Oh man. Ginny knows. That girl is just too clever for her own good. She may not be the most academically smart person in Hogwarts, but when it comes to human nature, especially the sort between boys and girls, Ginny sees all. I don't think Malfoy and I were exactly subtle, but no-one else picked anything up except her.

Gah.

When I exit the fifth year Gryffindor girls' dorms, I find most of the common room empty. Ron is sitting in an armchair near the fire, his face turned away from me. I bound over and give him a friendly whack with my History of Magic textbook. "Hey, Ron. Why the long face?"

He nearly jumps a foot off the armchair. "He-Hermione! When did you get here?" he says, looking flustered. "I didn't even hear you!"

"Yeah, the fire was so interesting that you didn't even notice one of your best friends approach. Jeesh. You're such a good mate."

Ron grins. "Uh... haha. Ha. Hehe. Hee."

I stare at him for a moment as I put down my book on the nearest table. "Er, Ron, are you feeling OK? Sure that fire didn't fry your brains? 'Cos you sound a bit... retarded, if you don't mind me saying so."

"Retarded? Is that any way to describe your... friend?" he huffs.

I notice the lag between 'your' and 'friend'. "Is something wrong? You know, if you have a problem, you can talk to me or Harry. That's what best friends are for, we're not just accessories."

Ron sighs and massages his temples. Finally, he stares hard at me. "Hermione..."

"Yeah?"

"I... I... Oh, bloody hell! Give me a moment, 'Mione." He breathes in and out a few times before looking up at me again. I'm still standing, though I'm not sure why. I guess I'm just eager to hear what he wants to say, although a dreary part of my brain already knows what is going to come out of his mouth. "Hermione, I - love you." This last part is said quite loudly.

There is silence in the common room. Then a few older students whistle. Ron turns bright red, making his head resemble a large, oval tomato. I stare at him for a long time. After a few minutes, when everyone else has given us huge winks and have left the room, Ron breaks the silence. "Hermione. Say something! Anything! This is killing me as much as it's shocking you, you know."

I tremble slightly as I sit down. All those times we squabbled over silly things and those odd, undecipherable looks he's ever given me, come flooding back into my memories. I admit, I did like him a little bit. But just a teeny bit, back in 2nd year. He was always my friend, and stood by my side. I can't imagine life without him, yet spending the rest of my life with him, as more than his friend, doesn't seem too appealing. Not in that way, at least.

Ron was always my favorite debating/arguing partner. We would bicker over everything and anything, and most of the time it was only petty things. I enjoyed it, and though he was irritating when he disagreed with me, it was still fun to see him losing himself to my logic. And now...

"Ron..." I can't look at him. It's too painful. "I-I'm sorry, but I'm in- I like someone else."

He doesn't look particularly surprised, and though he hid his hurt expression well, I can still see it under the smile he wore. "Draco Malfoy, am I right? Hermione... I'm amazed you'd like him, but I wish you happiness." A tear seeps out from the corner of his eye, and he hurriedly wipes it up. "God, I'm such a sissy. Can't believe I'm actually crying. Fuck."

Taken aback, I stand up. Ron hardly ever says fuck, only when he's very distressed. I'm sad about rejecting him, but it just doesn't feel right to be anything more than friends with him. Hugging him would be pushing it, kissing him? Definitely not. It seems as unnatural as it feels natural when I do that with Draco...

Oh boy. I'm so falling for him. Why me? Why him, of all people? He's my enemy, and Harry and Ron's enemy. Draco's been hostile towards us since day one, yet I could never bring myself to hate him as much as Harry seemed to. Even the slap in third year was because I was tired and traumatized, and Draco's stab at Hagrid had been the last straw. But it didn't mean I hated him.

"Ron..." I say softly, unsure of what to do. I feel tears springing to my own eyes, but quickly blink them back. I feel awful. My stomach is queasy and it is as if I'm not going to be able to hold on to my dinner. "Sorry, I have to-" I stumble blindly past him and rush into the toilets. I lock myself into a cubicle and throw up everything I had eaten that afternoon. My eyes water and bile stings my throat, the bitter taste making me throw up more until there is nothing left.

