prettiest girl at Hogwarts and was like a swan next to the likes of Pansy; an ugly duckling. Where Pansy's outfit was desperate and slutty, Ginny's was sophisticated yet alluring. Ginny's make-up was tasteful; Pansy's was like a clown.

"That's my friend Ginny." Hermione said, glaring at the angry brunette. Pansy scowled right back at her.

"I see you're still here!" she said rudely, putting a hand on her hip.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and just went back to eating some toast. Pansy scowled at her even more deeply.

"Don't ignore me, you horrible little commoner! I am far better than you will ever be! You are just desperate and deluded to think that you could possibly stand a chance at doing anything. You should just go and…" Pansy continued to yell profanities at Hermione, who just quietly nibbled her toast.

One thing she had learnt was that ignoring someone was incredibly effective, and this proved to be the truth with Pansy. The brunette continued to get more and more agitated, yelling more and more loudly. Hermione didn't even glance at her.

Lucius sent her an amused glance from above his newspaper, and then turned to Pansy. "Miss Parkinson, please could you keep it down?"

Pansy blushed slightly, but covered it up be flicking her hair dramatically. Hermione inwardly smirked at her antics. "Of course, Mr Malfoy; could I borrow Blaise for a minute?"

Lucius waved his hand dismissively at her and Hermione saw Blaise groaning. Nevertheless he got up and followed Pansy out of the room. As soon as they had left, Ginny turned to Draco.

"So that's your girlfriend?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Not by choice."

"Draco Malfoy, have some respect," Lucius snapped, "Miss Parkinson is a high-bred young lady from a very wealthy family."

Ginny gave an amused snort, "High-bred? You talk as if she's a pedigree dog or something. She doesn't dress as if she's high-bred either."

Lucius sighed dramatically and folded his newspaper crisply. "I have no control or interest in what she wears."

"If you aren't interested in what she wears, then her outfit choices clearly aren't working." Ginny snickered.

Lucius got up abruptly and walked out the room with a hard glare at all of them. Narcissa sent her husband a withering look before following her husband out. Ginny turned to Draco, "So he chose you a girlfriend? That's… harsh."

Draco sighed loudly, "Sad but true. 'Harsh' pretty much sums up my father in one word."

Hermione felt a wave of sympathy for him, he clearly didn't feel he had love or pride from his father. She watched as he got up and made his way towards the door. He looked so… lonely.

"Draco, wait one second!" Ginny called in a sweet voice. Draco turned and raised his eyebrows expectantly at her.

"Before you go, could you clear something up for me? You see, I have a bet with Hermione that a really want to win. How old is Lucius?"

Draco frowned in confusion, "He'll be forty-one next February."

"Yes! You owe me a fiver, Hermione!" Ginny crowed jabbing Hermione in the side.

Hermione groaned, "Fine, but he's still old enough to be your dad!"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "It's not like I'm looking for anything! I just want you to pay up!"

Whilst she was fishing five pounds out of her purse, Hermione saw Draco grimacing. "Do I even want to know?" he asked.

"Nope!" said Ginny merrily, popping the p and the end.

Hermione sent an apologetic look over at Draco, "See you later, Draco. Good luck getting rid of Pansy!"

"Thanks for reminding me." He called sarcastically over his shoulder as he walked out. Hermione started to pull Ginny out of the room, "Come on, we have stuff to do."

"Wait, you got his computer files already?"

Hermione waved the memory stick in front of Ginny smugly, and set to plug it into her own laptop. "Yep, but I'm not sure if it's his 'bad' computer or if it's just a cover. We'll see soon enough, this memory stick got all the files, internet history and all social activities on that laptop, and organised them. Ron really is a genius; it also automatically bypasses all passwords and security measures."

Ginny nodded approvingly and dragged up a beanbag next to where Hermione was sitting at her desk. "Have you managed to find the entrance to the labs beneath the Manor yet?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, and I think that will take quite a while to find. I just hope there are blueprints of the Manor on the laptop; that would make my job so much easier."

