Disclaimer: The characters, place and most of this is not mine, it is J.K. Rowling's.

Summary: A new year has arrived when Hermione, although she tries to escape, finds herself spending more and more time with Draco unintentionally. As prefect duties call and a new student arrives, how close will their relationship become? DMHG and others.

Author's Note: I would really appreciate if people would review, I do not appreciate at flames, but critique is welcome!

Chapter Two: A Stressed Breakfast and Potions Class

Hermione woke up that morning with an annoying feeling, something that would not get off her chest… something that was annoying her.

"That's right," she sighed to herself as she lay in bed, her hair tousled, "Malfoy."

"Never thought I'd hear the name Malfoy in one of the Gryffindor bedrooms," Ginny Weasley giggled, as she sat down at the edge of Hermione's bed, "So what's up? I mean, what's with the frustrated look and me hearing news of Malfoy?"

Hermione smiled briefly at Ginny, her good friend, before stretching and yawning, "Well, there's this new student at Hogwarts, as you know and-."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Trust me, I know. French girl, right? Tall, thin and blonde? I saw the majority of men at Hogwarts staring at her last night as she got sorted, makes it a bit hard for us, short and red haired girls, I think. Bit hard to compete, with that one."

"Yeah, well, she's okay, I'm not too worried, it's just I have to show her around the school and Malfoy volunteered to assist, as well. We need to organise how we will help her settle in, but Malfoy only has suggestive intentions, as he obviously is like most of the other male population at Hogwarts, infatuated with Elise!"

"Mmm, Malfoy's hot." Ginny said, staring in the corner of the room with a small smile on her lips, "Not that my brother would approve of that."

"-But Malfoy's really annoying! Can't he just get over his hormonal feelings and show some organisation?" Hermione asked Ginny rhetorically.

Malfoy was plaguing her thoughts constantly; she could not get him out of his head! His rude comments and his annoying ways… Was she having the same effect on him?

Ginny giggled, "Look Hermione, listen to yourself, it's your second last year! Relax, have fun! Okay, so Malfoy is only interested about Elise's body rather than helping settle her into Hogwarts, but are you really going to let him get to you?."

"Well, no…" Hermione sighed, knowing Ginny was right, but not wanting to admit to it. "But I'm not going get you and Malfoy together, you know that right?"

Ginny laughed, "I know, I mean, he's hot and all, but I can't stand his personality… well, apart from the bad boy image… Give me some credit, Hermione."

"You're right," Hermione laughed, even though having not gotten over her Malfoy problem, she felt slightly happier, "I might go to breakfast, I'm meeting Malfoy there."

Ginny stood from Hermione's bed and warned Hermione, "Hermione, to work with him, you have to understand him," Ginny sighed, as though Hermione knew little, or nothing about boys.

"Malfoy is always fashionably late… and I mean always," she continued. "Don't expect him to be there at,-" she checked the clock on the wall, "half past six in the morning, I mean, he's not going to change his schedule for your needs."

Hermione hesitated before answering, "You're right, Ginny. I'll turn up later, but early enough so we have enough time to get organised."

She hoped he would turn up, he had said he would be there anyway, hadn't he? Or perhaps he had been too preoccupied with Elise?

Elise was, Hermione admitted, much more then she would ever be, in looks, at least.

No, she wasn't jealous, but she felt humiliated and out of place when Harry or Ron flirted with girls… It was awkward, she hated to think that if they were in a relationship they would pay less attention to her...

It was 7:30 when Hermione arrived at the Great Hall, just before the time when the owls were due to arrive. She took her usual seat in the Great Hall, across from Harry, next to Ron.

"Hey Hermione, bit later than usual…" Harry greeted her, followed by Ron who was curious to know what had happened the night before at the Prefect meeting after he had left.

"Yeah, I'm meeting Malfoy, Ron's told you why, I assume, and I figured he wouldn't be here until at least 7:30 or 8:00, and I didn't want to be waiting for him for too long… And no Ron, nothing happened."

"Good," Ron replied, taking a bite out of a piece of toast.

Ron had once had a crush on Hermione, but had since moved on. Although, he still found himself jealous when she spent time alone with other guys, like in fourth year with Victor Krum. He was just looking out for her, he figured, that's what friends did for each other. It was his natural instincts.

Harry laughed, "Yeah, sorry about that too, by the way. Guess you can't really help it, can you?" He asked, before eyeing the ceiling where he saw flocks of owls enter the Great Hall, "Hey, look, the post's arrived..."

