When Hermione saw him next, she shoved the properly bound stack of parchments in his face. They were in the hall, both on their way to DADA and he had some girl plastered against the wall. Hermione had chosen to ignore this, and with Harry and Ron at her side, she shoved the aged paper right into his face.

Pulling back, Draco sneered, his hand to his nose.

"Bloody hell, mudblood. Are you trying to give bleed me out one paper cut at a time?" Draco rubbed the small drop of blood between his thumb and forefinger. Ron's ears tinged red as he spouted the usual slur towards Hermione.

"I wish I were so lucky, Malfoy. In this, I have clearly outlined how according to Wizarding Law, your father's trial wouldn't fall under a misdemeanor but a full-blown criminal trial. There's an index if you get confused." It was mean, and a jab at him through his father, but Hermione had enough of Malfoy and the torment he'd showered upon them throughout school. Last week in Binns' class, she had elaborated on a wizarding law that ironically, implicated Malfoy's father would end up in a criminal trial case rather than a misdemeanor one as he previously was prone to. An offhanded comment from Ron just pointed it out for the whole class and Malfoy had chosen her as a convenient target for his anger.

At her response, Malfoy went still, his hand clenched into a tight fist at his side. Hermione nearly stepped back, because thought it was clear he seemed angry, his face was completely impassive. She could feel Harry shift at her side.

"One day, your muddy blood is going to be drained out of your body." Hermione's hand clenched her wand. "It'll rain brown for days when all of you are gone."

The parchment was wrenched out of her hands and without so much as a word whispered nor his wand drawn, it was lit to flame in Malfoy's hands. The ash fell to the floor around them and as he turned, yanking the girl with him, it settled onto Hermione's shiny oxfords.

"What a bloody git." Ron swung an arm around her shoulder. "You were brilliant though, 'Mione. I didn't even know you had written that up!"

As they walked towards class, Harry looked to be deep in thought. Hermione gently nudged him, causing him to lose trance.

"Sorry." He grimaced. "I know I may be letting Dumbledore's lessons get to me, but I swear, Draco Malfoy reminds me of Voldemort as a kid. I wouldn't doubt it if he had a Dark Mark on his arm."

Though Hermione had been trying her best to defend Malfoy and the unlikelihood he was a death eater, she couldn't help but accept that some part of her did believe it to be true. He'd been darker this year than previous, the petty insults sounding almost like true threats he could and would follow through on. She patted Harry's hand as they took their seats.

"I'm sure he can't be, still being underage. Let it go, just focus on this year, Dumbledore's lessons, and winning the war."

Beside them, Ron nodded.

"Yeah mate. Just focus on the weight of the whole world on your shoulders." Hermione glared at him, sensing clear sarcasm. "Or, we can go for a broom ride outside, get your head out of your head and into the clouds for a bit."

"Honestly, Ronald. Do grow up."

The next few weeks passed in the same manner; homework on homework, Malfoy moving shiftily around the castle, Harry's lessons and Hermione and Ron rowing over the stupidest of things. Hermione was tired. She thrived on schoolwork and somehow, her sixth year was way more than what she expected. If she thought OWLS prep had been hard, NEWTS would undoubtedly be much harder.

The same Tuesday night she'd found herself beyond tired, Hermione accidentally fell asleep in the library, tucked into an alcove no one knew about save herself and Madame Pince. Jerking upright, Hermione had to calm her heart and convince herself she wasn't actually falling off of a broom. A quick tempus revealed it was way past curfew and without Harry's cloak, she knew she'd have to be extremely careful not to get caught.

With a muffling spell and once her eyes had adjusted to the dark, she took off down the corridor. The hairs on the back of her neck stood tall, her hand itching to grab her wand from its holster along her thigh. It was eerily quiet in the castle that night. Well it was until she heard a muffled sound break the silence. Pausing, Hermione held her breath, eyes wide. There it was again, was that a—

"Ohh, my lord! More!" Some witch was clearly enjoying themselves with a wizard in some alcove in this corridor.

"Do you like that witch?" A gruff voice answered, clearly muffling a moan that was turning too loud. Hermione could feel her neck growing red and bit her lip to keep from exhaling her breath. She needed to quickly extract herself from this situation.

Thinking quickly, she figured it was better to slide along the wall, blending in if anyone came walking down the corridor. Sliding along was a long and tedious process as she ignored the pants that sounded closer than she pleased. She paused upon feeling a cloth under her fingers. Be a tapestry, please be a tapestry.

"Who's there?!" Filch's voice filled the air and Hermione pulled back her hand, slapping it against the wall too loudly. She heard some steps running, light and hurried down the corridor followed by Filch's heavy ones. Groaning, Hermione hit her head back to the wall. That had been close.

Quite suddenly a hand reached out and yanked her behind the fabric she'd felt before. Two hands were wrapped around her head, one over her mouth, an overly strong cologne invading her nose.

"Lumos."

Hermione's eyes widened. There, standing in the shadows, his wand light illuminating his bewildered face, was Draco Malfoy. His shirt was slightly unbuttoned and his zipper undone.

"Mudblood?" The hand holding her mouth ripped away, only for him to wipe it on his trousers. "Gross. Now I'm probably infected with the inability to properly do magic."

Hermione pressed her hand to her lips, glaring at him harshly. "Shut up, Malfoy. You made me bleed."

Apparently, he'd pushed against her mouth when she was biting her lip, because her tooth caused her flesh to tear. Grimacing, Draco looked down at his fingers. There on his palm was indeed blood.

Hermione watched as he froze, looking at the blood. He was staring hard at the small drop of blood he'd gotten on him.

"What's wrong with you?" Her words broke his reverie as he stared from his palm to her. Striding forward quickly, Hermione shuffled back to avoid him, only to hit the cold wall. His hand gripped her chin, his eyes inspecting the blood.

"Why is it red?" His whisper caused Hermione to gasp. She studied his face as doubt clouded his eyes. His brows were furrowed and lips were.. smirking? "I'm just kidding mudblood. Merlin, you actually thought I'd believe you're blood looked different from mine just because you're impure? You're worthless."

Draco laughed, dark and low as he shook his head. For a minute, it seemed like the chit actually held hope he could change. As if he, Draco Malfoy, was more than how he was raised. He left her there, after fixing his appearance of course. He wouldn't want anyone thinking it was the Gryffindor Princess he had been fucking minutes before Filch interrupted them. He truly regretted using her as a diversion so he could get away without punishment. The Dark Lord wouldn't be kind to his inability to do a task just to satisfy his more basic needs.

A/N

I realized I never wrote an authors note, last chapter! So this starts out in 6th year, DM has his task and HP is getting his lessons from Dumbledore, but it will stray from the actual plot. Also, disclaimer of me not owning any of these characters except for Teresa who I made up.

Let me know what you guys think!

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