Hermione opened a file on her computer from the memory stick. Inside it there were four files, labelled 'documents', 'internet history', 'social activity' and 'computer information'. Hermione opened the file for documents first.

As she surfed through them, all she saw was documents of general paperwork. Opening the, she saw they were all completely innocent and quite boring. Opening the internet history files and social activity files she found much of the same. It was just searches for an antique table and an online game of chess.

"Maybe he went incognito on the internet?" Ginny offered.

"No, the memory stick would have picked up on it. I think this must just be his recreational laptop." Hermione said, disappointed. She had hoped that they would find something.

She was just about to close the laptop when Ginny stopped her, "No, wait. Go into computer information."

Hermione sighed but did as she asked. Ginny stared at the screen for a minute with a furrowed brow, "This can't be right. The stuff on that laptop would be barely fifty GB, but it says here that the space is nearly used up. There's more than what we thought!"

Hermione looked at the statistics and saw Ginny was right. There was one thousand GB of space on Lucius' laptop, and it was nearly all used.

Hermione pulled up a basic search string to sift through the information on the memory stick but it came up clean. "Everything on the memory stick is there; the computer information is for Lucius' laptop not the memory stick so all that extra stuff must have slipped it by somehow. I need to call Ron."

She pressed the button on her watch and spoke into it. "Ron, we've looked at the information on the memory stick but there are a load of files it didn't get."

The watch crackled and then Ron's voice came up, "Hang on, I'm hacking your computer now. Yes, I see what you mean. That little bastard!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

She heard Ron sigh, "Okay, imagine everything on a computer as lumps of code. Documents, internet history, all of it. Theses lumps of code are like fish, and the memory stick was designed to be a net that caught them all. Lucius has evidently downloaded software that breaks up choice lumps of code into tiny little pieces that bypass the net and then scrambles them up for extra security. I imagine the memory stick will have caught a few of them, but they will be very well hidden inside the binary code. If I can find just one, I can create a massive search via the internet that will find the corresponding lumps of code and reassemble them all. As long as his laptop is connected to the internet, it can be done but it will take time."

"Okay, tell me what you need me to do."

"Listen very carefully. What you must do is…"

For the next two hours Ron instructed her on how to build a search that would comb through every tiny bit of binary code. It was long and hard work, but eventually Hermione had the program running.

"Alright, you're just going to have to let that do its thing for about twenty four hours. Call me again when it's done. Bye, 'Mione."

"Bye Ron and thanks so much for your help."

Hermione slumped back in her chair and regarded Ginny with tired eyes. "That was one hell of a computer session!"

Rolling her neck, Ginny stretched out like a cat. "I agree. Ron is such a computer nerd."

Hermione giggled and walked over to the bed, collapsing on it. "He's brilliant though. I don't know anyone else our age quite that good at computers."

Ginny gave her a shrewd look, "You really do like him, don't you."

Hermione blushed, avoiding eye contact by looking down at her feet, "Yes, I mean, no, um… it's complicated."

"What's so complicated about it? If you like him, you like him. If you don't, you don't." said Ginny.

"I used to really like him, and I still do, but it's like it's faded away ever so slightly. Maybe it's because I haven't seen him."

Ginny shook her head, "Nope, that's not it at all. It's because you've met someone else."

"Draco?!"

Ginny nodded, "Now I'm not saying that you're head over heels in love with him, but there is definite chemistry. Think about it, you have a lot in common with him; is it so difficult to imagine there could be something between you?"

"Yes! There can't be something between us, Ginny; it would only end up with broken hearts. I've told you this."

"Just think about this Hermione; when was the last time you wished you were with Ron?"

Hermione shook her head and got off the bed. She refused to think about that, so instead she decided to try and turn the tables on Ginny.

"Technically I'm not the only one 'moving on'. How did things end with Harry?"

