So What Now?

On Monday morning, three days after their 'break-up', Hermione was sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. She had purposely taken a seat at the opposite end to Harry. She had begun to eat her bowl of porridge (sprinkled liberally with sugar, of course) when an owl dropped a pale pink envelope at her place. Hermione could have sworn the owl was Hedwig, but it flew off too quickly for her to tell.

Hermione hadn't been expecting any mail, let alone any in a pale pink envelope. There were a few hearts drawn in red in on the front of the envelope and her name had been written neatly in a loopy handwriting. Curious as to who had sent her the letter, she opened it but before she could peer inside to see the letter, what looked like the whole of the Hogsmeade florist exploded out of it. Dozens upon dozens of flowers flew up into the air and fell down softly, landing all around her.

She realised instantly that it had been Harry who had sent this. When a cloud of confetti showered down upon her, Hermione gave a small smile. 'He gets marks for originality,' she thought. A large sunflower fell right into the middle of her bowl of porridge. Written in pink upon its face were the words; 'I'm sorry.'

Quickly, Hermione picked up the sunflower and wrapped it neatly in a napkin, ignoring all the looks she was getting from the rest of the Great Hall. Standing, she left quickly and headed to her favourite place - the Library.

Just as she was heading around to corner, she ran into Padma, Mandy and Lisa who were heading towards the Great Hall. Hermione informed them what had happened then showed them the sunflower. "Why aren't you happy?" asked Lisa looking at the apology from Harry.

"Why can't he tell me he's sorry himself?" asked Hermione sadly. "All I want is for him to say those two words - I'm sorry. I don't want exploding flower bombs and clouds of confetti - just to hear him say it!"

"That's it?" asked Padma. "You just want him to say he's sorry?" Hermione nodded.

"Good luck, Hermione," said Mandy. She grimaced. "You do realise how stubborn he can be, don't you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course! He's almost as stubborn as me..." She trailed off and sank into a chair in the corridor with a groan. "It's never going to happen!"

Wordlessly, the three Ravenclaws left for the Great Hall, leaving the Head Girl alone in her misery.

"What's the matter, Granger?" asked a voice. Hermione looked up, her face streaked with tears. "Oh, sorry. Are you all right?"

Hermione sniffed. "As well as can be expected." She stood up and straightened her robes. "So what brings to down this way, Draco? I didn't think you even knew what the Library was for!"

Draco Malfoy screwed up his face, glancing at the school Library which stood about ten meters away from them. He grinned at Hermione. "Actually I was looking for you. Pince says you have a book I need for Arithmancy."

"'Arithmancy For Suckers'?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, you're so witty, Hermione," said Draco sarcastically. "No, I have that one in my dormitory." It was Hermione's turn to grin. "I was looking for 'Arithmancy Through the Ages'. Do you have it?"

Hermione thought briefly before nodding. "I'll go get it in a minute. I can give it to you in Potions."

"Great." Before their sixth year at Hogwarts, Hermione and Draco had barely spoken to each other, except to trade insults. This had changed about halfway through November in their sixth year. No-one, save the two themselves, knew what had happened as they never spoke about it. Now they were friends, trading jokes rather than curses.

Harry and Ron had been puzzled, even angry, about this new friendship, but any gripes about it had almost disappeared. Although not as friendly towards him as Hermione, they were at least on a first name basis.

"So," said Draco, "what's with the tears. Are you allergic to all those flowers Harry sent you?"

"Not exactly," said Hermione. "It's rather a long story."

"Well, I've got plenty of time," said Draco.

Hermione's eyes widened and she looked at her watch. "Unfortunately I haven't! Sorry, Draco, I'll be late for History of Magic!" She waved and sped off to Professor Binns's classroom. Draco stared after her. He had an hour until his first lesson which was Potions. On the floor, where Hermione had been stood, was something wrapped in a scarlet napkin. Curious, Draco stooped down and picked it up. He unfolded it to reveal the sunflower head with the apology written on it.

"Hermione!" he called, but it was too late; she was already gone.

He tucked the sunflower into his bag, the only memento of the girl who had captured his heart.

"What is it with you and knocking books out of my hands?" asked Ginny, placing her hands on her hips. Seamus grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, I didn't see you."

"I'm surprised you can see anything!" exclaimed Ginny. "Why don't you get a haircut?"

Seamus blew his long fringe out of his eyes. "What's a haircut?" he asked cheekily. Ginny scowled and bent down to pick up the books he had knocked out of her arms. "Let me help," he said crouching down.

"I don't need your help."

Fine," said Seamus. "I'll go then," and he stalked away.

Ginny picked up her last book and stood up straight. She stared after him open mouthed with wide eyes. No-one stood up to her, not even her brothers. Her siblings, especially Ron, would obey her every command and help her with anything. Half the boys in Hogwarts would do this as well. Except Seamus. Ginny smiled to herself. 'At least one of the boys in this school has a backbone,' she thought.

With this thought, Ginny made her way slowly to Divination, not caring if Professor Trelawney complained if she was late.

"Did you see that, Ron?" asked Lavender in a whisper from where she and Ron were hidden behind a pillar.

"Do I look stupid?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" asked Harry coming up behind them. They spun round to see Harry grinning at them. "This isn't the best place for a snog before Potions," he said. "Filch's store cupboard on the fourth floor is a much better place."

"Is that from personal experience?" asked Lavender and Harry just raised his eyebrows. "I'll take that as a yes then," she said.

"Why were you hidden behind a pillar?" asked Harry, ignoring Lavender's comment.

"None of your business," said Ron.

