It was February and it was the first Hogsmeade trip since the end of the holidays. Hermione and Ginny had set off on their own without Harry and Ron. Ever since the group had decided to return to school after the war, things amongst them had become more complicated. Ginny and Harry didn't get back together right away as everyone thought they would. Returning to school had revealed that Harry was no longer willing to take on any type of pressure or commitment- which even included Ginny herself.

Ginny was heartbroken, but Harry assured her that it wasn't that he didn't care for her-he simply needed to be a kid for once. Ginny took it the situation in stride and was dealing with things much better than Hermione was. Hermione and Ron been dating for a while, but he too decided to break it off, for less admirable reasons. He wanted to see what was out there, and didn't want to be tied down: what if they ended up together and then they were stuck? Hermione was happy that he was being honest, but it still stung horribly. As the girls approached Hogsmeade, they saw a commotion coming from the direction of the Ink and Quill Bookstore. It was a smaller, newer, but for some reason business was booming.

"What do you supposed is going on there? Whatever they're getting, I want one!" Ginny said, quirking a red eyebrow as she watched a girl from Hufflepuff shove a woman out of her way

" I have no idea but I can't imagine that it's worth getting trampled upon," Hermione retorted snappishly, even though her interest was piqued.

"Speak for yourself! Come on Hermione, live a little! Let's go take a look!"

The two girls made their way through the crowd, pushing and shoving to get to the center and not caring about the perturbed look the older woman was giving them. Once inside, Hermione looked around the store, taking in the high arches and stained glass windows. It looked like a small muggle church with bookcases lining the walls. There was a small section in the corner that was for sitting and eating the confections they made in the store. Next to the café there was a display of what appeared to be journals where the commotion was./p

"All this for a bloody JOURNAL!" Hermione cried, out getting more annoyed looks from the other girls and women trying to grab a copy.

" It's not just a journal, you stupid Mudblood!" Hermione turned to the voice only to see Pansy Parkinson looking very agitated. "Now get out of my way. Some of us know what we're here for." With that scathing comment, Pansy went to the table with the stack of books and picked out three.

"Always nice to see you." Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something about stupidity and slags under her breath.

"Well, we might as well pick a couple up while we're here, don't you think?" Ginny asked, as if she knew exactly what they were getting.

"But what are they?"

" I guess they're love journals of some sort. It's like having a pen pal, but in a book. Like the creepy Horcrux book I had in second year. Isn't romantic?" Ginny sighed.

Hermione simply looked at her like she had grown an extra head. "Let's go, and pick one out for yourself." Hermione shrugged and picked out a light purple one, noting that Ginny grabbed two.

" I said that I don't want the stupid thing, Pansy!" Draco said loud enough that he drew attention from some of the other students sitting at their table.

"But Draco it could be fun, especially if we end up talking to one another!"

Draco just rolled his eyes and shot Pansy a scathing look.

"Pansy do you honestly think out of all the witches that bought that book, you're the one for me?"

"Thanks Ginny, it was really sweet of you to think at me at such a random time" Harry smirked.

"Really Harry, you're one of my closest friends! I think of you all the time!" Ginny replied. Hermione rolled her eyes thinking maybe Harry could see through Ginny's coyness.

"Well I think that it's a load of rubbish. Girls and guys hooking up though books? Why can't they do it the normal way like the rest of us? And Ginny, I'm surprised, you said you'd never use an enchanted book again!" Ron shot to Harry, oblivious to Ginny's romantic notions or Hermione's hurt look at Ron's dismissal. Ginny simply ignored her brother's jab. Ron figured that the conversation was over and returned to his food, ignoring the feelings of the others at the table.

"It's not that bad Ronald." Hermione looked down, suddenly more interested in her food.

"Oh great, we've lost the level-headed one to thoughts of fancy."

Hermione turned red with anger.

