(A/N): Thank you all for the reads and reviews! I've reached over a thousand reads, so that makes me happy. Just let me know what you guys think of the story and I'll be the happiest person alive! And this is sort of just a filler chapter, I guess…no direct confrontation between Draco and Hermione, but more of their singular activities in between. And I'll be updating every two weeks now on Sundays!

Disclaimer: As always, Harry Potter does not belong to me, nor will it ever so…yeah.

Hermione could only barely hear Draco's last words, and they were faint enough that she could pretend they never existed. They must have just been her imagination, for Draco Malfoy didn't lose his calm composure so easily. Well, except for that little scene she had witnessed in the hallway, and Hermione had almost convinced herself that had never happened either. She couldn't dwell too much on those so called human displays of Draco's. She couldn't allow herself to see him as someone who deserved her sympathy. Draco Malfoy was her enemy and Hermione would have to remain focused if she was to stop whatever dreadful scheme he was cooking up.

Boy, Hermione did love such a challenge. Not much could be said about that Slytherin boy in terms of morals or manners, but as far as intelligence went, Hermione knew he was the only one who was even close to matching her. But, of course, she was smarter than him! Her pride wouldn't allow him too much respect, but Hermione knew he had a cunning edge to spare. She would have to be careful with this little task of hers. And hopefully, if she won their little game, Hermione would stop something catastrophic from happening. And she would do it all by herself, without the help of the other two thirds of the Golden Trio.

Presently, Hermione headed quickly towards the Gryffindor common room, her mind racing as it attempting to think only of foiling Malfoy's plans. Of course, she still wasn't ready to think about Harry and the distance he was creating between them, or Ron and his relationship with Lavender. Hermione was using Draco as a distraction and it was as simple as that. If she focused all of her energy on this quest and her studies, she wouldn't have time to hurt.

Upon entering the Common Room, Hermione went straight to one of the chair's she had been at earlier, where a little stack of books sat undisturbed. Obviously, Hermione never had to worry about someone stealing her textbooks if she just left them lying around. She sat in the overstuffed red chair, opening the first one and ignoring the world around her for the moment. The latest object of her attention was Hogwarts: A History, which she had admittedly read many times before, being the only one in all of Hogwart's history to do so. She was reading up on the Slytherin House itself, wondering if there was anything recorded that could help her find out any secret schemes.

Distracting herself turned out to be harder than she had first expected it to be. Hermione, unfortunately, was having trouble losing herself to the written word as she usually did. Her thoughts kept wandering to Draco Malfoy every time she read the word Slytherin or ambition. The Slytherin Prince always had had a habit of getting under her skin with all of his ridiculing and arrogance. She had always despised everything about him.

But, surprisingly enough, the thoughts that plagued her mind now were not just of her hatred for him. Mainly, Hermione was curious. She wanted to know what had been going on in the corridor, what could have made him snap like that. She wanted to know when things had changed, when he went from just insulting others to physically assaulting them. Surely, every person had some breaking point. It took these confrontations for her to realize that Draco Malfoy was allowed to have a breaking point as well.

But even though she was curious about what was going on with Draco, her main reoccurring thought was of how much she wanted to break his nose again. How dare he threaten her and make a fool of her? How dare he call her a mudblood all those years and hit her best friend? For some reason, Hermione couldn't bring herself to tell everyone about his little breakdown in the hallway, though there was a wicked part of her that wanted nothing more than to ruin his reputation. Hermione wasn't a bad person, though. She couldn't bring herself to use things like that against others.

And then, her thoughts eventually traveled to dangerous territory. She began to wonder where Ron and Harry were, since it was getting late and the sun was making its way down. It seemed every few minutes Hermione found herself glancing upwards to see if either of them would enter the Common Room. He's probably just off with Lavender, snogging in the hallways like he doesn't have….other priorities. Hermione's thoughts became bitter without her even being aware of it. She couldn't help it.

Didn't those two know she was worried out of her mind for them? It seemed like lately, neither Ron nor Harry cared about maintaining their friendship. They were drifting apart, and that broke Hermione's heart more than everything because the Golden Trio was everything to her. Harry and Ron had become her life.

