By: DarkQueenBulma
Chapter One
**Hermiones POV**
The next week was difficult for me. Not only did I have the almighty Malfoy ten feet away from me everynight, but Harry and Ron were on my back about not ever coming to see then. It had only been a week since we got back to school! I am head girl now, don't they realise I have other obligations? It's not like when I spend time with them, I actually enjoy it. Quidditch, girls, and scheming. Not some of Hermiones favorite topics.
"Oi, Hermione!" someone called from behind me. God, what do they want now. I was almost to my room...to my bed. I need sleep. "Hermione!!" they called again. JESUS, TAKE A HINT. I turned around glaring at anyone and everyone. Oh, it was a Slytherin. What did he want?
"Hi Vince," I said unenthusiatically.
"What's wrong with you, Hermione?" he asked me, fake worry creasing his face. Oh, stop pretending you care, you just want to get down my pants. Why was he talking to me, exactly? I tapped my high-heeled combat boot lightly, calculating what to say.
"I'm fine, I'm just really tired. I haven't gotten any sleep in the past week," I finally said quietly.
"Oh, well...are you going to that 'Start-of-the-Term' Dance thing, the old cook is putting on?
I quirked an eyebrow. "Are you refering to the genious, Dumbledore, and if you are, no, I wasn't planning on going."
"Well-if-you-change-your-mine-I-was-wondering-if-you-wanted-to-go-with-me" he said in one breath.
My lips tweaked up into a small smirk. "And why would you ask a dirty Mudblood to this dance? Go ask, Pansy." I started to walk off but he called "Wait".
"Look Hermione, I don't care about all that mudblood and pureblood shit. I just want to go with someone...decent looking, and someone I can talk to. I don't want to get down your pants, I just want someone to talk to, that's all..."
I looked at him skeptically. "I swear, Hermione." he said holding up both hands showing he wasn't crossing his fingers.
"Well, I wasn't planning on going, but now that I have a date..." I paused letting the word 'date' roll off my tongue slowly, "...I will go with you, Vince," I finished smiling sightly at him.
He beamed at me and jumped. What the...? I was being hugged. Interesting. I hugged back half-heartedly.
"So, it's next Friday, and there's a Hogsmeade visit this friday if you want to go and get a dress. I'll come by your common room at eight nect Friday night, if that's alright."
I nodded my head and headed off to get some well-needed sleep. He yelled a small good-bye and ran off somewhere. The walk back to the common room felt like a marathon. My feet felt heavy and my eyelids heavier. Once I go there, I pratically dragged myself into my room, and out of my clothing. I colapsed on the bed, sleeping, not even bothering putting anything else on.
Something was throbbing. Where was it. Was it my leg or my head? I couldn't tell. Was I still alseep? How long had I been asleep? Someone was calling my name. The voice sounded familiar. I can't open my eyes, I tried to scream. Darkness enveloped my senses and then my body was of fire. I lurched up off my bed, holding my head in my hands, screaming bloody murder. Something sank into the bed beside me, or should I say someone. They brushed up against my side.
"Christ, Granger, calm down," came that voice again. I ignored it; the pain was threatening to send me into a blackout. Why now? Where does this pain always come from, I thought helplessly. Why can't it just go away. I know it's trying to tell me something, but what? Ever since I was a little girl, I'd wake up at night, pain enveloping my body, screaming in agony. My parents brushed it off as child nightmares, but they weren't nightmares. They were actual happenings; I know they were. Once every so often, I would see this man, not clearly, but a shadow, with long white hair. He was always a blur. Whenever I saw him, the pain would be ten times worse. Who was this white-haired blur? Was he the one I am destined for?
"Come on, Granger, wake up" that voice yelled into my ear. I could barely focus, but the sound of this voice was helping.
"Dont..stop...talking" I choked out between great wracking beaths.
"FUCK" I screamed.
"You're a fucking psycho, Granger" said the voice.
Malfoy? Oh, of course it WOULD be Malfoy to find me in such a state of dishevelment. Why was he in my room? My head seared with pain again. I bit into my bottom lip, causing blood to flow over it. The blood pooled at the corner of my mouth and then dripped downward, slowly. Malfoy recoiled from my side, breathing becoming ragged. I vaguely wondered if he was sqeamish and afraid of blood. I felt like I was being attacked. Malfoys mouth was uptop of mine, his tonge lapping hungrily at the blood flowing from my lip. I barely had time to register this happening when he was gone again, this time from the room.
