A/N: I finally edited this story. Enjoy!

-~ENIGMA~-

"NEXT TIME IF THERE'S A BALL, PLUCK UP THE COURAGE AND ASK ME BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES AND NOT ON THE LAST RESORT!"

Hermione's shriek was heard around the place. Ron and Hermione were just outside the Great Hall when their argument turned into a screaming match.

"That's ..." Ron uttered, turned red as he walked away, "That's completely out..."

People around just watched and made no movement to intervene. Besides from the fact that it was interesting to watch but also, they were afraid to become the receiving end from their rage instead

--~ENIGMA~--

Draco Malfoy arrived at the Astronomy Tower and was surprised to hear someone crying. He turned to look and there he saw Hermione Granger, still wearing her gown, seated on the floor, knees folded near her chest as she cried her heart out.

Draco was completely aware of the reason why Granger was crying. He was one of the audience during her public fight with the Weasel earlier. He stood there, watched Weasel walked away as Granger sat on the steps, tears flowed from her eyes. The people around talked about the scene they just witnessed. Some of his housemates sneered while others grimaced at their behavior.

Draco was disgusted by how Weasel treated Granger, it was not proper nor gentlemanly. Despite everything, Granger is still a lady and Weasel, being her friend, should have treated her right.

Draco slowly walked towards Hermione. When he was in front of her, making sure that there's an arm length distance between them, "I think you need this" Draco said as he reached out his handkerchief.

Hermione was startled when she heard a voice and looked up. To say she was shock to see Draco Malfoy offering her his handkerchief was an understatement.

Draco stood awkwardly in front of Granger. When she raised her head and locked eyes with him, both stayed rooted in their position. Draco cleared his throat after a few seconds and offered his handkerchief again, "Take this. Wipe those tears before it will ruin whatever magic you did on your face"

Hermione scoffed, "Why bother, my night is already ruined"

Draco sighed. He doesn't know why he was doing this but he felt like his body moved on its own. He crouched in front of Granger and wiped her tears using his handkerchief, "Bloody stubborn"

Hermione's eyes widened because of his action, "What are you doing?!"

Draco paused his movements for a while and stared at her, "What does it look like? I'm wiping your bloody tears"

"I know that, smartass!" Hermione huffed and stopped his hand and grabbed his handkerchief, "I can do it myself!"

Draco smirked as he let Granger wiped her own tears.

"What are you smirking at? Happy to see the mudblood crying huh" Hermione hissed

Draco grimaced, "Don't say that word"

Hermione snorted, "Why? You always called me that"

Draco remained quiet.

"What?" Hermione huffed, "No comments? Insults? Smart comebacks?"

Draco remained quiet while looking at her.

Hermione, annoyed by Draco's lack of comebacks which she really needed badly in order to release her anger, huffed loudly, "Seriously? The only time when I really need your comments is the time you chose to be quiet?! Great!"

Draco looked at her indignantly, "What? You want me to upset you even more when I know that you're already upset?!"

"Why do you sound do surprised?! You always find ways just to upset me before!"

"That's because you're not upset beforehand!"

"What's the difference?! Go ahead and insult me so that you can leave me alone after that"

"You really want me to insult you right now?"

"YES! so that I can release all these negative feelings I have right now!"

Draco exhaled, ruffled his hair and looked around the area before he sat beside Granger

Hermione looked at him, suspiciously, "What are you doing?!"

Draco huffed and grumbled, "If you wanted to release your feelings, all you have to do is rant"

Hemione rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because that's a very mature way to handle things"

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Suppose to have a person insult you so that you can direct your anger at them is a mature way on handling things instead?"

Hermione huffed, "Blasted Slytherin"

Draco smirked, "Surprise to see that someone can counter your argument?"

Hermione glared at him. She was annoyed because he pointed out her childish behavior earlier, "Why are you talking to me? You're supposed to be disgusted with me, right? Blood purity, being a mudblood and all"

Draco wrinkled his nose, "I told you not to say that word"

Hermione just snorted in response

"Very ladylike Granger" Draco said, deadpanned

"Why are you here, of all places anyway? Hiding from Parkinson?" Hermione hissed

Draco hesitated for a bit then nodded his head, "But I do go here once in a while"

"Trying to get away from you followers? Crabbe and Goyle?"

