Title: A Declaration of War

Author: slytherin-nette

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hana Yori Dango or any of the characters and events you recognize from both fandoms in this story. Everything written is purely for entertainment.

A/N: I have two words for everyone: WRITER'S BLOCK. It's a killer disease that afflicts the best of us, and sadly, I've had the worst case of it these past months. If it were really up to me, I would write chapters and chapters of stories for you guys all day. But sadly, with the pressures of real life, work and stress and even relationships, you just have to learn to balance it all. But hey, at least the next chapter's finally here! Thank you so much to all those who continue to support me and encourage me to keep writing this story! Hope you all enjoy this one! :D

Chapter 10 – The Prince and the Frog

Harriet tried her best to keep her jaw from hanging open as Fleur led through the many twists and turns of their estate, pausing only to turn around and usher her forward with a smile. When they reached the top floor, where presumably Fleur's bedroom was, the blonde girl turned around again and smiled at her.

"Come." She took Harry's trembling hand and led her through the large double doors. "We must get you out of those clothes." Fleur told her gently but before Harry could get a chance to respond, the blonde had already pushed the doors open and Harry was gaping yet again at the sight of the massive, elegant bedroom.

The room was a beautiful array of white and lavender, with silk and satin curtains all around and nothing but pristine white furniture adorning the large area. Fleur's bed was a luxurious queen-sized four-poster that sat right at the end of the room, adorned with white curtains that curled up along the bedposts. Her closet – the doors to which was situated on the room's other side – was almost as large as her bedroom itself and when Fleur led Harry into the large area, she caught the unmistakable scent of mint and lavender.

"Your room…is…" Harry's breath caught when she walked into Fleur's closet and caught sight of the rows and rows of beautiful dresses, gowns, and shoes that lined her walls. "…amazing…" She breathed out loud, unaware of her starstruck expression until Fleur had caught it and had given her a soft, amused smile.

"All given to me by my father actually, Harry…" She answered with a chuckle before pulling Harry into the room again and gesturing for her to take a seat by the end of the bed. "Now, first things first…You need a proper gown, we can't have you going back out there in those casual clothes now." Fleur added cheerfully, much to Harry's further embarrassment as the older girl began walking to her closet at the end of the room.

Her eyes growing wide in surprise, Harry hastily jumped up from the bed again and rushed toward her.

"No, Fleur! Y—you don't have to do that, I'd be horribly embarrassed! I can just wear these clothes for a few more hours, I'm about to leave soon anyway—" Harry stammered but Fleur stopped her again with a small tutting sound before she shook her head and laughed. "Harry, please…You have nothing to be embarrassed about with me, sweetie. I heard what those three girls said to you, it was horrible of them to trick you the way they did." Fleur ignored the rest of Harriet's protests and turned around toward her closet again.

"At least allow me to make it up to you by lending you one of my gowns for the rest of the night. Now, don't worry…We're more or less the same size." She quipped with a wink at the dark-haired girl, causing Harriet to laugh weakly in spite of herself and fall back down onto the edge of Fleur's bed in speechless stupor.

"A—are you sure? Really, I'm fine, I'm—"

"Shush now." Fleur told her firmly, glancing over her shoulder and giving her a pointed look again before she flicked her gaze back towards the inside of her large, walk-in closet. From the bed, Harriet watched helplessly as Fleur began rifling through her massive closet of designer gowns in earnest – unaware of the way Harriet was gaping over Fleur's shoulder at how her closet was probably thrice the size of Harriet's bedroom.

While Fleur was busy, Harriet took that opportunity to glance around the rest of Fleur's bedroom again, her eyes widening even further when she noticed the rows of framed photographs on the table beside the bed. Fusing her eyebrows together, Harry reached over and took the largest framed photograph from the bedside table. It was a simple picture of a group of five children – four boys and one girl – and as Harriet stared at their grinning faces in the photograph, she couldn't help but gasp when she recognized who they were.

The blonde, pretty girl to the leftmost side of the photograph was obviously Fleur at a young age – perhaps seven or eight – and beside her, with their arms draped over her shoulder, stood three gap-toothed, goofily smiling boys who all looked so scarily familiar that for a long time, she gaped at the picture in disbelief.