Maybe it was just because she a muggleborn, but Hermione still was amazed by the sight of the all the owls flying into the Great Hall at breakfasts. She had always read it muggle books that owls were hard to train, but it was amazing how they just all came together to deliver mail…

Two owls approached her with two envelopes attached to their feet, just as she expected. She usually received the most mail at the beginning of the school year.

One letter was from Dumbledore:

Dear Ms. Granger,

I assume all is organised between Mr. Malfoy and yourself regarding Ms. Cantene. Ms. Cantene is in most of the same classes as the two of you, so you will need no more time to show her around Hogwarts other than the time in between classes. I Hope that you two will get along well, I would prefer Ms. Cantene sees the more lighthearted side of a school, rather than the rivalry and dislike.

Thank you again for volunteering to help.
- Professor Dumbledore

She had expected a letter from Dumbledore; she had imagined he would have said something similar to what he wrote in the letter, or at least something the like.

The second letter regarded her prefect rounds:

Hermione Granger,

As prefect you are expected to patrol the halls after bed hours.

You will start patrolling on Tuesday with Mr. Malfoy from 9-30-11:30. You will patrol the outside of the Charms classrooms, then the 3rd floor.

You are not allowed to enter any of the rooms in the 3rd floor corridor, prying eyes are not welcome. If by any chance you expect someone is in one of the rooms, you must alert a professor at once.

These are your shifts for the remainder of the year unless you are otherwise informed.

Once you have finished patrol, you and your partner must fill out a piece of parchment informing the Headmaster upon what you did/did not discover whilst patrolling.

Thank you for your co-operation, if you have any worries with your times, please consult your Head of House.

Head Girl
Marina Redéve

Hermione's drink spilled from her mouth all over her robes in a very un-lady-like type of fashion. She frantically seized her wand from the table and removed the liquid immediately, as Ron and Harry watched her comically.

"Hermione, uh, you okay?" Ron asked, his eyebrows raised.

"I just got my prefect shifts, nine thirty to eleven thirty with Malfoy," Hermione explained, "It says, ", if you have any worries with your times, please consult your Head of House", what if you have a problem with your partner? Oh this isn't my year, it really isn't."

Ginny had just arrived and peered over Hermione's shoulder and read the note. "Wow Hermione, from what you've told me it seems fate's desperate to make you spend as much time with Malfoy as possible."

"It would seem that way, yes," she admitted with a sigh, "this year's going to be hectic! When I'm not with Malfoy, I'll be studying or doing homework, when do I get time to socialise with friends?" Hermione complained.

"You don't." Harry pointed out, glad he hadn't been made prefect.

"Shit!" Ron said, his eyes enlarged as he read his patrolling shifts, "I'm with Pansy!"

Ginny and Harry laughed at Ron, as unfortunate as it was, Pansy was not dangerous like Malfoy, she really held no real threat to Ron.

All he would have to expect was constant abuse and hearing her whine.

"Don't worry Ron," Ginny comforted her brother, "Her parents are neutral when it comes to the war and good and bad….All she is a slut, a ditzy one too. God, it'd be funny hanging around her, sometimes the things I hear her say in the Girl's Bathrooms…"

Harry agreed, "Yeah… She used to with Malfoy, right? I heard he couldn't stand her."

Hermione brought her hand up from her hands, "Speaking of Malfoy, where is he? It's a ten past eight, if he's late I'll murder him."

"I reckon I'd murder him anyway," Ron said to no one in particular as he took a bite into another piece of toast, "Oi Ginny, where you going?" Ron realised as his sister stood from the table.

"Just to the... library, you know, study and all. I'll catch up with you guys later, probably tonight, sorry," Ginny said taking two bites of a croissant and sculling down her pumpkin juice in a mouthful before leaving, "Right, see ya' guys."

Harry, Ron and Hermione awkwardly waved at Ginny, confused by her sudden desire to leave. Leaving for the library during breakfast had always been a trait of Hermione's, not something Ginny was usually likely to do.

"That was odd, to say the least," Hermione mused, as she scanned the hall looking for Malfoy who was still yet to appear, "What could she possibly be studying for this time of year?"

Harry grinned at Hermione, "Finally you see the stupidity in doing such a thing, Hermione, you growing up."

She shot a glare at Harry jokingly.

