Disclaimer: They're still not mine, sadly.


Chapter 8

He heard Theo whisper cautiously, "Should we wake him up?"

"No, leave him, he needs the rest. Let's go, I'm fucking famished. " The unmistakable voice of Blaise Zabini replied, hoarse and slightly sleepy, filled with profanity, even at this early in the day.

He waited until he heard the door shut behind his mates as they left, heading to the Great Hall for breakfast

They didn't know, but Draco had woken up long before, he had just stayed in his bed, eyes closed, contemplating things. He was wondering how his life had gotten so out of control and why he was constantly thinking about...

He was thinking of Granger.

Thought this time, it wasn't because he was planning their next encounter, it was because he was planning to avoid her, to ignore her, for the rest of their lives. He decided to ignore the pang in his chest at the thought, and concluded that he had graced her with his presence enough to last a lifetime. Besides, he couldn't even look at her after what he had done to her.

The sight of her made him ill. Ill with hatred, towards himself.

She had such fire in her eyes, and he watched as it was slowly being put out.

Draco felt more disgusted by himself than he did her, though beyond her dirty blood, she was perfect. He claimed how much he loathed her and muggleborns like herself, but at that moment, he despised himself more, if that was even possible. Everything his father had taught him about blood status over the years had become a part of him, whether he wanted it or not. He had become his father. A replica of the man that tortured his own son to teach him a lesson, the same man that served the Dark Lord. Draco had always been proud to be like his father, until now.

He wished that just for a second, he would be someone else, someone like Blaise, who never had to worry about his reputation or all that dim-witted pureblood rubbish and just do whatever the fuck he fancied. And more often than not, he fancied talking to the lioness. He fancied being around her, being able to look at her without having to insult her if he was caught staring longer than necessary. But that would never happen, because he had been manipulated into hating her and driving her away.

He relinquished the thought. He buried it away in the darkest corner of his mind, but deep down, Draco knew he had lost Hermione the moment he listened to his father, that wretched summer, and that was the biggest regret he would ever have to live with. She would never look at him the same way as she did so long ago. She would never know how sorry he was for all the pain he had caused her. She would never know that after their bickering sessions, he would follow her to make sure she was alright.

She never was, but he still waited in a dark corner for her to get to the Gryffindor common room –to Potter and Weaselbee- safely. She would also never know of the few times he had stopped an unfortunate run in with a raging Pansy from getting to her. He flinched at the memory of one of their hapless meetings.

He had just spoken with Hermione that night, and as usual, she ended up in tears in an dusty hall. He had followed her, of course. He was always there with her, for her, but she couldn't know. He was sitting on the cold stone floor, his head leaning against the wall and listening to the little sobbing sounds she made. Draco would never admit it truly, but he hated it when she cried, for any reason at all and especially when he was the cause.

She had been weeping for nearly twenty minutes when he heard Pansy's shrill voice, and stood so quickly, his head was throbbing. Ignoring the feeling, he looked over the corner and saw his dark haired, blue eyed, self-proclaimed girlfriend, though to him, she was just a desperate girl who was always around when he happened to need a quick shag to satisfy his needs, when his hand wasn't enough anymore. Blasted teenage hormones.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite Mudblood bitch." She sneered, swiftly pulling her wand out of her robes and aiming it at Hermione's chest.

The poor bushy haired girl was curled up on the freezing ground, leaning against the wall, her arms wrapped around herself, her head on her knees while she completely disregarded Parkinson's presence and continued sobbing.

Draco had his wand at the ready, there was no way in hell that he would let anyone hurt Hermione, even bloody Pansy. That was his job. She was his to hurt and torment.

He felt anger and concern well up inside when Pansy muttered a spell. He couldn't make it out properly on her lips, but he had already thrown a Protego at Hermione, just in case.

Not knowing why her spells bounced off of Hermione when she hadn't even acknowledged her attacker's existence, the Slytherin girl was shaking with unspoken rage, there was someone else in the hallway, protecting the Mudblood, she thought. To test her theory, she pointed her wand again.

