Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Anything Harry Potter related that you recognize, I don't own.

The day had started out so promising for Hermione.

She woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day in a happy mood. She was caught up on all assignments and ahead of everyone else by at least three weeks. When she took her seat at breakfast, she smiled at Harry and Ron and fell into easy conversation with them. Things had been a little awkward between them with all of the relationship drama during the summer, and they had begun hanging out with different people. Nevertheless, they still remained close and laughed and joked like old times. They even made plans to go to Hogsmeade together the next weekend.

She entered potions, the first class of the day, in a chipper mood and took her seat. Setting up all of her supplies in an orderly manner, she folded her hands in her lap and waited for class to begin, thinking that maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all. That is until a tall blonde Slytherin took the empty seat beside her.

Her initial shock at him taking the seat next to her quickly morphed into anger as she regarded him with narrowed eyes. "What do you think you're doing Malfoy?" she hissed at him.

Turning towards her, he let his usual smirk take over his features and answered, "Why Granger, I thought it was obvious. I'm sitting here patiently waiting for class to start."

She bristled at his laid back response. Never in all of their schooling years together had they ever sat beside each other. Usually they tried to stay on the opposite sides of the room. "That's not what I meant and you know it" she huffed. "You can't sit here!"

Raising a platinum eyebrow he calmly said, "Why ever not Granger? Saving the seat for someone else were you?"

"Yes" she answered too quickly.

"For whom" he continued in that calm, laid back tone.

"Not you!" she spat getting incredibly flustered.

His smirk never faltered, nor did his smug expression change. "Well Granger, as hurt as I am by your obvious want to get rid of me, I'm afraid I won't be moving anytime soon. I'm merely following the rules you see."

"Rules?" she asked, furrowing her brows. "What are you talking about? There's no rule saying you have to sit by me."

Before he could reply, Slughorn walked in and addressed the class. "Good morning all! It has been brought to my attention that more needs to be done to promote house unity, considering all the animosity that still exists. Therefore, I have decided to arrange a little seating chart." As he was speaking, a piece of chalk floated up and began writing names of students from one house and pairing them up with students from another. "Let's rearrange ourselves quickly now" he continued as the students began grumbling and gathering their things. "Oh, do stop that now! The whole purpose of this is for you to get to know your partners better and realize you're not so different from each other. And remember, these will be your official seats and partners for the rest of the year!"

Hermione's jaw dropped when Slughorn said the last part and she looked in horror at the board showing her name next to Malfoy's. This couldn't be happening! She just couldn't be Malfoy's partner for the rest of the year!

"You did this" she choked out in a hoarse whisper turning to the blonde. "You made this happen! How else could you have known we would be put together?"

"Now Granger, how ever would I have been able to pull this off?" Draco asked innocently. "It's no secret that the professors have been shoving this house unity shite down our throats since we came back. As for how I knew we'd be partnered together, I merely overheard Slughorn discussing his seating chart with professor Binns this morning on the way to breakfast."

She was right of course. He was behind this in a discreet way. when trying to figure out how he was going to spend more time with her, he'd thought back to the day in Hagrid's class when he'd partnered with the Ravenclaw girl. Remembering how McGonagall was trying to get the houses to come together, an idea came to him and he realized exactly how he was going to coerce Granger into spending time with him, against her will of course. He approached McGonagall and reported several cases of students fighting with students from opposing houses. He laid it on thick for the old hag as he feigned impatience with the situation and called it 'childish and immature' as well as saying 'war should have taken care of all of this fighting.' He knew this was McGonagall's ultimate goal to achieve as Head Mistress and that she would become stricter with house unity stipulations. Just as he predicted, she called a meeting with the teaching staff and demanded they partner students together from opposing houses. After all, he'd been the one to subtly plant the idea in her head. He'd also found a discreet way to make sure he and Granger would always be paired together. Bloody Gryffindors were just too easy to manipulate, no matter how old, and oh so predictable.

