A.N. Well, the first paragraph suddenly came to me and I had to write it down, but before I knew it, I spent the rest of my evening on this. XD

I'm not sure how to categorise this, though. Also, I'm unsure of whether to continue this. This really was all made up on the spur of the moment, so I don't know if it has the potential of a good story.

Anyway, enjoy reading! ^^

So yes, he might have been paying more attention to her this year than he had the previous six years he had been at the same school with her. And yes, he may have lost his pureblood believes a little after the past two years of being very much involved with the war. Furthermore, he could not deny that he hadn't even so much as sneered at her yet the past two months. However it would still be preposterous to say that he, Draco Malfoy, had fallen in love with her, bloody Hermione Granger.

Annoyed by the nosiness of the girl that was Pansy Parkinson, Draco crumpled another note inquiring about his weird behaviour towards a certain Mudblood. Before throwing the note back at it's meddlesome owner, he straightened the parchment a bit, scrawled on the back that it was none of her business and made her aware of the fact that she would be severely punished if he were to talk to the teachers about her frequent use of the well-known derogatory term for Muggleborns. When he finished writing that down, he crumpled the note again and threw it at his fellow Slytherin. He felt a little put down though, when the note missed her head and landed perfectly on her desk.

He caught her stealing a glance at him, before she hurriedly began to straighten the parchment. Infatuated was an understatement for the way she felt about him, Draco knew that all too well, but he really couldn't be bothered by her obsessive antics anymore. He had broken up with her, they were done. Sadly, Pansy seemed to believe otherwise.

'Oh well…' Draco thought absentmindedly. He had stopped caring for her long ago. After a minute or so of staring into empty space, he decided to start taking notes about something his teacher called 'electricity'. To the surprise of practically everyone in the school he, a sodding Malfoy, had started following Muggle Studies classes. Even he had surprised himself. However, thinking back, Draco knew it was not as illogical as it would seem to everyone. Actually, he had become rather interested in how Muggles managed without magic.

Given, to understand his choice one would need to know about all he had seen the past two years. Death, torture, they had been constant guests at the Malfoy Manor, his home. He had seen people die, cowering in fear, begging for mercy, going mad, you name it and he had seen it all. Every horror one could imagine. But what really got to him were the people who held their heads high until the bitter, unfair end. At some occasions, he had joined a group of Death Eaters who went on a killing spree in Muggle towns. And there too, there were those bloody courageous people, mothers, fathers, grandparents, even children, who didn't cower in the face of a power they didn't understand. After seeing that his opinion already started to shift a little.

But what really caused him to turn his believes 180 degrees around were not simple Muggles. No, his epiphany, if you will, was all because of Hermione Granger. He would never admit this in front of everyone, but she had done it, she changed his perception of how the world worked. And she didn't do it by showing courage, resistance or anything at all like that. She did it by breaking. When she was tortured by his aunt Bellatrix, she, the brains of the Golden Trio, Gryffindor's Lioness, the know-it-all he had pestered for years, broke down entirely. It was so unnatural to see. She was supposed to stand tall, to retort to him, to punch him, to be the proud, loyal Mudblood she always was. But all that crumbled down and all that was left was a puddle of misery and pain that was once Hermione Granger. He realised right there, between her sobs and pleads for mercy, that that was not how it was supposed to be. Hermione Granger belonged, as weird as sounded, right in front of him, not at his feet.

He was a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! He wasn't supposed to be wrong! He knew that, but even the part of him that was that proud, childish little boy that adored his father and believed everything his role-model told him had to admit, as begrudgingly as was humanly possible, but still, that his father and he himself were wrong all along. Hermione proved this point even more when Bellatrix carved 'Mudblood' in her arm with a knife. Her blood and his blood were exactly the same. Hers was just as red, not a spec of mud to be seen. At that moment, Draco hated Hermione Granger more than he ever had before. She had proven him to be completely, utterly, undeniably wrong. He hated it.

Still, all he wanted was to make everything stop. He wanted to go back in time and stop everything from ever happening like it did now. Should he help her? Make himself an enemy of the Dark Lord? Help the Light side? Could he do what his father couldn't? Could he overcome his own cowardice? The answer was, quite simply, no. He couldn't help her. He couldn't switch sides. He was stuck in this room, watching another horror, paralysed.

After the war was over, he and his parents managed to stay out of Azkaban, solely because they changed sides at the very end and didn't contribute much to the final battle. Hell, his mother even earned some praise for saving Potter's arse in the Forbidden Forest. Still, his parents had told him to keep his head down as much as possible, before he left for his last year at Hogwarts.

