Chapter 2
He couldn't believe it as he stared at the cover of the book Granger was reading: Dreams and Nightmares beyond reality and time. Draco swallowed slightly and sneered,
"What's up with the book you're reading? Something you need for extra points? What happened? Did Weasley and Potty do something to lose Gryffindor points so you're here to make it up? Damn, Granger, when will you ever learn to stop picking up after those two?"
Hoping that that was all it was, just for something to pick up and was purely coincidental, he waited for her prickly response. She lowered her book and glared menacingly at him. Draco felt her stares seem to bite him in the ass.
"What's it to you?"
She glanced quickly at his books, realizing with the eagle eyed vision she possessed that he too had books on dreaming. The coincidence was too much and she clamped down the urge to remark on the fluke of having the same kind of accident. This was definitely not her morning after all. Narrowing her brown eyes, Hermione looked into his and saw a momentary lapse of concern written there only to be replaced with that typical smugness he owned.
He knew he wasn't going to get an answer from Granger and it made him angrier by the second thinking that she could disregard him as she continued to read. The only way he could get her attention was to provoke her and that was the easiest to do. After six years of teasing and taunting, his sharp tongue was his means of getting what he wanted. Hurting others came very easily for him and paid no mind to the consequences of them.
"You know, I always wondered why you try so hard to be the best in everything. Competing in all the classes, getting noticed by all the professors, showing off and making yourself look better. Care to share why you're so eager to show off, Granger?"
That brought another glare from the girl across him. Good. He could tell from the look in her eye that she was getting bristly over his comment.
"Oh really? You think you know everything? If you obviously hadn't noticed I can't seem to compete in Professors Snape's classes. You seem to hold a special place in his heart. Or is it because of your father? Does he hold Professor Snape responsible for your well being?"
That pointed remark brought a immediate response from him,
"What about my father, mudblood? My father is of no concern to the likes of you. Since you can't answer me then I'll answer for you. You're just a filthy mudblood and because you can never be pureblood you try so hard to be the best in everything. But you know what? You'll never ever be anything like us. You'll always be a muggle born, filthy little—"
Hermione stood up sharply, scraping her chair back noisily and the look in her face was rigid and angry. It stopped Draco from his slurred attack. He watched the rise and fall of her chest and the angry dark pupils of her eyes. He smirked, knowing he made his point and enjoyed it. What surprised him was that for the first time he was beginning to notice her, really notice her. Sure, he noticed her back in the fourth year when she came to the Yule ball with Viktor Krum. Even then he couldn't say anything nasty to her. He didn't know whether it was because Pansy provided all the nastiness for him or that she surprised him by looking different.
"Shut up, Malfoy! Just shut up!"
Then with quick angry strides, she left him. Her books securely against her breast, hoping that the threatening tears didn't fall and it irked her thoroughly that she was feeling oddly offended by his taunts. It never bothered her before. The last and only time in which it did was second year when he called her a filthy little mudblood in front of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams and to make matters worse, poor Ron had gotten his spells reversed trying to hex Malfoy.
Funny thing is, Malfoy had nothing new to add to his insults, it was the typical everyday jeers, usually jibed more at Harry and Ron, and lately from the past couple years had stopped picking on her. It angered her worse when the slytherin prince, whom Pansy and her cronies seem to call him, liked to pick on poor Hagrid. Hagrid on the other hand had the authority and strength to take on miserable Malfoy but yet, something stopped him and she wondered at these things, wondered if the power behind Lucias Malfoy controlled more than just his pitiful son.
With even more irritation at having to think of Malfoy and his mocking of her academic skills, she couldn't find a single thing about the relation of the nightmare she had had for the past three nights this week. The dream oracle didn't provide many answers. There were interpretations to be sure but that was not even close enough to the vividness of her dreams. They were connected to Malfoy and maybe taking a quick peek back at her dream journals will help her find something in relation to the current paralleled reality.
Draco cursed inwardly, hoping that he'd get some answers but managed to make her irritably mad and go huffing and puffing out the library exit. He continued to flip through the pages of the remaining books he had not glanced over. Finding nothing he leaned back and heard the sounds of students shuffling through the hallways and realized that time had fleetingly went by. Groaning, he closed up the books and got ready for the first lessons of the day.
Later that day, during lunch, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at their usual place, eating small sandwiches, fruits and drinking pumpkin juice. Ron ranted on and on about DADA class and how they managed to find nothing of anything significant to learn with the new instructor. The morning classes were pretty much the same. The worst class was by far the history of magic which was taught by Professor Binns. It hasn't changed much over the years. Having had the worst teaching methods and Ron seemed to have pleasure commenting over the details of his day dreams during the course of the class.
It was then that Harry noticed Hermione's quiet behavior. She usually wasn't like this and her face seemed to scrunch up when Ron mentioned day dreaming. Harry leaned over,
"Hermione, is everything okay with you?"
"As a matter of fact, no, I do want to discuss something important with you two. It's been bothering me for a few days now."
Ron rolled his eyes, "Oh, if it's about Professor Binns, I know you're the only one who pays attention to him, Hermione. I don't know how you can manage all these years understanding anything he says. Or is it the new DADA instructor? Is that it?"
"Ron, no it's not about Professor Binns or any of our classes. It's about……Malfoy"
Both Harry and Ron looked at her with wide eyes, pronouncing in unison the very name they all despised,
"MALFOY?"