Ron agreed, "Ginny was like that all summer, kept leaving for Diagon Alley without telling us, got Mum a bit worried, especially when she kept sending letters to people. She refused to tell us who they were to..."

"Yeah well, I'm sure she's okay, probably just some minor issue, like something with one of her friends. She probably wouldn't want us to get involved, I imagine. Girls are like that."

"I guess you're right, Harry… She was fine this morning when we talked in our dorm, anyway," Hermione pointed out, despite that she knew Ginny better than Harry.
Would Ginny not have told her something like that? They were close friends after all.

She promised herself she would talk to Ginny later that night, anyway.

Hermione checked the enchanted clock in the Great Hall, angered to find the time was 8:20 and Malfoy still hadn't arrived with Elise, meaning Hermione only had a quarter of an hour to organise the Elise situation with Malfoy before classes began.

Hermione certainly did not want to display tardiness, especially when she was particularly keen on being chosen for head girl next year.

She scanned the hall and watched students leave and bid farewell to their friends. Harry and Ron had left for their classes, apologising to Hermione and ensuring her that Malfoy would arrive soon.

However, he still had not appeared with Elise

And this angered her greatly.

Hermione was one of the few students at Hogwarts who knew that although Slytherins stereotypically appeared to all be evil and Malfoy-like, (well, other than Elise) they did have some varying traits.

Ravenclaw students generally were always early to breakfast and keen to get to classes and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students arrived whenever they desired. However, Slytherins were black and white.

The Slytherins either arrived early, or late.

The more rebellious chose to arrive late, while others who often mysteriously were always busy with Merlin knows what, (Deatheater duties, perhaps?) turned up early to breakfast. Hermione had slowly discovered this as she spent more years at Hogwarts.

Malfoy was always late to breakfast, just like Ginny had told her early in the dormitory. But he was never this late, was he just trying to aggravate Hermione?

Most likely.

He had an annoying tendency to do so.

Then, Hermione watched as the minute hand slowly rested on the roman symbol for the number five.

"I'm sick of this!" Hermione thought to herself as she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder with rage, "I'm not waiting any longer for him, I'll speak to him in Potions."

She waved politely at some first years who were still seated at the Gryffindor table, obviously not eager to begin classes.

And then, with only 5 minutes until her Potions class began, she tore at a rapid pace, as fast as she could go with a heavy bag and school shoes on, through the Halls, passing students and portraits who called her rude for running at such a fast pace indoors.

When Hermione finally reached the Dungeons, she opened the door and immediately sighed, relieved that she had in fact managed to arrive exactly on the dot of 8:30 according to her watch.

But she was wrong to be relieved, as no one other than Filch was in the classroom. He was examining the walls of the classroom, searching for something.

"Returning to the scene of the crime, eh? Think it's funny to put a spell on the room not letting more than 5 people enter the room at a time?" He spat at Hermione looking her up and down with disgust.

"Oh, no..." She said with great confusion, "Sorry, Sir. I'm just here for Potions class... has the class been moved?"

Filch narrowed his eyes and paused for a moment, "I suppose you're right. Snape reckons it was a second year anyway. Yeah, they've been moved to one of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classrooms, you better be off," he said, before snickering, "Professor Snape won't be pleased with you, a detention on the first day, what luck."

Hermione gave Filch a bitter look, but then smiled with fake sweetness, "Right, thanks." She left the room angered.

Why had she, a prefect, not heard the room had been cursed? Why was she not informed that the class had been moved?

This was not like her! She was usually organised, not being organised was something that greatly distressed her, she didn't like it at all.

It was all Malfoy's fault! Couldn't he have just turned up early? Then she could've followed him to the right classroom!

And where was Elise in all this? Had Malfoy shown her to her correct classroom?

Sparing no more time to think, she ran faster than before, not anticipating the expression on Snape's face when she arrived late for his class.

"Well, Ms. Granger, late to your first class, on your first day, what a disgrace," he smirked, "What will I do about this? I can't have prefects being late to classes, can I?"

Hermione gasped for air, her chest heaving up and down after running up several flights of stairs, "I'm sorry, Sir, I really am," she explained, "It's just, Malfoy was late, I wouldn't expect him to be here either Sir, we were meant to-"

Snape's smirk only widened, "Ms. Granger! If you did not have books constantly in front of your eyes your vision would not be impaired!" Slytherin students laughed silently, before Professor Snape continued.

