The Tango is for Two

a/n: jeez loufreakineez. that last chapter seemed to cause a lot of controversy among the readers, lol. some named huwdw instant messaged me grilling me on whether or not hermione and draco would go out - and if they would he(huwdw) would... die. or so he said. Something like that. Anyways, cookies for him, i love it when my readers IM me... *squeal* its like fanmail only better because im not even a real celebrity!!

lol, look, about the complaints, people its a story, not even a very good one. second off, its my story, and you know me, this will all end up the way it is planned to be. but thirdly, and this is the important part, i wanted to write something with lots of love triangles an angst and shit like that.

my point is, dont panic! everything iwll be sunshine and peaches soon enough! but right now... let me play with my fic, besides, it makes it more fun. and judging by how many reviews i received for that last chap, controversy is good for my review ratio... *squee*

anyways, chill. so.. hmm, about this chapter. im not sure what im gonna do with it, so stay awake, ne? here i am, my tongue getting burned by my cup o' noodles, writing my cute ass off for you guys.

its because i love you. *sob*

nehee, just read.

the tango is for two :: chapter five - i used to think that the day would never end

...

Hermione sunk into her seat at the Gryffindor table, next to Ron, who was giving her a funny look.

"What was that about?" He asked her, his nose wrinkled.

She shot him a glare. "Don't want to talk about it right now."

"Lover's tiff?" He asked, jokingly.

She made an ill face.

He choked on his porridge. "You're not serious!"

Hermione turned to him sadly. "We weren't lovers... and that's why, well, I don't know anything right now."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "So you shagged and Harry's sad because you pulled the 'I didn't mean to' rubbish?"

"We didn't shag." She hissed.

"You snogged, then?"

She let out a sigh. "Yes." She confessed.

"Blimey, took you two long enough," He started, and Hermione looked at him in shock. "The entire Gryffindor table had bets riding on it since second or third year. Where's Dean? He now owes me thirty knuts."

She gasped. "You didn't have the funding to pay him if you lost!"

"But I didn't lose, did I?" Ron pointed out, giving her a frown.

She started to cry. He stared at her in amazement. "Why are you so upset?" He asked.

"I don't know." She sobbed.

"You didn't mean to my arse. You know it's meant to be." He speared a piece bacon and shoved into his mouth. "Bumbling jackasses." He said, loudly chewing.

She whimpered, her head in hands.

"What's the matter, Granger?" The cool words floated down to the table, and she peeked through her fingers at Malfoy. "Go away, Malfoy."

He sat beside her instead. "Got into a quarrel with beloved Potter?"

Her head flew up angrily. "He's not my beloved. Now fuck off, Malfoy."

Ron sent a bored glance their way.

"Leave her alone." He told Draco.

"I can handle it myself, Ron." Hermione hissed.

Ron got up and went over to the Ravenclaw table where he loitered nonchalantly.

"No you can't."

She turned, seething, back to the speaker. "Excuse me?"

"I said, no, you can't. You're dependant. You need Weasley, you need Potter, because no one else would ever put up with the likes of you."

"The likes of me?!" She exclaimed, standing up abruptly, knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice.

Draco rose up from his seated position, so that he now towered over her.

"And you need me, because what would the meaning of life be without a mortal enemy?" He continued.

"You're not the enemy, You-Know-Who is."

"If I'm not your enemy then what exactly am I?"

She was silent, and Draco's hand went to her face, touching itgently.

"What am I?" He asked, again.

"Dead." A voice growled, and suddenly Harry had tackled Draco, and had started throwing punches at him wildly.

They scrambled about on the floor, Harry punching every chance he got and Draco defending himself. Harry got a good whop in, and blood began to gush from Draco's perfect little nose.

Finally Draco regained his senses and shoved Harry brutally off of him. Scrambling to standing position, he glared ferociously. "What's the matter with you?"

"Don't you ever touch her again!"

Draco sneered at him, and the scowl on his face in addition to the various bruises did not improve his appearance.

They stared at each other angrily and silently. Hermione tried to look at anything but them.

Suddenly Ginny brushed past Harry, "Excuse me." and settled down at the table right between Draco and Harry. She was giggling, quietly, and ignored the tension in the air as she cut up her eggs neatly.

Harry watched Draco warily, who was looking at Ginny strangely. Suddenly he leaned to her, his arms on either side of her head, hands resting on the table. He lowered his face close to her right ear.

