Draco awoke bright and early, ready to begin irritating the mudblood immediately. Getting dressed quickly and efficiently into his robes, he wondered if she was already awake. He was answered by the sound of the shower turning on in the bathroom next door. He almost groaned with the realization that they were sharing a bathroom before he realized that he could use that to his advantage. With an evil smile, Draco approached the door and tried to turn the knob. Of course, the witch had locked it. With a simple 'Alohomora,' he entered the bathroom.

He could hear the girl scramble to grab a towel behind him as he walked to stand in front of the sink and mirror. "GET OUT, YOU PERVERT!" she screamed at him. He didn't even glance in her direction as he began to apply his sleek hair gel.

"As if," he scoffed, staring intently at his platinum blonde hair. "You're not much to look at, Mudblood. Not worth my time."

"I locked the door for a reason!" she cried, clutching the towel tight to her body.

"You've forgotten that this is also my bathroom, stupid girl," he replied in a cold voice. He scowled, as the steam from the shower water was beginning to fog up the mirror. He threw her a look over his shoulder, looking at her for the first time. Though her body was covered by the towel, the tops of her breasts rose over the edge of the cotton that she was wrapped so tightly in. They were bigger than her usual school robes would have revealed, he noted in the back of his mind. "Turn the freaking water off, it's messing up the mirror," he demanded with a sneer. A big part of him took pleasure in watching her squirm with discomfort in the corner.

With a huff, she and her towel garment left the bathroom, leaving the water running. Draco smiled to himself with pride and went to turn it off himself before finishing his hair. Getting under her skin was going to be too easy. It wasn't like she could report this to anyone; he hadn't tried to look at her naked and he had equal rights to the bathroom. She was just going to have to deal with it.

He headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast without another sighting of Granger. So far, all was going according to plan.

As he took a seat next to Zabini, Professor Snape approached and ceremoniously handed him his schedule. Glancing at it, he noted with disgust that most of his classes would be shared with the Gryffindors. Why couldn't classes be separated like the houses were? Then, he reasoned that perhaps this would give him even more of an opportunity to get to Granger. He was intelligent, and he sure as hell knew it. Getting ahead of her in everything he could would definitely be key to sending her over the edge.

Blaise noticed his friend's thinking expression. He smirked and nudged Draco. "How's the little plan going?"

Draco grabbed some bacon and a scoop of eggs for his plate. "Let's just say that Granger and I share a bathroom," he said in a low voice, a smug look on his face.

Blaise's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Holy shit, man. They've made it too easy."

"I quite agree," he said triumphantly, taking a bite of a sausage. His eyes trailed across the room to Hermione, who was just now taking her seat. She still looked a bit flustered from their little scene earlier, but she appeared to be playing it off like nothing had happened. As she reached for a spoon to scoop some food onto her plate, he watched the carrot-headed Weasel give her a kiss on the cheek. Draco scrunched up his nose in disgust. He had just found something else to pick on her about- the fact that the best she could do was Weasley.

Breakfast finished and the first bell for class sounded. Grabbing her bag, Hermione stood along with her friends. They had Potions first, which, although it was a terrible way to start the day, wouldn't be half as bad with Harry and Ron. She was suddenly grateful that she had them to help ward off Malfoy.

She hadn't told her friends about the bathroom incident, since she was determined not to give Malfoy any fuel for the fire. If she allowed Harry and Ron to become her body guards, he would only pick on the fact that she couldn't defend herself. And she definitely could.

"Alright! Alright! Settle down!" called Professor Slughorn as he came out of the ingredient storage room. "Today's potion will be independent, so would everyone please set up their stations…" He waved his wand at a stack of books on his desk, which then proceeded to pass themselves out to the students. "Will everyone please turn to page 37!"

Hermione obliged and saw that they wo


uld be working on a potion with fumes that caused uncontrollable laughter. It was called, appropriately, Gigglestitch. Unpacking and laying out her ingredients, Hermione set to work immediately.

"You'll know you've done it right when it turns a bright yellow!" Slughorn called, walking around the room. "No, Mr. Weasley, you'll want to slice that beetle horizontally…"

Across the room from Hermione, Draco was deep at work. He was determined to finish before Granger, determined to show her up a little. As he sliced and sprinkled ingredients into his cauldron, he remembered a bit of advice Professor Snape had given him about being able to take a shortcut on potions that created emotions by using a snake eye instead of a rat's or frog's. Figuring that laughter and happiness would accurately fit the criteria, he switched out the ingredient. Within no time, his potion was a bright, golden yellow.

