34. Chapter 34: Hermione

Phew! Another fairly long break (for me). I had exams... x.X And yes, it was awful. I'm pretty sure I failed my last one, which was Social Studies. ACK! How I hate that subject... I was never very good with maps and history and things like that. I'm just not interested. U.U

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my new piece of work. :D

& after a night of writing...

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10 Ways to Kill Draco Malfoy

Chapter 34

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HERMIONE

I never thought I'd be saying this, but Ron's been spending a curious amount of time lately with Slytherins. And I don't mean those nice, respectable Slytherins, but Pansy. And Blaise, but he's not that bad. Still. I'd have thought that last time, when she nearly snapped his spine with that massage of hers, he'd learn to keep his distance from her. But nooooo, he just has to go back for more. This time I wouldn't be surprised if he got shipped to St Mungos or something.

Ah well. It's his life, so he makes the choices, however stupid.

And NO, I am not jealous of Pansy - I was over Ron completely since 4th year. I'm just worried about him as a best friend. It's not exactly a common sight to see Ron Weasley being dragged around by the arm by Pansy Parkinson, or deep in discussion with Blaise Zabini - all of which some of my friends witnessed. Most were very disturbed by the expression on Blaise's face when he was talking to Ron. I'd hate to imagine what it was like.

Let's just hope Ron'll emerge from all this alive.

I walk down the corrider to the Great Hall and sit down in my usual spot next to Harry. Ron's here, surprisingly - lately he'd eaten most of his meals with Seamus and Dean. He gives a grunt of acknowledgement when he sees me and Harry shrugs helplessly at me. Oh well. A grunt is enough for now. For the last few days, he's hardly even noticed when I entered the same room he was occupying, and whenever I tried to talk to him he'd either say nothing or tell me he didn't feel like talking. Of course, as soon as I leave him he'd start chattering animately to the person next to him, ignoring their bewildered expressions and my hurt looks.

I smile slightly and scoop up a spoon of mashed potato. It's a little bit too salty and I find myself gulping down mouthfuls of pumpkin juice after I finish. Soon my cup is empty and when I pick it up to drink, there's nothing inside.

There is a sigh, and then the sound of someone yelping in pain. "Want a refill?" comes a gruff voice laced with agony. I look up at the source and find myself looking at Ron, who says with a grimace on his face, "Well? Do you want one or not? My arm's going to get bloody sore if you keep this up."

"Of course I do," I reply, grinning from ear to ear. Reluctantly he cracks a smile too, and moments later he, Harry and I are talking together, like the best friends we are. There's a warm feeling in my chest as I leave the hall with my friends and in the spur of the moment I pass by the Slytherin table and plant a big kiss on Draco's cheek. The surprised but pleased look he gives me makes me laugh and I run off, smiling like a maniac. I guess Ron thought everything through and decided it wasn't worth becoming enemies with me just because i rejected him.

Before I forget, let me recall what happened after Draco and I left the cafe in the Muggle world. Basically, I did my best to keep him from sprinting across the road, laughing as he tried to maneuver around all the cars. He seemed to find it funny whenever a car screeched to a stop right beside his legs, and the driver opened the window to yell at him to watch out. However I did not find this very amusing, as it could easily cost the life of my boyfriend.

Old ladies also seemed rather smitten by Draco. Whenever we passed one of them he'd be grabbed by the old lady, who would ask us for the time and then spend 10 minutes cooing over him. Disgusting and disturbing as it was, Draco seemed to enjoy the attention and being fussed over. I would have to drag him away from charming the skirts off those old women, but he'd always make me feel like I was the person he really cared about afterwards by all sorts of gestures - kisses, hugs, arms around my shoulders and laughing and joking with me. I had never really gone out with someone like him before. All the other boys I'd been with before were all either awkward and shy or arrogant and didn't think girls were for anything but to snog.

Not exactly what I'd envision my perfect boyfriend to be like.

Draco is probably the smoothest guy I've ever known. OK, he could be an arrogant ass when he wanted to be, which was most of the time for the first few years I knew him, but as I got to know him he became less of a bastard and more of a gentleman. He was still mean to Harry and Ron but, I don't know if it was puberty or what - he was suddenly a lot nicer to most girls. Excluding me.

Well now there's no doubt why he was still so evil to me when other girls thought he was the most amazing guy they knew. Like they say, you always pick on those who you like.

