Ginny squealed in excitement when she told her, she was so happy that her friend had finally had her first kiss, and wanted to know all the details, Harry, on the other hand, was much less pleased,
"What does he want with you?" He demanded, shooting a look of pure hatred in Draco's direction from across the hall.
"I don't know, it wasn't a date, it sort of just of…happened."
Her heart melted as Harry came up to all sorts of conclusions as to why Draco wanted her. And then there was Ron. "I'm going to knock his lights out." He stood up violently, when he found out, his fists clenched ready to punch.
"Don't you dare!" Hermione tried to calm him down, and, eventually he sat back down and joined Harry with the accusations.
It was hard for her not to tell Ron, he was her best friend, and he had to know. Making a quick change in topic, not liking the way the conversation was going, Hermione started reciting all the Homework both the boys had to catch up on, now that they both had Quidditch duties to maintain.

"Oh so you're back now? I got quiet bored of watching you through that window." Lavender Brown's voice cut through their conversation, Hermione turned to her in surprise,
"What do you mean 'watching me'?" She demanded, shooting a look at Ron and Harry, who looked as if they had a lot to hide, "You were spying on me!" She shouted in shock, staring at each of her friends in turn.
"Well, not exactly." Ginny tried to reason, but Hermione wasn't having any of it.
"I told you not to come!" She almost bellowed over the noise in the hall, standing up violently as she could feel tears threatening to spill up. She didn't know what to think, she had trusted her friends. She let out a small whimper of shock and disbelief, looking over the mass of heads to try and find Draco and tell him. But as soon as she laid eyes on him, chatting away to that Millicent Bulstrode, some part of her knew she couldn't tell him. He wouldn't live it down, he would probably curse all three of them for being so rude, and she couldn't allow that, even though she felt like doing just that herself. She slowly sat back down and gulped in the tears, not allowing herself to cry. Picking up her fork with her eyes closed, she breathed out deeply before continuing to eat, not looking at the people that surrounded her.
"We're sorry," Harry told her, feeling guilty as he watched his best friend look so angry and upset with them, "we were just worried. You know what he's like."
"He's changed." She shook her head, still avoiding eye contact.
"You don't know that." Ron pleaded with her, wishing she could see what a scumbag he was.
"You know, this is exactly why I didn't want to tell any of you." She breathed out with such venom that no one spoke for some time.
"I'll be leaving then..." Lavender spoke out, cutting the lingering tension.
"About time." Hermione snapped as the girl walked away with a smile on her face. Hermione gave a slight shudder of annoyance as she griped her knife tighter, that girl really got on her nerves.
"Hermione, we all know he only wants one thing." Ginny piped in nervously, giving a slight glance to Harry.
"You don't know that." Hermione looked up at Harry, he could see in her eyes that deep down she had had the same thought herself. Indeed she had, some part of her, the part that hated Draco, honestly had the strong nagging feeling that he only wanted to use her. But then today, he had been so kind to her. She looked away from Harry and back down to her chest with a sigh.
"He was so nice today though." The belief that Malfoy only wanted her for sex consumed her, her eyes flickered in his direction and her heart melted, all hope of a relationship shattering as she let the idea sink deeper into her. She didn't want sex, she wasn't ready for that. Her insides turned cold, her fingers going numb as she listened to the endless amounts of accusations her friends had. But every idea they said, she had already thought of before. She nodded her head and gave in, somehow they'd convinced her, Malfoy was bad news, he would never look at a muggle-born, and certainly not her. She forgot all about how alive she had felt in his arms, and let the feeling of hurt over take her. There was something about today that confirmed that she had feelings for him. Maybe he had used the whole day to trick her into liking him, pretending to be charming and a gentleman, buying her lunch and giving her his coat, maybe it was all just an act.