A week or so later, with the tension between Ron and I slightly less tight, I sip my cup of coffee while sitting on one of the armchairs near the fireplace and flip through the same History of Magic book I had meant to read when Ron confessed to me. My hands don't shake anymore when I flip it, and I am secretly glad I didn't throw the book into the fire, something I had first considered after that night. The clock opposite the fireplace announces, in a squeaky, mouselike voice, that it is 8pm.

As if it was a cue, I shut my book with a 'snap' and stuff it into my bag. Then, I run up the stairs and leave my bag in my trunk next to the four-poster bed I sleep in. Satisfied that everything is tidy enough, I make towards the exit of the Gryffindor common room.

"Sometimes, I really hate Prefect duties," I mutter under my breath. "They take so much away from my study time. Which is next to none as it is." Climbing nimbly out of the portrait hole, and hearing the 'thuk' of the painting of the Fat Lady swinging shut behind me, I look around and start to walk to Professor McGonagall's office. Suddenly, I freeze and turn my head very slowly to the left. Was it me, or did I just see someone standing there?

A very familiar-looking blonde head, one that I haven't seen except during class for a week, lifts up and icy blue eyes stare into my own. I rub my eyes quickly to make sure I'm not seeing things. When I look again, Draco's still there, and now advancing towards me.

"Hermione." I shiver slightly. That one word had a lot of force behind it - not the pushy kind of force, but something else... something I can't really explain.

"Yes? What do you want? Don't tell me you were going to ambush me."

He chuckles. "I'm above that kind of thing. You know that. Anyway... the thing is..." he pauses, and clears his throat. "Go out with me, Hermione."

My brain stops at this point, and tries furiously to decipher his last words. Unfortunately, my heartbeat had been pounding so loudly in my ears that what my mind produces is a gurgled, 'gootwimiiiime'. "Er... come again?"

Draco scowls impatiently. "God, woman! Are you doing this on purpose? I said, go out with me!"

I nearly faint in shock. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin sex God, want to go out with me? But then again, after all those 'encounters', I find myself not too surprised. After all, we've been doing just as much snogging as the average Hogwarts school couple, even though we're supposed to be enemies. "Um... I'll have to-"

"Teeeheeehee!" Someone giggles and there is the sound of shoes scraping against the ground. I spin around but didn't catch anything but the train of someone's black robes.

"Fuck," he mutters. "Someone saw - and heard - us."

Sighing, I lean against the wall. "I have a funny feeling it's someone like Lavender or Parvati. They're talented at nosing around and 'accidentally' running into random couples, or to-be couples." I blush a bit at the prospect of the two of us being one of these couples, and then scold myself almost immediately. I don't even know if he is serious, or if he is kidding around. "Anyway..."

Draco interrupts me. "I know what you're going to ask. Am I for real, or am I playing you?" He shakes his head. "I'm serious, Hermione. The thing is, I've been thinking these past days. And I'm a bit tired of the fact that, even though we make out probably more than Potter and Weaslette, we're still not official. We're rivals, enemies, whatever we were before, but now..." he makes a face. "I really, honestly think I lo- like you. A lot."

My face immediately turns a vivid shade of fire engine red. "U-uh..." I stutter. "You- I mean, I guess you're right. At least, about the kissing thing. Harry and Ginny hardly ever snog, or at least to my knowledge, and they've been going out for a while now, hahaha. Well, they don't do it like some people, us included..." I trail off lamely, avoiding his eyes.

"You're babbling," he says simply.

"Eh... well, I tend to do that when I'm nervous..." I smile weakly, still unable to quite believe what had just happened. "And being asked out is one of those times."

Draco smirks. "You know, if you were a little more confident, you could have a trail of boys behind you. I'm sure of it. But... now, I won't let there be a trail." He touches my cheek gently. "Because, you know and I know, we both want each other. Am I right?"

