A/N- 'ello, ma lovelies! 'ow are you today?

me? i'm just great. i spent dinner being yelled at by my parents (in a restuarant, no less) and crying in a public bathroom.

to top it all off, about five minutes ago my mom asked if i was on drugs. WOOHOO. i was kind of in the parent hating mood (for good reason) so i wrote a bit in the beginning about Draco and his father.

i wrote a really long chapter to take my mind off it. hope you enjoy. 3

Draco stared at himself in the mirror.

Merlin, why does he have to be the spitting image of his father? He ran his eyes over his slick, blonde hair, his deathly white skin, and his pale, pointed features. He brought his eyes to meet their reflection. A blue tint underneath a cloak of silver, clouded with anger.

"I am sick of being my father's shadow!" Draco shouted at the mirror. His reflection didn't care to react. The young wizard threw a look of disgust at his reflection, which just made the face right back at him.

Draco looked around. He needed to do something drastic. He wanted to look like his own person. He spotted his wand lying in his trunk beside him. He grabbed it and pondered to himself.

Suddenly he knew. He reversed his hair sleeking charm, and looked at his nearly chin length hair as it fell into his face. "Perfect," he muttered to himself, and grabbed a pair of scissors sitting on the dresser in front of him.

As each tuft of his white-blonde hair fell to the floor, Draco felt he was letting go of another part of his father.
Entering the Great Hall the next day, Draco endured the gasps, looks of shock, shouts of surprise at his hair. He was expecting it. What he didn't expect is the unusual attention his new style brought from the girls. He wasn't ready for the giggles, the dreamy looks, the wide-eyed, all out stares.

But he sure did enjoy it. His hair was still about chin length, with shorter, side swept bangs just covering his eyes. He thought it gave him a mysterious aura, different from his father's straightforward, sneering face. He gave his head a little shake, to one side, to get the hair out of his eyes.

He thought he heard a girl swoon. Maybe this haircut was an even better idea than he thought. He smirked to himself. Draco Malfoy, sexiest beast in school.

He enjoyed the attention all the way into Advanced Arithmancy, where he took his usual seat next to Padma Patil. "Malfoy!" she voiced her surprise at the sudden change.

"You like what you see?" he said, smirking. This haircut was fun. Padma rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't every girl in school?" she said, snickering. She had to admit, it was quite cute. But she had always thought Malfoy had a certain charm. The haircut just improved it. In fact, although she'd never admit it, Padma had a crush on Draco since 4th year. When Professor Vector partnered them, her heart nearly stopped. He leaned close, glancing into the textbook they shared, and butterflies tickled the inside of Padma's stomach to no end. Her breath caught. She took a chance, and flicked her eyes towards Malfoy. He was staring at Hermione in an odd sort of way. This was not the first time she'd caught him doing this.

"Earth to Malfoy..." she said as she waved a delicate hand in front of his face.

"Oh, what do you want?"

"What is this, the third time I've caught you staring at Hermione? The fourth, maybe? What's going on, Malfoy?"

Draco's eyes widened. He had been staring at Hermione that much? It was noticeable?! What on earth was he thinking? "Oh, I—"he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. "I just can't believe how incredibly, um, how she is just so into the class. It blows my mind."

Padma looked skeptical. "Riiight. And I suppose you've got a crush on Goyle too, right?" She laughed at the disgusted look on Draco's face. "You like her, don't you?"

Draco sputtered. "I do not!"

"Come off it, Malfoy. It's totally obvious! What, got a thing for being rebellious? Want to piss off your dad by dating a Muggle born?"

"No, it's not like that at all! I would never disobey father." But even as he said this, Draco knew it was an obvious lie. Didn't he just cut his hair because he was sick of being his father's clone?

Padma rolled her eyes. She saw through his lie easily. "Okay, so that's not true. But I don't like Hermione! You must be insane, should I take you to Madame Pomfrey?"

