I could go on and on about being busy with school junk, but I bet you readers already skipped this to read the story, lol. If you are reading this please check the author's note at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6:

Dates Gone Sour

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"Harry have you been sleeping alright," questioned Hermione.

The two teens were doing homework in the only place they could be left alone: a magical room Harry had discovered called the Room of Requirement. Hermione stopped her scribbling in time to look up and see Harry gazing into space with his Charms book open, a quill poised lazily in his hand, and parchment in his lap.

Two weeks had passed since Hermione found out her true heritage, but she could hardly care for most of her worries were about Harry and how the dark circles under his eyes were increasing. While other girls, those who happened to fancy him, did not notice, Hermione could see that something troubling him.

"I haven't been sleeping well, but it is no matter," he replied before writing something down. Harry closed the book and asked, "When are you going to start this dating thing?"

Sadly, Hermione wished he never brought that up. Constantly the four guys were hounding at her to pick who she was going to date first. Things were taking a downturn when Draco and Dean received detention for having a vicious fight when Dean attempted to bribe Hermione into forgetting about Draco.

"It is not that easy," she answered slowly.

Harry cracked a grin and stated, "Well you could tell them to shove off?"

"I wish," she laughed while scribbling down another fact before it completely evaded her mind. It seemed that only she understand the serious nature behind picking which guy to date first and then who to be with. Of course Harry knew she had to pick, but only she figured the tactics behind it. "Maybe I will ask Ron…"

This called Harry to attention as he snapped his head towards her, "Why would you pick him first."

"Calm down Harry! You are acting very edgy lately."

This was very true and even Harry realized that. "Sorry," he whispered with his head down in mock shame. He looked back up and stated, with a small smile that made Hermione blush, "Could I blame puberty?"

"Ha Ha," she remarked, clearly remembering that Harry was already past that stage of life. "Now do you want help on your essay or not?"

"Yes please," he sighed in frustration. School was less interesting when his best friend was placed in a position that could take her away from him.

Hermione scooted her chair and leaned in closer to Harry. Casually she reopened his book for him and pointed to a paragraph.

"So I would mention the side effects of Cheery Charms could lead to singing…" Hermione trailed off when she noticed Harry's eyes were not on the book or paper, but staring at her. Her breath was momentarily caught in her throat when old feelings of love for Harry reappeared in her heart.

Harry slowly covered her hand with his and stated, "So information from this paragraph?"

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded while relishing in the warmth of Harry's larger hand. This time she took the first step shifted her body so her face was only inches from Harry's. It was almost like Harry expected for what was about to happen next for his eyes were closing and lips puckering at the same time she was.

"Bloody Hell!" cried a voice in anger. Harry fell out of his chair in shocked and looked around to see Ron, who looked hairier, standing tall and wand out.

"What the hell are you doing in here," shouted Harry as he jumped back onto his feet. Hermione immediately stood up too and settled herself between the guys as they advanced closer.

Ron completely ignored that fact when he replied, "Well now I need to warn you two stay away from my mate."

All the color faded from Harry's face at the mention of the word "mate". HE snarled angrily that made Hermione, and even Ron, jump. His usual smile was toothier while two of his teeth looked sharper. "She hasn't picked you," he growled.

"Yet," taunted Ron. He tried to act tough, but obviously stepped back from Harry in fear at his expression.

That one word set Harry off. In a swift flick of the wand, Ron was thrown back against one of the bookshelves the Room had provided for them. When the red head tried to stand back up, Harry knocked him once more into the shelves. Shakily, Hermione looked away from the trickle of blood falling down Ron's face to Harry who was looking at the red head in anger and shock.

"Leave Ron!" commanded Hermione. Her voice boomed out with power, but no one noticed the flash of danger in her eyes.

Ron crawled his way up the shelf to a standing position. He gave Hermione a hurt expression, possibly for her sympathy, and said, "I will… if you go on a date with me first."

"Fine." With that Ron left with a smirk to Hermione and ignoring Harry's angry stares. Once the door slammed shut, Hermione turned around and gasped for Harry's beautiful green eyes were a shade of blood red. "Are y-you alright."

