Title: Flirting with Disaster
Summary: Draco must thwart a fellow Malfoy's infatuation with Hermione Granger before his life gets completely screwed up. D/Hr
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with HP. Except that one pair of socks with Harry's head on the bottom and little wands and stars on the sides… and that's probably more information than you needed to know.
A/N: It's my first HP fic, so you know all those damn annoying slips that newbie authors make? I'll be the poster girl for all of them.
______________________________
The Malfoy paused in front of the mirror. An immaculate reflection gazed back at him.
Immaculate.
It was the only word in his commendable vocabulary that would do him justice, for it was a untainted fact. The men in his family had a quality about them… not of soft-featured beauty, nor of unpolished ruggedness. It was an air of pure, unadulterated arrogance. It filled him to an extent that few others could comprehend, and was made evident in the gentility of his lineage. He was a superb creature.
"Move it, or we'll be making a shabby entrance into the Grand Hall. We don't have time for you to flirt with yourself in the mirror." A low voice snapped. It belonged to a certain irritated Draco Malfoy who leaned rigid against the doorway of the chamber.
"I was doing nothing of the sort, cousin," the younger boy shot back, adjusting his perfectly-positioned tie, and smiling one last smile to himself before leaving his chamber.
"Please, if I'd let you ogle at yourself for a second longer you would have started snogging your own reflection, Leo," Draco muttered in disgust at his blood relative. His long legs carried him through the empty common room, and into the dungeon's dank corridors.
"You're not jealous?" the younger smirked, matching his cousin's stride. Almost a year apart in age, there were subtle differences between them physically. While both had inherited the lean frame, sleek features, Leo was not nearly as tall as Draco, nor did he have the same metallic luster of hair. His was a scorched gold that fell in disheveled, yet deceptively flawless manner around his features.
"No. Mostly, I was feeling sorry for the mirror." Draco retorted, "Don't make the mistake of assuming that you are better than me, cousin. As long as I'm at Hogwarts you'll always be at a disadvantage."
Leo laughed genuinely and shook his head as they continued on in silence, through the corridors, that echoed their footsteps. Silent, but for the occasional muttered greeting of a painting, most of which earned a curt nod from the Malfoys.
"Here we are, try not to fuck things up too badly. I do have a reputation." Draco explained.
"Why it always about dramatics in our family? People should just learn to get along."
"Look, I'm really not trying to be your friend here," the Hogwarts Head Boy snapped, coming to a sudden halt outside the Great Hall.
"Well what are you trying to do then?" Leo questioned.
"When they kicked you out of Durmstrang, my father was the one who got you into Hogwarts. He made it perfectly apparent that I would be responsible for your well-being, and that I'd be a positive influence on you, to the understanding that you, like myself, will come into service of our Lord when the time comes. Now we are about to enter the Great Hall, where all eyes will be focused on me, and by extension, you. I trust that you will conduct yourself in a manner fitting of a Malfoy, ergo you will not make any lurid comments, or start any fires, or transfigure any students. At least in public that is. Are we clear?"
"I have a better idea… maybe I should just cast a full body bind on myself and save us both the trouble. You could then knock me over, roll me into the Great Hall, and introduce me as the cousin who used to be able to control his own bodily functions." Leo smirked, tossing his dark blond fringe out of his eyes.
"Now that's what I always liked about you," Draco said humorously, before entering the hall.
"You're a fast learner."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, either someone spiked my pumpkin juice with something highly alcoholic, or I'm just going completely insane."
"What's the matter, Ron?" Harry asked his gradually paling friend sitting opposite him.
"Two Dracos just walked in." Ron said unnerved.
"What? Where?" Hermione asked, coming out of her own thoughts to look over to the doors of the Great Hall.
Sure enough, Draco strode in, pretending not to revel in the fact that all eyes were focused on him. The boy beside him, though obviously a relation, was definitely not a clone. Any tutored female eye would catch the difference. Of course, Ron was neither tutored, nor female, so she forgave him the error.
"That would be Leo Malfoy with Draco. I think they're related or something." Hermione mumbled, nibbling a piece of toast, quite unconcerned over the matter. "I can't believe you two haven't heard about how he got kicked out of Durmstrang for almost blowing up the school or something. Since he was accepted into Hogwarts, it's all anyone's been able to talk about."