It was hard for her to come to terms with what was passing. It had always been the three of them together since their first year at Hogwarts. And even then, Harry and Ron hadn't been her favorite people and she wasn't theirs. But somehow, in all of that havoc, she had turned their opinions of her around and the Golden Trio had come to existence.

She knew that the time would come that the boys would separate from her. She was after all a girl and when the time came, they would be interested in finding a girl for themselves. In some ways, males and females had always been separated. She had, to some extent, been cornered off from the trio, because she had been the only female amongst the three of them.

She prided herself, though, in finding friendships in people besides Harry and Ron. They weren't her only mates at Hogwarts. It was a bit conflicting for her to have such a small group of people that she surrounded herself with. So, it was something to be proud of for her to extend and befriend others besides her two best friends. She had maintained nice relationships with Luna and Ginny of late, finding that the two girls had more in common with her than she had previously thought. And then of course, she was friendly enough with Neville and Ernie Macmillan.

But for some reason, being so isolated from her two best friends hurt more than it helped to be friends with others. Yes, they would distract her and make her laugh, but Hermione wanted Harry and Ron to break from their individual spells and return to her. She wanted the Golden Trio to be compact and never to hold any cracks in their friendship. Because to her, it appeared as though their sphere of protection was slowly breaking away.

It didn't matter, though. There was nothing else that she could do personally, to fix their friendship. It didn't matter if she persisted heavily and attempted to reconcile with the boys. She couldn't exactly reach out for them, only to have them recoil away from her. After all, any relationship needed both parties to reach halfway to the center and work together to maintain. She certainly did not want to have a one sided friendship, which felt more and more like of theirs.

Of course, she knew that the Golden Trio would somehow return. Once everyone saw past their hormones and their grief, she would have her best friends come back together. They would work together and come up with the solution that they all needed. Now that there was the impending threat of Lord Voldemort coming to kill her best friend and possibly a good portion of the wizarding world, she wanted to help as much as she could to prepare Harry, herself, as well as the rest of the student body for whatever offense they would be attacked with.

The enormous load of thoughts began to heavily rain down on Hermione's mood. She wasn't prepared for any of this. She hated the feelings that ran her over whenever she thought about her redhead best friend, or the utter despair she experienced when she mulled over all the guilt that Harry tortured himself with. She only wished that there was something that she could do to fix the conflicts that occurred. There was something so disconcerting about not being able to do something about a situation. After all, Hermione thought that there was nothing worse than the feeling of being useless.

Perhaps this was exactly what explained her reasoning for being so unreservedly obsessed with the Slytherin Prince and all of his afternoon activities. It was a situation that she could handle with the lack of the absent feeling of having a role. She had too many other things to worry about. Therefore, she challenged herself with a problem that didn't outwardly affect her in a personal way.

Draco Malfoy was a character that she and her best friends had absolutely despised for much of their lives. Of course, Hermione and Harry had only met him in their first year at Hogwarts, but Ron had outside experiences with the blonde haired boy from times before Hogwarts. They all had reasons to hate him, finding most of his qualities horrendous and absurd. In their eyes, he was an evil git that had trouble coming his way. That prompted most of her encouragement for researching the blonde ferret. The problem, however, was that because he was a person of modern times, there would not be anything in books she could possibly find to discover what the prat was up to in his spare time.

Hermione sighed loudly, tossing her book to the side in exasperation. Her efforts were, it was starting to seem, wasted. Nowhere in her texts had she found any clues to what Draco Malfoy could be up to. She was getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

"What are you hiding, Malfoy?" She muttered under her breath, letting her finger trail across the spines of the books stacked up on the table beside her. If only one of them contained the answers she sought. But, alas, she discovered that nothing in her wide range of books could reveal to her the answers she so desperately wanted to discern.

Finally, with another great sigh, the bushy haired Gryffindor rose from her chair and began pacing the floor of the nearly empty Common Room. She held a quill in one hand and moved it as if she could write in the air. Her face was a mask of pure concentration as she recounted the events of earlier and tried to make some sort of sense of them.

