Part One:
It had started with a kiss. In their fourth year, a game muggles called truth or dare. Some bloody git had convinced him to join in.
"What'll it be, truth or dare, Malfoy?" Blaise had asked, rubbing the back of his head and peering at him.
Draco rolled his eyes, thinking this had to be the stupidest thing he had ever heard of. "Dare," He muttered, shaking a fringe of blond hair out of his gaze.
"I dare you to…"
"Kiss the Mudblood!" Pansy exclaimed, interrupting and pointing at Granger, who looked up bewildered.
He glowered, watching her honey colored eyes widen in an almost comical fashion as they swiveled towards him. What would possess him to want to kiss her anyways? She was so, plain and boring. Her hair a curling mass upon her shoulders, her face devoid of make-up. It was a weekend for Merlin's sakes, why couldn't she dress up a little? He thought, eyeing her frumpy top, which left any notion of budding breasts totally to the imagination, and her too big jeans did nothing for her as well. She was a teenager, why couldn't she act like it?
Oh, because she always had her head shoved up a book's ass, that's why. He smirked.
"I don't think so." He said coolly, looking around at the others.
Pansy huffed. "You have to, it's a dare. That's how this game works." She whined, her pug like face scrunching up in anticipation.
Draco glanced back at Granger, whose lower lip was caught between her teeth, nervously worrying it. His insides squirmed.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
"Well, come here then, Granger, let's get this over with." He said softly, his grey eyes drinking her in.
"I don't think this is a good idea, Malfoy." Ron retorted, watching as Hermione moved across the circle to sit in front of Draco.
"Well, it's not your dare, not your rules, not your concern, Weasel." He said matter of factly, smirked seeing the thick headed gits face fall in disappointment. Awe, Weasel-Bee had a thing for the Mudblood. How touching. Draco felt his heart leap slightly as her flowery scent drifted into his nose.
Well, at least she smelled nice.
Draco reached forward, cupping her small chin in his hand. He laughed softly as he watched her honey eyes search frantically through his.
Well, they were more like brown, but more like green, but the two swirled and burst into a caramel color that threatened to swallow him up.
"Are you ready for this, Granger?" He murmured softly, smirking once more when he saw her shake her head. "Well, too bad, this is Truth or Dare you know." He said, bringing her mouth to his for quick, chaste kiss.
"You have to mean it Draco, come on. I know you can do better than that!" Pansy pressed, rocking back and forth on her bottom.
He glanced at her, scowling. He returned his gaze to a now rather pink in the cheeks Granger, who was chewing that lower lip again.
"You hear that Granger, we have to make it bloody count." He said, pressing his lips to hers once more, feeling her teeth scrape against his lower lip as she struggled to bring them back inside her mouth. She mewled softly, her breath sweet in his slightly parted mouth. Draco felt this obnoxious swoop in his stomach, the kind you experience right before you're going to jump off of something that's a little too high up. He nuzzled his lips across hers, feeling her slight body tremble as he rubbed his thumb across her cheek. He swiped his tongue over her lip ever so slightly as he pulled away.
"Did that count as good enough?" He asked, Pansy, all the while keeping his gaze pointed at Granger, who had moved away, her cheeks ruddy with color and her chest heaving gently.
Pansy didn't answer; her mouth was slightly ajar, as though she had just seen something that had rendered her speechless.
Maybe someone had confounded her while he was kissing the Mudblood?
He didn't know. What he did know is that he was bored with this stupid Muggle game. He stood up, brushed himself off, and headed towards the dungeon door. He glanced behind him, seeing Granger watching him intently, her honey colored eyes sparked with interest.
It had been nearly six months since that bleeding kiss.
A hundred and eighty one days. Over twenty five weeks. Countless hours.
Why couldn't he stop thinking about it?
It hadn't been anything of a special kiss. It was almost bland by most standards.
So why was it filling every free moment Draco had? His sleep, his studies, his shower time…
Why?
It was Hermione Granger for Merlin's sakes. What was so damn important about her?
