Disclaimer: Not mine. All Jo's

Chapter 4

The day went from bad to worse. It was truly unfortunate that Lavender and Parvati discovered Hermione's mistake for the news had spread quickly and it became the subject of seemingly every conversation in the Great Hall at dinner. Hermione hung her head and tried to ignore all the gazes that were pointed in her direction and especially trying to ignore a certain Slytherin who just sat there smirking. There were jealous girls and quite a few jealous boys, but for the most part everyone was stunned; from what they knew, these two were the last people on the face of the earth to get together. Of course as every rumor mill works, the stories never end up the way they were sent out. Hermione ate as voraciously as possibly. That's what she always did when logic failed to solve her problems. Mere minutes later, she exited the Great Hall determined to make it to her dormitory with as few encounters as possible. This hope, however, was not to be achieved. Everyone she passed on her way either interrogated, gawked at, or avoided her. She even had to take away 30 points from a group of Ravenclaw girls for one accusation that had left Hermione feeling sick to her stomach.

When she finally made it to the Common Room she received cold stares. She longed for Harry, Ron, Ginny, or just anyone that might have at least listened to her explanation before they shunned her. But unfortunately there was Quidditch practice and they were all unavailable. She confined herself to the 7th year girls' dorm and bolted the door. For the next few hours she threw herself into her schoolwork, which happened to be another way she dealt with problems. This, however, was never very productive because most of the time she had to rewrite it all as a result of the mistakes she always made when she was upset or tired.

At 10:00 Hermione finally put away her books and headed out for patrol duty hoping no one would notice her leaving her room. Her bad luck seemed to still be with her since every eye turned as she reentered the common room and walked to and out of the portrait. Once she was out she sighed in relief.


When she got to the Great Hall Draco was already there. He was just leaning nonchalantly against a wall smirking at her as she descended the stairs as if nothing had happened today. She couldn't believe him. He was so infuriating! She was getting worked up just looking at him. She walked right passed him to the dungeons where they patrolled first. As she walked purposefully in the lead she could hear the lazy stride his expensive loafers made on the stone ground.

He hadn't said one word and she was already as angry as a firecracker. She realized how stupid she was being and that this was not his fault. It was a mistake on her part actually. She forbade herself from self-destructive lines of thought as she realized that she'd have to live with the rumors for at least another couple of weeks. And to make matters worse she and Draco had to perform the Tango in a week for their entire class. That would be sure to get the rumor mills pumping again if they let off at all between now and then. She sighed loudly now resigned to her fate.

Draco broke her reverie with his lazy drawl, "You as irritated by the student body as much as I am?" he queried.

'Dang that was reasonably civil,' Hermione pondered.

"I can't believe you'd get us into such a mess." He finished.

And there it went. Right down the drain.

"It was an accident okay? Besides, it's never as bad for the man! It never has been!" She blew up right away.

"Excuse me?" he replied incredulously. "You're unbelievable, Granger. You always find some way to pin it back on me!"

"Well it's true. You can do anything with a girl and your buddies will just pat you on the back and say, 'Good job, you even got to the little mudblood!' I do anything and all the sudden I'm a scarlet woman. And not only that, everyone hates me because I sold out for a Slytherin."

"It's funny you should bring up your lineage because despite my reputation there's a whole lot of purebloods who are very upset about this thing that's allegedly going on between us."

"Well I'm sorry to dirty the air around you with my breathing! I'll just keep my distance, okay?" She said storming away.

"Granger!" he yelled at her withdrawing figure. She didn't stop. "Hermione!" he yelled again. This time she did stop. However, she didn't dare turn around as he slowly caught up with her. (A Malfoy doesn't run after anyone)

"Listen," he said. His voice suddenly soothing, "I'm sorry I upset you." His voice once again turned sarcastic, "I just wanted you to realize that it isn't all sun and daisies on my side of the fence." He emphasized the words 'sun' and 'daisies' amused that he used them in the same sentence.

"But you do nothing to refute the statements about my dirty blood?" She shot back through angry tears, more hurt than she cared to admit.

"Hermione,' he said her name again forcing her to look up into his eyes, "It's how we're raised," he continued on quickly so she couldn't interject, "I'm not saying its right. I'm just suggesting that you have some understanding. That's what you're best at," he smiled at her, amazing himself.

She was awestruck. He had not only been nice to her, but he'd complimented her as well! And maybe it was just her imagination, but was he hitting on her, too? 'Wow,' she thought, 'this sure is turning out to be a bizarre day.'