"Do you find something amusing, Weasley?" He hissed, loud enough for Harry and Hermione to hear.

Harry took a step towards them, and Hermione moved to his side, looking at him carefully.

Ginny calmy sipped at her pumpkin juice, seeming as if she was used to the closeness of Draco. She was, actually, but no one knew that.

"You've got a bloody nose." She said, turning her head slightly, so that their eyes met.

"Do you find that funny?" He said, scowling.

"Yes."

"I see." He made sure no one was looking to closely, and smiled at her gently. As he straightened, he changed to a smirk, as Ginny handed him a napkin and he wiped some of his blood away. Tossing it back on the Gryffindor table, he then fingered her robe, which happened to be his.

"Nice robe you've got there." He said, and then turned back to Harry. "You really should work on that temper, Potter."

He brushed by him roughly and left.

Harry let out a low growling noise from his throat.

Hermione couldn't make her eyes meet his.

"I'll see you for tango practice this afternoon." He said, and turned briskly and made an icy exit.

She let out a miserable sigh, and turned to the table, where she sat next to Ginny.

"You all right?" She asked the redhead, who was looking aghast, as she fingered the clasp that pinned her robe.

Ginny allowed her fingers to fall away, and Hermione's eyes darted to the silvery broche, and gasped. The green snake with it's flashing eyes and "Slytherin" brazenly engraved on it were unmistakable.

"What are you doing with a Slytherin's robe?" Hermione asked, dropping her voice so the others wouldn't hear.

"Someone gave it to me." Ginny said, very quickly, and left the Grand hall and her Sunday breakfast.

Hermione watched her leave, puzzled. "Who?" She muttered to herself.

...

Harry felt the strong and irresistable urge to play quidditch. After a brusque walk up to his dorms, he had retrieved his broomstick and was making his way to the Quidditch Pitch.

Neville appeared out of nowhere and jogged alongside of him, trying to keep up with Harry's powerful stride.

"In a hurry?" He asked, breathless, his pudgy face flushed.

Harry stopped abruptly, his green eyes stormy and undiscernable. "I suppose I'm not." He admitted, as Neville leaned on his knees, gasping for breath.

"Just walking quickly." Harry added, and began his powerwalk to the field again.

Neville called out from behind him. "Need to talk to you!" He slurred.

Harry stopped in his tracks and sighed exasperatedly. He turned and went back to Neville, who had flopped down on the grass. Harry sat down crosslegged, and stared at him, irritated. "What is it."

"How do you know if you're in love?" Neville asked.

Harry's eyes burned a brilliant shade of green and his pudgy friend was slightly taken aback by the raw emotion in his eyes.

"What makes you think I would know!?" Harry asked, gripping his broom very tightly.

"We..well, you, you just have it m..more together than I do... ge..gen..generally." Neville was quivering from Harry's sharp question.

Harry's eyes softened and her looked at his friend with sympathy. "You have no idea Neville."

Neville heaved a sigh. "Well, I wanted to know, because, I think I'm truly in love with Heather."

"The girl who gave you the moose?" Harry asked, and Neville nodded exuberantly.

"That's her. We just had our first argument today..." He started, cheerfully.

"You say that like it's a good thing." Harry interrupted, thinking back to he and Hermione's disagreement, somberly.

"Well, well it kind of is!" Neville exclaimed. "Because, I thought of it like this... if I can still love her, even after we've screamed at each other, than I must really love this girl!"

Harry's stomach turned, and he started to get up.

"That's great Neville." He murmured, and started getting on his broom.

"Wait! So do you think it's true love?" Neville asked, tugging at his sleeve.

"Oh yeah, the whole enchilada." Harry said, giving him a weak smile, and then zooming off into the sky.

"The whole enchilada..." Neville repeated, in a daze.

...

Draco's arm drew back, and then shot forward, his wrist elegantly straightening as he released the musical dart, which whistled to it's target happily.

It punctured the bull's eye, nearly knocking off the other three of his darts. Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle victoriously. "Best three out of five?" Crabbe suggested, and Goyle punched him in the arm. "Then he's already won again."

Crabbe counted on his fingers. "Oh!" He exclaimed.

Draco lit a cigarette and collapsed onto the leather couch, stretching out his lanky body.

"So what have you been doing lately, boss?" Goyle asked, squeezing into a small chair. Crabbe chortled. "Or who've you been doing?" He slurred, and he and Goyle guffawed.

