Chapter Four: Back to Square One

"A soft answer turns away wrath,
But a harsh word stirs up anger."

--Proverbs 15:1

Draco paced in his dormitory, what was taking him so long? Hermione wasn't hard to break at all, he smiled to himself as he realized his overpowering influence on the mudblood and was proud of it. He should've taken her last week; there was an empty classroom right around the corner. Granger was so overrated, a few touches here and there and she was completely powerless. He looked at the incomplete letter on his desk; it was a letter to this father. Since his father had given him this assignment Draco spent days trying to imagine why his father wanted mudblood Granger but his attempts were futile and his father refused to delude any sort of information.

He had to admit though Granger was one of the easier ones to seduce, and surprisingly she'd affected him and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Right now, he had to think of an excuse for his delay in breaking her. He could just lie and tell his father that she was hard to pursue but that would mean he was willing to insult his seduction capabilities, which were excellent. Somehow he didn't want to break her so easily, somewhere in his mind he wanted to tease her and make her beg for him. He grinned, something he never did in public but he realized that he'd been smiling every time he thought of her which was both pathetic and surprising, if that was innately possible.

He knew he was taking a risk, he knew he was bruising his pride, he knew he had to complete the mission but Draco Malfoy went against all these rational thoughts circulating around his head by picking up the quill and lying to his father for the first time in his life. He quickly folded the parchment paper and walked out to the owlery before he changed his mind.

"Draco, how come we don't see you anymore?" Pansy asked seriously as she came to his side the moment he walked out of his room. He looked at her, she wasn't as stupid as people gave her credit for and she was actually one of his good friends.

"I've been busy Pansy," he said.

"Doing what?" she asked quizzingly.

"Favors," he grinned. Ok he lied he smiled in front of people, just not many.

"Am I missing something?" she asked folding her arms, for a second Draco thought she looked her Hermione with the same posture along with the annoyed expression. Great, he was started to hallucinate.

"No," he simply stated. "And if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to send,". Before she could interrogate further Draco walked away. He would tell her eventually but just not now, not when he was slowly losing focus on the task at hand. The whole thing frustrated him, he was in control and he still is. He stared at the letter as he contemplated one more time before sending the letter with the owl. Before totally regretting his decision he quickly turned around and saw the girl who'd been playing with his mind lately. He liked the way her body stiffened the minute he laid his eyes on her.

"Family?" he asked. She nodded and was startled by his attempt to start a decent conversation. He noticed her walk past him carefully, avoiding any physical contact and sent the letter out. Just as Hermione thought this time she could get away, Draco wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Just a second, thought you could get away so easily, didn't you?" he murmured.

"I knew it was too good to be true," she rolled her eyes and turned around to face him. "Please Malfoy, I don't want to get hurt and both of us know where this is going to end."

"What are you taking about? Your acting as if we're in a fucking relationship, you're going to get hurt Granger, not me!" Draco growled. Hermione's eyes started to water, she felt stupid and foolish but she couldn't help it.

"I don't want anything to do with you, this is my last year at Hogwarts and we'll never see each other after this year so why do you have to ruin this for me?" she said, her voice getting angrier with every word. "Yes, in the beginning I thought this would be interesting but you're just a perverted bastard who wants to get laid. Let me make something clear Malfoy I'm not letting you get to me. Now, the next time you try something funny, you'll be sorry," she said as she took out her wand and pointed it close to his face bringing back memories of her third year. Hermione was proud of herself, in all of their random rendezvous', for the first time she had established herself and put up a fair fight.

"Granger, I'm impressed and here I was thinking I'm so close to breaking you, you come up with something like this. Interesting, very interesting but I always get what I want." He said. Hermione snorted, how many times has she heard this one?

"Yeah, thanks for the warning," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, my pleasure" he said as he turned around and left. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, she looked back at the owl and spent a few minutes analyzing what just happened, she hated to burst Malfoy's bubble but she wasn't going to be another girl on his list.