"As I said before, he only had a small puppy crush on me and I decided to give him a chance. However, we both decided that it just wouldn't work between us and so we called it quits. Personally I think he would have more luck with someone like Luna, they always did share a rather 'special' friendship." said Ginny, "And anyway, I met someone else. Someone called Blaise."

Hermione chuckled ruefully, "You're lucky; you could get away with having a fling with Blaise."

"So you're admitting you want a fling with Draco?"

"No! Don't assume stuff, Gin." said Hermione, glaring at her friend.

Ginny just grinned and stretched back over the bed, "You so want him."

The rain was pouring down outside and they could all hear it from inside the library. It was streaking down the windows and hammering on the roof. It made the atmosphere warmer and more sheltered, Hermione was tempted to get some hot chocolate.

"It's j'aime, Draco, not je aime. There's a vowel clash otherwise."

"J'aime jouer au football avec mon copain Blaise."

"Better." said Hermione, leaning back in her chair. They had been doing simple sentence structure for three hours now and Hermione was getting very sick of it. Apparently Blaise and Ginny were as well, because they kept glancing at the clock, both sighing loudly.

Hermione glanced at them irritably, "If you two aren't going to contribute to the lesson, please leave."

Ginny got up and stretched her arms above her head, eyeing Blaise. "I might just go and look for a book to read tonight." she smirked and sashayed off, pausing to glance over her shoulder at him, "Will you help me out?"

Blaise practically leapt out of his chair to go and join her, not bothering to say goodbye to either of them. Hermione smirked at his boyish eagerness.

Draco chuckled as they disappeared behind a bookcase, "Your friend has an amazing ability of reducing the coolest guy to a puppy dog."

Hermione grinned at him, "That's Ginny! Now, they might be able to slack off but we can't. I want you to make up a few sentences and say them to me."

Draco stared right into her eyes with his own amazing stormy irises and spoke softly, "J'aime cette fille; elle est intelligente, drôle et belle. Cependant, elle est aussi mon professeur, et je ne peux pas l'embrasser droite cette seconde. Je ne sais pas quoi faire."

(I like this girl; she is smart, funny and beautiful. However, she is also my teacher, and so I can't kiss her right this second. I don't know what to do.)

Hermione blushed deeply at his romantic words, and stuttered over her own, "Well, um, someone's been practising! Er, that was, um, very good. Keep up the good work."

Draco smirked at her and lent back triumphantly in his chair. "What would you suggest I do?" he crooned, still looking her straight in the eye.

Hermione briefly considered melting into a puddle of goo on the ground, but decided instead not to feed his ego any more. Swatting his arm with some paper, she chuckled at him, "I would suggest that you stop trying to trick me into doing something with your romantic French and instead learn your verbs!"

A pained look crossed his eyes momentarily, and Hermione barely had time to notice it before it was covered by his trademark arrogance.

"It almost worked, love!" he grinned cockily at her. Hermione was about to reply when a series of loud thuds interrupted her.

They both whipped their heads to the direction of the sound and saw Blaise and Ginny emerge from behind a bookcase, both giggling madly.

Hermione immediately noticed Ginny's slightly flushed state and the way her hair wasn't as neat as it had been before. If she didn't know any better, she would say Ginny had just been thoroughly snogged.

"What the hell was that Zabini?" Draco asked, trying to contain his grin.

Blaise smirked, "Oh, you know, just a pile of books that happened to be in the way. We were a bit too… preoccupied to notice it."

Draco didn't even bother trying to hide his grin this time, and he looked on the verge of openly congratulating Blaise.

Ginny stumbled over to the chair beside Hermione and collapsed down into it, "I have so much to tell you later!" she giggled into her ear.

Hermione couldn't help smiling this time and she giggled along with Ginny.

"By the way, Hermione," Blaise said, "Pansy is plotting to put a corrosive acid in your underwear. I'd watch out!"

Hermione found this too funny and burst into peals of laughter. Apparently it was infectious as all the others started laughing too.

