Disclaimer: Only the PLOT belongs to me. The rest is J.K. Rowling's. Now it's been a while since I updated this story, so I forgot all of my login info, but I was going back through and I really liked the story and I've got a lot of extra time on my hands right now, so I figured I'd go ahead and work on it again.

Chapter 1: Challenge

Hermione's POV

Yes! The week was finally over! It had been terrible. It started out with listening all night long to the two loud-mouths I share a room with talk about the stupid ferret that absolutely insists on insulting me every chance he gets. And then I found out that everybody was just pranking me about having a Potions test! I studied so hard I thought my brain would explode! And imagine my embarrassment when I asked Snape about the test and he asks me if I'm so eager to prove I'm a Know-It-All that I would make up a test! Then the next day, Harry decides that he wants to try out a few new spells and ends up giving me the longest beard in the world! Sheesh! It just kept getting worse and worse.

"Going somewhere, Mudblood?" a snide voice asked. Speaking of worse. Just ignore him, Hermione. Maybe if you don't see him, he'll go away. "Well…?" So much for that plan.

"What does it matter to you, Ferret?" I retorted without turning. I had been on my way back up to my dormitory to try to catch up on some much needed sleep and I did not want to be deterred by this bigot.

"It doesn't," he replied in a cold voice. So I simply shrugged with my back still to him and continued on my merry way. But before I even took the third step his voice rang out again. "How rude. I'm just trying to converse and you can't even look at me." I sighed and finally turned around, rolling my eyes.

He was leaning up against a pillar, his mysterious grey eyes only hinted behind fine blonde hair falling casually into his face. He had that stupid, arrogant, annoyingly sexy smirk plastered to his face. Merlin, I hated that boy.

I shrugged yet again and smirked back at him. I knew he was up to something and Merlin knows how my curiosity could and usually did get the best of me. His smirk got bigger. "So the Mudblood does have a few manners. I thought you might've been raised by animals. But then, I get Muggles are the equivalent, huh?"

I ground my teeth together and tried to control my temper flaring in me. I shouldn't let him get to me like this. "Now let's see here. What is a slimy snake doing the far out by the Gryffindor Common Rooms? What could possibly bring you this far into the lion's den, Ferret?"

His eyes gleamed. "So which am I? A ferret or snake?" I smiled.

"It doesn't matter. They're both disgusting." Just as soon as the anger had come into his eyes, it was gone again, replaced with amusement.

"In answer to your question, Granger, I came out this way looking for you," he said, watching me like a cat might watch a mouse.

For my part, I thought I took that very well. My wand was drawn in a second and I was watching him intensely. "Why?" I hissed, suspiciously. He chuckled and crossed his arms, shifting his feet and leaning back up against the pillar just as comfortable and at ease as you please.

"I have a challenge for you." I felt my body relax a fraction and my eyes light up. I loved a challenge. It gave me a chance to prove I was just as good if not better than all the other "pure blood" witches and wizards out there that thought they were so much better than me. The only one that really could rival my wits was standing in front of me, challenging, taunting me with that smirk of his. He knew I'd bite the bait.

"A challenge?" I asked apprehensively. I did not trust this snake. He just nodded, his amusement clear in his eyes. "What kind of challenge?"

He dropped his arm back by his sides and shook his head. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist. But you just walked into the snake pit, Mudblood. This is something you'll never be able to pull off."

I tucked my wand in my pocket but left my hands at my sides, ready, just in case. I straightened my back and raised my head high. Suddenly I felt it. The pride that always came with showing someone up. Proving to them that you can do anything. Tell me I can't? Stand back and watch me. I started walking towards him and his smirk faltered. I was closing the ten feet we had silently agreed to. I stopped just a couple feet from him.

"Watch me," I whispered. "Now what's the undoable challenge? Come on. Hit me with your best shot" I grinned inwardly at the uncertainty on his face. He looked like he was reevaluating something in his head. But the he just sneered back at me and closed the last couple of feet, staring directly into my eyes. I could feel my eyes widen. I'd never been this close to him. I could see blue freckles in his grey eyes.

"Don't play with fire, Granger. You'll only get burned. The challenge is to get Blaise Zabini to kiss you. Simple." My jaw dropped. Zabini? To kiss me? He saw my panic and grinned like a little boy coming down the stairs at Christmas to find the thing he wanted most in the world under the tree.

"And why in the hell would I even want to do that?" It wasn't really that I hated Zabini. He was just cold with girls. He wanted one thing and it didn't matter how he got it. Then, as soon as he did, he left them high and dry. Malfoy shrugged.

"I'm bored. I need entertainment. And you love a challenge." I nodded disbelievingly.

"And what do you get out of this if you win?" I asked warily.

"Oh that's the fun part," he said grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "If I win, you have to take your proper place in the world and be my slave for a month." I cringed at the very thought of running behind the ferret like a lap dog.

"And if I win?" I asked hopefully.

"Then I will pronounce to the entire Hogwarts population that you – a Mudblood – are better than me in every aspect and I will be your slave for a month." I weighed it out. He wouldn't be offering that unless he knew I had slim to none chance of winning. And those were exactly the kind of odds I like to beat. I steeled myself and looked straight into his eyes. He knew I was going to do it.

"How long would I have to pull it off?" I asked.

"I'll give you two weeks. Deal?" he asked holding out his hand.

"Deal," I replied, shaking his hand resolutely with mine. I would win.

Malfoy turned to stalk off, but before he got too far, he turned back and said, "Oh. And Granger? A little heads up? Blaise hates you even more than I do. Good luck!" he said cheerfully as he continued to walk off laughing as I just stared at him with my jaw on the ground. What did I get myself into?

Author's Notes: Well everyone I hope you liked it. Please review. It really helps when I know what to improve. Oh. And this is kind of like a sequel to my old story Not My Day by Tigdream.