Hermione spluttered at a loss for words. She knew he had something to do with this, but had no way of proving it. Realizing that like the Head Girl situation there was nothing she could do about this, she calmed down and proceeded to begin brewing their potion once Slughorn gave the directions. However, just because there was nothing she could do about it, didn't mean that she would try to become friendly or 'get to know Malfoy' as the professor had suggested. She chose to ignore him and completely took over their potion herself as though he wasn't there. Yet again, her failure to acknowledge his presence greatly annoyed him, but he refrained from insulting her. Instead, he chose to try and reason with her.

"Come now Granger, isn't this a little childish?" he asked when she chose to crush up her own lace wing flies instead of taking the ones he'd already crushed. "We're partners for the year. Plus we're supposed to be getting to know each other. You can't keep ignoring me."

"Sure I can" she answered without sparing him a glance. "It's only one class. Adfter this I won't have to be anywhere near you for the rest of the day."

Rather than retorting, his smirk only grew as he dropped some cut up roots in the cauldron. That's what she thought huh? Silly Gryffindor should have known that he wasn't going to give up so easily. And as for not having to be near him for the rest of the day, well Granger was in for a rude awakening…

XOXOXOXOXO

She couldn't have been more wrong. All of the professors had instilled a seating chart that the students had to adhere to. The seating chart wasn't what had her so put out. It was her constant partner. At least everyone else had a different partner each class, but not her. she wouldn't have minded working with Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws at all. Even with some Slytherins wouldn't have been so bad seeing as she could just do the assignment for them and avoid conversing. However, luck was not on her side because in every single class she was partnered with the Slytherin Prince himself. Arguing with the professors was futile because no matter how much she begged and pleaded, they refused to change it. Some even told her that McGonagall had specifically requested they place her and Malfoy togerher as well as a few other select people. It made no sense! No matter how hard she racked her brain, she could not think of a reasonable explanation as to why her favorite teacher would insist on putting her with her arch nemesis.

Ignoring him wasn't working either. She knew being ignored was a big pet peeve of his. The spoiled brat absolutely loathed being denied attention of any kind. She felt incredibly elated at first that she'd found a wat to get under his skin as he always did to her, but the prat quickly turned the tables.

In ancient runes, she completed the assignment for them, but when the teacher called on them for an answer, Malfoy purposely gave a wrong one before she even had time to open her mouth. This made the both of them look dumb, seeing how this particular assignment had been relatively easy, and caused them to get low marks for the day. He didn't seem to care, but Hermione was mortified. She and bad grades did not mix and she couldn't afford to screw this year up.

In transfiguration, they were supposed to simply turn a chair into a table. Instead, Malfoy turned theirs into a luxurious looking bed. Hermione glared furiously at him while the professor and other students looked on in confusion that the two smartest students in their year had messed up something so easy. Malfoy only smirked condescendingly down at her. "You know Granger, if you don't want to talk, we could get to know each other in a much more…pleasurable way" he said huskily nodding towards the bed, and waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione gasped as the meaning of his words sunk in, and turned away blushing furiously and muttering insults under her breath.

She finally got a break from him at lunch and sat across from Harry and Ron. Harry had had fairly decent partners so far, but Ron had been paired with some buffoons such as Goyle, and a few clueless Hufflepuffs. She was pleased that she wasn't the only one having such a hard time with these new rules, but both boys agreed she definitely had it worse.

"I just don't understand why you keep getting paired up with him" Harry commented. "I've yet to get the same partner twice, but the teachers adamantly refuse to put you with anyone else. I wonder why."

"I wish I knew Harry" she sighed. "However, I did see that Anthony Goldstein was partnered with Susan Bones in potions this morning and then again in Transfiguration. I assume they've been partnered in all of their classes together. So far I haven't noticed that with anyone else though. I just can't understand why McGonagall would specify to put me with Malfoy."

"The old bat's finally lost her marbles" Ron said through a mouthful of chicken, spraying chewed food out. "'S only explanation" he continued.

Hermione glared at him. "Do NOT talk about her that way, Ronald! McGonagall is very wise and I'm sure there must be a reason behind her decision. And for heaven's sake, chew with your mouth closed!"