Oh Merlin…Is that… Harriet's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and mirth the minute she recognized none other than five-year-old versions of Draco Malfoy, Viktor Krum and Theodore Nott. The three S-4 members looked so deceivingly innocent and boyish that for a minute, Harry couldn't prevent the small smile that began tugging at the corner of her lips. Malfoy, in particular, looked as if he didn't have a care in the world in this photograph and briefly, Harriet wondered what it was that had made the S-4 leader grow up the way he did – far from the image of the innocent, brightly smiling blonde five-year-old in this photograph.

Sighing, Harriet moved her eyes across the picture again and she froze as soon as she recognized who the dark-haired kid at the very end of the picture was. At five-years-old, Blaise Zabini was far from the silent, brooding young man he was now. In fact, as Harry watched the magical photograph intently, she noticed that Blaise, like his three friends, was smiling, albeit more shyly, at the camera. Every now and then, his blue eyes would flick quickly to the side so he could watch Fleur laughing and giggling with the other three boys.

So he loved her…Even then, didn't he…? Harry realized sadly as she slowly set the photograph back down onto Fleur's bedside table and sat back down against the bed. Suddenly, she felt incredibly exhausted and she almost wanted to apologize to Fleur so she could leave. Unfortunately, Fleur was already turning around from the closet again and walking over towards her with a beautiful silk gown draped over her arm.

When she noticed Harry staring at the framed picture on the bedside table, a small smile suddenly lit up her face and she chuckled, carefully setting the gown down onto the bed beside Harry. "That was taken a couple of years ago…You see that shy, awkward boy beside me?" Fleur giggled affectionately as she followed Harry's gaze to the photograph. "That was Blaise when he was five...And Draco…And Theo and Viktor. Weren't they cute back then?" She laughed softly again and turned back to Harry's disbelieving expression.

At this, however, Fleur's eyes softened and she gave the other girl a small, sad smile. "They aren't horrible boys, Harry…I know they can seem difficult most of the time but really, you just have to understand how they were raised…" She began, sighing as she sat down onto the bed beside the dark-haired girl. "None of them even had any other people to interact with except each other…They don't have a normal person's understanding of what's acceptable outside the luxury of their world…" Smiling, Fleur reached over and took the framed photograph off the bedside table again, peering wistfully at Blaise's young, innocent face again.

"Especially Blaise…Before I met him, he wouldn't even talk to anyone except Draco, Theodore and Viktor…Everyone else thought he was autistic before we got him to speak out more." She added softly, setting the photograph back onto her bedside table. Then, she turned back to give Harry a small, sad smile.

An awkward silence fell upon the raven-haired teen for a few minutes as she tried to think of what to say to the older girl. Fortunately, before she could, Fleur had turned around again and smiled mischievously at her, holding up in her arms what appeared to be a beautiful emerald, strapless gown made entirely of silk. The ends of the gown, adorned with exquisite silver lace, flowing down gracefully until it would probably dangle a couple of inches above Harriet's knees. It was, without a doubt, the most beautiful dress that Harriet had ever laid eyes on. Unsure of what to say, Harriet just stared back at Fleur in silent question, blushing uncertainly.

"That's a beautiful gown, Fleur…" She whispered with a small smile, watching as Fleur laid it gently on the bed beside Harry and walked toward her walk-in closet again, looking for a pair of matching shoes.

"I'm sure that it will look even more beautiful on you, Harry…" Fleur told her with a soft giggle but before Harry could correct her, she had pulled out a pair of shoes and placed it on the carpeted floor beside the bed. Tensing even further, Harry finally shot up from the bed and shook her head, giving Fleur a sheepish smile.

"Fleur, I can't borrow your stuff…It looks expensive! I might break them or get stains on them—"

"You know—" Fleur paused for a few seconds, breaking through Harry's protests. "—when I was in France, somebody once told me that a girl should always be wearing the best, most beautiful shoes…" Her eyes softened as she held the shoes back up and offered them to Harriet with a smile. "…because they will also take you to the most beautiful places…And you never know where you're going to end up next." She finished, unaware of the way Harriet's eyes were now soft and she was smiling back at Fleur in admiration.

How can someone so…beautiful…smart…kind…and…perfect…exist? How can I even compete? Harry felt a heavy sadness creeping up on her again as she stared wistfully at Fleur's beautiful, genuine smile again.

Do I even 'want' to compete with her?

