Unofficial Portkey Archive

A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for all the great replies! I love it! Also, just wanted to point out again, so everyone will understand. This fanfic IS complete. I finished it a long time ago, so as much as I appreciate the suggestions and ideas, this fic is already finished. That's also why I update almost every day. Normally, I'm not THAT good at updating as frequently. Anyway, hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm going to go over to my parents in awhile, watch my Cowboys play and eat turkey and stuffing! Until next time, enjoy!

Ooooh, hey check this out!" Draco said with excitement as he grabbed a piece of wrapped candy from the shelves of Weasly's Wizard Weezes. He turned to Ginny and held it out to her. "Take one!"

Ginny backed away from it warily. "What is it? I had to grow up with half the stuff that's in here."

"Well, supposedly if you take it, you'll kiss the first person you see."

Ginny laughed at her boyfriend who was bobbing his eyebrows up and down. "No thanks, I can kiss you without the stuff."

Ron took it from Draco's hand and looked at it. "How could I forget Sweet Kisses," Ron said with a sigh. "I was unfortunately their guinea pig."

Draco chuckled. "What happened?"

Ginny giggled at the memory. "He kissed one of our pigs."

Draco laughed. "Ah, man...Ron that's classic."

"Yeah, well just wait until they try a new product on YOU!" Ron warned him. "You're part of the family now, so just be ready for something."

Draco grinned. "Yeah, thanks for the warning."

"Hey guys, you ready to go to Three Broomsticks?" Harry asked as he walked up to him. "I've already got a load here, I don't need to buy anything else."

"I'm ready," Draco said and then looked around. "Where are Fred and George? Are they coming?"

"Hey, we're over here," Fred said who stuck his head out from one of their center pieces of Canary Creams."

George stuck his head out. "We can't make it, it's too busy."

"Come on guys, join us," Ron said. "The rest of the staff can handle it for half an hour."

"Yeah, come on," Draco said. "My treat."

Fred and George looked at each other. "A Malfoy? Buying OUR drinks. We have to take advantage of this, George."

George nodded. "Definitely."

Draco laughed as he pulled his girlfriend to his side. "Let's go then."

The huge table at Three Broomsticks consisted of, the twins, Ginny and Draco, Ron and Julia and Harry and Hermione. They sipped on butterbeers while they laughed and joked about the twins upcoming inventions about their store. The girls talked about the Yule Ball and what they were going to wear, while the guys discussed Quidditch and decided to make a bet on the Gryffindor/Slytherin game that was going to take place next weekend.

"You're going down, Potter," Draco said.

"You wish, Malfoy. You've yet to beat me, thank you very much."

"You better beat him, Harry," Ginny told him. "He'll never let me hear the end of it."

"We got a little bet going," Draco said while Ginny blushed. "If I win I get to..."

"No, no, no, no," Ron said cutting him off. "Ginny's blushing...therfore, I don't want to hear what the bet was."

"Speaking of bets," Harry said with a grin. "How's Jules treatin ya?"

"Like a slave," Ron muttered as he scowled at his girlfriend.

"You weren't complaining last night," she said smugly and Ron's ears turned pink.

The table was filled with laughter then, but cut off abruptly when someone nearby made his presence known. "Well, well, well....what have we here."

Draco looked up and his smile dropped when he saw his father standing behind Harry. He immediately felt Ginny's hand grasp his under the table, squeezing it hard to assure him he wasn't alone. Draco was about to tell him to leave, but someone already beat him do it.

"Why don't you leave us alone, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said calmly. "You're not welcome here."

Lucious ignored him of course and glared at his son. "I must say Draco, that I thought I'd never see the day when you would associate yourself with lowlife trash such as the Weasleys. Why don't you go ahead and dye your hair red."

Draco calmly stood up and walked over to him, standing eye to eye with him. "Don't ever say anything disrespectful to my family ever again."

"Family?" he asked with a nasty laugh. "You must be joking. You're family...the Weasleys?"

"He wasn't."

Draco and Lucious turned to see who the owner of the voice was. Draco blinked when he saw Ron glaring at his father. Ron stood up and stood next to him, sizing down Lucious. "You don't scare us, Lucious. You never did. You mess with Draco, you mess with all of us."

Legs of chairs scrapped against wood as Fred and George stood up as well and walked over to them. Harry and the rest stood up shortly after, swarming around Lucious. The rest of the Three Broomsticks were quiet as they looked upon the scene before them. "Leave...now," Draco told him.

"That is no way to speak to your father," he sputtered in anger.

"I no longer have a father!" he yelled back. "Get out! Leave me alone and if you dare place one finger on Ginny or any other Weasly I will kill you."

Lucious stared at his son. His angry eyes burned into his, but Draco never blinked. "You're a fool, boy. You chosen your path and it's the wrong one. Now you'll pay for your horrible mistake." He then whipped around, his cloak flinging behind him as he stalked out of the shop.

Draco finally let out his breath he didn't know he was holding and immediately turned to Ginny who enveloped him into a hug. "Ginny," he croaked. "I...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," she soothed. "It's over now. He can't hurt you."

"Yes he can...in so many ways and it scares me."