"Stupefy!" she screamed. Nothing happened, the spell was deflected again.

Pansy's shrieking voice was getting louder with each spell. "Petrificus totalus!" Still nothing.

"Confringo!" She screamed. "Densaugeo!" She waved her wand frantically, "Levicorpus!".

Draco had diverted each spell gracefully, he sighed in relief when the attack seemed to cease, but Pansy didn't stop, she would get her way, as she always did.

She stepped closer to Granger and grabbed a fistful of her big chestnut curls and pulled, hard. As her head was violently jerked back, Hermione looked right through Pansy and started giggling. The giggle rapidly turned into maniacal laughter and sent shivers down Parkinson's spine.

She was laughing. The silly bint, he voiced in his head.

Draco couldn't help but smirk. Secretly, he was a little proud of the frizzy haired Gryffindor, she could be quite disturbing when she wanted. Pansy was distracted by Hermione's sudden insanity when Draco hit her with the Memory Charm, modifying the last thirty minutes.

He had completely erased her run in with Hermione for her memory, he altered it to seem as though she had simply wandered around the school, heading to the dungeons and not encountering anyone. After he finished mending Pansy's memories, he watched as her back straightened and her gaze went blank. Then, she turned walked the opposite way as if nothing ever happened, leaving a confused Hermione staring at her back from her seat on the floor.

Draco slumped back against the wall, so much stress had really drained him, and now he still had to follow his Gryffindor to her common room. His Gryffindor? No, she wasn't his, she never will be.

After a while, she got up and moved down the halls, heading straight for her welcoming bed, he confidently assumed. Draco, still lurking about in the shadows, couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as he had successfully saved Hermione, once again.

Draco had gotten extremely skilled with magic in the last year, what with practicing his jinxes on Granger -and also protecting her furtively-, he had learned pretty much all the offensive and defensive spells in the book on his own. Snape taught him everything else he knew: Occlumancy, Legilimency and nonverbal magic.

He was a Malfoy. Therefore, he was born to be an exceedingly talented wizard. He knew he was good at magic, but he couldn't help but think that Hermione was a close second, even though he was the only one to think so, since most people assumed she was the smartest witch of their year. Draco didn't deny such a statement, she was very smart, book smart.

He was equally as smart, but in another way.

In a much, much darker way.

OOOO

She had woken up with a headache, probably from all the crying from the previous night. Malfoy had made her cry again, he would never know how much his words hurt. They were like knives slashing at her soul, and it hurt. She tried to understand him, his actions were driven by loathing and evil, but his eyes spoke a different story. Those beautiful, haunting eyes. She felt like every time he did something to her, he was trying to tell her something through his eyes, but she couldn't quite grasp it.

Hermione had gotten over the strangulation incident fairly quickly. It didn't do good to dwell on such trivial matters, she had to focus on her studying, though she was often getting distracted by her friends or by her arch nemesis who somehow always seemed to be around when she was alone, and that never led to anything good.

Laying in the cozy warmness of her bed, she glanced around the dorm to find that all her roommates were still fast asleep. Great, that meant she had ample time to shower and catch up on reading. By "catch up on reading", she meant "reading further", for she was merely three weeks in advance, and she was a week late on her study schedule, to her utter outrage.

She jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to clean up.

After she cleansed herself and spent the rest of her free time before heading to breakfast reading up on human-to-animal transfiguration, a subject that elicited many ungodly thoughts in her head. She had just found a way to fight off Malfoy once and for all. Next time he came near her, he would get a taste of what it felt like to be humiliated. Proud of her new discovery, she grabbed her things and stuffed them into her leather bag as she finally made her way to the Great Hall.

On her way, she heard her friends' voices, she could always pick them out of a sea of people.

She ran to them and slid in the middle, it was her spot. Between Theo and Blaise, she felt safe, just as she did between when she was with Harry and Ron.

"Hermione, do you think I should ask Daphne to the ball tonight?" Theo asked, a glint of hope in his green eyes. She knew about Theo and Daphne's peculiar situation, but she never spoke about it, for she knew Theo was not going to do anything to muck it all up.

