A/N: I was on vacation, but I'm back now. So sorry for the long wait, and the beginning of this chapter was rushed... So forgive me! The end is well worth waiting for! Thanks for my reviewers.

I saw the HArry Potter movie. It stunk. I felt it was really rushed. Sigh...

IF YOU WANT TO GET TO THE PART THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT AND SKIP ALL THE MALFOY HISTORY JUST LOOK AT WHERE THE IS!!!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter? Me own? Yes I DO! As soon as I'm Jo K Rowling! (Which I'm not so I don't own it)

Chapter 4: The Hinges of Fate

Of course he had anticipated to spy on them. It was the most probable solution until he realized that if either caught him, mainly Hermione, he would most likely suffer a terrible, prolonged, death.

He knew nothing would happen between either because Hermione had confessed to Draco that she didn't like Blaise, but he also knew that Blaise was a Slytherin. He was a cunning person just as any other Slytherin, but what scared Draco was that Blaise was like a brother to him, like an identical twin with the same things implanted into his brain. What scared him even more was that Gryffindors like the touchy feely crap, and Blaise was more 'in touch' with those kinds of things even if he could get physical to get what he wanted. Yes, Draco was worried.

In the end, he decided to wait out the night in the common room waiting for Hermione's return so he could find out just how much damage Blaise had done.

Hermione left at seven sharp, and now it was a quarter until eleven. That was normal length. Hermione was too reasonable to stay out later than midnight tops. He decided to get out a good book and read.

He was caught up in the book so he never noticed the clock ring eleven, then midnight, then one. Finally he caught himself yawning as he put the book down almost forgetting the point to his being there. He went to bed, looking one last time at the clock on the wall.

Christmas break started sooner than either of the men would have liked. The hundred galleon bet was over, fore they both knew that Hermione was having a hard time choosing. Of course they could tell that there was some kind of a battle going on inside her. She wouldn't admit to it. Blaise asked Hermione on direct dates and was a gentlemen on them. Now normally Blaise would have been physical, but it was against the rules, Draco made sure. Draco, meanwhile, used the tactic of being her 'friend' with heavy flirting.

So, for the month before break she spent less time with Potter and Weasley, as they were angry at her for dating a 'useless, dirty, conniving' Slytherin, and more time with Blaise and Draco.

She seemed happier with the idea of dating Blaise than she had that one night a couple of weeks ago. She only went on seldom dates with him, Draco noticed. They would hang out just as Draco would with Hermione. They weren't an official couple. How could they be, anyway, with Hermione and Draco himself flirting so much?

He didn't like one bit that this bet wasn't over. He noticed himself becoming more attached to the little Mudblood, and it bothered him. Of course it bothered him! She was-is worthless! A pureblooded wizard has standards he has to uphold. Not that he had any feelings for Granger beside hatred and the bet.

He let out an angry growl while he settled in his bed. He didn't want to get up today, and he didn't have to. Last night was yet another seventh year Hogsmeade drink fest in honor of there not being school for three weeks.

He had already taken a hangover potion that could be taken right before the drinking so it could get you drunk, but it couldn't get you a hangover. 'Best creation yet.' Draco thought to himself as he put a hand on his bedside table drawing his wand to him.

"Accio Bass Clef Around with the Muggle Musicians." He simply commanded as the book came flying toward him. Naturally he was interested in music. He had been taking piano classes all his life as his father said in his aristocratic way, "The type of music one plays shows the influence they will place on the world." So, by the age of six Draco already knew many pieces by heart.

The summer before first year, which was the most carefree one he had as his father only made him read all of his books repeatedly, he had taken up the trombone. What he loved most of all was that it was able to express emotions so well. Being able to just play around with the slide and write down the music was probably his favorite part. Then, he loved the fact that it could just go incredibly low if it needed be or incredibly high, which is the reason he usually read out of baritone/euphonium books because of range issues.

