Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, but I do own this plot and the character Mary.

Authors note: Please be generous with the comments. Advice and Constructive criticism are always welcome! Now, I say that becasue I don't expect everyone to love and praise my work. This is my first fanfic so I want to be given some support.If you don't like my story tell me what you don't like about it and/or how I can fix the problem. Don't just tell me it sucks. I'm always looking for ways to improve and it's discouraging whenI get comments that aren't very helpful. Anyway, on w/the story...

Chapter 5: Not so Different

"Seriously?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Serious." He decided that this was the time to win her over. "For an added bonus I won't insult Potter, Granger, Weasley, or Mud…Muggleborns…ever again. There is one exception though, and that would be on the quidditch pitch. After all, you can't expect me to be civil during a match. Other than that, I won't say a foul word to any of them."

"Oh, you're so full of it. You wouldn't last a day."

"Try me." his eyes flashed silver, then grey, and back to his steely blue. The tone in his voice was almost threatening.

She couldn't wait to prove him wrong. "Fine, I give a day, maybe two, but how do I know if you're abiding by the rules?"

"You won't." he began to twirl her wand back and forth nonchalantly. "You'll just have to trust me." He relaxed his posture stretching out his legs and crossing them under the table. He continued to play with her wand.

"You know I'm giving you more credit then you deserve by agreeing to this."

"I know," he sighed, "But what can I say? I have a way with people."

"So it would seem." She watched as he began to toss her wand back and forth between his hands. "Can I have my wand back now?"

"Sure, but on one condition." He gave her another one of his wicked smiles.

"Why are there always exceptions and conditions?"

"You'll find out soon enough that we Malfoys like finding ways to twist the rules to our liking."

"As long as it will get me my wand back," she sighed, "What's the condition?"

"That you'll go on another date with me," he straightened back up, leaned foreword, and placed his folded hands in front of him. He looked at her, eyebrows raised, anticipating her answer.

A doubtful sigh escaped her lips. She rested her forehead on her palm for a moment before running her fingers through her long brown hair. She copied his actions by leaning foreword and placing her hands in front of her.

"Fine, but first let's get this date over with before we start making future plans."

"Yes…let's", he glanced over at the bar, "Do want something to drink?"

"Sure, what do they have?"

"Just about everything, butterbeer, hot chocolate, gingerade, lemonale, fizzy soda…

"I'll just have a butterbeer." She reached into her pocket to pull out some extra cash, when he set her wand down in front of her and headed towards the bar. She rushed over to hand him her money, but he refused her offer.

"C'mon, take it! You have to. You've done enough all ready, it's the least I can do."

"I already told you money is not an option. The least I can do is buy you a drink, especially after the way I acted earlier." Here I go again, admitting my faults. He mentally sighed; this is going to take some getting used to.

"Fine, but I don't know how I'm going to even this out. You bought me this jacket and now you're treating me to a drink. I'm warning you now that I never have cash on me so I strongly suggest you take advantage of this situation."

"You really don't know when to stop do you? I was willing to pay for your drink, but now I don't know…"

"You're gonna get this money one way or another so just take it and let my conscious be clear." She handed him the money and he reluctantly accepted it. They purchased their drinks and headed back over to their table. Draco was carrying his drink in his right and hers in his left. He had ordered a purple colored fizzy soda. It was continually bubbling and every time it looked like it was going to overflow, it ebbed back down. Once they were seated she struck up conversation.

"You know, you can't just force people to do what you want using bribery."

He looked up from his drink and began to slowly stir it with his straw. "You know you can't just force people to take your money using reasoning."

"I just did." she smiled.

"As did I." he smiled back and she shot her straw wrapper at him. "Hey!"

The remainder of the date went well, except for the occasional bickering. They continued to explore Hogsmeade until it was almost time to go back for dinner.

