When I opened my eyes the next morning, the first word that fell from my lips was Draco.

"Did you say something, Neve?" Hermione asked from the four poster bed next to mine. She was lying in bed reading a school book, as she was prone to do on a Sunday morning.

"Just saying good morning to Trevor," I lied, crossing my fingers guiltily under the covers as Trevor gave me an accusing look.

Butterflies filled my stomach as I recalled the previous night's kiss. My first real kiss.

I wanted to do it again; but I was so apprehensive about seeing him. Suddenly fear twisted my stomach; what if he regretted it? What if he woke up this morning and realised his mistake - that Pansy is actually the girl for him after all?

"Are Dra- Malfoy and Pansy actually together?" I blurted out without thinking. I didn't care, I needed to know.

Hermione looked over at me at the top of her book, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I think so," she shrugged, "I haven't really thought about it before. Why do you ask?"

I felt a horrible ache in my chest.

"Oh, just wondering," I sighed heavily, suddenly feeling depressingly low.

"He never looks happy around her," Hermione said, giving me a knowing look. "I'm just saying..."

This made me feel slightly better, but I knew I wasn't going to feel happy until I saw him again.

Which was that very morning.

"I'll walk with you," Harry said as I made to leave through the portrait hole for breakfast. "I wanted to have a word with you about something anyway."

My heart sank, I did not want a lecture from him about last night.

But it wasn't about that at all.

"I've noticed you're doing really well in DA lately," he said, adjusting his glasses as he strode alongside me down the corridor. "You're becoming a really promising Gryffindor, Neve."

"Thanks... I think," I mumbled, wondering who made Harry the appointer of all things Gryffindor. Surely I was a Gryffindor because the hat placed me in it?

"Don't doubt yourself, Neve!" Harry said jovially. "Look, I also wanted you to know that I dumped Cho last night."

"Oh," I said startled, not sure why he wanted me to specifically know this, "I'm sorry."

"Things weren't working out between us," he sighed heavily, as if it had been a gradual parting of the ways and not because she was all over someone else. "I'm thinking from now on I'm going to stick to my own kind. Probably best that way."

"Your own kind?" I asked, blinking up at him. "You mean half bloods?"

"No, I mean Gryffindors. Like you." He added, looking at me coyly. "I was toying up this morning just who could fill the spot of my new girlfriend, and I saw you first."

Oh Merlin. This was not happening. It was like Seamus all over again.

"Harry, you're a good- well, you're a friend," I said, trying to choose my words carefully. "And as flattered as I am that you 'saw me first', you have literally just broken up with Cho. Maybe take some time to really think about what you want rather than worry about what house they're in."

His face fell. I could tell he thought that I'd jump at the chance to be his girlfriend.

"Well I still think I'm better off with my own kind," he muttered sulkily as we reached the doors to the Great Hall.

My eyes went automatically to the Slytherin table, and I felt my heart thud maddeningly in my chest as I spotted the white-blond haired Slytherin, sitting next to Blaise Zabini, who was-

"Is that your girlfriend sucking the face off of a Slytherin?" Ron asked, popping up behind us.

"EX girlfriend!" Harry roared, causing everyone around us to look up.

Including Draco.

I felt the heat instantly rise to my cheeks as his silver eyes pierced mine. My entire body seemed to react crazily; heart racing, breaths quickening and palms sweating. I had to look away it was too much.

"Are you okay, Neve?" Ron asked, frowning at me. "You look a little flustered."

"I just offered to be her boyfriend," Harry explained wrongly. "I think I may have caught her off guard. I'll give you until tonight to decide Neve," Harry added, looking at me. "After then, I can't promise you I won't have found someone else."

Both Ron and I looked at him perplexed as he flounced across the hall to the Gryffindor table.

"What a fucktard," Ron muttered.

"Huh?" I asked, frowning up at him.

"Nothing," he sighed, "come on, Neve, we better get some brain food down you to help you decide whether or not you want to be the next Mrs Douchebag."

I could barely eat though, the whole time being hyper aware of a certain someone at the Slytherin table. I didn't dare look up again, afraid of my seemingly uncontrollable reactions giving me away.

As soon as I'd eaten all that I could stomach, I quickly got up and left the table, glad that no one had decided to walk with me.

"Don't forget DA tonight, Neve!" Ron called to me loudly across the hall as Harry hit him very hard in the arm.

"What's DA?"

I jumped at the unexpected but not unwelcome voice which sounded the moment I stepped foot in the Entrance Hall.

I spun round and came face to face with the Slytherin Prince, hands stuck casually in his trouser pockets, a smirk twitching playfully upon his lips.

As if on cue, my body went into overdrive once again.

"N-nothing," I stammered, cursing myself for my complete lack of social confidence. "Just a study thing."

His grey eyes flickered as they searched mine curiously. He seemed to be wanting to say something else but appeared indecisive about it.

"Where are you going?" he eventually asked.

"Um, just back to the Gryffindor Tower," I shrugged, feeling as though my heart was about to burst through my chest. "I've got homework to catch up on."

"I can help you, if you like?" he murmured, his cheeks colouring ever so slightly. "I was planning on going to the library to do mine anyway."

"Oh-" I said, taken by surprise. "Um... I would really love to... but it's just that Trevor likes to watch me... and he's not allowed in the library since that time he defecated on Madam Pince's copy of Fantastic Frogs and Where to Find Them. It's a toad thing, you see. He gets a bit sensitive about it."

"Well," Draco drawled, a hint of amusement in his voice as his eyes gave a little twinkle, "if I restock my pockets with Every-Flavour Beans, do you think Trevor would be okay if I joined you both somewhere else to do our homework? I'm sure we could find an empty classroom or something?"

I found my lips tugging into a wide smile at their own accord. I realised I wanted to do nothing more.

And then I remembered something which made my stomach twist unpleasantly.

"Oh, but what about Pansy?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst. But I needed to know. "Won't she wonder where you are?"

He face furrowed into immediate confusion. "Pansy?" he spluttered. "Why would she care what I'm doing?"

"So you're not- you're not...?" I asked struggling to finish the question.

"We're not together, no," Draco murmured. "We never really were. It's all just a show to her."

Relief flooded my heart. So Draco wasn't dating Pansy and he was asking to spend time with me. Me!

And not only that, he accepted the other male in my life. I just prayed Trevor wouldn't get too jealous about sharing me.

After agreeing to meet back down in the Entrance Hall in half an hour, I practically skipped back to the Gryffindor Tower.

For the first time in my life, it didn't suck to be me.

*****