Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.


Chapter 9: The Feelings

"No!" Hermione shouted from the back of the classroom.

Everyone stared at her, including Slughorn and Lucius; Hermione felt her face reddened.

"No? Why not, Miss Grandel?" asked Slughorn curiously.

"Because…because…er…Malfoy and I aren't exactly on friendly term, professor…"

"But that is the point of this project! To work outside of your group of friends!"

"Professor, it's not like that…" Hermione protested but Slughorn cut her across.

"Oh, just give it a try, Miss Grandel. After all, you are a new student! You should be interacting with as many people as possible, not avoiding them!"

Hermione sighed and nodded; she knew that it was impossible to argue with Slughorn. She shot a glance at Lucius, who was looking at Hermione's direction; when their eyes met, they quickly turned away from each other.

"So are all we settled? Good. Mr. Malfoy, please go sit beside Miss Grandel. Now, Miss Burns—"

Lucius came over to Hermione's desk and sat beside her. He stayed quiet for a moment but then turned to Hermione and growled at her,

"Was it necessary to make a scene?"

Hermione, ignoring the glare from him, coldly replied,

"I thought you liked being in the centre of attention. Am I not right?"

"You can't be more wrong, Grandel."

"Okay, break apart, you two," interrupted Lily, realizing that their conversation was not going to be pleasant, "or you will make another scene."

Lucius gave another glare at Hermione, which she ignored again. Although he tried to appear calm, if one paid attention to him, it was easy to see that his lips were trembling from anger.


In 1998, Lucius Malfoy woke up with a horrible pain in his head. Headache…yes, he went to bed early last night because of the headache. What was it from? Oh, memories suddenly flooded in his head…the memories from his seventh year at Hogwarts…

"Master! You are awake! How is your headache? Is it gone?"

It was the new house elf Tonka, who replaced Dobby after he was freed. Feeling the pain in his head getting deeper as the house elf squeaked in a high-pitched voice, Lucius got out of the bed and said,

"No, so shut up, Tonka."

Tonka fell silent for a moment but then she began squeaking again.

"Master, there is a letter from Master Draco! Would you like to read it now?"

"From Draco?"

"Yes, Master! It arrived only a while ago."

'Has anything happened to him at Hogwarts?' thought Lucius as removed the strand of his blond hair from the face. Tonka was still waiting with her tennis-ball-like eyes twinkling.

"Bring it to me," said Lucius.

Tonka immediately brought the letter and gave it to him. When he opened the letter and began reading it, he could not hide his confusion. The letter read:

'Dear Father,

There is something I want to ask you about. Do you remember anything about your last year at Hogwarts? Is there anything strange happening to the memories you have? You may wonder why I'm asking these kinds of question, but I cannot explain it on the letter. Could you come to Hogwarts as soon as possible?

Love,

Draco.'

'How did he know?' thought Lucius as he put down the letter on the table beside the bed.

Yes, there was indeed something strange happening to his memories. It was—changing.

Last night, he remembered that he met a new girl in his seventh year at Hogwarts in an empty corridor while he was patrolling. She was panicking, and when she noticed he was standing there, she started to yell at him all of a sudden. And when he asked her name, she answered…

'Hermione Granger!' Lucius suddenly realized. 'It was Hermione Granger!'

Although she said her last name was Grandel or something, there could be no mistake about her trademark bushy brown hair.

'But how? How is she in my memory? She wasn't even born yet!'

Lucius Malfoy decided to go to Hogwarts at once.


"Is everyone seated beside their partners?" asked Slughorn and the student nodded their heads. "Great! Now listen to me carefully," said Slughorn in a serious tone; Hermione could see that he wanted to make his instructions sound as important as possible.

"The purpose of this project is to broaden your understanding and experience with potions making. And of course"—he looked at Hermione—"to give you an opportunity to get to know some of your classmates a little better. You are to choose a potion from your textbook page 326—which lists the names of many advanced potions—and brew it. However, I will not give you the instruction about how to make it or provide you with its ingredients. They must be done by you and your partner. I will give you a period of a month and a half, for all potions on that page take at least a month to brew. You may choose to work during your spare time, which will fasten the process. Any question? No? Good. Today's class is to decide which potion you will make. Go ahead!"

Hermione and Lucius both opened their textbooks to page 326. The names of the potions listed on the page indeed looked complicated; even Hermione could not pronounce some of the names. However, as she looked through the list, a certain potion's name captured Hermione's attention.

"Polyjuice Potion?"

Lucius lifted up his head from the text book and looked at her.

"You want to make Polyjuice Potion? It's a quite complicated process. We may not complete it in given time. "

"Er…" Hermione rolled her eyes as she had already managed to make the potion by herself in her second year. "I think we'll be able to make it."

Lucius looked at Hermione doubtful eyes, but then nodded his head.

"Okay, if you are so sure. However, if you hinder the process by making stupid mistakes, you'd have to pay for it. Understood?"

"Yes, but the same thing applies to you," replied Hermione coolly.

"What? How dare…Do you think I would make a mistake?"

Hermione did not answer him but just smirked. He reminded her so much of Draco: looking cold but surprisingly easy to provoke.

'Like father, like son,' thought Hermione, not noticing that Lucius' eyes were fixed on her.


Lucius bit his lips bitterly. This was just not right. No Mudblood could behave like this to him. In fact, no one had behaved as Hermione did to him, even the purebloods. The name Malfoy held some kind of fear that made the students admire and beterrified by him at the same time—his family's enormous fortune was another factor, too. He was also very handsome and smart, and has never broken any rule. The students, even his friends, looked up to him, yet feared him.

And here was Hermione Grandel. A new girl. A Mudblood. She did not fear him. She was not afraid of telling him what was on her mind. She did not treat him any different from other students. She yelled at him, mocked him, and even slapped him.

At first, Lucius was furious. How dare anyone—especially a Mudblood—treat him like this? He was the Lucius Malfoy. A pureblood wizard from a wealthy family and the Head Boy of Hogwarts. No one has ever slapped him before. Lucius' anger was beyond expression.

However, deep inside his heart, he felt—accepted.

It was true that Lucius felt superior to anyone because of his wealth and position. The girls fancied him and listened to whatever he said; the boys thought he was cool and wanted to be his friends. Yet, Lucius felt lonely sometimes.

No one wanted to get too close to him, even the ones who called themselves as his friends. They did not want to know Lucius' feeling; all they wanted was a rich friend who could sponsor their Quidditch team with the newest brooms in the market or who could take them on a nice vacation during summer. No one cared about how hard he was trying to maintain his family name.

Lucius could not identify the feelings he had for Hermione. Was he simply taken aback by her attitude or did he actually want to know more about her? He was not sure. However, he was sure that this potions project would help him find the answer to his question.


A/N: How did you like this chapter?:)

I recently wrote a Lily/James fic (one shot), so if you're interested, you can check it out on my profile! ;)