"Malfoy is seated in this very classroom!" He titled his head to the back of the classroom, where Malfoy sat with a smug look on his face, his arms crossed.

"-But, Sir-!"

"No- I will not tolerate anymore of your lies, 40 points from Gryffindor, what a shame, that would be negative 40 points in the hours glass, I imagine. And I'll expect to see you next Sunday night in detention, I won't tolerate tardiness."

Hermione nodded and apologised, before walking to the only other available desk in the classroom…

The one next to Malfoy.

"Now, after that interruption, I will continue!" Hermione heard Snape speak to the class, "The effects that a Love Potion would cause-."

His voice become inaudible as Malfoy leaned over and snickered next to her ear, so she could feel the heat of his breath on her neck, sending shivers down her spine, "Why were you late, Granger? Snogging Weasley in a broom cupboard?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and whispered sharply, "I was late because you did not turn up like you promised!" She spat, shoving him away for her body.

"Promised? I didn't promise anything!" He furrowed his brow, dusting the place she had placed her hand on his shoulder, "Besides, Elise is fine, I'm a good host, Granger."

"I never doubted your hosting abilities Malfoy, but I do seriously doubt your organisational skills! We need to organise how we plan to take care of Elise!" Hermione stressed.

"Get over it, Granger," he rolled his eyes calmly never showing her whether she was angering him or not, "There is nothing to organise anyway, it's just a simple task. Besides, I think you should perhaps overview your own organisation skills, I'm not the one who turned up late to class."

"You ferret! We do still need to organise what to do, and let me remind you I'm only late because you failed to turn up to breakfast."

"Failed? I arrived to breakfast with Elise at 6:30, I believe you were the one who failed to turn up, perhaps you should've been earlier?"

"Eurgh!" Hermione's dug her fingernails into the desk almost seething from anger.

So he had turned up to breakfast after all? She should have stayed with her original plan and had come early!

Then Snape called from the front of the classroom, "I expect you to control your anger Ms. Granger, 5 points from Gryffindor for disturbing the class yet again."

Hermione rolled her eyes, angered by Snape, but most of all Malfoy, who had caused her to receive a detention… And also lose 45 points from Gryffindor! She felt like a hypocrite now, after lecturing people for showing up late to classes.

Malfoy laughed silently, "Looks like you're not such a goody-two-shoes like they say, eh Granger?"

She eyed him seriously, before saying, "Look Malfoy, I don't care, I just want to organise the Elise situations, so I beg, please let us discuss the situation!"

"I'm not the begging sort Granger. I don't about you, I'm just not into it, I prefer the-."

"Pervert."

"Mudblood."

"Ferr- Wait! You're doing it again, you're making me go off track!" she pointed at him. "Now listen, you can take care of Elise in the Slytherin Common Room and do whatever you do-," Malfoy raised his eyebrows suggestively, "-Urgh, no, maybe not…. And you'll also accompanying her to classes. But I'll show her around Hogwarts this weekend and give her a tour and if she has any enquiries, she asks me, okay?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Okay, Mudblood, if it makes you happy," he said, looking at the blackboard and scribbling notes into his notebook. "Now can I get back to my work?"

"Urgh!" Hermione thought to herself, "The prick! I finally have time to discuss things with him and… I won't let him annoy me any further, he's driving me mad!"

Had he even been listening? Did Hermione even care anymore now that she had organised the Elise situation?

Snape asked the class, "What is a common ingredient found in all love potions?"

She had so many questions when it came to anything associated Malfoy, but as she realised Snape was still talking, she knew she couldn't let Malfoy interrupt her studies or life any further, she wouldn't tolerate any nonsense from him at all.

Not anymore.

"Fine, Malfoy," she replied in a whisper, "But just you remember our prefect rounds tomorrow, you best not forget."

Then with one last glare at Malfoy, she raised her hand in a familiar Hermione-manner to answer Snape's question.

"The feather of a hippogriff, Sir." She answered when he allowed her to do so.

Malfoy rolled his eyes at Hermione as he wrote down notes on Love Potions. And as he quickly re-read his work, he found the words Bloody Granger messily written on his parchment.

Author's Note: Also, thank you for the review, XXDarkest AngelXX, I appreciate it and also if anyone else who has reviewed in the mean time – thanks:D

It's just a bit longer than the last chapter and it covered more of what Hermione thought about certain things… I guess. Next chapter she will have her prefect rounds with Malfoy. ;)