After dinner a few days later, Hermione was sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her Transfiguration book opened to the pages that the afternoon's pop quiz had covered. She was using her limited time before rounds to double-check that she'd chosen the correct quote from Harriette Swidenpull, when describing the theory that surrounded the caster's limitations during the incantation of Reparifarge. Work for idle hands, but it kept her engrossed enough that her mind didn't start to stray to places it shouldn't.

It was late, close to shift change, when Lavender and Parvati burst into the room. Their frantic giggles filled the small space until they both saw her. The enthusiastic joy melted from their features at the same time and they turned to begin their individual nighttime routines in a charged silence. Neither girl had spoken to her since the night of the break-up.

Sick of having to walk on eggshells and cast protection charms around herself every night in her own room, she watched the blonde witch for a split second before speaking up. "Lavender…"

"Do you hear that, Parvati? Is the wind howling outside tonight?"

"No… I don't hear a thing, Lav."

The childish exchange was meant to provoke her. And she had to give it to them, their outright dislike for her throughout the middle of the year had been concerning but predictable. Their insistence that she didn't exist was a whole different level of disconcerting that had added even more suspicion when it came to some kind of retribution.

"Lavender, I want to apologize…"

"So you are going to admit that you are a backstabbing harlot then?" Parvati butt in. Her hands on her hips as she turned, determined to have the conversation be a confrontation.

"Well… No, because Ron didn't cheat." Hermione tried to explain.

Powerless to fight her nature, Lavender also swiveled from her trunk and started shrieking, "You are such a liar! Everyone saw you!"

"Harry was up in their dorm the entire time." She lied, an easy endeavor when there wasn't an entire audience worth of eyes on her.

"He was NOT! One of you would have said so!" Another ear-splitting screech echoed in the room as the girl's face turned a concerning color of purple.

"How would you know? YOU NEVER STOP WHINING!" Hermione yelled back, slamming her book shut to vent her frustration in a tangible way. She closed her eyes, took a centering breath, and then reopened them before trying again. "Look, I will not confess to something we didn't do... But I will apologize for our friendship hurting you."

Lavender and Parvati had a wordless discussion about her sincerity while she stood and packed up her book.

"I don't believe you. Harry would have defended him." Parvati pointed out.

"Ron asked him not to," Hermione told her the truth. He had declined the offer from Harry to lie for him. Allowing for the necessary end to the toxicity to stick.

"Why would he do that?" Lavender whimpered, near tears.

"Because…" She thought about her options and went with the one that would cause the least damage to the girl. "Because he's an overly emotional jerk who has a strange propensity to forget that others have feelings too."

"He… He really is!"

The confirmation of her assessment was the last intelligible thing wailed at her before Lavender flung herself into Hermione's arms and started to sob. Her and Parvati exchanged startled looks at the unforeseen forgiveness as she patted the trembling witch on the back. Unsure of the best way to offer comfort.

Graciously, Parvati came and disentangled her theatrical friend from the tight hold she had around Hermione's middle. "Shhh… It's okay."

"Thank you!" She mouthed as she backed towards the door of their dorm slowly.

"Remember what I told you?" The raven-haired beauty coaxed, leading Lavender to bed.

"I… I thank m…myself for seeing my worth. I let go, start over, and m…move on."

By the end of the uplifting mantra, Hermione gently closed the door behind her. Escaping the torrent of teenage angst she had brought on with her rash decision under the mental guise of her Prefect responsibilities. She was still proud of her current path of redemption. There were an unreasonable amount of circumstances which she had not given the proper attention while she was busy… Elsewhere.

Now, her mind was free to rectify those selfish mistakes.

-\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/- -\/-

Ginny was standing at the top of the staircase to the second floor. She was impatient as she waited, rocking from the heels of her feet up onto her tiptoes and back down again. They had just finished eating early so the girl would have plenty of time to prepare for the evening's outing with Harry. He wouldn't divulge his plans and the added surprise raised the excitement for her.

Hermione followed grudgingly. There was a huge part of her that was happy to have their friendship back to normal, but this was the third night that she'd had to sit and analyze every single thing said or done by the new couple. A couple made up of two people that she considered siblings… Who engaged in activities she would rather never have to envision.

"Hey! Weasley… Granger… Wait up!"

A deep voice called from behind them, she turned and watched the dark form of Blaise Zabini saunter his way up the stairs. Stopping when he was a few steps away, he leered at her. The extreme height difference between them left him nearly eye-level with her.

"What do you want?" Ginny demanded, immediately suspicious of the snake before he could open his mouth to explain.

Blaise pretended to lean in and whisper but his voice easily carried up to the already irritated witch. "Is she always this abrasive?"

"Only when she doesn't particularly care for an individual in her vicinity." She hedged, also skeptical of his motives for the public chat. Especially when he hadn't spoken to her since his nighttime accostment months ago.

"A challenge… I like it." He ogled the redhead openly for a moment and then turned back to her.

"As if you haven't heard that she is dating Harry." Hermione rolled her eyes at the hollow flirtation.

His onyx eyes flashed with anticipation for the chase. "Like that makes a difference."

"What do you want?" She repeated her friend's demand. Her own annoyance at the disrespect for the fledgling relationship seeped into her tone.

"Oh right! I should beg your pardon for my distraction but I cannot say that I regret it." For the second time, he glanced at Ginny and looked her over, lingering on the more titillating parts of her body before he answered. "You both are formally invited to the gathering of debauched souls that will be taking place this weekend…"

The unexpected invitation had the witch at the top of the stairs at her side in seconds. Her fiery glare locked on the poor wizard. "What are you playing at Zabini?"

