BREAKING UP THE GIRL
Draco Malfoy sat in the Slytherin carriage of the Hogwarts express, surronded by his faithful cronies and realised that for the second time in his whole life, he felt restless. Normally he was content with the sniping and exchanging of gossip that went on between his classmates but nothing seemed capable of holding his attention today.
"Did you hear Weasley and the filthy mudblood broke it off? I wonder if he crawled between those holy thighs first." Blaise muttered to Pansy, who screeched hideously and began twisting a piece of her hair around her finger, her doe eyes wide on Blaise's amber orbs. We're not even halfway to Hogwarts and already Pansy is in heat, Draco thought scathingly. He hadn't felt a woman beneath him since the beginning of the summer and the disastrous reunion with the girls his parents wanted him to marry. She had been good enough, until she had gone and broken her vow, throwing the Slytherin favour, in his family for generations and no mere token, at his feet. She had wounded the pride of a Malfoy and that was a dangerous game in which to dabble. His father had to be talked down from using an unforgivable. The thought had pleased Draco to begin with, the honour of his family was not something to be taken lightly and the girl had trod all over those principles. She was from a good family, pureblood, only the best and yet she had chosen to run away with a muggleborn, a student from the year above Draco, who to his absolute enragement, had been Gryffindor.
"Repeat Blaise." he commanded and listened to Blaise retell all he knew of the Weasel and Bookworm's relationship. Four months, following the Boy who Lived around like servants, holding hands and stealing chaste kisses.
"Interested in the Bookworm, Draco?" Theodore Nott piped up, unwrapping a chocolate frog and putting it into his mouth. Draco was tempted to make him choke on it but before he could refute the claim he heard the Bookworm's voice, as if on cue.
"All prefects report to the second carriage for a prefects meeting." she slid open the door to the Slytherin compartment and froze. Draco found himself watching her carefully, there was no fear in her eyes, the fear he provoked from students in the years below him who scattered whenever he was near. She would never run, she would stand her ground and take everything he threw at her. She was a barrier against the storm.
"We heard you mudblood, do you always have to make yourself heard or does nobody notice you unless you are squawking about some useless piece of wizarding history that doesn't even belong to you?" he snarled, refusing to let his thoughts stray. He liked a girl who could challenge him and there weren't many to be found in Hogwarts. Most were desperate to get the honour of the Malfoy crest on their finger, they never resisted him, never toyed with him. Except the Bookworm.
"Awful longwinded for an insult Malfoy. Maybe you're losing your touch." she threw back, pirouetting out of the apartment, leaving a sniggering Nott and Blaise behind her. They shut up when Draco's glare fell on them and he sank into a moody silence until the train pulled into the station.
Hermione POV
Hermione straightened her robes and pinned the Prefect badge to her chest, ignoring the awkward silence that had filled the compartment since Lavender had made an appearance.
She was over Ron, she had tried to reassure Harry but he seemed to think she was more broken than she really was. The truth was, she wasn't particularly upset. The feelings she had for Ron were strange, she couldn't explain them even to herself but she could never have sat on Ron's lap for a whole train journey and kissed him throughout it, never once coming up for air. It wasn't just that she wasn't particularly fond of public displays of affection but he couldn't hold her interest for that length of time. She would begin to get twitchy, her insecurities would take hold and she would shy away to her books. She didn't even know if anybody could hold her attention for that amount of time. To waste it on something as stupid as kissing when there were books to be read seemed incomprehensible. Maybe she was different from other girls or maybe Ron simply wasn't the one for her. Viktor Krum had understood, he still did and as far as she was aware, he was completely unattached. His kisses had alighted a fire in her but he had been more than happy to sit before the fire and discuss magic instead of spending all his time pawing at her. That was the type of boy she needed, somebody mature.
When Ginny entered the carriage and started flirting with Harry, Hermione decided it was time to gather together the Prefects for their meeting with McGonaghall. There was no set time for their meeting but somehow the teacher always seemed to know when the students were gathered, waiting for her.
"All prefects report to the second carriage for Prefects meeting." she shouted, pulling open doors to compartments, nodding to Prefects she knew and some she didn't and watching them file towards the second carriage. When she opened the door to the Slytherin compartment, she froze. Draco Malfoy sat with his cronies and she could feel their judgemental gaze fall on her. Draco, of course didn't waste the opportunity to insult her but she was in no mood for his Pureblood dramatics and found that he was remarkably easy to ignore.
