The One I Love to Hate
Summary: Pre-HBP, Draco and Hermione decide that if there's anyone they can love to hate, it's each other. Not a Draco/Hermione.

From Draco:
There's always that one person you can't help but hate. You also can't help that you love that you hate them. I suppose that the person I love to hate is Hermione Granger. She's the inferior mudblood, and I've been taught to hate her for it.

From Hermione:
That person you'll always love to hate? It might have more to do with envy than real hatred. We all might be witches and wizards, but we're still envious of what other people have that we don't have or can't have. Except Draco Malfoy, he's the one I love to hate, but it has nothing to do with envy. He's the spoiled, rich brat who thinks everyone else is beneath him, and I've learned to hate him for it.

From Draco:
I hate her for having real friends. She doesn't deserve them as much as I do, but all I have is a group of lackeys, minions, followers. They don't have two brain cells to rub together and I can't laugh with them. I have no secret jokes, no confidante. I have a master and I have my own underlings. None of them count as real friends.

From Hermione:
I hate him for having devoted followers and treating them like dirt. No one looks up to me like that; they all just take it for granted that I know all the answers and get all the top scores. No one followed me when I tried launching S.P.E.W. no matter how much enthusiasm and energy I put into it. He just sits there with that smug expression of his between his two enormous bodyguards and tells them to go fetch him things. I wouldn't trade my friends for lackeys any day of the week, but I wish someone would le me be their role model.

From Draco:
I hate her for always getting the top scores in class. She's annoying and she doesn't even look good doing it. She's a mudblood. I'm a pureblood! I should be the one getting the top scores!

From Hermione:
I hate him for being such a sore loser. If he wants to do well in class, then maybe he should spend more time studying and less time answering to the Dark Lord.

From Draco:
I hate her for my inability to show my hatred of her when she's around. I have no problem talking about her behind her back, but whenever she's standing right there I just can't bring myself to do anything. I have no problem insulting Potty and Weasel, but I can't come up with any new insults for her. I hate that.

From Hermione:
I hate that he's always insulting my best friends. Harry's done so much and Ron is brilliant in his own way, but he always finds some new way to bring them down or get a rise out of them. Why can't he spend him time doing anything but trying to make Harry and Ron look bad? I hate it!

From Draco:
I hate that she's there.

From Hermione:
I hate that he won't go away.

From Draco:
But most of all, I think it's just that she's the one I love to hate.

From Hermione:
But most of all, I think it's just that he's the one I love to hate.

From Hermione and Draco:
That's the way it'll always be.

-FIN-