Hello! Here's the first official chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it. :) I am open to comments and constructive criticism! if you have any suggestions on how I can improve, please leave them here yay. I'd love to get the chance to write better (English isn't my first language after all.) Okay I'll stop talking now, thank you again for being here hehe.

(I don't own anything!)


A sleep-deprived Malfoy made his way to the Slytherin table. Despite his current state, his face did not display any signs of pulling an all-nighter. His signature expression washed over his features. The table beside him, however, was occupied by a girl who could serve as a poster child for sleepless nights. Hermione couldn't concentrate, having stayed up late to play a few extra rounds to catch up to Malfoy's score.

Her friends have noticed, but they did not bother asking her why she looked like, for a lack of a better term, a mess. They figured that she stayed up late reading one of her books again.

"So…what's up?" The red-head inquired. Hermione lazily glanced at Ron. He looked the same as always, his flaming hair sitting on top of his head. Hermione remembered one of the questions from the game she and Malfoy have been playing every night.

"Did you know that less than two percent of the muggle world's population are gingers like you?" She said. Ron raised a brow, clearly confused.

Hermione sat up straighter, adjusting her robes.

"Did you call me a ginger? That's an ingredient right?" he asked. Hermione nodded, "Yes, isn't it fascinating? You also have blue eyes, that's a very rare combination." She finished.

Ron was blushing, confusing Hermione's sudden explosion of facts as some sort of teenage flirting. Hermione, however, did not notice. She just felt a certain twinge of pride, having beat Malfoy in the science round of the game.

"You're technically a mutant you know, something about a gene acting up. Right?" Harry, who was half-listening to their conversation, chipped in. He gave Hermione a look, asking for confirmation. Hermione flashed a grin and nodded.

"I don't know if I should feel special or attacked," Ron grumbled. The three broke into laughter and continued eating their meals. Light conversation filled the Great Hall. Eventually, the students started leaving for their respective classes.

The three went their separate ways, due to having different classes. It was an elective period, meaning the students were all jumbled up. Hermione had Muggle Studies ("I'd like to learn about it with a Wizard's perspective!"), Harry had Magical History ("It's better than Dance"), while Ron had Dance Lessons. (The ginger was one of the last ones to sign up, meaning he had no choice but to enlist in the last class available, which happened to be Dance).

Ron wasn't the only one who got unlucky in the sign-up process. Draco, who didn't take the "first-come-first-serve" thing seriously, had to choose between Dance or Muggle Studies.

That is how the Slytherin ended up walking to class with Hermione, who bumped into him on her way to their classroom.

"You look like shit." He said, grinning at her. The two sat down on their usual seats.

"I look like a winner." She mused.

Students began to fill in, talking amongst themselves while waiting for their Professor to show up. None of them gave the two a second glance, they assumed that their conversation was purely educational (and it technically was). None of the students cared about the unusual combination, unlike other students would. Hermione knew that Harry and Ron would freak out once they found out that she's friends with Malfoy.

The door swung open, revealing a rather chipper Professor Lawrence. He made his way to his desk and greeted the class.

"The entire period will be dedicated to research, I trust that you will use your time wisely. You have the choice to remain here with your partner and write your report, or you may also go to the library to do additional research." Some students groaned upon hearing his instructions.

Hermione and Draco gave each other a knowing glance. Another opportunity to play with that damn game, Malfoy thought. A major requirement for the subject was to choose a muggle item and to do a report on it with a partner. Surprisingly, the two agreed to become partners on their own. Mr. Lawrence gave the class an opportunity to choose because they were "mature enough anyway", but these so-called mature students flocked to Hermione and Draco, hoping for the chance to leech of their work.

Hermione, overwhelmed with the sudden attention, didn't know who to say yes to. That was when Malfoy sauntered to her seat and coolly told everyone that they've already paired up. Their classmates were rather intimidated by his tone, so they all quickly dispersed and paired up with the remaining students.

Hermione was dumbfounded, why would Malfoy, someone who openly hated her, want to become partners on a year-long project?

"Don't give me that look. I know that you're not the type to make someone else do all the work. Frankly, I don't want to be paired up with someone who doesn't care about their studies, and I know you don't either. This is the best case scenario for the both of us." He logically stated.

The brunette considered it and nodded. As much as she loved helping out others, she was tired of having lazy group mates or partners. Malfoy smirked, knowing that he made sense.

"Fine. One condition, stop being rude." She requested.

That was three months ago, and over the span of those months, the two have come to terms and formed some sort of truce.

Hermione's friends were still oblivious, comments were still exchanged whenever they would come across Malfoy and his friends, but they never noticed the absence of remarks about Granger or her "heritage", as they were absorbed in their own anger.

Some students left the classroom to go to the library, and a few stayed inside. Professor Lawrence accompanied the others and quietly shut the door behind him.

Draco whipped out his cellphone and turned it on, ready to tempt Granger into playing a couple of rounds with him. They were almost done with their report, but if they weren't so distracted by that app, they would've finished it ages ago if they really wanted to.

"Malfoy, I hope you turned that on for educational purposes only. We have to finish our RRL" She half-heartedly stated, fingers dancing on top of her own phone.

"Scared you'll lose, Granger?" He smirked. Although they formed a truce, it was still fun to taunt the brunette.

Hermione shot him a glare, then hit start on the game.

"Ten rounds." She said, not breaking eye contact with him.

"You're on, Granger."