We've arrived at chapter three and it is only guaranteed to bring on some more torture for Malfoy! Mwahahahahahahahahaha! You should all fully loath me now since 99.9 of the reviews all said "Awwww poor Draco." Well, what did you expect? If Hermione just accepted his change right away what kind of a role model would she be? What kind of Hermione would she be? A crap one, that's what. So, don't worry. Suffering before success my dear reviewers! Oh and one more thing; my stories are getting translated into French! Cool eh? Alright, here's the latest installment of courting my wife,

Chapter 3: The Common Room

Gloom seemed to swirl around Malfoy like Professor Snape's cloak for the rest of the afternoon. He was infinitely glad when he could revert back to the Head Common Room and hide away from all the prying eyes of his peers and the tough questions from his friends. But there was one thing he could not hide from. Hermione's stinging words;

"I hate you Draco Malfoy!"

He laughed sardonically at the irony. A few weeks ago it had been him screaming those exact words at her through her closed door after their run in at New Years. God, it seemed ages ago. What else had he said to her that night? He remembered getting drunk, and then running into her…he stopped himself from remembering any further. It was too painful to relive the things he'd done before.

The only thought that kept him going now was the knowledge that he had still fallen in love with her even after screaming that he hated her. Who knew, maybe their relationship had to progress in stages. Extreme Hate before Extreme Love. If that was so then Draco hoped she was in 'Extreme Denial.'

He sighed; at least they still shared this common room. That was one thing. Draco could probably get her to come to her senses fairly quickly in this arrangement. He felt his heart lift and sat up straight; yeah with all this spare time together in the common room she was bound to fall for him. Absolutely destined even!

That was when the object of his affection entered the room and glared at him like he was the plague.

He slumped back down into the sofa. Oh bugger.

The source of all his pain then proceeded to dump the contents of her book bag onto the coffee table, snap one of her monstrous textbooks open, and seat herself as far as was humanly possible from Malfoy to start working. Double bugger.

Then, tense silence seemed to stretch on for days. Draco couldn't decide which was worse; talking with Hermione and having her shout in reply or not talking to her at all and having her ignore him in reply. He decided the latter.

"So," he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "You have a lot of work to do?" He risked a look at her. She didn't move an inch. His never ending failure with this woman was beginning to make the room feel stuffy and the once comforting fire was starting to make him perspire. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar.

"Gee Hermione;" he saw her stiffen at the mention of her name, "You sure are one tough woman to appease."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh that's real mature," he goaded, "First the silent treatment and now you're rolling your eyes at me."

She smashed her quill down on the table and fixed him with a look of pure loathing. "Go to hell Malfoy," she whispered venomously.

"Ah," he grinned like a Cheshire cat, "Good to see you're talking."

She sank back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling raising her hands in defeat, "Why do I even bother?" she asked aloud. Because Dumbledore knew she could handle it, her thoughts reminded her miserably.

"Because Dumbledore knew you could handle it," Malfoy answered.

Her head shot up. Had Malfoy just…read her mind? Ew, the very thought made her feel violated in so many ways.

Hermione looked to Draco like she'd just seen a ghost, was it something he'd said? "What?"

"What?"

"You're staring at me."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Oh shut up!"

"What the hell are you holding against me!" He bellowed suddenly. Oh no, he shouldn't have said that, she definitely was not going to like that. It's just…he couldn't help it damnit! He'd been putting everything on the line for her since he'd returned and all he got was grief!

Hermione reeled back at his last comment and stared at him incredulously. Another of their now customary silences followed, in which she managed to compose herself. Hermione started packing her things,

"I am not having this conversation with you Malfoy,"

"What conversation?" he said; playing dumb.

Her composure seemed to crack and she got up right in his face, "I don't owe you an explanation about why I feel the way I do about you," she spat.

"What if I can prove you wrong?" he asked, gazing at her intently.

She laughed with mirth, "Oh please, you've had plenty of chances to change my opinion of you and you've always failed miserably,"

She gave him a scornful look, "You can't change Draco Malfoy."

She stared into his steel gray eyes. Ha she thought; seeing he wasn't going answer back Even the great Draco Malfoy didn't have a response for that. She smiled to herself and turned triumphantly. Hermione 1 Draco 0.

"Neither can you."

What? She wheeled around and narrowed her eyes.

Malfoy smirked, oops he remembered quickly, no more smirking. He quickly rearranged his features into a rather fetching smile. Oh the look on her face was priceless!

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me Hermione"

"Stop that"

"Stop what?"

"Stop calling me Hermione!"

"Why?"

"Because…because I don't like it!"

"Why?"

She sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. She felt a serious headache coming on. "I don't know why I'm still standing here," she mumbled wearily. She gave him a pitiful glance, "I'm not doing this."

She started walking briskly towards her bedroom, but Draco couldn't let her go. He grasped her shoulders and turned her around to face him,

"Hermione please, hear me out. Something happened to me and I…I need your help, you need to trust me-"

She waved her hands drowsily to cut him off. "No. Please stop Malfoy, I don't want to hear it," Hermione looked mournfully around the room. "The last time I saw you I was trying to help you back to the common room because you were drunk. Do you remember?"

He looked away quickly. He did, but he didn't want to.

"And you're right, I can't change. Even when my worst enemy and scumbag is lying on the floor my conscience will not let me just pass him by," she clenched her jaw and balled her fists; the memory was making her angry, "Then you saw my necklace, do you remember that too?"

God, why did she have to do this?

"And you said to me 'It's beautiful,' and stupid me," she gestured to herself, "I actually believed it was an honest to god compliment," she laughed humorlessly, "Well you made sure that belief was rectified quickly, didn't you?"

He shakily looked up at her and she stared back with a look of such deep disgust it broke his heart.

"Stop," he croaked, "I've heard enough-I'll never bring this up again I-" But she ignored him and ploughed on.

"'Too beautiful for you,'" Hermione finished stonily.

He had to get out of here, having his past mistakes repeatedly flung in his face was not what he needed right now. "You were right," he said gravely, "This was not a good conversation to have." And with that he sped off to his bedroom to hide. Like the wimp that he was. Like the wimp she had made him become. He punched a pillow in frustration; how could things be going so completely and utterly wrong?

Hermione entered her bedroom a few hours later still feeling riled up after her latest encounter with the git across the hall. She shook her head with disbelief, what was making him act so uncharacteristically...uncharacteristic? She furrowed her brow in concentration, if only she could find out where he had gone to-

No. No way. She had promised herself that she would have nothing further to do with him and so she wouldn't. Nothing could change her mind on this. Nothing could-

Tap, tap, tap. Ooo what was that? She saw one of the school owls pecking at her window and quickly crossed the room to let him in. "Hello there," she cooed, "Have you got something for me?" He released a creamy envelope on her bed and then flapped out the window without so much as a backwards glance, "Alright then," she said uncertainly, "Goodbye…"

She honed in on the envelope and tore it open. A gasp escaped her throat.

"Oh my!" It was her necklace! Her gold necklace! It was returned at last! It was-she froze as realization hit her…that would have to mean that…that Malfoy,

A note floated out of the envelope, onto her pillow, and before she could stop herself, she was reading it.

I'm sorry. I had this fixed and hope that it is as good as new. I also hope that you will allow me to fix what I said that night.

You are the one who is too beautiful for it

Goodnight.

She let her arms drop limply to her sides while a tiny whimper escaped her.

Draco Malfoy couldn't change…could he?

Ooooooo, I just love this ending.