Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Harry Potter. Sucks to be me, huh?

Author's Note: Thanks to all the people who added my story for story alert and author alert for me. Other thanks go to BLOOMIX for reviewing! Also feel free to let me know if I happen to be doing something wrong; I'd really appreciate that. Enjoy the next chapter!


Chapter Two: The Downward Spiral

After dinner that night, I unfortunately had to go to detention. Snape was hosting it. I walked to the dungeons to Snape's office expecting to be the only one doing detention with him tonight. Instead, I managed to get detention with stupid Ron. Ugh! My night just got worse. "Professor Snape," I said curtly. "Ronald," I spat nastily.

"Blimey Hermione! Get over it! We're over!" he yelled angrily, his ears turning as red as his fiery hair. I gritted my teeth in disgust.

"I AM OVER IT!" I screamed at him. Why did he choose to bring up our breakup?

"QUIET!" Snape snapped at us. I huffed and proceeded to rearrange the massive amount of ingredients on Snape's shelf, in alphabetical order. Can you believe this? I can't. I sighed miserably and worked in silence for the next hour or so. When I was finished, I had to have Snape check over my work. He carefully scrutinized my work, as if I would mess up the order of his precious ingredients. "You are free to go Miss Granger. And see that this doesn't happen again."

"Sure thing, Professor," I said wearily to him. I packed up my things and went back to the Head commons to drop off my books. I went to grab an apple from the mini fridge in the kitchenette. I did a double take when I saw there was a note plastered on the door with a post-it. I squinted at it. Then I chuckled. Malfoy actually used a post-it. Last time I checked, they were still muggle… uh… anyways. He wrote 'went to patrol the halls without you. Will see you back in the commons. If not, then have a goodnight Granger.' Malfoy? Wishing me a good night? Well… that's… new. The only thing I thought he'd wish me was a horrible death! Shaking my head, I went to patrol my side of the halls as well.


Everything was going fine until I ran into Harry arguing with someone. I didn't know who it was until I spotted the red hair. Hmm… "What's going on?" I asked the pair. Harry turned around to reveal Ginny. "Harry. Ginny. You both know you aren't supposed to be out of bed this time, don't you?"

Harry glared at me and growled. I jumped in surprise. "Oh, please Hermione! What are you going to do? Take more points away from our house? As if you haven't lost enough for the day for us already!" he said snobbishly. I frowned. Where did that come from?

"What is your problem, Harry? Have I done something to you?" I asked him, gently this time. He scowled at me in response. "Harry! I—"

"It's your fault Ron broke up with you! Not his!" Harry hissed at me. I gaped. Before I could ask him what he was talking about, he continued. "I can't believe you, 'Mione! Stepping out with the enemy? That's low, even for you." Now I was fully gaping at him.

"What the hell are you even talking about?" I yelled at him. Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "Stepping out with the enemy? Who would be the enemy?"

"Yes, Harry," Ginny snapped at him. "Who would be the enemy? HUH HARRY?" she screamed at him as she started hitting him again. He easily dodged her blows, but she wasn't giving up. I had to break them up before it got worse. "You and my brother are idiots! THE BOTH OF YOU!" she screamed at them.

I escorted Ginny away from a bellowing mad Harry. "What's going on between you two? Honestly. And don't try to feed me some bullshit because I can read you like a book, Ginny," I scolded her. She blew out a puffy breath. "Well?"

Ginny chuckled in disbelief. Shaking her head, she said, "They think that you cheated on Ron with Zabini and Malfoy. I told them you wouldn't touch them within a five foot radius! Well… except Malfoy, he's hot."

"GINNY!" I yelled at her. I looked around the halls carefully. "You mustn't say such… things!" I told her. Then I whispered, "He may be watching me!"

Ginny cracked a smile. "You mean… if he isn't already?" I glared at Ginny as she chuckled to herself. I escorted her back to the Gryffindor commons, frowning heavily. "All right, all right 'Mione. I'm sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" she asked dramatically as she told the Fat Lady the password.

I stared at her blankly. "Goodnight, Ginny."

"But, Hermione, you never said what it was like sharing a dorm with the Slytherin Sex God. Blimey Hermione… I thought we were better friends than that?" she called after me. I walked away briskly.

"Goodnight!" I shouted back at her.

"Did you ever see his junk? I heard it's—"

"Goodnight Ginevra!" After patrolling the halls, I went back into the commons to see Malfoy staring at the fireplace. I did not want to deal with his mood swings, and I was too tired to start anything with him. So I went upstairs, unraveling my necktie and shaking out my hair as I went. But something stopped me completely in my tracks.