Her focus was immediately ruptured, however, as the sounds of loud footsteps could be heard from the stairs that led to the Gryffindor Common Room. She could tell from the different sounds that there were two of them and this was their best attempt at remaining quiet. They definitely were rubbish at it.

A hardy chuckle could be heard from the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. First, one shadow of a boy could be seen right by the door. Then, another person crossed over, a high pitched giggle following after. The shadows soon revealed the figures as they turned the corner. A blonde witch and a red headed wizard ducked out from behind the door and entered the common room. Sheepish smiles crossed both of their lips as they intertwined their hands.

Ronald Weasley leaned in from his side and pressed a chaste kiss to Lavender's lips as she moved into the kiss, deepening it almost immediately. They only broke apart due to the loud cat calls from a few of the boys that he had befriended as well as the obnoxious giggles that came from nearby girls. Looking away from his new girlfriend, Ron turned to the other side of the common room, his expression sobering some as he spotted his best friend standing nearby.

"Hermione…?" His voice was content as he spoke her name, a grin sliding onto his lips. Behind his display, though, a wave of nervousness cascaded on his shoulders, finding himself a bit worried as to what one of his best friends was going to say.

There wasn't one particular thought that stood out to Hermione then. No, really most of the thoughts in her mind were raging, slamming against the sides of her skull. There was a wave of great emotions, holding a trembling shield over her face as she fought to keep those feelings at bay. The scene she had stumbled upon was one that she so greatly dreaded to see, fearful of finding it ever come true.

She wanted to scream and yell. Her hands wanted to reach out and snatch Ron's hair, fisting it tightly as she reprimanded him for being so stupid. She wanted to rant of how obvious she was being and how he only had to take one look at her to tell how she felt about him. But no, she could not do any of that. Because for some reason, Hermione was a selfless person and always thought of others before herself. And as much as she hated Ron for what he was doing, she couldn't bring herself to stop him.

"R-Ron…" She stammered a bit at his name, flashing her eyes back and forth in between her friend and his apparent new girlfriend. Of course, he just had to find his new affection for Lavender. She was her roommate and Hermione knew that tonight, she would be hearing all sorts of new things coming from the annoying blonde haired witch.

"Hermione, what is it?" Ron questioned with a concerned expression flashing across of his face. He had absolutely no idea of what was going on in Hermione's mind and she despised him so deeply for that. "Are you sick? Perhaps you should go to Madam Pomfrey." He suggested, reaching forward to take her arm.

"No! Uh…I'm fine, Ron. Just a bit tired." She quickly came up with an excuse, blinking her eyes rapidly as if to keep all of her emotions from flooding out of her eyes. She wasn't going to let his ignorance beat her down. No, she would not allow it.

"Oh, well…Lavender and I were just about to head out for dinner in a bit." Ron tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes a bit as he looked at his friend. She could tell by the expression across of his face that he was beyond understanding what she was thinking. He would never be able to understand her wide capacity of knowledge, or even the mere thought of her having any romantic feelings for him. "Do you want to come with us?"

Her stomach churned violently at his words. The audacity! She berated herself mentally, knowing that he didn't understand why she would be angry with him. "No, I'm not very hungry. I think I'll just tuck in a bit early tonight." Hermione lied, shaking her head slightly. Her stomach had the nerve to moan lightly at her words, telling her that she was in fact hungry for the dining hall's appealing food. She was tempted to just accept his offer so that she could get a meal in before escaping, but reconsidered when she caught sight of Lavender pulling at her best friend's arm again.

"Well, alright then, Hermione. I guess we'll see you in the morning." Ron nodded his head, bidding her goodnight before turning away towards the entrance again. His eyes scanned the perimeter, acknowledging that there was no one else in the Common Room that he would bother spend his time with. Lavender obediently followed behind him, slinking her pale arm through his. She could hear the start of a conversation between the two of them and bristled as she noticed her friend hanging on the blonde witch's every word.

"Hermione? Can you help me with—?" She immediately cut off the voice that came from the seats on her sides.

