Chapter 3

The next month had been the worst month of Hermione's life. Well, maybe that was exaggerating, but it felt like the worst month of her life. Her friends assured her that it was okay that she didn't get the map back, but she could tell she disappointed them. She felt like they were starting to become distanced from each other. Harry was preoccupied with his secret meetings with Dumbledore and being Quidditch captain. Ron began dating Lavender Brown. Hermione swore he was trying to rub her face in it every chance he got.

And it was now official that Draco was avoiding her. He made sure that he was too busy on all the nights that she was available to patrol. While having patrol duty with Ernie Macmillan was decidedly more pleasant (even if he was a bit pompous at times), she was frustrated that she hadn't been able get more alone time with Draco.

The thought made her shudder.

Alone time with Draco.

She never thought she would ever want that.

Hermione rolled over in her bed and tried to fall asleep. Sleep didn't come easy to her anymore. It worried her that Draco had the map. Thinking of all the things he could do with, made her sick with anxiety. She was starting to get desperate to get it back.

Draco paced angrily in the Room of Requirement. Nothing was working. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He snatched up another book that he thought could help, but he was too frustrated to read the words on the page. He just glared at the ink, daring it to reveal what he needed. Draco sighed wearily. It was time to go to bed. He threw the book down, checked the map to see if anyone was around, and left.

He was surprised to hear soft sobbing when he entered the Slytherin common room.

Must be a first year who couldn't take the pressure.

Draco walked over to the couch to taunt the cry baby.

Pansy stiffened. She quickly wiped away her tears before she faced him. "Hello Draco. Just getting in?"

"What happened?" he asked angrily. He never seen Pansy cry before. Something must be seriously wrong. "Just tell me who to kill."

She chuckled. "It's not that simple."

What? Pansy thought killing solved everything.

That's why they got along so well.

He sat down and pulled her into his lap.

She stiffened. "We can't do this."

"Why not?" He was confused by her behavior.

"Because I'm to be promised to someone else." Her bottom lip trembled slightly, but she was too strong to allow herself to cry in front of him.

"What?"

"My parents are afraid that your family may fall out of favor with the Dark Lord because…because it's taking you longer than…expected."

"But they already were in the process of making a marriage agreement with my father."

She slipped off his lap. "Yes well they saw an opportunity to better their position. They're beginning negotiations with someone else. "

"Who?"

She shook her head.

He was actually surprised that she told him that much. "So if I succeed with my task?"

"My parents will finalize the agreement with your father and we'll be married after graduation."

"And if I don't?"

She remained quiet.

He moved to pull her back to him.

"No, Draco," she said quietly. "I can't."

"Why? It's not like you're married to that other guy."

"My parents are waiting to see what happens. If you fail, they don't want me to be associated with you."

Pure blood politics.

It made what went on in Slytherin look like child's play.

A horrible realization dawned on him. "But we already-"

"I know." Pansy's voice was shaky.

He understood why she had been crying.

She was afraid.

"I feel so stupid!" She buried her face in her hands.

It had been stupid of them. They had been so careless back then. They thought they were untouchable. That was before they realized that life was a game. A cruel game that dealt you an unfair hand. To live was to cheat everyone else. Pansy should've realized that she should put herself well-being first.

Rule number of the real world: Always put yourself first.

Pansy grabbed his robes desperately. "Draco you have to do it. You have to succeed or we'll both be-"

Draco brushed her off. "I know. I'm under enough pressure as it is. Don't you think my own life is enough to motivate me?"

They sat in silence. Draco supposed they grew up too fast. Maybe in another place and time, it would be different. However the reality was their lives were nothing but a series of dangerous games. Back in third year, he used to think he lived for danger. Now he knew the truth: he lived for himself. Self-preservation was game now.

Pansy sat still next to him looking slightly shaken. Without her wicked edge, she looked so much younger than she usually did. It was hard to think of themselves as only 16 after everything they've been through.

With a growl of frustration, he pulled her to him. Draco grabbed the back of her head and forced her lips on his. Her fingers curled into his robes. She was used to his roughness. He kissed her until he thought he would asphyxiate. They broke apart.

"You better succeed," Pansy breathed before she left him alone in the darkness.

Hermione sat down next to Ginny who was staring at the Slytherin table. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh just more Slytherin drama," Ginny said. "There's trouble in paradise."

Hermione looked over. Draco was sitting next to Nott. Nothing new there. Her brown eyes panned left. Now there was something new. Pansy was sitting on the other side of Nott. Trouble in paradise indeed.