"It's almost time for dinner. We better head back to the great hall. I don't know about you, but I'm famished." Draco was glad everything had turned out so well. They had their disputes, but he expected that. She wasn't the type to take things lightly and she definitely spoke her mind. They had just exited Zonko's joke shop and began their journey back to Hogwarts.

"Yeah, me too." She reached over and grabbed his hand. She liked the feel of it in her own and couldn't help wondering what their next date would be like. She didn't picture her first date with Draco exactly like this, but it turned out ok in the end.

They arrived back at Hogwarts just in time. Dinner was about to be served and everyone was already in the great hall. Before they entered, Draco pulled her aside so no one could see them.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked surprised by being jerked away so suddenly.

"Saying goodbye that's all," he wrapped his arms around the small of her back and smiled playfully down at her.

"You'll see me tomorrow in class you know."

"I know, but it's not the same." He rested his head on hers.

"Do I embarrass you?" hearing her question, he lifted his head and looked her in the eyes.

"No. Why?" He didn't know. Was he embarrassed? Why should he be? His friends looked up to him. He was the one who made fun of others; he was the one in charge. So why did he care so much what the others might think? He knew the answer, but didn't want to admit it to himself. He really liked her and that's why. He didn't want people to see them and think that he was just using her for her body. He didn't want someone convincing her that he was using her merely for his pleasure. Because for once in his life, it wasn't true. He hated to admit it, because if it was more than physical…This was why he strayed away from relationships. This was why he was always so cold. Relationships led to the one thing he feared most…attachment. Draco Malfoy depends on no one and that's the way it is.

"Well, you pulled me aside so no one could see us, right? You're embarrassed to be seen with me." She began to pull away, but he kept a firm hold.

"No, it's not that I'm embarrassed. It's just that I want to tell people first. I don't want to draw attention by doing this in front of everyone. That's how rumors get started."

He leaned foreword and placed a simple kiss on her lips pulling her closer. She smiled, gave him a quick hug, and headed into the great hall towards the Hufflepuff table. Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones moved over as she approached giving her room by herself at the end of the table.

Draco stood motionless in the darkness waiting a few moments before entering himself. Oh, who was he kidding? Draco Malfoy depended on no one, and that's the way it was…the way it was.

"HERMIONE!" Mary screamed in an attempt to calm the Gryffindor girl. "Will you please relax for one second and give me time to explain myself!" It was the morning after the date, and the two girls were walking to the library between classes. Everything was going fine until Hermione began to question Mary on last evening's events.

"Explain what exactly! There's nothing to explain!" Hermione's face had lost its color and she wore a mixed expression of anger and confusion. "All I know, and all I need to know, is that you were at Hogsmeade with Malfoy! Draco Malfoy, who, as we already discussed, is the foulest creature on the surface of the planet! What else is there to know?" What did she have to do to get through to this girl! Why was she losing a friend to Malfoy! Malfoy of all people!

"Look, I know he's been a jerk to you. Revise that, I know he's been an ass, but you have to listen to me when I say I can change all that." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Mary, he's in Slytherin," she said, enunciating each syllable, "Which means we don't get along with him and vise versa. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it'll always be! He's just not like us."

"I know his past, but I want to change his future! I know it sounds corny and farfetched, but I know what I'm doing. He already agreed to stop harassing you guys and I think he means it." Hermione gave her a 'are you on drugs?' look.

"Oh God, I'm not good at this. I'm making it sound like a soap opera." She took a deep breath and continued, "All I'm saying is is that maybe we should give him a chance, and if he screws up, it's over."

"You know what? You're an intelligent girl, but you really have no idea what you're talking about. So, that's why I'm going to go along with you on this."

Mary grinned widely. "Thank you soooo much!" She was overdosed with happiness and relief. Hermione was her first true friend at Hogwarts and she couldn't bare the thought of losing her. It was bad enough sitting alone at the Hufflepuff table.

Hermione smiled, "What are friends for. You just better be able to admit you were wrong when the time comes."

"We'll see, but enough about this. Let's get going. I have a lot of stuff I need to look up in the library."

