Disclaimer: You all know the drill. This is getting a bit tiresome ha!
Haha! I feel so happy with all the reviews lol! Thank you thank you thank you! I'm thrilled, and I really love that you all are enjoying the story.
Dracoluva99- well I wouldn't want you calling the cops on me so I'm trying to get every chapter out as soon as possible but I'll be out of town for the weekend! :0( thanx for reviewing.
Mdemanatee- Thank you too. I hope you like this chapter.
Sammi- hehe, something like that will happen, they will have a heart to heart talk, I'm thinking in this chapter.
Yassameen- lol there was no name, I actually have no idea how long this story will be, maybe 20 chapters I duno! And thanx for your advice, I didn't know I could write that well!!
CutieKat- Hermione is weird indeed. Don't you just love hormones?
Alright enough of this lets get on with the story. I have to get my creative juices flowing haha!
Draco followed his stomach all the way down to the great hall, the closer he got the more intoxicating the smell came. His pace quickened with each step, or maybe it was with each whiff of the food. When he arrived, he noticed to his misfortune that the only open seat left at the table was right next to her. He sighed and inwardly groaned as he made his way to the table, reminding himself to get there earlier from that moment on. He grudgingly took the seat, without receiving a glare from her first, which he gladly returned. The teachers all held their own little conversations, Hermione and Draco sometimes adding their opinions but for the most part not talking, or in that matter not even listening. Both were too busy growling to their food about their predicaments. Snape leaned over once and whispered to Draco about the training session, once but received no other words from any of the professors for the rest of dinner. Draco noticed that all the teachers seemed unusually happy that evening, chatting lively, with smiles on their faces. Hermione was sitting next to him pushing her food around on her plate occasionally taking bites. Draco's eye caught the strawberry jam that was on the other side of Hermione. Draco was brought up to have excellent table manners, so he knew he would have to ask. But, ugh the idea of asking her for something was just… it would take everything he had in him to ask her. He tried reasoning with himself, he didn't really need the jam, but it was calling to him. So not before cursing her mentally he cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Granger," she showed no sign of hearing him he clenched his teeth "Can you pass the butter?" he asked a bit louder. She looked up at him and blinked. He was getting very angry.
" I do believe you have forgotten your manners Malfoy. May I please have the butter would be appropriate." She smirked at him. She stole my smirk!! How dare her he thought.
"May I PLEASE have the butter?" Without a word she gave him the jam. He vented his anger on the jam, intently stabbing at it with his butter knife. She snickered to herself. She was beating him at his own game. It was known knowledge that they liked to push each others buttons, but it seemed lately to her that he would crumble a lot more easily than before, while she on the other hand was harder to get to. She liked it much better this way. But not without wondering first what brought that change in him. Hermione took a bite of her spaghetti, and looked up. There it was the Parmesan cheese, it was heavenly. She regretted not have noticing it earlier. It was by Draco, not within reaching distance. She put on her biggest smile and asked in the sweetest tone.
"Malfoy, may I please have the parmesan cheese?" he looked up at her from stabbing the jam, and glared. Waiting a few more seconds and seeing no sign of him getting the parmesan cheese she grew irritated.
"I said please, so hand it over." Still no response. She stepped on his foot from underneath the table and he jumped causing him to drop his knife. With another icy glare, and some incoherent mumblings under his breath, he reached down to get his knife. Thinking of a few things he'd like to do to Her with it. She took that opportunity to reach over and grab the parmesan cheese. Dumbledore watched this scene before him with much amusement. They could make a great team if they could just get along. He chuckled to himself imagining what their reactions would be to finding out about the other spying. Hermione politely excused herself from the table at 6:50 so she'd have enough time to get down to the dungeons. This sudden movement tore Draco away from stabbing the meatball on his plate. Snape was gone; he looked down at his watch, 6:50. He needed to go now if he wanted to get to training on time, but he didn't want to look like he was following her. Argh he screamed in his head. Clenching his fists, and making a funny face, he stood up and left the hall.
Hermione was a ways a head of him, but she could hear someone behind her. He wasn't very quiet with his incessant sighing, and swear words every once in a while under his breath. She threw her head back over her shoulder, and looked at him.
"What would your father say if he knew you were stalking a mudblood?" she raised an eyebrow. Draco was resisting the urge to punch something; she was really getting on his nerves.
"What makes you think I'd want to stalk you" damn she has a nice ass, No stop thinking that, this is still the same old Granger just in a different body "I have better things to do with my time."
"Hmm, I'm sure" she turned her head back around and kept walking at a slightly faster pace. Luckily for Draco he had just come to the shortcut to get to the dungeons. So he turned while she kept going straight. Draco remembered the oh so wise words that his professor told him a while back. He was letting her get to him again, he was determined to put an end to it. That's what was special about their… well you wouldn't call it a relationship. But they both knew eachother well enough to know how to get the other one riled up. But Hermione had brought hers up a level; he would need to think of some more tactics. But Draco was also having a very emotionally wearing week, he liked to call it PMS. It sounded reasonable to him. If girls get an excuse to be bitchy every month guys should have a reason too, but they didn't have to deal with the, mess. So with that comforting thought that everything would be better next week and he'd be less irritable he kept walking, feeling slightly better.
