Chapter Two

Malfoy kept watching as Hermione would quickly sneak glances at him while she was scribbling something down onto a piece of parchment. He couldn't help but notice the strong amount of anger that radiated off of her during those glances. Could he really blame her though? He quickly stood up and walked around her large office, back to the wall that he had been looking at earlier. She had so many picture, degrees, and memories on that wall. He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in distaste at the picture with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in them. Weasley with that stupid sloppy grin, disturbing amount of freckles, and untidy mess of red hair. And then there was Potter, the chosen one. The one who defeated the Dark Lord. The one who everyone practically worshiped. Both of those men, vile to him. His eyes cautiously wandered to more pictures and he took a deep breath as he looked at the picture that he had really been avoiding. It was next to a picture of the three of them with the late headmaster. This picture was of him on his own. Malfoy swallowed a large gulp stuck in his throat as he gazed at the blue eyes staring back at him. To this day, he still hadn't forgiven himself for disarming Dumbledore that night in the Astronomy tower. He might actually still be alive if it wasn't for him. He could feel the all too familiar sting in his chest as he continued to look at the picture so he quickly turned around to find Hermione standing behind him, gazing over his shoulder. The look in her eyes was of mourning. Malfoy could feel himself getting uncomfortable so he threw a question at her.

"So what's on the schedule today, Granger? Or are we just going to sit here all day and have you giving me awkward and evil glances when you think I'm not looking?"

He watched as her cheeks began to turn a light shade of red before she turned around and quickly headed back to her desk. She sat and motioned for him to take a seat in front of her.

"Take a seat, Malfoy."

He rolled his eyes and sat in front of her. He hated being told what to do and the fact that Granger of all people was the one giving him orders drove him mad.

"Now look, I know that we have never really gotten along but for the sake of my sanity and my job, I suggest that while at work we overcome these differences." said Hermione.

"For the sake of your sanity? Ha! Don't make me laugh, Granger. Do you really think that I volunteered for this job? Do you honestly think that if I had known this was the spot where Kingsley had decided to give me a promotion that I would have taken it? Please, I have better things to do than sit around and be bossed around by someone like you. However...this is my job as well and I intend to keep it so yes, putting aside our differences while here may work. Besides, I intend to take your spot as head of the department anyways."

He couldn't help but feel an immense sense of satisfaction as he watched her squirm in her chair and ball up her fists at that last comment. Ever since they were eleven, he had always gotten pleasure from seeing her squirm at his sly remarks.

"If you for one minute think that you will take my spot as head of this department, you're crazy!"

"Think? Please! I know." he said with a devilish smile.

Hermione stood up and banged her fists down onto her desk. "You will do well to shut your mouth, Malfoy. In case you forgot, I am your boss now and if you are out of line, you're gone. This is my department and I have this job for a reason. I earned it and Kingsley trusts me. So don't for one second think that you can come in here like the brat that you have always been and start making orders or run that filthy mouth of yours like you own the place!"

"Think my mouth is filthy, ay? It's nowhere near as filthy as your blood! You'll do right to mind your tongue with me, Granger." he snarled. He could feel her body tense at his words as he stood there in her face.

"Even after the war, after Voldemort is gone, you still think your pureblood status makes you superior. Did you learn absolutely nothing from that war? I guess not because I bet that I'm still the same filthy mudblood that you remember!" she spat the last sentence in his face.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes and drew even closer to her face to the point of having their noses almost touch. "You really are the brightest witch of your age. You'll do good to remember your place in the wizarding world, you mudblood. You had best watch your back, Granger."

Hermione stood there frozen at Malfoy's words as he turned and walked out of her office. Even after a bloody war, he was still a vile human being who still had his old vile ways of thinking. You would think that after everything that had happened, he would have changed. Kingsley had said that he had changed and he was wrong. It had to have been an act so that Malfoy could work his way up. Ten years after it all happened, he still called her a mudblood. The world instantly made her grab her upper arm and reach inside her sleeve. She carefully rubbed the scars on her arm that spelled out the nasty word. She could feel the threat of tears stinging her eyes as the memories of how she had received those scars replayed through her mind.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Hermione quickly released her arm and wiped off the tears that had just fallen and turned to face Malfoy as he stood lingering in the door frame to her office. "Nothing." she choked out quickly.