"Draco darling, we are obviously made to be with each other!" Pansy cooed, not taking note to the other students snickering around them. "Look at our families! We were born for this: The Slytherin prince and princess, we would be the pureblood power couple, we could–"

"ENOUGH!" Draco stood up from the bench, enraged and not caring who saw what was about to happen. "Pansy, we will never be together. You're just a daft slag who I can stick it in once in a while. It will never be anything more than a quick semi-satisfactory shag between us! Just leave it alone woman, go fuck Blaise! it's not like you're not doing it anyway."

Draco stood up and left the Great Hall, the only sound heard being the echo of the door shutting. A pin could have been dropped. Pansy, humiliated, stood up and looked to her left to Blaise.

"Look Pans, it's not –" Blaise started. He looked guilty, like he had done something wrong.

"Don't Blaise, just... Don't." Pansy mustered up all the dignity she could and left the Great Hall.

After the display during dinner, the hall cleared out pretty quickly. Hermione decided to stay behind when her friends left, telling them that she would be up to the common room momentarily. When she finally left the hall she noticed a very depressed looking Malfoy sitting on the grand stairs.

"That was a foul thing to do in there, Malfoy." Hermione looked at him without fear.

"Yeah, well no one asked you, Mudblood."

Hermione flinched; even though she was used to his insults it seemed like this bad day would only get worse.

"Look, I may not be a big fan of Pansy, but no one should be talked to like that, especially with half of the school watching."

"Look Granger," Draco spat her name out like it was as foul as he believed her to be.

"No one asked you. Why don't you stick your nose in someone's business that may actually need saving? I'm not some charity case you can fix, I don't need help. I've done things alone so what makes you think I need your advice?" He stood, taking a step in her direction.

"Yes Malfoy, you have done things alone, and where did it get the rest of us? We're stuck in a world without the most powerful wizard because of your brilliant work. You doing things alone killed Dumbledore and who knows how many countless others you've doomed with that attitude of yours!" For a moment Hermione thought that there was a flicker of hurt in Draco's eyes, but it was gone before she could tell.

By this point Hermione was seething and closer to Draco than when she started. They were still a persons length away, but she was sure he could feel the anger roll from her in waves.

"Look Mudblood, you best mind your own business, you think you know everything, but you really know nothing. You have no idea what was on the line for me so don't think for a second you have me figured out. Insufferable know-it-all wenches tend to get their fingers burned, so I'd be careful if I were you." Draco brushed past her without letting her get another word in.

"Coward," Hermione called after him in the dimness of the hall.

Not knowing what else to do, she went up to her room to think.

A couple of hours later, while the boys were playing wizard chess, Lavender, Parvati and a few other girls had started taking the quiz in the enchanted journal to match them up with their "soul-mate". The owner of the book had to make a password to use it, then they could freely talk to the person who had answered their journal sorted couples by what they wanted in a relationship. After much debate Hermione opened hers and started the questionnaire; it was a lot of simple questions, such as: "What kind of physical attributes one likes in the opposite sex?", or "how do you feel about blood status?" , "what type of books do you read?" And the most important one "how old they are and how old they would date?" After finally finishing the survey, Hermione excused herself and went to her dorm room to try out the journal, embarrassed that she was using something she chided the other girls about./p

Upon opening the book, she decided that she wouldn't give out any personal information to the other person other than the fact that she was a student at Hogwarts. She figured that her partner would also be a student, since it matched people based on their age and region if that's what the owner wanted.

"Well, here goes nothing…"

Uh, hello?

She scrawled quickly with her quill, under the impression that it was like ripping off a band-aid—best to do it quick and not think about it.

Draco looked at the journal for a while, having long since finished the quiz and was now waiting for something to happen. The only reason he decided to use the journal was because he wanted to prove to himself that he could do better than Pansy. He knew that he could physically, but he hadn't really thought about ending up with someone compatible mentally. He was just about to close the book, which had been dauntingly sitting on his desk, when words suddenly appeared on the page.

Uh, hello?

He stared at the page as the words faded.

"Hi, wow this is awkward…"

He waited what felt like a few minutes, which was probably only a matter of seconds for the next message./p

Yes, well I'd be a little surprised if it wasn't.