A/N: thanks for the reviews! it was very nice to read before updating!

Also it is October 1st. As far as looks go. Hermione is kind of the same, her hair isn't as "wild" but it is rather messy. She is 'average' Draco looks more visually appealing I guess. (it feels awkward for me to explain a males appearance ;) just cause I am shy. So invision yourself a very handsome specimen and there you have it.

Chapter 2

Hermione's day couldn't get any worse. First, she had an ugly fight and broke up with Ron, and second, Malfoy decides to avoid all the other empty spots in the room and takes the one beside her!

'Fan-freaking-tastic' she chided to herself. She was not in the mood to have a snarking match with the prejudice Pureblood!

She shifted uncomfortably on her stool as the boy who made her life a living hell, sat down on the stool beside her. She dared not to look at him, no, her sole focus was to listen to what potion they will be brewing today.

"Well, well," he said casually, taking a quick glance around the room making sure no one was watching. "What do we have here? The Mu-" he quickly stopped and grudgingly reminded himself, if this thing had to work, he had to play nice and actually use her name when speaking to her. "Granger, had a fight with her pathetic little friends?" He knew the last part was not called for, but he couldn't help but feel annoyed of the whole situation he got himself into.

Hermione snapped her head over to him, but said nothing. She felt that giving him her coldest look would be enough.

Draco smirked at her reaction, then decided to get himself more comfortable. Resting his elbow on his leg and curled his hand under his chin, while his other hand rested upon the countertop, where he unclenched his fist and began to drum his fingers. Once again, his gaze flickered over to Harry and Ron. Why were the Golden Trio at opposite ends of the room anyway? Was he actually right, did they have a fight?

He could hear Blaise's voice now. "You're suave enough, just work your charm to get it out of her" Draco shuddered at the thought. It was his sole purpose to make her days miserable! To destroy whatever good feeling she was having and cut her to the core. He just proved his point not a moment ago! Caring about her...emotions, goes way beyond reason!

'You're doing this for the money!' Draco quickly reminded himself. One month to pretend to care for the Mudblood and the hundred thousand Galleons is his. 'Yes think of the Galleons' he closed his eyes and sighed. If only caring was all he had to do, this task would be a little easier...

The constant tapping irked her. Sure she could hear Professor Slughorn just fine and she made her notes with ease, but it would have been a lot smoother Malfoy would just keep those fingers quiet! Hermione huffed a breath and glared over at him.

He felt her stare and so he turned his head, but only slightly. He did NOT want to get caught looking in her direction after all! 'Here we go' he thought, bracing himself for whatever she was about to throw at him.

"Can you please stop that damn tapping!" Hermione hissed, motioning to his hand, "It is very distracting"

Draco took a deep breath. He forgot how annoying her voice was. He curled his fingers into a fist and knocked down on the countertop. 'Something definitely happened...' he thought, drifting his gaze over to Ron and Harry.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. If he was going to start knocking on the table, things are going to be-

"Ah, Miss Granger! Eyes forward, please!" said Slughorn.

Hermione instantly jumped in her seat and redirected her attention to the black board. She avoided the on looking gazes of her fellow classmates; especially a select two in the far corner.

Draco rolled his eyes from their cold stares, then noticed that Blaise was looking at him over his shoulder and grinning.

"Alright you all can begin!" sighed Slughorn before he took a spot down on his desk. Draco rubbed his chin and looked at the task for the day's lesson for the first time since he got into the room.

Everlasting Elixirs - Euphoria. Draco scoffed, 'how fitting'

Hermione sat herself back down on her stool, with the needed ingredients. He was too busy staring off into space, he hadn't noticed it was time to get the items! Harry and Ron were still glaring over in his direction, which was starting to get rather annoying. He was definitely regretting his choice of sitting next to her now. If only she wasn't so filled with dirty blood, the task of courting her, would be that much easier.

'Curse you, Blaise' he thought, knocking his fist against the desktop.

"You know, you can sit somewhere else! You're not obligated to sit here!" Hermione hissed.

Draco physically cringed before glaring at her.

"It's not..." he trailed off to push down the queasy feeling in his stomach of submitting himself to actually complimenting her, "you." He refrained from cringing this time, and motioned over to Harry and Ron. "It's them"

Hermione furrowed her brows at witnessing his odd behaviour. 'Did he just...?' Quickly she shook her head of having a positive thought about Malfoy and tended to her potion.

"Come now, Mister Malfoy, hop to it!"

Draco nearly jumped from the sudden appearance of Slughorn at his side. Instantly he looked over to Blaise, who thankfully was busy with his own potion, had missed what just happened. Draco got the items and came back just as quickly.

Hermione shuffled her feet and gave Malfoy a sideways glance, hearing him mutter away at himself. 'What in the world is he playing at?' Having heard him admit that he was not bothered by her presence made her feel uneasy. Just a few weeks ago, he taunted her with that 'M' word, and now here he is, trying to act normal?

'Someone put him up to this!' she wondered to herself as she watched him measure out a powdery substance. 'The only question is...who?'

He could feel her eyes burrowing into his side again. 'Bloody hell'. This just proved to him, it was way more difficult than he expected. He tensed his fists and then willed himself to look at her.

She saw a pair of silver eyes staring back at her. Her mind wandered for a moment as she tried to understand the message behind them, but then it hit her. The only reason why she was seeing his eyes, was that he was actually looking at her.

"Yes?" he said, with as much politeness as he could muster.

"What are you playing at?" she said, before she could stop herself.

He bit down on his lip as he studied her face for a moment; wondering to himself exactly how he was going to proceed this conversation. Hermione however, did not like waiting.

"Why are you here?" she said in a harsh whisper.

Draco took a deep breath, 'Think of the Galleons' he thought, reminding himself to not lose his cool. "What's it look like?" he muttered through gritted teeth and pointed to his cauldron, as though it is the most obvious thing in the world, "work"

"I mean, here." she said, matching his tone. "With..." she curled her lips in a sneer, "me"

"Yes, Draco please tell us!" said a voice from in front of him. Both he and Hermione looked to see that Blaise was now facing the two of them; beaming.

"Mind your own bloody business!" Draco snapped, tossing an empty flask at Blaise's face. Blaise immediately knocked it away, where it smashed right against the wall.

"Boys! Boys!" harped Slughorn as he waddled his way over to the two of them. "There will be no need for any of that" he shot both of them a glare. "You don't want me to give you two detention for disrupting the class now do you?"

Blaise just laughed to himself and then turned back to his work. Draco scowled as he once again, caught Harry and Ron staring at them. For a moment he thought about throwing something at them as well. Instead, he chose to ignore them, if only for a second after realizing she was watching him.

"Thought I would do it, did you?" he said, returning to his potion.

Hermione furrowed her brows again. Once more, his behaviour threw her through a loop.

"Do what?" she said softly.

Draco motioned to Harry and Ron, "Throw something at them. Or perhaps I should," he said the last word angrily. The queasiness in his stomach resurfaced as he thought of defending her emotions. 'No, not yet...' he assured himself. After all, he just started talking to her, he didn't want to overdue it by throwing her emotions into the mix.

"Well they would deserve it" Hermione hissed as she returned her focus to her own potion. 'Wait, did I just agree with Malfoy?'

Draco looked up from his potion to stare at her, 'Is that a fact?'

Hermione felt his eyes on her as she added the remaining ingredients, and then slowly placed her hand down on the counter before looking at him.

"I mean..." she began, "Nevermind," and went back to her duties.

Draco smirked before returning to his potion, 'Well...isn't that interesting'

E/N: aww, they had a little eye moment.. lol.