Thank you to everyone who reviews, follows. favorties, etc. I realize it's taking a while to reach the plot of this whole fic, so in the next chapter we'll get to the bet.

Chapter Four

Hermione woke early in a cold sweat; the nightmare had almost seemed too real. Even though Ginny had reassured her that Blaise Zabini wouldn't tell anyone, a part of her sub-conscious disagreed. She moaned with her face in both hands. Surely, Zabini wouldn't declare she fancied Theodore Nott in front of the entire school? Perhaps not. Being the Slytherin he undoubtedly is, he would probably wait until the perfect opportunity to blackmail her with it. She would have to do something-or maybe Ginny was right. Maybe it'd be better if Hermione waited it out. What would be the harm in a Slytherin knowing she fancied one of their own? There'd be quite a lot of harm in that, Hermione thought crossly.

"Hermione," Parvati called a bit too loud for Hermione's ears. The brunette blinked rapidly as she glanced up at her dorm mate. There was an impatient look marring Parvati's features.

"Oh, sorry," Hermione apologized. "You were saying?"

The girl sighed and repeated her earlier question. She was standing at the foot of Hermione's four poster bed, already dressed in her school robes.

"No, I haven't seen Lavender." Parvati frowned; her entire demeanor seemed to sink into itself. Hermione felt a sympathetic pang for the poor girl.

Things had been rocky, to say the least, between the two former friends. Lavender was ignoring all of Parvati's attempts at reconciliation. The look of defeat that hung in the air around Parvati was disheartening. Hermione wished she could do something to help her two dorm mates. The girls had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. But Hermione knew better than to involve herself in the complex situation between the two Gryffindor gossips.

O-O-O

Hermione met Ginny on the way down to breakfast. They talked about Ginny's latest argument with her older brother. Apparently Ron had caught Ginny in a passionate lip lock with Harry in the boys' dormitory.

On her way back from her Head Girl duties, Hermione thought over possible excuses Harry could possibly have for his mysterious absence. Professor McGonagall had called an impromptu meeting with the two Heads and they'd waited half an hour for Harry to show up. In that time, Professor McGonagall's lips had thinned into a scowl to show her lack of patience and displeasure with the raven-haired Head Boy. Knowing that Harry's position as Head Boy was precarious, Hermione had made up a liable excuse for Harry. She apologized to McGonagall for not saying anything earlier. After all Harry had informed her earlier that day to send his regrets to the headmistress.

Hermione doubted whether Professor McGonagall had believed her. But the strict witch had said nothing more on Harry's absence. Hermione promised that the next time she saw Harry, she would give him a proper scolding for his blatant disregard of Head duties. While climbing through the portrait hole, Hermione's ears had been met with Ron's angry shouts. She followed the yells all the way to the boys' dormitory where a couple dozen Gryffindors were crowding around a doorway. Hermione scowled; she was tired, exhausted, and slightly peeved. She was certainly in no mood to deal with anyone's tantrum-certainly not Ron's. As she parted through the crowd, Hermione's temper only grew more incensed. The brunette caught glimpses of two red-heads facing off angrily while Harry hovered around obviously trying to calm them down.

Hermione let out a long sigh and with her wand in the air she issued a loud bang to get everyone's attention. Experience had taught her that gaining the attention of a rowdy bunch of Gryffindors was quite challenging. She wondered how-not for the first time-McGonagall managed to make it look so easy.

Immediately everyone's eyes riveted to the Head Girl. She cleared her throat and faced the crowd of onlookers. "There's nothing to see here. Off to bed. And that means you as well, Lavender. Fine, Seamus but wait in the common room until I get this mess sorted."

There was a lot of grumbling and protests, but, finally it was just Hermione, a guilty-looking Harry, and two flustered Weasleys. Obviously the latter two hadn't realized they'd attracted some attention.

It'd taken quite a while to get to the point of the whole debacle with Ron's constant shouting. And by the end of the night, Hermione found her voice hoarse. Ron had eventually calmed down, but refused to speak with Ginny until she apologized. However, Harry had gotten off with no trouble on either end, but it didn't mean he didn't feel any less responsible for the entire thing.

Hermione's impatience with Harry melted as well, after he apologized for missing the meeting and made it up to her by dealing with Pansy Parkinson's own lack of attendance at the Prefect meetings. Suffice to say the blonde witch was vastly displeased with Harry's reprimand, but grudgingly agreed to participate in future meetings for fear of having her Prefect status taken away.

At the breakfast table, Ginny chose to sit away from Ron, not before she shot a glare Harry's way. The raven-haired wizard ducked his head and whispered something to Ron. Hermione let out an exasperated sigh with her friends' childish behaviors. She accompanied Ginny to sit with some younger students. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione spotted Blaise Zabini enter the Great Hall and head speedily towards Malfoy. That wasn't so strange, Hermione tried to convince herself. After all the two were friends, right? Still she kept an eye on the Slytherin duo. She gave a start when they glanced her way. Quickly averting her eyes, Hermione managed to take a bit of breakfast. Her stomach was churning with the thought of her nightmare. In it, Blaise Zabini had stood up on top of the table and shouted for the whole school to hear that Hermione was in love with Theodore Nott. It was completely mortifying to have every eye in the Great Hall on her. Even now, Hermione's face heated up with embarrassment.

Ginny noticed Hermione's lack of appetite and asked if something was wrong. Hermione shook her head and offered a slight smile. With one last glance in the direction of the Slytherin table, she confirmed that Malfoy's eyes were still on her.

Hmm, that doesn't look too good for our Gryffindor. Tune in next time to read what nefarious plot the Slytherins have cooked up.