Draco shrugged, "I just happen to have the urge to be alone without anyone watching my every move once in a while"

Hermione stayed quiet. She noticed that, somehow, Malfoy was being honest and decent towards her. It made her curious to why he's behaving like this, especially towards her.

This was her bully since first year and now, he's... he's acting like this...

"I thought no one was here when I arrived but then I heard your cries" Draco continued, "Still upset from your fight with Weasel earlier?"

Hermione glared at him, "Were you eavesdropping?!"

Draco snorted, "You two fought just outside the Great Hall, Granger. I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw your screaming match with the Weasel earlier"

"Fuck" Hermione cursed and buried her face in her arms.

Draco, amused at her language,chuckled, "Hermione Granger cursing? My, I never saw witnessed that before"

"Shut up!" Hermione mumbled, "What am I supposed to do tomorrow? I'm sure everyone's going to talk about it! Stupid Ronald!"

"And being the date of 'Famous Seeker Viktor Krum' doesn't make people talk huh" Draco countered.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "How classic, Malfoy jealous of Viktor's fame"

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Viktor? Relationship status changed just in one night?"

"What? No! He just told me to call him that" Hermione mentioned.

Draco snorted, "Did you even understood what he was saying? His English is awful"

"Of course I understood and no it's not, his english is understandable" Hermione argued.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Really? Because I saw you trying hard to teach him how to pronounce your name earlier Granger but it still ended as Herm-own-ninny"

Hermione pursued her lips, "Maybe because my name is difficult to pronounce"

" I don't understand why you're defending that Bulgarian, we both know that what I'm saying is true" Draco sneered.

"Git" Hermione said, "Maybe I should call Parkinson so that she'll drag you away from me right now"

Draco shrugged, "I'm quite sure that Pansy already found someone else to bother tonight"

"You're her date, why is she with another guy?" Hermione asked

"Because she's Pansy" Draco said

"But aren't you two dating?"

Draco scoffed, "Merlin no! I don't like Pansy in that kind of way. I'm only her date because I'm the Slytherin Prince"

"I don't get it"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Of course you don't. You're a muggleborn. You don't know anything about pureblood practices."

Hermione opened her mouth to ask but Malfoy raised his hand to stop her, "No, I'm not discussing about those pureblood practices Granger"

"Why not?!" Hermione outraged.

Draco sighed and leaned his head on the wall, "Because I've heard of those teachings enough to last me a lifetime, I don't want to repeat it"

Hermione cursed quietly. Not liking that Malfoy was withholding his knowledge about pureblood practices from her.

Draco glanced at her and smirked as he heard her muttered lines like "Selfish prat"

Draco smiled inwardly, if there's one thing that can distract Hermione Granger, it's her thirst for knowledge. Draco intentionally mentioned the pureblood practices so that it will distract Granger from thinking about other things and Weasel but Draco can't really refrain himself from remarking about Weasel's behavior earlier.

"Weasel's a git""You insulted my friend, Malfoy""Does it look like I care Granger? I'm actually surprised that you're defending him right now after what he did to you earlier"

Hermione huffed, "Ron's behavior was …"

Draco raised an eyebrow, "What? Like an awful jealous prat who doesn't even think before he speak and doesn't even know how to treat a lady right?"

Hermione grumbled. She understood what Malfoy was talking about. She saw how Ron treated Padma earlier who was apparently his date. Malfoy was right but there's no way she's going to say that out loud.

"He's a teenage boy" Hermione stated

"So am I" Draco responded incredulously, "but I know how to treat a lady properly"

Hermione huffed, "Fine! Ronald's a git! Are you happy now?"

Draco grinned at her, "Now Granger, it wasn't so hard to admit, right?"

Hermione looked away from Malfoy, completely taken aback by his show of emotion. She did realized that after she admitted it out loud, she felt better. Surprisingly, a sudden thought occurred to her. Was Malfoy trying to make her feel better? She looked at him curiously on the corner of her eye and she still saw the grin on his face. Hermione flushed a little and cleared her throat to hide it and muttered, "Thank you"

Draco finally felt the tension upon his shoulders gone after he heard her thank you. He finally felt relaxed as he casually leaned his head on the wall and took a glance at Granger. He saw her cheeks with a tint of redness. He thought that she must have been embarrassed to thank him. He was her bully after all.