Harry tried to ask herself this same question over and over and over again until Fleur finally stood back and offered a hand to her, ushering her into the dressing room. "Come now, let's not dally any longer." Fleur interrupted her softly as she reached over and gently pushed Harriet's tangled black locks out of her face.

"You will look absolutely stunning tonight, I promise. Let's make those silly S-4 boys stare and gape at you, shall we?" Fleur grinned mischievously at her and in spite of herself; Harriet could not prevent the smile that lit up her own face. Laughing, she nodded and took the gown from Fleur's offered hands.

Draco held back a sigh of frustration as he began tapping his foot impatiently against the marble floors of the large Delacour Ballroom. Around him, he purposely avoided the amused looks he was receiving from Theodore and Viktor who were seated in the similar wing-backed seats across from him. Blaise, on the other hand, was just staring blankly at the crowd of dancers in the middle of the ballroom with a stoic expression.

The four of them had been lounging near the large bar at the corner of the room and had been watching the party idly for the last half hour, and truth be told Draco was bored out of his wits. He couldn't possibly figure out why Fleur was taking so long getting Potter cleaned up upstairs but he seriously hoped they would finish up soon – if only for the fact that Fleur's party was pretty lifeless and boring without…well, Fleur.

And the fact that you've been waiting for an excuse to talk to Potter since you saw her. A snide voice in his head suddenly added but Draco just growled and shoved the thought away as quickly as it had appeared.

Draco refused to believe that Harriet Potter had any more of an impact on him than he had led himself to believe. He had just been initially attracted to her because she was the first person – girl, even – to have ever fought back against him over anything, and Draco had never met such a headstrong person like her before.

Plus the fact that the annoying girl was beautiful of course, that certainly didn't help matters in his case and Draco found himself thinking about her more and more. And strangely, his thoughts weren't even always on the positive end either - sometimes he would fantasize about her lips, her eyes and her smile, other times he would sneer as he imagined utterly humiliating her in front of the entire SSPAM student population.

Snap out of it, Malfoy! Shaking his head furiously to clear his thoughts, Draco growled under his breath.

His fascination with Harriet Potter was bordering just beyond the brink of obsession and abomination and nowadays, Draco was finding it very difficult to differentiate between the two what he really felt. All he knew was that he had never felt like this with anyone before, and that alone was enough to intrigue him.

That green-eyed girl had definitely gotten under his skin – he just wasn't sure what that meant.

Keeping his gray eyes blank and narrowed, Draco allowed his cold glare to shift lazily around the large ballroom again, watching the dancers swaying gracefully along the dance floor in the center of the large room. He noticed that a group of giggling first year girls was standing off to the side near them, throwing coy glances at the S-4 every now and then but none of the four heirs acknowledged them or seemed interested.

When he realized that Blaise appeared to be inspecting the room around them in deep thought as well, Draco raised an eyebrow and turned to glare at him, noting the other boy's silent, thoughtful expression.

"Zabini." He began, waiting until Blaise's eyes had rested blankly on his before he continued. "Humor me for a minute here…Just what exactly do you have going on with Potter?" He drawled, deliberately ignoring the pointed smirk that Theodore and Viktor were sharing at his question. Without waiting for Blaise to answer him, he continued. "—you seem to be helping out that little half-breed a lot these days…I don't like it. I—"

"Whoa."

Annoyed at having been cut off, Draco turned to glare at Theodore and snapped.

"What? What is it now, what are you on about, Nott—"

The rest of Draco's carefully formed insult was cut short as both Theodore and Viktor had looked up and exclaimed simultaneously, their eyes growing wide and an expression of awe on their faces. Blinking and tearing his glare away from Blaise to follow their gaze, Draco saw what had distracted his two friends instantly and he too couldn't prevent his eyes from widening, as well as the blush that spread onto his pale cheeks.

Whoa…His throat went dry and for a minute, Draco lost all form of coherent thought altogether as he stared at the girl clad in an emerald silk gown who walking beside Fleur across the ballroom. The pair of them had been descending slowly down the grand staircase when Draco had seen them. As he watched them, Draco could barely tear his eyes away from the enchanting, black-haired, green-eyed beauty approaching him.

