Observation

People have always thought that me and Vince were stupid. That the only reason we were created was to be big, dumb and protect spoiled little rich kid Draco Malfoy. But we're not dumb and we're not just Draco's bodyguards, the way people seem to think.

We've been friends with Draco since we were little kids. We all look out for each other. Just because we're Slytherin doesn't mean we don't have the ability to make friends. It's a stupid misconception of Slytherin. I mean, Slytherin really isn't that different from Gryffindor or Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. We probably just have more politics and power play.

And Vincent and I, we're not stupid either. Sure we might've been when we were younger, and we're still not what you'd call smart but we notice things about people. The little things most people would overlook. Like I said, Vince and me aren't very smart and we never really went in for the whole political side of Slytherin, so we didn't talk a lot and it gave us the time to be observant.

Take Blaise. Back in third year Vince noticed that Blaise's left eye would twitch whenever someone mentioned goblets. I still haven't worked that one out. Or how about Pansy? In fifth year she got addicted to Lady Luscious Lipgloss in crab-apple flavour.

There was one thing I always noticed about Draco though. It was his ring. Just before second year started he began wearing a ring on his thumb on his right hand. It was plain silver with an engraving of a snake all around it. There were no stones on it or anything, just the plain engraving.

Draco hardly ever took it off. As far as I could tell he only took it off when he went to bed and I suppose when he was bathing or showering. He didn't even take the ring off when he played Quidditch, which was actually pretty risky as it could easily have slipped off his thumb while he was flying.

But one day during winter of our sixth year I realised he had stopped wearing his ring. For just over four years Draco had worn that ring constantly and then suddenly he wasn't wearing it at all. It didn't make any sense to me.

Not until two days later anyway. That was when I found out what had happened to the ring. It was her. She was wearing the silver snake ring on her right ring finger. I asked Draco what happened to his ring but without mentioning her. He claimed to have lost it a few days earlier. I then told him who had it and asked if he wanted it back. I expected anger and that he would immediately leave to find her and demand his ring back. But instead Draco casually replied, "Nah. I was getting sick of the thing anyway."

It was obvious to me that he was lying about losing it. Because after I had discovered who was now wearing Draco's ring I noticed all the secretive glances, gestures and winks between the two. I've never asked Draco about it, no doubt he'd just deny everything. I've never told anyone about it either, not even Vince.

Besides, I'm still trying to come to terms with it myself. It's now exactly a year since I first found out she was the one with Draco's ring. She wears it every single day but don't think any of her friends have ever noticed it. Maybe that redhead in the year below us but I don't think so.

Maybe one of these days I'll confront Draco about it. Because I just can't get my head around this. Not something this big. I want him to explain it to me and tell me I'm wrong. I want him to tell me I'm wrong in thinking that Draco Malfoy has fallen for muggle-born Hermione Granger.