"No games…" Blaise said, raising his hands up by his shoulders in a placating gesture. A smirk twisted the corners of his lips. "Unless, of course, you'd like to play a few rounds with me."

"Ugh! You wish." Ginny sneered and then addressed her. "Why are you talking to this freak, Hermione?"

"Be nice, I'd like to hear what he has to say."

Her admonishment had her friend rolling her eyes as she huffed her frustration. The boy next to them, on the other hand, stared as he appraised her. Not in the salacious manner he had been teasing Ginny… It was as if it was the first occasion in six years that he had the chance to see the real person under all of the assumptions.

After a long persistent silence, she shrugged. "I guess that he doesn't have anything else to say to us... Nevermind, let's go."

His eyebrows rose as he watched the two of them turn to start the trek up to their dorms. Seeing that they were not bluffing, he quickly got around and placed himself in their way so they both had to look up at him. "Wait, wait, wait…"

"For?"

Blaise ignored her question and addressed Ginny, "As the recently elected savior of Gryffindor house, it would be amiss for you to abandon your numerous fans who will be in attendance. They are clamoring to listen to your specific outlook on the match."

"They and you, can all eat my ass."

"Kinky… But if that is what you are into…"

The girl's face slowly filled with her outrage. Going from the sun-kissed tan that she sported during most of the year to a deep dangerous crimson. Hermione grabbed the wrist that was headed toward her robe pocket. Disgruntled by the denial to hex the idiot. Ginny pulled from her grasp and barged past Zabini, making sure to shoulder-check him hard as she went.

"She might kill you, you know…"

Her threat caused another suggestive smirk, "A little pain can be fun."

"I will remember not to cry at your funeral." She said, shaking her head at his stupidity. "What is the theme this time?"

"Ah… No hiding under masks this time, M'Lady." He taunted. The distraction working. "Not only are we partaking in the usual drunken shenanigans but there will be the added benefit of making absolute ignoramuses of ourselves while we sing karaoke."

"You are kidding me, right?" Hermione asked.

"What? Are you too good to listen to the intoxicated off-key croonings of your fellow Hogwarts students or something?" His playful baiting followed as he worked his way around her. The crowd on the staircase started to thicken as more people left the dining hall.

"No." Her counter was short and she had to turn so she could keep him in her sight as he began to slowly creep back down the steps. The question that had been circling her mind since the second the proposal had been issued spilled from her lips. "Why was I invited?"

"I couldn't think of anyone more deserving…" His stress on the last word told her everything she needed to know. He fully turned and descended the staircase, disappearing down the corridor that led to the Slytherin's territory.

She stood there and watched his exit. Worrying her bottom lip and being jostled by the wave of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as they headed to the various nightly activities. Theodore had told. Parkinson's unbridled mouth staying closed must have meant that he was selective in who he had informed. It was entirely possible that Blaise's comparison had been used with more than just her…

"Hermione! Hurry up!" Ginny commanded. Her head peeking out from the corner she had taken refuge behind. As soon as Hermione was next to her, she started in. "What was that?"

"I think we were asked to go to a party," Hermione answered innocently.

"That's not what I meant…" Her friend glowered at her.

She brushed aside the inquiry for more information that she couldn't divulge without more lies and shrugged. "It could be fun."

"Fun?! Are you insane? We are not going!" The witch's jaw dropped with her shock at the suggestion.

"And why not?"

"Why not? Did you forget what happened the last time? Or what about the other hundred reasons?!" Ginny's shock turned to alarmed horror. Desperate to talk some sense into her, the girl reached for the inevitable lifeline. "...The boys will agree with me."

"The boys were not invited so their opinions on the matter are moot, Ginny." She chose each word with care, not wanting to trigger an argument, but not willing to surrender either.

"Even more reason not to go!" The witch tried to rationalize.

Hermione sighed with her resignation before going low. "You owe me."

"I owe you?" Her newfound wariness replaced the worry on her friend's face.

"Yes. You owe me a couple of hours of your time to celebrate your sudden celebrity status. And by that, I mean getting sloshed and making fun of the other tankered prats with me!" She clarified as if her goal should have been transparent. Unable to stay stationary a moment longer, she started walking towards the direction that led to their common room.

Ginny's eyes narrowed as she kept pace with her, "While that is tempting… It still doesn't explain how I owe you."

"I have spent the last week convincing and then reminding your older brother why it is better for you to be dating his best friend over the line of wizards waiting for their turn." She suggested. "Or what about the hours of my life I will never get back listening to how said best friend's tongue feels down your throat? Or, going further back, how I've stayed quiet on how you stole Arnold! Or the rest of the countless things that I do because I love you, Gin... Do this teensy thing for me, please."

The girl sighed heavily. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Inter-house comradery…" Her excuse wasn't necessarily a lie.

"What?"

"It's like the Sorting Hat said last year…. We need to stop being such assholes to the ones who extend olive branches. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but the sentiment is the same." She justified her surprising interest.

"That is not what it said." Ginny's dismissal was quick. Not even giving the viewpoint a first thought, much less a second.

"I said that I paraphrased… And it pretty much is." Hermione stared straight ahead as she continued. "How are we all supposed to come together if we condemn an entire House because of the actions of a few?"

The redhead swallowed the retort she'd planned. Instead of responding, she started to nibble on the inside of her cheek. A sign that she was actually thinking over the assertion.

Good. Hermione was going to let her believe whatever she needed to.

A potential friendship with Zabini was secondary to her real plan…