Harry looked at him suspiciously. "You're planning something," he said after a moments thought. The accused pair said nothing, but the blush at the top of Ron's ears told Harry everything he needed to know. "You two are so obvious," he said, shaking his head. He left the two of them there and continued down the corridor to Professor Snape's dungeon.

"Stupid ears," muttered Ron under his breath.

"Aww," said Lavender. "You're so cute when you're annoyed!" She kissed him on the cheek, making him blush further.

"You're not helping, Lavender."

Hermione placed the book in front of Draco. It was a suprisingly small and light book for one that Hermione would read. "Here you go," she said and Draco smiled.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

Hermione shrugged and sat next to him. "Not a problem. I finished with it about a week go - I just couldn't be bothered to take it back."

"Not sitting with Harry today?" Hermione scowled at the mention of Harry's name. "You're still not talking to him?" asked Draco in surprise. "Even after he gave you this," he pulled he sunflower out of his bag and Hermione took it from him.

"If he can say he's sorry in person, then how am I supposed to know he means it?" asked Hermione primly.

Draco grimaced inwardly. He could tell Hermione was seriously annoyed, just by the way she spoke. Her body language was that of a calm and relaxed person, but her voice betrayed her emotions. "Have you told him this?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm not speaking to him."

"Then how's he supposed to know this?"

Hermione said nothing, but continued to read through the notes she had carefully written up from the last lesson on the Polyjuice potion. Hermione knew perfectly well how to make the potion, having made it on several occasions, none of which with adult supervision.

Professor arrived then, so even if Hermione had wanted to answer, she wouldn't have been able to. He gave out his instructions in his usual scathing manner. Today was the day where they completed their Polyjuice potion project by testing their concoctions. While they poured out their potions into the goblets provided, Snape walked around the classroom, collecting a single hair from each student.

When he had finished, he proceeded to walk back around the class giving each student one of the hairs to add to the potion. It was part of his vindictive humour, Hermione supposed, that they didn't get to choose who they became for an hour. Snape dropped a hair into Hermione's goblet. The potions hissed and bubbled before turning a murky green. Draco's potion turned a dark purplish colour.

"What do you say, Hermione? On three?" asked Draco.

Hermione nodded and picked up her goblet. They counted together: "One, two, three!"

Hermione downed the potion in one, and winced as the potion rearranged all her body parts and internal organs. The pain was intense, but compared to the Cruciatus Curse it was like a walk in the park. She knew this from personal experience. When the pain subsided, Hermione knew the transformation was complete.

It felt strange to have someone else's body. Her robes seemed just a bit too long and her blouse was straining a bit in the chest area. Curious as to who she was, Hermione looked in the full length mirror Snape had set up. She let out a small gasp when she saw Lavender's face staring back at her.

Trying to make herself a bit more comfortable, Hermione loosened her tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse, knowing full well that she was showing off a small amount of cleavage. Then again, she was Lavender: she could get away with it.

"So who are you then, Hermione?" asked a voice behind her. Hermione turned around to see Harry, minus the glasses, standing there.

"Draco?" she asked in wonder.

"Yup, it's me!" he said grinning. Just that grin made Hermione's knees go weak. "I think I must be Potter - I can't see a bloody thing!" He squinted and looked in the mirror closely.

"You are," said Hermione quietly. "Hang on, I'll be back in a minute." Hermione made her way to the other side of the dungeon to where Harry and Ron had been sat before. "Harry? Ron?" she asked.

"I'm Ron," said the person who looked like Seamus pointing to himself. Looking more than slightly annoyed he brushed Seamus's long hair out of his eyes. "You really need to get a haircut, Seamus!" he called over his back. Hermione then knew that the person who looked like Draco must be Harry.

"Excuse me! I like long hair! However, this is a little extreme!" said Parvati appearing at Ron's side. At least, it looked like Parvati.

"Is that you, Seamus?" asked Hermione giggling. Seamus scowled, looking down at his body in annoyance. He was practically tripping over his robes now that he was almost a foot shorter.

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think?"

"Hermione?" asked Harry quietly. Hermione nodded.

"Um, Draco needs your glasses. He can't see anything," said Hermione. Reluctantly, Harry handed them over.

"Make sure they don't get scratched," he warned her. Hermione nodded and muttered her gratitude before going back to Draco. Draco took the glasses, and put them on, looking a great deal happier.

Hermione sat in her seat and began to fiddle with her hair. "Are you all right?" Draco asked her. Hermione shrugged.

"I don't really know." When the lesson ended, they still had half an hour until the potion wore off. Hermione walked slowly to Care of Magical Creatures with Draco, talking quietly.

"I don't really know what I'd do without you," said Hermione looking up at Draco. "You're a really good friend."

"You're not bad yourself," said Draco, and Hermione blushed. Draco looked down at her, and Hermione made the mistake of looking into his eyes. She was drawn in by those emerald pools gazing down at her and she kissed him fiercely, wrapping her arms around him.

A voice screamed inside Draco's head, telling him to stop and that she wasn't kissing him - she was kissing Harry. But he paid no heed to the voice, and kissed her back.

After a minute or so, Hermione realised what she was doing and broke off from the kiss, a look of shock and worry in her eyes. "What am I doing?" she whispered in panic. "This is a mistake! I'm so sorry Draco! I didn't mean to!"

"It's okay, Hermione," he said soothingly. "You didn't mean to; it was a mistake."

Hermione nodded rapidly. "Yeah, yeah, a mistake. That's all. Just a stupid mistake. Draco, can you tell Hagrid that... tell him anything. I, I can't go to lessons. I need to be by myself." She ran off towards the Gryffindor Common Room before Draco could say anything.

Draco was left standing there in shock, still not believing that Hermione had kissed him. He touched his fingers to his lips then shook his head before making his way to Care of Magical Creatures.