As she went through books on different uses of common roots in potions, she couldn't help but think about Draco. It seemed, like that was all she could think about nowadays. In a scary way, she almost liked it.

Their first class together was defense against the dark arts, and it was next period. She smiled in anticipation. Thinking about it, she was grateful that she knew so many people in DADA. Snape had definitely become her least favorite teacher and the class itself was anything, but enjoyable.

"Open your book to pages seventy eight and seventy nine." Snape had entered the room in one brisk movement and was headed towards his desk at the front of the room. "Today we will be learning about the proper ways to defend yourself against unwanted chixon attacks. As you can see by the illustrations on page seventy nine, the correct and most affected way tohandle a chixon…"

Her mind trailed off, yet again. She found it rather hard to concentrate on how to defend yourself against something you have a one in a million chance of meeting in your lifetime. Instead, she took out a roll of parchment and began to draw. At first she didn't think she was drawing anything in particular, but when Professor Snape stopped and asked her a question her head jerked up suddenly.

As she continued to stare at him blankly he repeated his question. "Miss Klein, what is the importance of your surroundings when confronted by a chixon?" Her mind froze, she remembered learning something about this topic last year, but her memory was failing her.

"Umm…you should look around and see if there's something in the surrounding environment that you can use to attack the chixonwith. She said it more like a question than a statement.

"And what exactly might you use?" Apparently she had gotten the first part right.

"Umm…well…if you're in a forest…you could find a large stick and…um…hit it in the head." With this the class broke out into laughter. Mary looked over at Draco and could see he enjoyed her comment just as much as the rest of the class. She didn't know if she could, or if it was just in her head, but she thought she could hear his laugh above everyone else's and she cherished the sound.

"That I suppose could do the job Miss Klein, but unfortunately for you, chixonsdon't live in forested areas." The laughter continued, but it was more subtle.

"Since, you don't seem to have any idea what we've been discussing for the last forty five minutes," forty five minutes? Had it really been that long? "You, along with everyone else in this class with get a four parchment report on the subject," the class let out a groan, "Due tomorrow."

This time instead of groaning, everyone turned in her direction and sent her a look of disgust.

Having been completely humiliated, she looked back down at her paper only to find a drawing of Draco beginning to take shape. Drawing had always been one of her passions and it seemed only appropriate that when she let out her emotions they took the form of Malfoy.

Feeling all eyes on her, Snape relieved the pressure when he continued.

"Unless of course someone in here can tell me the appropriate answer to the question and then I might relieve you of the work."

Hermione's hand shot up at once. Snape looked around the classroom, almost desperately, hoping someone else would raise their hand. As usual, no one did, and he was left with his only option.

"Miss Granger?" he asked with a mixture of disappointment and annoyance in his voice.

"The importance of your surroundings when defending yourself against a chixonis that when a is about to attack it uses a poisonous spray that is emitted from a special gland located in the outer corners of each eye. To distract the creaturebefore it gets a chance to release the deadly substance, you must confuse it with the sound of a lysankerwhich is its only predator. The lysankercan be almost always be found lurking behind theazuliaplant which is distinctly recognizable by its blue rectangular leaves. You can provoke the lysankerby sending a minor hex its way which will in turn cause it to let out its shrill cry. Although the lysanker's crycan bedeadly for the chixon,it will not harm you. Therefore, onceithears its predators call, it will disperse, leaving you unharmed."

"Once again, Miss Granger, you have saved the class from an extensive homework assignment by reciting the book word for word. I sometimes wonder Miss Granger, if you actually understand this or any other subject, or if you just sit around all day memorizing each and every paragraph. However, seeing as you did answer the question correctly, the class will be spared the four parchment report." Everyone let out a sigh of relief, "But, I still want a two parchment report on the subject, due tomorrow."

As the students filed out of the classroom, Draco made a point to brush against Mary as her and Hermione were discussing the homework. She stopped and motioned for Hermione to stay.