Daphne Greengrass entered the Great Hall. She seemed to notice the change immediately. Pansy was looking at Daphne expectantly. Daphne walked over slowly, trying to make up her mind. This was a dangerous game. She passed by the seat next to Pansy and sat in the empty seat next to Draco.

Hermione and Ginny raised their eyebrows at each other.

Who needed TV when you had the Slytherin house?

It was certainly better than any soap opera Hermione's mother ever watched.

"What are you looking at?" Harry sat down across from them.

"Slytherin drama," Ginny muttered, poised to see what would happen next.

He glanced over at the table. He didn't see the big deal. "Malfoy has a new girlfriend?"

"So it seems," the youngest Weasley sighed as she realized that there was not going to be a fight.

"Trouble in paradise." Daphne smirked and indicated the Gryffindor table with the flick of her eyes.

Draco warily turned his attention from her to Hermione who was sitting next to Harry. The other third of the trio was sitting a little farther down with Lavender.

"It looks like the trio is starting to become a duo," Nott remarked dryly. "Nothing new there."

"Yes, the pauper is always bitching about something," Draco said without much interest.

"Oh poor me I'm poor," Daphne mimicked Ron's voice unflatteringly.

That earned a few snickers.

Draco eyed the girl next to him. He could feel his subjects' attention on their king. They wanted to know if Daphne would meet his approval which would boot Pansy off her throne. He honestly didn't know, yet. Pansy already proved that she would pick someone else over him if need be. Well so would he. Daphne was pretty, pure blooded, and what she lacked in wickedness she made up for with cunning. Yes she was an opportunist. Draco could respect that.

As far as making her the new queen…well he would see.

The stunt at breakfast wasn't the only power play made by Daphne. She successfully weaseled her way into Pansy usual place next to Draco in the common room. Pansy glowered at her from across the room where she speaking with Nott. He could tell Pansy was itching to claim her old spot. It made him smug. Pansy was starting to realize how hard it was to queen without a king.

Later that night, Draco descended the stairs in front of the Great Hall. Hermione was standing in front of the grand doors, tapping her foot impatiently. It was unlike Ernie to be late. He was always reminding her not be late. Sometimes that boy had a lot of nerve.

Hermione turned when she heard his footsteps. "I was starting to-oh it's you."

"Manners, Granger," Draco admonished. "The polite thing to do would have been to say 'Hello Malfoy'."

She crossed her arms indignantly. "I wasn't expecting you. Where's Ernie?"

"He's busy. He asked me to cover for him." He really bribed him.

"Oh."

"Come on. Let's start with the dungeons and work our way up."

Hermione hesitated.

Smart little Mudblood.

He feigned irritation. "I'm not leading you into an ambush. You're really not worth the effort."

She glared at him. "Obviously." Well this wasn't going as well as she hoped.

"Come on. I don't want this to take all night."

They walked in silence for a while. Both were trying to come up with the best way to deceive the other. Draco found a way first. After all he was a Slytherin, deceit was more his game.

"I've been thinking about what you said."

"What did I said?" she asked warily.

"About relying on others…"

"What about it?"

"I need…never mind. Forget it."

"What is it, Malfoy? You can talk to me. Believe me I can't possibly think any worse of you than I already do." She tried to lighten the mood so he would relax.

"I…I am under a lot of pressure to…fix something and-and I'm not sure if I can do it on my own," he said begrudgingly.

There's the bait.

Hermione took it. "What do you need to fix? Maybe I can help."

Oh Merlin, he was good.

He deserved—what did Muggles call it—an Oscar.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Why would you help me?"

Okay Hermione be smart about this.

What is a reply that a Slytherin wouldn't be suspicious of?

"That's something I should ask you," she said. "What's in it for me?"

"I'm surprised, Granger. Aren't you supposed to be the champion of the underdog? The ever eager hero? That is the Gryffindor way."

"Gryffindors aren't stupid either."

"No that would be Hufflepuff," he amended.

She glared at him. "You're not convincing me."

Silence

"Forget it," he hissed.

"Giving up so easy?" She raised an eyebrow. "That's not very Slytherin. Aren't you supposed to do everything in your power to get what you want?"

A challenge.

Draco's determination would not be questioned.

"If you fix it, I'll give you a Time-Turner."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

Yes, that's right. Gape in amazement Mudblood.

"But how could you-"

"I am a Malfoy. We have connections."

