This is the longest chapter `-`

Hope you likee

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Repulsive. Horrible. Mudblood.

Draco endured his classes with his jaw clenched the entire time. His friends didn't talk to him, knowing he was clearly upset. That was fine with him. He'd blow a gasket soon enough without someone trying to provoke him, anyway.

She touched him. Stroked him, to be more exact. Draco never felt so burned. Like her skin left a burning mark where she touched, he could feel it biting him all day, like an annoying mosquito that followed him around.

The worst part was, during most of his classes, she watched him.

In one class, where there were two groups of desks facing each other, Granger stared at him with her deep, brown eyes. Draco looked away in disgust, avoiding them. They were probing, trying to read his face and expressions. He wasn't going to look at her the entire class.

He peeked.

She was still watching him. There was nothing hostile about her expression. She didn't even look mad. She had her elbows propped up on the desk with her head resting in her hands. She looked completely at ease. This didn't make him feel comfortable. So to challenge her, he stared back at her, his eyes narrowing.

They watched each other the entire glass, and after half an hour, he couldn't feel his face anymore. He wasn't sure what his expression was. But her face had changed. She looked puzzled at something. Suddenly, Pansy, sitting next to him, started shaking his shoulder.

"What are you smiling at?" She asked curiously behind the teachers back. Draco was taken aback. Smiling? Since when did he, Draco Malfoy, smile?

He guessed it was probably looking at Granger. Her face was so repulsive it made him smile. He nodded to himself. Yes, that's it. He shook his head toward Pansy, who shrugged and looked away again. So he was smiling. For how long? He wasn't sure. But he was positive that was what was puzzling Granger.

When class ended, he noticed from the corner of his eye as Granger was the first to rise and to leave. He laughed coldly to himself, proud of the effect he had on her.

-

By the time dinner came, he had trained himself not to look at her. Not staring at her would save his dinner. He enjoyed talking with his friends, distracting himself completely from the Gryffindor table.

It was halfway through dinner though, that he broke his mental law.

He needed to look at her, to see if she was staring at him again. Not that he wanted to, he just wanted to find out if she still was, so he could walk over there and slap her right in the face and demand what her problem was. But that's when he saw a tall, dark haired Ravenclaw approaching her with a smile and a white rose in his hand.

It clicked. Draco realized the Ravenclaw was going to ask her to the Winter Masquerade tomorrow night. He watched with amusement. He couldn't wait for the Ravenclaw to realize that she wasn't worth asking and Draco wanted to watch the Ravenclaw reject Granger without even asking her first.

Draco noticed Longbottom taking out his wand next to Hermione, showing it to the table that it was broken. He turned his attention back to the Ravenclaw. He tapped Hermione on the shoulder, giving her the white rose and smiling. Draco winced. Why would anyone want to ask her?

"Look, everyone, that Ravenclaw's going to ask Granger to the dance! Let's watch him hurl when he realizes what he's doing." Draco announed to the table, and laughing, the Slytherins turned to watch.

The tall Ravenclaw retrieved something within his robes and held it out to her. Draco could see that it was a small green box the size of his palm, wrapped in green ribbon, and, squinting, Draco could see a small, moving snake as a decorative bow.

"Hey, that could be something he stole from the Slytherins and decided to give to Hermione!" Pansy shrieked.

Without thinking, Draco retrieved his wand from his robes and held it under the table, pointing it towards the Gryffindors. He levitated Longbottom's dinner in midair and shot it towards the Ravenclaw who now stood, covered in spaghetti from head to toe.

The Slytherin table burst out into laughter. Draco smirked triumphantly and tucked his wand back into his robes. Thankfully, nobody noticed it was him. The Ravenclaw had his eyes closed, his shoulders in the air. Slowly, he opened the box with his eyes still closed, pulling the necklace from within and throwing it at Hermione.

"I'll just ask someone else. You can keep the necklace." The Ravenclaw had declared loudly. In an instant, Professor McGonagall was at their sides, furious.

