Disclaimer : The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloosmburry Books Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright is intended.
A/N: So, this is the first story I've published. Any constructive feedback will be appreciated and taking into account. All the mistakes are mine (english is not my first language).
Recently, Draco Malfoy's calm was challenged nearly every day. Wherever he happened to go, one person managed to ruin his mood quite…spectacularly.
At first -being such an awesome wizard- he tried to channel his famously stoic ancestors, but the girl was tenacious. Indeed the witch was in-su-ffe-ra-ble, even by his loose standards, and that was saying something given that he was friend (slash kind-of- more-once-but-not-anymore) with Pansy Parkinson and cordial with Daphne Greengrass. So when stoicism failed, the blond tried leniency.
It was not the girl's fault if she didn't know how to behave in polite society. In fact being raised by muggles tends to do that to people. And as for he, being the generous wizard that he was, he let it slide with a mere shrug. At least, she was somewhat clever to make up for the lack of proper upbringing and she wasn't too hard on the eyes either. However, those two good points didn't make up for everything. Namely being a giant pain in the ass. Everything about her was designed to irritate him, the Slytherin was sure of that.
Even the way she spoke, like she knew the deepest secrets of the universe, and you were just a biped mammal with two brains cells and a half battling in duel, infuriated him to no end. As if she was the only being with a brain in the vicinity. But Draco supposed that hanging with someone as Weasley tend to that. The depth of the boy's stupidity was so great that even a Hufflepuff could look brilliant next to the ginger. If the blond had the ability to feel any pity towards Weasel King he almost would have. The key word being almost. They were things a man could not bring himself to do no matter the situation. Feeling something other than pure disdain for the redhead (and his family) was one of them.
All those things pushed the blond to take drastic measures; it was his duty to expose Granger and open up everybody's eyes. Rita Skeeter, great woman that she was, did her best but the girl was stronger even back then. However, he was ready now and if the Gryffindor wanted a dirty fight, he would give it to her. Two could play this game and honestly he was resolute to win. One because he was a sore loser and two…well, because he was a sore loser.
Here he was staring. Again. Hermione was beginning to think that the blonde had lost it the past few months. Since the beginning of their sixth year he took the unsettling habits to be wherever she happened to be and stare at her. Like, really stare at her. She could barely see him blink. Sometimes he would even look at her face as if it has personally offended him. He had gone completely bonkers.
At first, the Gryffindor choose to ignore it, naively thinking that he would tire of this odd behavior and let her be. Boy, how was she wrong! Now, his staring has evolved into an examination of her every movement. All day. At this rate he was going to obtain his N.E. in stalking and harassment with zero efforts; insanity was in his genes after all (one could not forget that Narcissa Malfoy was nee Black after all). Hermione always knew that inbreeding would come back to kick his aristocrat's arse one day anyway.
However the brunette could not deny that his new hobby was taking a toll on her. As weird as it was, she couldn't forget where his family's beliefs laid and perhaps the Slytherin was planning some evil fate for her. One couldn't forget that when he was only thirteen he tried to have Buck killed simply because the poor beast tried to do the world a favor. She was feeling anxious as soon as Malfoy was nearby but couldn't tell Harry and Ron about her suspicions (paranoia coupled with a very, very quick temper was not a good mix) nor Ginny (that still quick temper and an unfulfilled revenge again the prat's family was not a great solution either). At this point Crookshanks was her best and only ally.
Now it was one thing to have a partner in crime but she needed a plan to save her nerves and have a good laugh while doing it. As a matter of fact, revenge was a dish that tasted even better served against the blond. However it seemed that she'd have to wait since it was time to go to class. And because Fate was a nice lady her first two hours were stalker-free.
Time flew swiftly and her next class was as eventless as the first. By the time lunch came she still hadn't come up with a plan and her nemesis started his weird staring once again. Sighing heavily the curly-haired witch began eating her meal guessing that if she left now someone (namely Harry or Ginny) was bound to notice and she truly didn't want any of her friends to ask questions about something she hadn't answers for, yet. Unfortunately for the young Gryffindor it was the exact moment Fate decided that everything was going too smoothly this day and turned an oblivious red-haired witch into her agent.
"Hermione, Malfoy's been staring at you for the past five minutes… I don't even think I saw him blink."
As if they have been rehearsing their role, Harry and Ron turned at the exact same time towards the Slytherin's table to witness their archenemy in an intense contemplation of their best friend. Draco had to have seen them, the boys were in his line of sight, but his gaze never ever wavered for one second from his target even though he would never have missed an opportunity to wave at them before. With his middle finger obviously but, nonetheless, the lack of reaction was…odd coming from the pureblood. Resuming their previous position and ready to attack the curly-haired witch with a bunch of questions, Harry and Ron were startled to find Hermione still eating her meal eyes fixed on her plate. Unsure of how to proceed they looked at each other until Harry decided to speak first.
"Hum…Hermione haven't you heard what Ginny said?" Harry uttered inquiringly before casting a look at his girlfriend who shrugged in response.
