Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine! Woo...*sighs unenthusiastically, then remembers that it's time to write and perks up*
A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the support! I hope all of you, including but not limited to Awesomeness620, (yes this is a Dramione fic), NikkiJane21, (thank you!) and YouBlitheringIdiot (I hope this is exciting!)
This is set in their sixth year, just in case of any confusions, and it is AU, not canon.
Enjoy xx

The next time Hermione Granger saw Draco Malfoy, he was entering the Great Hall with a huge smile on his face, and Harry was missing.
The next time Draco Malfoy saw Hermione Granger was when she was laughing on the platform with Weasley, and he didn't even notice her, not really.
So when they bumped into each other, literally, in the middle of the corridor a few days later, neither of them were expecting it.
Harry had decided that Draco was a Death Eater, and that was what was running through Hermione's head as she stood up again, rubbing her bruising leg, wishing she'd decided to spend her free period in the common room instead of in the library. Malfoy, who hadn't fallen over but just wobbled slightly, watched her pain with apparent relish.
"You're sick, you know that?" Hermione snarled.
Malfoy actually had the decency to look wounded. "And why would you think that?"
"Not only did you attack Harry, you knocked a girl over and don't even have the manners to help her up!"
He cocked his head curiously, as if she were a puppy that he just done something amusing.
"But you're a Mudblood."
Hermione had heard it from him so many times that she didn't even get upset anymore. Instead, she pulled out her wand and drew a line on her wand, cutting it shallowly.
"What on earth do you think you're doing, Granger?"
Malfoy looked alarmed at the sight of her blood, and Hermione smiled.
"Look, Malfoy. Same colour as yours. Not mud. Bright red. So what you're saying is technically inaccurate. My blood is just the same as yours."
He just smirked, like he'd seen it all before. She fought the urge to slap him again, and, shouldering her bag, went to leave.
"Where do you think you're going then, Granger?"
"Library." She spat, walking as fast as she could down the corridor, trying to ignore the fact that he was following her.
"Why are you following me?"
"It's amusing when you try to walk quickly. I keep thinking you're going to fall over."
Hermione huffed.
"Stop it! Don't you have some puppies to kick?"
"Lucky for you, I ran out of puppies." It sounded like he was smirking.
Hermione snuck a look at him.
He was smirking.
"Stop that! Leave me alone! Go bully someone else!"
"Is there someone else you'd rather me bully?"
"No!" Hermione whirled around, exasperated. "I'd just rather you left me alone!"
Malfoy blinked, like he hadn't expected such a loud voice to come from her.
"Merlin, Granger, for a house elf you've got a pretty good set of pipes."
Hermione pulled out her wand. "Leave me alone, Malfoy!"
He smirked and pushed past her to leave, his hand brushing against her blouse.
Then Hermione Granger did the unthinkable.
She blushed.

Malfoy sauntered off down the corridor like he knew the exact shade of pink she was turning, and knew that he was responsible.
Hermione sighed, a single drop of blood dripping from her stinging finger onto the stone floor, and walked down the corridor to the library, so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when she passed through the door like it wasn't there at all.


"Shut up, Ron! I'm trying to study!"
Hermione let out a groan as Ron kept playing with his new set of Gobby Gobstones, then stood up and left, on her way to the library.
"Oh look, it's the Mudblood!"
"The Mudblood? I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific, Nott. There are multiple of us."
The weedy, sneering boy pulled out his wand, and Hermione's hand flew to her pocket.
"I'll teach you to be so rude to you betters!"
"Betters?" Hermione snorted. "Really?"
A hex came flying at her, but she merely dodged it and put on a patronising tone.
"No magic in the corridors, Nott. Ten points from Slytherin."
He let out an enraged snarl, and a cool, bored voice sounded from the down the corridor.
"Your originality astounds me, Granger."
"Oh sod off Malfoy." Hermione snapped, and he laughed, sending chills up her spine.
"But things were just getting interesting! What were you doing, Nott?"

Draco's pale eyes bored into the smaller boy's brown ones threateningly.
"I…nothing."
"Excellent. Off you go then."
Nott scurried off.

"What do you want now?"
"Merely to ask where you were off to."
"The library. To study."
"Just to study?"
"What else would I go there for?"
"I don't know, there's a pretty soundproofed area around the back…"
"Excuse me? What exactly are you insinuating?"
He smirked at her condescendingly, ostensibly finding her amusing.

Hermione scowled, adjusted her grip on the textbooks in her arms and turned around smartly, nose in the air, marching off down the corridor. His footsteps echoed behind her.
"Go away."
"I don't think I will, thank you."
"Oh you're just stinking old ferret, Malfoy."
"Just a stinking old ferret, am I?"
He fell into step with her easily, and she huffed, trying to walk even faster.
"Yes. I'm just going to ignore you."
So she did.
At least, she tried to.

Draco grinned cockily as she stumbled on the stones, pushing the ache that was building in his head away. His 'extra-curricular activities' were taking their toll.
"So, Granger, what's it like being friends with the famous Potter?"
"Pretty frustrating, when there are prats like you going after him every five seconds."
"You're putting yourself in unnecessary danger for him, though. Why?"
"Because he's my friend."
She stopped suddenly and span to face him, eyes narrowed.
"Because, as hard as may be for you to comprehend, in your unloving, cruel little mind, I actually care about him."
"My 'cruel little mind'?" Draco laughed, and she exhaled grumpily, before starting off towards the library.
"I don't understand you, Draco Malfoy? Do you not care for anyone at all?"
"No."
"Not even your mother?"
Draco pictured his frail, pale mother, standing in front of him in her vile green dressing gown.
"No."
"Wow." She laughed disbelievingly. "You really don't care about anyone?"

Draco thought for a moment, hands shoved carelessly in his pockets.
"No."
"That must be lonely."
They were walking down the corridor then, almost like friends, looking at each other almost kindly.
But not quite.
"I don't need anyone." Draco spat defensively, and Hermione smiled a little sadly.
"That's what you think. But everyone does."
"What would you know about how I think, Mudblood?"
Draco suddenly grew cold and hard, demeanour changed in a fraction of a second.

Hermione looked hurt.
"I know that you can be a right pain in the-"
Draco turned and stormed off, headache coming to a peak as he climbed the stairs to the seventh floor.

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This fic is pretty open at the moment, so if you've got any encounters or scenes you want to happen, I'd love to hear them. Reviews make me update faster, and thank you for all of your support. It means a lot!
Obrigada,
She-who-loves-fanfiction xx