"Hmm, that doesn't look like any of our things. False alarm, then." Pansy declared.

"Who threw the food at him?" Professor McGonagall had asked the Gryffindors, peering around the table.

Everybody peered at Neville, who's broken wand was emitting sparks. He smiled sheepishly, unaware that Draco had thrown the food. Professor McGonagall had the Ravenclaw swept clean with a wave of her wand and she stomped off, muttering. The Ravenclaw followed suit, returning to his own table with a horrified look on his face.

-

Draco left dinner early, heading out into the Entrance Hall. He yawned and rubbed his eyes when he saw someone leaving the Entrance Hall in a swish of a cloak. Draco stared at the door, his senses on his Head Boy instincts, he headed for the door, and saw the shadow running as quickly as possible away from him.

"Hey, you there!" Draco shouted, but the running figure didn't stop or even turn. Angrily, Draco chased after him, pulling out his wand again. "You better stop! Where do you think you're going?"

But it was only until he broke through the first trees leading into the Forbidden Forest that he heard the runner's footsteps stop. Draco stopped, listening intently to every single sound. There was nothing except the tree branches moving slightly to the winter breeze.

He crept deeper into the forest, his wand out. He didn't light his wand, or he'd attract too much attention to himself. The runner would see him before he could see the runner. He saw a small, circular clearing up ahead. Between the trees, he could see the the runner, his back to him. He had a wand in his hand, too.

Draco stood at the very edge of the trees, raising his wand. He decided to have him disarmed, first.

"Expelliar-AURGH!" Draco bellowed, as the stranger had finally turned around with a familiar smirk on his face, levitating Draco in midair and hurling him against the nearest tree.

Draco felt the pain, but barely registered it. Instead, his head was full of swarming thoughts.

His first was, I did the Doppleganger spell! However, his second thought was, Oh, crap.

Draco was completely alone in the forest. Nobody was going to help him. If he performed the spell correctly, that meant that his Doppleganger copy was truly powerful at this point. It meant that he had more power in one finger than Draco did in his entire body. Just like my heart compared to Granger's. Draco thought humorlessly.

He stared at his own creation. It looked exactly like him, except for the eyes, which were a bright red. Something else clicked in Draco's mind. He frowned at his sudden connection.

He remembered father telling him that the Doppleganger was never to attack his creator. Especially if it would result in the creator's death, but the Doppleganger to live on. The Doppleganger was only supposed to become stronger, and when at its peak, the Doppleganger was supposed to return to the creator's body, where the creator would absorb all the new skills.

Draco had no time to think beyond that, as the Doppleganger laughed in a cold, humorless voice, raising him again into the air and strangling him with his power.

"You're-AGH not supposed to k-kill me!" Draco managed to say. He felt himself getting lightheaded. It felt like two invisible hands were wrapped around his own neck. The Doppleganger laughed.

"That's what you think, you idiot. You didn't perform the spell right. I'm not you anymore. I'm my own person. So if I kill you now, I'll absorb your power and become the strongest wizard in the wizarding world," The copy paused, smiling coldly. "If I'm lucky, even stronger than Lord Voldemort. When I destroy you, I'll never reach the peak where I have to return to your body. I'll become stronger. With every. Passing. Minute."

With every pause, the Doppleganger strangled Draco even tighter. Then, his eyes lightening considerably, he laughed again.

"And your dearest Granger. You should have really called her Hermione, by the way. She has such a beautiful name-" The Doppleganger stared off into space, sighing.

Draco stared numbly at his copy, confused. Where did that horrible statement come from? Draco never thought that way. Evil copy or not, the Doppleganger came from Draco, and Draco was positive he never felt that way about Hermione.

Or...

But his thought process was broken off by the tightening against his neck.

"You could have told her goodbye, in the way you really would have wanted to mean it," His copy sighed again, scoffing. Draco tried to speak, but all he could manage was small gasps of air. His copy's red eyes widened. "Oh, go ahead, speak. I'd like to hear this."