At this, a somewhat deadpanned Hermione replied that she had heard what the ginger said, thank you very much but that fortunately for her sanity she hadn't a daily access to the Draco Malfoy's Brain Daily Show and in conclusion she didn't possess more clues than them so if Harry was done with his inane questions there was still classes to attend if it wasn't too much to ask. Apparently this was not what the Chosen One was expecting because by the time Hermione passed the door he was still frozen in his seat by the brunettes's bold statement.
A hand appeared suddenly on his shoulder and bright brown eyes sought his before darting across the room and landing on a certain Slytherin who was watching rather intensely the spot where their best friend stood moments ago. Harry could not decide if his gaze bore ill-intent or…something else towards Hermione. However he determined that the latter was perhaps more troubling than anything else given who the blond was, and then vowed to keep a close eye on the Slytherin.
The girls was positively nuts. It was the only possible explanation for her more than odd behavior. She's been talking to herself for the past 15 minutes and by talking he didn't mean idle mantras or whatnot, but a literal tirade one could expect to see anywhere but in a classroom. Especially in potions where Severus could and would verbally exterminate any non-Slytherin for breathing, let alone chattering, with a glee unseen since last week when he gave the Weasel and Scarhead one month of detention for being one minute late. Well, that would teach them a lesson and as his illustrious grandfather, the late Abraxas Malfoy (wonderful man known to curse quicker than his shadow), used to proclaim: "There is no time like present, m'boy !".
Anyway, now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts no matter how pleasant they might be. Back to business, even if said business was still busy conversing with herself with a conviction she had only shown when dealing with homework or house-elves. S.P.E.W. Another thing proving that she was mental.
The blond's gaze began to survey the rest of the classroom and soon land of the imposing figure of his godfather who gave him a glare that promise a lecture in the highly improbable case the light quirk of his eyebrow wasn't incentive enough to start working on the day's assignment. However, as a smart man Draco started to read the instructions written on the blackboard right away and immediately let out a long sigh of suffering. By Salazar's saggy balls, this potion was one of the most difficult he has ever seen. The only persons who weren't not-so-internally panicking were Scarhead and Draco's personal nightmare.
How surprising.
Exhaling once more, the Slytherin began to work on his potion with Zabini. At least, his partner wasn't completely useless and knew how to brew potions like no one; it was a refreshing change from Crabbe or Goyle. You couldn't possibly be the child of Elora Zabini and not knowing everything there was to know about poiso…potions, anyway.
Half-way through the instructions, the blond saw that Granger wasn't doing so well if he was to judge by the very cross expression on her face and the state of her hair. Draco could absolutely not not tease her and with an evil smirk began to draw a little something for her, before throwing it in her direction.
Startled, Hermione saw a little paper landing on her workbench and was starting to throw it away when the last person she didn't want to see and hear, chuckled. Picking up the piece of parchment, she unfolded it and flushed in anger at the drawing that little slimy, piece of troll sketched.
"You don't like my little portray of you, Granger?"
Narrowing her eyes, she stomped on the paper and turned ostensibly her back on the Slytherin determined to ignore him until the end of the world. With a little more force than necessary, Hermione began to grate her unicorn's corn while monitoring the potion. She couldn't afford to lose her calm, especially in this class because without her, Neville would most likely fail and then they'll end up with 3 months of detention for ruining a cauldron or whatever excuse Snape will want to take and get a T. Hermione never did have a T and wasn't planning to get one today (or never, actually).
With the patience of a saint (she really should obtain a medal from the school for this incredible feat), she disregarded any taunt thrown in her direction by the Ferret and finished the potion with efficiency a few minutes before the time limit. Ready to rub this fact in Malfoy's face, she turned around and opened her mouth just to see the inbreeded albinos already looking at her with a smug expression. Lowering her gaze she realized that he had finished his potion too, and it looked damn perfect.
With all the dignity she could muster, the curly-haired witch turned her face away to hide the scowl she was sure was set permanently on her features.
Life was so unfair.
Draco was exulting. This was better than anything he could have hoped for, for this class. He didn't even have to do anything to get back at Granger for, purposefully, crossing him every damn day.
When his godfather told them to sample their potion and bring them to his desk with their name on the vials, the blond didn't hesitate one second to annoy further the Gryffindor Princess.
"Hey, Granger! This horrible potion smells like you- disgusting, isn't it?"
"Sod off, Malfoy!" Hermione replied, her hair more ruffled than ever.
Suddenly, Snape's voice rang out in the room "Granger! Malfoy! Quiet. The both of you." before adding with an uncharacteristic glint in his eyes, "Now, class, can anyone tell me what this potion is? Yes, Mr. Zabini?"
"Amortentia, sir"
An abrupt movement on his right made Draco look at Granger who appeared to be abnormally frozen.
"Good, very good. What is Amortentia? Yes, Mr. Zabini?"
With a Malfoy-worthy smirk that made him very wary, Blaise watched him take the full measure of his words. "Amortentia is the world's strongest love potion, and it smells like who the particular person is attracted to…". At this, his now former best friend stopped a little for the show, and then let out a ringing "And yes, Draco, we all heard your comment."