"Ouch!" I exclaim as I am snapped nastily out of my reverie by being bumped by someone with an overpowering smell of a kind of deoderant I recognize from the Muggle world as Lynx. For those of you who have never smelled it (lucky you), it's like a mixture of toilet spray, women's deoderant and insect repellant. Yes, that does add up to a very strange and unpleasant smell.

"Watch where you're going," an amused voice says. "You were swaying drunkenly all over the place."

I flush crimson immediately. I was swaying like a drunk? In front of all those people going to their classes? "Er... thanks for stopping me then," I say, averting my eyes. I catch a glimpse of short, black hair against a pale face and piercing eyes before I lower my gaze to my shoelaces, showing unnatural interest in them.

The boy laughs. "You're welcome." I look up gratefully, and see him narrow his eyes at me. "Hey... aren't you that 6th year who's going out with Draco Malfoy?"

Suddenly, a deathly silence falls on the people around us. The girls glare murderously at me, looking as though they want to strangle me and scratch my eyes out on the spot, while the boys give me a look of huge relief that I'd taken hold of Draco Malfoy's heart, meaning he wouldn't be showing any interest in their girlfriends. This mixture of looks and moods makes the atmosphere around us very tense but somehow a little relieved and light. If that makes sense. I give the black-haired boy a look that says What on earth were you thinking? Now I'm going to be stalked by murderous girls wherever I go!

The apologetic shrug and responding look he gives me tells me that he doesn't really care. "You know Ginny, right?" he carries on brightly. Slowly the people around us stop staring and move on, whispering and muttering ominously. I gulp nervously but try to keep a tough front and smile blankly. "I'll take that as a yes. Could you introduce me to her someday? I kinda made a bad impression the first time I met her." He pokes out his tongue, looking slightly embarrassed.

I raise an eyebrow. "You do know that she has a boyfriend, right?" I say as I gesture for him to walk with me. If I don't start moving I'll be late for Charms, and although Professor Flitwick is half my height his wrath is still an awful thing to bear. "Harry Potter. The Harry Potter."

He sighs. "Yeah, I know. She told me last time I talked to her. Actually, she kinda grinded it in. I know I don't have a chance next to him but I can at least try to get on her good side, right? I mean, if they break up I'll be the first to-"

"Stop right there," I interrupt. "You've only met her once. What's with the whole lovey-dovey thing? And for your information, Harry and Ginny will probably never break up. They've gone a long way and they're not going to give up now."

"I guess you can call it love at first sight," he says with an exaggerated loving expression. "But to be honest, I do like her. It's not often you find a girl with a personality like hers. She's so... fiesty."

I smile inwardly. That's our Ginny for you. She could be as sweet as a lamb, but if anyone said or did something she didn't like she'd turn into an Amazon warrior in a second. My guess was that she didn't quite like this boy very much. Strange. He seemed nice enough. "That's definitely true," I say. "So you want me to introduce you, as a friend. Well, wouldn't it be a little hard, seeing as she's already met you? And left with a bad first impression?"

He shakes his head, groaning. "Oh God. There's no use, is there? I can't turn back the clock and change what I said to her. She probably hates me now."

"What did you say to her, anyway?" I ask, curious.

"Oh... nothing too important. I kinda forgot." He waves a hand breezily and I get the feeling that he's not quite telling me the whole picture. Then again, if I said something embarrassing to someone I like, then I wouldn't really want to tell others either. "But it definitely made her mad. Very mad."

I giggle. "OK. I'll tell her about you. What's your name?"

"Elliot. Elliot Davidson. I don't think she'll look too happy she hears my name." He grimaces.

"Alright, Elliot. I can't guarantee she'll want to be friends with you, but I'll see." I pause. "Oh, and if you're thinking of going any further than being just friends with her, I think you should just give up now. She and Harry are very happy together, and if you try to break them up you'll have all her friends, including me, screaming hexes at you. You might be able to dodge a couple of spells but you can't possibly escape a whole group of them." I give him an evil look, and he shrinks back, startled. "Well, I have Charms now, so I'll talk to you next time I see you. Bye!"

During Charms, I tactfully don't mention my conversation with Elliot to Harry, or he'd probably go all capslock on us. I stick to safe topics such as, 'Doesn't the ceiling look bright and sunny today?' and 'Ron, what do you think of my little pincushion?'. Ron and Harry look at me oddly as I chatter away nervously, but they don't say anything, obviously thinking my babbling has something to do with being glad that Ron was talking to me again.