Draco chuckled a little because of his thoughts. He can't explain but there is a part of him who wants to continue to converse with Granger. Granger looked at him. She must have wondered why he chuckled so he shook his head, "I just wondered why you had a crush on Weasel"

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "And you found it funny because?"

Draco saw the look that Granger have on her face so he raised his hands defensively, "Easy Granger, I mean no harm, I was just curious"

Hermione still eyed him suspiciously when it suddenly hit her, "How did you know I had a crush on him?!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "It's obvious Granger. Not all of us are oblivious and are dumb not to notice it"

Hermione slumped her shoulders, "Bugger, if you noticed it then I'm sure everyone else did"

"Which leads me back to my question, why do you?"

"I'm not going to tell you. I'm sure you're going to tease me when you go back to your spoiled selfish self. Which also intrigues me, why are you like this?"

Draco waved off Hermione's question, "Surely you're not attracted to his intellect because I even wondered if he has one. His appearance? His talents? Does he have any? His personality? You like people who have anger issues?"

Hermione looked at him, dumbfounded, " Are you really that curious?"

Draco shrugged, "Just trying to make a conversation"

"If I answer you question, will you answer mine?"

"Depends if your answer is worthy enough to be equivalent of my answer to your question"

"That's not fair! It all comes down in your hands whether my answer is worthy enough"

"Life's not fair Granger" Draco tutted

"Then I won't answer your question""Fine by me, it's not like I really need it anyway"

Hermione glared at him

Hermione scoffed, "What happened to you, Malfoy? Found someone to punch you right on the face and make you change your views about blood purity?"

Draco smirked at that, "Well, someone did punched me on the face a while back" looked at Hermione, "Quite a bloody fist you have there Granger"

Hermione snickered, "I broke your nose that time, didn't I? I think I felt a bone cracked"

Draco rolled his eyes and continued, "But that was not the moment when I started to change my views. I guessed that moment was more like an eye opener for me"

Hermione quickly turned her head to face Malfoy

Draco noticed this and shrugged

"But you still insulted me about it this year" Hermione whispered

Draco nodded, "That's true but I'm not going to apologize for it right now because I know I will still do it in the future"

Hermione tilted her head and looked at Malfoy, curiously, "Why?"

"I have a role to play, Granger"

"Are you telling me that even though you don't believe in all those beliefs, you will still throw them at someone like me because you have a role to play?"

Draco nonchalant, "Pretty much"

"Wow" Hermione breathed, completely shocked, "You play your role quite well"

Draco smirked, "Don't sound so surprise. I was raised to play this role. My childhood was full of teachings of shit"

Hermione shook her head, "I just don't get it. Why do they have these kind of teachings? Ron said…"

Draco snorted, "I doubt that Weasel knows half of the teachings. He was raised in a family treated as a blood traitor after all"

Hermione looked at Malfoy. She was amazed as she realized that her spoiled, rich ,closed minded bully turned into a person who was with her tonight.

"Look Granger, there are many things that you don't know about us, purebloods. Yes, we do have a belief that muggles and muggleborns are beneath us. You might be surprise how many colorful words can purebloods conjure to describe them that I'm sure you will not be pleased of. But I tell you, you can't judge us because of believing and acting those beliefs. Our parents taught us those things just like how they were taught by their own parents. These beliefs are passed on generation to generation and became a tradition. Heck, even I admit that I still have those beliefs within me. You can't easily turned your back from something that was taught to you all your life"

Hermione stayed frozen. She digested every word he said while Draco stared at her intently after everything he said.

"My fist must have really did you a number"

Draco laughed at her sudden remark. His pent up rage slowly dispersed as he was amazed on how she reacted to his speech. She didn't even dare to argue with him.

Hermione watched Malfoy laughed out loud. She took note on how carefree his laugh was and on how letting loose looked good on him. Merlin knows how scary and awful it was to watch Malfoy's cold and stoic face in the hallways. Without knowing, she said, "You should laugh often, it looks good on you"

Draco found himself surprised by Granger's statement and grinned slyly, "Was that a compliment, Granger?"

Hermione shrugged, "I just thought that you looked alive when you're not wearing your mask"

Draco shook his head, "You're lucky to even witnessed this side of me"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Why did you" Draco turned to her as she continued, "show this side to me?"

