t e n
---
The whole day, Draco and Hermione stayed locked up inside their rooms, both skipping lunch. It was now six and dinner was in a few minutes. Hermione was cooped up in her bed because she was embarrassed to face her friends after what happened and she was very confused about Draco. Draco stayed in his room, thinking about Hermione the whole time non-stop. He was definitely going mad.
Ginny and Blaise both decided to take them out to dinner and try to clear things up. They talked a little bit about their friends and soon parted ways, knocking on their friend’s bedroom doors.
“Hermione, let’s go eat dinner.” Ginny said sweetly as she knocked on the door.
“Mate, I’m starving!” Blaise yelled as he knocked on the door.
Hermione and Draco opened their doors at the same time, scaring Blaise and Ginny.
“Let’s go.”
They all walked out of the portrait hole together and started to walk towards the Great Hall. Who would’ve thought two Slytherins and two Gryffindors would be walking side by side to eat dinner together? No one. Right when they stepped into the Great Hall, the room fell silent (although it wasn’t very loud to start with since mostly everyone was gone.) Some teachers looked surprised to see house unity and the thirty leftover students staying over looked just about ready to die of shock.
“Okay, yeah, let’s eat separately.” Ginny said as she shooed the guys to their own table. “We can’t look too friendly; I don’t want people to actually think we’re friends.”
“Likewise.” The boys said and sat down at their own table.
Hermione stared at Ginny and licked her dry lips. “Let’s not sit with them today. I really need to talk to you about something so let’s just sit here.” She said nervously as she pushed her friend down at the very last seat at the table, leaving a huge gap between them and their friends.
“Oh, I know, you do. I saw something when you lifted up his shirt. You two were blushing.” Ginny said with a small laugh as she stared at her friend, slowly piling her plate with food. “Go on, tell me what happened.”
---
“Mate, something really bad is happening.” Draco explained as he started to pile his plate with food. “This whole ‘plan’ is getting a bit out of control.” He stated with a sigh. He had chosen to sit at the very edge of the table, just like Hermione and Ginny.
“Talk to me.” Blaise said as he chewed on his chicken leg.
“We almost kissed . . .”
---
“But it was only because he fell on top of me!” Hermione exclaimed with big eyes.
---
“And she’s always so clumsy, so I always try to rescue her but this time I fell on top of her.”
---
“And then our eyes locked . . .” Hermione said with a dreamy sigh. “His eyes are just so mesmerizing and it’s like a magnet, it pulls you in and then you’re just lost forever.”
---
“Her eyes are incredibly hypnotizing, I mean, one look and you’re gone.” Draco explained with a sigh. “And then my heart started to beat really fast. It was weird.”
---
“And then my heart started to beat uncontrollably and I couldn’t stop blushing!” Hermione said with a sigh. “I haven’t blushed like that since I realized my feelings for Ron, no, I blushed more. How is that possible?”
---
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Ron asked Harry curiously as he stared at Hermione and his sister.
“Probably girl stuff. Last time they sat there, they were talking about yo—“ Harry stopped himself and cleared his throat. “Girl stuff that we wouldn’t understand.”
“Y, yeah . . .” Ron said as he shook his head. “Wait, they were talking about me when they sat over there for a week that one time?”
“Like I said, they were talking about girl stuff that we would never understand.”
“I wonder who they’re talking about now.” Ron muttered under his breath.
Harry looked over at Hermione and slowly looked over at Malfoy. ‘Is it possible that they might be talking about . . . him?’ He asked himself and slowly shook his head. ‘No, Hermione would never . . .’
---
“I think I’m looking over this too much. I mean, the plan is just as simple as it can get. Make her fall in love with me and then dump her after using her.” Malfoy explained. “But, she’s a big challenge, Zabini. I can’t seem to read her mind like I do with other girls. She doesn’t seem to have the slightest interest in me. I’ve used about every single Malfoy charm I have up my sleeve but nothing seems to be working. I’ve used the ‘let’s get to know each other better’ game on her and you know what she asked me?! What’s my favorite color? What’s my favorite flower!? Usually, girls would take that chance to ask if I liked them and then I would lie and say yes. Then we would shag and I’d leave her the next day! Granger asks stupid questions!”
---
“This was supposed to be an easy plan for me. Get him to fall in love with me, make Ron regret it, and then dump Malfoy. It was just that! But, he’s a lot more challenging than I thought. I mean, I can’t flirt, I know that, but . . . I’m trying to talk to him and get closer that way but I can’t! It’s hard. I’m socially awkward, Ginny. All we do is just bicker at each other about who likes who and sometimes, I believe that I like him but I don’t! And then he asked me to play ‘let’s get to know each other better’ and we had a fun time but then after that . . . I don’t know. We have moments where we actually have a nice talk and it seems like he’s starting to at least consider me as a friend and then the next, one of us screws up and before you know it, we’re at each other’s throats!”