And so he had. He refrained from hanging out with people who were still considered Voldemort's followers, people like Pansy. He had taken Muggle Studies as one of his N.E.W.T., though he first had to take some special classes and did his O.W.L. for the class during the holidays. He had been surprised, or rather horrified, when he learned that Pansy had done the same. Their parents were well-acquainted, so he should've known that she would know about his new classes one way or another, but still… He hadn't thought she would follow him there, since, unlike him, she still thought of Muggleborns as trash unworthy of magic. Sometimes he wished he could still believe in that too.

Anyhow, along with his interest in Muggles, his interest in Hermione Granger had grown. The past months, he had been watching her whenever he saw the opportunity, but it looked like he still went unnoticed by the know-it-all herself. He had, however, received some nasty glares from Potter and Weasel, so he figured that soon, she would know too. Just like the entire school. Really, she must be quite thick-headed if she hadn't heard the rumours yet. Not that he cared much for gossip, but he knew he was often the topic. He and his crush on Hermione Granger. Ha! It was ridiculous. And Pansy believed every single word of it. She had been whining his ears of for weeks now. Still, he persisted that it was none of her business and wouldn't honour any question with an answer.

Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, currently his best friends, had a better understanding of the situation, luckily. He hadn't shared much of his thoughts, a Malfoy would never, but they seemed to understand, or at least tolerate, his fascination with Muggles and Hermione Granger much better than Pansy did.

He wasn't in love though. He was fascinated by her, by how she stood so strong in battle, by her ingenuity and most of all he was fascinated by the amount of influence she had on his life. At Malfoy Manor, it had been the first time that he realised how much of a constant she was in his life. She was even more so than Potter and Weasel combined. For years, he had taken that for granted, but now he knew what it was like to miss that proud, clever constant, he started to see how special she actually was to him. There were times when his soppiness scared him, when he thought like that.

"Mister Malfoy?"

Being pulled out of the abyss of his mind, Draco stared at the teacher, who was frantically waving at him with, what he thought was called a telephone.

"Ah, could you repeat the question?" He asked sheepishly. His teacher frowned at him. "Please pay closer attention in the future, mister Malfoy. I asked you what other ways of communication Muggles have, besides the telephone."

Sitting in the Great Hall, Draco stared at the back of a head that was covered in brown curls. Pansy had buggered off for now and Blaise and Theo were working on a potion that needed stirring every few hours, so Draco sat alone at dinner. He didn't mind, he wasn't really feeling like chatting anyway. While he didn't look away from the curly head, he took another sip of his pumpkin juice. Three. It was for the third time during dinner that Weasel shot a glare his way. Potter had yet to do anything. Today he seemed too absorbed in what the Headgirl was saying to notice Draco. Yes, of course Hermione Granger had been chosen as Head Girl. Who else? Who bloody else? Draco didn't remember the name of the Head Boy. All he recalled was that it was a Ravenclaw. Not that it mattered much. What was it to him who the Head Boy was? All the guy had to do was follow Granger's orders and that was it probably. Not that he cared at all.

He was getting tired of this. For his life, he couldn't force another sip or bite down his throat, so all that he had left to do was stare at that curly head of hair, risking the chance that he would fantasise about running his fingers through said hair, like he had last week. At first, he had been totally lost in the dream, but as he realised what he was day-dreaming about, he jumped up so fast, he knocked over his goblet of Pumpkin juice. He then had fled the Great Hall to avoid a scene.

He didn't want that to happen again, so he decided that, since he was done eating, he would take his leave. As he stood up, his goblet and plate emptied themselves and, as usual, lots of people looked up and some even ceased their conversation. Draco quickly turned on his heel and marched out of the Great Hall with as much dignity he could muster nowadays. The moment he passed through the huge double doors, he sensed that he wasn't the only one leaving. As unnoticeable as possible, he took hold of his wand.

Like he suspected, a group of Gryffindors made an attempt to corner him. Only a few corridors away from the Great Hall, all five of them stepped out of the shadows and quickly surrounded him, forcing him to back up against a wall. "Expelliarmus." One of them tried, but he easily deflected the spell with non-verbal magic. He hardly had to pull his wand. Then it became more tricky, as they started firing all at once. He was very lucky that his Protego-charm held against all stunning spells, hexes and curses that bounced on and off it. Meanwhile they were taunting him, asking him how it felt to be cornered by more than one. Asking him how it felt to be taken down by Muggleborns. "You should've stayed home, Malfoy!"

Draco started to move away from the wall, trying to find an escape route. Honestly, he knew he could take them out, but if he did anything now, the chances were high he'd be in trouble. He didn't need more trouble. So he waited for a weak spot, a place he could breach and escape through. Unfortunately, these Muggleborns noticed he had no trouble deflecting their magic and decided that they'd try the other way. They put their wands away and before Draco knew what hit him, they jumped him all at once and started to hit him wherever they could. Though he managed to throw his wand to safety (which he did because he knew that using any magic on them, meant trouble for him and he didn't want his wand broken), Draco couldn't save himself. He tried to dodge, block and get away, but it all seemed futile. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, getting hit by two Gryffindors, who also held him down, while the others kicked at him.

