Author's Note: I am suffering from writer's block! Again! Grr...

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.


Madame Pomfrey had managed to perform a miracle on Draco's nose, which was all healed and just as perfect as ever by lunchtime. Sadly, however, nothing could be done to save his reputation.

It was one thing to be punched by a girl in front of a large crowd of people, but it was quite another to be punched by a mudblood girl in front of a large crowd of people. And then, of course, there was the embarrassing incident of Pansy Parkinson, of all people, rushing to his rescue. Draco Malfoy did not need a girl – or anyone for that matter – to defend him. He could do it on his own. Not that he even needed defending. The mudblood's punch was very weak, and not very painful at all, and he could have hexed her into oblivion right then and there. He liked to think that he would have, had Pansy not stepped in. But…why exactly did he save Granger from her again? If Pansy had killed her, she would have been doing something Draco had wanted to do for years. And the beautiful part of that would be that Granger would be dead, and Pansy would be sent to Azkaban. He could have gotten rid of his least favorite girls in the world in one fell swoop. He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

Nearly everyone in Slytherin was now aware of the fact that Draco had been sucker-punched by the Gryffindor bookworm, but none of them knew the real story. Some were under the impression that he had cried after the blow; others were under the impression that the attack had been so severe, that they were surprised to learn that Madame Pomfrey had not needed to reconstruct his face. As for the rest of the Slytherins, they were too busy sniggering at him to really pay attention to any of the rumors.

The only Slytherin who could speak to Draco without poking fun at him was Blaise, who had cornered him in the hallway outside the Great Hall, just before lunch.

"So let me get this straight," Blaise said. "So you were playing the mudblood all along?"

Something about Blaise's question made Draco cringe. "That is correct."

"Right…okay…" Blaise looked deep in thought. "So when you told me yesterday that you were not playing her, you lied to me?"

"Correct again."

"But you seemed so sincere about liking her."

"Like I told Granger, Zabini, I'm an amazing actor."

"Sure, sure," Blaise said in a tone of voice that made Draco think Blaise wasn't believing what he was hearing. "So then why didn't you just admit it when I asked you?"

"Because I couldn't trust that you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Oh please, Draco, you know you can trust me, and I know that you know that." He narrowed his eyes at him. "So what exactly was the point of this?"

Draco sighed with annoyance. "The point of what, Zabini?"

"The point of seducing Granger as a joke."

"The point, Zabini, was to humiliate her."

Blaise smiled. "And yet, she was the one who ended up humiliating you."

Draco frowned. "That's not how I see it, Zabini," he hissed.

"You want to know how I see it?" Blaise said, widening his grin. "I think you're in love with Granger."

Draco nearly choked on his spit. "Excuse me? If that's how you see it, then I suggest you go get your eyes examined. I am not in love with Granger." He shifted his gaze over to the group of approaching Slytherins, including Crabbe and Goyle. "Now would you please keep your voice down?" he warned Blaise.

"How's your nose, Malfoy?" Goyle asked, slapping Draco playfully on the back. Crabbe snickered.

"It's doing just fine, thanks," he replied through clenched teeth. As annoyed as he was with the Slytherin group's arrival, he was also relieved for the distraction from his current conversation with Blaise.

"We were just talking about his faux love affair with Hermione Granger," Blaise filled them in.

Crabbe and Goyle both let out a playful "Ooooh!" while Draco let out a groan. Sometimes, he really didn't like Blaise all that much.

"That was bloody brilliant, Malfoy," Crabbe said in an approving tone. "You really made a fool out of her, didn't you?"

"Yes, he most certainly did," Goyle nodded in agreement. "I must admit, though, you had us all fooled. We thought you were seriously in love with the mudblood! We thought you'd gone mad!"

"Well, I hadn't," said Draco. "I am still perfectly sane."

"But you – you kissed her!" Crabbe said in disgust. "That must have been horrible. Was it horrible?"

Draco had to stop himself from saying that no, it wasn't horrible, because it really wasn't. But there was no way he would ever admit that to anyone. He wouldn't even admit it to himself if he didn't have to. "You know," he said, "that question reminds me of a joke: what's the difference between making out with a mudblood, and making out with a dead fish?"