"I think you should, she's probably waiting for you to ask anyway." She replied quickly, glancing at Blaise for support. The latter caught onto her plea and jumped in.

"That's what I've been telling him, but he thinks she'll read to much into it." He admitted, looking at Hermione and ignoring the scoffing boy on the opposite side.

Hermione, unfazed, turned back to Theo and added, "Well then you should ask her as friends, I'm sure she'll get the hint." She knew that Daphne had strong feelings about Theo, just as he did for her, but the boy was broken and was still mending his soul, one day at a time. And while doing so, he didn't want to get involved into any sort of romantic relationship, for that would most likely tear him apart again.

Running his hand through his already messy hair, he let out a shaky sigh and glanced over at Hermione, who gave him a knowing smile and threw her arms around the two boys' shoulders.

Blaise and Theo wrapped an arm around her waist and the three friends strode down to the Great Hall, and stopped as the reached its massive doors.

"I guess it's time." Blaise announced apologetically. It was time for them to act as if they hated each other. Just for the sake of not raising suspicion, the Slytherin boys would occasionally comment rudely on Hermione's heritage, which they always apologized for afterwards.

With a sad look on his face, "You know, we don't-" Theo started, but was abruptly interrupted.

"I've told you before Theodore, I know you don't mean any of the rubbish you speak. I know. Just be prepared for my comebacks, because I have some prepared if need be." Hermione declared as she stood tall, but Blaise saw how she flinched. She always flinched when this time came, but there was nothing he could do to assuage her worry.

Instead, he pulled her into a tight hug and gently stroked her hair, like he often did.

That was when it all turned to shit.

Over her friend's shoulder, she saw a platinum blonde haired boy walking straight to them, and he looked enraged. It's not very healthy to get worked up at such an early time in the morning, she thought, before realizing how stupid that thought was. This was Malfoy for Godric's sake! As far as she knew, he would do the world a favor if he simply keeled over and died.

As he approached them, she pulled out of Blaise's hold and froze, waiting for it all to unravel.

"Well, what the fuck is this?" He sneered, as his cloudy eyes moved between Blaise and Theo, expecting them to do something hurtful to her in order to prove that they didn't care and that he didn't just catch his best mates embracing her.

None of the three friends spoke, actually, they stopped breathing. They hoped that by some miracle, they had become invisible and Malfoy was talking to someone else. But there was no miracle, only expectation.

"Malfoy, I'm not in the mood for your sour mood at this hour, could we pick this up later?" Hermione challenged, as the balled her fists to her hips. She saw his pupils dilate and his eyes fill with... with hatred she assumed.

If only she knew, he thought.

Bouncing back from his short-timed loss of control, he smirked viciously at her, before stepping four feet closer to her.

There's that fire again, he was staring at the brave Gryffindor in front of him with awe.

Blaise and Theo were still there, though they didn't speak, or move. They merely watched as their two friends stared at each other. It was as if one was entranced by the other.

Granger held his gaze defiantly as she slowly reached for her wand. This would be the perfect moment for her to transfigure him. This was it. The doors to the Great Hall opened and out came a few students. The rest of them still seated saw the Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Princess and they all froze, as they waited for their morning entertainment to begin, anticipating a good row.

She would transform him soon, really soon.

She had her wand out and ready, pointed at him.

He was standing still, not even trying to fight back.

What is he doing? This is way too easy. She thought. Their eyes were locked and time seemed to stop.

She looks so pretty when she's angry, Draco mused. Then when he realized her wand was aimed at him, he snapped out of his reverie and pulled out his own, knowing very well that he would not use it.

Hermione was peering into his grey orbs, searching for something. She was scrutinizing him, probing him.

Bloody hell, what are you doing to me. Please, just do it, Hermione. Do it! He silently pleated her.

His inside writhed with chaos, but outside, he was emotionless, detached. As he always was.

His eyes spoke to her, they were begging her for something she couldn't quite fathom.

Please, I can't hold it much longer, just do something. He beseeched, but she didn't hear.