Her dark hair had been pulled up, styled into delicate curls and allowed to cascade down to frame her face perfectly. Even with the slightest hint of make-up accentuating her soft features, she looked mesmerizing and her eyes were practically glowing as Draco stared at those emerald orbs across the room. The gown she wore – emerald green and low-cut – was showing just enough of a hint of her bare shoulders and cleavage that she drew the stares of many males around the room. Her form was perfect – slender with soft, feminine curves that took Draco's breath away and made him long to have her lithe body pressed wantonly against his own.

Harriet Potter, was, without a doubt, the most stunning, most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

He had known from the very start that she was an attractive girl, of course. That bit was pretty obvious. And he had confirmed how attractive she was even more when he had abducted her and had dressed her up in jewels and an expensive black gown back in Malfoy Manor a couple of days ago. But now, combined with the softness and elegance of the gown that Fleur had picked out perfectly for her, Draco realized for the first time that Potter was breathtaking – she had just needed the right person to help her out of her shell.

Merlin… Draco let out the breath that he had unknowingly been holding ever since Potter had entered the room and quickly turned to look at this three other best friends, suddenly frowning when he saw that Theodore , Viktor, and even Blaise were staring at Potter with admiration in their eyes. In fact, if Draco knew Blaise at all, he noticed that there was a strange softness in his eyes that he only ever saw him use for Fleur.

And that did not go well with Draco at all.

Scowling, he clenched his fists and he was just about to point this out to him when to his surprise, Blaise had stood up from his seat even before he could say anything. Then, before Draco, Theodore or Viktor could react, the Italian Heir was already walking over towards Fleur and Potter with a small smile on his face.

Harry tried to ignore the rapid, nervous pounding of her heart as she allowed Fleur to lead her by her hand to the very end of the ballroom where she knew the S-4 were waiting for them. Already, she could see the dozens of students' heads that turned to stare at her as they passed and this did nothing to ease her nervousness, causing her to bow her head down so she didn't have to meet their eyes. Chuckling, Fleur led her a few more steps ahead until they finally stopped a few feet in front of where Blaise was waiting for them.

As she sensed the Italian Heir looking intently at her, the blush on Harriet's cheeks darkened even further and she couldn't help casting her eyes down again, not wanting to see his reaction. Fleur, however, just looked between the two of them and smiled gently, looking up and directing her teasing comment to Blaise.

"Doesn't she look enchanting…? I've picked out the right gown, have I not?" She teased cheerfully, making Harry blush even more and look up shyly as Blaise answered with a slow nod and answering gaze.

"Indeed." He agreed quietly, his eyes still focused intently on Harry's fidgeting stance.

Harry slowly raised her eyes up from the floor and nervously met his, faltering slightly when Blaise held her gaze intensely for a long moment. To her surprise, he finally rewarded her with a small, affectionate smile.

"You look beautiful." He told her softly, his voice barely above a whisper but both Fleur and Harriet heard him perfectly. Looking back and forth between the two of them again, Fleur smiled at Blaise's admission for a few moments but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes that went unnoticed by the two other teens.

Harriet, on the other hand, had tensed in surprise but she finally looked up again and managed a beautiful, genuine smile at him, her expression visibly brightening at Blaise's open compliment towards her.

"Thank you…" She answered him softly, still smiling and nodding at him in gratitude but Blaise just chuckled softly at her, taking a few more steps toward them and bending slightly to give them a slight bow.

She's smiling…for him.

Draco felt a sickening lurch in the pit of his stomach as that single thought reverberated in his head and for a moment, he could do nothing else but watch as Harriet smiled at Blaise again – her eyes bright and a genuine look of happiness lighting up her beautiful features. He remembered an instance not too long ago during which he himself had asked her to smile at him like that, but she just screamed back at him in anger.

"HOW THE HELL CAN I SMILE AT YOU?"

Wincing, Draco cast the thought away as quickly as it had appeared in his head and he watched again as Blaise reached over and offered a hand to Harry with a smile, causing the Gryffindor to blush as she took it. He didn't understand why, but Draco suddenly felt a strange aching somewhere in his chest that caused him to tear his eyes away from the sight and clench his fists as he tried to figure out what he was doing wrong.

If she can smile at Blaise…Draco lifted his gaze again and stared at them with confused, hurt gray eyes.

Then why can't she smile at me…?