And all because of these strange feelings she was having for her enemy…

But could she really call him her enemy? Throughout the past few months their little truce had evolved into some sort of strange friendship. And, as unbelievable as it may seem, Draco was sometimes quite tolerable. Occasionally after practice they even discussed difficult homework assignments. She found that she actually enjoyed listening to his opinions on everything from dance steps to ancient runes and waited desperately for the next rare moment. She couldn't believe it. She'd been in denial this whole time.

"Thank you, Draco," she replied appreciatively. "You don't know how much that means to me." She smiled back at him, "You're probably one of the most decent Slytherins I've ever met."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" he asked jokingly.

"Yes!" she replied surprised by him joking about his own house.

They sat there in an awkward silence for a minute or so before Draco broke it, "Well, we should probably get back to patrolling if we want to get any sleep tonight."

"Yes. You're right." She said starting to walk again.

"I love it when you say that." He replied falling in step beside her.

"I know. That's why I don't say it very often— have to make sure we keep your ego in check."

He laughed good naturedly, "Oh, I see. So how's your potions essay going?"

"Done," she replied in her normal Hermione manner.

"Typical." He responded.

She continued on unphased, "What do you think about the new theory: adding more of one ingredient can help focus the potion on the specific magical qualities of that ingredient allowing the drinker to customize it based on their needs?"

"Why thank you for telling me what to write my essay on. I wasn't too sure about the topic before just now." He smirked. (Dang he did that a lot.)

"Malfoy! I don't believe you. Head boy! Not even done yet and cheating the answers off someone else."

"You offered it willingly. I didn't even bring up the subject." He said with satisfaction.

"You could have stopped me."

"Really, I doubt anyone could shut you up when you want to share your knowledge."

"That's not true. I have wonderful restraint and res.."

"Granger."

"…pect for other's wishes."

"Granger." He repeated louder.

"What." She cried exasperated.

"I wrote my essay yesterday. I think the theory is an urban myth. Changing ingredients and amounts is too hazardous to tamper with-the outcomes are too random. Anything could happen. It could become a healing balm or an instantaneous poison; the only way to test it out being to try it. So no, I don't think it's a theory I'm going to be trying any time soon."

"Wait. You'd written it and let me go on and on like that."

"MmmHmmm."

"Why?"

"You're just too easy to get worked up."

She rolled her eyes and then decided arguing was futile. "So you don't think it's a very good idea either. That's the same thing I wrote my essay on. The risks outweighing the unlikely but possible triumph."

"I guess great minds think alike." He answered.

"Was that a compliment?" she asked slyly, "Two in one night. I'm amazed."

"Hey. I don't like what you're insinuating."

"What? That you've gone soft."

"No. That I can't be nice when I want to be."

"I find that hard to believe." She asked, her tone full of doubt.

"I just don't usually bestow the honor on Gryffindorks. Honestly, I was too lazy to think of any good comebacks at the moment so decided to inflate my ego instead. But if you tell anyone, I'll deny it." He gave a malicious laugh.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, "So what about the Invisibility spell in Charms. Are you having as much trouble as me?"

"Trouble? Who do you think I am?"

"Don't be so cocky." She replied, angry that he seemed better than her at something.

"Cocky? Cocky is my middle name."

"Really. So Draco Cocky Arrogant Jerkface Evil Prejudice Horrid Ferret Malfoy. Is your full name."

He narrowed his eyes, "Yes, how did you guess."

She smirked.

Draco decided to change the subject…fast before things got out of hand. He couldn't kill the Head Girl, the only reason being he knew he couldn't hide her body without Dumbledore finding it and he just knew he'd end up expelled. "No I didn't have any problems." He said firmly, "But how are you doing with the Ancient Runes translations…"

The rest of their patrol went in much the same manner. They didn't find very much; just one couple in an empty classroom and a mess Peeves left behind. But as Hermione slipped into dreamland that night she reflected that that was perhaps the most interesting patrol she'd ever had in her life.

A/N: Yay! Finally an update. I'm really excited about this story. It's working along nicely. I've already written the next chapter so it'll probably be up this weekend or sometime next week. I have a special thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. You guys are amazing and keep me writing. Also, a huge round of applause for my new beta Tory. She was an inspiration to me this past week of writing. And finally to J.k. for coming up with such wonderful vivid characters for me to work with. Please Read/Review! I'll love ya forever.

One White Tulip