Wizards were mostly not in tune with such instruments so he did, contrary to popular belief, read many Muggle books and go to many Muggle concerts. His father, surprisingly, had no problem with this. Even if his father was quite ignorant he had told his only son that "the informed person will best rule the world if they know how to conquer".

'I think my father had some control issues.' Draco mused sarcastically as he began to read the book about famous jazz bands.

With a few chapters of the familiar book read, Draco stood up and walked into the bathroom. He heard a little screech as Granger galloped to get a towel. She had a nice body that one. She wasn't beautiful in the slut kind of way like Lavender Brown, but she was beautiful in the innocent type of way. He only got a small view of her stomach, but he could tell she had a nice body.

"Sorry about that, Hermione." He held back the smirk that was threatening to come to his lips.

"It's ok." She squeaked whilst she ran out of the bathroom. Draco let the smirk escape his lips as he stepped out of the boxers he had on before Hermione even closed the door.

With a smirk still fresh on his face, he stepped into the shower.

He wasn't always like this. There was once a time when Draco did care about people besides his close friends. He didn't know when the hinges of fate decided to make his parents cruel because he did remember his mother singing to him as a child and his father taking him on broom rides. Maybe it all started with his father joining the Deatheaters.

Draco didn't care for Voldemort as much as he did when he was younger and more naïve. At just fifteen his father wanted him to join his ranks, but when his father was sent to Azkaban, Draco started thinking about it more. Tom Marvolo Riddle was a halfbreed himself. It reminded him a little of Muggle Hitler who wanted to kill Jews when he was part Jewish himself.

Draco was made to believe, by his father, that Voldemort could be victorious over everyone, but then why did Potter continuously escape him and his 'wrath'?

Draco then decided to be neutral until it came closer to the final battle. He would then, wait until the final showdown to examine which side was probable to win and fight with them. Draco was on the winning side, and that was it.

They were to have a Christmas ball for all the seventh years, and who was to plan it? The head boy and girl of course. So, Draco found the perfect opportunity so spend time with the object of his life lately. The bet as they referred to her now as if she was an object. That was what Draco was now doing: sitting in the common room, starting to plan the Christmas ball.

"So how should we do this? We could have a theme…" He shot her a look, "besides Christmas." She quickly added.

"We should have it masked." He suggested as Hermione beamed at the idea.

"We should have everyone be secretive until midnight." She added one.

"We should have it during New Years so everyone could kiss someone at midnight." He suggested. That would be one step closer for him. The bet so far was going nowhere. She was just confused and cranky because she wasn't sure what either wanted.

Blaise had gone with her to a few outings including a Hogsmeade trip or two while Draco just lightly flirted with her and snogged her a few times just to have her run into her room and later apologize.

He would be the first person to know about the ball and when and how it was held once they got their ideas approved by Dumbledore. He would ask her first. Then, he would kiss her. Then, he would go into the common room and shag her. Then, he could dump and humiliate her in front of the whole great hall when he said how lousy she shagged. Then, probably boast about how he had taken the Mudblood's virginity. Then, he could get back his life and start to date that new Ravenclaw girl. Was that what he really wanted? Maybe… 'Of course I want it.' He thought to himself as he paid attention to what she was saying.

"I don't know if Dumbledore would allow that." She said uncertainly, feeling a little squeamish so close to him when he suggested kissing.

"Oh come off it, Hermione, we're seventeen years old. He couldn't prevent 'young love from blossoming' if he tried. We could have Sum 41 to perform."

"Sum 41? You want to bet that half of the school doesn't know who Sum 41 is? They--"

"would be cheap to get because of exactly that reason. Not as cheap as some unknown band, but as cheap as the Weird Sisters." He finished for her as she looked doubtful of the idea.

"We might want to have a backup plan in case that doesn't work. How about we have two or three choices and have the students pick that way they aren't unhappy, and if they choose the band that can't do it, we just lie." She said with a shrug.