She was waiting for him to attack first so she could retaliate with her newfound spell. As if on cue, he started waving his wand.

Different colored lights came out of the tip and bounced off of her shielding charm, which deflected every single one of his jinxes. They danced around each other gracefully, alternating between offensive and defensive attacks. Though only Hermione was the one whose spells actually worked, since Draco was merely throwing colored flashes of light at his opponent.

He couldn't help but feel a strong sense of pride at the curly haired girl who so beautifully fought him off.

Hermione caught the smirk on his pale face and almost burst out laughing at how silly this all was.

They were equal opponents, therefore, their whole hex exchange is completely useless, for they have reached an impasse.

They were at a standstill when Blaise made a snarky comment.

"Are you two done? I'm starved and quite frankly, bored." At that, Draco scoffed and Hermione chuckled.

The Hall was still silent, as the crowd of people had their eyes glued on what was going down before them.

Theo thought it was funny how Draco and Hermione seemed to not despise each other. It was quite the sight, even if it lasted merely five minutes. He found himself hoping that someday, Draco would stop his nonsense and cut the shit act. Maybe someday...

He was yanked away from his thoughts when Hermione turned to leave but fell to the ground on all fours when Malfoy shoved her.

Snickering, he said. "That's where you belong, Mudblood. Never forget that." As he smirked at her, Blaise pulled him away and they headed to the Slytherin table.

Hermione was unaffected by his words. She saw the truth in his eyes. His beautiful, haunting eyes.

OOOO

Everything went smoothly for the rest of the day, Theo asked Daphne to the ball –she accepted-, Draco had left Hermione alone, Harry was winning the Triwizard Tournament, Ron was finally showing interest in Hermione and Blaise had a run in with Luna. Everyone was in their common rooms getting ready for the dance.

They Slytherin boys had found some Firewhiskey in an older student's trunk and stolen it. After having emptied the bottle after a mere hour, Theo and Blaise had gone off to get dressed and Draco was now in the common room, slightly dizzy from the alcohol. Sitting comfortably in a dark green couch, Draco was waiting for his date. He settled for Pansy, as she was always willing to do whatever he pleased, whenever he pleased. Her constant compliance often aroused Draco, much to his dismay. He couldn't control it, it was just constantly jumping up whenever a girl payed him close attention. He blamed it on his raging hormones. It became quite unbearable to be continually randy, but he somehow found a way to satiate himself, whether it be a quick wank in the shower or a good shag in a broom cupboard. Thinking about such things sent tingles straight down to his shaft.

He mentally punched himself right out of these sexual thoughts and stood to his feet as Pansy came down the stairs.

She was wearing a black floor-length dress, that fit her wonderfully. The material danced around her delicious curves in a way that might make a bloke hard, and her luscious dark hair was pulled back to show off her long neck. To Draco's utter pleasure, the dress was rather low-cut in the front, displaying her exquisite breasts. He was swaying lightly as the liquor made his brain throb. Holding out his arm for Pansy to take as they exited the common room, they were quickly joined by Blaise who came running after them.

As they walked on in the corridor, Pansy kept "accidently" falling into Draco, which was setting him off extremely. Blaise, who was on the other side, next to Draco, found his friend's situation rather amusing and sometimes choked back a chuckle, for he didn't want to be elbowed by his blonde mate once more.

"Quite the shindig, I see." Pansy gleefully stated as they entered the Great Hall and took a seat at their appointed.

Completely ignoring her, Draco's gray eyes roamed over the room and landed on his target. She was absolutely stunning. She was wearing this pretty periwinkle dress that looked like it had been made for her, her hair was tamed into a braid, though a few rebel curls framed her beautiful face. Probably feeling a pair of eyes on her, her brown orbs found his. She took his breath away.

"Fuck me", he admitted aloud.


A/N: This is it for chapter 8. Poor confused Draco, and poor Hermione who is going to get even more confused in the next chapter.

I know I haven't posted in over a week, I apologize deeply, I have been drowning in exams, but I am back and ready!

Thank you, till next time ;)Happy Holidays

Mrs. Tudor