I know it has been soooooo long since I have updated but college and life got me busy and I had my hands full. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and since I finished my semester and am on break I hope to update more often. Thank you for reading enjoy!


Chapter 7: Luck of the Draw

Dinner that night was almost unbearable to Draco. He sat at his table with Aurora by his side as everyone around him was laughing and chatting oblivious to his discomfort at the sight of the Gryffindor table. Everyone was there laughing and conversing amongst themselves but what had made his skin crawl and his teeth clench was seeing Ron's arm around Hermione's waist holding her close as they laughed with the group. He hated to admit he wanted to be the one holding her. He was not a man to experience jealousy. Draco Malfoy always got what he desired no matter what or who it was. He looked over at Aurora who gave him a kiss on the lips that made the whole table whistle at the sight. He smirked at Aurora who was blushing slightly under her olive toned skin. He didn't like the feeling of jealousy whatsoever. He silently thanked Aurora in his mind. She kept his mind from going back to thoughts of Hermione, thoughts of him holding her close to him. Soon dinner was over and he walked Aurora back towards the Slytherin dungeon.

"Do you like me my dearest Draco?" Aurora asked softly as they walked through the hall hand in hand. The question surprised Draco. He was not expecting the question when the conversation prior was about France and how she missed it.

"Do you find that to be an appropriate question?"

"You are a clever man you are. Answering my question with a question yourself to attempt slithering out of responding to it but Draco I am clever as well don't be fooled by my girlish charm." He was struck by her answer. She looked straight ahead as they walked smiling softly as if she knew she had stumped him.

"Well dear Aurora I know you are a clever woman and that is why your question isn't appropriate for me to answer. You already know the answer, it's quite evident actually."

"And what is so evident that I cannot see?"

"Well that's for you to answer yourself." He gave her his trademark smirk and she smiled back and giggled.

"You are a man of mystery. You don't bore me, I like that." She kissed him as they reached the doors of the dungeon. "I must go now dearest Draco, sweet dreams" she smiled at him and skipped off into the Slytherin common room.

Draco began to walk back to his own quarters when he heard Weasley around the corner.

"You've made me so happy Hermione I can't wait for our date Saturday." He had her by the waist and her arms were around his neck. He could see how she blushed at his words and smiled back at him.

"Ron you've made me happy too, I've been waiting for you to finally ask me out on a date, took you what seems like forever though." They both laughed slightly as he kissed her softly on the lips. Draco clenched his hands into tight fists. The hatred he felt for Weasley was more than ever before.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that. I should go now; I need to finish my work since I'm much slower than your brilliant self." 'Oh please that is so cheesy.' Draco felt the bile in his throat rise up as he witnessed the two of them together.

"Goodnight Ron." She smiled at him as he kissed her once more and retreated into the Gryffindor house. He saw Hermione walk towards his hiding spot softly touching her lips.

"I should write you up for indecent actions Granger." He was amused to see her jump then blush. The blush on her cheeks was always so rosy so warm.

"Were you spying on us the entire time? You're such a prat!" she yelled at him. "I honestly am repressing the urge to hex you." She began to walk away hurriedly down the hall towards their quarters.

"Threatening isn't very nice now is it Granger?" he said keeping up with her pace easily.

"Leave me alone ferret! I don't want to speak to you. I can barely stand the sight of you."

"Well that's a tad harsh now isn't it? I thought we had something nice but oh no you've broken my little heart." Draco said sarcastically.

"Ha that's hilarious. You'd have to have a heart in order for it to be broken. And just for the record we never had anything between us Malfoy. You mean nothing to me, I despise you and I would appreciate it if you left me alone from here on until the world ends or you die. I wouldn't mind it if you died by the way, it'd be the nicest thing you've ever done for the greater good of wizard kind." She spat out as she muttered the password to the dorm and walked in quickly.

"You are truly pathetic Granger." She stopped at the foot of the steps and turned around. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she clenched her teeth tightly. She walked to him and stood in front of him with such fury and hatred exuding out of her that he was frozen in place.

"No Draco you are the pathetic one. I almost gave you a chance, almost allowed something to spring up between us. You are a sad little boy, incapable of change or emotions. You are nothing." He didn't know what came over him but he struck the petite Gryffindor hard enough to knock her over to the floor.

"I will not be spoken to in that fashion by a mudblood." He said in an even and quiet tone as she got up from the floor holding her cheek.

"You will never change." Those were her last words as she walked up the stairs into her room. Draco stood there in his spot staring at his hand, the hand that struck Hermione. Draco felt cold and empty as if he had nothing. Felt no heartbeat in his chest. He felt comfortable with it but something had him uneasy. Something inside him was screaming in pain and agony. Draco went to the cabinet of the little kitchen and took out a glass and his stash of firewhiskey. Drowning his emotions felt like a better thought than to actually deal with what he felt.