After Blaise had straightened himself back up, he smiled at Harry again and took one of her hands, turning it over and giving the back of her palm a soft, lingering kiss. As he did this, the blush on Harriet's face intensified even more and she had to look away so that he couldn't see her highly embarrassed expression.

Merlin's beard, he's still looking at me! He's still looking, he's still looking! Is he still looking, oh MERLIN'S BLOODY BEARD, he's still looking! Harriet was beginning to hyperventilate as she felt Blaise's eyes still focused intently on her face as he stood in front of her – so much that she was thoroughly relieved when Fleur had caught his attention again by speaking up and giving the dark-haired Italian Heir a teasing, pointed smile.

"Well…? Aren't you going to ask Harriet to dance with you, Blaise?" Fleur asked, laughing as Blaise seemed to snap himself out of his daze and finally turned to look at her, as though noticing her there for the first time. At the nod and encouraging smile she gave him, he nodded in return and turned back to Harriet.

"Harry…Would you care to dance—"

"ZABINI! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT…HALF-BREED?"

Harriet recognized the loud, drawling voice that had interrupted Blaise instantly and she felt a flare of anger at the person who had spoken, somehow realizing that it was just like Malfoy to ruin such a perfect moment for her just that easily. Unfortunately, the spell had been broken, however, and Blaise was already turning away from her to stare at Malfoy's approaching form behind them with a slightly confused expression.

"Excuse me, Draco…?" He asked quietly, blinking once as he stared blankly at the irate S-4 leader.

Malfoy didn't flinch at this, however, and ignoring Viktor and Theodore's restraints, the blonde angrily stalked towards them, rudely shoving a few students out of his way. When he got there, just a few steps in front of where they were standing, he flicked his glare back and forth between Blaise and Harriet in disgust.

"Blaise, I'm disappointed in you." He drawled, letting his disgusted, condescending glare linger for a long moment on Harriet's flushed, angry expression before he sneered at Blaise again. "You know that Potter is our enemy, you're not supposed to be associating yourself with common riffraff like her. She's half-breed scum, and she declared war on me! She's the enemy!" He snapped at him, his loud voice echoing throughout the entire ballroom and causing all of Fleur's guests to stop whatever it was they were doing to stare at them.

The Malfoy Heir didn't seem to care, however, and even when Blaise had just blinked at him again and was about to turn away, Malfoy had growled and had seized the other boy by his arm, yanking him back.

"Did you not hear me, Zabini? Potter is our enemy! Stop being so bloody nice to her!"

"Grow up, Draco." Was all Blaise said and he would have turned to approach Harriet again but that was when Malfoy finally exploded, causing the rest of the students around the room to gasp loudly in shock.

"I FORBID YOU TO APPROACH HARRIET POTTER!" Malfoy blurted out, his steel-gray eyes suddenly wide and threatening as he glared at Blaise's back, daring the other S-4 member to purposely go against his orders.

The rest of the room's onlookers had gasped again as the two heirs stayed silent like that for a long, tense moment of awkward silence – both of their muscles clenched and both of them refusing to look at each other for fear of exploding in their anger. A few steps behind Blaise, Harry could see the cold, blank expression in the Italian Heir's eyes but for the life of her, she was completely confused about what was really going on.

She knew how much Draco Malfoy hated her and she also knew that Blaise didn't particularly care for her that much either so she could not even begin to understand why Blaise was stubbornly defending her now. Also, she knew that Malfoy had enforced a strict "No Associating with Potter" rule around the rest of the student population but she had no idea that he would go so far as to enforce the rule onto his own friends.

Clearly, something was in this situation that Harriet wasn't aware about.

It was the only possible explanation for everything else not adding up.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID I FORBID YOU TO APPROACH HARRIET POTTER!" Malfoy had suddenly snarled again, interrupting the rest of Harriet's thoughts and finally causing Blaise to turn around to face him.

To Harry's surprise, the Italian Heir looked angry now – his blue eyes narrowed and his face set into a cold, warning sneer that met Malfoy's own. Fortunately, before either of the two irate heirs could say anything else, Fleur had cleared her throat and stepped in between them, trying to calm Malfoy with a gentle smile.

"Come now, Draco…Let's stop all this nonsense. Don't you think Harry looks pretty, as well? The dress really brings out the beauty of her eyes, does it not?" She tried to tease the blonde by placing a comforting hand on his shoulder but the instant she did, Malfoy's eyes flashed and he pulled sharply away.