"Way to go Klein," he spat, trying to show disgust. "You and your stupid remark almost got us a night of endless work. Fortunately for you, Granger here has an undying need to be better than everyone in her studies."

Mary shot him a look. He knew the rules of their agreement. Maybe she was stupid to believe he'd take them seriously.

"What!" Draco acted like it was an insult to his character. "That was supposed to be a compliment." This time Mary shot him a more of a, 'yeah, right' look, "At least, for Hermione." he said while trying to restrain laughter. "I mean seriously," he chuckled, "Hit it with a stick?" He looked at Mary like she was crazy as shetried to hide her embarrassment.

"Wait a minute," snapping out of her uncomfortable state she realized something, "You just called Hermione by her first name!" From the look on her face Hermione had alsoapparently noticed this little detail herself.

"So? You act like that's an unusual thing for two classmates to do. Hermione's a unique name, and I for one think people should say it more often." His attempt at benevolence was almost completely pathetic. It was like watching a lion try to pretend he didn't want to eat the juicy antelope sitting in front of him. "Well I better get going. I'll see you two ladies later."

After his departure, the two girls stood there quite unsure of what to make of the whole ordeal.

"Well, that was just about the weirdest thing I've ever experienced."

"I thinkI need to work on his social skills." Mary said looking over at her companion.

Hermioneagreed shaking her head, "Yeah that might be good."

Draco walked by himself on his way to the Slytherin Common room. This is going to be difficult, he thought. When he agreed to these terms he thought it would be relatively easy to be civil towards her friends, but he found himself trying to hard and actually attempting to compliment them (of course, with very little success)! God, he must've sounded like an idiot! What have I gotten myself into! Oh well, at least there's quidditch tomorrow. That will give me some relief. As he stepped into the portrait hole he found his usual crowd waiting for him.

"I can't believe you're actually dating that idiot!" Pansy shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I'm not dating her." Draco retorted. "We've only been on one date. That doesn't make us an official couple."

"Yeah, but didn't you say you were going out with her again this weekend?" Draco gave Crabbe a rather unpleasant look.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Oh yes it does! You like her Draco don't deny it. I know you."

Draco flopped down on the black leather couch in the center of the common room. He let out a sigh knowing this all to well.

"You don't go out on second dates! You ask a girl out on a date with no intention of ever going on a second one. You figure that one dates enough for her to give into your charms, and you'll hopefully have her in bed by the end of the night. Then, maybe, just maybe, you'll continue to fool around here and there and lead her on like you're interested in her. Then, when you're finished, you'll 'break up' with her and move on to your next target."

Draco just sat there taking it all in. She had basically narrated last school year word for word.

"It's scary how well you know me Pansy." She smiled in her smug little way, proud to know Draco's way of thinking. "You were almost on the dot, except for the bedding part. To be truthful, it never got that far. It was very close a number of times, but sadly I'm still fairly innocent. I just let people go on thinking what they want, so, I never made a fuss to correct them."

"Yeah, well, you're not like that with this one." She said it like it was a bad thing. "You act differently around her. It's almost like you forget who you are."

"She's right you know, mate." Blaise said as he flopped down next to Draco.

He looked around almost asking for help with his eyes. After meeting each of their faces, he buried his face in hands and breathed deeply.

"Look, I don't know about everyone else here, but I'm willing to go along with you on this. It's kinda weird and will take some getting used to, but I'm not gonna spoil our friendship over it. When you feel passionately about something it's best not to interfere. You just do what you think is best, whatever that is…"

"Thanks Blaise." Draco was surprised by this support. He thought of all of them as people to have around just for the sake of having around, but Zambini obviously though otherwise.

"Hmph!" Pansy let out a muffled cry and disappeared into the girl's dormitory.

Crabbe and Goyle both to stupid to make any major decisions for themselves went along with Blaise. They must have figured it would be better than siding with Pansy.

