Arguments and Things

Draco didn't know why Hermione was so angry. She's the one who's messing around, he thought. He stood up from his seat and walked out of the class, deep in thought of how exactly he was going to take out his frustration this time. He certainly wasn't going to be able to have any more noisy shags like the one last night. Hermione had seen to ruining his taste for that. And how dare she tell him that every girl in Hogwarts thought he was a man-whore? Even if it was true, they all still wanted him…

Draco's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a wall in his path; or, rather, Harry's chest. Draco sighed; he wasn't in the mood to be annoyed today, even accidentally.

"Potter, get out of my way," Draco slowly said.

"Umm, no." Harry gave him an exceptionally cold glare and made no move to do what he said.

"We just want to talk to you for a bit, Malfoy," Ron said, suddenly appearing from behind Draco's back.

Draco looked only mildly surprised at Ron's appearance. "What is this, a shakedown?" He laughed harshly. "You guys are going to have to try a little harder if you want to scare me."

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said. "All you're going to do now is listen."

"Am I?"

"Do you want me to ensure that you do?" Harry asked.

"We don't really want to hurt you, but if you leave us no choice…" Ron said. "We just want to talk for a bit."

Draco rolled his eyes again. "Well I don't. Excuse me," he said and tried to get past them. Ron grabbed the collar of his robes and shoved him back against a wall.

"Why don't you just listen for a second?" Ron said. Draco glared at him and said nothing.

"So, as we were saying…We know that you did something to Hermione," Harry began.

"Oh really?" Draco tried to resist the urge to smile, but couldn't. I wonder how much detail she gave them…

"What's so funny, Malfoy?"

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Continue."

"We don't like you, ok?" Harry said.

"The feeling's mutual, I assure you."

"But Hermione has to put up with you for the rest of the year, and that means that we do too. She told us about your agreement on the train, so we're going to attempt to be civil. But if you do anything to her, we will seriously hurt you," Ron said, releasing his grip on Draco's robes.

"Ok, guys, back up." Draco smoothed his collar and pushed them both back a step. "Don't ever touch my robes again. Or else I will you hurt you."

"I'm sorry," Ron said without even attempting to feign sincerity. "But we really wanted to have this conversation with you. Just don't do anything that will make us notice you."

"I don't know what you did to Hermione, but make sure she has nothing to complain about next time," Harry said.

"So she didn't even tell you anything?" Draco laughed. "Well, then, what are you two gits even trying to say? Now," he said, pushing them both backwards again and gesturing towards the wand in his robes, "if you ever threaten me again, I won't be so gracious next time. And I suggest you get to class, because you're going to be late." Draco glared at both of them before he turned away. "And oh yes, twenty points from Gryffindor for assaulting the Head Boy," he said as he walked down the hallway.

Draco was waiting for Hermione in their common room that same day when she came back from dinner.

"Granger, can we talk for just a bit?" he said when she came in through the portrait.

"No…" Hermione began walking over to her staircase.

"I'm serious, Hermione. I actually have something I want to tell you."

Hermione groaned and turned around. "Fine." She took a seat on a couch. "What is it that you just have to tell me?"

"Well, I had the immense pleasure of talking to your two cronies today…They actually had the nerve to put their hands on me. And you know what they told me? It was something along the lines of leaving you alone or receiving a beat-down. It was kind of amusing." Draco stood and walked over to where Hermione sat. "Seriously though, Granger, don't ever let that happen again. Because if Potty and Weasel ever come up to me again and threaten me, I will not hesitate to hurt them both."

"I didn't tell them to do that."

"I don't care…And where do you get off complaining to them in the first place when everything that happened was your fault?"

"Everything that happened wasn't my fault, Draco. Maybe if you weren't so presumptuous I wouldn't have anything to say—"

"Maybe if you hadn't led me on I wouldn't have done anything—"

"Maybe if you had listened to me the first time I said I wasn't interested you wouldn't have gotten the wrong impression!" Hermione yelled, standing up.

"Oh. Yeah. I should've listened to you." Draco scoffed. "Listen to what? Do you know how often you've changed your mind in all the time we've known each other? You kissed me first! Or do you not remember that? Then you just run away without an explanation. And when I kissed you the second time you should've known what to expect. Yet you still kept going, and so I did too, until you changed your mind again. And ran away again. Don't you remember what I said to you on the train? And why would I feel any differently from then? Maybe you're the one who needs to listen."

Hermione laughed bitterly. "Are you even serious? Just because you can't control yourself I'm not allowed to be nice to you—"

"No. That's not it. I can control myself perfectly. But you can't, obviously," Draco said with a smirk.

"Ugh. Do you even believe any of what you're saying? Are you serious, Draco?" Hermione began to walk away, then stopped. "The fact of the matter is that you did what you did without even waiting to see if I was ok with it. And the time I kissed you, you tricked me into it. But you insist on trying to justify it all. I don't think that says that I'm the one who can't control my actions."

He laughed. "I'm controlling myself right now from pinning you to that couch and shagging you senseless. Not that I would mind, but since I'm doing it for you…"

She looked properly stunned at that revelation, he gleefully noted. But she quickly shook away the surprised expression on her face and narrowed her eyes at him again.

"So you're not going to do that?" she asked.

"Right."

"Because you can control yourself?"

"Exactly. Why do you assume so much, Hermione? And especially about me? You obviously haven't been listening to anything I told you, and you don't know me at all, even if you think you do. Maybe if you hadn't made so many assumptions on what was going to happen, you wouldn't be in this situation right now." Draco turned away. "I'm leaving. And remember: keep your stupid little friends away from me, because I can and will give them a reason to hunt me down." With that, Draco mounted his staircase and disappeared.