Hermione walked to her bed and lied down. Her tears were still silently streaming down her face. Her cheek felt hot and stung with much pain. She didn't know what to do. 'Why can't you let me be happy? Why am I not allowed to be happy?' she thought to herself.

She felt so broken so hurt. She never thought he would strike at her. She wanted nothing to do with him. Her heart felt broken and as she began to silently sob in the darkness of her room. 'I was so stupid. I let myself feel something for him. I was so stupid to think he could change.' She screamed at herself as she slammed her fists down onto her pillows. Hermione hadn't felt this much pain since the war when she had lost so many friends and loved ones. This pain was as if someone close to her had died. To her the Draco she had briefly fallen for had died. He was no longer there, no longer warm and caring. He was now the dead unloving unemotional Malfoy that had struck her down to the ground. She held herself crying in the dark and lonely silence.

She woke up hours later staring into the darkness. She stumbled slightly out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to change out of her uniform and into something more comfortable. When she turned on the light she was utterly horrified at her appearance. She looked at her cheek and saw a large purplish blue bruise that reached the bottom of her eye. She touched it and winced at the pain. She remembered what had transpired just a little bit ago feeling an ache in her chest. She slumped to the floor and held herself crying.

Morning had come too soon. She had cried most of the night falling asleep on the cold floor of her bathroom. When she awoke she had to cover up the bruise. She tried covering it up with makeup she had that she didn't think she'd ever use. It was muggle makeup but was all she had to cover up the painful bruise. It was still a bit noticeable even after the makeup so she wore her hair down hoping that it would make it unnoticeable. She sat in Charms at the usual table as Ron and Harry came through the doors and sat next to her, Ron taking the seat next to her and Harry taking the other one next to Ron.

"Slept well?" he smiled at her and she smiled back softly.

"Let's say I did." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You should really allow yourself sleep, I know you want to be the top of the class but Hermione we all know you will even if you allow yourself normal sleeping habits." When he smiled at her his blue eyes sparkled and she couldn't help but smile. Flitwick's class was mundane and required little attention on her part allowing her to rest her mind as she absentmindedly wrote down notes. She was very relieved Ron didn't notice her bruised cheek she didn't feel as if she had the energy to truly explain what had happened. She began to think of a story to cover the truth in case anyone noticed. 'I fell? Yeah that's believable.' She thought to herself glumly.

"Hermione what's that on your cheek?" Ron brushed back her hair and Hermione instinctively held her cheek.

"It's nothing, I was working on a spell and it kind of backfired on me and the hairbrush I was working with went flying. It's nothing; you know how I bruise like a peach." She was hoping that he'd believe her. She would love to see the ferret pummeled to a pulp but she didn't want to explain the whole situation.

"Hermione, you need to not stay up so late. You need sleep; honestly one good night's sleep won't hurt." He smiled and turned back to his notes. Hermione felt the wave of relief take her. She felt bad that she had become so good at lying but then again she began to not care anymore.

Class droned on like a meaningless blur. She wrote her notes with no thought at all as if she herself had become a quick notes quill. No thoughts just writing what she hears, crossing each t dotting each i like a good little puppet. If only others knew what she felt, the emptiness inside, the anxiety of the future, all the pent up emotions from her haunted past. Others would go mad surely. Maybe she was mad she thought to herself. 'Is it mad to presume you're mad?' she asked silently in the solitude of her mind.

"Alright class this was a wonderful lecture and I hope you all took thorough notes because we will have an exam coming soon." Hermione was pulled out of her inner monologue to everyone packing their things. Ron looked down and smiled at her. She couldn't help but give him a tired smile. She was in fact tired. Sleeping on a bathroom floor doesn't really allow a girl much beauty sleep.

They settled down into the same seating order as they had in charms another monotonous day was coming. Hermione was relieved. Monotony is what she needed what she wanted. She wanted to march to the same old drum beat to a coordinated plan. She didn't want any more unexpected twists of fate, no more surprises. She was happy with her predictable new boyfriend she didn't want danger she didn't want excitement she wanted good ole boring monotony.

"Welcome students I have some wonderful news. We're going to be doing something different and exciting for a while. A group project if you will. I will pair you children up randomly by choosing out of a hat. Simple isn't it? I think it'll be quite fun. I came up with this idea in the hopes of promoting unity between the houses." As Hermione looked around the classroom she saw looks of worry and excitement mixed into the lot of students. She felt her stomach drop as soon as she saw Draco and realized that she could be forced to work with him, her mortal enemy her most hated adversary. If she had to work with the likes of him one of them would end up dead and she knew it wouldn't be her.