I snort, but denying it would be lying. "Ye- no. No, no no no!" I groan and clutch my head. "Oh God, what am I saying? Who wouldn't want you? But I just don't want to cause a commotion. You know as well as I do that if I say yes, your fangirls will be all over me, tearing my hair out. And I want to keep my hair, thank you very much."

"I don't care what they think." He leans in and gives me a light kiss on the lips.

"Well, you won't be the one getting torn apart," I hiss, not pulling away. The thing is, once we're officially a couple, there wouldn't be any need for excuses every time I'm seen with him (and not trying to murder him for whatever evil deed he's done). That's one of the ideas that attract me the most to saying yes. "And stop trying to convince me physically. I still have to decide."

He grins. "Damn, you saw through my plan." With a final peck on my forehead, he steps back and puts his hands into his pockets. "Well, whatever your answer, tell me tomorrow morning. And you better make it good."

"You're practically ordering me to agree to go out with you," I grumble. "That's called peer pressure. You don't pressure girls into going out with you, you know. It doesn't matter how easy all those other girls have been, but I'm not caving in that easily."

A smirk flits across his features. "Oh, I'm sure you won't dampen my mood tomorrow," he says, smiling. "You like me too much."

I glare at him. "Pffft. Keep dreaming, ferret-boy." Draco laughs and walks off, waving goodbye without turning back. I roll my eyes at his back and go the other way to the Transfiguration classroom. Somehow, though, I think he's right. I doubt I'd turn him down. But there is Ron, and Harry's reaction to think about... especially Ron. I feel a mood of foreboding just thinking about it.

Ginny already practically knows, so she won't be a problem. That's one person on my side already, at least. Sighing, I enter the classroom, prepared to be lectured long and hard about punctuality. I was not disappointed.

Throughout the whole patrol, Ron and I keep a safe distance, and the little conversation between us is forced and polite. Draco's words run through my mind non-stop, and as much as I would have liked to bang my head against the nearest wall to shut my brain up, I am afraid of getting a concussion and thus delaying my answer to him. Ron keeps giving me odd glances. Maybe it's because of the fact that I am running towards every solid wall and then, a few metres from it, stopping suddenly and wheeling around.

After duties, I say goodbye to Ron. The 'goodnight, 'Mione' he gives me is clipped and the smile on his face seems unnatural. I have to shout out when he collides into the side of the staircase while attempting to walk up the stairs, and Harry comes out of the boys' dormitories, looking sleepy. When he sees Ron lying in a heap on the ground, and me trying to help him up, he quickly casts Enervate and helps him upstairs carefully. "How was it?" Harry asks me quietly.

"It was... forced," I manage to say after a pause. "We both had things on our minds."

He smiles tightly. "Yours had Malfoy in it, right? Did he say anything to you?" Ron groans in pain and Harry moves up a few steps, all the while staring at me.

When did Harry get so perceptive? Ginny must be rubbing off on him. "Um..." I look around uncomfortably. "Not now. I'll tell you tomorrow, OK?"

He shrugs, smiles at me and enters the dormitory. I do the same after a while of staring at the entranceway where Ron and Harry had just entered. I'm definitely not going to have a night of sound sleep tonight, with my head going through all those things that happened today.

The next morning, I wake with a groggy head and bleary eyes. Walking over to the bathroom in the girls' dormitory, which, thankfully, isn't occupied by one of the others girls who would inevitably spend half an hour in there just to put on makeup, I wash my face quickly and brush my teeth. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. The same old brown hair, brown eyes and slightly pretty, but more on the average side, face. Booooring. I can't see why Draco would want me to be his girlfriend. I'm nothing like those pretty, model-like girls he dates.

Well... I know he's not lying about all of this. He seemed completely truthful when he confronted me, and I know that for something like this, Draco's not the type to say that much to me just for a dare or something stupid like that. Blushing furiously again, I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head to clear it.

When I reach the Great Hall, the people nearest to me fall silent and the silence spreads to the rest of the students in the hall. Bewildered, I find my friends and notice that Ron's face is deathly pale. Harry and Ginny cast worried glances at him and then at me.

"Look... there she is, Hermione Granger..."

