Hermione stormed into the Gryffindor common room and, tossing her bag onto the coffee table, plopped herself down on the cushioned red couch angrily. She was closely followed by Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.
"What a snob!" Hermione complained.
"He's such an arrogant, self-absorbed, evil little…" Hermione trailed off, searching for a word bad enough to describe Draco Malfoy.
"Turd?" Harry offered.
"Ferret?" Ron suggested.
"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed as she threw her hands up in exasperation.
"He really is." Ron agreed.
"And the way he called you...that word...again. Merlin, it took everything in me just to keep from hexing his sorry arse." Ron said as he stood up and pretended to hex an imaginary Malfoy. Harry smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I don't understand. Why does he keep annoying us?" Hermione asked.
"I dunno. Maybe You-Know-Who wants him to annoy us to death." Ron joked.
"Well, if so, then we can tell Malfoy that his plan is working." Harry smiled. Hermione, Ron, and Harry all laughed. In a short while, all three of them felt much better and much less angry and annoyed. Harry and Ron played wizard's chess and Hermione sat in the corner, watching them play, and writing her Transfiguration essay. Hermione was glad that she had such great friends that could light up the mood, no matter how dark Malfoy had colored it.
Meanwhile, in the Slytherin common room…
Draco Malfoy sat in a velvet green armchair, crossing his arms, and pretending not to notice Blaise Zabini reading his book on the couch.
"Well, what happened?" Blaise asked without looking up from his book.
"What do you mean?" Draco replied, turning to face Blaise.
"I mean you're sitting there pouting in the corner while I'm trying to read, so something must have happened." Blaise pointed out matter-of-factly as he looked up from his book.
"I am not pouting!" the blonde whined.
"Whatever." Blaise shrugged. Draco crossed his arms and went back to "not pouting" and Blaise went back to reading.
"It's Granger again." Draco muttered after a moment's silence. Blaise immediately pinched the bridge of his nose as if fending off a migraine and groaned loudly.
"What?" Draco demanded, slightly offended.
"Granger. AGAIN!" Blaise complained. Draco was very confused.
"What do you mean 'again'?" he questioned.
"It's always Granger! Granger this, Granger that!" Blaise mocked Draco's voice.
"We've talked about this, Malfoy! No 'Granger' on a Friday night!" he reminded Draco.
"But I-" Draco tried to defend himself. Blaise turned his head in the direction of the dorms.
"Theo! Draco's whining about Granger again!" he called. They heard one collective groan come from all the Slytherin boys in the dorm followed by Theo shouting in response.
"Oh Merlin, not again! I swear, if he talks about Granger one more time, I will personally go through the trouble to strangle him while he sleeps!" Theodore Nott yelled back.
"I'd like to see you try, Nott!" Draco called.
"Try me, Malfoy!" Theo shot back. Draco smiled slightly. Then Blaise clapped twice to get his attention.
"So? Are you going to tell me what happened?" he said as he crossed his legs and carefully placed his fingertips together. Draco raised a blond eyebrow.
"I thought you were sick of hearing about Granger." he said sarcastically. Blaise waved away the comment.
"Well, you've already got me interested, so it would be cruel to leave me hanging." Blaise smirked. Draco huffed and cleared his throat.
"Okay. So I saw her in the hallway today. She looked really nice. Like really nice. Like nicer than usual. Maybe she changed her hair, I dunno." Draco got slightly flushed.
"That's a good start." Blaise commented.
"So I thought it'd be a good idea to tell her that I thought she looked nice." Draco continued.
"So I called out, 'Hey Granger! C'mere!'. She came over and for some reason I couldn't get the words out." Draco said.
"Oh no." Blaise knew where this was going.
"So when she said, 'Can I help you with anything, Malfoy? Or are you just going to stand there and not say anything?', I panicked. I snapped at her and said, 'I just wanted to tell you that you look less like the child of a beaver and a bird's nest than you normally do. Or maybe that's considered stylish with Muggles. I wouldn't know, I don't fraternize with muggles like the sort whose company you enjoy unfortunately. My parents raised me to not ever stoop to the level of mudbloods like yourself.' and she stomped her foot and stormed off." Draco looked guilty. The common room was silent until Blaise began slow clapping.
"Oh, great job Malfoy. I'm sure she's just swooning over you now. What a way to get a girl. Take notes, class!" Blaise smiled sarcastically. Draco leaned over and punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Blaise complained as he rubbed his arm.
"It's not my fault you're a tragic sop that can't even attempt to compliment the love of his life without making her angry! No need to take it out on me!" Blaise whined. Draco scowled.
"Well what am I supposed to do? How will she ever like me back?" Draco threw his hands up in frustration.
"Oh, I dunno. That's a hard question...maybe...oh, I know! Maybe stop being such an ass to her? You know, the sane-people solution." Blaise said in his most sarcastic voice.
"You're mocking me."
"Of course I am! You're being ridiculous!"
"Am not." Draco folded his arms and resumed his former "not pouting".
"You are! Why can't you just start being nice to her?" Blaise asked, exasperated.
"I don't...it's not...I...she...it doesn't work like that!" Draco stuttered.
"Oh, I see. So your plan is just to glare at her until she marries you, is that it?" Blaise asked, getting more and more frustrated. Draco scowled at the floor and didn't answer.
"You're an idiot, you know that right?" Blaise asked, defeated. Draco still didn't reply.
"You know, I can't wait until you and Granger finally get married. Because then you'll be her problem, and not mine." Blaise smirked. Draco punched him again.
"I'll always be your problem, you jerk. I'll purposely stick around just to spite you." Draco smiled as Blaise stuck his tongue out at him.
"I know. Now let me read in peace, problem." Blaise said. Draco nodded and sat in silence, wondering what he was going to do about Granger.