I curled myself into a ball for the rest of that night, baring with the pain. It was so much worse this time. The man, his hands had been tainted with blood...my blood. Was this an insight to the future? I had never been one for divination (or the fruity teacher) but perhaps I was a seer. I didn't ponder that thought too much. Just the thought of that woman and her whacky predictions was enough to make my blood boil. Harry dying, indeed. The thought that I was destined to die by this mans hands...disturbed me to say the least. Well, I never believed in destiny, and I certainly don't believe in it now. I believe I make my own fate, and that's just what I was going to do. I wasn't letting some nightmare-man take ahold of me and my senses. For all I knew, he could just be a dream, that my mind created in a fit of hysteria. Yeah, that's probably what it is, but they dreams were getting more frequent, and fewer time in between. The only thing I could come up with was stress. I was under a lot of stress. It wasn't like my duties as head girl, and all the classes I was taking put enough pressure on me already, but I had Malfoy in close proximity 24/7. Not only that, but Ron and Harry just didn't understand. They had their half-ass classes and quittich.
I rolled over and fell asleep almost instantly, my body relaxing against the pillows. My mind was restless through-out my little nap. I dreamt of the white-haired man, and my death. I didn't awaken screaming, though, but tossed and turned instead.
Finally, I awoke. The night sky greeted me from my window, stars blindingly bright. How long had I slept? Thank god it was Wednesday and I hadn't had anymore classes in the afternoon. I looked over at my alarm clock to find that is was later than I thought; three-thirty in the morning didn't suit me. I crawled out of bed and wandered over the the window. Staring at the night sky, my eyes filled with tears. I refused myeslf the release, and instead bottled my fears. My logical side too me over, and I ranted to myself. How could you be so stupid, Hermione? They are only dreams, things your mind do to you when you are in highly stressful, and sleep deprived situations. I knew I was right, but something still nagged at the back of my mind. I had completely forgotten that Malfoy had witnessed my outburst, forgotten to ponder why he had been in my room, why he had kissed me.
I was still tired, but I forced myself to get dressed and work on homework. I told myself that it was because I needed to study for a quiz the next day, but I knew the real reason. I was afraid to go back to bed. I was afraid that I was going to see myself die again, by a man that was only a blur. As pathetic as it was, Hermione Granger was scared. Not one of my finer moments, I would have to admit.
I sat there at a table in my common room, alone as ever. I looked down at my wristwatch and it read six-ten. I had been sitting there, staring at my books for two and half hours, and had got absolutely nothing done whatsoever. My head was aching and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Sleep, and not to have to worry about nightmares.
Someone came up behind me, and patted my head. I cocked my head back and saw Malfoy. He was looking down at me curiously.
"What do you want, deatheater," I said looking back down at my books that I still hadn't touched, let alone read and studied.
"You..." he said low in his throat.
My eyes flashed up to meet red ones, and then they were wide with terror. What the hell was going on?
I stumbled back falling out of my chair, as he walked slowly towards me, his red eyes glowing through-out our common room. And then it happened. One moment he was ten feet away from me and the next he was straddling me again the floor. My arms were pinned above my head. Deja vu. He smirked. It was a natural reaction and later as I looked back, it probably wasn't the smarted thing to do, but I smirked, leaned up, and kissed him. For a brief moment, he struggled against my lips, but I kept them firmly in place, too scared to move. I watched his eyes go froma blood red, to an icy blue, to closed lids. He blacked out on top of me. The headgirl layed there on the carpet of the head common room, with the head boy on top of her, passed out, for an hour. I finally snapped out of the trance I was in, and slowly pushed him off of me.
He looked so peaceful there curled up, his pale blue-streaked hair falling into his eyes. His little episode didn't curb my want for him in the least. It only fueled my desire to know what was up with him and why he felt so empty.
His eyes, they'd been so...red. They were as cold as ever, maybe colder, but they'd been red too! What sort of happening could of made his eyes go red and make him act like that?
I didn't see him all of the next day, or the day after. I was highly suspicsious. I figured he would try and avoid me, but he wasn't in any of the classes that we had together. If he was avoiding me, he sure was doing a good job of it. I doubted though, that he would go through so much trouble just so he didn't have to see me after trying to kill me. I mean, I should have not expected any less, right? He was just Malfoy right? Wrong. He wasn't 'just Malfoy'. There was something different about him. Besides the fact that he felt empty (which should of just shouted in my ear with a blowhorn "KILLER"), his whole aura vibrated with uncertainty. He wasn't the same egotistical, sarcastic prat I remembered from all those years. Ok, he was still the egotistical, sarcastic prat, but their was still something different about him.
It wasn't enough that Malfoy had tried to...well...do whatever he had tried to do, but it was friday and it was a Hogsmeade vist. Of course, that shouldn't of stressed me out even further. No, if anything if should of been relaxing me. I mean, I was going to get a dress for a dance that I would spend with a guy that was awfully cute, and possibly have a good time, but something in the depths of my mind nagged at me not to go. Maybe I would just stay in my dorm and wear the dress robe that I'd had from last year.