"I'm sorry, Colin. I'm feeling kind of ill now, so I think I'll go to bed." Hermione quickly remarked, turning away from her fellow housemate. She braced herself with a kind smile, shrugging her shoulders apologetically to him. "But…perhaps, I could help you during breakfast?" She added on afterwards, feeling a guilty conscience as she turned the younger Gryffindor away. She shouldn't take her frustration with Ron out on others.

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks!" Colin beamed up at her, turning back to his assignment on the table, chatting amicably with his fellow fifth year students now that he had assistance for his assignment.

Hermione sighed deeply, pressing her hand to her forehead as she stepped away from the sofas and the fireplace, climbing up the stairs to her dormitory. Her experiences of today had really disturbed her poor mind and she was absolutely exhausted from worrying about everyone except herself. Screw Ronald Weasley and his new infatuation. Screw Harry for not trusting and confiding in her. And screw Malfoy for the marks he had left on her, physically and mentally.

As she undressed into her night clothing, Hermione climbed into bed, planning and plotting her next move.

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It was odd—the feeling that had come over him. One would think that the absence of company would leave them feeling lonelier than they would have had they been still conversing with that specific person. Of course, he didn't want to be conversing with Granger too long, knowing that that brain of hers would be the end of her. There was too much at risk here.

That didn't certainly mean that he had to be conversing with the annoying Gryffindor every time he had found time to creep away to the Room of Requirement. It appeared to him that whenever he had in fact found time to do something besides keep his housemates busy, he would either be running off to complete his task or Granger had somehow stalked him down once again while he was suspiciously wandering the halls of the school of magic.

Something was wrong with him. He had felt like she had done something to him, making him feel tentative about everything that he did. He was wary of getting caught already, knowing the severe consequences of his mistakes of betraying both sides of the war. One little mistake could ruin him.

"Fucking Granger…stop." He muttered angrily to himself, mentally berating himself over and over as his eyes searched the hallway the extended endlessly in both directions. He didn't really know what to do anymore. Return to the Room of Requirement and continue working on the cabinet? He really was at a loss for any cause at the moment and Draco didn't think that he could take the disappointment any longer for today.

Eventually, he had decided to stalk back to the Slytherin Common Room, where a small crowd of students were lounged across the plush, velvet couches strategically placed to face the fireplace. The entire room felt chilly and dark, having been the only Common Room that literally was housed beneath the Black Lake.

A sneer rolled to his lips as he swiftly moved past the younger students seated around a table, playing a game of Exploding Snap. They immediately froze, their wide eyes staring up at him in a mixture of fear and admiration. Draco ignored them easily, his gray eyes searching the perimeter for anyone that wouldn't certainly annoy him too much.

"Pansy…" He muttered, spotting the raven haired girl chatting amicably with a few of his other comrades.

Striding across the Common Room, he waved his hand at the Slytherin boy seated next to the girl, forcibly encouraging the boy to slide out of the seat and vacate it for the Slytherin Prince himself. A frown settled across the girl's lips as she was left open mouthed with her conversation swept away by the blonde.

"Was that necessary, Draco?" She finally announced in an irritated and impatient tone after remaining quiet for another moment or two.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing there, but he remembered that once upon a time, he used to seek comfort out of Pansy Parkinson. Was that what he was doing now? He didn't want comfort, but more of a distraction. And Pansy was the perfect example of a distraction…

His gray eyes wandered over her body a bit skeptically, as if wondering whether he was happy with his own intentions or not. He didn't take pleasure necessarily in the misery his friend would feel when she figured that pining after him was a lost effort. There would never be a time when Draco would reciprocate the affections the Slytherin female felt for him.

It was inevitable for the heartbreak that the girl would feel if he even gave her a hint of his attention. It tended to happen just because she felt that he was vulnerable and that it would give her a chance to make a move on him. It wasn't something he appreciated very much. But he was always prepared for the confrontation from the sly girl, knowing exactly what she was up to when she was around him.

Had he been a bit more attentitive lately, he might have realized where Pansy's eyes had turned to while he had been brooding that past few days. Things had changed much in his friend group and he hadn't even noticed the entire time that he had been trying to sneak away and attend to his own duties.