She watched as he eyed her and glanced down at her arm. He slowly walked over to her grabbed the exact spot that she had been holding.

"Get your hands off of me!" she cried as she tried to break his grasp but he was too strong and her wand wasn't in reach.

He quickly ripped back her sleeve and held her arm there, starring. She was staring at the ground and was so still that it looked as if she wasn't breathing. She kept waiting for the moment that Malfoy would let go of her arm but that moment wasn't coming. Slowly, she looked up at him and watched as his face had become stone cold. His lips were pressed into a thin, hard line but his eyes were wide. Looking at his face in that moment, she couldn't figure out the emotion he was displaying.

"Malfoy...let go..." she whispered.

She watched as he quickly looked her in the eyes and then threw her arm down by her side like it was infected and he was repulsed by the thought of touching it.

"I'm going to go and take my lunch." he mumbled as he turned out of the door.

Hermione stood there motionless, watching as he took off down the hall.

What the hell was that shit on her arm? Was that some kind of joke? Where the hell had she gotten that scar from? Why the hell was he wondering these question like he actually cared? It was probably some pathetic attempt to make him feel bad for calling her a mudblood earlier. She must have placed a spell on her arm or something when he left to use the lavatory at some feeble attempt to make him feel bad. He wouldn't feel bad for calling her the name that she was. She wasn't of pureblood. She deserved the name her kind was given. Muggle born people should never even been allowed to be a part of this world. She didn't belong here!

He sat down in the break room at a table, staring at it when he heard the door crack open.

"Malfoy, we really need to get started. We have to make a trip to Hogwarts before the school year starts and-"

"What kind of sick joke were you trying to pull in there, Granger?!" he was on his feet now slamming his chair into the table. "Were you trying to make me feel bad for calling you your rightful name? Did you sit there and put some spell on your arm and rehearse that whole little act so I would have to witness it and then see your arm?! Well guess what? I don't feel bad for a second!"

Hermione was now slamming the door behind her, marching towards him with her wand drawn. She had it placed on his throat with a look on her face that said if he made the wrong move, she would blow him up. "How dare you! Who do you think that you are?! I would never in my life be capable of inflicting something like that onto my own body for some childish way of seeking revenge on you to make you feel bad! Your face is shoved so far up your families bloody ass, begging for their praise, that you never even asked them what happened the night that Bellatrix tortured me, did you?!"

"How dare you bring my family into this! You keep them out of your filthy mouth!"

"Do you want to know what happened that night, Malfoy?! The night Ron, Harry, and I were captured and sent to Malfoy Manor was the night that I received this fucking scar! After what felt like hours of torturing me with the cruciatus curse, your lovely aunt Bellatrix decided that it would be fun to carve mudblood into my arm! She felt that I deserved it as if I could help that my parents were muggles! For years I have walked around with this scar, crying every time I touched it or saw it but you know what?! Now I look at it and feel pride because guess what? I am a mudblood and I am damn proud of who I am!"

He watched as she stood there shaking, catching her breath from her speech. Malfoy felt the same sting in his chest just like he always did when he reflected on the past but he quickly pushed her back.

"Get away from me. You said we has business to take care of at Hogwarts so lets go then. I don't want to be stuck here all night with you because you don't know how to manage time properly." he said.

She sighed and pushed ahead of him making her way back to her office as he followed behind her. He watched as he pulled out a small bag of floo powder and then made her way to the fireplace in her office.

"I'm sure you know what to do." she said as she stepped inside and in an instant was engulfed in green flames.

Before he took his place in the fireplace, he stared at it watching the low flames that were dancing from where Hermione had just left. He couldn't get the image of her arm out of his head. He could feel the pain rising again but this time it was making it's way to his head. He grabbed the fireplace to steady himself and closed his eyes tight. He didn't know why he felt this way about a girl who he had despised all of this life but for some reason, that scar drove him mad...

"Get it together, Draco..." he hissed as he composed himself and was then too engulfed by green flames.