Right then, a red flash illuminated the corridor. Draco turned his head to see who had come to his rescue and was surprised to see the Head Girl standing there, holding his wand in her left hand and her own, in her right.

To say that Draco Malfoy had been behaving odd lately would be the understatement of the year. Hermione Granger thought to herself, as she tried to concentrate on her homework and not on the eyes that were drilling holes in her head from the other side of the library. What was he thinking? Was that stupid git still holding grudges and was he planning her demise? It was really starting to tick her off. For weeks now, she had felt those steel gray eyes on her almost constantly. Half of the time, she was most likely being paranoid, because there was no way he could get into her shower, or any part of her Head-quarters, for that fact.

'Not only has he been watching me, he also hasn't been rude to me or Harry or Ron these past few months that we're all at school again. Strange…' Hermione thought, feeling confused about the entire situation. She couldn't say she minded the 'not rude' part. Life certainly was easier without a bully. But she couldn't quite put her finger on his new attitude and that annoyed her. She wasn't used to a Draco Malfoy she couldn't predict, but ever since their sixth year, she really didn't know what to think of him anymore. He and his family had been trapped in being Death Eaters, he didn't sell Harry out to Voldemort at Malfoy Manor and was defeated there too easily. She had followed classes with him and although she didn't like it, she had to admit that he was a wizard with skill. She knew he practically let them out. But besides these and other little things he did, he had seemed unchanged before they met again at Hogwarts.

Still, she was Hermione Granger, how could she not notice the little things? Draco Malfoy hadn't been one-sided anymore. He wasn't just a prick anymore. During the war, he had already changed. and when she saw him now, she could still see his pride, but it was a stained one, a damaged one. She knew she should still hate him, after all that he had done to her and her friends, but right now, she also knew she couldn't. Not when he wasn't just a bully anymore. She wasn't vengeful enough for that, even though Ron and Harry were.

She wanted to know. She wanted to know what he was up to, with all the quietness and staring, where was it leading to? Could she just ask him? Immediately that thought was dumped in a bin. 'Ask him? What am I thinking! Merlin, it's still Draco Malfoy! An oddly quiet and unnoticeable Draco Malfoy, but Draco Malfoy nonetheless!' Hermione thought, horrified at the thought of trying to have a conversation with him. Her train of thought was broken by a person striding past her and needlessly she looked up to see who it was. The object of her thoughts disappeared through the library's doors.

During dinner, the usual gossip was going around the Great Hall, of Draco Malfoy being in love with Hermione Granger and all that sort of bollocks. Meanwhile Ron glared at a certain blond head at the Slytherin table, from time to time, when he wasn't stuffing himself. Hermione was paying no attention to her cranky boyfriend, but was entertaining her best friend with an anecdote instead. This carried on for a while. People talking and drinking, eating and listening. At some point, the Great Hall quietened down a bit and Hermione didn't even need to look to know who was leaving. Malfoy.

At the same time, five people of the Gryffindor house stood up and made their leave, though they were in less of a hurry to get out than Malfoy had been.

Hermione felt uncomfortable and knew something was up. Should she follow them? She was the Head Girl after all, and this smelled fishy. The Gryffindors hadn't gone up the stairs, but had headed left, like Malfoy, to the dungeons. Harry spotted the worried look on her face instantly. "Are you ok, 'Mione?" he asked, sounding concerned. She nodded, but bent over, so she could whisper: "Those Gryffindors that just left are after Malfoy, I think. It's my duty as a Head Girl to look into this." Harry frowned. "Even though it's just Malfoy, I agree that you should check it out. Want me to go with you?" Hermione quickly shook her head, looking stern. "You'd only get into trouble, I'll go alone. Those Gryffindors won't harm me anyway." Before he could answer, she was already halfway out of the Great Hall.

Her gut instinct had been right. She hardly went down one corridor before she could she the lights of spells, coming from a few corridors away, so she started to run towards the source. A moment later, the spells stopped and so did Hermione. Where were they? She heard the sound of wood hitting the marble floor and looked straight ahead. A wand come rolling out of a corridor on the right side. Suddenly she heard the sound of a body being kicked and hit and she heard some soft groans. Breaking out of her daze, Hermione dashed down the corridor, picked up the wand that lay on the floor and shot off a jet of red light. Hardly a second later, she made eye contact with a very, very surprised and rather beaten-up Draco Malfoy.

A.N. Please, tell me Draco was sort of in charcter! I really want to get him right, so tell me if you find some errors on the Draco-front! As for Hermione, I know I did her all wrong... I'm sorry.

Please leave a review on Draco (and Hermione) and on whether this should be continued!