She was brainy, frumpy; know it all, stubborn as all get out.
So why was it every time he saw her, his insides wound up like spaghetti caught in a fork?
Why was she the only thing he dreamt of these days?
He had better things to do, to dream of, than the Mudblood Princess.
It probably didn't help that now all of a sudden he saw her everywhere. He could have counted on one hand the times he saw Granger in one day before that stupid kiss. Now it was almost as if she was making herself appear just to spite him.
Draco shook his head; he needed to get out of this stuffy classroom. Fresh air would clear his thoughts of her away. He glanced up, seeing her scrawling across her parchment as fast as ever, sucking up as much information as she could.
Like this was the most important thing she had ever heard. He saw stupid Ronald Weasley beside her, sniggering and fooling around with the boy wonder, not even paying attention to her when she tapped on his shoulder in an attempt for help opening something.
He felt something in his navel pull him forward, as if he was going to help her himself. Draco growled, shaking his hair back and watching. The stupid git was still prattling along with Potter, ignoring her still.
He watched for a few more moments as she struggled with the jar she was trying to open. Weasel kept his attention to Harry, the two of them were so immature…
Draco, fed up, stood and walked over to her, grabbing the container.
He watched her jump and whip her head up as he opened the jar for her, setting it back down.
"T-t-thank you." Granger stammered, smoothing her pony tail and blushing.
He nodded, and then swung his grey eyes up to Ron and Harry, who were watching him cautiously. "Maybe, next time, instead of acting like a bunch of dungheads, you should pay attention to the people around you."
He left the two speechless as he returned to his seat. Draco looked up, seeing her peering curiously over her shoulder at him. Draco felt his face rearrange itself into a strangled kind of smile at her.
Draco Malfoy was attempting to be civil to a Mudblood.
And she giggles.
He found it ridiculously intoxicating.
What was happening to him?
Draco sucked fresh air deep into his lungs, trying to purge all thoughts of her from his mind. He had removed his stuffy robes, shrugged away his friends and was looking forward to being alone for a while.
He drew his hand through his blond hair, making his way down towards the lake, eyeing a solitary tree that seemed promising.
Oh, of course, she was there.
"Granger, you're in my spot." He said, dryly, watching her.
She looked up from her book, biting her lip. "I don't think so, Malfoy."
He felt his lip tugging up into a sneer. "Well, I saw it first."
"I was here first." She retorted, her eyes steady.
He huffed, getting impatient. "Well, this is the most private place near the lake so move."
Draco saw her eyes darken slightly. "Well, looks like we will just have to share then." She replied, scooting her things so he could be seated.
He felt his stomach draw up into knots at the idea.
What would people think? Him sitting next to her, let alone sharing? He squirmed uncomfortably as he thought.
He sighed as he settled down beside her, laying his back against the bark of the tree. Draco glanced at her. "What are you reading?"
She bristled, as though the thought of him asking her a normal question repulsed her. "Charles Dickens, its old Muggle literature." She murmured softly, her gold colored eyes roaming the worn edges of the novel hungrily.
"Oh, what's it called?" He asked, watching her intently.
"Oliver Twist." Granger said, simply, flicking through the dingy pages.
He bit his lip, intrigued how enveloped she could become over a book. "What's it about?"
She shifted and tilted her head to look at him. "It's about an orphan boy in London, who is treated wretchedly in this orphanage, and then he is moved to a workhouse of sorts, where he is treated even worse." She explained. "Then he gets away from the workhouse…and that's as far as I've gotten so far."
"Granger, I'm surprised! Usually you would have read it front to back and memorized by now!" He teased gently, his smirk melting into a slight smile.
She blushed. "Usually, but I took me a while to get a hold of this book." She said, looking back at the book.
"Why did it take you a while to get a hold of this book?" Draco asked, playing idly with a rock. He felt weird, talking to her like this.
All…normal.