Harry snickered while Ron scowled. Truth be told, he never really thought his two best friends would work out. They just didn't work well together. They were definitely much better off as friends. He realized the same thing with him and Ginny and truly wasn't broken up about it. In fact, it was kind of nice to have other girls chase after him and enjoy the attention rather than feeling guilty about his girlfriend's feelings.

Before they could speculate anymore about whether or not McGonagall's sanity was still intact, the post arrived delivering letters and packages to the students. Pig, the Weasley owl, dropped a letter in front of Hermione before crashing into Ron's pumpkin juice and spilling it all over him. Ron cursed and jumped up while the rest of the table laughed. Hermione instantly recognized the handwriting belonging to Mrs. Weasley. Curious as to why she was solely addressing her, she opened the letter and began to read.

Dear Hermione,

How have you been darling? Enjoying your do over year? I do hope you are staying on top of both Harry and Ron and keeping them out of trouble. Speaking of which, have you and Ron made up yet? Surely you've gotten over your petty disagreement by now. You have to understand that it's not Ron's fault that he simply says whatever comes to mind. Such a meaningless flaw should be easily overlooked. Relationships are all about compromises, and sometimes you have to be the bigger person and apologize first. You can't be right all of the time, and it's very important for the man to feel in charge of the relationship. Just tell Ron you were wrong and I know he'll take you back and all will be forgiven. Stay ahead in your studies and help the boys keep up.

With love,

Molly

After finishing the letter, Hermione was absolutely furious. Molly thought their relationship not working was all her fault. Was she serious? Sure, she could have put more of an effort into it, but Ron did his fair share of wrongs too! And what was all that mess about how important it was for a man to feel in charge? The only person who was and would ever be in charge of Hermione Granger was Hermione Granger!

"Oi Mione! What did mum want" Ron asked after he dried Pig off and sent him on his way.

"Nothing" she answered in a flat tone. She quickly stood up and angrily shoved the letter in her pocket. Later she would slowly disintegrate it, but for now she was to mad to think straight.

Hermione's foul mood remained for the rest of the day. She was so wrapped up in her anger that she was unaware of what was going on around her. She ignored Malfoy more efficiently now, not out of spite, but simply because her mind was elsewhere. Draco noticed how her mood had changed from annoyed to fuming and he stopped doing things to purposely get on her nerves and make her snap at him. Clearly something had enraged her and he wasn't in the mood to get punched or hexed. Besides, he still had phase two of his plan to put in motion tonight. If she thought they were done, she was sorely mistaken.

After classes, Hermione headed to the library to study and just unwind. This was her safe haven and way of de-stressing instead of taking a hot bath or going for a walk like others. By dinnertime, she'd calmed down and walked off to the Great Hall with Ginny. Although not as close as her, Harry, and Ron, Ginny was her only girl friend and she was able to talk about things with her that she wouldn't dream of discussing with Harry and Ron. Hermione told her about the letter, and Ginny was completely on her side. She told her that she'd received a similar letter from Molly telling her to work things out with Harry, and that Hermione should just ignore it. She also said that even though Molly was wrong, she was truly only looking out for the best for her children and doing what she thought was right. Hermione understood that she was just a mother who wanted to fix things for her children, but that still didn't make her any less agitated with the Weasley matriarch. She wished the older woman would just butt out.

Dinnertime consisted of conversing with her friends and sharing laughs about some of the things that had happened today. Seamus Finnegan had gotten partnered with Millicent Bulstrode in his potions period and accidentally set her robes on fire. He had the entire table clutching their stomachs in laughter as he imitated her horrified shrieks and how he'd shot a jet spray of water at her trying to get it out.

"At least someone's having a good time with this partner situation" Hermione said to Ginny as she got her laughter under control. "This is so ridiculous! Why do the professors insist on torturing us like this? It's not like any of us are enjoying it."

Ginny looked at Hermione a little sheepishly. "Actually, I don't think it's that bad."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her. "What? You mean this isn't bothering you at all?"

"Well, it did at first" Ginny said taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "But today in Herbology I got partnered with someone who was actually quite charming and cute. And really funny. He actually made the class more entertaining. I'm kinda looking forward to going next time, which believe me I never would have thought that possible."