I wonder how I can tell it to Ginny. Elliot seemed like a nice guy but it's likely he wasn't quite so nice to Ginny when he encountered her. And would she even consider being his friend? If Harry found out I was helping some guy get close to her then he'd probably flip.

Why am I even helping him anyway? He's just a random guy that I met in the corridors who told me I was stumbling around, and somehow the topic moved on to Ginny. Sure, he's attractive, but that's not something that would distract me ever since I got involved with Draco. Of course, hardly anybody in Hogwarts can compare to Draco, so looks isn't something that can persuade me to help someone.

It must have been pity for the poor guy. Yes, pity, That's it.

I think about this as I head back to the common room in the evening to find Ginny. The faster I talk to her about it, the better. Unfortunately there is no sign of the redhead and after a fruitless search in the dormitories, I come up with nothing. Oh well. I guess the subject will have to wait. Out in the main area of the room, a small group of people are gathered around something while more people are looking on from the sides.

"Hermione! There you are," Lavender screeches, grinning widely and breaking out of the group when she sees me. "Been waiting for you forever."

"Er... really?" I say with a hesitant smile. "What for?" Don't tell me they're having a study session and are waiting for me to provide all the answers.

She smirks. "What else? We're having a party! Gryffindor won against Slytherin in the latest Quidditch match. Ha! Served them right." Her tone changes immediately and she sighs. "But the sad thing is, Draco suffered a defeat... that's the only sad part. He looked so forlorn... I could have gone up and snogged him to make him feel better." She glances at me and notes my sour expression with a look of fright. "Oh right! I forgot. You're going out with him, aren't you?" She mutters something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like, '... how come some people get all the hot guys...'.

"Yeah, I am," I say, feeling oddly proud. "So what's with the crowd?"

"That's what I'm talking about," she grins. "In celebration, we're holding a little game, for 6th years only. Actually, it's called The King - OK, the name sounds really lame, but once you start playing, you'll get hooked. Come on, I'll show you." She pulls my arm and drags me over to the bunch of people, who look up and greet me rather giddily. "There's butterbeer, in case you're thirsty," Lavender announces, as if reading my thoughts.

"NUMBER 1, TAKE OFF NUMBER 5'S SOCKS!" A shout of laughter rings out as Dean Thomas gapes at Seamus, who'd yelled the order. Everyone is giggling and laughing as Dean reluctantly tugs at Parvati's pink striped socks. She slaps his hand away, giggling and retracting her foot.

I grin and look over at Lavender, who winks at me. "See? It's a lot of fun. I'll put in an extra stick in the pile for you."

"How do you play?" I ask, feeling adventurous. "It looks kinda... explicit."

She laughs loudly. "Don't worry, it's really all up to the King. Well, basically, you have this pile of sticks with numbers on them. The number you pick represents you. If you pick the stick that says 'K' on it, it means you're the King and you get to command any two numbers to do anything, within reason. For instance, if I'm the King, I could command you and someone else to snog." She smiles. "Of course, if something like that turns out to involve two people of the same gender, the King'll rechoose a number. Do you get the gist of it?"

I nod and think of Draco. He'd probably love this game. That reminds me... I haven't seen him since I kissed him on the cheek earlier today. Already I miss him and his charm. I guess this is what you call love.

Love? Are we really in love? Or is it just a deep crush? I still don't know at this stage. But we've been 'together' for so long, it feels as if it might really be love... after all, I've known him for 6 years and this year, we've really started progressing with our relationship. Before it was more of a 'I hate you!' thing between us, but now since we're both 16 and hormones are kicking in, the whole mutual hate thing has changed direction and turned into attraction.

I shake my head. These matters were still a little to early to think about. We've only been going out for a few days.

"OK, Hermione's playing too!" Lavender announces, and a small cheer rises from the ring of people. I find my spot between Harry and Lavender, and when the pile of sticks is passed to me I hesitantly pick the one in the middle. 12. I hope nobody calls that number. I wasn't really ready to do anything outrageous when I'd just got into the game.

Parvati whoops and stands up, grinning evilly. "I'm the King!" she shouts, and Seamus groans. Everyone laughs as she tries to stand as close to him as she can so she sees his number. "Um... 6 and 1, sing the most stupid song you know!"