It was evening the next day, and Mary had gone looking for Draco to calm him after their loss to Gryffindor.

"You did your best and that's all that matters." She was walking swiftly behind him trying to keep up with his impressive speed. He stopped suddenly and turned around, causing her to collide with him.

"Sorry," she mumbled as he straightened her back up.

"If I did my best why did we loose!" his voice was full of anger.

"Because Harry's best was better." This wasn't what he wanted to hear and began to storm away again. "That came out wrong!" she called after him. She continued to chasse him down all the way into to great hall. "Quidditch is a team effort. You can't blame the loss totally on yourself! That's not fair."

"What's not fair is that we haven't won a game against Gryffindor in seven years!" he finally stopped walking, and yet again, turned to face her.

"I know losing sucks, but the whole point of sports is that they're supposed to be fun." He made a noise that sounded like some sort of distorted laugh. "I'm not joking. At home I'm on a basketball team and even though we have a great team we always loose to the same team over and over again. It's frus-"

"What's basketball?" he asked interrupting her.

"It's a muggle sport that's sort of like quidditch without brooms. You have to get a ball though a hoop and well….nevermind…I'll explain it in more detail later. The point is…Where was I?"

"You kept losing to the same team."

"Oh yeah, well it was frustrating, but it only made me work harder to accomplish my goal. I knew we could beat them if we just worked together, even though they beat us every time. I didn't give up though, because it was fun. I had a blast with my teammates and I loved the game. In my book, that's all that matters."

"So you've still never beaten them?" Mary couldn't help feeling he was getting nothing out of this conversation.

"Actually, during one of the last games of the season last year, we met up with them in the final round of this tournament we were in. We wanted first place more than anything and our coaches told us that we had the potential to beat them and that it was in our head. Well, he was right. We went on to beat them and win the tournament. The great part was we didn't just beat them, we creamed them. I think the final score was like seventy two to thirty five."

"I think I'd like to see you play basketball sometime." she smiled.

"You might, except for the fact that there'd be muggles everywhere."

"I guess that helped. It at least put my mind on other things." He took a seat at one of the tables and she sat down next to him. "You know, I think it's just because I've always been told I have to be the best. I'm just too conscious of that need to be number one. You know?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm not trying to relate this back to basketball, but my Grandma's an immigrant from the Philippines and they're brought up in a culture that really pushes for you succeed. I guess she also just wants more for me than she had during her life. She's always telling me that I have to be the best so I can get a college scholarship and go on to be in the WNBA. The Women's National Basketball Association," she said answering his puzzled look. "The thing is, I love basketball and everything, but it's not what I want to do for a living. Especially since realizing I'm a witch, college isn't that important anymore, but I still feel this need to prove myself and I feel pressured to make her proud. Am I making sense?" she felt like she was loosing him with her rambling.

"Perfectly, this almost sounds like my home life. It's kind of cool that we have so much in common when we come from such different backgrounds."

"Yeah, we practically grew up on opposite sides of the world for one." They looked around and noticed that more and more students were filing into the great hall.

"Well, I have a lot of homework to do, so I'll see ya towmorrow." Much to her surprise and to a few people around them, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Night," she smiled and actually got him to smile as well. She watched him walk in his casual manner out the great oak doors. She sat on the bench for a little while longer before retiring to her common room for the night.

---------

LiLjDpEgAsUsChIc160: Wow, I think that was my longest chapter! If any of you are wondering (probably not but...) those are all true stories. I'm trying to makethe charcteras true to myself as possible so I'm putting in whatI think I would say in certain situations & my sisters agree that I'm hitting it on the ball. So, by reading this you basically know me! (that's a scary thought) Well I hope you enjoyed it! I tried my best to get this chapter finished by Saturday like I promised, and I succeeded! I'm going to continue to try, but if for any reason I don't update weekly I'm sorry. I knowhow it is to wait for authors to update so I'm trying my best. I'm still getting used to this whole highschool thing so...

P.S. remember no bashing!