Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter Universe. Anything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling.

AN: You guys seriously thank you so much for your reviews and input! It really means a lot and I'm so glad a lot of you are enjoying this story! I've gotten a lot of responses on both couples, but so far Harry and Daphne seem to be winning. I'll leave the decision undecided for a little bit longer in case anyone else wants to give their opinion, but by next chapter I plan to have a definite pairing. But remember, the focus will be Draco and Hermione, so there won't be a lot of romance scenes between the other couples.

Draco glared down furiously at the letter in front of him. It was the weekly letter his mother sent along with some treats. He and his mother were close and usually she sent just a standard note each week asking how school was going, encouraging him not to slack off, and reminding him that she loved him very much. Despite what most people thought, Narcissa Malfoy was very much capable of love, but pure blooded upbringing taught her to never show such an emotion in public.

This particular letter that she sent came bearing news. In about a week's time, Lucius Malfoy would be coming home after only serving four months of his ten year sentence. He would of course be placed on probation, but for all practical purposes, Lucius was a free man.

Draco snarled as he read over the letter again. His mother had explained that his father had gotten a reduced sentence for giving information to the ministry about where to find rogue death eaters and those who secretly aided the Dark Lord. Just by knowing his family, Draco was able to infer that his parents must have also bribed the right people with a large amount of money. It was how his father had avoided Azkaban the first time back in Draco's fifth year. He wished he gone then so that he wouldn't have been there to make Draco do the things he'd done last year. Everything he went through was all Lucius' fault and he hated him for it.

"Mate, if you glare at that note any harder, it'll combust" Blaise said watching Draco curiously. "What, did your mum cut off your sweet supply?" the Italian chuckled awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood.

With a sneer, Draco shoved the letter at his friend and let him read it. Blaise and Theo knew how he felt about his father and that his feelings were completely justified. They'd been at the Manor with him over the summer when Narcissa begged and pleaded with him to come with her and visit Lucius in Azkaban. He'd adamantly refused and told her that Lucius was dead to him and could rot in his cell for all he cared. Though visibly upset by his response, Narcissa understood and didn't push the issue with him. She only hoped that one day her only son would find it in him to forgive his father for all his trespasses.

After reading the letter, Blaise passed it to Theo, who scanned it then shared an uncertain look with Blaise. "Listen Draco, mate-"

"We need to get to class" Draco said harshly, cutting Theo off and standing up. His best friends understood that he didn't want to talk about it, nor did he want their pity or condolences. The both of them stood up without a word, and followed him out of the Great Hall.

Draco crumpled the letter in his hand and shoved it in his pocket. His dark mood seemed to broadcast itself around him, and most chose to stay out of his way. After everything Lucius did, he could not believe he was being let out just because he ratted out some wanted criminals and waved an impressive amount of money around. Stupid fucking ministry officials! They were supposed to bring justice about in their world, but clearly they were only interested in making themselves richer. Where was all that goody-goody morale and what not?

The three reached the potions classroom, and Draco made his way to his seat. The mudblood was already there with her supplies set up, no surprise. He really wanted to take his frustrations out on her, but he did have a bet to win and that wouldn't exactly work in his favor. She was still trying to ignore him and hadn't spoken a word to him since their patrol a few nights ago.

"Granger" he said in greeting, though his tone sounded irritated even to his own ears. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, having caught on to his foul mood, but quickly turned her head back towards the front without a word. This wasn't helping his mood whatsoever.

"You know, it's common manners to acknowledge someone when they're speaking to you" he said through grit teeth. She gave nothing away to indicate that she had heard him or that she would respond. His already waning patience with her had reached its end. Add that to his current anger, and he was ready to explode. He thought up a hundred different ways to infuriate her to make her yell, to make her insult him back, hell to make her say something, but before he could open his mouth to fire away, a high pitched voice called out to him.

"Drakie!" Both Draco and Hermione jumped at the shrill noise, not expecting Pansy to be so close to them, or so loud. Draco groaned as the Slytherin girl placed herself atop his desk and spread her legs giving him, Hermione, and everyone behind them a clear view up her skirt. She thought this would turn the blonde on, but he only let out a deep, irritated sigh while Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh Draco" Pansy cooed while not too subtly edging her foot up his thigh towards his crotch area. "I'm not in the mood for this class. I've been partnered with that awful Longbottom boy! What say you and I get out of here." she leaned down close to him and whispered the last part while fingering his tie.