Slughorn approached when he saw Draco look up from his cauldron. He eyed the color of the liquid and smiled. "Go on and test it boy," he said quietly. Though he didn't really want to test a potion that make him break out in a fit of laughter, he could feel a certain Gryffindor's eyes on him. He leaned forward and sniffed the heavy fumes, which smelled vaguely like mayonnaise. Suddenly, the prospect of beating Granger and scaring her out of her Head Girl position seemed hysterical. Draco opened his mouth and burst out laughing, doubling over. He placed a hand against his table to steady himself, eyes stinging from the tears that the laughter brought on. All eyes were on him now, especially Granger's.

She had never seen him laugh like that. His laughs were always cruel and cold, biting like frostbite. But this laugh… It was warm and genuine, a sound Hermione never would've guessed could come out of Malfoy. She blinked, clearing her head. Of course, it was only the potion making him laugh like that. He wasn't lighthearted or actually funny in any way.

Slughorn handed Draco a vile to stop the laughter, and he was back to his stone faced self in moments. He shot Hermione a smug look, seeing as he was able to make the potion before she was. She didn't understand how it was even possible… The soaking of the pine needles took at least 10 minutes, not to mention the long process of de-veining the outside of a Mink's heart… glancing at her own potion list, she saw that she still had four steps to go.

How had he beaten her?

Draco could tell that her feathers were ruffled. As Slughorn awarded him with 10 points to Slytherin, he watched as she turned back to her potion with a furrowed brow. He would certainly be teasing her about this later.

The bell sounded after most of the students had finished their potions. Seamus' potion ended up blowing up (surprisingly, he hadn't managed to do that since fourth year), completely covering himself in a green smile as well as the unfortunate Neville Longbottom. Draco spent the entire rest of the class brainstorming ways to get under Hermione's skin, and so he left the class with several fabulous ideas. A couple of the students from the potions class were still looking at him weird because of his laughing fit, but they stopped when he sneered at them.

Next was Charms, which was uneventful since the Slytherins had the class with the Hufflepuffs. Ten minutes into the class, Draco had mastered the spell and spent the rest of the period ignoring Pansy. She was desperately trying to get him to help her or at least speak to her. He had broken up with her several times, even when they technically weren't even in a relationship. But she just kept coming back for more. Everything about Pansy was annoying, but at least he could always count on her to be begging at his feet like the dog she was.

After that was Transfiguration, which was with the Gryffindors. The task they were given was to turn a sparrow into a tortoise, which was especially hard given that birds don't tend to sit still when you're waving wands at them. Draco had only just begun attempting the transformation when he heard McGonagall speaking across the room. "Wonderfully done, Ms. Granger… 15 points…"

Draco spun in his chair and caught a glimpse of Hermione's triumphant expression. Her eyes met his, and she grinned with pride. He simply cocked an eyebrow at her and swiveled back around in his seat. It was so on.

Hermione and Draco spent the rest of the day silently competing in every class they shared. "Blimey, Mione, you're working so fast your hands are gonna fall off," Ron commented in Herbology as they extracted beans from inside the pods of a Pujoff plant. He had looked away from his own plant for too long however, and it took the chance to bite his ear. "OW!" He yelled, wrestling with the plant. Across the table, Hermione heard Draco chuckle. She shot him a look of pure hatred.

"What's so funny, Malfoy?" Harry voiced for her.

"It seems Granger has some competition. Just when I thought Weasel could stoop no lower… He starts messing around with a plant," Draco commented in an amused voice. "What shall the ship name be, then? Rujoff? Punald? Or should I mix Pujoff with Weasel instead?"

"Shut up, Malfoy. You're just jealous because you can't turn a bird into a bloody turtle," Ron butt in.

Draco's eyes narrowed, but he continued his rant. "Personally, I think you're better off. A plant is certainly a step up from a Mudblood," he added.

Ron lunged across the table, but Hermione and Harry managed to catch him by the arms. Professor Sprout looked up from her own plant and yelled at them to quit it before she loosed the Snoofalah Hand Trappers on them. Ron managed to tone his anger down a bit, turning back to his plant with an angry look towards Draco. The Slytherin chuckled. He glanced over at Hermione before turning back to his own plant.

Hermione did the same, pushing Draco's nasty words out of her mind. Of course she was worth more than a plant. She knew he was just trying to get a rise out of them and instigate trouble. But calling her a Mudblood didn't have the same effect on her that it used to- she knew that that sort of prejudice had nothing to do with who she actually was. If Malfoy believed that about her, fine- but he certainly wasn't going to get her to feel that way herself.

Across the table, Draco continued his work on his plant almost disappointed. He had expected Granger to react in someway to being called a Mudblood, to being called less valuable than a plant. But as the conversation ended, he saw no tears in her eyes, only contempt. Damn, maybe it would be harder than he thought to unravel the scum that was Hermione Granger.

But Draco Malfoy did not back away from a challenge. It was only day 1, after all.


Two updates in one day? I must be really into this story! The best part is probably coming up with names for things, like a Snoofalah Hand Trapper. Please, review and favorite! -E