"Malfoy, you'd better tell me. I'll stop sharing my textbook with you, and stop giving you my notes after class! If you don't fill me in on your little crush, you won't be able to spend the whole of Arithmancy drooling over Hermione anymore."

Draco opened his mouth, and then closed it. What did he have to lose? He admitted, "Okay, I might have a little thing for Hermione. But it's simply a crush, and I like the idea of making father mad much more than I actually like her."

Little did Padma know, what Draco had was much more than a crush. It was something that had been building up since 3rd year, although Draco wasn't ready to admit it to himself, much less anyone else.
Hermione was cuddled into a warm armchair near the fire in her common room, nose buried in 'Hogwarts; A History' for what must have been the eight hundredth time. Completely unaware of the fact that someone in the other corner was watching her.

Padma Patil sat and wondered what to do. She'd had a crush on Draco for quite awhile, but she never was the selfish, jealous type. She knew she had no chance with him, and if another worthy girl did, well, more power to her. She'd much rather see Hermione in Draco's arms than say, Pansy, who seemed to be warming up to him nowadays.

Mind made up, Padma stood and approached the oblivious girl. "Hermione?" she inquired, rather unsure of herself and what she was doing.

Hermione continued to read. "Hermione," Padma repeated, slightly louder. Nothing. "Hermione!" she nearly shouted this time. The witch looked up with a start.

"Great wizards, Padma, you gave me an awful fright!"

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Now what did you need? I'd like to get back to my reading." Hermione looked rather longingly at her book.

Padma inwardly chuckled. "I wanted to tell you something. About Malfoy."

She now had Hermione's full attention. "What is it?" she asked, looking slightly bemused.

"Well it's just, well I don't know if I should be saying this, but, you see Malfoy..." Padma started slowly.

"Out with it!"

"Well, Malfoy has a crush on you!" She said it so quickly it was almost incomprehensible.

"What?"

"Draco Malfoy told me that he has a crush on you. I just thought you ought to know. It's sad really, the way he stares longingly at you all day. Really, it's pretty obvious. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

This was news to Hermione. She opened her mouth, and quickly shut it again. She blinked several times. "You've got to be kidding me."
if you don't review, i will cry.
PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME CRY.
i just put on mascara and would rather not look like a raccoon.
so if you please, go ahead, review!
(okay, i know it would be quite amusing to see me look like a raccoon, but please, find it in your hearts to review anyway!)

PS: in your review, tell me what you think Hermione's reaction to this shocking news will be!

on to the MERCIs:

Granger-gurl-rox: thank you!! i am so glad to be getting a new reader. i feel sorry for him too, but i think that's what makes him the way he is. i'm glad you think so! i am bringin it, man. hah

LikeVio13nce:i really like your idea! i think i might bring it into the story, probably in the next chapter or so. all ideas are welcome!

Cecikun:hells yeah, togetha foreva!! teehee. you will get your action later, i promise.

tennisplaya278: thank you!!!!!! i love your reviews. keep 'em comin.

Lilykins:teehee thanks, thats how i always pictured them too.

Raiast:American Pie!! awesome. thanks a million. i am off to go have sex with a warm apple pie.

Kaitee:haha oh, she will. muhaha.

Shuffle Queen:i'm not a bitch hater. I LOVE MY BITCHES. they get me moneyy! weehoo. sike. love you, keep reading! and reviewing (bitch, muhaha.)

Freak Off Her Leash:thank you, i will!

major issues 4 life:haha i know it heals everything. i have a craving for it now. mmmm. drools but yeah. i have been pretty tempted to just throw them together! haha, weewoo!

XxAnimeLover14xX:haha, yeah in the movie they did show her punching him, but the books say she slapped him. And since i'm not a big fan of the movies (they make draco look like a total baby!) i will go with the book's version. if you haven't yet, you need to read the books, yo! they are 18 thousand times better than the movie.