Hermione looked at Ginny curiously, recognizing that look all to well. It was one Ginny got whenever she had a crush. She'd had that look for Harry for a couple of years to his unawareness. "Which house is he from."

Ginny looked down at her food. "Slytherin" she mumbled just loud enough for only Hermione to hear.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked, lowering her tone like the other girl had.

With a sigh, Ginny slowly raised her eyes to meet Hermione's, and stated "Blaise Zabini."

At first Hermione was shocked. She knew of Blaise Zabini, but she'd never really known him. The only thing she did know about him was that he was good friends with Malfoy and Theodore Nott. He was also pretty quiet. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember a single time when he had ever insulted her or her friends. He mostly stuck with his group of people. Maybe he was one of the more level headed Slytherins, if there was such a thing. Looking down at Ginny, she noticed the red haired witch was watching her cautiously, awaiting her reaction.

"Well…if he was civil to you and you enjoy being in his company…then I guess I'm glad for you" Hermione stated slowly. "But Ginny, Blaise is also known as a player, so please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt."

Ginny breathed out a relieved sigh. "Oh Hermione, I just knew you'd understand" she said giving the older girl a quick hug. "Don't worry, we just harmlessly flirted today, nothing serious. And please don't mention anything to Harry or Ron. I don't know how Harry would take me talking to someone else, and you know how Ron can get" Ginny added looking at her seriously.

"Don't worry, I won't" Hermione said standing up. "I have to go finish writing an essay, and then I have to meet Mandy Brocklehurst tonight. We're patrolling tonight. I'll catch you all later" she said waving at the Gryffindor group and hurrying up to the common room.

XOXOXOXOXO

She was hurrying down the stairs trying to make it to the Great Hall as fast as she could, where both girls had agreed to meet each other tonight for patrol. She had completely lost track of time and when she looked up at the clock, she'd noticed that she was already five minutes late. Mandy was a kind Ravenclaw and would be understanding, but Hermione hated being late.

As she finally made it to the front of the hall, she noticed that Mandy was nowhere in sight. That was odd. She knew she was late, but not by that much. Maybe Mandy had already started patrol without her? Maybe she could catch up with her if she took one of the secret passageways behind a tapestry…

"You're late Granger. Not setting a very good example as a prefect now are you?" said a voice behind her, causing her to jump. She turned around to see Malfoy leaning against the wall with his leg propped up and arms folded, watching her with that infuriating smirk. She groaned. Did fate have it out for her or something? Wasn't it bad enough that she'd spent nearly all day with the sodding prick?

"Well, let's go Granger. We shouldn't waste anymore time" he said standing up to his full height and making his way towards her.

She furrowed her brows at him. "What are you talking about? My patrol partner is Mandy Brocklehurst. Why are you here?"

He walked right up to her and leaned down close to her face. A little to close for her comfort, as she could smell his cologne and another scent that she would later come to identify as purely Malfoy. "Mandy and I have switched partners." He stated. "My patrol schedule interfered with my quidditch practice and Mandy agreed to help a fellow student out. So here we are."

No. This couldn't be happening. Not again! Was this day from hell ever going to end? She was partnered with Malfoy. Again! She took a step back and glared at him. "Why didn't Mandy say anything to me about it?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Don't know, don't care." Truthfully, he'd asked her not to say anything to Granger seeing as she might try and switch before he could put his plan into motion. It wasn't hard to convince the Ravenclaw. He'd gotten her up against the wall in a broom closet and persuaded her into switching partners with him for the duration of the year, but not say anything to Granger. She'd agreed without any protest if her screams of 'yes, yes, oh Malfoy, YES!' were anything to go by. He smirked at that particular memory. He loved screamers.

Hermione raise her eyebrows at him and gasped when she realized he was completely serious. "No, there's no way we're going to be patrol partners for the rest of the year! I refuse! It's bad enough we're partnered in every class, but this I will not concede to-"

"Granger" Draco interrupted her rant. "Haven't you figured out why you and I were always paired together? It was McGonagall's request that the prefects be partnered together with their patrol partners, since we were already put with someone from different houses. We're supposed to be the leaders and set the example for our classmates and all that croc" he said sarcastically. "There's no way to change it now, so you may as well go along with it. Unless of course you'd like to give up being prefect" he shot raising his eyebrows at her. He knew just which buttons to push and that there was no way in hell Granger would give up her prefect position despite the fact that it meant working with him.