"We've been busy! With assignments and exams and-"
"Quidditch." Hermione cut off Harry's defense with a knowing grin. "I hope for the Gryffindor team's sake that Malfoy's cousin doesn't play the game."
"Cousins?" Ron asked skeptically, "I didn't know Evil could reproduce."
"Yeah, it's really hard keeping track of the inbred crowd these days." Hermione agreed.
"Draco and Leo… the dragon and the lion," Harry said thoughtfully, "Maybe his cousin will be less of a git."
Ron and Hermione shot him equally disbelieving looks.
Just then they heard a loud crash. A first year Gryffindor who had wandered to far from her own housemates had fallen prey to a petty Slytherin. Pansy Parkinson to be precise. With a tactless shove, Parkinson had sent the young Gryffindor, along with her many books, sprawling onto the floor. Hoots of malicious laughter ensued from the Slytherin table.
Hermione sighed, and motioned for an incensed Harry and Ron to stay where they were, "I'll go do damage control on this one."
She tossed her napkin onto the table and went over there, silencing most Slytherins with a menacing glare. Perk of being Head Girl. The Malfoys- both of them- were unaware of the commotion, probably too busy swapping notes on hair gel to notice anything else.
Of course, this was quite far from the truth.
Draco yawned with little finesse. He hated to admit it, but babysitting his cousin was a rather daunting tasking, probably the perfect torture to wish upon his worst enemy. Although finding himself in the situation drained the humor he would commonly find in it. Lucius had ordered him to keep an eye on the boy, and make sure he fell in line with the right crowd and such. Things weren't faring too badly. Apart from attracting the attention of most of the Slytherin females, Leo appeared to be having a discussion with Crabbe and Goyle. Far from being threatened by the boy a year beneath him, Draco returned his attention to the egg-based product congealing unpleasantly on his plate.
That was when it happened.
Draco looked up when his cousin's almost continuous stream of speech broke off suddenly. He noticed the immediate redness that appeared in the younger boys features, and the unflattering drop of his jaw and widening of his eyes. Some Malfoy's had yet to learn the art of subtlety.
"What's the matter?" Draco asked with a frown. "You look like you're about to vomit... or burst into song. I can't say really. Either way, don't do it around me."
"Don't mock me. I've just laid eyes on the most beautiful creature to have graced the undeserving earth!" Leo declared, looking over his cousin's shoulder in amazement.
"I swear, if you're looking at yourself in some mirror again-"
"I'm not! I'm talking about that girl... that woman… that goddess standing over there," Leo restated with a twinge of longing in his eyes.
"Pansy Parkinson?" Draco laughed, turning to watch the girl who was at present arguing with Hogwart's most famous Mudblood. He probably gone over there and defended Pansy, but that would have required getting into a spat with Granger- a task too tiring at this early hour.
"Is that her name?" Leo asked curiously, "I guess I can forgive her parents for the name that does not do her beauty justice. She's perfect."
Leo tended to have what some may call a romantic streak. Draco, who knew better, called it an obsessive streak. Once an impression was made, he would pursue it until he reached his goal, or he would fall into misery trying.
"Yeah, she'd be a decent fuck if you were bored," Draco gave a noncommittal shrug, before noticing the malice in his cousin's glare.
"How can you say that about a creature like her?! Those intelligent dark eyes... that flawless figure… those fiery red lips... she's far beyond the reach of any man here."
"On the contrary, Pansy's probably been well within the reach of every man here, excluding Potter of course who wouldn't dare compromise his purity," Draco laughed silently, as he engulfed a rather dry piece of toast.
"Now that I can't believe. She seems far too proper for that. Perhaps it's those Gryffindor colors, or the way she carries herself- like she were a head girl or something, or maybe it's those wild tresses of hair framing her beautiful-"
Leo stopped mid-sentence when he saw the look of horror on Draco's face.
"Draco- is something the matter? You're not interested in her are you? I mean I'd never actually stoop so low as to steal a girl from you… no, wait, I probably would. Oh! She's just sat back down with that Potter fellow. I'm going to go introduce myself, wish me luck!"
An ominous silence followed.
-----------------------------------
Please review… think I should continue with this one?