"Fine," he mumbled as his eyes faded back to the lovely green. "Let's wrap this up and head to bed," he added, knowing that he would be unable to sleep for another night.

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Hermione could not believe what she was thinking at letting Ron be her first date. She planned on a nice evening, in a pair of stunning blue dress robes, and Ron to be filled with great conversation topics- like the talks she and Harry had. Now she was sitting across him at a table in the Leakey Cauldron, Professor Dumbledore made all the arrangements for this to happen on a school weekend, and watching him scratch his hairy arm with a fork.

"This is very nice, right?" he asked in an attempt to be sweet. He placed his fork back down and Hermione held back the bit of vomit that formed in her mouth for there were red hairs on the silverware. Ron noticed this and joked, "Sorry, this werewolf thing gives me the itches, you know?"

"No."

Ron sulked slightly at her tone of disgust, but was not totally discouraged. Instead he waved the waiter over and started to order for himself and her.

While Ron talked, Hermione took the moment to study his features. Maybe it was his latent werewolf blood in him, but Ron looked slightly hairier complete with a slowly growing beard. There was no way she would deal with the constant scratching and shedding that he had to offer.

Hermione was staring so hard at his new growth that she did not notice Ron had finished talking until he coughed loudly. She jumped and quickly gulped down her water as the blood rushed towards her cheeks.

"I'm sorry for teasing you," whispered Ron. Hermione glanced up at him over her glass to see him looking at her straight in the eyes. "I realize now that they way I treated you when we were young was wrong…"

"Do you realize that now because of what happened to me?" There was so much malice in her voice that Ron briefly looked away before regaining the courage to look back at her and open his mouth in retort. "I don't want to hear it Ron, we both know that is the reason!"

"Look here," stated Ron in anger, he grabbed Hermione's hand and held it with a tight grip to the point she squirmed about in discomfort. "I want you to give me a chance…"

"Never."

There was no way Ron planned on giving up, so he grabbed her hand tighter and opened his mouth to say more, "Hermione…"

Hermione would never know what he was about to say for the waiter dropped an entire pot of soup on Ron's head. The red head screamed in pain and fell to the ground while Hermione massaged her aching head. Nearby by eaters applauded the waiter while Ron, who was embarrassed, ran out the restaurant.

"Drama queen," laughed the waiter as he pulled off his coat, hat, and exchanged glasses. "The soup was lukewarm." Where the waiter once was now stood Harry looking very happy.

"Harry!" gasped Hermione as she jumped up to hug her friend. "Thank you so much for that, but you can't interrupt anymore dates."

"He was being a jerk though," reasoned Harry, "Also I would have been here earlier, but Pansy managed to corner me." For more emphasis Harry pointed to several fingernail scars on his arm.

Hermione placed a hand on the lines and whispered, "Let's get back to Hogwarts so I can put some dittany on that." Harry simply nodded and allowed Hermione to lead him out the restaurant and to a safe way point to floo back.

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Three days had passed since the horrible date with Ron, and now Hermione found herself in the Hogwarts kitchen with Seamus while house elves darted about to please them. This time Hermione did not dress up as much, but this did not stop a few inches shorter Seamus from gazing at her chest; several times she tugged her robes closed in warning, but the boy ignored this.

The date was not as bad as Hermione expected it to be, and once she got over her hatred of the ordeal, she enjoyed herself. Seamus was pretty nice and he listened to her every word like she was a goddess- this was expected for her new beauty was based off a goddess.

As the elves brought over trays of different desserts, Seamus shifted his chair next to Hermione and said, "You look very pretty tonight and I am glad to be here with you."

Hermione snorted at this for of course she looked pretty, it was unavoidable, but the snort caught in her throat as Seamus grabbed her chin and pulled it closer to his face. "I hope you don't object to this…" Hermione went slightly cross-eyed to keep Seamus' lips in her line of vision, and right when he was about to kiss her a flash of red light soared out of the corner of her eye and Seamus fell to the ground.

In desperation, Hermione looked around to see the castor, only to find Harry walking the rest of the way through the portrait; the pear was still giggling loudly. Harry looked very calm as he righted Seamus' chair and gave a small kick to the leprechaun's side.