He got out his self writing quill and a piece of parchment. He heard her grumble loudly as it started writing down thoughts, "Something wrong?"

"No. It just reminds of me Rita Skeeter. Wretched woman." She said more to herself than him as she quickly shrugged it off, "Sum 41. Umm… How about Linkin Park?"

"They are going to want slow songs, Hermione."

"And Sum 41 has slow songs?"

"Point taken. Linkin Park. Eve 6 has slow songs."

"And people know Eve 6?"

"People know Sum 41?"

"Point taken." She mumbled. Eve 6 was a good choice for it.

"Eminem."

"He's a Muggle artist." Hermione said as he thought about it.

"He is, and all it would take would be a charm and then a memory charm, and Eminem is a popular choice."

"In that case: 50cent, Nelly, and P Diddy."

"Let us begin to narrow it down then." Draco said as he commanded him quill to begin crossing out things they said.

"No Linkin Park."

"Aww heck, let's just have Blink 182 with I dunno, Eminem."

Draco sighed as they finished all the planning a week later. He still hadn't asked her to the ball and people would be finding out about it that night. That night was two days before Christmas. He would have to do it and do it fast. Chances are though that if he didn't think of the right setting and way to ask her, she would refuse to.

He could take her on an outing to Hogsmeade. The only problem with that would be what was the excuse he would use with Dumbledore. He sighed loudly as he took out a whistle to call his owl. He had gotten a new catalog. He could fast order her a present, but then she would think it was bribery.

He could write her a poem or some gibberish like that. Yes, Gryffindors liked gibberish.

Draco summoned his quill with a loud sigh as his owl came and sat on his arm, "Sorry midnight. I don't have… Wait." He scribbled a note to Blaise telling him he had his next move and asked what Blaise's would be. He sent his owl off as he set about trying to write some kind of poetry.

Gryffindors liked feelings and that crap. What would Hermione-- the Mudblood like to hear? That someone cared about her. She was worthless, wasn't she? He shook thoughts of that out of his head as he thought of old novels his mother made him read with tales of romance.

Poetry?

Draco stood up and made his way quickly to Snape's office. He made his way inside without knocking. Snape wasn't there. Good. He wouldn't have to deal with his reasoning. He took some of the floo powder off of the mantel and threw it in the fire. He looked at the door creaking open.

He stopped in his tracks to look behind him. No one. Draco took out his wand and did a quick revealing spell. The dungeons were drafty. He didn't have time to dwell on it. He stepped into the fire and with a firm clear voice spoke his destination.

He took his wand back out and did a quick cleaning spell on the dusty marble floors. With a few long strides he found his way to the staircase. He jogged up it and went for about five minutes before hitting the door he was looking for. He pushed it open before walking inside the library.

It wasn't the Hogwarts library but it was definitely close. It was quite big for a personal library. Malfoy skimmed the titles before finding one that looked familiar. He grabbed the book and went back to his fireplace. He threw in some floo powder.

He wouldn't have to use Snape's fireplace to arrive back at Hogwarts as his father had put a special charm on that fireplace before he got arrested.

"Heads' dormitory." Draco said clearly as he stepped inside.

Good. She wasn't there so she couldn't lecture him. He flipped through the pages idly still standing by the fireplace. He found a random poem with the words love, lust, and affection in it. He didn't bother to read through it. As long as it had some of the emotion crap in there and Granger didn't know about it, he would be good off.

He walked to his room and slipped inside. Walking to the desk, he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. He sat down and opened the bottle of ink. He dipped his quill in the ink and started to copy down the poem onto the piece of parchment. As soon as he was done he scribbled an invitation to New Years Ball along with his signature.

He took out a sealer and walked outside of the common room to his fireplace. He spread wax over the sealer until it warmed up enough and turned into liquid. He was careful not to spill any of the red wax as he walked over to embroidered envelope he had put the letter in and pressed the seal firmly onto the envelope. He stared as the Malfoy family crest hardened.