With a flourish Hermione closed the French textbook they had been working from and sighed contently. "I think that for the last half hour we should watch a film in French. That's much more enjoyable than learning the imperfect stems." At the cries of agreement she continued, "Do you have a TV in your office Draco?"

Draco sneered, "Of course I do, but we can do so much better than that. Follow me."

He led them out of the library and down several corridors and flights of stairs until they reached a door. Swinging it open ceremoniously Draco extended his arm as an invitation for them to go in.

Hermione gaped around the large room, turning in a slow circle. It was like a miniature cinema, with three rows of six very big, comfortable looking chairs and a sixteen by nine foot screen. At the back there was a bar with plenty of utilities; including a smoothie machine and a vending machine.

"Wowzers," Ginny said, "this place is incredible! I want to be rich!" she whined.

Draco and Blaise laughed at this and Draco went to the bar. "Do you guys want drinks?"

"Diet coke, please." Said Ginny at the same time Blaise said "Beer."

Hermione rolled her eyes and went to go help Draco. "Would a hot chocolate be a possibility?"

"Yeah," said Draco, "I'm having one as well. Do you want caramel, white, dark or milk chocolate? There's also whipped cream, marshmallows and a variety of sauces and sprinkles."

Hermione's eyes widened at the range of possibilities and she laughed dazedly, "I didn't even know white hot chocolate existed! I think I'll go for a traditional one, please."

Draco nodded and started gathering the various things needed to make the hot chocolates. "Would you mind getting Blaise and Ginny's drinks? The vending machine door just opens."

Hermione went over and got out a diet coke and a bottle of beer, and then she took them to Blaise and Ginny. Blaise was in the middle of deciding what film they should watch; and he and Ginny were clearly disagreeing over it.

"But Mission Impossible is the best film ever!" Blaise whined.

"Maybe, but Dangerous Liaisons is a classic!" Ginny argued back.

Hermione rolled her eyes and snatched the remote off of Blaise, "We're watching it in French, remember? I vote we watch something we've all seen and enjoyed like Love Actually."

"Some of us might have not enjoyed Love Actually, though." Blaise grumbled.

Hermione snorted at this, "Please, every guy secretly loves chick-flicks. It takes a real man to own up to it, though. Are you a real man, Blaise?"

"Yes!" Blaise cried like a petulant child, "And therefore I vote we watch Love Actually!"

Giggling, Hermione went back to receive her hot chocolate from Draco. He had put whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate dusting on the top and Hermione didn't think she had ever seen a more appealing drink.

"Thank you, Draco." She smiled brightly at him. He gave her one of his genuine smiles back in return and Hermione had to remember to breathe.

He turned and strolled down to the front row with his drink, looking up at the screen. "Love Actually, good choice."

Blaise had set it up so that it was in French, and using the remote he dimmed the lights and boosted up the volume. "I think that when it gets to five o'clock we should switch back to English. We won't be in lesson time then."

They all agreed and Blaise motioned for them to sit down. Hermione was sitting next to Draco and Ginny, with Draco on her left and Ginny on her right. Blaise was on the other side of Ginny.

Draco turned so he could see them all, "Would it be a good idea to have a film night whenever it's raining and we can't go outside?"

"Yeah!" said Ginny, "We can take it in turns to choose the film."

"That sounds like a good idea." said Hermione, smiling at the thought of watching films with her friends whilst drinking luxurious hot chocolate.

"Let's do it then!" grinned Draco, "Alright, Blaise, start the film!

Blaise complied and they watched in content until the film was over.

Hermione shoved Ginny into her room and immediately ordered her to sit down on the bed.

"Ginevra Weasley, tell me everything now!"

Ginny looked at her innocently and Hermione resisted shaking her, "Oh come on, the sexual tension between you and Blaise at supper was painfully obvious! And you still have to tell me about that incident I the library…"

Ginny grinned widely, "He kissed me, Hermione! We went around the other side of the bookshelf and he suddenly spun me around, pinning me to the shelf and then he snogged me senseless. He is such a good kisser, it's unbelievable! It felt so special."

