It was no secret that Draco Malfoy had been the biggest of asses his first and second years at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was no secret that Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger hated Draco, with good reason. Draco had tried to ruin Harry's name from the moment the two of them stepped foot into the school that night on September First.
The first time Draco laid eyes on Hermione, he was smitten. But he couldn't help his bad attitude against her. Their first year together; she had made friends with Potter, not him. She was a Gryffindor, he was a Slytherin. His Father had warned him about those brave-hearts. He couldn't associate himself with her. Not his first year anyway.
His second year led to him being an even more of a pompous asshole. Draco's Father over the summer had filled him with such a hatred towards the muggles. Hermione Granger, was a muggle-born witch. A mudblood. Draco didn't exactly believe in what his Father did, remaining a pure blood but none the less, Draco was a Malfoy and he had to keep the Malfoy name in high standards. He had to be the little shit his Father raised him to be.
It killed him inside to call Hermione Granger a mudblood to her face that day. To see the look upon her face... he'd never seen Granger so hurt before. But he couldn't go back on his word now. He knew he'd lost his chance with her. They were only twelve years old and all the little daydreams Draco had been having about her for the last two years, they turned disastrous.
By the start of his third year, Draco had matured quite a lot. He no longer looked like that young lil' Malfoy boy. At thirteen years old, Draco hit his puberty and became, well, quite the commodity among the Slytherin ladies. He started to date Pansy Parkinson, a good looking girl there in the Slytherin house though... he had to admit it, at least to himself; when they snogged, it was Granger he thought about.
Hermione on the other hand, her nose was far too into books to worry about relationships. Anyone who looked at the golden trio would have predicted Granger to go for Potter. She found herself always awkward around Ron Weasley, shaking his hand instead of hugging him... but with Harry, she fully let herself be, herself. Maybe they were meant to be together? She didn't know. Hermione was only thirteen, it wasn't at all on her top priorities list to 'find a boyfriend' or 'snog around'.
She had a fantastic reputation in Gryffindor to uphold. Sure, she was a bit of a troublemaker with Harry and Ron...the whole ordeal with the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets last year. Even this year, third year, she could smell the trouble brewing but, she was still at the top of all of her teachers lists. Especially Professor McGonagall. She was to McGonagall what Harry Potter was to Albus Dumbledore. She was to McGonagall what Draco Malfoy was to Severus Snape.
Sirius Black was on the loose, Dementors roamed the school as they pleased. Draco teased Harry every opportunity he got about the thirteen year old Potter passing out on the train to Hogwarts at what he thought was just the mere sight of a Dementor. Not that Draco didn't exactly find them scary, because yes, he did. But the Dementor's weren't after Draco the way they were after Potter... no one realized that though, except perhaps Potter and Lupin.
Our story begins...