All of the Slytherins stared blankly at him and shrugged.

"There really is no difference," Draco replied. The Slytherins roared with laughter, all but Blaise who was frowning slightly and staring at something over Draco's shoulder. He didn't need eyes on the back of his head to know who was standing there.

Spinning around, he found himself looking at a very angry Hermione. She had obviously not missed the punch line of his "joke". Deciding not to feel bad about it, he grinned and said slyly, "Granger. We were just talking about you."

Crabbe and Goyle sniggered; Hermione looked as though she should have had steam coming from her ears.

"Malfoy," she said curtly. "May I speak with you in private?"

"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of my friends, Granger."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You mean I can discuss the astoundingly miniscule size of your -"

"OKAY! Okay," Draco said quickly, grabbing her arm and yanking her away from his friends, including Blaise, who was looking quite amused. Draco dragged her all the way down the hall, and once they had turned the corner, he thrust her up against the wall.

"Ow!" she cried out. "Well this certainly brings back memories," she mumbled, remembering the last time Draco Malfoy had thrown her up against the wall…

"Strop drooling from the memories, Granger. You're not about to get lucky." He let go of her robes and glared at her. "How dare you attempt to falsely insult my manhood in front of my mates!"

Hermione blinked. "Manhood? Oh…Oh! No, I was actually going to comment on your incredibly miniscule brain. But I suppose the manhood remark would have been more appropriate."

Draco snarled. "Well as much as I am enjoying this conversation of ours, why don't you just get on to what you wanted to talk to me about, before I get bored and leave."

Hermione stood up straight as her eyes narrowed. "You! You are going around the whole school making up humiliating lies about me!"

Draco refrained from grinning. She was right – he was going around the school spreading rumors. Everything from her being a terrible kisser, to her proposing marriage. "Yeah? So?"

"So? So I really don't appreciate it!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "So sorry. I didn't know. Tell you what – next time I go to spread some unflattering rumors about you, I'll ask you first how you feel about it. Deal?"

Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Why must you always be a pompous git?"

"It's who I am, Granger. If you have a problem with that, then sod off. And you know what? I'm doing you a huge favor. Before all this, no one besides Boy Wonder and the two Weasels even knew who you were. Now all of the girls are jealous of you because you got to kiss me, and all of the boys want to see if my stories about you are true." He winked.

Hermione had to fight the urge to hit him again. "Words cannot even begin to describe how much I loathe you," she said in a low voice.

Draco smirked and glanced down. He took her hand gently in his and inched closer to her, leaning his forehead against hers. He looked deeply into her eyes.

Hermione's heart pounded unsteadily in her chest as she stared back at him. What was he doing? He wasn't going to kiss her, was he? And if he did, she wouldn't let him…would she?

"If you loathe me so much," Draco whispered; his other hand caressing the side of her face, "then why are you still wearing the ring I gave you?"

Hermione's breath caught in her throat. The ring! Bollocks! She had forgotten all about it! She blushed furiously and glanced down at her hand, which was still being held by Draco.

"I – I didn't, er -" she stuttered.

"You – you didn't, er what?" he mocked. He grasped the ring between his thumb and forefinger and carelessly yanked it off her finger in one swift motion.

Hermione cried out in protest; it felt as though he was going to pull her finger off as well. Luckily, the ring slid off fairly easily without loss of a digit.

"Well I'm going to have to take it back," he snarled, taking a step back from her. He paused for a moment, looking deep in thought, before saying, "On second thought, why don't you keep it? You know…as a reminder that the only way you will ever get guys to fall in love with you is if you force-feed them a love potion." He took her hand once more, dropped the ring into her palm, and gently enclosed her fingers over it. "See you, Granger."

He turned and began to walk off. Hermione could feel angry, hot tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but once again she refused to cry over Draco Malfoy. So instead, she took one more look at the ring and then hurled it at him as hard as she could. Her accuracy was perfect; it bounced right off the back of his head and plummeted to the floor with a clink.

Draco stopped dead in his tracks and spun around, rubbing the back of his head and looking at Hermione in surprise.