Draco panted for a few seconds, feeling the grip loosen a fair amount. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

The copy frowned, a mirror image of his own face. "The beautiful girl you call a Mudblood and saying goodbye to her. What else should I be talking about?"

"Granger's always meant nothing to me! She's like the dirt at the bottom of my shoe. She's a filthy Mudblood who shouldn't be here, who I could go my entire life without meeting," Draco venemously. "I'm just curious to where you got the sudden impression that you're in love with her when I never was."

To his surprise, the copy laughed whole-heartedly. He was about to speak when he hesitated. He looked in the direction of trees that lead towards the castle and scowled. Immidiately, he dropped Draco out of the air and fled, looking like he Dissapparated. But Draco didn't do anything to move.

He lay on his back, panting heavily. Everything in front of him was flashing white, the light most people see after a long run. Draco curled onto his side, pressing his cheek into the cold snow taking jagged breaths. A few seconds later, he heard twigs snap. He didn't move. If his Doppleganger was here to finish him off, there was no way he would be able to fight back.

But emerging out of the direction that Draco had arrived, Granger stepped out of the trees, her wand out and ready. He looked around the clearing, finally resting her eyes on him.

"Malfoy?" She was about to take a step toward him, but stopped.

Draco broke his gaze away from her and stared at the snow. He found it easier to talk to her this way. "Don't worry, Granger. It's me."

This seemed to have confirmed her thoughts. She nodded and helped him stand up, allowing him to put his arm around her so he could lean on her on the way back to the castle. They were quiet most of the journey, shivering in the winter cold.

"Wait, wait, we have to stop." Draco said, taking his arm off her and collapsing into the soft snow. They were already on Hogwarts grounds, near the castle.

"Come on, Malfoy, we have to go. We're nearly there," Hermione said urgently. "The Doppleganger might come back."

Draco looked up, a surprised expression on his face. "You know about that?" She nodded dissmissively, avoiding his eyes. "How did you know?"

"Well, er, I read about it this evening," She said simply, staring at the ground. "And I ran into him in the forest before I found you back there. He-"

"He what?" Draco hissed, his fists clenching. He was shocked at himself. He decided he wasn't angry out of jealousy. Just the fact that... The Doppleganger could have killed the only person who would have ended up helping him out of the forest. Granger suddenly became very interested in a strand of her own hair.

"He touched me a little," She looked away from him, hiding her face. "Er, he- anyway, I remembered reading about Dopplegangers somewhere. They're supposed to be replicas of you, but stronger."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that," Draco snapped. "But I did the spell wrong. He wants to kill me now. Once he kills me, he won't reach his peak of strength and return to me. He'll end up getting stronger."

"Stronger than You-Know-Who." Hermione's eyes widened.

"Exactly. But then, this doesn't explain why he, well-" He broke off, looking at Hermione. "Seduces you. That part I don't get."

Hermione looked at him sharply, then her eyes drifted to the ground. "The Dopplegangers come from you, you know that, right? They develop whatever goes through the creator's mind at the time he performs the spell," Draco froze, trying not to comprehend what she was saying. "What were you thinking about exactly before doing the spell?"

Draco didn't feel like lying anymore. "I was thinking about the look on your face when you told your story and nobody believed you. I wanted my copy to scare you so you'd leave me alone. But mainly, just the look on your face."

She sat on the ground beside him, wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. "You were thinking about me."

It began to dawn on him, but he refused to think about it. "The Doppleganger brings out emotions when not performed correctly." He summarized with an empty voice. Hermione nodded mutely. "Emotions that begin to grow on it's own, just like power?"

Hermione nodded again. "You're always saying you hate me."

"And yet, the Doppleganger doesn't hate you. He loves you. So all this means is that..."

He didn't want to believe it.

"That I've been hiding how I truly feel about you."

This couldn't be happening.

"That he loves you."

Hermione was listening quietly, not saying a word and listening to his detached sentences.

"That I possibly..."


Draco+Hermione=woo