He stared down as Hermione's eyes opened to meet his.

At her first glance at Draco, Hermione seemed surprised. She didn't expect to see him first thing after she awoke. Sure, she expected to see someone watching over her, but definitely not him. She had imagined someone by the name of Harry Potter to be there. The matter aroused her suspicion, and she stared at Draco with a distrusting expression. "What are you doing here, Malfoy?" she asked. She noticed that he was holding her by the back of her neck, and she suppressed a blush with a little difficulty.

Draco looked really annoyed. "And to think I wasted my time trying to wake you up," he said distastefully. Roughly pulling his hand from under her, he showed her the vial, almost hitting her nose with it. "Here. Take your stupid medicine. Pomfrey said to tell you to drink all of that stuff." He held the vial to her hand and she took it slowly, as if she didn't know whether to trust his words or not.

I mean, he is Malfoy, a totally untrustworthy git. I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually some poison that he made so that I would die faster.

"I didn't know you were a heavy sleeper," he added. "I was about ready to give up trying to wake you and just leave you to die and rot here."

Hermione scowled at him. "For your information, it was a sleeping draught," she replied smugly. "But, then, you wouldn't know the difference between one who's naturally asleep and one who took the sleeping potion, would you?"

"Oh, of course," he replied. "Because they would both be sleeping, would they? Maybe you'd like to tell me how to distinguish a sleeping person from a sleeping person." He shook his head disgustedly. "Why am even having this nonsensical conversation with you? I've already wasted enough of my time here in this pathetic excuse for an infirmary." Turning around, he made for the door. "I won't be responsible if you don't drink that whole thing, by the way." Without waiting to see if she would down the whole vial, he stepped out of the door and began walking to the Charms classroom.

"Mister Malfoy," Professor Flitwick said as soon as he had entered the room. "If I remember it correctly, the bathroom is not that far away. I suppose you have an excuse for staying away longer than expected?" he was in the middle of an explanation about the charms they learned the previous year.

Draco wanted to glare at is tiny Professor, but he found himself saying, "Professor Snape sent me on an errand. If you have any problems, talk it out with him." Okay, so it was just as bad as saying, "I don't care, so shut up," but he didn't know how to undo what he had said. Walking over to his table, he sat lazily on his chair and prepared himself for the sermon that was to come.

Draco wove his way around the many shelves in the library, trying to find a certain book on Arithmancy. He had two homeworks to submit the next day; one is on Arithmancy and one on History of Magic. So far, he had found two books with sufficient information for his History homework. The information he needed on Arithmancy, however, was pretty much more difficult to look up.

He ran a hand through his hair in irritation. "Where the hell am I supposed to find it?" he muttered angrily. He had been looking for anything with the wizard mathematician Krebain Sarcocuss in it for a good fifteen minutes. He was tired, annoyed and sweaty, and still he found nothing that had what he needed. He sighed irritably and was about to move away when his eyes caught a small book in the lowest shelf. It was about a centimeter thick, and the fading title on the spine was almost indistinguishable, but a few moments of focusing and he saw that "Sarcocuss" was what was written on it. Kneeling down, he picked the book, noticing that it was thickly layered with dust.

He blew off the dust and, flipping the pages, found that everything he needed was there. Closing it shut again, he stood up from his kneeling position and walked back to his table. He carefully stacked it on top of the other two books and went to Madame Pince to have them checked out. That done, he made his way up to his common room and to work on both homeworks.

Quite some time had passed, maybe an hour and a half or so, when the common room door opened. By that time, he was more than halfway done with his History homework, which was to research on the Ancient Alisteria tribe and answer a few questions about their way of life and such. Of course, he did not bother looking up to see the newcomer, since he knew very well that it was only "the Mudblood."

Hermione watched Draco from the doorway. She had already recovered, all of the poison gone from her system, and she had just arrived from dinner. She was delayed a bit, though, because Parvati and Lavender had cornered her on the way to her room.

"We want to see your room!" Parvati had said excitedly. "Padma says the common room, which is basically for only the Head Boy and Girl, is more or less as large as the Gryffindor one."

"And we decided that tonight is a good time for our bonding thing!" Lavender had added in the same tone. "We don't have any homework due tomorrow—well, actually we do. Professor Binns gave us a History homework for submission tomorrow, but it's really easy and we've already discussed it in class. If Parvati and I found it easy, you surely would too. But then we forgot what the homework was…"

"Anyway, we'll be outside your door in half an hour!" Parvati cut in. "In the meantime, you can ask people what the homework was. If you don't, we'll bring the homework with us just in case!"