Perhaps if he had even lifted his eyes from his near empty plate at the dining hall, he would notice that the reason why Pansy would be giggling was because she had been laughing due to something a certain Zabini was saying. He would be more aware of what was going on around the people that had been with him since day one.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Draco shrugged his shoulders carelessly, his voice lilting in a way that exposed innocence. Resting his head back against the cushion of the couch, he turned his eyes to the girl by his side, sizing her up. When his eyes returned to her face, he could easily see the expression on her face. She didn't bother hiding it this time as she wrinkled her nose.

"I'm not sleeping with you, Draco." Her voice warned him tightly, her eyebrows furrowing deeply as she attempted to keep her composure. It was no secret that Pansy had been in love with him for much of her life. Whether those emotions still remained to this day, he didn't know, but a distraction would really be nice. Besides, he needed to reconnect with his housemates, otherwise he would be found out much earlier than had been planned.

"Well, why the hell not?" He nearly whined to her, his voice rising in volume slightly as he leaned over the arm of the couch.

His comment seemed to only irritate Pansy Parkinson further. Everyone thought of her as some trollop that held her legs open for any man that was willing to even glance in her direction. But, that wasn't quite true. Her reputation of being such a loose girl did not correctly align with what her true personality and actions showed of her. So, of course, when someone that has known her for so long suggests that she open her legs for him, she adamantly would refuse. Even if she had been in love with that boy for most of her life.

"No, Draco." She frowned, a glare shot in his direction. "In case you didn't know, my life doesn't revolve around you. I'm not going to beckon to your every call…when only you want me and turn away when you don't." Pansy shut her book close, folding it in her palm before standing from her seat and preparing to stalk away from the blonde.

He never really dealt well with rejection. It was probably because he wasn't that quite used to being rejected in the first place. Draco was the type of person that got everything that he wanted. He had been spoiled rotten when he was a child, getting meaningless things just because he wanted to have them. It was all mainly for show, to feel superior than the others by comparing his items to those of lesser income. It could have been something as trivial as the newest broomstick or an expensive potions kit.

It never felt right for him to not get what he wanted. If he demanded something around the Slytherin Common Room, he would get it. He had worked himself up into such a position at Hogwarts that even the students older than him appeared to beckon to his will. It wasn't all just his doing, of course. Most of his power had come just from the significance behind his name. He was a Malfoy, and that meant that he had to be on a higher level that the average student. None of these people should even compare to him.

But, there were different types of things that were harder to handle just because they were topics of more sensitivity. It was like his situation now. He was being rejected by someone he knew quite well on his offer to have sex with him. It shouldn't have been a big deal for either of them as they had indulged themselves in such activities for so long before. He had a bit of a soft spot for the few Slytherins he had allowed to come under his wing. No, of course, he wouldn't call any of them his friends.

Slytherins didn't have friends. And Malfoys especially did not. All that they had were allies, enemies, acquaintances, and followers. Somehow, in every situation, the Malfoys were the ones to end up on top, conquering their role of power. It seemed only comical to him now how his powerful family had been reduced to mere slaves of the Dark Lord. What ever happened to never submitting to anyone?

And in that moment, it reminded him quickly of the Malfoy family motto: Sanctimonia Vincet Semper. The Latin words roughly translated into purity will always conquer. If only his ancestors knew what their successors were doing in the present. Draco almost chuckled at the thought. Maybe following the Dark Lord would allow purebloods to conquer, but it didn't seem that any of them would be living any better than they were before.

"That's certainly too bad, Pansy." His voice drummed out casually, dragging his intense, grey stare at the dark haired girl. Some liked to say that she somewhat resembled a pug. While he could see a bit of a similarity, he would never say such a thing to her face unless he really needed to unhinge her. She wasn't all that terrible to look at, honestly. Perhaps she caked her face with a bit too much make up and she held herself in a way that was unappealing, but she really was just the image of a true pureblood woman.

"Draco…" His supposed friend's voice drew out cautiously. Her voice dipped in a warning tone, prepared for some type of backlash from her withdrawal from him. He wasn't going to just let her get away with refusing his offer. He had tried nicely with her after all.