Harry clutches his head and laughs helplessly. I erupt in a fit of giggles as he and Lavender go into the middle of the circle and discuss with each other for a few seconds before Harry starts by chanting, "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" I crack up laughing. Last time he'd visited me in my Muggle home, he'd been exposed to a few episodes of Spongebob Squarepants and had loved it ever since.

Lavender responds by screaming, "SPONGEPUFF SQUAREPLANTS!" All the half-bloods or people who came from a family that lived among Muggles start laughing hysterically. The chanting and responding goes on until the whole group is clutching their stomachs and laughing until they cried. The butterbeer must have infested the atmosphere because although I hadn't drunk any, I was starting to feel light-headed with laughter.

The next round started, and the King turned out to be Dean Thomas. He has a glint in his eye as he says, "2, pass a lolly to 9's mouth with your own!" There is a gasp and giggles as people look around for who the people are. I look down and groan. 9. Who was 2? I looked around and to my horror, Ron steps out from the crowd, and catches my eye. The look of shock on his face shows his feelings clearly.

"It's Hermione and Ron!" someone yells, and Harry pales. The rest of the crowd start cheering and urging Ron to go for it. I'm too shellshocked to blush, but Ron's face turns a spectacular shade of red. He takes a lolly from the tray offered by Dean and walks towards me slowly, stopping an inch from my face. He stares at me as he puts the sweet between his lips. I expect him to put it in his mouth, but realize what he's going to do. I smile in relief. It wouldn't even really need our mouths to touch - he'd just need to move his mouth close enough so that I can get my lips around the lolly.

He tilts his head and I try not to move backwards. He puts a hand on the back of my head and lean in suddenly. The sweet pops into my mouth but Ron doesn't stop and move back. Instead he kisses me for several seconds before he pulls away, still staring at me. I glare at him, wiping my mouth quickly, feeling stunned. The people around us turn silent as their gazes move from him to me and back. "Hermione..." he starts, but is stopped short as I slap him across the face. Giving him one last filthy look, I fling my numbered stick down and stomp away. I hear Harry and some other people calling my name but don't stop as I exit the common room, shoving the painting aside. Ignoring the Fat Lady's shriek of surprise and the curses of her friends, I run towards the place I know I will get comfort and relief from what just happened.

"DRACO!" I yell as I arrived at the Slytherin common room entrance.

There is some commotion inside and finally, he comes out, looking amazed. "Hermione! What are you doing here? It's way past curfew. Filch'll have your head." After a moment, he smirks. "Ah, I get it. You missed me and came to find me!" Then he sees the look on my face and the tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. "Come here," he says softly, and I lean into his arms. He envelops me in a strong hug and I nestle my head into his shoulder, trying not to let the tears come out. "Whatever it was, it's OK now. I'm here." I put my arms around his waist and hug as tight as I can, wanting to feel the comfort of him against me.

I knew I shouldn't have played that game tonight. If I'd known it would lead to this... with Ron kissing me when he didn't have to, and showing that he obviously still wasn't giving up on me despite my rejection... and me, not even trying to pull away when he planted his lips on mine - and as much as I hated to admit it, I'd enjoyed the kiss slightly. It was definitely true that there was still a little chemistry between us. The guilt was niggling at me and I made a promise to myself that next time he made a move on me, I'd move away as soon as possible. That is, if I let him make another move on me.

Oh, what to do? I really am in love with Draco, but if he ever finds out about the fact that I still have some leftover feelings for Ron, he'd break up with me. And that was the last thing I wanted.

There was only one thing for it. Get rid of the last few shreds of Ron in my heart and fill it up with Draco. Draco. Draco. Only Draco.

--- Plan 9: Declare my love for Draco Malfoy

When: Whenever I feel is the right time - but soon

Why: I love him.

How: Find a good opportunity and say it. Remember, must be fairly dynamic so it makes an impact on him.

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Getting rather dramatic now. :D I know I haven't even mentioned the fact that Hermione used to like Ron apart from when she said she liked him a couple of years ago. But as you know a long crush always leaves remnants in your heart -Cue soppy music- and that's the case with Hermione and Ron. Anyway, in the book they're practically together so you get a good idea that she did like him before.

And for the people who care, the case with Elliot and Ginny will come up later, I promise. :3