Hermione had been too tired to even say that, even if she did find someone to tell her the homework, she wouldn't be able to accomplish much in hat short time, so she reluctantly agreed. Nodding at them, she had dragged her feet up to the Head rooms, forgetting that she was supposed to ask around for the homework. The first thing she saw when she opened the door had been Draco, sitting on the floor and hunched over the table. He had two large books opened before him, and he looked busy enough to not be troubled or surprised by her entrance.

She had never thought of Draco as hardworking. She had always thought that he got the grades he did only because of the Malfoy name, but the scene before her made her think the opposite. By looking at him, she learned that he studied l hard and really seriously, just like she did. His eyebrows were even knit together in concentration, and she could hear his quill furiously scratching against the parchment. Against her better judgement, she thought he looked rather attractive when he was doing schoolwork seriously.

It took a moment for her to realize what books he was holding. As he raised one book a little to the light of the fire, she saw the title printed on the spine. Know Your MagicTribes. The other book with him she recognized as History of the Magic Kingdom: Early People Who Were Far More Intelligent Than the Muggle Cavemen, which she had used as reference more than a couple of times. She was reminded that she didn't know what the History homework was, and she made up her mind to ask him about it. But, as she neared the place where he sat, pride took over. Why should I ask Malfoy? she thought. He's an insufferable git! I just have to wait for Parvati and Lavender to tell me what it is. Stiffening her resolve, she turned away from him and made for her door.

She quietly closed the door and placed her robe on the chair near it. She went to her bed and placed her bag on it, opening it to reveal the contents. Reaching inside, she took out the small muggle notepad where she wrote down reminders of the things she had to do. She had enchanted it so that the things she had not yet done but had to submit for the next day would glow red. Browsing through the pages, she found that everything was glowing blue, meaning she had already worked on them, except for one which glowed white, meaning she had done it and she needed to pass it the next day. This was her Arithmancy homework. She reached for her quill and wrote "History homework, due September 7' in her neat handwriting. As soon as her quill left the parchment, the words she had written down glowed red.

"Now, all I have to do is find out what the homework is about," she said loudly, looking as if she was speaking to her pad. Sighing, she put her notebook down and headed for her study table to take out what she had to ready in her bag for the next day. She took the Arithmancy homework from the small stack of parchments and brought it to the bed to proofread it.

"Krebain Sarcocuss, an American magician, came up with his own numerical system in the early 1300's, called the Bain numbers…" she read. After some time of reading her eight-foot long report and, seemingly content with everything she had written, placed it in her bag.

She lay down on the bed and stretched, staring up at the ceiling. She wanted to know what the History homework was. She cannot wait for Parvati and Lavender to come, but she didn't want to ask Draco about it, either. "History grades," she muttered, raising one hand up. "Gryffindor pride," she said next, raising her other hand and slightly lowering the other. She weighed both with her hands, consequently raising and lowering one hand after the other and muttering "History homework, Gryffindor pride, History homework Gryffindor pride, History homework…" She sighed. "History homework wins this round."

She sat up straight in bed. "'Malfoy, what's the History homework?'" she asked the imaginary person sitting before her. "No, that makes it sound like we've been good friends since forever. 'Excuse me, would you mind if I asked what our History homework is?' but that sounds like I don't even know him the slightest bit! He'd definitely refuse to answer. 'Can we set aside our differences for a moment so that you could tell me what the History homework is?' Ugh! I sound like such a user!" She threw up her hands in frustration. "Aargh! Fine! I'll just ask him straight off while sounding nice at the same time."

Standing up, she tiptoed quietly to the door and cracked it open a bit. He was still in the common room, sitting on the floor indian-style. He had removed his robes and laid them on the couch, several chocolate wrappers thrown atop them. Malfoy eats chocolate! How cute! she thought to herself. Of course, it's the thought that Malfoy eats chocolate that's cute, not Malfoy himself, she hastily reminded herself. Breathing deeply, she took her quill and some pieces of parchment, and strode out of the open door.

Draco had heard the door open, and had guessed that she was probably looking at him, though he didn't show that he knew. He also knew when she stepped behind him. Her vanilla scented perfume was easily discerned from the antique odor of wood in the room. "What do you want?" he asked loudly, making Hermione jump in surprise.