"He won't hurt you," Ron said.

Draco pulled away from Ginny and turned to Ron. "I'm not worried about him hurting me. I'm worried about who he will hurt to get to me."

"We won't let that happen," Harry told him. "You're on our side now, Draco. And you know from experience that we always win."

"Good is stronger than evil, Draco," Ginny told him. "Remember that."

"As long as I'm with you, I'll always remember," he said and pulled her back into a hug, kissing her softly on the lips.

********************

The weekend was over and school had started again. Harry and Hermione were closer than ever and had every student in Hogwarts convinced that they were not only dating...but soul mates. They were that good. When they were in public, they acted like the perfect couple. The cuddled, held hands and kissed. When Parker or Kirsten was around they would subtly pull into a quick make out session if the time was right. However, when they were by themselves or with just Ron, they acted like they were only friends.

Ron was more and more convinced that eventually they were going to realize that playing pretend had nothing to do about it. He didn't tell them of course, he kept that information to himself. He noticed though...the way Harry looked at her when he thought no one was looking. He noticed that their kisses were way too passionate to be fake. He was getting so use to seeing them together, he couldn't see them going back to being just friends.

It was now Wednesday and the gang had a big Potions test the next day. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Draco had studied in the library after dinner until ten, then finally split up to their separate dorms. Harry still needed help on certain things and of course Hermione offered to help. That led them into Harry's room on his bed, lying on their stomachs with their books laid open on the foot of his bed.

"I'm going to fail this test," Harry grumbled as he tried to remember all the ingredients to the Lazy Potion.

Hermione sighed. "No you're not," she assured him. "You're going to do just fine, you know all of it. You're thinking too hard."

"That's just it...my brain can't think anymore."

Hermione shut her book and tossed it on the floor. "Then that's the sign to quit while you are ahead."

"I can't quit, I need to study more," Harry said as he shook his head. Hermione didn't listen. She slammed his book and took it away. "Hey, give me that!"

She grinned as she held out his book away from him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were acting more like....me."

He scowled. "Ha ha, very funny," he said and led out his hand. "The book please?"

Hermione sat up on his bed and put the book behind her back. "No. It's time to quit."

"That's it," he said and then lunged for the book, tackling a laughing Hermione on her back as she held the book out as far as she could from him. "Okay desperate time calls for desperate measures."

Hermione flinched and busted out a fit of giggles when he started tickling her ribs. "Harry...stop," she laughed as she dropped the book onto the floor and squirmed under him.

The book forgotten, Harry laughed as he continued to tickle her sides. "Not until you say Harry is the best wizard ever."

"You wish!" she said and then yelped out a laugh when he moved his hand just above her knee and squeezed it. Hermione was very ticklish. "Ah...ah....okay...Harry...is the..."

"Beeeest," he encouraged her as he loomed over her.

"...Best...wizard....ever,....ah...okay, stop I said it, I said it!"

Harry laughed as he finally let up on her. "That'll teach you to mess with me, Granger."

Out of breath, Hermione smiled up at him. "I'll be sure to remember that," she said and then casually pushed back some strands of his bangs that fell over his face. "That was fun."

He smiled softly and tried to ignore the slight twinge in his heart when he looked at her. "I needed a break that was for sure....so I guess I should be thanking you."

"Hey, what are friends for," she said as she couldn't help but notice how right it felt when they were together like this.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Friends." He then shifted until he was laying partly on his side, his stomach and pelvis were pressed against her. "You know...if we were really dating...I would kiss you now."

Hermione smiled at the slight teasing in his voice, but her heart still went pitter patter. "Would you now?"

"Oh, definitely...I mean it's the perfect setting, don't you think?"

She nodded. "Uh huh."

"Hmmm....well, unfortunately," he said with a shrug. "We're not."

"Yeah...too bad, huh?"

"A shame," he said with a sexy grin.

Seeing him smile almost made Hermione forget about everything. She was this close to reaching up and pulling him down for a kiss. She let out shaky breath as she sat up. "I better go."

"What?" he asked startled as he placed a hand on the other side of her preventing her to go. "Why?"

"It's late," she said and tried to sit up again and this time got off the bed, but Harry grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

He waited until she turned and looked at him. "Tell me the real reason."

She gave him a pleading look. "Harry..."

"I didn't do anything wrong did I?" he asked with worry in his eyes as he turned to sit on the edge of his bed. "I didn't make you feel uncomfortable or anything?"

"No, of course not," she said as she lifted a hand and touched the side of her face.

"Then why are you leaving?" he asked as he reached up and grabbed her hand. "Stay here tonight."

She took a deep breath as she tried to hold back her new and unfamiliar emotions. "I can't....it will be too real."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked as he felt his pulse quicken. What was he doing exactly? Was he stepping across the line? Did he want to actually quit this game and make it official? He didn't know what he wanted exactly, but he knew he didn't want to be without Hermione tonight.

"No," she finally said as she shook her head. "It would be a bad thing." She then leaned down and kissed Harry softly on the mouth, lingering for a moment before pulling away. "That's why I should go."

Harry sat there, too stunned to speak as he watched her slowly back away and then turned and walked out of the room. What exactly just happened?