He couldn't believe it as he stared at the cover of the book Granger was reading: Dreams and Nightmares beyond reality and time. Draco swallowed slightly and sneered,
"What's up with the book you're reading? Something you need for extra points? What happened? Did Weasley and Potty do something to lose Gryffindor points so you're here to make it up? Damn, Granger, when will you ever learn to stop picking up after those two?"
Hoping that that was all it was, just for something to pick up and was purely coincidental, he waited for her prickly response. She lowered her book and glared menacingly at him. Draco felt her stares seem to bite him in the ass.
"What's it to you?"
She glanced quickly at his books, realizing with the eagle eyed vision she possessed that he too had books on dreaming. The coincidence was too much and she clamped down the urge to remark on the fluke of having the same kind of accident. This was definitely not her morning after all. Narrowing her brown eyes, Hermione looked into his and saw a momentary lapse of concern written there only to be replaced with that typical smugness he owned.
He knew he wasn't going to get an answer from Granger and it made him angrier by the second thinking that she could disregard him as she continued to read. The only way he could get her attention was to provoke her and that was the easiest to do. After six years of teasing and taunting, his sharp tongue was his means of getting what he wanted. Hurting others came very easily for him and paid no mind to the consequences of them.
"You know, I always wondered why you try so hard to be the best in everything. Competing in all the classes, getting noticed by all the professors, showing off and making yourself look better. Care to share why you're so eager to show off, Granger?"
That brought another glare from the girl across him. Good. He could tell from the look in her eye that she was getting bristly over his comment.
"Oh really? You think you know everything? If you obviously hadn't noticed I can't seem to compete in Professors Snape's classes. You seem to hold a special place in his heart. Or is it because of your father? Does he hold Professor Snape responsible for your well being?"
That pointed remark brought a immediate response from him,
"What about my father, mudblood? My father is of no concern to the likes of you. Since you can't answer me then I'll answer for you. You're just a filthy mudblood and because you can never be pureblood you try so hard to be the best in everything. But you know what? You'll never ever be anything like us. You'll always be a muggle born, filthy little—"
Hermione stood up sharply, scraping her chair back noisily and the look in her face was rigid and angry. It stopped Draco from his slurred attack. He watched the rise and fall of her chest and the angry dark pupils of her eyes. He smirked, knowing he made his point and enjoyed it. What surprised him was that for the first time he was beginning to notice her, really notice her. Sure, he noticed her back in the fourth year when she came to the Yule ball with Viktor Krum. Even then he couldn't say anything nasty to her. He didn't know whether it was because Pansy provided all the nastiness for him or that she surprised him by looking different.
"Shut up, Malfoy! Just shut up!"
Then with quick angry strides, she left him. Her books securely against her breast, hoping that the threatening tears didn't fall and it irked her thoroughly that she was feeling oddly offended by his taunts. It never bothered her before. The last and only time in which it did was second year when he called her a filthy little mudblood in front of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams and to make matters worse, poor Ron had gotten his spells reversed trying to hex Malfoy.
Funny thing is, Malfoy had nothing new to add to his insults, it was the typical everyday jeers, usually jibed more at Harry and Ron, and lately from the past couple years had stopped picking on her. It angered her worse when the slytherin prince, whom Pansy and her cronies seem to call him, liked to pick on poor Hagrid. Hagrid on the other hand had the authority and strength to take on miserable Malfoy but yet, something stopped him and she wondered at these things, wondered if the power behind Lucias Malfoy controlled more than just his pitiful son.
With even more irritation at having to think of Malfoy and his mocking of her academic skills, she couldn't find a single thing about the relation of the nightmare she had had for the past three nights this week. The dream oracle didn't provide many answers. There were interpretations to be sure but that was not even close enough to the vividness of her dreams. They were connected to Malfoy and maybe taking a quick peek back at her dream journals will help her find something in relation to the current paralleled reality.
Draco cursed inwardly, hoping that he'd get some answers but managed to make her irritably mad and go huffing and puffing out the library exit. He continued to flip through the pages of the remaining books he had not glanced over. Finding nothing he leaned back and heard the sounds of students shuffling through the hallways and realized that time had fleetingly went by. Groaning, he closed up the books and got ready for the first lessons of the day.
Later that day, during lunch, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at their usual place, eating small sandwiches, fruits and drinking pumpkin juice. Ron ranted on and on about DADA class and how they managed to find nothing of anything significant to learn with the new instructor. The morning classes were pretty much the same. The worst class was by far the history of magic which was taught by Professor Binns. It hasn't changed much over the years. Having had the worst teaching methods and Ron seemed to have pleasure commenting over the details of his day dreams during the course of the class.
It was then that Harry noticed Hermione's quiet behavior. She usually wasn't like this and her face seemed to scrunch up when Ron mentioned day dreaming. Harry leaned over,
"Hermione, is everything okay with you?"
"As a matter of fact, no, I do want to discuss something important with you two. It's been bothering me for a few days now."
Ron rolled his eyes, "Oh, if it's about Professor Binns, I know you're the only one who pays attention to him, Hermione. I don't know how you can manage all these years understanding anything he says. Or is it the new DADA instructor? Is that it?"
"Ron, no it's not about Professor Binns or any of our classes. It's about……Malfoy"
Both Harry and Ron looked at her with wide eyes, pronouncing in unison the very name they all despised,
"MALFOY?"