Then, to everyone's disbelief, the Malfoy Heir suddenly turned his angry, narrowed eyes to Fleur and he sneered warningly at her, causing the blonde girl to blink and step back in shock. "You may be Fleur Delacour and you may be my cousin…" He drawled slowly, the coldness in his voice causing her to flinch.

"But no one…I repeat…NO ONE talks to me that way." He snarled and he would have stepped toward Fleur to shout at her again but apparently, that had triggered Blaise's anger the most. Before anyone else could even react, Blaise had moved in front of Malfoy's form instantly – shielding Fleur from the S-4 leader's view.

"Well then you should know, Draco, that no one…NO ONE talks to Fleur that way." Blaise drawled back calmly, his eyes narrowing slowly as one corner of his lips twisted into a threatening, menacing sneer. Malfoy's eyes widened in indignation at this and he growled, baring his teeth as he stepped even closer towards Blaise until the two tall boys were staring each other down, their hands clenched around their wands.

"How dare you talk to me that way—" Malfoy's voice had dropped into an angry hiss and his eyes were flashing maniacally as he suddenly raised his wand, pointing it directly at Blaise's surprised features.

"I'll teach you some manners, Zabini—"

He made to cast the first spell just as Blaise had tried to cast one of his own but in that instant, everything had suddenly happened so fast that Harriet couldn't remember which one of them had moved first. She remembered realizing that, unfortunately, she didn't have her wand in her pocket in that moment and her first instinct was to think of an alternative way to stop them, but the idea that popped into her head was crazy.

Harriet remembered that the second she had seen Malfoy yanking his wand out and moving to point it directly at Blaise's face, she had reacted by pure impulse, running towards the tall pair as fast as she could. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Fleur rushing towards them as well and she remembered she faintly made out the sounds of Fleur, Theodore and Viktor's loud protests but she just couldn't be sure.

All Harry knew was that as she was running towards the S-4 boys in her panic, she failed to anticipate that Malfoy had noticed her and had turned toward her in shock. His eyes, momentarily devoid of anger, had grown as wide as saucers but before he could protest, Harriet had already collided against him, tackling the stunned blonde to the floor.

They heard a few gasps, and murmurs and horrified exclamations around the room but Harriet was deaf to them all as she fought to regain focus – aware of nothing else but the fact that a heavy weight was now effectively pinning her down onto the marble floor and keeping her from moving away.

Stifling a groan, she blinked a couple of times to clear her vision. That was when she realized that she still couldn't see everyone else gathered around them. Instead, all she could see were a pair of similarly stunned, wide silver eyes staring right down at her, mere centimeters away from her own face. When she opened her mouth to protest, however, that was also when she realized that her lips were, in fact, stifled by another pair of lips that was pressing down right on hers. Without warning, her eyes snapped wide open.

OH…BLOODY…HELL!

Squelching back a horrified scream of disgust, she stared up at the equally shocked gray eyes of none other than Draco Malfoy staring back down at her, his eyes wide and his face already beginning to flush bright pink when he also seemed to realize the rather compromising position they were in. Somehow, in the course of Harriet's efforts in tackling Malfoy to the floor, the blonde had managed to reverse their position so that he ended up landing on top of her instead. Now, pinned on the floor underneath him, with their lips pressed together and his body pressing firmly against her own, she was seriously beginning to regret tackling him.

Especially now that she heard Theodore and Viktor's loud, hysterical hoots and laughter above them.

"WHOA!"

"WAY TO GO, MALFOY!"

"THAT'S HOW YOU SHOW POTTER WHO'S BOSS!"

Blushing horribly and wishing she could just disappear into the floor, Harriet squelched her eyes shut and carefully moved her hands up until her palms were pressing against his chest. Then, frantically, she began trying to shove him off her until Malfoy eventually obliged and pried himself off with an awkward grimace.

Still, as the two of them scrambled apart, Harry could not help but wince when she noticed the soft sound of their lips separating – as though they actually had been kissing – and the way Malfoy was now blushing almost as red as she was. In fact, had circumstances been different, she would have thought that the look of childlike embarrassment on his face was actually endearing in some way, if only she didn't hate his guts.

"WOOHOO! NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL ACTION!"