"Goodnight to you too, Granger," I heard Malfoy call out to me. I paused. Backtracking down the stairs, I looked at him in disbelief. "You heard me. I said goodnight to you." I raised an eyebrow at him in curiosity. So his note from earlier wasn't a joke… as far as I was concerned. What the hell was I supposed to say to him? "A 'goodnight' would suffice." It was as if he could read my mind. Bloody hell. I slowly crept back up the stairs. I heard him sigh dejectedly.


I couldn't fall asleep with our strange exchange replaying itself in my head. First, Malfoy asked me what was wrong when he saw me crying. Then, he actually openly ogled me in class, disrupting my attentiveness. And if that wasn't bad enough, he actually left me a note… shocking, seeing as though he said himself that he didn't care what I did, saw, touched, smelt or felt here. Those were his words, not mines. Between all of that, Harry being really mean to me and Ron cheating on/breaking up with me, I didn't get too much sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to the sun bathing me (or rather, my eyes) in sunlight. I groaned groggily and rolled over to my left and blinked a few times. I glanced at my alarm clock. It read 7:15am. I yawned and settled back into my blankets. Until it dawned on me. My first class is double potions with Snape. And it starts at 8am… "SHIT!" I swore loudly. I shot out of bed, accidentally stepping on poor Crookshanks' tail. "Ow!" I yelped as he yowled at me and ran away. I grabbed blindly at my uniform and some clean (hopefully) underwear and hightailed it to the bathroom. Unfortunately for me, as I threw open the door, Malfoy was just getting out of the shower. I screamed in shock and closed the door. Oh, Merlin. Please tell me I did not just see Draco Malfoy in the buff. I sank down on the door, covering my eyes in shame.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally opened and I fell backwards as I felt Malfoy fall forwards. I opened my eyes to see him sprawled out on the floor. "Nice going, Granger!" he spat in my direction as he got up and ran to his room.

"Up yours, Malfoy!" I yelled from the bathroom door. I took a quick shower, seeing how he stole all of the hot water. "Fucking cold!" I swore. I got out, shoved my clothes on as I brushed my teeth and charmed a brush to untangle my nest of curls. After that was done, I looked at my watch. 7:50. I had ten minutes to make it down to a class that takes at least twenty minutes to get to. "Merlin, Merlin, bloody Merlin!" I said as I ran through the hallways, bumping into people as I went. One person I bumped into made me fall on the floor, dropping books as I went. I swore internally and looked up to see Harry staring at me.

"Traitor!" he spat nastily as he kicked my Transfiguration book clear across the hall. I growled as I picked up the book as well as my other books in disdain.

Miraculously, I finally made it down to Snape's class, completely out of breath. Unfortunately, I was five minutes late. I hate being tardy! "Sorry, Professor Snape," I muttered in embarrassment. I plopped down on the first seat I could find, not bothering to look at who was next to me. My classmates looked at me in disgust. I glared at all of them.

"Now that her royal highness has finally joined us," Snape started. I scowled as the Gryffindors and Slytherins laughed at my expense. "We will discuss the effects of veritaserum." Suddenly, there was a hand on my left thigh. I gasped in shock at the contact. I turned… to face Malfoy. I gaped and moved his hand away, a blush forming around my neck. Maybe I was… oh, no... That I did not imagine that time. Malfoy placed his hand on my thigh again!

Fighting the ever expanding blush, I gritted, "Do you mind, Malfoy?"

"Not at all, Granger," he drawled smoothly. If that wasn't bad enough, he gave my thigh a squeeze. I bit back a moan. Oh, Merlin. This was going to be a long session.

Throughout the double potions, as Snape droned on and on about the truth serum, Malfoy continued to molest my thigh. Even as I tried to move away from his touch, he still continued his assault! Several times, I had to cover my mouth with my hand to fight back laughter. "Stop it!" I gritted.

Malfoy smirked at me as his eyes turned lustful. "Or else what?" he whispered softly into my ear, making me shiver. Okay, that is unacceptable!

"Or else, Malfoy," I bit out, "I will hex your balls off and serve them to Buckbeak!" I threatened him menacingly. Briefly, he took his hand off of my knees and I sighed in relief. Even though it was short lived. He scooted closer to me and sniffed at my neck. I shuddered. "Stop it!" I whispered harshly.