"Um…" she muttered, repressing the urge to giggle nervously. "You see—uh—I missed History of Arithmancy—I mean, Magic this afternoon and I—" Great, Hermione! Just great! What happened to your confidence? And what happened to telling him straight off? she thought as she heard herself mutter more incoherent words. "Well, you know that I was bitten by a poisonous spider—during Transfiguration, I mean. So I was at the hospital wing the whole—"

"Get to the point already!" Draco said irritably, not once taking his eyes off his paper. He would have laughed at Hermione for stuttering in front—well, behind him, but he was too busy trying to finish his work that all else not having to do with it is an annoyance. Right now, she was a total annoyance. He would just have to laugh at it some other day.

Hermione mentally cursed herself as she began to twirl the quill in her fingers. "Right. Well, I need to know what our History homework is…" She dared to step closer to him until she was standing directly to his left. "Please, I really need it."

Draco put his quill down and leaned back on his hands, staring smugly up at her. "So, Granger finally seeks the aid of a Malfoy. I bet that cost you a lot of your valuable Gryffindor pride and dignity. Tell me, why should I tell you the homework? You're a Mudblood, after all." He reached for the stack of chocolate bars on the table and took one, taking his sweet time in opening it in front of Hermione. He bit into it and smirked coolly at her.

Hermione glared at him. Here she was, asking politely for the homework, and then he rambles on about her being a Gryffindor and a Mudblood, two things which she wished she weren't so at the moment, just for the sake of homework submission. "Fine then, Malfoy. You're right. Why should I ask for help from a jerk like you? I can try not submitting any homework for a change." She had already turned around when she heard his voice call out to her.

"Alright," he said in defeat. I'm becoming too soft, he sad to himself. I wish I could turn back to the brat I was… "I'll tell you what the homework is. Just don't ever mention this to anybody. I'm going to have to die before I let anyone know that I voluntarily helped a Mudblood."

Hermione wanted to smack him in the face. Even though he had agreed to help, that fact did not lessen the sting in his words. But she restrained herself from using violence since he would surely refuse to help her if she did. After all, her grades were at stake. She turned back around to face him and saw that he was clearing the space on the other side of the table. Taking one large deep breath to calm herself, she moved to side opposite him and sat down on the floor. She laid her papers before her and watched as Draco took out a small piece of paper from his bag.

"Here," he said, placing the paper beside her quill. "Copy down the questions. And don't touch it!" he added as she moved to grasp it. "I might need to look at it later and I don't want your germs on it." He returned back to doing his work without any further glance at her.

Hermione shut her eyes for a moment. It was all she could do to stop herself from throttling him. Opening her eyes, she began to copy the questions onto her own paper. She smiled to see that most of the questions they had to answer have already been discussed in class, just like Parvati and Lavender said, and she had already read on the remaining others. Still smiling, she answered the questions correctly without the use of any reference book.

Draco watched her from time to time. He was pissed off to know that she didn't have to use any book while he had to thumb through two big books just to find one name. "Very confident, are you?" he asked after some time. "The great Granger does not even require the use of library books for one particularly difficult History homework."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "The answers to four of these questions were already discussed in class," she said haughtily. "But you wouldn't know that, would you? You probably spent more than half your time plotting on how to get my friends and I in detention. Not that any of those plans worked, anyway."

He glared at her words. "That's four questions. How about the other three? I bet you're just making up answers because you can't stand to yet again ask help from me." He smirked at her triumphantly. Surely she was doing just that. "Unless, of course, you were stealing glances at my paper to get the answers."

She threw a disgusted look at him. Oh, how he angered her! Hermione Granger would never cheat, and she was Hermione Granger. "FYI, I don't need to copy answers from you. If you must know, I know the answers to the rest of the questions because I've already read up on them. Unlike you, I research on our lessons after school to expand my knowledge."

"No wonder you have a head that size!" Draco said in mock surprise. "I suppose all that knowledge went to your hair and made it all frizzy and bushy." He smirked again and took another bite of his chocolate.

"Whatever. As for that asking help from you, I can do it one more time, and I will. I need that big black book you're not yet using." Without any further word, she snatched the book from his side of the table and began turning the pages.