DRACO POV:
How dare Blaise and Theo laugh at the Bookworm's insult, Draco sulked, tugging at the Prefect badge on his robes. He would be Head Boy next year, he was sure of it but no doubt bloody Granger would be given the role of Head Girl and they would be forced to share a dormitory. Draco shivered at the thought. He finally rose from his seat and left his stupid, shallow classmates to their conversation and went to the compartment where the Prefects were meeting. He slid open the door and looked in. Granger sat alone, looking out the window at the rain splattered landscape. Hogwarts was surronded by gloomy Scottish countryside, the complete opposite of the lush, manicured gardens of the Malfoy Manor.
"Where is everybody else? Did you scare them away Granger?"
She stared at him in a daze and then seemed to snap back to reality. Draco was sure, that for a second, he had seen tears shimmer in her brown eyes.
"You're late Malfoy." she muttered, raising to her feet and brushing her robes over her legs. She always hid behind her uniform, Draco had never seen her body. Why was he thinking about what she looked like beneath her robes? Probably hideous. She was a mudblood after all.
"Oh." Was all he managed to muster. "Did I miss much?"
"Prefects are to promote house unity, the rounds chart will be going up in a week and we have to take care of the first years. The usual stuff."
"You sound bored with the usual stuff. Never thought I'd see that day." he drawled. The thought of the Slytherin crest thrown at his feet, glinting in the light of the fire made him wince.
"I'm not bored Malfoy. Just thinking. I'm sure you've never had to do much of that in your life so I'll forgive your ignorance." she pushed past him and he caught a whiff of her scent;- spicy lemons. He breathed it deep into his nostrils and before he realised she had insulted him and he hadn't said anything in return, she was gone.
After the feast, he headed down to the dungeons and shooed a dumb Slytherin from his favourite armchair by the fire. He still felt restless, the first day was always the longest. No classes, no homework, nothing to do except interact with people who had the brain function of amoebas. Blaise climbed through the portrait hole, a tell tale smirk on his handsome features and Draco felt a twinge of jealousy. Pansy throwing herself around again, he thought, trying to show the world she is over me. Pansy had been conveniant, nothing more but Draco always knew that if his father ever chose to visit the school, he could count on Pansy to play the part of his pureblood squeeze. That would keep his father happy, the Parkinson's were very wealthy.
"Alright Draco." Blaise greeted him, sinking into the armchair across from him. The Slytherins around the fire had scattered, allowing the two boys their space. He nodded to his friend and smirked when Blaise pulled a cigar from within his robes. "It is, after all, a first night tradition. Who has the infamous Draco Malfoy tainted this year?" Blaise lit up, breathing the smoke through his nostrils. His terrifyingly empty eyes looked soulless in the smoke.
"Keep your nose out of my business Blaise." Draco snapped. He knew his best friend would guess, would be smiling to himself even as the words slipped out his mouth. He had slept with no one, not even the girls who had been throwing him glances during the feast. He could have had any one of them in his bed but he had instead wandered the corridors alone until he had returned to the common room.
"I think you need a challenge. Prove you are not losing your touch."
Draco growled at the repetition of the Bookworm's words.
"What did you have in mind Blaise?" He couldn't resist accepting a challenge.
"Break Granger." his words were deadly serious, and Draco felt a shiver of anticipation run down his spine. Blaise held Italian fire, and he spoke with a fire that matched Draco's stone.
"What do you mean? Fuck her? I could do that with my eyes closed."
"No break her, make her fall in love with you and declare it in front of the school. Can you imagine how much that would crush the Golden Trio? Their princess broken by a pureblooded Slytherin."
"Sure you're not a deatheater Zabini? That's rather dark, even for you." Draco muttered.
"Scared Malfoy." Blaise scoffed and Draco felt his anger flare, like a snake ready to strike.
"I'll do it Blaise. I'm the only one that could break her."
"What makes you say that Draco? You're not the only Slytherin that gets under her skin."
"I'm the only one she really hates, you know that Blaise." he felt a prickle of annoyance at the assumption that Granger was an easy girl to rile up. It had taken him years to find her buttons and he knew exactly which ones to press for the reaction he wanted. The rest of the Slytherins were left in the dirt, even if Granger did just see them as a house full of purebloods.
"How long do I have?"
"Two weeks." Zabini replied, passing over the cigar. He reached his hand to grip Draco's outstretched hand and they sealed the deal. Breaking up the Bookworm, Draco was thrilled at the prospect.