"Professor what kind of project would this be?" asked a Gryffindor girl in the back.

"Well you and your partner will have to create a potion together of course, one of yours and your partner's choice actually. I want you children to show me your creativity. I don't want a potion from the book exactly I want a Frankenstein creation of yours that accomplishes a purpose. For example a potion to allow you to have sweet dreams or a potion to change your hair color, I don't know you come up with it. But of course this isn't a project for you all to slack on, no sir. You must reach the proper requirements. The potion must be effective and you must give an antidote to the potion with your project plus detailed instructions on how to recreate both the potion and antidote. Also you both must decide upon who will be the guinea pig, so to speak, and test the potion. This is not a project that should be taken lightly for someone could end up in the infirmary because of careless mistakes. Now I don't want to frighten you all so badly, let us get all partnered up." Slughorn said as he grabbed a small cauldron and placed it on top of his desk.

Her heart was beating at 1 million beats per second it seemed. Seeing Slughorn empty pieces of paper into the cauldron with what she presumed were the names of all the different students in the class made her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. She was terrified of the chance that Draco and she would end up working together.

"Let's begin the drawing with you Ms. Parkinson" he gestured to Pansy sitting in the back with most of the Slytherins. She went up and choice from the cauldron. She was to be partnered with Padma Patil. That was an interesting combination. The rest of the class got their partners, some hating theirs others not minding it. Harry had been paired up with Blaise Zabini who didn't seem very thrilled to be working with him but they tolerated each other.

"No bloody way I'm going to be working with that ferret." Ron didn't have to say who he picked out of the cauldron, the whole class knew. Ron got paired up with Draco Malfoy.

"For the first time I agree with you Weasley, I am not working with him even if it means failing this course professor." Malfoy protested but Slughorn got them to quiet down.

"There is no exception, you have been paired up with each other, now please sit down and be quiet." This was unfortunate for Ron Hermione thought but she was relieved she wasn't the one to be stuck working with the one guy she truly hated.

It was her turn to choose. She could finally feel her heart beating normally. She no longer felt terrified of the chance that she would be with Malfoy. She put her hand into the cauldron and got a slip of paper like the rest of the class had done. The name she got was Aurora Aesalon, 'Not too bad' she thought to herself.


The professor decided to make the partners sit by each other to begin working on ideas for the project. Everyone just did as they were told and moved easily in the room except for Ron and Draco. They glared each other down and sat as far away as possible from each other at a table.

"If we're being forced to work together then we might as well work Weasley." He spat at Ron.

"Fine ferret let's come up with some ideas." Ron shot back.

"You are so clever in your insults I'm sure your wit is what attracted Granger, for once I feel sorry for her." Draco couldn't help but say it.

"Draco you are hilarious. You're just jealous that I actually have a girl that I love and whom loves me too. No sane person would ever love you." Draco wanted to kill Ron but contained himself. At that moment it was time for the next class. Without a word he gathered his things and left. He was beyond pissed at the fact that he had to work with Ron the only man he felt jealousy towards. Even if he had struck Hermione the night prior he was jealous that Ron had her. Just then he looked over at Hermione whose unruly curly brown hair was down and in her face. She looked up at him before he left and he saw what he did to her. There on her fair skin was a blue-ish green bruise that she had attempted to hide. At the moment that he saw what he did his heart went silent again and he felt a numbing pain. The eye contact between them made him want to die. Never before had a girl affect him like the tiny Gryffindor. He knew what the feeling was. It was a feeling he did not want to having; he loved her. He loved Hermione he loved how sweet she was. He loved her appearance but also loved her golden heart. The thought of her made him feel warm but now after what he had done to the little Gryffindor he knew they would never be. He knew she would never forgive him, he couldn't forgive himself. He was being torn up on the inside felt as if his heart was shattering. When he exited the room he leaned against a wall and slumped to the ground. Draco held his chest and caught his breathe as he sat on that cold stone floor. 'Stop it you weakling, you aren't supposed to feel this. You're a strong full blooded wizard. Don't be weak.' He told himself the same things a million times over and got up slowly and decided to skip the rest of his classes. He snapped back into his old self and just wanted some time to relax. At the moment he got up the rest of the students began to exit the classroom.

"Draco! Wait for me." He heard soft little footsteps running towards him and a sweet voice that matched.

"Aurora, what is it that you need?"

"You're company." She smiled at him with a sweet smile and he returned a slight smirk. He decided that she would make great company for him to be alone with. Perfect distraction from thoughts his conscience could brew up. He felt as if he was going to hell 'might as well enjoy the ride down' he thought to himself and smiled to himself.