Draco reached across the table and snatched the book from her hands. "Did you know it's rude to take other people's property without asking for permission?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Malfoy that's a library book. Technically, it's public property. Everyone in Hogwarts is allowed to use it."

"But I was the one who borrowed it from that fat librarian," he pointed out. "Making me the temporary bearer and owner of the book. If you really want to use it, you have to borrow it nicely from me. Maybe if you asked nicely, I'd lend it to you for a second." To annoy her even more, he waved the book in front of her nose. He could almost imagine her popping a vein in anger.

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself. She wanted to hex Draco so much, but she knew it would ruin her reputation as the Head Girl. Of course, it could also get her into trouble with Headmaster Dumbledore. Or worse, Professor McGonagall. She didn't want all that. She held out her hand, vowing to kill Draco Malfoy one of these days. "Malfoy, may I please borrow the book?"

Draco stared at her in surprise. He didn't think she was actually really going to ask for it politely. Well, she is a Gryffindor, after all, said a part of his brain. Gryffindors are always like that, are they not? Finally, he handed her the book. "You asked help from a Slytherin twice in twenty minutes. This is going to ruin you!" he said gleefully.

"I'll tell them it's for a homework, which is the truth," Hermione said as she began to scan a page of the book with her eyes. "They know how I get when I study. Everyone knows how dedicated I am to studying. They'd understand."

"Ah, but they'll believe my story, which basically says you knelt in front of me and begged for help, admitting that, in truth, you adore me and that you're nothing but a wannabe Mudblood and that I am always right."

"Correction," she said, copying down the Alisteria written language from the book. "Your Slytherin companions would believe your ridiculous story. The rest of the school population would know that what you say is pure bullshit and that I asked nicely for the book despite the fact that I utterly despise you. All the teachers would be glad that I was willing to set aside your being Slytherin for the sake of education, which, if I may remind you, is very much important these days."

Draco was about ready to retort, but Hermione began to giggle, and he had to stop. "What's so funny?" he asked abruptly, thinking that she was laughing at something that had to do with Slytherins.

"Nothing. This sign here just looks a lot like a person sticking her butt out," she replied, pointing to one of the signs in the book.

Draco peered at the book and grinned. "True, true. It reminds me awfully of Pansy."

Hermione stared at him with a puzzled expression. "Parkinson? How come?"

He stood up as he answered her. "Have you seen the way she walks? She walks just like that, with her butt sticking out like she had two loaves of bread in her underwear."

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing as Draco began to tell her more about how Pansy walked in the Slytherin common room. "That's just sick, Malfoy!" she said, her voice somewhat muffled by her hand. "I don't think Parkinson walks in a way as sick as that which you are telling me. Can't you hold back a bit on the disgusting parts?"

Draco smirked too and shook his head. "I can't. Pansy does it in an extremely weird and extraordinary way. I don't know any other way to say it. But, really, she does stick her but out so bad that you'd think she had a butt problem."

Hermione practically laughed herself to death. "Speaking of butts, do you know that it's scientific name is Glutaeous Maximus?"

This time, Draco laughed along with her. "Glutaeous Maximus? What kind of scientific name is that? But then it makes it even funnier: Pansy has a problem with her Glutaeous Maximus!"

Hermione shook her head. "Oh my god, Malfoy! Stop it!" After several deep breaths, she got herself to stop laughing. Shortly after, Draco's laughs also subsided. "Now, stop it, Malfoy. I have to study and finish this homework," she said sternly, though there was a faint trace of a smile on her lips.

Draco continued to grin and pointed to another one of the figures in the book. "Look at this one. Doesn't it remind you of Weasley?"

Hermione turned her eyes to what he was pointing at. "Ron? But that's a fireball."

"Exactly. With his red hair, he looks like his head is always on fire!" He waved his hands around to emphasize someone burning. "And we also have to take into account his annoying explosive temper."

"That's a mean thing to say about Ron!" she said indignantly. In truth, she wholly agreed with Draco, but Ron was still her best friend and she would always stick up for him. Of course, she also started to titter after some time.

"Stop defending your boyfriend, Granger," Draco said. "You have to admit, with Weasley's temper, I wouldn't be surprised if his hair really burns. But then, we wouldn't be able to tell, would we? It would be very easy to mistake the fire for his real hair!" He and Hermione began to laugh. "Besides, you had a good laugh too when that fake Moody turned me into a ferret. I have the right to laugh over your friends, too."