Draco blew out smoke and looked at them calmly. His cronies stopped their laughing and nudged his leg. "Well?"

"Keeping up appearances." Draco said, smoothly, and tossed the cigarette into the fireplace, where it crackled and let out fumes.

"But we're serious, who've you been shagging?" Goyle asked.

Draco stood up, his hands in his black slacks. "What business is it of yours?" He said, raising an eyebrow, his eyes flashing a dangerous silver.

"We just asked..." Crabbe said, defensively.

Draco stared at the fire.

...

Hermione was in the Charms room, practicing some complex tango steps. It was late in the afternoon, and Harry hadn't shown up yet.

She was wearing a new black dress, with little ruffles around the bottom, and she enjoyed watching the fabric flutter around her as she did a twirl. Hermione didn't usally dress up very often.

The door opened and closed, and Harry stood there, broom in hand.

He looked at her in her little black dress and blinked. "Are we dressing up now?" He asked, looking her over, from her carefully styled hair to her strappy heels.

"I thought we should try the last practices in formal wear, so that we're prepared for it." Hermione explained.

"Oh." He responded, dully. He was in grass stained blue jeans, that he'd had since third year. They were tight and old, fraying at the knees and edges. His shirt was an old one of Dudley's, big and baggy, sweatstained from his vehement flight.

She waved her hand. "Don't worry, I'll spruce you up." She whipped out her wand and muttered a spell and his ruffled appearance was vastly improved, his hair slicked back, and dressed in a full tuxedo. He raised an eyebrow. Hermione giggled. "A bit too much." She whispered another spell and he was dressed in a button down shirt, a sports coat and nice slacks and shoes.

"Thanks." He said, appreciatively. He leaned his broom against the wall and stepped closer to her. "Let's start, then." Hermione said, and with a swish and flick had the lights dimmed and tango music playing softly.

As they went over their steps perfectly, Harry made conversation.

"Spoke with Neville."

"Oh?"

He murmured a yes, and spun her around.

"Listen, Hermione, I'm sorry about running out like that." He said, finally.

Hermione tripped over her heels.

The music came to a stop, it was charmed to play when their feet moved.

"It was fine, you don't have to apologize." She said.

"I wasn't thinking about your feelings. I'm sorry."

"No, it was me who wasn't.. thinking right."

"Listen, when I spoke to Neville today... he said something that I thought was interesting."

"What was that?" Hermione asked, curious, and slightly nervous.

"It was about he and Heather..."

She nodded, urging him to continue.

"He asked me if I knew what it was like to be in love." Harry blurted out.

She blinked. "And?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what he meant and he said that he and Heather had argued and that he still loved her afterward..."

He stopped to make sure Hermione was listening. She was, although her eyes seemed distant.

"... and that he figured if he loved her that much even after all that screaming, it must be true love."

She watched him carefully. "Do you agree?" She asked.

"I was thinking about that... and how.. how you and I had argued."

Her breath caught in her throat. "But we have a completely different situation."

"Not really." Harry said, carefully, watching her eyes for reaction.

"What do you mean? Heather and Neville are dating, and Neville loves her."

"And you and I are best friends..." Harry began.

"But you don't love me."

"Yes I do." Harry insisted. She faltered for a moment, and then countered.

"But not like that. We're friends. Friends love each other, but differently."

"But I don't love you like that." Harry said.

Hermione's hands were sweaty and she grasped them together.

"Then you love me like a sister, a deeper, even stronger love." She suggested.

"No."

Hermione's chin trembled. "Don't do this, Harry."

"Do what?" Harry said, remaining as calm as he could be.

"Don't fall in love with me!"

"Why not?!" He roared.

"Because we'll destroy everything we have!" She yelled back, her hands flailing in emphasis.

"No we won't!"

"I don't want you to get hurt! I don't want to get hurt!"

Harry grabbed her by the arms, and she started to cry.

"Stop it! How could something like this ever hurt?" He asked, his eyes blazing.

She whimpered.

He kissed her, and she kissed him back.

...

...

a/n: geez, you people. "what a horrible way to end a chapter". shut up, you love me! YOU LOVE ME DAMNIT! well.. i hope you do. anyways. review please. and oh yeah! i have a boyfriend! (*gasps from crowd*) yeah, i know, i didn't think itd happen either! hahah! *bounces off*

*bounces back* REVIEW! please. *bounces off again*