Draco shrugged and changed the subject, "Weasel doesn't deserve your attention"

His statement captured Hermione's attention, "Why?"

"I don't think both of you are compatible"

"Care to elaborate, Malfoy?"

"Simple logic really, he's too lazy while you're hardworking"

Hermione looked confused. When Draco realized that Hermione didn't understood him, he smirked. Will you look at that, Granger confused at something.

"So don't waste your bloody tears to someone like Weasel."

Silence was observed between the two of them. They internalized everything that they have talked so far. Malfoy realized something and turned to Granger, "It was very Slytherin of you, Granger. You had me talking about the things that you've been curious of" as he raised an eyebrow.

Hermione flushed, "I took my chance. I thought that it won't work, seeing as you're a Slytherin yourself. I thought you can see cunningness from a mile away"

Draco shook his head, " Maybe I noticed your actions but also maybe, I just wanted to talk about it"

Hermione looked at Malfoy, "Why? Why did you made me aware about those pueblood teachings? Why did you show me this side of you and your change of views? Why?"

Draco shrugged, "I just thought that if there is someone that I should explain myself to, it should be you"

Draco stood up and looked at the night sky. He found himself having fun talking to Granger and let his inner self out in front of her. He told her things more than what he planned. A part of him wanted to stay and continue to talk to her but another part of him, the rational one as he implied, said that it's enough. He already showed her too much than what should be seen. He has a role to play and he should not have any distractions right now.

"You're leaving?" Hermione asked.

"Why? You're going to miss me?" Draco teased.

Hermione scoffed, "I was just asking and I thought you were hiding from Pansy"

"I told you she must be with another guy already. Thank you for worrying about me though" Draco replied, a teasing tone still present.

Hermione huffed, "I'm not. I was merely asking"

Draco chuckled and started to walk away

"Are you going to be alright? Putting on your mask and playing your role?" Hermione called out

Draco turned to her and tutted, "My, my, Granger, i didn't know you cared about my well-being. Now what will Weasel say?"

Hermione stood up but still stayed on her place. She crossed her arms, "Can you answer me seriously?"

Draco shrugged, "I've been doing this for a while now. This moment," he gestured the two of them, "is the only time I've let my guard down Granger. Tomorrow will be the same as usual. So don't go running around and saying good things about me"

Hermione stood there and watched his back as he slowly walked away. She clutched the handkerchief that he gave to her earlier. She never thought that a day will come that Malfoy was the one who comforted her instead of her friends. She always viewed Malfoy as a terrible spoiled git but she was now wondering what kind of person Malfoy is within.

"Just one question. Were you being your sincere self tonight?"

Malfoy was stopped dead on his tracks by her question. He wanted to respond 'yes'. Heck, not even his friends nor his family saw the side of him that he showed her earlier but he willed his self not to answer Granger's question. It was a yes or no question but he will not satisfy her by giving her the answer that she wanted to hear.

Malfoy continued to walk away. When Hermione noticed this, she slumped her shoulders. She thought that she might have stepped too far and Malfoy was not going to answer her. She continued to watch him. He was just one step away from the entrance when he turned to her.

"I'm a very complicated man Granger but if there's someone who can figure me out" Draco paused and smiled a little to Hermione, "You're not the brightest witch of our age for nothing" and he walked away.

Hermione tilted her head as she tried to understand his last words. Is he challenging me? Does he want me to figure him out? Those kind of questions entered her mind. She looked up at the sky as she replayed what happened to her tonight.

Yule Ball

Being Viktor's date

Fighting with Ronald

Crying at the Astronomy Tower

Malfoy offering his handkerchief

Conversing with Malfoy

She shook her head, "I would have thought what happened here must be just a dream but then," she looked at the handkerchief and traced the letters that was sewed on it, D.L.M. "but I guessed this is an enough proof that what happened here did indeed happened"

She left the tower without a sorrowful look on her face but instead, a fire sparkled on her eyes with a determined thought on her mind. She will figure out Malfoy. He is an enigma to her but he is an enigma that she really wants to solve. After all, she is the brightest witch of their age and she will not turn down any type of challenge. Watch out Malfoy.

--~ENIGMA~--

A/N: just a one shot guys! I hope you enjoyed reading this.

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