Warnings: OOC on pretty much all accounts. Hermione is the volatile one while Harry is the "walk away" type. Ron's pretty much the same I think.
Infuriating Beast
Draco managed to use a sort of meditation to reduce the ambient noise in the great hall during feasts. Otherwise he would have gone crazy a long time ago in crowded places. The noise was just too loud. He tended to focus on only a couple of voices from various places in the hall. The Ravenclaw table was his particular favorite because they spoke softly and always about schoolwork. Listening in on Hufflepuff conversations was annoying. They were as if gossip, relationships, and friendship were all that existed in their miniscule life. It was sickening. Gryffindor table was usually out of the question. It was far too loud over there. Occasionally, and only to settle a bit of morbid curiosity, Draco listened in but it was rare. The Slytherin table, even though they normally spoke in low voices that were hardly high pitched, they had nothing good to say. It was usually complaining about something or other. So it was that Draco Malfoy listened in on his favorite table. Ravenclaw.
"He was so kind! I simply had a moment of anemia and took a rest in an empty room when Draco came to my rescue!" Daisy was exclaiming to her friends as they listened in with rapture. "He walked me back to the dorm and wished me good night!"
Draco smiled to himself as the girls listening in swooned. It wasn't like he wanted Daisy to be enamored with him…it just happens. She wasn't ugly by a long shot but she wasn't beautiful either. She was an athletically built girl with stick straight straw colored hair and small brown eyes. She might have Asian ancestry but Draco never talked to her enough to know. Then he heard a voice he recognized.
"You're talking about Draco right? Draco Malfoy?" Draco singled in on the voice and covertly looked in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. Sure enough, Hermione Granger was present amongst the girls. What the hell was she doing there? "Because I'm sure you must be mistaken."
The girls looked around each other nervously as Daisy faced down Hermione. Draco watched with fascination.
"You know…I think I remember seeing you there that night." Daisy tapped her chin and pretended to think. "Yes, Draco informed me that he thought you might confess your love for him that night."
The girls all gasped and Hermione's face drained of color. Draco forced himself not to laugh. Atta girl, Daisy.
"He told me he felt lucky I showed up when I did." Daisy smiled at Hermione. Hermione glared and snatched a stack of parchment off the table. Apparently she was at the table for that in the first place.
"Let me tell you something about Draco Malfoy. He's the kind of guy who doesn't care about anyone but himself. He will drain you of all life if you let him." Hermione warned and Draco nearly spit out the juice he was drinking, he ended up coughing instead. What an ironic statement! When he looked up Hermione was staring at him with a look of pure hatred. He feigned innocence and looked around him like he thought she was glaring at somebody else. When he looked back, she was gone.
"I can't believe Hermione is jealous of you!" One of the girls whispered in awe. Daisy huffed and threw her hair over her shoulder.
"Well, it's not my fault Draco isn't interested in her. She should move on." Daisy sniffed.
"Well, you should have let her "move on" AFTER I finished copying her notes!" Another girl wailed and everyone around the table laughed.
Draco got bored with the girls' rambling and took his attention elsewhere. Hufflepuff were talking about friendship bracelets or something equally stupid. Slytherin were basically complaining about the students they hate in other houses. Draco sighed. Might as well go to Gryffindor table and listen. He never really roamed the table and listened to random students. He almost always listened to the trio. It was a pull he couldn't refuse.
"He's a worthless human being!" Hermione fumed. Ron was stuffing his face at an alarming rate while Harry twiddled with his fork and listened to his friend vent. "I can't believe he would say something like that to Daisy! ME! In LOVE with him? Can a person even love a devil?"
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." Harry held up his fork in the light, breathed on it and wiped it on his shirt.
"Don't you dare quote Shakespeare when you're acting crazy!" Hermione scolded, aghast that he would even imply something so insane.
"Listen 'mione." Ron said after he swallowed a bite. "I think you're letting him get to you too much. Just ignore him and he'll eventually go away."
"Ronnikins is acting very mature today!" A little red headed girl that Draco remembered hearing was Ron's sister, Ginny, popped into the conversation and grinned. Ron rolled his eyes and pushed her away.
"Ron, be nice to your sister." Harry lectured. The little girl grinned and took up a seat between Ron and Harry, causing Ron to move as to make more room. He wasn't happy and elbowed her.
"Harry is always mature." Ginny said adoringly at Harry and ignored her brother completely. Harry smiled patiently at her then turned back to a still fuming Hermione.
"I don't think you should worry about what others may say. The truth of it is that none of it really matters in the end." Harry smiled and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "It's actions that stick, not words."
"You're right." Hermione sighed.