She frowned in suspicion. "All of the Ministry's were destroyed."

He looked down at her haughtily. "Oh please, I don't need the Ministry's castoffs. What part of I am a Malfoy didn't you understand."

She didn't believe him, but she wasn't going to pass the opportunity up. "What do you want me to fix?"

"I'll show you." Draco led her a few feet to a tapestry.

That was convenient.

Almost like he planned it.

Hermione kept her suspicions to herself as she watched Draco pull back the tapestry to reveal a door. The Room of Requirement. She hesitated outside the door. Again, smart little Mudblood. She had no reason to trust him, and she was well aware of this. It wasn't the first time he wondered why she wasn't placed in Ravenclaw.

He rolled his eyes and went in. "Again, you're not worth an ambush."

Hermione brushed past him. She surveyed the room. It was horribly cluttered. It made the spacious room feel closed in, small. Draco watched her as she analyzed every aspect of their surroundings. Her brown eyes swept over stacks of books, some of which had been toppled from what looked like frustration. There was a path of matted down fibers in the rug from pacing. Her fingers traced the countless overlapping waterlogged rings on the wood table. A lot of time was spent in this room. Just standing in the room for two minutes made her restless.

She looked over at Draco's weary face. She could tell he spent a lot of time in the room, and it was doing something to him. It made him seem more human to her. There were tired lines edged in face too deep for his age. Hermione understood the feeling. She felt too old for her age sometimes, too.

"It's over there." Draco pointed.

"The cabinet?" she asked incredulously. "Why?"

"It belonged to my family once," he said quietly. "I want to be able to show my dad I can do something right. That I'm not a fuck up."

It was easy to say these things when he told himself he was acting.

She picked up a book that had been thrown in one of Draco's rages. "Let's get started."

The first night was tense.

They silently delved into book after book. Draco chucked a book on top of the one Hermione laid in the 'useless pile'. She was concentrating on something she thought was interesting. He shoved a loose bit of parchment he just found into her face.

"What about this?" He indicated the text with his finger.

He resented the way she leaned away from him ever so slightly.

If anything, she should be grateful he even got that close to a Mudblood.

Her expert eyes quickly scanned the page. "Interesting," she murmured. She slipped the parchment from his fingers to get a better look.

He hovered over her shoulder. "Well?"

She nodded. "Yes this incantation should work but the charm…"

"What about it?"

"The charm isn't strong enough to hold."

Draco paced in his usual spot. It seemed all he felt in this room was frustration.

Hermione eyed him warily. "These things take time, Malfoy."

That wasn't something he wanted to hear. They fell into silence again.

Hermione was tired when she shuffled into the Great Hall the next day. Well, more like later that morning. She sat next to Ginny and across from Harry. She was sure she looked like death warmed over which was better than looking like shit she supposed.

"Morning," she muttered.

Harry looked even more haggard than she did. He nodded.

Ginny sighed. "You two are already bringing me down and day hasn't started yet."

"Why don't you sit with Dean then?" he asked bitterly.

"Maybe I wanted to sit with my friends," she said through clenched teeth.

"Wouldn't you rather sit with someone who made you happy?"

Ginny stood. "I don't know what you're problem is, but you need to fix it quick." With that, she left.

Hermione wondered when they would stop playing games.

He sighed heavily.

"'Operation: Blind Him With Science' is a go," she said to lift his mood.

"Really?" Harry looked hopeful.

She nodded. "I don't want you to worry about it though. You've got too much to worry about already. Let me handle this."

He smiled at her with relief. Deep down she knew he would worry anyway.

The fifth night was quiet.

They had successfully separated most of the books into either the 'useful' or the 'useless' pile without a word.

"Tell me something about you," Hermione said desperately. Her words cut through the silence.

"What?" It was a tired question.

She shrugged. "Something no one else knows."

He glared at her. "Why the fuck would I tell you that?"

"Everyone needs someone to talk to," she whispered. "Even you."

Draco didn't even acknowledge something so absurd. They fell back into silence.

"I don't like red," Hermione said as she fingered her tie after some time had passed. "No one knows that but you."

He didn't acknowledge that either.

Draco sat in the common room trying to feel like a king. He only felt weary. Daphne was next to him in her usual place now. Pansy was slowly being shoved down the power ladder. He enjoyed that. He enjoyed how angry that made her. He reveled in it.