"Oh, shut it, Pansy." His voice eventually snapped at her, impatience running clearly through his tone. "I just want to talk." His aggression had definitely shown in the way his shoulders had tensed and his jaw had firmly locked in place. The young Malfoy boy wasn't going to be pleasant with her with how he had been treated, but he wasn't going to force Pansy into bed with him. He wasn't some womanizer that liked to rape his company if they weren't willing to spend the night with him. No, even that sounded wicked and immoral to Draco, to touch a women that was unwilling and forced.

Pansy's lips curled back slightly, her eyes narrowing as she huffed and returned to the seat she had been previously vacating. Her posture was straight and tight like any mannerly pureblood girl with her expression revealing nothing but the distaste she had for his request. He could see easily from her reaction to his sharp words that she was less than happy to be the one having a conversation with him. Surely, he was pleasant company enough? What did he do to deserve such a reaction from her? He hadn't even outwardly asked her to go to bed with him, so she had no reason to blame him for her radical assumptions. He could only blame his thoughts and his previous actions in the past.

"Well, then? What the bloody hell do you have to say?" Her voice was tight and constricted as if it were difficult for her to find a way to sound amicable. Her slender fingers were wrapped around the bindings of her book, sitting on top of her crossed thighs. Her distress was obvious to him just by the way her shoulders stood at attention. Perhaps he had gotten better at reading people's expressions now that he had discovered how to actually search through someone's mind with Legilimency.

A deep sigh fell from the blonde's lips as he scrutinized the other Slytherin. Now that he had actually settled Pansy for a conversation with him, he actually had to think of a conversation to have with her. "Nothing, really. Can't I just sit down with one of my friends and have a nice chat?" Draco questioned her with a raise of his eyebrows. There really was no purpose for this except that he hadn't really had any human interactions with anyone besides Granger of late. Having a conversation with Pansy would most likely be the best way to distract himself from the annoying, meddlesome witch.

Her lips twitched slightly as she prepared to snark at her friend. "And you just had to come and bother me? What about Blaise or Theo?" She raised her hand in protest, explaining her frustration with him. "I'm sure either of them would have been more than happy, and willing, to have a nice chat with you, Draco." Her sarcastic tone was evident and she wasn't even bothering in trying to hide it from him anymore. He may be her friend, but she wasn't going to allow him to stomp all over her dignity and pride because she had once fancied him in the past.

Draco knew that exactly, which was why he had prided himself in befriending, or allying, himself with the Slytherins he knew would be able to become one of his followers, yet would never leave him ordering them around. He couldn't stand plonkers like Crabbe and Goyle that could easily get lost in busying themselves with their insensitive hunger as well as having the brains the size of a nut. The two of them seemed to be getting more daft as they returned to Hogwarts each year, allowing their brains to decrease in size every term. It was why he liked to keep people like Blaise and Theo from the male Slytherins and Daphne and Pansy from the females. They all could at least somewhat complement his intelligence.

That's what he needed the most now. Intelligence and cunning actions would be the determining factor in how his life played on from here on now. It was up to the people he trusted the most to keep to themselves what was pulling at his attention and come up with some type of cover story as to where he kept disappearing. It didn't help, however, that those specific Slytherins didn't quite know where exactly he was throwing his focus at in the first place. How could they be expected to lie and deceive a multitude of people when they didn't even have the entire background story? It was hard to come up with something that wasn't too close to the truth.

Of course, Draco didn't know where his allies' true intentions and loyalties lied. He couldn't quite in fact rely on them too heavily. It was impossible to tell who was dedicated to the Dark Lord or who wanted to break away. He knew that the only person he could truly call a friend, Blaise Zabini, was having strange thoughts recently. Draco didn't dwell too much on these things, knowing that he would never give his own friends and allies up to the person that was causing so much harm to him. If Blaise defected, he didn't know what he would do if his assistance was required to find the Zabini heir.

It was because of the strange circumstances of whether defection was a probable solution for those he kept close that he could not reveal what his true mission was for the Dark Lord. He was tasked with something beyond his limits, or so what was intended. No one ideally ever assumed that he would ever complete this task and Draco didn't want any of the people he surrounded himself with to figure it out. Surely, it would be revealed in time. He wasn't that naïve, of course, to believe that his secret position and work would never be compromised under the fierce glare of the Hogwarts witches and wizards.