Hermione couldn't help but feel slightly, Ginny had been kissed loads of times before, she knew how it felt to feel wanted. Hermione had never felt that, not with Ron and she couldn't afford to with Draco.

As if sensing what was wrong, Ginny covered Hermione's hand with her own. "Hey, don't worry. It'll happen; you'll just have to be patient."

Hermione nodded absently and Ginny sighed, "Look, Hermione, you do realise the opportunity to have something special with someone is staring you right in the face. Draco really does like you and you like him. Tell me there hasn't been a moment between you and I'll stop pestering you."

Hermione blushed and thought back to her kissing him on the cheek, him melting her heart with his romantic French words, the necklace hanging around her neck.

Ginny saw the blush and smirked triumphantly, "See! I told you! If you want it, the chance is there. Take my advice and don't let it slip away."

Hermione nodded and smiled at her best friend. At the end of the day, this was why she loved Ginny Weasley like a sister. "We should probably go to sleep. I'm tired and it's late. Goodnight, Gin, I'm happy for you."

"Goodnight, Hermione, thank you."

In the morning Hermione had been woken by sunlight streaming through the curtains and onto her face. She had immediately got up and dressed, careful not to disturb Ginny.

She was now currently sat at her desk watching her computer for any signs of the program she had created the previous day being completed. She was reading a book to pass the time when Ginny's dramatic awakening grabbed her attention.

The red-head always made a great show of waking up; Hermione didn't even think she did it intentionally. There was a lot of thrashing, stretching and yawning involved.

When Ginny had finally pulled herself together Hermione greeted her, "Good morning, Ginny. Did you sleep well?"

Ginny nodded sleepily, "I did, thank you. I had the most wonderful dream; Blaise and I were in a swimming pool and-"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Hermione yelled, having a vague idea of where it was headed.

Ginny frowned and stuck her tongue out, "Alright, Miss Prissy. Whatcha up to?"

"Waiting for this stupid computer program to finish loading." Hermione grumbled, her eyes flickering back to the screen.

"Ron said it would take a minimum of twenty hours and a maximum of forty-eight, I don't think waiting for it is very productive-"

She was cut off by the beeping of the computer signalling the end of the program. Immediately she was on high-alert scanning the screen for any clues. Ginny jumped up and joined her, looking over her shoulder.

There was a sign saying all the files had been downloaded and Hermione did a fist pump before eagerly trying to open the folder that contained all of the documents.

However, when she clicked on it, it requested a password of eight letters.

"Darn," Hermione muttered, "I should have known there would have been some sort of password protection. Let me call Ron."

She pressed the button on her watch, "Ron, it wants a passcode of eight letters, what should I do?"

"You can't use anything to try and bypass the password as the security measures with scramble it up again and send it back out into cyberspace, so you'll have to try something that will work out the password. In your purse there should be a key-ring of a metal shoe attached to your keys. Open it up and insert it into the computer."

Hermione did as he asked, but all that came up was a sign saying 'Error- device not compatible'.

Hermione told Ron this and he swore, "Shit! That means the password changes on a daily base; Lucius must update it. There's nothing more I can do, you'll have to find that one out by yourself."

"Okay Ron, thanks for all your help."

"No problem. How are you doing, by the way?" he said.

"Fine thank you, and you?"

"Brilliant, you'll never guess what happened; Lavender and I are dating! We were out in the woods playing truth or dare with some of the others and I got dared to kiss her, and I did! I walked her back to her dorm and we kissed again, only things escalated and we slept together. It was really good, we both agreed it made us feel special and so I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes! Are you happy for me?"

Hermione wasn't sure the exact moment her heart broke, but she could feel the shards ripping her apart. "Oh, um, yes of course!" she said, fighting back tears, "That's really good, Ron. Congratulations. I've got to go, um, I have a… thing. Bye."