"You smell like mangoes," he whispered into my ears softly. I whimpered. Oh… bloody hell. "I love mangoes, Granger." He then winked at me, making my entire face go red in embarrassment. Finally, Snape dismissed us.

I gathered my books and exited the room as quickly as my feet could take me. That is, until I ran into someone again. I fell flat on my ass, dropping all of my books unceremoniously onto the floor yet again. I groaned and looked up at Neville Longbottom. I stared at him in disbelief. "I'm sorry—" I started to say.

"No need to apologize… traitor!" he spat at me and walked off. I gaped. What in the world is going on? I needed to get to the bottom of this.

"Neville!" I ran after him. He stopped and turned to look at me, an icy glare affixed to me. "What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, as if you don't know?" he shouted. Well, if I knew, I wouldn't be asking… "You're supposed to be the brightest of our year, and yet, you are completely clueless about what I am talking about? Ron was good to you! He loved you when no one else would! And that's how you repay him? By sleeping with the enemy?"

I gaped. What is he talking about? "Excuse me? Sleeping with the enemy? If you haven't heard… Ron cheated on me with someone who was supposed to be my friend! And you're telling me that's how I repaid him?" Just then, Harry came over to Neville and me. "Do you honestly think that I'd cheat on Ron?" I asked Harry. For a second, Harry looked like he was going to disagree with me, but then something changed. Harry sent me a look that destroyed my insides. "Harry?"

"We know what you did, traitorous slut!" he said darkly. People gathered around to see what was going on.

"I… I… I…" I stuttered stupidly. I didn't know what to say.

"Exactly," Neville said.

"Do us a favor, and stay away from all of us. You're no longer welcome in the common room anymore," Harry said to me as he clenched his fists. I stood there like a fish out of water. I noticed some other Gryffindors gave me the evil eye as they walked away.


Completely numb, I went to the rest of my classes, completely uninvolved and unfocused. At dinner that night, I entered the Great Hall. It instantly became quiet when everyone saw me walk in. Choosing to ignore this, I went to sit at the Gryffindor table and everyone in my vicinity moved away from me. Everyone except Ginny, bless her. Ginny gave everyone the evil eye and they stopped glaring at me. I looked up at Ginny. "I don't know what's going on Hermione," Ginny started, "but this is not acceptable! If you say you haven't cheated on my troll of a brother…" She made a point to look at him, currently stuffing his face. "Then I believe you! I know you would never do anything like that because you aren't heartless!"

I don't know what's going on either!" I practically wailed on her shoulder. I hadn't had much of an appetite, but I managed to eat a slice of meatloaf and washed it down with some pumpkin juice. After feeling increasingly uncomfortable, I decided to go back to the Head commons. I threw off my cloak and collapsed on the couch, rubbing my temples and staring into the fire. I didn't even notice anyone come in until they sat next to me on the couch. I looked up in disdain and found Malfoy's steel gray eyes boring in mines. "What do you want, Malfoy? Care to gloat that the 'Golden Trio' is fighting?" Before he could say anything, I continued, "Because I'm not in the mood for your antics tonight."

He cleared his throat. "I wasn't going to make fun of you, Granger," he drawled. I stared at him, unconvinced. "I was just going to say that those blubbering friends of yours are idiots… and that Weasel doesn't even deserve you if he's going to cheat on you with some slut. At least have some standards!" he spat into the air. Much to my chagrin, I chuckled a little. "There we go; the infamous bookwork cracks a smile." I was about to tell him off when he smiled at me. Not a smirk or a sneer, but a genuine smile. "Listen, Granger… since we have to live with each other for the rest of the school year, why don't we call a truce?"

I looked at Malfoy and pursed my lips in thought. "A truce?"

"Sure why not?" I told him. He held out a hand for me to shake. "Under one condition, though." He rolled his eyes and prompted me silently to continue. "We have to call each other by our first names."

Malfoy… uh… I mean, Draco nodded in agreement. "All right, I can do that. Anyways, we have classes tomorrow, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight Gran— I mean, Hermione," he said, my name rolling off of his tongue exquisitely. Oh, my gosh! Did I just think that? Hermione, snap out of it!

"G-goodnight, Draco," I stuttered stupidly, a blush creeping up on my face. He smirked and went upstairs. Well… that went well… I suppose.


A/N: End of chapter two. Please read and review… and story alert as well. It's greatly appreciated. The juicy stuff is coming up within the next two chapters so don't turn off your computer screens. Ha, ha, that was kinda lame. Anyways, as I said, read, review and alert! Thanks. :)