Draco Malfoy was seething, quietly, on the inside. It was Saturday, and he'd had to make an appearance as captain of the Quiddich team. Then he'd been required to be seen doing homework (as usual), and talking with Pansy, who was being her normal venomous self, casting spiteful aspersions towards any chit that dared even glance at him.
What Draco Malfoy wanted to do was be with Hermione Granger. Preferably embracing her, and perhaps, perhaps a bit more. But this was House Slytherin, and having secrets there was a weakness to begin with. He couldn't afford for people to know, even of a cold and thoughtfree engagement to a Mudblood. Actual feelings were like coating himself in blood in front of a ravenous werewolf.
No.
Hermione Granger had been staring at him at breakfast, for a good thirty seconds, before Potter intervened. And who'd have expected that? Draco Malfoy was used to seeing Potter as just as clueless as Ron Weasley. But - he had, after all, figured out what Draco and Granger's embrace had meant. That spoke better of him than Draco Malfoy was used to giving him credit for.
Pansy Parkinson was quick to cover for Granger, for which Malfoy would be eternally thankful. Her spiteful comment about the Mudblood desiring to sully his britches had the rest of the table in stiches (except for Nott, but he rarely laughed except at someone's screams, so that wasn't a sign of trouble). Nobody took Pansy Parkinson super seriously when she was "Marking her territory" around Draco Malfoy. Everyone knew that she was just as serious as you made her be - if you were deranged enough to actually make a play for Malfoy, she'd make you regret it. But all the passive aggressive bitchery was just signposting that, not an actual attack at all. It was "watch yourself" made spitely and manifestly plain to all and sundry. Even to Gryffindors who couldn't possibly have overheard her.
It was a bold move - more bold than was generally the done thing in Slytherin, but most children weren't introspective about anyone but themselves, so it mostly was simply an accepted feature of House Slytherin. Even in disgrace, Pansy's support meant that girls knew enough not to move in on him.
Of course, this made an affair with Granger - a relationship - even more prone to starting a gossipy conflagration than usual. Any Slytherin would run to tell Pansy, crafting their own cruel humor to see exactly how much they could pique and stoke her anger.
It was nearly to dinner before Draco Malfoy had had a thought. Remember those pins he'd made... what seemed years ago, to poke at Potter? Frowning, he started drawing up simple plans.
[a/n: And this is why I didn't write yesterday. They're spending the weekend apart, mostly because of Draco. Nobody cares where Hermione Granger is, really, except Harry, and Harry knows. Leave a review?]