She continued to block out the world as she made her way up to the common room, her body tingling as she accepted the fact that he was playing her. He wasn't interested, and as Ron pointed out, he just wanted to use her to get what he wanted. At least Ginny listened when she told her about how he'd bought her lunch and been so kind to her, but even as the girl nodded and smiled and told her that was a nice thing for him to do, there was an obvious underlying doubt that this wasn't part of his whole seducing plan. Hermione didn't know what to say or think any more; part of her longed for him, for the feel of his hand on her shoulder, for the feel of his breath on her cheek, for the feel of his lips on hers. Had it really all been a lie? Had the past few weeks all just been some kind of game? She should have known when she had stopped talking to him, when he had forced himself in her. Gosh, it was all so obvious now.

There was just something in the way he looked at her, her heart just melted and she forgot all about the past. But boy was it all coming back to her now, the name calling and the taunts, they could never put that behind them. No matter how badly her heart wanted to keep onto him, her brain was telling her she had to let go, he had used her, and she's let him get to her.


Hermione hadn't talked to him in days, had he done something wrong again? He'd seen her, chatting to her stupid friends, but she always avoided his eye contact which he was insistent to make. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong. He hadn't done anything wrong. He'd been civil, she seemed to enjoy the day, and she had even kissed him! What had gone wrong?

Draco walked along the corridor, trying yet again to see if he could catch Hermione on her own, to try and see why she was avoiding him; but the castle seemed to be deserted, the sixth years had a free lesson so he had expected to see her walking around, but she was nowhere to be seen. His thoughts continued to motivate him into finding her, he need to know what he had done to upset her. Had he said something? Had someone else said something to her to make her hate him?

"I bet it was that stupid Weasley." He voiced aloud, kicking a nearby empty bottle of Pumpkin Juice that lay forgotten on the ground once more. He was just about to kick the stray bottle further ahead again, when he stopped dead in his tracks. What if Weasley had said something? He scratched his head as he sat himself down on a wooden bench, trying to think. It would make perfect sense, of Potter and Weasley to poison her mind into thinking he was scum. It could be easily done, just bring up his past or his family and no girl would ever look at him twice. But Hermione wasn't just any other girl. He face turned sour as he imagined what they would have said to her, his whole body filled with hatred as he stood back up again, leaning on the wall, fearing he would fall down, overcome with such a strong emotion. His clenched fist rested above him as he lent all of his weight onto his bent elbow, it all maked sense; there was no other reason for her to now be avoiding him. He knew she had been sceptical at first of his intentions of the whole situation, so it would be easy for her to be swayed by a few seeds planted in her mind.
Draco composed his anger and continued to walk on; he needed to get his books before Potions. 'Potions', he smiled to himself, Hermione was in Potions, and so were Ron and Harry he sneered, he needed to teach them that they couldn't go around, messing up every little thing good in his life.