"HEY MALFOY! I'M SURE YOU WANT TO 'PUNISH' POTTER DIFFERENTLY NOW, HUH?"

Horrified and absolutely scandalized, Harriet felt the tears of humiliation stinging the corner of her eyes as she jumped to her feet, not even noticing that Malfoy had been holding a hand out to her to help her up. Then, ignoring the matching looks of concern and surprise she was receiving from Blaise and Fleur, Harriet tore her eyes away from them and hastily turned around, her eyes scanning the room for the nearest exit.

"Harry—" Fleur had reached out to grab her by her arm but Harriet was already twisting away from her and rushing towards the ballroom exit.

"I—I'm sorry, Fleur…But…I…I h—have to go, I'm sorry! I'll return your dress tomorrow!" Harriet was disgusted to hear the shaking in her own voice but she didn't bother dwelling on it as she turned around and ran as fast as she could towards the exit, drowning out the sounds of everyone's laughter echoing around her.

"Potter kissed Malfoy? No way!"

"No, Malfoy kissed Potter! It was the other way around!"

"No way, he wouldn't! Potter's a half-blood, Malfoy would never kiss her!"

To add even more injury, she could feel Blaise's gaze lingering on her as she ran away from them but even then, she refused to look at him, utterly ashamed to see his reaction to what had just happened.

When Fleur had ushered her into the ballroom that night, all dressed-up and made to feel like a princess, Harriet had foolishly thought that, perhaps, this would be her one chance to earn Blaise's attention. It had been all she had ever wanted ever since she had started school at SSPAM and to have him looking at her the way he did tonight, to have him walk up to her and ask her for a dance was beyond Harriet's expectations.

Everything would have been perfect tonight, and she would have finally gotten to dance – maybe even kiss – the boy, the prince, of her dreams. Sadly, however, life had decided to screw around with her once more and even before the night had started, she had ended up kissing a frog instead– and Harry felt cheated.

It wasn't fair.

As she finally pushed through the exit doors of the Delacour estate and rushed out into the driveway, Harriet felt the bitter tears welling up in her eyes again. Angrily, she wiped them away and began to run faster when she heard the echoing murmurs, exclamations and laughter that were still coming from inside the party.

"You kissed him?"

Hermione's shrill exclamation made Harriet wince and rub her ears as she looked back up from wiping the counter and gave Hermione a pointed look. "A little louder, 'Mione…I don't think everyone in the restaurant heard you." Harriet pointed sarcastically, causing Hermione to look sheepish in spite of herself.

"I'm sorry, Harry…But that was just a little too much to take in for a second…I mean, you kissed him? You kissed Draco Malfoy? As in the leader of S-4, the one who's been bullying you for weeks now, that Draco Malfoy?" She asked in a low whisper, earning another exasperated sigh from Harriet as she stopped wiping the counter and glared up at her, dropping the yellow sponge she held down the counter with a growl.

"'Mione! It wasn't like I had much of a choice, I told you! He just…fell on top of me! And his…lips landed on mine, it was an accident!" Harry stammered amidst Hermione's giggles, causing the black-haired girl to glare at her best friend again in annoyance. "It's not funny! It was disgusting, I had to run home and gargle with mouthwash for half an hour! It was like kissing a frog!" She snapped, causing Hermione to giggle harder.

When the brunette had gotten a semblance of control over herself, she looked up at her best friend's scowl at her again and answered her with a smirk. "A frog huh…? Well, even a frog can turn into a prince with one kiss, Harry…Are you sure you were so repulsed by it?" She teased, wagging her eyebrows up and down.

Choking, Harry gaped at her and stared at her as though she had grown two heads. "'Mione, are you mad? This is Malfoy, we're talking about! He's disgusting! He's evil! He's vile! He's the lowest scum to ever—"

"—walk the face of this Earth! I wouldn't date her if she was the last woman on the planet, don't disgust me!" Draco exclaimed hastily as he stared at both Theodore and Viktor's amused smirks at him from across the room. Seated casually on one of the leather couches near the corner of Draco's bedroom – just beside the mini bar – Theodore had grinned at him and crossed one ankle over the other, leaning back slyly against his seat.

"So how was she?"

Theodore sniggered when Draco pretended not to hear him and threw another dart across the room.

"She's that good a kisser huh? She must have been for you to blush so much like that last night." Theodore teased Draco further, earning himself a glare and a very rude finger from the blonde S-4 leader.