At Draco's words, Hermione began to laugh harder than she ever did in front of him. "Oh yeah! That scene was totally noteworthy and unforgettable! But I'm impressed. I can't believe you can stand to laugh about such a humiliating memory!" She leaned her forehead on the table for support as she laughed her heart out.

Surprisingly, Draco did not get mad at her words and actions. In fact, he howled with laughter and fell to the floor as he did so. "I can't believe it either!" he said between laughs. "I used to get really pissed whenever someone mentioned that thing. Now look, I was even the one who reminded you of it! I guess we really just learn to overcome certain things after some time."

As he said these words, a knock came from the door.

"Mademoiselle Granger," Freddie the statue called. "There are two girls here who claim to have an appointment with you tonight. Shall I admit them?"

Hermione, along with Draco, slowly ceased their laughter. "Yes, please," Hermione replied when she and Draco had composed themselves. She met Draco's eyes with her own, and saw that it had a twinkle to it, something that was definitely not there before. Unable to look away, she gave him a smile.

The visitors were, of course, Parvati and Lavender. They had been surprised to learn that the statue could talk, and more surprised to be reprimanded by it. Apparently, they had poked and turned its nose to see if it was the doorknob to the common room. Of course, this made Freddie grumpy and refused to let them enter even though they had insisted that Hermione was expecting them. At last, at Hermione's confirmation, they were allowed to enter the room, and this they did warily for they were half–expecting some other unexpected object to converse with them if touched. There were no other talking inanimate objects, but there was a very unexpected sight that met their eyes. Draco and Hermione were sitting together, staring at each other and faint smiles on each of their faces. Unsure of how to interrupt the two, Parvati lightly rapped the wall with her knuckles.

Hermione nearly jumped off her seat. She turned her eyes to the source of the sound just as Draco did the same, and they found Parvati and Lavender standing side by side. "Oh, hi Parvati, Lavender," Hermione said, gathering her parchments and quill, which were scattered all over the place. "I'll be right with you." As soon as she had all her stuff in her arms, she stood up and led the two girls into her room. Before she closed her door, she took one last look at Draco. He was back to doing his homework, looking just like he did before she came; serious and sober, as if nothing had happened.

Parvati jumped onto Hermione's bed in delight. "This is way better than the beds we have back at the dorm!" she squealed. "How come your bed is softer, eh? I smell a thick smoke of favoritism here… Lavender, try this one!"

Lavender did as she was told, flopping down on the bed just like Parvati did. "You're right!" she said as she lay down on her stomach. "This bed is softer and far more silky than the ones we use!"

Sighing, Hermione walked to her table to drop off her stuff then went to her bed to take her bag before either one of her giggling company squished it. "Go ahead, make yourselves at home," she said as she sat down beside her friends. "You certainly are enjoying yourselves here. Here in this lonely place with only Malfoy as the other occupant."

Parvati and Lavender exchanged sly looks. "You don't seem to mind being alone with Malfoy, though. Indeed, you look like you've been enjoying yourself, too, Hermy," she said playfully, twirling a strand of Hermione's hair with her fingers.

Hermione blushed, her eyes darting from one girl to another. "W-what on earth do you mean by that?" she said nervously, inwardly cursing herself for stuttering.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," Lavender teased, poking Hermione's reddened cheek with her pointing finger. "You know what we mean. We saw you and Draco, you know. That smile that you shared means something, obviously."

"I-I was thanking him for helping me with the History of magic homework!" the Head Girl replied hotly. "It meant nothing else!" To avoid the looks that the two were throwing her, she pretended to look for something in her bedside table.

"I must say," Parvati told Lavender. "I've never ever seen Draco Malfoy smile before. You've got to admit, it was refreshing to see something other than a smirk or a scowl or a glare on his handsome face. You must be the first person he ever smiled at, Hermione. Consider yourself lucky!"

"Exactly!" Lavender added. "Many girls would kill to be you right now! Imagine… alone in a room with Draco… and then he smiles at you. You smile back, of course, and lean closer… and closer… and closer… until your lips touch…"

Parvati and Lavender squealed together, clutching each other's hands in excitement.