"I hear Draco Malfoy asked her out? Are you kidding me?"

"... she's really smart, but not exactly a glamour girl, is she?"

"Ha. Not an eyesore, but seriously, out of all the girls Draco could have picked... including me... -Sniffle-"

"Still..."

"... I totally know what you mean... but she's nice, apparently. And she's really smart - top witch of the school."

"... when your looks won't get you anywhere, I guess you gotta rely on charm and brains."

Oh. No wonder Ron's face looked like a dead fish. I turn to him nervously, throwing dirty looks at the end of the table where Lavender and Parvati sit, grinning at me and waving. So it was them who saw Draco and I, and spread the news. Well, I have to admit, it's probably one of the most interesting rumors this year - though this one isn't really just a rumor.

After I take a few nibble of my food, I finally can't take the tension anymore. "Look, Ron. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stop this."

"Stop what?" he asks innocently, his face still the color of white paper.

"All this forcedness and unnatural behavior. I apologize for not returning your feelings, but-"

Ron bangs the table. People around us stare at him, looking scared. Several move away until there is a clear ring of space around Ron, me, Harry and Ginny. "Oh, so you rejected me just to go out with that ferret bastard? Why? I never knew you were like that, Hermione! Draco Malfoy is our enemy. He's not someone you should be going out with!"

I glare at him, my temper rising. "Well, sorry mother, for not letting your control every aspect of my love life! Why shouldn't I date him? It's not like he's a Giant Squid or something. He's a human being, just like you and me! So tell me, why is he off-limits? Oh sure, he's not our best friend, and I know he's done some horrible things to us, but he's still got a heart, down there - I mean, in his chest cavity somewhere!"

Ginny giggles at the 'down there' remark, and I flush, poking my tongue out at her. Harry flashes me an encouraging grin. I smile back. Ron makes a strangling noise, then 'hmph's and starts fidgeting, openly trying to ignore me. I shake my head, still fuming.

After I decide not to eat anymore - not that I had eaten much - I start to leave the Great Hall. I glance around for signs of Draco, but can't see him amongst the crowd of people milling around, all trying to get to their first class. Harry and Ron are walking with me, the latter looking reluctant and pissed off. I do my best to ignore him.

"Hermione." Someone taps my shoulder and I whirl around. Draco's face is a mere inch from mine and his trademark smirk is on his face, full force. I squeak and jump backwards. Harry glares at Draco, who glares back, and Ron just glances at him without any feeling. Strange. I would have thought he'd make the biggest fuss about it. "So, have you thought out your answer yet?"

I pull him to the side. "Did you hear those whispers this morning?" I mutter. "God, I am so going to kill Lavender and Parvati!"

"Oh, so it was them," he says, keeping his voice low. "Well, no matter. Everyone would have found out sooner or later."

"But the thing is, now that they all think we're going out, we can't do anything but reinforce that rumor!" I wring my hands agitatedly, though a part of me is cheering at the prospect of doing what I just said. "Man..."

Draco frowns. "You do want to... I mean, you're gonna say yes, right?" There is a thread of worry in his voice.

I smile at him, then glare back at Ron. "Of course I'll go out with you, Draco," I say, loud enough for Harry and Ron to hear. When I turn again, Ron's face is deathly white again, and Harry hardly seems surprised. He only raises an eyebrow at my tactlessness, but seems to understand my anger. He motions towards the hall, signalling that he is going to go ahead to get to Charms first, and Draco and I are left alone.

"Was that just for show, to piss Weasel off, or was it your real answer?" Draco's face is serious. He seems a bit angry that I had appeared to use him just to make Ron jealous, but of course, that wasn't it.

I cup his face with my hands and pull his head down a little for a peck on the lips. When we part, I pat his cheek tenderly. "It was my real answer. That you can be sure of."

He grins, all anger gone, and I am a bit amazed at my own boldness. But before I can do anything, his mouth is on mine and he is kissing me furiously, tongue seeking entry to play tongue tennis with mine.

Oh hell. Might as well cooperate with him, since it's guaranteed that we'll be doing a lot more of that soon.