Draco sighed as he whistled for his owl to fly over. The finest, most well trained owl in all of England, his father had said when he presented his son with the pure black owl who simply seemed too good to hoot.

The owl nodded as it read the name on the envelope. Draco left the owl on his arm as he attached a pure red rose to its leg. "Deliver it in precisely ten minutes." He ordered as the owl flew outside the opened balcony.

Draco walked down to the great hall as he reminisced about a recent conversation he had had with the Mudblood…

"So the plans are all down for the ball. It's lucky so many people decided to stay even before they knew about the ball." He said not even thinking about why they would be there.

"I'm surprised at you, Malfoy. With Voldemort out on the loose-" She stopped when he flinched at the name, "Afraid of a name are you, Malfoy? A seventeen year old Deatheater."

"Do not talk about things you do not know about, Mudblood!" Draco raged as he got a look of pure steal in his eyes. "I was being respectful to a Mudblood! That's more than a piece of filth like you deserved! What do I get in return? ACCUSATIONS OF BEING IN RANKS WITH PEOPLE WHO GOT MY FATHER INTO AZKABAN?!?" Filthy little Mudblood, he added to himself as he glared at her.

"Oh, so you didn't threaten me just two years ago? You haven't made my life hell for the past seven years? Suddenly you stop because of Merlin knows what reason? I'm glad I haven't been telling you anything about Harry because for all I know you could be spying for Voldemort!" That stabbed him right in the heart and he backed away from that impact.

It was true. If he put himself into someone else's shoes he would suspect the same thing. He whined to his father about everything from failing a potions exam in his first year to the Hippogriff attack in his third year. Did he ever have a decent conversation with his father outside of complaints or gossip? He shook his head. Of course he had. Several times. That wasn't the problem. Who did he hang out with? Deatheaters and their children. He was in the ranks with Deatheaters. He had KILLED someone. He hadn't had the dark mark, but he might as well have. He tortured Muggles, he used the unforgivables, he killed someone, he killed more than one person. HE WAS A MURDERER!

"I-I- Ugh-" He stumbled through. He didn't know what to say. For the first time, Draco Malfoy was speechless.

"How about you stutter some more Malfoy?" She asked harshly as she crossed her arms.

For the first time, he looked at himself. He was what she had thought of him. He was a foul, foul man. He buried all thoughts of himself in the back of his mind. He was what his father taught him to be. He shouldn't have to live with Mudbloods, and even though Voldemort was not someone he was going to worship (he was a hypocrite), he would do as he was taught by his father.

That was weeks ago; Hermione and Draco had vowed to forget the incident and go on with their friendship without a word about what happened to anyone.

He reached the great hall and opened the doors to see the girls of the Gryffindor table swarming around his letter.

Draco walked solemnly to the Slytherin table and took a seat next to Blaise and across from Crabbe and Goyle.

"Am I safe to assume that is your Persian owl, Midnight?" Blaise asked as he smirked at Draco. He had something up his sleeve and Draco more than noticed, "Very good Draco, nice to know your mind isn't down the gutter. Completely anyway." Blaise muttered as if reading Draco's mind.

"If I knew that you didn't know Occlumency, I would swear to it." Draco sighed as he felt a pair of hot gazes thrown his way. Potter and Weasley.

"The males of the Golden Trio seem to be staring this way. Any reason Draco?" Blaise asked sarcastically as Draco growled. He pushed his food out of the way. He wasn't hungry anymore.

"What brings you this way, gentlemen, to our humble Slytherin table?" Draco asked with a smirk as he twisted around to see Harry and Ron standing right behind them.

"Stay away from her, Malfoy." Ron threatened simply.

"From who? Draco and I would love some clarification on that." Blaise said as he moved around to face Harry and Ron.

"Stay out of this, Zabini."