"And then," Parvati said, continuing what Lavender had started. "He holds you by the shoulders and gently lays you on the floor, which is a pretty comfortable thing to do too since you were sitting on the floor and all. Anyway, so he lays you down, still kissing you from above. You hug him… and still continue to kiss him until you both run out of breath. Before you realize it, both of you are already naked on the floor and—"

Hermione shrieked loudly. "Ewww! No such thing will ever happen between me and him!" She could feel her cheeks heating up and knew that she must be blushing real hard. She ignored Parvati's comment of "You never know," and proceeded to fan herself as if it was very hot. "Since when did you find Malfoy handsome, anyway?" She wasn't really interested, but she didn't want to be the topic of their conversation.

Lavender looked at her as if she was growing arms on her head. "Hello! Since, like, forever, Hermione! You wouldn't notice his looks, though since all you care about are your books and lessons. I doubt that you even notice that both your best friends, Ron and Harry, are two of the most sought-after guys here in Hogwarts!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Lavender. "Was that an insult? And you are so wrong. Of course I notice that Harry and Ron were getting more and more handsome. What makes you think I don't?" Of course, I do, she thought to herself. They are my best friends, after all, and I'm damn proud to have two handsome guys for my best friends… especially Harry. Oh, the ever so gorgeous Harry…

"Whatever, Hermione," Parvati told her. "Anyway, back to Draco. Surely you are also attracted to him in some way? You share a common room. Tell us what he's like when in private. Of course, I meant when he's not in front of all the other Hogwarts students. What does he usually do? Any habits you witnessed?"

Hermione couldn't help but look at her friends as if they had escaped from St. Mungo's mental institute. "You really wanna know, do you?" she asked. Seeing their eager faces, she sighed. "Alright. Well, this is pretty silly since it is after all only our second night here, so I haven't seen much. Umm… he tends to sleep through the meetings we have. He… well, I don't know if this would ever interest you… he walks out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. He studies really—"

"Stop! Rewind!" Lavender interrupted, voicing what Parvati wanted to say but was in too much shock to speak. "He walks out of the bathroom half-naked?" she asked.

"I know!" Hermione continued. "He could have worn a robe but—"

"You are so damn lucky!"

Hermione stared at Lavender in shock. Did she just hear Lavender say she was lucky? "Wait a minute. What do you mean by that? You think seeing Malfoy with only a towel on is lucky?"

Parvati tutted. "Hermione, our school robes don't exactly show off our guy schoolmates' chests, don't they? We never see the boys barechested, but you did. What's more, it was Draco whom you saw. Draco, the hottest guy to ever cross the planet!" At this, she and Lavender squealed again.

Hermione gaped at the two giggling maniacs before her. This is too much, she thought to herself. I cannot believe they are giggling over that git!

Although, said another part of her brain. You have to admit. Malfoy's uncovered muscled chest is really a sight to behold. There's really no reason to be surprised at their reactions. You also thought he was pretty hot this morning.

A loud knock interrupted her thoughts and the silly laughter of her friends. Standing up, she made her way to the door. It was Malfoy, no doubt. Who else could it be? She told herself to stop blushing as she opened the door.

There he was, standing outside the door with a serious expression on his pale not-so-pointy-anymore face. Thankfully, he was fully clothed. It would have been better if he was wearing his robes as well, of course, she thought. Knowing that he was well covered didn't stop her from blushing, though. She only hoped it was dark enough for her red cheeks to go unnoticed.

"Will you keep it down," Draco told her miffed, shaking her out of her less-than-wholesome thoughts about the blonde. "I am trying to do my Arithmancy homework here." He looked closer at Hermione and he could swear her cheeks were a few shades too red. Behind her, the two Gryffindor girls were stifling their giggles with their hands. "Is it just the Slytherin in me or is there something seriously wrong about you Gryffindors? Seriously, as in all of you get into my nerves all the time."

"It's the curse, Malfoy," Hermione said contemptuously. "We Gryffindors and you Slytherins are cursed. We're meant to get into each other's nerves." She leaned against the wall and smirked at him in a very un-Hermione-like way. "Though I doubt that my hatred for you has much to do about the curse. I mean, even if I weren't sorted into Gryffindor, and you into Slytherin, I'm sure I'd still hate you so. It'd be a horror movie if I didn't."

Draco's dark eyebrows formed a sharp "V" on his forehead. "Watch your mouth, Granger," he said ominously. "Nobody talks to a Malfoy that way. Most especially a Mudblood."