Draco picked up his books from his dorm and stepped back out into the cold dungeon corridor, making his way to class. It was only when he opened the classroom door to reveal everyone standing at their places, cauldrons already ablaze that he had an idea. He took his place next to Blaise, who was already working on a Fire Protection Potion, and took a look around the classroom; Weasley and Potter weren't here yet. He smiled to himself as he asked his friend where they were up to, and focused on the work. He knew from years of experience, that it only took a few petals of a moss flower to be added in the first few stages, which would change the potion entirely; making a rather good hair removal potion, which causes the taker to grow hair all over their body. 'Perfect' Draco sneered to himself, as he watched his victims walk into the room, covered in mud, appearing to have been out playing Quidditch with some other Gryffindorks.
While Slughorn was distracted with telling the late comers off, Malfoy crept behind the teacher and into the supply cupboard, before taking a quick glance at Hermione, who was concentrating on scowling at her friends at the same time as keeping control of the difficult potion. Draco grabbed a handful of moss from its jar and scooted back to his table without being noticed.
"What's that?" Blaise asked, curious as to why Draco had gone into the store cupboard when they already had all of their ingredients. Draco held out his hand in response, showing his friend the green plant, while sneering at the two boys who stood only a table away from him. Zabini nodded in agreement, a smirk spread across his face as he too, stared at Ron and Harry. "When?" he asked, stirring the cauldron as Malfoy shifted his gaze to the girl that stood a few centimetres from the two boys.
"Once they've added the fly wings," he smirked, "watch my back?" he didn't take his eyes off Hermione as he spoke.
"Sure. Just tell me when and I'll ask old Slugy for some rat droppings."
Draco gave a half-hearted laugh as he continued to watch the girl crush some peppercorn spices and add them to the caldron, completely transfixed as he stared at her, wishing he could be the one to gently tuck her hair behind her ear.
He saw Harry add the fly wings and nudged his friend in the elbow as he made his way over to their table, grabbing a few moss petals. Sensing his queue, Blaise walked over to the teacher, watching as Draco pretended to be looking for some Earwig hairs from the other side of the room. Just as he was inches away from the red-head, Draco took a quick dive and tripped over himself, crashing into Ron, sending them both to the floor, but quickly managing to throw the moss into the bubbling caldron without anyone noticing in the mist of the commotion of Ron crying out in pain, and Harry tugging Malfoy off his friend, and Hermione shrieking as she witnessed the scene infront of her.
"Are you okay?!" she gasped as both boys got up, Ron looking absolutely furious, and Draco trying to keep a straight face.
Draco was just about to answer, when Ron got there first, "Yeah." He growled, glaring at Malfoy as he dusted off his robes; it must have been Weasley that this concerned question was directed to, because she seemed content with the answer and gave a weak smile before glaring at Malfoy herself. Walking away, his head down, partly in mock shame of falling over, and partly to hide the smirk that was spread widely across his features.

Back at his station, the now feeling rather pleased with himself Malfoy watched as the boys' caldron started to fizz up as they added lace wax, the potion bubbled over the top of the metal cauldron, pouring hot red liquid onto the counter top, in a mad rush to stop Slughorn from seeing, Harry and Ron used the arms of their sleeves to mop up the liquid. Seeping through to their bare skin, the potion was instantly effective, one minute the boys' had a full head of hair, the next second it was shrinking so rapidly that in a blink of an eye they were completely blind. They didn't even notice themselves until Hermione looked up again and nearly screamed the castle down; everything from their eyebrows to their leg hair had been completely removed. The whole room burst into a fit of laughter, leaving only Ron, Harry, Hermione and Slughorn the only ones not finding the situation the least bit funny.
The moment the teacher had ushered the two panic-stricken teenagers out of the room, Hermione burst over to Draco, her wand held tightly in her hand, her face screwed up in anger.
"Do you want me to punch you again?" she shouted, marching up to him.
"Please don't." He joked, but wasn't entirely sure he had managed to hide the distinct fear he was currently feeling, Hermione could be scary when she's angry.
"Just leave me alone Malfoy." She spat, getting right up in his face, searching his eyes for an answer to why he had been so stupid.
"Why? Did I hurt your boyfriend?" He mocked, looking over his shoulder as Blaise gave a slight snigger.
"He is not my boyfriend." She hissed, backing away from him, scared of what she might do.
"Could have fooled me." Draco stated. He didn't know what he was saying, the words where just pouring out of his mouth without his brain having any control. Was that the reason why she wasn't speaking to him? Had her feelings for Weasley really not gone?
"Shutup Malfoy," She whispered, shaking her head, there was no use in any of it, "Just leave me alone." She breathed the words out, barely audible in the loud classroom, but Draco heard the words perfectly; his heart dropping to his stomach as he watched her walk away, a look of shear disappointment on her face.


He needed a way of telling her how he felt, without the stupid tricks to get her attention, and to get his own back on a hunch he had made as to why she was avoiding him; he had made it a whole lot worse now.
As he sat himself down on a large couch in the common room, a seemingly brilliant idea hit him; Blaise had mentioned a party tonight, for that stupid Slug Club, hadn't he told him that Granger was a member too? His heart did a little jump as he found the perfect way to speak to her, she wouldn't make a scene in front of everyone, so he was guaranteed she would speak to him. He just needed to find a way to get in.

