Chapter one - Pairs
Hermione POV
I could feel his steely grey eyes staring into the back of my head as soon as the wretched words came out of Mcgonagall's mouth. His hand shot immediately into the air but of course he did not wait to be called on
" I will absolutely not work with the mudblood !" he spat loudly whilst glaring at me
" Watch your tongue Mr. Malfoy ! and it has been decided, the two will need to overcome your differences if you intended to pass this course " she nodded at me as if to tell me there was no need to push the issue any farther.
It had been decided. I would have to work with malfroy in the joint house wizarding decathlon.
I had been hoping all week for a ravenclaw, or even a hufflepuff, but merlin knows I won't be able to cooperate with a slytherin, especially with malfroy. I don't even care that he is the second smartest in our year, and second only to me. Mrs. Mcgonagall will have to reason with me.
The room was beginning to clear as I approached Mcgonagall's desk.
" Mrs. Mcgonagall "
I could feel her eyes asking me not to push this
" Dear I am not going to change my mind the professors got together and made the decision, there is nothing I can do." the blood was beginning to rush out of my body as I opened my mouth
" Mcgonagall ! he doesn't even call me by name how in merlin's name am I supposed to cooperate with that prat! "
as the words came flooding out of mouth, I knew that I had crossed some sort of invisible line. Mcgonagall just looked at me intently.
" Hermione you are one of my most talented students and I trust that you will be able to handle this"
I took a deep breath and looked down at my robes, I wasn't going to get anywhere today. Maybe after she saw how horribly the two of us worked together she would change her mind. I turned to walk out and she called behind me
" Miss. Granger you never know, he might just surprise you."
I shot her a half smile as I turned to walk into the hall. hmph surprise me, yeah right he is the same prick who has been insulting me and my friends for the last five years. I will be surprised if we don't hex each other into oblivion. I can absolutely not believe that I am being forced to work with him. I am the number one student in our year shouldn't I have some say over this! As I turned into the main hall Ginny ran up besides me.
" Harry and Ron just told me ! that is completely unfair, Mcgonagall has to let you out of this!"
I could always count on ginny to be just as fiery as her hair, I rolled my eyes and half smiled
" Gin I just talked to her, she told me to just wait it out. I don't know what I am going to do, I have been looking forward to this for such a long time! I'm afraid he is going to ruin it for me." she could always pull the truth out of me.
" It's completely unfair 'mione, if he ever lays a finger on you or says a word I swear I will get the prat" I couldn't help but giggle at my passionate friends rage
" Gin he might be a prat, but I don't think he is going to touch me" a shrieking but all too familiar voice came from behind me
" Touch you! in your dreams Granger, I would rather eat slugs than touch you, you filthy mu.."
" Don't you ever call her that terrible word again you prat !" fumed Ginny who was standing directly next to me looking like she was about to rip malfroy's head off.
"Ginny we are above his ignorant nonsense. Now I am as disgusted as you are that we have to work on this project together but we do. so can you just get over it" I stared directly into his steely grey eyes as they flipped to pure hatred.
"My father will hear about this, so don't even think for a minute that I will actually be working with you" his classic draco anger raging as blaise stood silently behind him waiting for the opportunity to pull draco away
" lets just go draco, it is pointless to waste anymore time on her." malfroy nods his head in agreement and glares as he pushes between me and Ginny.
" how about we just go get some lunch and try to forget about this until we can figure out what to do" I nod my head at ginny as we start to walk to the great hall, I begin thinking of how many more encounters with malfroy like this am I going to have to endure and how there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
I leave lunch with Ginny early to go to the library to think and study. I pick a table in my usual spot near the back and go to the shelf next to me to get the book on rare plants I need for herbology. while I am carefully scanning the shelves a book drops, as I look up to see none other than malfroy standing at the end of the shelf.
" I was wondering how long it was going to take you to figure out I was standing here" an odd look spreads across his face as he starts to step closer
" What do you want malfroy" I asked ready to hex him into oblivion if he tries anything
" I been thinking that we might need to accept our unfortunate circumstances and figure out how to do this project" he stops, staring into my eyes, as if trying to judge what i'm thinking. A slight smirk spreads across my face with the realization that even with his powerful family he couldn't fix our unfortunate situation.
" Daddy couldn't come through and save you" I say sounding as condescending as possible
" surprised even a death eater can't pull some strings these days." before I even finish my sentence he grabs my wrist and slams them above my head pushing me into the bookshelf
" Don't you ever say another word about my father you filthy mud.." he screams at me but then softens his tone as he gets to the end. He doesnt finish his insult he just stands over me breathing heavily, his strong arms holding me against the bookshelf. His platinum blonde hair falls slightly into his steel grey eyes and stares into me not saying word. His breaths are even and I can feel his surprisingly firm chest on mine as he inhales. I move slightly closer, trying to be intimidating but stop when he doesn't move further back. I haven't broken his eye contact since he slammed me into the shelf. His mouth is only inches from mine and I can feel his hot breath on my cheek as I stand still, afraid to move. He suddenly throws my arms down and begins to walk away.
