Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter because J.K. Rowling does.
Draco Malfoy would like to bash Hermione Granger's head in with a heavy, jagged rock that will leave an everlasting scar which will make her ugly face even uglier. He hates this girl more than he knows. She is a mudblood, a dirty, disgusting mudblood that does not deserve to set foot on any ground he has walked on. Which basically includes the entire wizarding world. Everyday, he grinds his teeth in anger when she walks past him with Potter and Weasley at her sides, when she gives a pristine answer to a professor's idiotically difficult question, when she rambles on about elf rights, when she laughs with such ease that it seems like she is a pureblood who knows of nothing but his world. And he crushes whatever is in his hands and pretends that he is crushing her brilliant head.
Sometimes, at night, behind the safety of his jade curtains, Draco screams silently into his pillow because he does not understand why Hermione Granger understands more about his world than he does.
It is a Monday in December, before Christmas break, and Draco sits in the charms classroom idly tracing his wand over his desk, drawing a continuous pattern of bushy haired circles with a noose attached to the bottom of the circles. As he hears a loud, clear, bossy voice, he breaks his pattern and draws a tighter noose on his latest circle. His teeth clench together as he sends a vicious glare towards Hermione, who is just entering the classroom, lecturing, as always, her two escorts about the importance of will power when transfiguring mammals. She does not notice because she is too busy laughing at a joke that her crimson haired boyfriend has uttered. Draco can see his knuckles turn white.
Tuesday comes slowly, finally peeking out from under the heavy weight of a night full of cramming charms homework because Draco was unable to pay attention in class for some reason. He stumbles down to breakfast after fastening his cloak tightly over his thin, black clothing. As he sits down in the middle of the Slytherin table, he suddenly notices that apart from him, there are only twenty other students at the table. Gazing over to her table, he notices that there are barely any empty seats. Draco stabs his sausage with such vigor that there is a dent on his plate. It repairs itself immediately and no one knows that Draco is jealous of the Gryffindors. As he slowly chews his sausage, the mail comes, and he notices that Hermione Granger is getting a package today. It is ironically fitting, because today is one of the few days he does not get any mail. Under the cover of his long bangs, he stares at her as she slowly unravels the ribbons on the package. Draco notices that Potter and her boyfriend are too busy wolfing down their breakfast to care. She folds the unattached ribbons and carefully shrinks them and puts them into a pocket on the inside of her cloak. He is annoyed by her perfection and makes another dent on his plate, which fades the moment it appeared. A photo album drops into her lap and he can see tears forming in her eyes. He smirks as she almost cries. Weasley calls to her to hurry up, and as she exits the Great Hall, Draco sees Hermione throw the album in a trashcan.
Wednesday it rains and everyone sits inside and complains about the abysmal weather. Draco has to wait until midnight until he can sneak to the great hall. He reaches inside a trashcan and pulls out a photo album covered with napkins and random parchment. He looks around. No one is here. Draco sits at the Gryffindor table and nervously opens the photo album. Pictures of a bushy haired woman and a bushy haired man with their arms around a bushy haired little boy stare back at him. Unmoving. Draco Malfoy is confused for the first time in his life. He wonders why she throws her life away. Later, awake on his emerald sheets, he wonders why no one stops her.
Thursday, Draco Malfoy gets a cold and sits sniffling throughout potions hearing a dull drone come out of Slughorn's mouth. He sits in front of his empty cauldron not knowing what to do until Hermione passes his table on the way to the storage cupboard and surreptitiously drops a note onto his table. Anti-depression Draught; pg. 298. he reads. She reaches for a couple of beetle legs and glides past his table again as if nothing has happened. This time she drops a handkerchief before she plops down next to Weasley and berates him on the handling of snail slime. Draco stuffs the handkerchief in his pocket and flips to page 298. His potion turns out perfect. Hermione is surprised and upset because Weasley has accidentally spilled too much snail slime into her perfect potion. Draco smirks and feels a sick kind of joy at beating Miss Perfect at something. Back in the safety of his common room, he throws the handkerchief into the fire and watches it burn, smoke spiraling away through the chimney. Stupid little mudblood.
The last day before the holidays is hectic and happy. Draco sits through his classes on Friday bored and ungrateful. He wonders if he should skip classes today when Hermione and Weasley walk in holding hands. Draco Malfoy knows he will skip classes today. Leaving during the middle of History of Magic, Draco walks into his common room and punches the wall next to the fireplace. All he gets are bloody knuckles that he doesn't know how to heal. He remembers that he still hasn't packed so he goes upstairs to throw all his belongings into four fat suitcases. Underneath his bed he finds the note from yesterday. He opens the window and throws it as far as he can, icy gales making his eyes sting even from the brief contact. Finally, he is done. Draco Malfoy goes to bed at six o'clock waiting for the day to end.
It is the last day of the holidays. Narcissa Malfoy and Draco Malfoy go to Azkaban to visit Lucius Malfoy. On the way there, Draco is quiet and snappish whenever his mother speaks to him. She gives up and haughtily tells their carriage driver to go faster to the portkey zone. When they arrive, she and Draco take an old quill and are flung through the mist into Azkaban, in front of the cell of her husband and his father. Narcissa speaks to Lucius in a hushed voice for some time, before she leaves and tells Draco to visit his father. Draco enters and sets his cold eyes onto a similar pair. His face is pale as he asks Lucius if maybe a mudblood could be as good as a pureblood wizard? Lucius turns stark white and clutches the bars of his cell. He performs an amazing feat of wandless magic as he unleashes a strangled Crucio on his only son. Draco screams as if the world will end and by the time the pain has receded a bit, he knows it has.
Back at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy no longer attempts to understand Hermione Granger. Draco Malfoy still would like to bash Hermione Granger's head in with a heavy, jagged rock that will leave an everlasting scar which will make her ugly face even uglier, but he is scared that he will instead hit himself.