Knowing that he'd gotten her with his last remark, she huffed and began to walk down the corridor, not even bothering to check and see if he was following her. He inwardly cheered at his small victory, and fell into step beside her. Throughout their patrol he tried to get her to talk, but she was still trying to ignore him. Getting fed up with her lack of response he began to insult her friends. He knew he'd touched a nerve when she whipped her wand out on him and shouted about how immature he was and that she'd never met a bigger prick in her life. An hour after they began patrol, she stormed off towards her common room without a backwards glance at him.

He walked back towards the Slytherin dungeons, not quite in as bad a mood as her, but still not entirely pleased at her attempts of ignoring him. The sooner the bossy little swot would start talking to him without hurtling insults, the sooner he could sleep with her and get this bet business over with. Once he reached his common room, he noticed that it was completely deserted except for Blaise, Theo, and Daphne who were sitting around the fireplace working on their Transfiguration homework.

"So lover boy, how'd it go?" Blaise asked looking up at him.

"Could have been better" he grumbled.

Theo shot a glare at the blonde. "I was hoping she would have hexed you or at least punched you in the face again. Thanks to you and your stupid idea of wooing her, we all have to suffer! I got partnered with that Brown chit from Gryffindor today in Divination. Do you know how annoying that bitch is? Her incessant chatter gave me a migraine two minutes into the bloody class!"

Draco smirked at his friend's annoyance. "Just remember, you're equally to blame. You gave me the challenge, I'm just using whatever means necessary to win it."

Theo scoffed. "Whatever, it's not like you're gonna win anyway. Granger still can't stand you, and you've only managed to make her hate you more by forcing her to spend all this time with you. Great plan you've got there Drakie" he added mockingly.

Draco scowled and turned on his heels. "Just you wait, Theo. I'll get into Granger's knickers before you know it, and thoroughly enjoy you and Blaise looking stupid in front of everyone when you tell Scarhead and Weasel your true feelings" he said stomping up the stairs to their shared dormitory.

When they heard the door slam, Blaise turned to the both of them. "Well, that went well. Judging by his mood, I reckon he and Granger got into another argument tonight."

"Daph, are you absolutely certain Draco doesn't hate her?" Theo questioned her again. "I just don't see it."

"Yes, I'm positive" Daphne said without looking up. "It's only a matter of time before he realizes it too."

"But anytime he's with her, he comes back in such a nasty mood" Blaise countered.

Daphne finished the sentence she was writing, then looked up at the both of them. "He's in a foul mood because she's ignoring him."

"Well, he's always hated being ignored-"Theo began, but Daphne cut him off.

"Yes, but he's always gone to someone who would give him the attention, and he's never had to put in this much effort with a girl" she said. "He's always loved a challenge though, and now it's become about more than just the bet. He's going to find a way to simply get her to talk to him without worrying about sleeping with her. Think about it. Lots of Gryffindors ignore him, but it doesn't usually bother him. Why does he get so flustered when she does though? And I merely suggested he spend more time with her. Don't you think this plan of his has gone above and beyond that? He's taking up the majority of her day. She intrigues him and keeps him on his toes. When he thinks he's done enough to charm her, she throws him off when she doesn't fall for his tricks. Give it time, and you'll see what I mean."

The boys continued to have their doubts about her words, but chose to take her advice and see how this played out. It would be entertaining if nothing else.

AN: Yeah, I don't particularly like this chapter, but it's a filler chapter and it had to be done. So I want your guys input on something. Draco and Hermione are the main couple and focus of this story, but I was also planning to eventually put Blaise and Ginny together and maybe Ron and Lavender. But I also began to think about Harry and who he should get with. I thought about maybe putting him with Daphne, but then I also kind of thought about Luna. Whichever one he gets with, I'll probably put the other with Theo. So the decision is up to you! Harry and Daphne, or Harry and Luna? Let me know!