She laughed at him in a mocking tone. "Well, guess what, Malfoy. I, Hermione Granger, 17, Mudblood, just did." With a last smirk, she shut the door in his face and locked it, leaning on it after she did so. Oh, it had been hard to call herself by the name that she hated the most, but it had to be done. She had to show him that she was not in the least afraid of his Malfoy descent and she would not be giving up easily to him.

"Hermione!"

Hermione stared at both Parvati and Lavender, who were both shooting daggers at her. "What?" she asked innocently, wondering what on earth they could be furious about. "Were you disappointed that I did not let him enter and introduce you two?" she asked sarcastically.

"How can you shut the door in Draco's face?" Lavender scolded her.

I cannot believe it, Hermione thought to herself. These two are worshipping Malfoy like he's some sort of god! "You know what," she said aloud to them. "I believe Malfoy's right. There really is something wrong with you guys. That's not just a simple crush; that's… that's an obsession! I mean, really, he's just Malfoy, a Slytherin. He's Lucius Malfoy's son. Tell me if he has any desirable qualities."

Lavender jumped closer. "Well, now that you mention it…"

"We like him simply because he's hot," Parvati said. "I mean, don't you just love guys with blue eyes? How about blondes? I think blondes are extremely sexy. And he's smart, too, Hermione. Even you would have to admit that." She scooted closer to Hermione, who slowly backed away suspiciously, not liking the look Parvati and Lavender had in their eyes. "Now that we've got that settled, let's see what qualities you like about him. There must be something about him that you find suitable to your liking.

"I'm sorry to burst you bubble, but I do not like Malfoy! Hermione protested, shaking her head profusely. "I do not!"

Lavender stared at Parvati in the eye. "Denial!" they both declared.

"I am so not in denial!"

"You so are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Ugh!" Hermione said disgustedly. "I really do not understand the two of you!" She grabbed a pillow and buried her head under it. I do not like Malfoy! I like HARRY! she wanted to shout out, but she didn't want to reveal herself just yet.

Parvati bounced herself up and down on Hermione's bed. "Come on, Hermione! Don't be such a party pooper!"

Hermione buried her head under more pillows.

Draco ran a hand through his hair. Gryffindors should die, he thought with intense animosity. All of them. They have no other purpose in this world besides annoy us Slytherins. It had been a long while since he had moved from the common room and into his room, but he could still them all the way into his room. He had told them to shut up, but nothing happened except that a door was shut into his face. Less than a minute after he had gone back into his room, they were at it once again. Stupid Gryffindors.

Something told him that Hermione wasn't at all contributing to the noise that they were making, the kind that only girls can make, but he couldn't help but shout at her, too. He was utterly pissed. Pissed at Hermione's friends for being the noisy giggling pair that they always were. Pissed at Hermione for he knew that with her ingeniousness she could finish her homework easily while he was still doing his. Pissed at himself.

He and Hermione had been getting along surprisingly well that evening, until the others arrived and pulled him back to reality. She was a Gryffindor know-it-all Mudblood. He shouldn't be associating with her in any way, much less get friendly with her. He was supposed to laugh at her, not with her. The timely arrival of the two proved to be both good and bad.

Bad because they turned out to be an annoying tittering pair of inane Gryffindors, and good because it made him realize the "error of his ways."

"I definitely am becoming too soft," he muttered under his breath. "I'm losing it, I am seriously losing it." Looking at himself at the mirror on his closet door, he scowled at his reflection. "You're not Draco Malfoy," he told his reflection and sighed. "I have to put a distance between me and Granger."

A/N: Writer's block totally sux! Did I even have to say that?

The line which says, "I sound like such a user" may sound to others like Hermione's telling herself that she sounds like a drug user. Actually, 'user' it's a term we use here in our country. Um… how do I say this? It's like if you say "That girl is such a user," it's like saying "That girl takes advantage of other people." I do hope you get what I'm trying to say…

Well, there's one small line there that doesn't belong to me. It's the "It'd be a horror movie if I did" line. It may be small, but I don't want to be sued for plagiarizing. Anyway, I got that from a line in a Japanese anime called "Get Backers." The original line was "It'd be a horror movie if you laughed." Small… yeah, and I don't even know if that was the correct translation. I depend on subtitles, you see. Well, better safe than sorry, anyway.

Erm… I know this chapter is quite late. Sorry! Blame the summer classes! I didn't have enough time to finish typing it, and my parents don't want me to be in front of the computer too long. Shit about preparing for college and having more responsibility… sorry for the long wait again!