She released the button and drew her legs up against her chest, the tears falling freely down her face.

"Oh, Hermione," said Ginny, "I am so sorry. I knew my brother was thick, but…"

"It's fine, Gin," Hermione stammered, "it just wasn't meant to be. He's always liked Lavender, not me. It's alright."

"But it's not!" said Ginny, drawing her in for a hug, "You're allowed to be upset when someone breaks your heart, Hermione."

Hermione gripped onto Ginny and sobbed fiercely, pressing her face into her shoulder. "W-what do you d-do to m-mend it?" she cried.

Ginny rubbed her back soothingly, "You find someone to pick up the pieces and glue them back together."

"W-who?" she hiccupped.

"Anyone you like. It could be a friend, like Blaise, a family member, like me, or someone new, like Draco." Ginny said.

"I can't t-tell him about R-Ron! It would b-be m-mortifying!"

"You don't have to tell him, just be around him. Let his company make you happy again, that will make it better. Trust me, Hermione; I know what I'm talking about."

Hermione looked into her friend's eyes and all her arguments melted away. She realised what she needed was in fact a good dose of happiness, and Draco did make her happy.

"'Sup, guys." Ginny called cheerfully at the two boys sitting in the library waiting for their lesson to start.

Hermione trailed behind her nervously, both Draco and Blaise were very perceptive and she didn't want them to know she'd been crying. Luckily for her, they were too busy talking about something else to notice her slightly red-rimmed eyes and nervous demeanour.

"Hey!" greeted Draco, "We were just talking about the Blaise's birthday! I think we should have a massive party to celebrate."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ginny jumped up and down at the idea, "Ooh, I wonder what I'll wear. Will it be inside or outside? How many people will be invited?"

"Woah, slow down!" said Blaise, "I haven't even agreed to this."

"Tough luck, it's happening." Said Ginny firmly, leaving no room for argument. Hermione giggled at Blaise's slightly scared face, and she realised she was feeling better already.

"I think it's a great idea, personally." She said, sitting down. "When exactly is it?"

"A fortnight exactly, which is perfect because we can celebrate over the weekend." said Draco, grinning widely at Blaise.

Blaise groaned and shook his head, "I'm not getting out of this, am I?" he grumbled, and was replied with all three of them smugly telling him he wasn't.

"I think I'll wear my little black dress." said Ginny thoughtfully, "Hermione! You have to wear that peacock dress I got you! It'll look absolutely fabulous!

"Oh, God, she's planning my outfit already!" Hermione groaned, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

"She can't be that bad." said Draco with a lifted eyebrow.

"Oh, you don't know her like I do. She is a tyrant when it comes to any form of party or celebration. She'll end up planning it!" Hermione said.

"Since its winter, we'll use the ballroom. I think it should have a theme to it, and we should totally hire a really good band to play." Ginny said thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

"So it begins." Hermione said gravely, shaking her head in anticipation.

Draco and Blaise laughed out loud, and Draco put an arm around her shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe from that red-headed menace!" Hermione's heart jumped a little at the gesture, even though it was meant as a joke. Draco didn't notice, however, and continued.

"I'll persuade Father to let us do it at formal supper tomorrow, but I don't see why he would have a problem with it. We can therefore make arrangements and send out invites next week."

Ginny squealed and clapped her hands together, excitement clear on her face. "I literally cannot wait! I love parties so much and I'm so good at organising them; please, please, please let me help!"

Draco made a show of sighing and rolling his eyes dramatically, but he grinned at her, "Sure thing, we'll need all the help we can get! This is going to be awesome!"

That's all, folks! This chapter was absolutely evil to write! I got writers' block every other paragraph! Ugh, it was also a bit of a filler chapter to lay the groundwork for the next chapter which is much more interesting! I am literally brain dead right now. I really hope you enjoyed this stinky-poo of a chapter and please leave a review; it would make me very happy! Bye!;)

GoldieXx