"Malfoy did it."

"Look," Ron sighed heavily, carefully folding his comic book. "As much as I love you, Harry, this whole obsession with Malfoy is beginning to do my nut in. It's bad enough that you can't stop wanking over that book, yet we have to sit here and listen to you harp on and on about a guy we don't want to hear about. Isn't that right, 'mione?"

"Uh- yes," I said, not really listening as my mind was too busy on Draco.

It had been almost a week since Hogsmeade and I hadn't seen him since. To my disconcertment, he had not turned up to our last study session, and I couldn't shift the uneasy feeling that it had everything to do with Katie Bell's unfortunate incident.

I decided to keep quiet about having bumped into Draco coming out of the ladies. I wanted to speak to him first, to find out exactly what sort of shit he had landed himself in. And, as much as I loathed to admit it, I was beginning to think that Harry's theory was looking plausible by the minute, and that Draco was indeed a Death Eater.

But I refused to give Harry the satisfaction by saying so, so I kept quiet, hoping that I would soon get a chance to confront Draco myself.

Besides, I had other things on my mind to worry about. Like Slughorn's Christmas party. I had decided I was going to ask Ron to be my plus one. He had been surprisingly attentive since our argument in the Three Broomsticks, and I wondered if the slap had finally knocked some sense into him.

I couldn't help but feel a tingling of excitement whenever I imagined what might happen under the influence of Butterbeer in Slughorn's dimly lit room. A slow dance, our bodies moving close... a kiss?

But with Ron being a bag of nerves about his Quidditch game against Slytherin, I decided to wait until the end of match celebrations to present him with the invite, when surely he will be more relaxed and more likely to say yes. He regarded anything to do with the Slug Club as a pile of shit, after all.

The day of the match, however, sadly did not go to plan.

It began at breakfast when I approached the Gryffindor table in time to see Harry not so subtlety spike Ron's pumpkin juice.

"Don't drink that, Ron!" I spoke sharply, just as Ron had raised the glass to his lips.

Ron looked up at me. "Why not?"

I glared at Harry in disbelief, aghast that he was capable of breaking such rules. "You just put something in that drink."

"Excuse me?" Harry said, blinking stupidly at me, acting as though he had no idea what I was talking about.

"You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said, hastily shoving his hand in his pocket.

The filthy little sneak.

"Ron," I implored, turning back to him. "I warn you, don't drink it!"

But Ron just glared at me, knocked back his head and drained the juice in one. He belched loudly up in my face, a line of yellow residue glistening above his lip. "Stop bossing me around, Hermione."

I felt utterly scandalised. Bending low so that only Harry could hear, I hissed, "You should be expelled for that. I'd never have believed it of you, Harry!"

"Hark who's talking," he whispered back. "Confunded anyone lately?"

I stormed up the table away from them, humiliated that Harry had me on that.

I was half tempted to skip the game, purely out of spite, but Slytherin were playing and I was curious to see Draco. Yet, to my disappointment, some other Slytherin was in the position of Seeker, and I wondered why on earth Draco would miss a chance to compete against Harry.

I barely concentrated on the game, my troubled mind on Draco and his strange absences. I didn't know what was going to happen if he missed another study session, but surely McGonagall was going to fail him and make me take the end of year exam after all.

It was no surprise to me when Gryffindor won, especially after Harry's piece of cheating. I decided to confront him about it in the changing room, not wanting to make a scene up in the common room.

Luckily, it was just Ron and Harry remaining as I entered. I took a deep breath.

"I want a word with you, Harry. You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" Ron demanded.

"What are you on about, woman?" Harry said with a big grin on his face.

"You know perfectly well what!" I said shrilly. "You spiked Ron's juice with Felix Felicis at breakfast!"

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why Ron saved everything!"

"I didn't put it in!" Harry chortled, wiggling a tiny bottle full of golden potion in my face. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking." He looked at Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all by yourself."

I felt my face grow hot as Ron glared at me.

"You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning," he mimicked in a voice that totally did not sound like mine, "that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

"I never said you couldn't - Ron, you thought you'd been given it, too!"

But Ron had already strode past me out of the door with his broomstick on his shoulder.

"Er," Harry stammered into the sudden silence. "Shall... shall we go in and join the victory celebrations, then?"

"You go!" I said, blinking back the tears. "I'm sick of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done..."

"Well, you just implied he couldn't play Quidditch for shit." Harry shrugged unhelpfully.

"ONLY BECAUSE YOU MADE ME BELIEVE THAT!"

And with that I ran out, making sure to slam the door extra hard behind me.

I wasn't going to go back to the Gryffindor tower. I felt too angry, and truth be told, I was afraid of getting into another argument with Ron. But once I calmed down after a brisk walk in the grounds, I realised I owed him an apology.

So, taking a deep breath, I made my way defiantly up to the Gryffindor tower, hearing the sounds of celebrations even before I reached the Fat Lady's portrait.

I would find him out, apologise and offer the sincerest congratulations, and then ask him to be my date at Slughorn's party.

My heart was thudding wildly in my chest as I climbed through the portrait hole, realising I was nervous. But it was a good nervous - anticipation mingled with excitement.

The crowd was wild, Gryffindors were celebrating left right and centre. It was pretty much impossible to locate anyone, let alone Ron.

Spying the back of Ginny's head, I quickly made my way over to her, my lips tugging into a helpless smile as butterflies began to swarm inside my stomach.

"Ginny!" I called merrily, reaching out to tap her shoulder. "Have you seen Ron?"

She spun round at once, a smirk plastered across her face. "My brother the filthy hypocrite, you mean? Yeah, he's over there."

I twisted my face to look into the corner she was indicating, and I froze. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" Ginny muttered dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Funny, I always thought his first kiss would be with you."

I stared numbly as she patted me on the arm before walking off to help herself to more Butterbeer.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see. The ache in my chest was like nothing I'd ever experienced before and I was convinced that if I didn't get out of there right away, then I would surely just crumble and die.

I turned and fled, pushing people out of the way in my desperation to not be there anymore.

It wasn't until I was halfway down the corridor, throwing myself into the nearest empty classroom, did I break down into tears, dramatically falling back against the door as I sobbed loudly and heavily into my hands.

"Granger?"

I froze, a feeling of horror swooping right through me. And, as I slowly lifted my head, I felt my face flush hot with pure mortification.

For, sitting at an empty desk, clearly lost in his own troubled thoughts, was a rather bemused looking Draco Malfoy.

*****