"Please take him up to his bed," ordered Harry with one last look to the leprechaun boy. Several elves nodded, grabbed random parts of Seamus, and apparated him out of sight. While some of the elves retreated away, others decided to clean up the abandoned dinner.

Harry started to say something, but Hermione ignored this and threw a gold platter at him. The platter merely collided with Harry's side, the teen did not flinch once, and fell to the ground with a loud echo. "I told you to never interrupt one of these dates again!"

"He was about to kiss you 'Mione!" informed Harry as his only defense. It was a pretty weak one, and Harry knew that.

"So," she yelled back. Hermione regretted saying that one word for Harry went from defensive to looking like a hurt young child.

Then something came over him. He delicately grabbed Hermione's arms and said loud and clear, "I like you Hermione!" In the next second Harry captured her lips with his and wrapped his arms around her waist. Hermione responded, without thinking twice, and rested her arms on Harry's neck. The rest of the house elves slowly retreated to give the teens more privacy as their kiss continued on. They could have stayed like this forever, but Hermione jumped back from him and walked away several feet.

She touched her mouth and looked at Harry in disbelief as he whispered, "Okay I admit it, I always liked you…"

He stopped short at the tears that collected in Hermione's eyes and fell down her cheeks. He walked closer as thought to wipe them away from her, but Hermione pushed him back and said, "Harry… no I could never be with you. You do not have creature blood in you so I can't date you."

"I guess we are just friends then." The word friends sounded so empty that Hermione started to cry harder. Her tears clearly pained Harry, but he did nothing else to stop them

"We are, but you have to stop ruining my dates!"

Something snapped in Harry again, but this time it was not a fit of passion, it was rage. He grabbed Seamus' chair and tossed it against a wall; two of the legs snapped off in a loud clatter. "Oh yes, your precious dates with those guys," he taunted and was, once again, completely oblivious to his green eyes turning red. Hermione wiped her eyes dry and did not waver from her spot in fear. "I must definitely not interrupt them!"

Courage pounding through her veins, Hermione approached Harry and snarled, "Harry Potter you are such a…"

"A what?"

"Jerk!" She screamed so loud that some house elves dropped the food they were carrying and scurried away in fear. To add insult to injury, Hermione turned away, to hide her newly formed tears, and added, " Leave me alone!"

"Gladly… Granger." He stalked out with his shoulders hunched over in defeat. The use of her last name made Hermione howl out with more tears and sink to the floor. One elf dared to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, but it did not matter for Hermione continued to cry on the floor.

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Seamus awoke suddenly to see that he was now in his bed with Ron and Dean staring at him. A new addition to the room sat on Neville's bed and glared at Seamus. His head was pounding slightly, but he was still able to remember what previously happened.

"Rough date," snorted Dean with a look of triumphant. When the elves brought the boy in, Dean and Ron quickly used the elves to bring Draco to them for a greatly needed meeting.

"All because of Potter," growled the teen. Ron also gritted his teeth in anger for now Harry managed to ruin two chances with Hermione. Seamus sat up at grabbed at his head. "We need to come together and stop him!"

Draco jumped up from his spot and laughed cruelly; it was supposed to be cruel, but the latent veela blood in him made it sound like a bird chirping. "I do not want to work with you three!" he walked over to the door and gripped the knob. "This is my chance to restore my heritage and I work solo."

Dean jumped up and grabbed his shoulder. All Draco had to do was shrug him off for Dean's grip was like a light butterfly touch. "I feel the same way," started Dean as he motioned for Draco to rejoin their group, "but we will get noting done with Potter trying to stop us."

"So what do you suggest?" questioned Draco on Neville's bed once more. He pushed back his long blonde hair and stared at Dean and Ron for a solution.

With a grin on his hairy chin, Ron replied, "Well seeing that Parvati failed to keep him busy we must think of something else…"

A/N: I have a new tumblr account (under my author name) so that I can keep you readers updated on statuses of my stories, sneak previews, next posting dates, and when new stories will come out.

Thank you for being patient during this time as I get used to being back at school! Have a great day or night! : )