"Pansy" he said stilling her hands and fighting the urge to break her wrists. "How many times do I have to say it? Leave. Me. Alone!" he hissed pushing her wrists and her foot away.

She tsked, then moved to straddle his lap and ran her hands all over his chest. "Come on Draco, don't be that way. You just need to relax baby. Let me help you."

He rolled his eyes heavenward. Did she not understand English? He was not in the mood to deal with this. "Pansy, go spread your cunt for someone else. I'm not interested." With that he pushed her off his lap, and she nearly lost her footing but grabbed on to the desk before she went down.

Most of the class had arrived by now, and began snickering at Draco's remark, including Hermione. Pansy scowled at them, but turned and addressed the curly haired witch. "What's so funny Granger? Care to share with the rest of us?"

"Oh nothing much" Hermione responded flippantly. "Just enjoying you making a bumbling idiot of yourself."

Pansy bristled at her retort while the rest of the class laughed and even Draco chuckled in amusement. Pansy shot a nasty look in his direction as though he had betrayed her, then turned her glare back to Hermione. "You think you're so funny do you? You're nothing but a filthy mudblood!"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Draco beat her to it. "Don't call her that." Hermione whipped her head towards him in surprise while the rest of the class mimicked her wide eyed expression. Did Draco Malfoy just take up for Hermione Granger? This was too good to be true.

"W-what?" Pansy asked shocked.

"Don't call her that" Draco reiterated in a more firm tone. "That's such a stupid insult anyway. It makes no sense." Surely Hermione was mishearing him. After all the first time she'd ever heard that word was back in second year when he called her that. So what was he doing taking up for her when someone else said it?

"Draco, I can't believe you!" Pansy all but shouted. "You've been acting strangely towards me since we've been back, and now you're actually taking up for some silly little mudblood?"

"Miss Parkinson!" called a voice from the doorway, and everyone turned around to see Professor Slughorn. "You will not use such foul language in my classroom! Detention tonight. Get back to your seat at once." Pansy huffed and shot one last disbelieving look at Draco before going to her table at the other end of the room.

Slughorn gave the directions for them to begin brewing a healing potion, then left the class to their own devices. Draco immediately set up their cauldron and got started. Hermione was still watching him with wide eyes as he continued his work. She was so confused! Why did Malfoy stand up for her?

"See something you like Granger?" called Malfoy, and Hermione realized she was still staring at him. "Looking is free, but touching will cost you" he said arrogantly causing her to blush a little. He smirked at that and could feel that his bad mood was starting to diminish. For the first time since he'd made this bet, he was actually glad for it seeing as it made a great distraction.

"Why did you do that?" Hermione asked him finally.

Draco feigned ignorance. "Do what Granger?"

"You know what!" she said exasperatedly. "Why did you take up for me when Parkinson called me a mudblood?"

He continued tending to the potion and she wondered if he was going to answer her. As she was about to just turn away, he spoke. "Maybe I'm taking the professor's advice and just trying to get over all this animosity."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. This couldn't be the same Draco Malfoy she'd known since she was eleven. "You really expect me to believe that?"

Draco looked up and made eye contact with her. "I meant what I said. It's a stupid insult and makes no sense. It's about time people quit using it. The bloody war should have taught us that. Don't you think?"

She looked at him then as though she was just now seeing him for the first time. Whatever answer she was expecting, it certainly hadn't been that. She'd been so uncertain of the Malfoys as of late. She'd believed they were all prejudiced, evil bigots, but Narcissa had her doubting that when she betrayed Voldemort and gave information to the order last year, and then when she'd lied for Harry. And Malfoy had been different this year. Though he continued to insult her friends, he hadn't insulted her in a while and was even making attempts at being civil. Had the war opened his eyes?

Draco could practically hear her mind working furiously and knew he had her right where he wanted her. He'd taken up for her solely to show her that he wasn't the same twelve year old that bullied her, just like Daphne had told him to do. As annoying as she was, Pansy had ended up providing him with a golden opportunity. He'd expected it would get Granger to talk to him, and maybe even get Pansy off his back. Blaise and Theo probably knew that he did it for the bet. There was no need for them to know that he was serious about the insult being stupid and making no sense.