" I will meet you here tomorrow after Mcgonagall's class and we can get started. the sooner we finish the better" his eyes meet mine for a brief second before he turns away and storms out of the library. Leaving me still against the bookcase wondering what in merlin's name just happened and why I didn't do anything about it. I had never been that close to him before, I had never realized how well his alabaster skin complimented his steel grey eyes and his… Wait what the bloody hell am I doing. This is Draco Malfoy I'm thinking about. The boy who tortured me for years, who sabotages me and my friends and whose father is a death eater for merlin's sake! I need to find Ginny, maybe she could help me process this. no. no one can know about what just happened. It will never happen again so why should it matter. I just need to get through this project with draco and then I will never have to think about this or him again.
Draco POV
What in the bloody hell was that. Why did I slam granger into that bookshelf. I was just angry, but why did I hold her there. And why in merlin's name didn't I back up when she got closer. Wait why was granger getting closer to me and did I let her, did I want her to. She just stared at me with those warm brown eyes and bright pink lips. Stop dear god draco what are you doing, this bloody granger were talking about. The girl who I have criticized and tortured for years. Dear gods, this stupid project already has me going mad, next thing you know I be smiling at potter. She is the filthy, know it all god damn gryffindor princess, I am going to have to shake this. why wouldn't dumbledore listen to my father, who in the bloody hell does that old prat think he is. I should not have to be subjected to the torture of working with granger. What if we win the bloody thing and actually have to compete in the decathlon. knowing granger that prick won't accept anything less.
" You will have one month to complete your research and complete the project, at the end of the month you will all be graded on your work and 4 winners will be selected to compete in the decathlon. Any questions ? No, good. Class dismissed and students I suggest that you begin right away if you are to complete the required parts." Mcgonagall said as we began to leave class. As I walk out the door I remember what I said to granger after our… incident yesterday which means that now I have to meet with her, why on earth did I have to make plans with her so soon. Out of all the people I would want to see right now she is definitely last on my list. I guess the faster we finished this project, the sooner I won't have to put up with her anymore.
I looked around the shelf of the last bookcase and their she was with her head in a book lost in thought. She didn't even notice me until I slammed my own book on to the table in front of her . " For merlin's sake malfroy was that necessary" I smirked, thank merlin the old stubborn, rude granger was back
" Yes actually, that book was quite heavy, I needed to set in down" She rolled her eyes and went back to her book
" umhm shouldn't we come up with some sort of way to separate the work?" for some reason I was annoyed that she was still ignoring me
" um granger could you pull your head out of your arse and talk to me for a second ?" she glared and slammed her book shut
" What do you want malfroy!" she rose from her seat and slammed her hands down on the table, before I could respond she look down seemingly realizing she overreacted and sat back down " you can research the second half of the material, starting with rare beasts" she spat out the words as if she had been trying to prevent ever having to speak to me.
I just watched as her brown eyes stared into me for confirmation, I shook my head and took a seat across from her and we both began to read. We worked in silence, occasionally one of us would write something down or go get another book. After a while granger finally stood up and put her book in her bag
" same time tomorrow" she stopped and looked at me waiting for my response.
"sounds fine" I muttered while putting my book away.
" excuse me" she spat apparently unable to hear that I had responded.
" I said sounds fine mudblood" I spat back without thinking. The look on her face suddenly went to a mix of fury and sorrow as she shook her head
" you will not call me that anymore" she turned and walked out of the library, and for some weird reason I actually felt guilty for calling her that. Never before had I given it a second thought, why now did I suddenly feel slightly guilty. The look on her face wasn't even anger like usual, it was disappointment. I think it was disappointment in me and that was something I wasn't used, especially from her. I could've handled her yelling at me or a sarcastic remark but this was different and I didn't like it. How the hell could granger make me think this much in twenty four hours. If I was going to get through this sanely I was going to to need prevent thinking about her and If we were going to have to work together for the next month then maybe I could put in a little bit more effort to not call her that, even if that is what she was.
Irritated I gathered my books and began to walk to the great hall for dinner. Blaise is probably wondering where I have been all this time. I forgot to tell him that I had to meet with granger. And now I was going to be late for dinner which irritated me even more. I turned into a hall in the back of the castle that no one ever uses. That's why I take this route, it gives me time to think before I have to go socialize with my nitwit friends. I got halfway down the hall before I heard a sniffle from the far end. As I reached the sound, I realized it was the sound of a girl crying. Great, probably some hufflepuff who didn't get enough hugs. Now whoever it was, was disturbing my silence to think. Curious and annoyed I turned in to where the sound was coming from and let out an unwanted gasp when I suddenly realized who the sound had been coming from. Which caused the girl to flip her bushy brown hair around and suddenly look up shocked with her brown eyes filled with tears and her cheeks turning a rather bright shade of pink.
