So, what if Draco really did have a crush on Hermione and it was that kind of love-hate relationship that it had the potential to be? What if it came to fruition? Well, that's what I'm here to find out!
So, Draco had discovered this crush when forced to partner with Hermione in Transfiguration once during their 4th year. He was having a rough time with his parents (at least he wasn't stuck at home; Hogwarts was a good haven for him in this way, all he had to deal with were their letters), and he was doing pretty well in class, but he just couldn't transfigure his desk into a pig. Well, he was partnered with that know-it-all Granger, and as she was sleekly swishing her wand at her desk and deftly turning it pink, curling its tail, and lengthening its snout, he began to see some beauty in her. This made him blush for a minute, and as he was flicking his wand his pig/desk turned an embarrassing shade of rose-red, but he quickly changed it back. He took more note of how Hermione was working with her spell, and he managed much better with his pig. After that Draco stopped calling her a mudblood. People probably just thought he had bigger fish to fry, but Draco realized that if he were ever able to make her feel the effect of his attentions, he would have to get into her good graces first. That didn't mean that he'd feel nicer toward muggles and mudbloods, but this was certainly a step in the right direction.
As the year went on, Harry Potter grew alarmingly more hateful of him, but this was to be expected as he hated that Potter boy just as much if not more so. Except that this was severely hurting his chances to make his crush known to Hermione. One day she dropped her books, and he picked them up for her, but as there were tears streaming down her face, she didn't notice who he was so just assumed that he was a stranger. She whispered "Thanks", but continued on her way to go cry in the girl's bathroom. Draco wished that he could go comfort her, but she had gone into the girl's bathroom, and obviously he couldn't go in there.
He almost asked Hermione to the Yule Ball, but he saw Krum walk up to her in the hallway and ask her, and the rosy blush that spread across her ivory-silk cheeks made him feel sick to his stomach and sore to his heart, so he didn't even bother asking her.
During their fifth year, Draco tried talking more to Hermione, but she would either resolutely ignore him, or she would answer with snappy retorts in return. Then when he heard of their disappearance into the Ministry of Magic, he worried for her- even though she had no knowledge of his worry, he was worried all the same. If only his father knew to be careful with the Granger girl- he was probably there doing his duty as a death-eater, for all Draco knew. When they came back safe and sound, if not a little worse for the wear, Draco felt as if a hand had been squeezing his innards and a hammer had been pounding at his heart, and that he had been relieved of their presence with the good news of his lady-love.
Snape might have noticed that Malfoy had a crush on Hermione, but he said nothing. Draco would have hexed him for it, whether or not he was a teacher because Draco thought he knew Snape's opinion on mudbloods. If only he'd known. Draco would have had something even more in common in Snape, because of Snape's love for Lily Potter.
During their sixth year, things came so much closer for Draco that it was oh so heart-rending for him. He discovered the Room of Requirement, and with so many unique and ridiculous magic objects in there, he set about trying to find something with which he could impress Hermione. He found a tiara, but he noticed that Hermione wasn't very interested in pretty things like the rest of the girls at school. He'd have to hunt harder to find something to gain her affection with.
He noticed that Ron Weasley had some tender feelings for her. I'm smarter than him! I can easily best him in any task that she could ever put me to! If only there was a way for her to notice me, Draco thought. When she and Weasley were at odds and not talking to each other, he thought, here's my chance. He asked her what she was going to do for Slughorn's Holiday party. She snorted, and answered "Trying to find a way to sneer at me for my lack of choices, Malfoy? Hah! I've already been asked by McLaggen, so there. Oooh, I could use that to my advantage…" and she walked off mumbling to herself about a diabolical plan. Draco just stood there with his mouth hanging open. I'm better than McLaggen as well! How can I possibly get her to notice me? Well, Draco knew about the business with Dobby the house-elf that they'd been through, so he thought maybe if he made up with the elf, Hermione would notice that he was moving up the ranks in benevolence- mudbloods, house-elves, and then possibly muggles next. Draco could do that.
So, he picked his nicest washed pair of socks, and two brightly colored mittens, and walked down to the kitchens. The little buggers swarmed him the moment he entered the room, but the one he was searching for was cowering in the corner warming up some tea. Draco knelt down next to Dobby, and said "Look, I've learned the error of my ways. These are to thank you for what you've done for Hermione Granger. And the others" he hastily added. Dobby hiccupped at such a sight of obeisance from his old master, slopped tea down his shirt front, grabbed the clothes from Draco's outstretched hands, immediately put them on, and looked at Draco as if he wasn't sure for a moment. Draco opened his arms, with tears in his eyes (for once, he felt remorse in his life), and Dobby went into them willingly for a hug. Dobby said "Oh, young master Malfoy, this day has been long in the coming. Professor Dumbledore assured me he did, that you all felt something for the harm that had been done to me, but I never knew that he meant this!" Draco nodded mutely, thinking for a moment of Dumbledore, but he pushed that to the back of his mind, in order to finish off the ordeal at hand. "Dobby, I'd like it if you didn't say anything to anyone about this. I came to apologize, and I'm glad I have, but it would probably be best if we didn't see each other after this. Too many bad memories and bad blood between us, you know." Dobby nodded that he understood, and he held out his hand. Draco solemnly shook it, then turned to take his leave, and as he went out the kitchen door, he smiled shyly back at Dobby. Dobby grinned splittingly in return. Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? He hoped that Dobby wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, and that he would say something to Harry Potter or any of them about this momentous event, and in effect that it would reach Hermione. But he didn't hope too much for that. He knew that he had to work on it more than ever before.