Deciding to further try his luck, he looked at her and said, "You just gonna stare at me all day, or do you at some point plan to help me brew this potion?" Granger watched him for just a few more seconds before nodding, coming to stand beside him, and giving out orders for the potion. He rolled his eyes as her bossy demeanor took over again, but couldn't help the small smirk that played across his mouth. He was just a little bit closer to winning this bet.

XOXOXOXOXO

The day had gone better than he expected. Granger had begun including him in their assignments, and actually asking for his input on things. He was after all second in the class, and together they got the highest marks in all of their classes. She was still slightly weary around him, and watched him when she thought he wasn't paying attention. It was like she didn't want to turn her back on him for fear of him surprising her with a sneak attack or something.

Blaise, Daphne, and Theo watched them discreetly throughout the day. The boys were surprised when Draco took up for her in potions and told Daphne about it. They insisted that Draco only did it for his benefit with the bet, but Daphne was sure it went a lot deeper than that.

"Seriously Daph, he's only being civil to soften her up" Theo said for the third time that day. "There is absolutely no way in hell he has some deep subconscious attraction towards her."

Daphne rolled her eyes and sighed. She was so tired of pointing out the obvious signs to them. It was getting really old. "He's enjoying the conversations he's having with her. He took up for her because it made him mad that someone else insulted her."

"Well yeah, because he thinks only he has the right to insult her" Blaise said.

"Exactly" Daphne replied. "Don't you think that's a little possessive? Why can he go eight years tormenting and calling her names, but the minute someone else does it, he defends her and says the insult was stupid? Doesn't make a lot of sense unless he felt something for her now does it?"

Blaise looked down in thought and seemed to be catching on, but Theo scoffed. "So what, just because he wants to be her sole tormentor, that means he's suddenly in love with her? Not bloody likely."

"Mark my words Theo" Daphne said, pointing a perfectly manicured nail at him. "Before this year is up, Draco will realize his feelings and try to win Granger for real."

"Yeah, and all the houses will join hands in unity and we'll see a widespread of mixed house relationships" Theo said sarcastically. "She's crazy, right Blaise?" he asked turning to his mate.

Blaise shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It's too early to tell." Looking up at the clock, he realized the time and closed his book. "I've got to go. Don't want to be late for Herbology."

Theo raised an eyebrow at him. "Since when do you care about being late to Herbology?"

"Since I found a reason to start going" he replied, gathering up his things and making his way towards the greenhouses.

Theo stared after him confused, while Daphne folded her arms and smirked. "I bet he's found a girl from another house that's caught his interest. Maybe those mixed house relationships are more realistic than you think."

XOXOXOXOXO

Hermione looked up at the clock above the Gryffindor fire place and saw that she had to meet Malfoy in a few minutes. She closed the book she had been reading and turned to Harry and Ron who were sitting on the floor working on homework. "Well, I'm off to begin patrol. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Have fun 'Mione" Harry said giving her a small smile.

"Give the ferret a hex or two for me" Ron grunted without looking up from his parchment.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but chose not to respond. Though none of them liked Malfoy, Ron downright loathed him. It was a hatred that ran deep between both families and would probably always exist. Even when Narcissa helped the order last year, Ron was very skeptical of her and refused to believe that she was on their side, though her information helped save countless lives.

Hermione made her way through the corridors and down the stairs until she was in front of the Great Hall. She was surprised to see that she'd made it there first and leaned against the wall to wait for Malfoy. Enjoying this rare quiet time, she began to think about her blonde haired counterpart. Why was he being so civil to her this year? She could only remember him insulting her once during the first week of school, but other than that he'd been almost pleasant towards her. Unlike the rest of his house, he never put up any protest or complaint when the professors arranged their seating charts, and he actually seemed to be going along with it. He couldn't truly put the past behind him and stop all the fighting with the other houses. Could he?

"You're thinking way too hard."

Hermione jumped as his voice startled her out of her thoughts and looked up to see him standing not too far away from her. She narrowed her eyes, but he only carried a smug look on his face, clearly pleased with himself.

"Well, are you just going to stare at me again, or are we going to start patrol sometime tonight?" he asked.