"I don't want your mother's stupid ring," Hermione said coolly. She considered walking off at this moment, but decided against it. She had one more thing to say to him first: "You know, Malfoy…I wonder what scares you more: the fact you were able to have those feelings for me…" She frowned slightly, and continued in a whisper, "…or the fact you were able to have those feelings at all."

Draco stared at her, and by the look on his face, Hermione knew she must have struck a nerve. But she wasn't going to wait around to see if she was right; she turned on her heel and walked briskly around the corner, bumping into a dark-haired boy in the process.

"Sorry," she mumbled, not even bothering to look up to see who it was she had just plowed into. She just wanted to get as far away from Draco Malfoy as quickly as possible.

Blaise Zabini was a very curious boy. That was why he had left his group of Slytherin cronies to go eavesdrop on Draco and Hermione. Unfortunately (he realized when the bushy-haired Gryffindor ran into him whilst turning the corner), he had arrived too late.

From the way Hermione had brushed past him so quickly, he assumed that things hadn't gone too well. And seeing Draco confirmed that. When he turned the corner, his best friend was in the process of picking something up from the floor, and looking as though he wanted to kill someone.

"You okay?" Blaise asked tentatively.

Draco glared at Blaise, stuffing into his pocket whatever it was he had picked up from the floor. "I'm bloody wonderful."

"Could have fooled me," Blaise said, leaning up against the wall. "Or was that sarcasm?"

"What do you think?" Draco growled in response. He started pacing back and forth, clenching his fists at his side. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Who, Granger?" Blaise shrugged. "I don't know who she thinks she is, but I sure know what I think. She's a hot little spitfire, isn't she?" He grinned.

Draco's jaw dropped. "Are you completely daft?"

"No," Blaise replied. "I'm a hot-blooded male who happens to know a good thing when I see it. I mean, come on – you have to admit Granger's kind of hot."

"I do not have to admit that, because Granger is not hot! What the hell has gotten into you, Zabini?"

Blaise shrugged. "I dunno. When she hit you earlier, it made me realize something: Granger is not like other girls. While every other female in this school kisses the very ground you walk on, Granger breaks your nose. That's hot."

"Yeah, what a woman," Draco said sarcastically.

"So…things are officially over between you two, then?"

"There was never anything going on between me and the mudblood, Zabini. It was all a joke, remember?"

"Right," Blaise said, smiling. "Well that's great then. Maybe I'll have a go at her."

Draco's jaw dropped open. "Pardon?"

"Granger. I think I'll ask her out. I mean, if it's okay with you."

"Of course it's okay with me!" Draco exploded. "Why wouldn't it be okay with me?" He scowled.

"Great!" Blaise grinned. He gave Draco a hearty pat on the back. "Well I'm going to go see if I can catch up with her. Wish me luck!"

"You're going to need all the luck you can get," Draco mumbled as Blaise rushed off. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. Blaise is an idiot. What the hell would he want with Granger? He can have any girl in the school…and he's going to settle for a mudblood Gryffindor? And even after I told him she's a lousy kisser? What a bloody moron.

Absent-mindedly, he reached into his pocket and ran his finger over the ring Hermione had so rudely thrown at him. How dare she give it back to him? And how dare she try to psychoanalyze him? She had a lot of nerve, that girl. And at this moment, he hated her more than he ever thought he could.

At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Blaise whistled merrily as he strode down the hallway. He had lied to Draco; he wasn't looking for Hermione. He wasn't actually planning on asking her out, either. He'd only said that to see what kind of reaction he'd get from Draco. He wasn't completely disappointed, but his best friend had played it cooler than he had expected. But Blaise was not stupid; he could tell that Draco was in denial as far as his feelings for Hermione were concerned. But getting him to admit it would be a challenge.

Luckily, Blaise loved a good challenge. But where to start? He stopped mid-stride and glanced around the crowded hallway. Over to his left was a group of vulnerable-looking first years who looked like they could use a good tormenting. A grin slowly began to form on Blaise's face as an idea came to mind.

A good place to start, he decided, would be to get detention for tomorrow night.