Lucius raised an eyebrow. "In the Infirmary, you say? You two stay here, then." He was going to get to the bottom of this. If he visited Draco, and the story was different, punishment was in order. "You two better not be lying to me." He growled. "I'm sure your fathers wouldn't like to know their children are liars."

Lucius strode off, not stopping until he walked into the Infirmary. 

"Father?" Draco asked in surprise, his eyes widening. He scrambled to sit up, and he coloured red. Just moments before, he had been fake moaning in pain for the girls who were surrounding his sick bed. He glared at them and made a shooing gesture with his hands. They took one look at Professor. Malfoy and scrambled for the exit.

"Uh..what can I do for you, Father?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

Draco's eyes dimmed with fear.

"It was nothing, Father, just a bit of schoolboy fun, nothing to concern yourself with-"

"Father, I-" But remembering who exactly his father was, he stopped trying to argue.

"I was about to walk out the Great Hall, when Granger bumped into me and I fell. Well, I was angry about that - she's a Mudblood! - and she looked very upset about something, so it was an opportunity I couldn't miss! I had to take it up! Well, I teased her a bit, and I might have gone a bit far this time, but then Potter and Weasley started throwing spells around, and I'm not sure who's spell hit Granger, but I know it wasn't mine. And Weasley, the oaf, though it was mine, so he started punching the hell out of me. And..here I am." 

Draco only stared blankly back at his Father. "I think you have a class to get back to, Father. I wouldn't want you to appear tardy in front of your students." He called for Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh, you're so fussy, Mister Malfoy, and- oh, why, hello there, Professor." Madam Pomfrey took a potion out of a cupboard and gave it to Draco, who began to look sleepy as soon as it touched his tongue. "If you're worried about your son, he should be out by dinner." Behind Pomfrey's back, Draco smirked at his father before closing his eyes.

Lucius growled again, nodding at Madam Pomfrey. "Thank you." He gritted, turning on his heel and exiting the Infirmary. The nerve of that child. He should have hit him. But Lucius was always against laying a hand on Draco, afraid to really hurt the boy. But to accuse him of fooling around with Granger; a Mudblood? 

Lucius cursed at himself. He was a teacher now, he couldn't go around calling students that.

"You sure you're ok, Hermione?" Ron asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I've told you Ron, I'm fine," Hermione replied in exasperation. "If you want me to thank you for your heroic display again, you aren't going to get it. I've already said it enough times."

Ron went red. "Of course not- Why you would think- I'm not that-" 

"Got him blubbering again, have you, Hermione?" Harry grinned, taking a seat with them in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was their free period. "Well, we all know he absolutely lov-"

"Harry, wanna go out and get in some Quidditch practise?" Ron asked loudly through gritted teeth.

"Er, no thanks Ron. I'm rather interested in taking to Hermione here. You see, 'Mione, Ron really, really-"

"Harry!" Ron was glaring at the scarred boy, who snickered.  

"Yes, Harry?" Hermione asked innocently, amused. "What was it you wanted to say about Ron?" 

"Oh, why don't you just tell her, Ron, you great oaf!" Ginny had appeared as well, looking very entertained. "Hey, Harry, escort me to the library, will you? If I bump into Malfoy and his gang, I don't want to be alone." Harry smiled goofily and got up.

"Well, Hermione, I'll just let Ron tell you, shall I?" He and Ginny left, Ginny giggling madly.

There was silence.

"Um, so, what is it you're supposed to tell me?" Hermione asked after an awkward pause. She glanced at Ron, who looked like he was in great pain. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Ron grunted roughly. "I'm fine. Look, Hermione, I-" He broke off.

"Yes?" Hermione encouraged.

"Hermione, I really, really-" He broke off again. "Merlin, this is embarrasing. What I really wanted to say was that I really like you Hermione, and...um, do you want to go out with me?" 

"Yes!" Hermione squealed, jumping off her seat and throwing her arms around Ron. "Yes, oh, of course! You took your time, you idiot!" 

Ron looked stunned. "Er, really?"

Hermione nodded, beaming. 

((I think it's about time they got together. They won't stay together of course, but it'll add some drama and substance to the story, no?))

((DAMNIT xDDD.))

Lucius dismissed his class, glaring at the Hufflepuffs as they exited his room. Ugh, Hufflepuffs. He might just hate them more than he hated his Gryffindor class. This class was full of students who think they know it all, when they know next to nothing.

((Fail.)) 

Harry and Ginny came back to see Hermione and Ron snuggled together, in deep conversation.

"Finally," Harry said loudly. "Come to your senses, have you?"

Ron grinned sheepishly. "Yeah."

"You two are really good together," Ginny said, smiling. "Congratulations."

Harry echoed the sentiment.

"Thank you!" Hermione said, giddy with excitement. She hadn't had a boyfriend since Fourth Year, and Krum really hadn't been a boyfriend. To top it off, it was Ron. She was very happy with life at the moment. She checked her watch. "Our next class is in five minutes, guys. Can either of you remember? I left my timetable upstairs."

"You must be really happy if you can't even remember our next class," Harry observed, amused. Hermione just nodded, smiling. "I think it's DADA."

"Is it just me, or does that class seem to pop up a lot more than usual?" Ron groaned.

"It's just you," Ginny said, laughing.

Hermione got up. "Ginny, we'll have to go now. Don't get into trouble, ok?" she said seriously.

"You wound me," Ginny said in mock-offense. "I'm perfectly capable of keeping out of trouble. I'll just hole up here, shall I?"

"Waiting for Harry to snog you, no doubt," Ron muttered, but in good humour. He could actually joke about these things now that he had Hermione as a girlfriend. Ginny pinched his arm. "Oi, get off me!"

Hermione dragged Harry and Ron out the portrait hole.

The walk to the DADA classroom was in comfortable silence, Hermione and Ron holding hands and Harry hanging a little farther back, watching from a distance.

They were the first ones to arrive at the classroom, and they took their seats, and waited for everyone to come. They were glad that Draco was in the Infirmary, because it would be one less person teasing them. 

In what might have been a first, almost the whole class raised their hands. They actually looked quite proud. There was only one person who hadn’t done it – Hermione.

“Oh no,” she moaned. “I didn’t do it.” With everything that had been on her mind recently, she had forgotten. “Why didn’t you remind me?” she hissed to Ron and Harry. Ron shrank.

“Well, we – uh, you know, you always do everything the day we get it, and we, er, we thought you’d already done it, s-since you never need us to remind you and, um-”

“What Ron means to say is that we thought you’d done it already,” Harry said seriously. “Why didn’t you do it?”

“I forgot,” Hermione muttered.

“Well, obviously,” she said with venom, smarting over the fact she was the only one who hadn’t done it, “I haven’t done it. I forgot all about it.” She stared at his elbow, which was perched near her quill.