"Right. Lets go" she said shaking her thoughts away and proceeding down the hall. They walked on for a bit in silence, neither knowing what to say. She tried to think of something to start a conversation going, but she was never particularly good at small talk. The only thing she knew how to do with Malfoy was throw insults and hexes.

When she thought he wasn't looking, she took the time to study him yet again. As much as he annoyed and infuriated her, Hermione could not doubt that Malfoy was very attractive. With his porcelain like skin, pale blonde hair, mercurial eyes, and sharp aristocratic features, it was no wonder he was one of the most sought out males by almost the entire female population. He was lean, but not lanky and had muscles defined by years of quidditch practice. He was also very intelligent. He was excellent at potions and on his way to becoming a master of the subject. Though he didn't particularly care for either class, he was good at both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, while most students in their grade were barely passing the classes. If he wasn't such a git, Hermione would probably fancy him herself.

She allowed her eyes to travel down his neck to his chest, then to his arms which were swinging casually by his side as he walked. Before her eyes could travel lower, something dark against his alabaster skin caught her eye. Looking up at it, she couldn't help but allow her gaze to settle on his left arm.

There, staring up at her was the dark mark. She'd seen it in the sky at the quidditch game before her fourth year, and again in sixth year when Malfoy had let some death eaters into the school and been tasked with killing Dumbledore. She shivered at the memory, seeing as that had been the night she learned of the horcruxes and had been given the mission to find the last three. She, Ron, and Harry had been hiding under the stairs when Malfoy tried to carry out the task, but couldn't. She'd also witnessed the death of her beloved Headmaster from Snape and sometimes the memory of the light leaving his eyes and his body falling off the tower still made its way into her dreams.

Draco, who'd caught her staring at his arm, took her shiver to mean that she was disgusted by him and was labeling him because of that cursed mark against his flesh. Feeling the strange urge to justify himself to her, he began to speak before he could stop himself. "I never wanted it you know."

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up at him a little embarrassed that she had been caught.

"This bloody tattoo. I never wanted it." he said again, looking at her with a fierce expression. He didn't know why, but he wanted her to know he wouldn't have chosen this if he'd truly had the choice in the first place. "As a kid, I saw it on my father's arm all the time. It always creeped me out. Sometimes, I could swear the snake was moving and it looked like it would come off his arm and attack me. When I asked him about it, he told me it was nothing and not to worry about it. Imagine my surprise when I later found out it was definitely something and I should indeed worry about it." Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice was screaming at him not to dump all of this on her, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. It was like word vomit.

"I never asked for it. I literally walked into a room in my home not knowing what to expect, and walked out branded like a fucking animal. That was the first time I ever saw him. The Dark Lord. He was the freakiest fucking thing I'd ever laid eyes on. And that huge pet snake of his. The two looked like they were from the same family." He paused to take a deep breath, but had a faraway look in his eye. Hermione could tell he was in a different place in his mind, reliving this time in his life, and she listened with rapt attention, surprised that he was sharing this with her.

"They brought in a group of us. All my friends and people I grew up with were summoned, seeing how most of us were death eater children. He wanted new recruits; to expand his army. But he was only choosing one that day. Had a specific mission he wanted carried out when we returned for sixth year. I never even opened my bloody mouth, but I was volunteered. That was good enough for him. He grabbed my arm and dug his wand into me, reciting the spell. I'd never been in so much fucking pain, but I knew if I cried out or made any noise, he'd see it as a sign of weakness and probably torture me. When it finally stopped, I looked down to see the same fucking tattoo that was on my father's arm. There was that creepy fucking snake glaring up at me like it wanted to eat me. Afterwards, I had to look him in his eyes and thank him. I had to thank him for branding me with a mark that I didn't even want and a bloody suicide mission!"

Hermione stared up at him in shock. She'd thought Malfoy wanted to become a death eater, and probably wanted the task of killing the Headmaster without truly realizing how difficult it would be and what it would entail. Never did she think that he was forced into it. She knew that was the excuse he used during his trial in front of the Wizengamot, but she thought it had just been a ruse to save his skin from Azkaban. Looking at him now and the sincere emotion in his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth.

