He remembered the first time that he meant her. Wide brown eyes and bushy hair, asking in a strong, confident voice, if he saw a toad who belonged to someone name Neville. He answered promptly with a 'No' and she left. He was with Crabbe and Goyle and he didn't think much of the girl then, until he found out that she was a Mudbood. Then it all began happening. She was easy to target at first, due to her annoying know-it-all attitude that annoyed everybody, Slytherins and Gryffindors alike. She had no friends at the beginning of first year, well not until Scar-face and the Weasel take it up on themselves to become her knights. Then it became harder to tease her without having any consequences. Unless, she was in the library alone, which was quite often.
"Well, look who it is." Draco would drawl as he approach the table that she would be sitting, usually surrounded by multiple books.
She would look up, glare at him and then looked back down to her book as if he was nothing but a ghost.
"I always thought that the Mudblood keep her knights around." Draco continued.
One time she replied, "And I thought you always had your crowneys to support your backbone."
The humor vanished from Draco's face and he strut towards her and purposefully pushed multiple books from off the table. They crashed to the ground one by one.
"You should watch your tongue, Mudblood." He stared down at her.
She pulled away from the table, collected her stuff and walked away.
Draco chuckled to himself, and absently run his hand across the books that she had on the table. He read the titles. Top One Hundred Most Influential Witches and Wizards, Unicorn and Magic, and 500 Most Useful Spells. He opened one of the books and read a random word. Unforgivable Curses. He read another word. Fiendfyre. He flipped the page. Horcruxes.
He looked toward the exit of the library where the girl left a few minutes earlier. He took the book along with him.
It took him at least a week to finish the book, and he waited until she was without her knights and he was without Crabbe and Goyle to approach her. Ironically, it was the same place that he approached her before. And technically she wasn't totally without her knights, she was however with the less pathetic of the two.
He dropped the book on the table, causing both Hermione and Harry to look up, startled. Hermione looked down to the book after staring up at him for a second. She could read the title, and she tried her best to keep her face emotionless.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry spat.
"Just returning a book that I happened to bored." He meet Harry's gaze and then turn to Hermione. "It was such an interesting read."
He pushed the book towards her and before she thought of grasping it. Harry had his hands on it. "Unicorn and Magic?" He asked, scoffing at Draco.
"Interesting material." Draco was still staring at Hermione. Only breaking contact with her to stare at Harry. "I recommend it, Potter." He then turned and walk away.
A few days later, Potter was chasing him down the corridors. "Malfoy!" He shouted.
Malfoy smiled to himself and kept walking. He heard footstep sped up behind him before a hard object hit the middle of his back. He turn away, but not before looking down. Potter threw the book at him.
Potter finally caught up to him.
"Careful. I'm afraid that I will have to report you if you destroy library property, Potter." Draco teased.
Potter was not amused. "What the bloody hell is that, Malfoy." Potter was pointing down to book that laid between Draco and himself.
The title Unicorns and Magic was visible. "I don't know, ask your little Mudblood, I got it from her."
Harry's blood boiled at the use of Malfoy's word to describe Hermione, but instead declared, "You're lying."
"Am I?" He retorted. "Looks like know-it-all Granger is not so innocent after all. Don't worry, I'm shock too."
Potter grinded his teeth before surpassing Draco down the corridor.
Weeks went by with the only interaction between them being the usual bickering and teasing in public. To him, both Potter and Granger was more interesting in private and he aimed to interact with them then. He knew where to find Granger alone.
"How's the little mudblood?"
She ignored him and continued to read the book that she was engrossed in. Draco hated being ignored especially by someone as low as she was.
He reached over and snatched the book from under her. "Reading more dark stuff, are we?"
But as Draco glanced over the words in the books, he realized that it was just regular stuff that they needed to research from their Ancient Runes homework.
"Would you mind giving that back?" She simply asked.
Draco glanced at her and dropped the book back on the table.
"What do you think will happen if I told Professor what you were reading?"
"Be sure to mention that you read it too." Hermione rebutted. "As if they will believe you."
Draco scoffed. He knew she was right. Nobody would believe that innocent Granger read Dark Magic in her free time.
"Why were you reading it?" He asked, trying not to should too curious.
"Why do you care, Malfoy?"
"You think I care?" He laughed.
"Then why are you even asking."
Draco paused without words. "The day I care about anything you do, is the day that hell freezes over. You're beneath me."
"Of course, Malfoy." She resolved, standing from her chair. "Of course." She repeated leaving him at the table.