He tried to get into the Holiday party by sneaking in, but of course Snape found him and was suspicious that Draco was getting on with some of his old dangerous tricks. But however much Draco tried to assure him of that not being the case, Snape still believed otherwise. Slughorn had invited him back to the party, but sure enough, the one glimpse that he'd had of the party was Hermione being harassed by McLaggen. Her hair askew, she escaped and left him under the mistletoe with a dazed look on his face. Draco was disgusted with McLaggen. He could have punched him right there, but he would surely have gotten detention for it. If Hermione was my girl, I would only kiss if she wanted me to. And hopefully that would be a lot of the time. He grinned at that thought, but sobered up immediately, because of his slim prospects of that ever happening.
He spent more time in the Room of Requirement, and he found an old Potions book with lots of notes by the old author which was interesting, but he didn't think it was quite what he was looking for. He found an old bottle of fiend fyre, but that looked a little too dangerous of a present to give- what if she dropped it? So, he continued on looking. He found a gigantic vanishing closet- that had been the one they'd fished Montague out of, but you don't give a girl you want to see more, something that will get rid of her. That's just a bad sentiment overall.
Then he decided to talk to Dumbledore about it. He had a meeting with him anyway- about what, who knew- so he decided that he would bring it up while he was there. Dumbledore started off discussing career options with him. Draco just said he'd do something in the ministry- because at his age, he had no idea what he wanted to do. That was what his father expected him to do, so he figured he'd say that for now, and pick what he really wanted to do later. Dumbledore didn't press him, but moved on to other topics. He discussed something rather vague, something about Draco having lots of choices, and that he could always choose the right one, because he had lots of people on his side. Draco was quite confused, and sat there staring at Dumbledore for a moment. Dumbledore grew silent, and waited for a response. So Draco said "Sir, what if there's something that I really really want, but I can't find a way to get it. How should I go about doing this thing?" Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow at the vague sense of things, but he just said "You can always talk to me about anything you like Draco, you ought to know that by now. But, from what I have gathered of the situation, you ought to just tell the truth. That has always worked for me." Draco nodded, even though it really hadn't helped him with Hermione very much.
Then, when the going got tough, he decided to try and become friends with her friends. It just might kill him in the process, he thought, but he'd do it anyway. He was getting desperate. Hermione had finally made up with Weasley, and while they weren't snogging in the hallways yet like every other lovesick couple, it was only a matter of time. He saw that Harry went up to see Professor Dumbledore one night, so he followed in hopes, of catching up with Harry afterwards, but no luck. They were there for hours on end, and he fell asleep right outside of Dumbledore's office. When he woke up, there was shouting going on through-out the castle. He ran off in the direction of the skirmish. There was some kind of blockage going on at the astronomy tower, so he scampered through it all, and made his way toward the danger, all for the love of his life.
He got up there, and on reflex shouted "expelliarmus!" when he saw someone on top of the tower. It was only Dumbledore who was lying on the ground gasping for all his life was worth. Draco stood there with his wand out, and Dumbledore started trying to reason with him not to kill him. Draco was so confused. Why would I want to kill Dumbledore? I only came up here to save my girl! Then Snape and Greyback and some more Death-Eaters came running up behind him. The Carrows yelled at Draco to finish Dumbledore off, but Snape just pushed him aside and said the words, "Avada Kadavra!" Selfishly, all Draco could think about was Hermione and what the Death-Eaters could have done to her. He left Dumbledore to his fate, escaped past everyone else. He managed to get out of the tower, but there was so much chaos going on that he didn't see Hermione until the very end, and then she was fighting, so he couldn't very well distract her. Draco left the castle and followed Snape into the darkness.
The next year passed in a blur for Draco. Obviously Hermione didn't come back to Hogwarts because she was a muggle, so Draco was uber-depressed. He resorted back to torturing freshman in the absence of the goodwill and morals of his lady-love. But when the fighting recommenced at Hogwarts, he ran off to the Room of Requirement, because he knew that Hermione would be coming back with Harry and he had finally found the perfect gift for her. Crabbe and Goyle came with him this time. But suddenly Ron, Harry, and Hermione came bursting in upon them. Crabbe and Goyle immediately starting shooting off spells at them, but Draco was still frantically trying to get his hands on the time-turner that he'd found in the middle of the room. Then suddenly Crabbe dropped the bottle of fiend-fyre, and as it was racing around chasing them, it snatched up the time-turner in its hellish, fiery maw. Draco just stood there in shock. All of his plans were gone to ruin. And clearly, Hermione preferred Ron, as she had when they were at school. As all of Draco's hopes were dashed into a wall, and the fiend-fyre was coming at him, Harry Potter saved him. Draco almost threw himself back into the all-consuming flames, but he was only stopped by a sense of propriety. His parents loved him, and expected him to keep the Malfoy name alive and malicious. Well he would do just that. He just had to get over Hermione first. Sigh. That will be a long time from now, I'm sure.
So in the end, Draco Malfoy never told Hermione Granger that he was in love with her, he did end up moving on, and he found a woman who liked him for who he was- evil and all. He was able to continue keeping the Malfoy name malicious. Hermione Granger never knew what she was missing- because really, bad boys can be good for good girls sometimes.