Draco Malfoy slammed the door and swiftly dropped onto his bed. Great, now he was back to square one. Where did Granger suddenly acquire the confidence to reject him? He sighed. Flashes of their tryst in the secluded hallway infuriated his dismal state as he got up and released his anger by punching the wall. He felt a jolt of pain flow through his body easing his tension. He was provoked by the fact that he had let her escape when he could've taken her at that moment and not have to think about the mudblood ever again. His fucking ego had to get in the way. What was he going to take father? He wasn't exactly going to be jumping with joy when he reads the letter and figures out that his son is a failure.

"Draco," he looked up to see Pansy at his door with a worried expression across her delicate face. He had to admit, Pansy was beautiful and though he underestimated her ability to understand him she was the only girl who came close to figuring him. She was there for him in times of despair and utter confusion while bothering to listen to his problems and sometimes offering a plausible solution.

"Hmm," he replied but he was afraid that even Pansy couldn't help him now. He couldn't tell her about Hermione it'd hurt her a lot, he did care about her feelings. His attitude toward Pansy was starting to scare him. She sat next to him and gently examined his hand and muttered a healing spell, the pain started to subside and the initial sense of euphoria started to disappear.

"Are you ready to tell me what's going on?" she asked softly, still holding on to his hand.

"No," he answered immediately.

"Draco, maybe I can help" she pleaded. He turned towards her; her eyes were full of concern. Though Draco looked fairly steady, his mind was racing. Pansy was the only girl who'd seen him cry and held him the first night he'd been hit by the Cruciatus curse, but she'd always liked him and had disclosed her feelings only to be met with disappointment. He didn't want a relationship because he knew it would ruin their friendship, and he couldn't risk that.

"Look, Pansy this is something I have to figure out, ok?" he said calmly taking her hand into his and saw her expression change from worry to dissapointment. She sighed.

"It's Granger isn't it?" she said softly. Draco was totally caught of guard but tried to look relatively expressionless, but she'd caught on. "I see the way you look at her in class, I don't know what's going on Draco but stay away from her, and she doesn't care about you."

"Pansy, listen to yourself why the hell would I run after Granger?" he said a bit irritated at her frankness.

"I don't know, you won't tell me remember," she said sadly. "Oh, you received a letter while you were away," she informed and pointed to his desk. Draco tried not to show his anxiety and turned around to see Pansy leaving.

"Pansy," he called and walked to the door and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about me," he gave her a small smile. Pansy always noted how different he looked when he smiled, his whole face lit up though he rarely ever did. He leaned in and gave her a hug. After she left, Draco quickly opened the letter and noticed the neat, cursive writing immediately.

Draco,

I am writing to inquire you about your mission, I hope you've completed your task. I will come to visit next week to give further instructions. I am confident that you've completed the task because I have confidence in you. I also need to talk about your career, I've already talked to my acquaintances at the Ministry of Magic and an acceptance letter will be waiting for you after graduation. You marriage is of deep concern as well and I've already talked to Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson and they readily gave their consent, you and Pansy will wed in a year. The engagement will talk place right after graduation.

Take care, son

Lucius Malfoy

Draco dropped the letter; his father had basically summed up the rest of his life in a small and concise paragraph. He looked down at the small text staring back at him, what about his dreams and aspirations? It was always like this with his father, it wasn't like he didn't love him but he always thought he knew what was best. Frankly, Draco had always gotten more than he wanted and that was the problem; he never got exactly what he wanted. Moreover, every time he tried to tell someone they mistook it for being arrogance, a father who gave more than what his son wanted, who could ask more, right? Wrong.

He sighed, his plans after Hogwarts were to take a few years off to play Quidditch and not to sit cooped up in an office from 9-5, seven days a week. He sat down and put his head in his hands, he knew he couldn't confront his father and he couldn't marry Pansy. There were two things in his life that he promised he wouldn't let his father control, his marriage and his career but unfortunately he had snatched it away from him, along with his happiness. He violently ripped the letter into tiny shreds and threw them across the floor and left his room. He had to get away from a while, all this was too much to handle.