Hermione didn't even know what to think; she was getting ready by herself in the dormitory, putting on the nicest dress she could find for the Christmas party. She didn't feel much like going, her day had been pretty awful, and she just fancied a nice long sleep, but she couldn't let Slughorn down, not after the day he's had; which was all Malfoy's fault. God, he was so infuriating! She was so close to hitting him today that she struggled to walk away. She just couldn't believe that after everything, he really hadn't changed at all. What she wanted to know was what led him to do such a thing? Had Harry or Ron upset him? Surely he didn't think she still fancied Ron! But what if she did? She collapsed herself onto her bed with a sigh, not knowing what to think anymore.

At midnight, Draco watched from the floor above as Hermione met Harry and Lovegood in the Entrance Hall, and made their way to the party. He followed close behind, unbeknown to the small group, making sure that his footsteps couldn't be heard in the now silent castle. They led the way to the dungeons, and into Slughorn's office; but Draco left them, allowing them to walk inside while he waited in a deserted classroom for the right time.

Hermione was chatting to a group of Ravenclaws when she saw a wave of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye, turning around, she saw Malfoy being dragged by the ear towards the group by Filch. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, listening to the caretaker as he spoke to Slughorn,
"I discovered this boy lurking in the corridor outside. This boy claims to have been invited to your party and been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"
Draco pulled himself free of Filch's grasp, looking furious.
"Alright, I wasn't invited!" he said angrily, looking around the room in search of Hermione, "I was trying to gate-" he stopped dead as he found the girl he was looking for, her face was scowling disapprovingly at him. He choked up his words; she looked flawless in a beautiful short pink skirt which revealed her slender cleavage, he hair in small little ringlets falling at her shoulders, "I was trying to gatecrash." He turned his attention back to Slughorn, prizing his eyes away from the beautiful girl that stood away from him, blocking out everyone else around her as she lit up the whole room with her beauty.
"You're in trouble you are," the squib's voice interrupted his visions of what Hermione had on underneath that revealing dress, "You can't go wandering around the castle unless you've got permission." The man sneered.
"It's alright Argus," Slughorn responded, waving his hand. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come and party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment, you may stay, Draco." Draco could have sworn he had seen the Professor take a quick glance at Hermione as he said these words, a wicked glint in his eye.
Hermione's expression echoed the one of Filch's, of outrage, and watched in almost disbelief as Draco thanked Slughorn, and the two spoke about his grandfather. Hermione tried to block the boy out of her mind, and turned back to the group of girl's she was previously speaking to, but she couldn't concentrate, and her mind kept drifting into Draco's conversation, he was making a poor excuse of sucking up to the merry teacher.
Hermione caught eyes with Harry, and drifted across the room to speak to him, but her path was interrupted by Malfoy stepping in front of her. With a roll of her eyes, she looked up at his all too smirking face. It was the first time she had seen him close up in a while, and her heart almost melted at the sight of his sorry eyes, which held dark bags under them from lack of sleep, where he had been up all night thinking about her, but she would never know quite how badly he missed her. She could feel his cold breath as they held a stare. His eyes pleaded innocence, whereas she held a cold stare filled with anger and hatred. Without even thinking, Draco touched her cold jaw with the back of his hand, gently stroking her skin as he searched her eyes, looking for a sign of forgiveness. But she looked away, Draco still keeping contact as the anger built up inside her. It took a great deal of courage for her to spit out the words "Go away." she said them so silently, but with so much force the whole room could hear every syllable.
Draco could hear the hatred in her voice. His hand went limp and he removed it from her face and without another word, he walked away, knowing he had just made things worse. Again.


A.N: I hated this chapter so much so I will aim to update for maybe Wednesday, thankyou for reading and I appologise for this chapter..