"Of course he's right!" The red haired girl piped up but eyed Harry's hand as it rested on Hermione's shoulder.
"I just wish he wasn't so infuriating. Why doesn't he just go away? Like, go back to Durmstrang or something." Hermione huffed. She shoveled a spoon full of food and shoved it in her mouth, chewing furiously. She looked up just in time to see Draco looking at her with a very amused smile on his face. He wasn't even hiding the fact that he was staring at her. She glared but it wasn't as intimidating as it should have been. She still had a mouth full of food and ended up just looking like a deranged chipmunk. Draco chuckled and looked away. She was too funny.
::
Hermione was bound and determined not to let herself get distracted by Malfoy ever again. He wasn't worth her time and energy. Or so she kept repeating to herself as she cut the ingredients to the dog repellant potion. He was strangely silent as he too worked on the assignment. They weren't paired up, thank the forces, but he was directly beside her across the aisle. It usually gave him plenty of opportunity to make snide remarks under his breath about her smell, her hair, her dirty blood. Without fail. She could handle him messing with her to a point but she simply couldn't handle his silence! What was he up to!
Hermione clipped the side of her finger with the knife and yelped in pain. At almost the same time Draco dropped his knife and ingredients on the floor and doubled over, one hand over his nose. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at the two. Hermione put her finger in her mouth and looked to Draco sideways. He stood straight and took a deep breath before looking over at Hermione with disdain.
"Watch what you are doing!" He snapped.
"I was only a bit distracted. It's no big deal." Hermione snapped back. "What's your excuse?"
"I…" Draco stopped and blinked before he sneered again. "Your girlish yelp jolted me. Then I felt sick with the smell of your filthy blood."
"You stupid insufferable…!" Hermione let out an outraged scream before picking up a handful of minced ingredient and chucking it at the blonde. He ducked easily before smiling with amusement.
"It's not my fault you smell bad." He smirked. The smirk stayed as Hermione withdrew her wand and pointed it at him.
"Ms. Granger. Please don't assault a fellow student!" Professor Snape's voice rang out in the silence. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
"But Malfoy started it! You saw that!" Ron's voice yelled out. Harry was biting his lips and looking at Ron like he was an idiot.
"Make that twenty points." Professor Snape drawled lowly. "Don't question my methods, Mr. Weasley. I assure you they are fair."
Ron sat down and muttered under his breath. "Fair my ass…" Harry shook his head but stayed silent. Hermione, red faced and as angry as she had ever been in her life sat down and tried not to cry.
"You should heal that." Draco whispered to her as everyone went back to what they were doing. Hermione looked at him like he was crazy.
"Excuse me? Are you talking to me?" She asked. Draco heaved a frustrated sigh before he reached over with surprising speed and healed her wound with his wand. Hermione jerked her hand back and gave him a withering stare. "What did you do?"
"I healed that cut, stupid." Draco murmured before settling back to the task of making his potion. "There are ingredients in this potion that would make that small little cut feel like your finger got chopped off if you get them in there."
"Whatever." Hermione whispered, cradling her hand. "Just don't touch me again. Your hands are freezing."
Draco smiled but didn't say anything. He was just hungry was all.
::
Draco pulled the plunger of the syringe and watched the red liquid fill the barrel container. It wasn't going to be a big meal but in lieu of killing the girl, it would have to do. Draco ate many small meals to make up for not murdering each of his victims. So far it worked. He maintained his strength and didn't become mad with bloodlust. That is until today. He barely managed to control himself when Hermione cut herself in Potion's class. He wanted to drain her right then and there. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. Small cuts hardly ever did that but hers did. It was almost overwhelming, the smell of Hermione Granger's blood. The sharp spike of her scent had filled his body with tingles and need.
Draco finished taking Daisy's blood with the syringe and gulped greedily. Sadly he was unsatisfied tonight. Maybe Daisy had run her course with him and he needed to find another donor. He briefly entertained the idea of Granger but quickly shook his head in refusal. Even if she was ever able to succumb to his call, he never wanted to try Muggle Blood ever again. His initial feelings on the subject were still fresh in his mind. No matter how good she smelled.
After Draco had his fill of Daisy's blood, healed her small wound and transfigured the syringe into a quill, Draco patted Daisy's cheeks gently to wake her up. She groaned and swatted his hand.
"Come on sweet pea. Wake up." Draco said. Her eyes fluttered open and Draco smiled.
"Oh, don't tell me I fainted again!" Daisy moaned in dismay.
"I'm afraid so." Draco said as he helped her up.
"So, I guess that cuts our date a little short, huh?" Daisy looked up at Draco abashedly. Draco smiled again.