I walked through the streets of Hogsmeade just short of being dragged by Lavender. How I got swindled into it, I didn't know. I mean, I could of just said no, right? Yes, that's what the new Hermione would have done but I was still pure at heart. One minute I was going to relax in the Gryffindor common room while all the Gryffindors were at Hogsmeade and the next second, Lavender Brown was pullling me through Hogsmeade towards a small shop that sold dressy robes. I groaned outwardly and tried to dig my heels into the dirt with no success.
"Come on, Hermione!" she squealed, "...this will be so much fun, I know just what everyone will love on you."
I sighed. Great. Man, I hated shopping. No, I loathed shopping with every ounce of passion I posessed. We entered the shop that smelled faintly of rosemary and cinnamon.
An hour later, Lavender was still trying on dresses for herself, but thank the gods I didn't have to witness this. Parvati Patil happen to be in the store and the two hooked up and had been trying on dresses ever since, myself forgotten. So, I just sat in a chair off the side and watched girls going in and out of the dressing rooms. I had almost fallen asleep, but something caught my eye. It was black. Who cares, right? I mean it's only an article of clothing. Wrong. I walked towards it and picked it up delicately. It was beautiful. The arms were long and wide, and the collar high. It arched down in the front just low enough to show respectful clevage. It was the most beautiful, the most gorgeous thing I'd ever seen. It...
"...would look perfect on you," came a voice behind me. I didn't even bother turning around. As much as I wanted to fling myself into his arms, I resisted. What happened a few nights ago did need to be talked about, though. I continued to stare at the dress, pleading to myself for the tears that were welling in my eyes not to pour over.
I turned around to face him, only to prove I wasn't a coward, and smirked at him.
"I knew you couldn't resist me, Malfoy; no body can," I said to him and I had no idea where it had come from. He smiled broadly and snaked his arm around my waist. His eyes flashed red once and then back to icey blue.
"You're right, Hermione; I can't resist you," he said to me silky sweet. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
"You do not scare me, Malfoy; so why try?"
"I'm not trying to scare you, Granger; I'm trying to get you into bed.
Slap. That's what I did. How dare he talk to me in such a manner. He had no right, whatsoever.
"Watch your back, mudblood" and then he swung around, his trench-coat billowing behind him.
Lavender stood before me staring down at me, this evil little grin on her face. I wanted to shrink into the chair, or run away. Why was she looking at me -that- way.
"Tell everything, every detail, Hermione!" She shrieked at me gleefully.
"What are you talking about," I choked out at her.
"I saw the way you looked at him, Hermione. You're in-love."
I walked towards out common room, taking the long way, to give myself time to think. Could this be true? Could I be in-love with Draco Malfoy? No, it was not love, that I was sure of, but there was some connection there, between us. Something, that has always been there, ever since I could remember. Since the first time I met him, we had disliked each other. Him hating me for my...background, and me hating him for hating me for something so superficial. Harry and Ron had been there for me when no one else was, and I had appreciated it far more than anything else in my life, but Draco. He had been there to heighten my wit, and show me what true pride was.
Maybe that was it. I wasn't in-love with him. I was envious of him. Well, that was a given. Was there more there that I wasn't seeing? Envy for sure, repsect, definitely, but love?
I arived at our common room, and said that password without thinking, still pondering the Draco situation. He insults me, and belittles me every chance he gets. He's always said it was because I was a mudblood, but somehow, I think that has changed. I think he has grown into a better person than he lets on to be, but that's my personal opinion, worth nothing in the wizard word, because I am still, and forever will be a mudblood.
I was sour for the next few hours as I worked on my homework, still angry about what Lavender said, though I had no idea why. It shouldn't of bothered me, and I should of denied it but I didn't. I told her that I was sick, and needed to get back to the school fast. I raced through the underground passage-way, never stopping. My lungs burned, and my body ached by the time I climbed out of the one-eyed statue. My walk to the common room, had been anything but peaceful, my mind racing, and killing all thoughts of anything but figuring out Draco Malfoy, only angering me further.
I finished my arithmacy homework and began on the two foot report on poly-juice potion for Potions class, a class that was going to be very unbareable this year, considering it was still double-potions with Slytherin, and Harry and Ron were still in there with me. As much as I cared for them, and still thought of them as my best friends. . .I couldn't deal with them this year, like I could before. I had too much on my plate, and not just with this Draco thing. There were other things bothering me, severely, that would come into play later on.