He got to professor Snape's door and was about to knock, when she came into sight. What in the world was she doing here? It seems that she was thinking the same thing, because they both made it obvious that the other shouldn't be there at the same time.
"What are YOU doing here?" they both shouted. Snape listening from inside his office smirked. He had been expecting as much. This would be a very interesting team to work with. He chose that moment to break it up before it could go any further, and stepped out of his office, seeing two teenagers with baffled expressions. They weren't even glaring at eachother, just looking at the other like they were insane. When they saw him, they both bombed him with questions.
"This is training isn't it, so what is Malfoy doing here?" she looked at Malfoy "I think you've got the wrong place"
"No Granger, it's you, who has the wrong place, Professor did you schedule two things at once for tonight or something? She can't be here for the training?" The questions it seemed were more directed to themselves, but he cleared his throat, and both of them looked up.
"Welcome to spy training. I suggest if you have any" he stopped, looking for the right words "Problems, you bring them up with each other later. Now lets get to work." Both of the teenagers stepped inside throwing each other curious glances every once in a while. It must have been a nice break for their eyebrows (glaring contains lots of eyebrows) and a new job for their mouths since they were hanging slightly open. They sat as far away as possible from each other.
"To be a spy, is dangerous work, as I'm sure you could guess. It's all about being able to control your emotions and hide them from who you don't want to know, which is almost everybody. Trust nobody in this business; it will only get you into trouble. I'll be teaching you how to hide your emotions so you can lie without the dark lord knowing, I'll be teaching you how to talk in code so you can get information back and forth in case someone is eavesdropping. I'll be teaching you some dueling spells, so if the situation arises you'll be prepared. We will try to get your bodies to resist the truth potion plus many other things that will come later, but those are the basics." The lesson went on with Professor Snape answering questions and getting into some basic things every spy needs to know. The curious glances shot back and forth slowly and gradually turned into glares again. Snape observed their behavior, and had no doubt that they would be able to form a working relationship if not a friendship. By the time he was done both had dreamy far off looks in their eyes, feeling like they had just signed up for an appointment with death. Snape was sure neither of them had any idea how hard being a spy could be. When he dismissed them both jumped up and started walking towards the door. They both got to the door at the same time; both were determined to be the first one out the door. They both charged towards it at the same time getting stuck shoulder to shoulder squeezed in the doorframe. Snape laughed, causing both hermione's and Draco's eyes to pop out of their heads for a minute. Neither had ever heard Snape really laugh before.
"No pushing Children" said his voice from behind them. God this is awful both of them thought. Hermione groaned, and pushed as hard as she could, and managed to pop out. Huffing, she quickly walked away, and Draco did the same. Draco took his time walking to his room so he would hopefully not have to see her anymore that night. When he finally did get in the common room, he thanked who ever was in charge up there because for once something went right that day. However he spoke to early. He got himself settled on the couch to read a book, and she came out of her room wearing nothing but a large t-shirt. He smirked, he liked those pajamas, of course he'd never let her know that.
She walked down the stairs, skimmed the bookshelves for a while and walked to the couches to read. Curiosity was eating at the both of them but neither one of them wanted to bring it up. So they tried ignoring eachother as best as possible. Finally Hermione Cracked, because truth be told she didn't trust him, last she knew he was proud of his father and of being a deatheater, and if she was going to work with him she needed to trust him.
"Malfoy, we're both on the same side now"
"Umm thanx, but I'm not thick ya know, I figured that out already." He said sarcastically what is she getting at he thought? Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to hold her tongue she didn't want to get in an argument right then.
"If this is gonna work, we have to… well at least tolerate each other, and well in my best effort to try and get along with you I have to trust you." Draco nodded. that made sense, and if that meant she was gonna tell him how she got those new looks he was willing to share his story. "so" she continued "What made you become a spy? That's the last thing I'd expect you to be. Last time everyone checked, you were proud of.. well your lifestyle." He sighed. It's not everyday you have to tell your enemy turned co-worker one of your most personal stories. She looked really attentive so he started.
"You remember that day in the library, when you insulted my father, and voldemort?"
"Yes?" she said questioningly.