Theodore sat on Draco's right in an armchair. He eyed him warily. He was a potential enemy now. Theodore's rose rapidly to where he was in the social chain. Draco would make sure he didn't get too high. The king kept his enemy close. It was easier to keep his eye on him.

The common room was thinned out until it was just Draco and the Brute Squad. After a while he told Crabbe and Goyle to go to bed, too. He wanted to be alone. He couldn't be himself around them. Draco stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes. Thinking.

He felt a small hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes. "Pansy?"

She kissed him. It took him a few seconds to give in. Pansy laid down next to him on the couch, wrapping one slender leg around his waist. Draco curled his fingers around her arms. Her skin was cold. He chuckled against her lips. She was cold blooded. Slytherin through and through. She nipped at his lower lip. He pulled off her sweater vest. She loosened his tie. Their moves grew more desperate. He unbuttoned her shirt but left her tie on. She liked it when he pulled on it while they fucked. Pansy was kinky like that. They both were.

Draco pulled her underneath him. He crushed into her, searching for warmth. They were both reaching. Pansy wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer. She tangled her fingers in his hair to force his lips down on hers again.

Footsteps.

Pansy went ridged. Draco kept touching her. If someone came, he would just order them away like he always did. Her small hands went to chest, trying to push him off—away. He got off her bitterly. She wanted him only when no one else could see.

"Don't come near me again," he sneered.

She glared at him and covered herself with her cloak before leaving.

Theodore passed by her and didn't comment on their ruffled clothes.

The sixth day was exciting.

"I found the charm we need," she muttered. Her voice was so tired that she didn't even understand her own words.

"What?" His heart lifted a little. He stood in surprise.

Realization dawned on her. Hermione smiled, her face lighting up. "I found the charm we need!" She jumped from her chair. Her legs ached from sitting so long.

They ran around the room joyously to release their energy and frustration. They ran and laughed. She smiled at him and he smirked at her. It was first time she saw him look close to being happy in a long time. It made the weariness worth it.

Breathless, Hermione leaned on the table. "The charm is complicated. Beyond 7th year even. It will be hard to do."

"Stop being so cynical," he said. "That's my job."

She grinned at him. "True."

When she grinned like that, it reminded him of Pansy. The way she was during a simpler time. Hermione sat back in her chair breathlessly and leaned to turn on another lamp.

"No," he mumbled. "Don't."

She frowned. "Why?"

"I don't like bright places…they don't feel like home," he said quietly. "No one knows that."

"I can't sleep in the dark anymore. Not since…5th year."

Draco stood over her shoulder. He could feel her warmth without touching. He quickly turned away. That was enough secrets for one day.

The tenth day was frustrating.

Hermione watched Draco coolly. "I told you would be difficult."

He was pacing again. "Shut the fuck up."

She turned away from him. Hermione listened to him fail at doing the charm again while her eyes swept the room. She was almost positive the map was in the room somewhere. Sometimes when she got up from the table to stretch her legs, he would watch her every move with suspicion. It was a small comfort to know that he didn't have it at his disposal at all times, but that just made the map harder to get to. Especially since Draco spent all his time in the room.

"I know your weakness," she said boldly.

Draco stiffened. He turned to her, wand raised. "You don't know anything about me."

"That's your weakness right there."

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You figure it out."

They were on patrol duty again. They were both itching to get back to the Room of Requirement. Draco's itch was from necessity. Hermione's was from determination.

Draco pulled a flask from his cloak and took a swig.

"What is that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well it sure as fuck isn't pumpkin juice." He smirked at her. "Want some?" His eyes glittered daringly.

"I don't drink."

Draco snorted. "Typical."

She glared at him, snatched the flask, and took a swig. "It's butterbeer!"

"Sure. What did you think it was?" His grey eyes were wide and innocent.

"You know what I thought it was," she replied snippily.

"I know your thoughts now?" he asked.

"No more that I know yours."

"Then I don't know them at all," he said quietly.

They walked in silence for a while.

"I tell people I'm allergic to tomatoes," she said, "but I'm really not. I just don't like them."

"Sneaky. How Slytherin of you."

"Hardly." She pursed her lips. "What about you? Tell me something no one knows."

"I don't like my hair."

Hermione gapped at him. "But your hair is so pretty."

He glared at her. "Exactly. I want sinister hair."

"Like Snape's?"

"No his hair is creepy."

She laughed. "How can hair be sinister anyway? You should go bald."

His horrified look said it all.

Blasphemy.

Hermione laughed again.