"I did not kiss Potter. SHE kissed ME!"

"Oh really…? You didn't seem all that disgusted last night when your mouth was practically glued onto hers, you know…In fact, you seemed rather inclined not to move at all." Theodore pointed out smugly and at his words, the dart Draco had been throwing missed, landing miserably outside the dartboard across the room.

"Are you insane? What makes you think I like that skinny little half-breed? She's annoying, and loud, and reckless, and stubborn! And I don't like that in a woman, I like my woman obedient!" He snarled at them.

Viktor snorted derisively and took a sip from his glass of champagne. "Since when?" He retorted.

Draco's head snapped back around to glare at him, narrowing his eyes at the other boy in disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

"Since when did you like your women obedient, Malfoy?" Viktor repeated, his smirk widening slightly when he saw the confused expression Draco was giving him. "In fact, while we're on that subject, why don't we also address the fact that you haven't gone out with a girl for almost three months now." Viktor pointed out further, laughing when Draco glared at him and refused to answer, picking up some more darts instead.

"So?" He snapped, hurling another dart across the room. This time, he hit the bull's eye easily.

"Wow…no action at all for three months, huh? No wonder you're always so uptight these days, Malfoy. We have to get you out, mate! Let's go see some women, I know a party we can crash! Come on, let's—" Theodore was surprised when Draco just rolled his eyes and shrugged Theo's arm off his shoulders.

"I don't really feel like it, Nott." He grumbled, earning another set of amused looks from his two friends as Viktor finally stood up from his seat and walked over to them, clapping Draco lightly on the shoulder.

"Malfoy, when's the last time you got yourself any action since that lame kiss from Potter you stole yesterday? You probably haven't had any for months! Let's get you some girls so you can stop thinking about that Potter chick for awhile." He offered but to his surprise, Draco suddenly glared at him with wide gray eyes.

"I do not think about Potter, you imbecile! And besides, I've…I've had plenty this month! Yeah, dozens! I don't need you two feeling sorry for me! I can get women on my own!" He snapped defensively but his words did nothing but cause Theo and Viktor to share a smirk again and glance back at him in amusement.

"Oh yeah…? When was the last time you got any action then, Draco…?" Theodore asked him bluntly.

"And yesterday doesn't count." Viktor added with a smirk.

Draco glanced back and forth between the two of them with suspicious eyes, as though he was trying to ascertain their intentions, before he very slowly turned to glance back at Theodore and shrugged blankly.

"…the day before that…?"

"—he's a pig and he's slime and he's a disgusting snake! I hate his guts, 'Mione! I really do, I hate his guts!" Harry was practically pounding the restaurant counter in front of her into non-existence, earning herself several nervous looks from the nearby customers seated around the Three Broomsticks. Noticing this, Hermione winced and carefully pried the sponge away from her best friend's hands, giving her a rueful smile.

"Well, snake or not, Harry…I think it would be best if you calmed down and got your mind off Malfoy for awhile. Why don't you go over there and help Ginny with those customers? I'm sure she'd appreciate it, she's looking a bit stressed out." Hermione pointed out, finally breaking through Harriet's tirade as she sighed and nodded in defeat. "You're right…I shouldn't be letting that prick get to me." She admitted, shaking her head at herself and giving Hermione a weak smile. "I'll go help Ginny out." She nodded in agreement, leaving Hermione at the counter so that she could make her way towards the redhead across the restaurant.

Just as she was passing by the entrance doors, however, they swung open, revealing a tall, cloaked-figure walking slowly into the room. Idly, Harriet turned her head over her shoulder to give the new customer a distracted smile but that was when she froze and stopped dead in her tracks. There, staring silently back at her and shoving his hands into his pockets, stood none other than Blaise Zabini – in all his perfect, handsome glory.

And slowly, he smiled at her.

"Hi Harry."

A/N: Who hates cliffhangers? I do, I do, I do! I hate those nasty cliffhangers, don't you? I think authors who like to use them all the time are just nasty, sadistic bitches. :D :D :D

Next Chapter: a little BZ/femHP, we introduce another character, and perhaps a little DM/femHP.

Please, please, PLEASE don't forget to leave me a review, everyone! They might help me with my awful writer's block! Till next time! CIAO AND CHEERS! :D