"Well, Madame Pince, as much as she like's books, she isn't much of a fan for Muggle books, so I had to really talk her into letting me order this." She closed the book after stashing a small strip of silk she used for a bookmark between the pages.
He frowned. "Well, that's stupid, it's just a book, just because it's not a book on magic doesn't mean it's not worth reading…I guess?"
She peered over at him, trying to take him in, he supposed. "Yeah, I do find it rather stupid that she fought me to order a classic book." Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed, watching him. "Maybe she hadn't heard of it? But she had to have, or else she wouldn't have tried to fight me."
He felt his stomach tickle slightly. The normal, sane Draco Malfoy found her problem solving whiny and bigamous. But this new, crazed Malfoy found it, endearing and…cute.
But he mostly found it to be startlingly attractive.
He shrugged and leaned against the tree once again. He placed his hands on his knees. "So where are the dunderheads?" He asked softly.
She scoffed, giving him a reproachful look. "They are at Hagrid's cabin. They are helping him construct enclosures for those blast-ended screwts." Granger explained, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.
He saw that she had her ears pierced, and that she had two small, silver hoops dangling delicately from each ear. She would look brilliant with diamonds, he thought to himself suddenly.
Diamonds for the Mudblood Princess, how befitting.
"Well, now I can certainly see why you stayed away." He said, smirking.
She shook her head slightly, playing with the snap of her bracelet. "I wasn't invited." She lifted her eyes to meet his briefly. "They rarely invite me to do anything unless I butt in, insist or just follow behind them."
Draco simpered slightly, just slightly. "That's stupid, why don't they invite you? You are their best mate…matey? Mate-iss? Right?" he said feeling foolish.
She smiled, sending his stomach into somersaults. "No, I am their best mate, but I guess they don't think I will have fun or something…that I would rather sit and study." She toyed with her fingers. "I like to do things other than that…you know? It's not really fair that they just assume."
He felt disgruntled, the fact that those stupid boys just left her alone all the time, with nothing to do, bothering him. "Pansy is one of my best mates and I include her in everything. Even if she is put off or grossed out, at least she's a part of it."
She frowned. "Well, hmm…" Granger rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I dunno, maybe it's for the best. They get an awful lot of detentions." She said finally, smiling.
He laughed, the noise sounding foreign to his ears. Draco couldn't remember the last time he had genuinely smiled. "Yeah, I could only imagine what you would do in detention."
She snorted. "I don't know, I would probably die from the shock of it." She said, laughing.
He saw the golden flecks in her eyes catch and erupt with light.
She was beautiful, and it nearly pained him to look at her. To know what he had done to her.
He bit his lip hard, feeling remorse dripping liquid hot down his throat.
He had kissed her again.
The Tri-wizard Tournament was in full swing, Potter and the others deep into the giant maze.
Draco had been seeing her nearly every single day, talking to her, spending hours beside the lake, even stealing some precious time in the library. He had become enraptured with her and everything about her.
He was falling in love with her.
Draco had pulled her behind the stands, leading her away from the screaming fans.
"Where are we going?" She had asked, her eyes wide, the multi-colored torches dancing across her face as he took her father behind the bleachers.
He pressed her against a wooden column, sliding his fingers into her hair, rasping his thumb across her smooth cheek. Draco felt his stomach do that now familiar twist and turn as he watched her wide eyes roam over his face.
"What are you doing?" She asked softly, her lips parted, her hands drifting across his chest.
He growled low in his throat as he captured her mouth with his, sucking that lower lip into his mouth.
He felt her literally melting against him.
Oh. Heaven.
They broke apart abruptly at the sound of someone screaming. Draco took her hand firmly into his, leading her back towards the commotion.
People were crying, clamoring around Potter and the too still body of Cedric Diggory.
Draco felt Granger shiver beside him; he smoothed his hand down her back.
He swallowed hard as he heard Potter yelling at the teachers that were swarming him. "He's back, he's back."
The Dark Lord had returned.
The war was beginning.
He glanced at her one last time, his eyes prickling with hot tears.