"I thought it would go away" he continued in a quieter voice, still with that faraway look in his eyes. "I thought once he died, the mark would fade and I wouldn't have to see it again. But it didn't. I got to where I couldn't even stand to stare at it. One night, I decided I would get rid of it myself. I ran a blade right down the middle of the skull. Caused a deep gash, but the mark was still there. The dark magic was holding it together. I could swear both the skull and snake were laughing at me. I freaked out and tried to cut it out again and again, but no matter what it wouldn't go away and rose slightly above my skin. My mother walked in on me. She thought I was trying to off myself or something. Had to wrestle the knife out of my hand, then used all kinds of healing spells on my arm and healing pastes. Three days later, all the cuts were gone and it looked like I'd never tried to hack the skin of my arm off. But I could swear the mark got even darker, as though it was reminding me that no matter what, I'll be forever labeled." His voice trailed off at the end and all was quiet except for the soft footfalls of their walking.

After a few beats of silence, Draco snapped out of his trance. A horrified look came across his face as he realized what he'd just told her. What the hell was wrong with him?! Why did he unload all of that personal shite on her? He'd never talked about that with anyone, not even his mother. He looked down at her to see that her gaze wasn't on him, but rather looking down in thought. He opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't mean any of what he'd just said and that it was all just a joke, when her voice stopped him.

"That's why you did it" she said softly, finally looking up and meeting his eyes.

"Huh?" he questioned in confusion.

"Your friends" she said, not taking her eyes off of him. "That's why you sent them to the order, isn't it? You wanted to keep them safe and not be forced into that like you were."

"How did you know I sent them?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"We overheard some of them talking one night while we were at Headquarters, trying to figure out where the next horcrux was" she explained. "We were surprised when all these Slytherins started showing up pledging their allegiance to the light and begging us for protection. We thought they would want to join Voldemort's ranks. Ron was always suspicious and thought it was a trick." Draco scoffed at this, but Hermione continued. "I was passing by one of their rooms one night on the way to the kitchen, when I heard two of your friends talking about it. I believe it was Zabini and Nott. They'd said you wouldn't allow them to take part in a raid, nor cast any unforgiveables, and that you told them to get to the order and no matter what, refuse to join Voldemort."

Draco flinched slightly at her casual use of the name of the man that had caused him to be so fearful of his own home. He didn't think he could ever reach a point where he would refer to him as anything other than the Dark Lord.

"They didn't notice I was standing outside the door, so they had no idea I was listening." She continued. "I couldn't believe it at first. Why would you encourage them to be on the opposite side of you during the war? I thought surely they were mistaken. But then a few weeks later, your mother came offering to be a spy for the order and giving out information about raids and where he would be striking next. Through her we also found out about Snape's true loyalty and that one of Voldemort's horcruxes was in your Aunt Bellatrix's vault. Without your mother's help, we wouldn't have been able to get in and destroy that horcrux, and probably wouldn't have won the war. I think that's when I realized that it's not as simple as good people and bad people. The world's not black and white, and there's many shades of grey."

The two continued their patrol in silence, each taking in what the other had said. The conversation they'd had was deep and neither had expected the other to be so open with them. For Hermione, she was coming to see her childhood bully in a whole new light. For Draco, he was surprised that she actually got it. He didn't know where the urge to tell her all of that came from, but he couldn't ignore the fact that it felt good telling someone.

Their patrol ended in front of the library, and Hermione turned and started making her way back to Gryffindor tower. She'd gone about ten steps before she turned around. "Malfoy!" she called out to his retreating figure.

He turned his head back towards her, but kept his body faced the opposite way. He raised his eyebrows in way of asking what she wanted.

She hesitated for a moment, then met his gaze. "For what it's worth, I really admire the things you did for your friends and family last year."

He was surprised for a minute that she'd actually said something nice about him. Not a lot of people admired much of his actions. Looking at her, he began to think that maybe Granger wasn't so bad. As quickly as the thought crossed his mind, he pushed it out and let a horrible sneer take over his face. He'd already made a fool of himself once in front of her tonight, and he'd be damned if he let his emotions make him look like that again. He was in this solely to win a bet he reminded himself, and nothing more.

"It's not worth much, considering I don't care what you think" he said coldly, then turned and walked back to the dungeons.

AN: Finally, we've moved on to a little deeper plotline! I know some things are probably a little confusing, but I'll uncover more details further into the story. Also, I'm giving you guys one last chance to tell me which girl you'd rather see paired with Harry; Daphne or Luna. Review please!