The mudblood learning curve:

A/N;; So it's been a while, and all I have to offer is a silly little Harry Potter ficlet that will be told in bits and pieces 1000 words or so. So shameless of me D: Please enjoy -xskyskipper

Plot: In which Draco loses a bet and gets more than he bargained for. He'd love to blame Zabini for falling for his tricks, but really he blamed Granger and that damn slip of hers. It was his undoing. Pairing: Dramione with a few dabble bits of twinsxHermione~

Draco was lounging about in the courtyard on a usually hot day; really the weather should have tipped him off that today was not going to be a good day. Nothing good ever came from sunny days, his father often said, and Draco probably should have listened more carefully to his excellent advice. It was on this very hot day that Zabini spotted Draco alone (which was highly unusual) and that alone deserved further investigation. Zabini also did not miss the way Pansy Parkinson floated past Draco her skirt hiked up unusually high, in a beckoning manner. He stored this information for later and sat down on the grass near Draco greeting him, and mentioning the surplus of girls that were indecently-clad due to the weather conditions.

Draco shrugged and was quick to reply, "It's all the same to me now, really, the girls just kind of blend together, if you know what I mean." He raised an eyebrow in such a slow presumptuous way, that Zabini knew instantly to what he was alluding to.

Zabini waved in a generic way towards a group of Slytherin girls who were giggling rather absurdly in Draco's direction. Draco resolvedly looked away, sighing in sheer boredom. Perhaps it was because he was easily angered by the heat or that he was tired of Draco lording over him, that Zabini was struck with a brilliant idea.

He was quick to play it cool as he asked the blonde curiously, "Do you mean to tell me you've snogged all the broods in Slytherin?" He paused as Draco was quick to answer, "Yeah, and quite a few who weren't, all pureblood, of course." Draco continued, "Quite frankly, I'm tired of the same old routine, the girls bore me, because they all give in so easily." Zabini couldn't help but think that Draco was, by far, the biggest prat he knew, either that or the most brilliant womanizer ever.

Zabini couldn't help but roll his eyes at Draco's bold attitude, and responded, "So you wouldn't mind a little wager then, eh?"

Draco cocked his head sideways, obviously curious, so Zabini continued, "I'd wager that you haven't touched any Gryffindor girls, am I right?" Draco rolled his eyes now, clearly wondering why Zabini would ask such a ridiculous question, "Of course I wouldn't, Gryffindor girls are stuck up prudes who would rather eat dirt than kiss a Slytherin."

Zabini played it cool as he asked, "So you're saying Gryffindor girls are immune to your charms?" He choked a little at the word, "charms."

Draco scoffed at his statement, and was quick to reply, "No girl is immune to my charms; if I wanted I could have any girl in this school. Or even the world for that matter."

"Jerk, just keep it up," Zabini thought jealously in his head.

Zabini responded with an indifferent tone, "So I could pick any girl for you and you'd have her on her knees in no time?"

"Obviously. Go ahead, and test me."

Zabini, then moved on to part two of his plan, "What shall the stakes be, if you lose, then?"

"I won't lose." Always so sure of himself, Draco oozed male superiority, which made Zabini shiver in disgust.

"How about you walk around school all day in nothing but your skivvies, singing your love of muggleborns to the Hogwarts school song?" Zabini was pleased that he managed to think up something so witty and humbling on the fly.

"Whatever. What will you do if I win?" Draco was also quick with a snarky retort.

Zabini knew that he could sabotage Draco and make him lose, easily, so he was quick to spout off an absurd notion, "I'll kiss both Crabbe and Goyle full on the lips." Draco was quick to add in his piece, "With tongue or no deal." Pervert. Whatever, Zabini was all too quick to agree to the set terms.

Then Draco asked trying to feign un-interest in the topic, "So then, what unworthy Gryffindor, do I have to woo?"

Zabini looked around searching; he hadn't thought that far ahead. He had only the burning desire for Draco to be publically humiliated in front of the school. His roaming eyes landed on a tangled mess of hair, which belonged to one, Hermione Granger. Honestly, the Gryffindor princess wouldn't have been his first choice, because he secretly wanted to snog her himself. But then, he remembered seeing her from across the courtyard when she had punched Draco right in the face out of pure disgust for the "loathsome cockroach." So that was preciously why Zabini answered very calmly with one word, a word he knew would piss Draco off to no end, "Granger."

Draco was on his feet in a flash, anger lined his chiseled face, "You've got to be kidding, there's no way I'd touch that filthy mudblood, let alone snog her. Pick someone else, anyone else." He was practically begging at the latter part of his plea, it made Zabini's insides, feel all warm.

Zabini stretched languidly and said, "I guess if you're too chicken, you can back out of our little deal, I won't think too much less of you as man, of course."

Outraged by Zabini's cool and collected manner, Draco cast a look over at the said target. Ever since the yule ball, Granger, had been looking slightly more presentable. But, it was the way she plucked a spare bit of fluff from Weaselby's ginger hair that disgusted him. Really, for the so called, "Smartest witch of her age," Granger couldn't be any stupider in regards to her love life. Despite being a pureblood, the Ginger weasel had nothing going for him. He wasn't terribly bright like her, and neither was he a man of means. Truly, him and his family, were a disgrace to the name, "Pureblood."

He was stopped from his musings when he noticed Granger proceed to blush when the penniless pauper casually slung a friendly arm over her shoulder, in gratitude. It made him want to vomit. But he had to agree to the terms or lose face, so he nodded his ascent, and with that simple gesture sealed his fate.