Blaise saw his opportunity arrive in the form of Double Potions the next week.

So he tapped his wand on the fake galleon and sent out a short message to his partner in crime.

"TODAY, DOUBLE POTIONS"

A few minutes later, a reply came back;

"DONE".

Draco would get a whole two hours with the Granger girl. After all, two is better than one, Blaise thought
He had set the wheels in motion.

"You do realise you owe me fifty galleons?", Ginny reminded Harry.

"We talked about a crush, not a kiss, love. It was probably just to spite Ron for all we know. And I won't trust on Malfoy having a crush until I hear him say it", Harry retorted playfully.

"You mean until he asks her out?"

"Which will never happen", Harry replied confidently.

We'll see, Ginny thought, smiling to herself.

Ginny was having a rather blissful time with Harry by the lake, sitting with her legs outstretched and his head in her lap, when she felt the fake galleon grow warm in her pocket.

"Umm.. Harry, do you think we could go back to the castle? I don't feel so good."

Harry jumped up looking worried.

"What's the matter, Gin?"

"I don't know. I feel faint. Let's just go back okay."

"Sure, come on." He said offering his hand to help her up.

You owe me big time, Hermione. I just blew my cozy time with Harry to set you up with Malfoy, thought Ginny as she walked to the castle with Harry.

The moment they were inside, she excused herself and went straight to the girls bathrooms. Seeing that it was empty, she pulled out her fake galleon and saw that it had a message.

"DONE", she tapped her wand to send a reply.

Ginny had asked Harry to wait up in the Head Boy dorm so she swallowed the Nosebleed Nougat a couple of minutes before she entered and stepped inside.

"I'm back", she announced," it was just a bit of dizziness."

"Are you sure, Ginny? Maybe be can go to Madame Pomfrey?"

"Oh don't worry- Merlin's pants!" She screamed. Her nose started bleeding so profusely, she thought she might actually faint of blood loss.

"Bloody hell Ginny! We need to go to Pomfrey, now! And I'm staying with you." And saying that he dragged her to the matron in spite of her protests.

Oh no, no no no no no! This is wrong. This is all wrong! Harry is going to ditch class with me. In this way Ron will be partnerless along with Malfoy. This is recipe for disaster! Ginny's mind raced.

She let out a fake wail of pain, collapsed to the floor on her fours and surreptitiously swallowed the antidote toffee from the Weasley's nosebleed package.

"Ginny! What happened?" The Boy Who Lived cried in horror at her fast deteriorating state.

"Oh, it's nothing Harry. Like I said, just feeling a bit faint", Ginny replied, now actually feeling dizzy due to the blood loss.

"Here let me help you", he said and put his arm around her waist helping her up, and then proceeding to support her all the way till Pomfrey's Quarters.

"Oh she's all right Mr Potter. Nothing a Blood Replenishing Potion and some rest can't fix. You can go about your work now. Come on, off you pop. Wouldn't want you missing your favourite class now, do we?" Madam Pomfrey said kindly to Harry.

Favourite? Harry mouthed, wordlessly, to Ginny and made a tortured face, making her giggle.

"Yes, come on, now. You can leave, young man." She urged him away, to which he obliged reluctantly.

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

Mission accomplished... hopefully... if that daft moron gets it right... She thought.

Blaise had to wait for Pansy to partner with Nott as usual, before he would proceed with his plan. As soon as she settled down with Nott and arranged her Potions Kit on her table, Blaise bent down as if to take out his own Potions Kit and swallowed the Nosebleed Nougat.

Blood splattered on the floor as the toffee took effect. Blaise could feel himself going dizzy at the excessive loss of blood.

"Blaise!" cried Draco. "Salazar's curse! What's wrong?"

"Oh, don't worry. It must be the Quidditch workouts", Blaise replied, lamely. He knew he'd have to get out before Draco or the Professor became suspicious. So he immediately excused himself from classes and rushed out with the antidote toffee in his pocket.

"Alright then class, today we are going to brew The Blood Replenishing Potion. This is something you must be able to brew once you complete your NEWTS. And since you are doing it for the first time, you will need a partner to get it right.

Now Miss Granger, since you and Mr Malfoy both are without your partners today, would you mind shifting your things over to his side? After all two is better than one." Professor Slughorn announced, bouncing his belly and waving his pointing finger.

Hermione sighed out of resignation, as she started to collect her things. Ron stared back and forth from her to Draco in shock.

She had been avoiding Draco for the past week, though he had made a move to resolve the rivalry between them, she was still suspicious and hadn't responded. The result was that she still suffered from horrible nightmares. Today she had hardly gotten a couple of hours of sleep. She had bags under her eyes. As she settled down beside Draco, she noticed he had them too.

"Still having nightmares I see, Granger?" he inquired, without emotion in his voice.

"So do you", she whispered, not wanting to be caught talking in class.

Professor Slughorn waved his wand causing the list of ingredients and procedure for brewing the potion to appear on the blackboard.

"Now gather your ingredients from the cupboard. You have two hours to finish it and if you get it right, you and your partner get to keep a vial each, in case of emergencies like what we witnessed today.
Now come on. Chop chop", he announced and sat on his plush leather armchair popping a piece of pineapple candy in his mouth.