"Let's just take this…slower." He said as he ushered her toward the door. "I don't want to over excite you in such a delicate condition."
"Yeah, I'm sorry again. I don't know what happened." Daisy said. "You don't have to walk me to my dorms this time."
"You sure you'll be fine?" Draco asked.
"Yeah. I'll see you around?" Daisy looked at Draco hopefully.
"You bet." Draco had to think of a way to distance himself from Daisy before the girl got too attached.
Draco watched Daisy leave before he got a whiff of something exquisite the other way. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from and walked around the corner and down another hallway before he stopped and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Hermione Granger was bent over, her hair dangling as she used her wand as a blow drier. The skirt of her school uniform was riding dangerously high in the back.
"Is it raining or do you always dry your hair in the hallway?" Draco asked. Hermione made a yelp of surprise but to her credit she aimed her wand in his direction immediately afterward. Pity it was still blowing hot air, otherwise she would have been more intimidating. Draco smirked and coolly walked over to her, hands in his pocket. "Oh, I get it. There is never enough room in the bathrooms for all that…hair you have."
"Get lost Malfoy, I'm not in the mood to humor you today." Hermione snapped. She shook her wand and it stopped blowing air.
"Oooh, poor wittle 'mione get left by her boyfriends again?" Draco mock pouted. Hermione immediately cast stupefy but Draco was ready for it. Children's spells were slow. He had trouble with Aurors but there weren't any present, were there? Draco slid out of the pathway of the direction, his hands still in his pockets. "Wittle 'mione having a temper tantrum?"
"Why do you do this to me!?" Hermione screamed in frustration. Draco was in front of her before she could even blink; his body was so close that she would feel the fabric of his clothes on her skin. He grabbed a lock of her hair and held it up to his nose. Hermione's eyes widened when he sniffed her hair.
"I don't think I can help it." Draco whispered almost inaudibly. Her smell was subtle when it wasn't directed right at him. Something that he would have overlooked all the time he'd known her. It wasn't until she cut her finger that her scent became familiar to him. Not it's locked in his mind. Perhaps he would be able to smell her more often. Would that be so bad?
"Don't touch me!" Hermione hissed and jerked herself away from him. Just then Ron and Harry entered the area, laughing and shaking out their wet hair. They were soaked to the bone.
"Hey, 'mione you shouldn't have run back so soon! We could have played in the rain more." Harry laughed before he noticed Draco. His smile faded but he didn't look at Draco with hatred. Unlike, Ron, who immediately stepped forward and pushed Hermione behind him for protection.
"What the hell are you doing here Malfoy?" Ron growled.
"Just passing through. You came just in time to see me leave." Draco smiled and stuck his hands back in his pockets. Harry had already dismissed Draco and was turning toward Hermione.
"Why did you run back so soon? You usually like the rain." He asked her.
"I don't like the rain at night." She answered. Draco looked passed a still glaring Ron to eye Hermione. It was the first time he ever looked at her softly.
"You can't see the stars." He said with a kind smile. She turned toward him with wide surprised eyes. Draco shrugged and turned away. As he walked away he continued. "At least that's why I don't like it."
As he walked away he tuned his ears to their conversation as they whispered furiously to each other.
"What was he doing? Was he threatening you? I could…" Ron started.
"Oh what could you do Ron?" Hermione whispered back. "Besides, he wasn't doing anything that he doesn't always do."
"Yes, let's go with that." Harry said slightly sarcastically.
"What do you mean by that?" Hermione shot back, followed closely by Ron's "Yeah?!"
"I'm just saying that he sounded pretty agreeable just now." Harry offered.
"Well, he's not!" Hermione yelled. "He never will be. Draco bloody Malfoy is an insufferable beast!"
"Okay. I believe you. Should we kill him?" Harry's voice became lighter to show he was joking.
"If only…" Hermione's voice took on the humorous tone as well and the three laughed.
Leaning on a wall around the corner Draco was in a contemplative mood. He did something without thinking a moment ago. He sniffed Hermione like a wild creature. He wasn't in control and that was what truly freaked him out. Perhaps he should leave the trio alone for the time being until he forgets about Hermione Granger and his desire to sink his teeth into her neck. It wouldn't be smart to kill a student in such a closed place as Hogwarts. It would put unnecessary scrutiny on him. Vampires were lower on the totem pole than even Werewolves concerning the Ministry. He would be sent to Azkaban faster than he could blink. Then he would waste away slowly due to hunger. Not a favorable future. Draco heaved a sigh and headed toward his dorm. Maybe it would be better to keep her away from him from now on. Hermione Granger was bad news.