"Hermione, are you going to the Masquerade Ball?" Ron asked nervously. Hermione looked up from her book.

"Yeah I am planning to but not with anyone," she replied closing her book.

"Oh, do you want to go with me?" he asked.

"Sure Ron," Hermione smiled and got up to give Ron a hug, for a second Malfoy's face flashed through her head. Ron had definitely changed over the summer; he had lost that boyish look and was starting to look like a man. The Ball was in two weeks and was a major event every school year because it was a chance for the new prefects to show off their talent and prove their abilities to the student body. Moreover, The Head boy and Head Girl for the year were announced

"Alright, so what are your plans for today?" Ron asked with relaxed demeanor.

"Nothing much, I have some homework to catch up on so I thought I'd go to the library. I need to chat with Ginny for a while as well," she said, trying to picture her expression when she tells her that she'd been snogging Malfoy for the past few days.

"Alright, Harry and I are going to Hogmeade for a while so I'll see you later then," he said and leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Ok, see you," she said distantly as she placed her fingers on her cheek.

The halls were relatively empty expect for a few familiar faces here and there. Sundays weren't as eventful as Saturdays and usually consisted of catching up with school work whereas on Saturday's most of the student body was in Hogsmeade. She entered the library, not deterred by the busy atmosphere, and made her way toward to the end to library, where it was relatively empty. She set her bag down and the next few hours were spent absorbed in reading interesting books and finishing homework. She looked up to find a familiar face sitting at a table across from her, a familiar face she wasn't sure she wanted to see. Draco Malfoy was absorbed in the Potions textbook. Hermione was surprised; she didn't know Malfoy could read let alone do anything academic. She looked back at her textbook but it was too late, all of her thoughts were on Malfoy now.

"Fancy seeing you see Granger," he said sarcastically and Hermione looked up to see Malfoy irritated more than usual. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were following me,"

"You don't know better," Hermione said equally agitated. "I have better things to do Malfoy," she said as she started gathering her things.

"Like what?" he asked. When Hermione didn't answer, he snatched the book from her hand and threw it across the floor. Hermione glared at him, luckily since they were in the back of the library not many people noticed.

"What's wrong with you?" she spat as she retrieved the book.

"I don't fancy being ignored," he said.

"Maybe you should get used to it," she said and started to leave. Draco followed her suite as she exited the hallway and the moment they were alone, Draco pinned her to the wall.

"Listen Mudblood, I'm having a bad day and I don't need your smart ass remarks to make it any better," he growled.

"If I'm not mistaken Malfoy, you started this conversation," she snapped.

"Draco!" He suddenly released Hermione from his grasp and turned around to see Pansy, he definitely didn't need this right now. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing, Mudblood here was annoying the crap out of me, as usual, so I thought I'd teach her a lesson," he said quickly before things got even more awkward. He could tell Pansy wasn't convinced but it was futile mentioning anything more. He looked back at Hermione struggling to balance her weight as her bag was stuffed with books. He could see pure hatred towards him and realized he was way behind square one at this point.

Ok, whew, long chappy…:D..but it doesn't seem to get anywhere…but then again I felt like I needed to explain the plot a lot more but I sort of like the way this is turning out..hopefully next chapter I'll get something going on..tell me what u think! And PLEASE don't be mean..it gets me into a writers block..:(

Ok, so I know that a suggestion was made about Draco's thoughts and keeping him more mysterious, I know this chapter didn't reflect that because I read the review after writing this so, I'll definately keep that in mind next time.. Please don't think that I don't care about your reviews because I do.

Things to look out for:

Masquerade Ball

Head Girl/Head Boy- Duh, but I promise to make it as eventful as possible..I know its cliche but I need them to spend more time with each other...:\

Ciao! I kinda liked this chapter, what do you guys think?? Review!