"Malfoy we do not want you sending invites or gibberish poems to Hermione. Aside from your combinations duties of Head Boy and Girl we want you to stay away from her." Harry said, for the first time this year, losing his cool.

"We know you're up to something, and we will find out."

"Smart ones aren't you?" Malfoy said sarcastically as he fingered his wand under his robes.

"Of course they are, my friend. They can walk and talk!" Blaise added as they all fingered their wands.

"You want to prove something? A dual perhaps?" Harry suggested as some students starting eying them outside the corner of their eyes.

"Outside. The professors are watching." Ron murmured under his breath as the four of them saw McGonagall and several other professors watching the exchange with strict un-approving eyes.

"Alright then." Blaise said as he grabbed his cloak from beside him and stood up to walk out of the hall. Draco followed suit quickly as Potter and Weasley walked to the Gryffindor table to take their cloaks.

"How is it that every time I try to get an intellectual conversation into my busy schedule two morons seem to have to ruin it?" Draco asked as he started to circle around Harry.

"How is it that every time I have a moment of peace from Voldemort a Deatheater has to ruin it?" Harry countered as he kept a close eye on Draco.

"You're the one always looking for problems, Potter?"

"Oh I do, do I? Expelliarmus!" Harry screeched as Draco dodged it easily.

"You know Potter, with your sloppy aim I could kill you right now." Draco said as he threw a random curse at Harry who just barely got away from it.

Harry looked over to see Ron and Blaise throwing curses at each other, "It wouldn't have been the first time, would it Malfoy? The mass murderer just like your father rotting away in Azkaban," Draco spun around quickly as Harry struck a sensitive spot, "You're just like him you know. Using people. I know that. Teasing people because you're scared of change. Pureblooded wizards who think they're better than everyone else are dying out, Malfoy. Whatever you're using Hermione for, back off. Because she will end up where she belongs, in my arms." Harry said surely as Draco stopped in his tracks.

"Conjuctiva!" Draco said quickly as Harry's vision became blurred even with his glasses on. Harry pointed the wand and started to say a counter curse when Draco pointed his wand at Harry chest and said very clearly, with thoughts of powerful hate toward the wizard before him, "Crucio!"

Harry withered in pain trying to break free from the curse. He saw Blaise back off from Ron as the two of them ran toward Draco and Harry.

"Draco what is your issue? Are you mental mate? Take it off him now." Blaise requested as Draco registered what Potter had said.

"No."

"Harry. Harry mate?" Ron tried shaking Harry, but he kept withering in pain.

Blaise backed away and rammed into Draco breaking concentration from Potter. Harry lay on the ground motionlessly as Ron scanned his mind for spells that could help reawaken his friend.

"Draco do you want to get expelled because if Dumbledore hears you harmed his Golden Boy he will not only kick you out of school but make sure no one will ever want anything to do with you."

"I don't care. Get off me Blaise or I will curse you along with Potter." Malfoy said as he lay on the ground perfectly still.

"Say you aren't going to use Crucio or Avada Kedavra on Potter tonight." Blaise said as he looked over to see Weasley finally had the right spell and Potter was slowly awakening.

"I can't. Get off me now Blaise." Draco said in a low and dangerous voice that meant he was nothing but dead serious.

"Your threats mean nothing to me, Draco. I know your moves and I know your choice curses so do not even try to threaten me." Blaise said as his eyes narrowed. He got off of Draco.

Helping Draco to his feet, they looked at Potter and Weasley. Potter was still slowly reviving from the curse, "Cry about this to anyone Potter, and I will make sure you have something to cry about. Be lucky Draco didn't kill you tonight." Blaise said as he kept an arm on his enraged friend.

"Is that a threat, Blaise?"

"Of course it isn't, Harry, Ron." Blaise said following suit as Draco had his hand grasped on his wand, "It's a warning."

A/N: Review please. I'm going to start EMAIL updates so if you would like it just leave your email. I loved the ending: It's a warning.