He walked into the common room, wearing exactly what he had been wearing the few hours before that I had seen him. He looked tassled, like he'd been in a fight, but I didn't comment. He brushed past me, without a word, and straight to his dormitory, much to my relief. As much as I wanted to talk to him about this whole deal, I would rather complile my thoughts and stradegy before I sat down and had a talk with Malfoy.
Perhaps never.
I wandered to my dorm, not really expecting to sleep, just not wanted to be confronted by Malfoy in the common room. I laid down on my bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.
A dark cloaked man approached her in her garden full of roses. It was night, and she was watering them, her face was frowning, and she was depressed as ever.
He grabbed her from behind and kissed her neck softly.
"Hello, Knala" he cooed in her ear.
Tears poured down her face, as he unclothed her from behind. She made no move to escape or resist. She just stood there, tears flowing freely, as he violated her in everyway possible.
When he was done, he left, without a word, leaving her lying in her garden, legs bruised severely, cuts running up and down her body, from her being thrown into the roses.
I awoke, eyes wide. I had never dreamed something so real before. Who was this woman? She had been so beautiful. Dark auburn hair, and chocolate eyes so peircings they could look into your soul. Why hadn't she resisted? The mans hood had been up, but I felt that it wasn't the white-haired man. It was someone different, someone ten times more evil, ten times more sadistic.
I laid back on my pillows, staring at my ceiling, tears pouring from my eyes. I got no more sleep that night, even though I had tried.
The next day had been awful.
I hurried to potions, my things overflowing my arms, my bag on my shoulders heavy. I wasn't running, but I wasn't walking neither. I ran right into someone and flew back, my things and I crashing to the floor. My head hit hard. I saw stars, bright lights, and then blackness. I thought I had blacked out before I realised someone was standing over me, shadowing the light. I leaned up, holding my head in my hands. That was quite a fall, I might have a cuncussion.
I looked up to see Draco staring down at me coldly.
"What are you doing here? Go away, Malfoy"
"That wouldn't be very gentlemanly of my, now would it," he said, breaking out into a malicious grin. He then bent over to help me pick up my things, and after we had gotten everything into my bag, he offered his hand to me for the second time.
And for the second time, I refused, getting up by myself. He looked angry again, and then shoved me against the wall, my bag still on the floor. My eyes betrayed nothing, but I was fearful. The last week had been anything but calm, the dreams getting bad, and the stress worse.
He leaned into me, our lips mere millimeters apart, and he spoke.
"I'm tired of you, Mudlblood. You think you're so tough and indepented. Trust me, little one, I'll be the one to rape you of that."
"I very well doubt that, Malfoy, and if anyone around here is a mudblood, it's you. You are a Malfoy, afterall.
I was rewarded a slap, and I didn't even flinch.
"Watch your words, Hermione, you could hurt someones feelings," he said to me sweetly, as my cheek flamed red from where he had smacked me.
He turned around and picked up my bag. My breathing was becoming ragged the more he stood near me. He turned back, handing it to me, and then walked casually off to potions, where I should of been right then. I hurried after him, making sure to stay at least ten feet away from him, for fear I would jump on his back and stangle him.
Two hours later, Harry, Ron, and I packed out things about to exit the potions room.
"Granger, Malfoy, may I have a word?" Snape called.
The boys gave me looks of sympothy and headed out the door. Draco and I lagged behind to talk to the professor.
"Seeing as you are headboy and headgirl, Dumbledore has requested that you work on a very difficult potion during class time. It's a very complex truth serum. It is in very short supply, and high demand, therefore, we need extra help on it. You are the only two I trust enough to work on it. There will be pay, if you so choose to accept this offer, 5000 knuts.
I did need something to take my mind off the stressful things in my life, but working with Draco? Wouldn't that cause more stress? We were only going to be working on a potion, I'm sure it would be fine.
"I accept" I said imediately after thinking that.
"I also accept" Draco said lazily.
"Good," Snape said solemnly. I will give instructions next class time. The serum take five days to complete, so you will be dismissed from five classes to work on it in my personal dungeon. You are dismissed."
We left the room quietly, but I turned to Malfoy.
"Get out of the way, Granger" he said as I stood in front of him, blocking his way.
"What happened the other night, it needs to be talked about." I said through clenched teeth.
"I don't have to talk about anything with you," he replied angrily, "You're nothing to me, and don't deserve my time." He brushed past me in hurry before I got one more word in.
"Why does he have to be so difficult?" I said out-loud.
"I know why," a voice called from behind me.
A/N: Heeeeeeeeey reviewers ^.^ Working on the next chapter now =D Hope you guys like it so far, and if there are any Anime fans out there, I have two Dragonball Z fictions up, that aren't half bad. You should check them out, and please guys, review the story? I've gotten 25 hits on this story and freaking 6 reviews! >.