"well you hit it right on. I thought for a long time about what you said, and it was killing me. It was never supposed to be this way. Since the day I was born my purpose was to be the Malfoy heir and serve Voldemort, and I was fine with that until I talked to you. I started seeing things in a different view, and I hated it because it made me realize that my life could be so much more, than a life of servitude to someone that Potter was going to kill eventually anyway. You made me so mad for making me question all my beliefs. You made my life hell for a while, because you opened my eyes as soon as I couldn't do anything about it. As far as I was concerned I was doomed to that life. My father noticed some of my doubts and put me under imperius curse and I got the dark mark. There was no way out then. Then Voldemort arranged a raid to show the new deatheaters what some things would be like. Well it turned out that the raid was going to be at your house." Her eyes widened, and he saw her tremble. He took another slow breath, this still seemed surreal but he continued. "My father corned your father, and he wanted me to kill him. He looked so scared, and I couldn't do it, so my father finished the job. I got punished for it afterwards because my father thought it showed weakness. That's when I knew, I needed out. I can't kill people. I know everyone thinks I'm a jackass, and that automatically makes me evil. But I'm not, I just like annoying people, like you. its fun getting a rise out of you, but just because I know how to push your buttons, and sometimes you annoy the hell out of me because your too smart for your own good doesn't mean that I want to kill you. And like Potter he pisses me off. But he rejected my friendship and it hurt, and he always has to be the one saving the day, everyone loves him. I don't know, but watching your father an innocent man I'm sure die, I knew I couldn't last. It was horrible." Draco trembled.This was humiliating he wasn't used to telling people about his feelings. Hermione looked close to tears. "After my father punished me, I remembered a conversation I overheard once between dumbledore and snape, they were discussing spy business, I wrote to snape as quick as possible. He made some excuse about me being his apprentice with potions, and got me out of the house, and that's it." He stopped and is if remembering something very important he quickly said "Not a word of this to anyone, you're lucky you got any it out of me, and you wouldn't have if I wasn't so curious as why you think that Voldemort would let you a muggleborn be a deatheater." He said as to make sure that she knew that this deep mushy gushy conversations weren't going to be a normal thing. Hermione was however surprised of his word choice, muggleborn instead of mudblood. She smiled and started her story.
"You obviously don't know me as well as you thought you did then" Draco shifted waiting for her to go on. "I'll get straight to the point, since the rest will probably bore you. But just this morning, I found out that, well I'm the last blood relative to Merlin, I've even got the official merlin mark" she said lifting her sleeve and pointing to her arm and showing him. His eyes widened, that was indeed the merlin mark. Relatives to Merlin had all sorts of powers. She wasn't a muggle born after all he thought. That made him feel better. Old habits or in his case beliefs are hard to break. But he was slowly becoming more accepting towards muggle borns and muggles. After observing his reaction for a moment she went on with her story. "As for my looks, I was under a concealment charm for my whole life, to look like my adoptive parents real daughter would look like. But when they died the concealment charm lifted because they needed to be alive for it to stay effective. So this is how I'm supposed to look I guess. My real parents died a week after I was given to the Grangers from deatheaters because of research that could have been harmful to Voldemort. The Grangers never knew that I wasn't theres, because their real baby daughter died, and I was given to them instead but heavy memory charms were placed. So anyway, Dumbledore figures that as soon as Voldemort finds out who I am and what power I have, he'll be wanting me. And there's no way in hell that I would ever be loyal to that coward so that's why I've started training, preparation." Hermione felt much better getting that off her chest. She looked over at Malfoy, who looked pretty amused.
"So you mean to tell me that all those years of insults about your parents where useless?" she laughed aloud, that was quite an odd thing to say at a moment like that, but then again he was Malfoy, and he did have a way of being very blunt about things.
"I guess so" she said back "That must mean that I'm in the lead, and I think it will be staying that way because now that we have to be working together I don't think snape would appreciate it if we were always down each others throats."
"Well we aren't always in Snape's presence are we, Granger?"
"It's Hermione, the last name thing is really starting to get old, Draco" she tested it out. Now that Hermione knew she could trust him and that they really were on the same side she figured she'd have to be the first to take the step towards civil behavior.
"Maybe for you but I didn't give you permission to call me by my first name"
"You are so uptight; Look I'm not asking you to become best friends with me, because I don't want that either. It's not easy forgetting about 6 years worth of insults even if they did turn out to be untrue. I'm just trying to take a step to become tolerant with you, so I don't have to dread every training session with you. You know we're gonna need each other by the end of this because I'm the only one you can talk to about this, we're both gonna need that, even if you did grow up learning how to conceal your emotions. This is gonna be hard." Draco knew she was right, so he did the best thing he could do without directly agreeing with her.
"I hate, that I can't hate you, Hermione, and its Draco." So their truce was formed, and Hermione soon fell asleep on the couch into a peaceful sleep with a meeting from her father.
I love writing the Draco and Hermione parts! LoL I crack myself up! Is it bad that I make myself laugh, was anyone else laughing? Anyway, tell me what you think please. Does anyone think I'm going to fast with their relationship? They needed to get their stories out so they could form some sort of trust, but their friendship will take a little longer. Both will be in denial for a little bit. But ya review!