Holding these would-be situations close to his heart, he only entrusted his task with himself and the Death Eaters that had been present at the meeting when he had been assigned the task in the first place. His mother had been informed by Professor Snape soon after the meeting and had wept throughout the entire night. He didn't think he would ever feel more disgusted with himself. The reasons behind all of his secrecy could never fall into the hands of the single individual Pansy Parkinson. No, she was not trustworthy enough with that cursed gossiping tongue of hers that spread vicious rumors just about anything.

"Actually…I need something from you." Draco finally announced, peaking the girl's attention immediately.

"What exactly do you need?" Pansy wrinkled her brown, consumed in a violent mixture of both curiosity and caution as to what was being requested of her.

"I know you, Pansy," He started off. "I know how easy it is for people to believe just about anything that comes from your mouth. Even if they are lies." He mentioned slowly, speaking each word with a planned hesitation. He waited patiently for her reaction as she caught up with and figured out the gist of what he had been trying to get across to her.

"I know I can lie, Draco. What's your point?" She was, however, absolutely dumbfounded as to what he was asking her to do with her talents.

"Someone would think you were just a gormless berk." Draco rolled his eyes with frustration. Her lack of common sense had always been a great turn off for the blonde Slytherin Prince.

"Draco!" Pansy bit back, an annoyed roll of her lips revealing itself.

"Fuck, Pansy…I need you to spread something around about our favorite mudblood. She's been giving me the eye lately and while it's flattering, I don't want a bint like her drooling over me." He couldn't exactly think of what he wanted to happen. But damn, he just wanted fucking Granger to get off of his back. She was always there when he turned around and he just wanted her to leave him the hell alone!

"Granger?" Her tone was incredulous and disbelieving. Everyone knew of the intense rivalry between the Golden Trio and him.

The female of the little threesome matched him considerably well, which tended to irk Draco greatly. He didn't want to believe it. Hermione Granger equaled him or did better than him in their schoolwork. It was something he fought greatly in all of his years of Hogwarts. Always, every single year, Granger would best him. Somehow, she would find a way to make him miserable, always ending up in the first position with him behind her in all of their shared classes.

"Yes, Granger. Who the hell else matters?" He scowled deeply at Pansy, snapping the comment at her. He had been, up until then, unaware that what he had been thinking slowly was making itself awake on his features. Draco wrinkled his nose in grave distaste at his own remarks. "Bloody hell, Pansy. Just do what I said." He demanded.

Pansy's expression had contorted into one indescribable to Draco. He knew that it wasn't good when he wasn't able to tell what she was thinking at the moment. That was something he didn't like one bit. "Whatever you say." She ended in a quieted mutter, casting an irritated glare in his direction. "Now, are we done? Or do you have something else you'd like to use me for?" She grit her teeth together, clamping her jaw in frustration with him.

"That's all I had to say." He exhaled, flashing her a blank face as he picked himself off of the sofa he had been occupying. "Just don't…don't mess up, okay? I don't have any room for mistakes right now." He sighed, turning his head to side to give her a look. His face didn't give anything away, but he met her eyes and sent any messages across to her that she needed to know.

"I won't, I promise." Pansy nodded her head in return, allowing a sober expression to replace her previous frustrations. It was comical to him how easily he had angered her and calmed her down in the same moment.

Draco twisted away from her, using brisk movements to make his way to the sixth year boys' dormitory that he shared with Blaise and Theo. However, his movements were stopped in step as he heard Pansy's voice alert him from behind. "Draco, you know you can trust me, right? I always just want what's best for you." She informed him, quieting her voice down so that the other Slytherins in the room could not hear their conversation.

"I'll keep that in mind." He muttered, briefly looking over his shoulder at the dark haired witch before moving away. She was wrong, though. He couldn't trust her. No, he couldn't trust anyone if his life depended on it. The only one that was trustworthy enough was Draco himself.

(A/N): Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll update two Sundays from now!