A/N: Warning for a little language & minor descriptions of violence ahead.

I probably should have put this note at the start of chapter 1 buy hey-ho, I'm writing without a beta and with a limited amount of patience to check my own grammar and spelling so apologies in advance and in hindsight for any mistakes spotted in this or previous chapters.

She was on her feet in an instant, instinctively drawing herself up tall and matching his stance with her own wand pointing at his face. The dorm was still dark, the only light having been that from the hallway outside which he had extinguished with the click of the door. Her lips whispered a soft 'Lumos' of their own accord whilst every other fibre of her being was focused on the wizard across the room from her.

Draco loomed hauntingly in the corner of the room, a ghastly spectre made out of shadow whose only discernible feature in the limited light was his bright grey eyes that had narrowed in a stern stare at her. He stepped closer.. Slowly.. Threateningly..

Hermione's wand quivered under the grip she held it with but she would not drop her eyes from his. Her previous tears now frozen in place, not allowed to take a further step down her cheeks. In the the dim light Draco squinted, noticing them.

'Crying Granger? Pathetic..' he drawled out. His eyes stayed narrowed while hers turned hot and angry.

'Get the hell out of my room right now! What do you think you're doing!'

His eyes seemed to light up intently and, in complete disregard for her order, her stepped closer.

'Don't you dare order me around mudblood!' he spat. She watched him edge closer as though he wasn't real, and in that moment part of her thought he couldn't be. It didn't make any sense..

The closer he came to the light of her wand the more his features came into focus, his harsh jawline and pointed features stood out now and her eyes were drawn almost immediately to the purplish rings that decorated his sockets. From the darkness of them she would wager he hadn't slept well for at least a few days in a row.

Hermione raised her jaw defiantly and kept her face expressionless. She doubted whether outrage and anger was her best course of action here, it certainly wouldn't answer any of the questions she wanted to ask or, in that particular moment, scream at him.

He stopped his advance when their wand tips were level with each other, marking an invisible boundary between the two sides.

'Let me guess, you're pining over Weaselbee?' he taunted her.

She didn't acknowledge his attempt to start a conversation. 'Malfoy, the next words out of your mouth better explain why you're in my dorm..' She turned her hand, her wand glowing fiercely at him to punctuate the threat.

'Did he find about your little tryst with Longbottom?' Hermione didn't want to give him the satisfaction of steering this back around to her in any way, letting it be the second time his taunts went unheard.

'I don't know how you got in here, or why-' her quiet voice eventually managed to get out. She focused her strength on keeping it calm and level, without a trace of the anger or fear that pumped through her blood. '-but I want you to leave.'

Draco's eyes glinted maliciously at having her stumped. She noticed his own wand glow brighter and some instinctive sense of self preservation muttered the charm before she was even really sure she knew what he was about to do.

'Protego,' she whispered, stopping the non verbal curse he had been about to hit her with. Draco stilled and sneered at her in response.

She fired back almost instantly with a silent 'Expelliarmus' which Draco deflected just as easily.

'Really Granger?' he said, 'Don't be so fucking predictable.'

'What do you want Malfoy?' she shot back at him. He was showing no intention of leaving and based on the mess she had found her belongings in she could safely assume he had been looking for something. 'Make it an everyday hobby to go rummaging through people's belongings do you?'

'Why are you back so early?' he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at that, 'Are you seriously asking me that when you still haven't told me why you're in my room? I'm not the one out of line here in case you haven't noticed.'

His shoulders shrugged ever so slightly, the movement almost seeming involuntary.

In the hope she might catch him off guard she sent a silent jinx his way which he managed to deflect, only at the last second though, and it caused him to take a noticeable step away from her.

He fired two back at her in quick succession after which she simply held her shield charm up, half expecting him to throw a dozen more her way as soon as its protection lapsed.

Neither moved for a long moment, and the room quickly became tight and strained with the silence as each of them waited for the other. Facing across in their virtual stalemate, Hermione tried to blink as little as she could, half expecting him to try something again in those milliseconds her eyelids covered him from her view.

Draco broke the silence first, 'I'm not leaving without what I came for.' he darkly muttered, his feet once again making their way towards her as she instinctively shrunk back until she felt her bed covers brush the backs of her legs as she bumped against the frame.

'You can either tell me where it is on your own, or-' whilst still sneering at her Draco's wand made a small flicking motion in the air, '-I'll force it out of you.'

She blanched in disgust at the sheer confidence he seemed to think he conveyed. From her viewpoint, he looked like a petulant, entitled child about to lash out. He'd done nothing but bully her and all her friends over the years but this, invading her privacy and attacking her from the shadows, this was low even for him. She wanted to hurt him in that instant, feeling a familiar pull on her first to punch his face she hadn't truly felt since third year. Before she could even comprehend what she was doing it was already flying through the air, its intended target making no move to get out of the way even as she could see her hand's movements reflected in the light of his glowering eyes.

He caught her wrist before it made contact, encompassing her small fist with one of his hands and holding it in place for a moment in front of him as though he had just caught an irksome fly. Just as quickly, he dropped her hand as though it had burned him and his expression turned darker still.

'I still owe you for the last time,' he said, causing Hermione back away, '-and I strongly sense you won't be cooperating with me anytime soon-' he advanced again and without warning shoved her backwards. Her wand fell out of her grip as she went careering into her bed post, the firm wood met her head with such force that her vision began to swim, black, light, the colours of her walls, they all swam together in a jumbled mosaic while she reached a hand behind her to steady herself against the post. In the dim awareness she had left, she saw Draco's foot kick out and heard the clink of her wand rolling away across the floorboards under her bed.

Her side ached with the impact and her other hand crossed over to hold her hip, as if it could draw out all the pain simply by trying to hold herself together. A small moan escaped her lips and they remained parted in fear as she looked up to meet his eye. The fight still burned inside her but it was momentarily on the backfoot whilst she dealt with the pain she was already facing as opposed to whatever he might do to her. He didn't look on her with anything close to the triumph she had expected. Instead his expression had turned icily empty, as though attacking her with brute force didn't quite warrant the same level of celebration as if he had actually managed to best her in magic, something they both knew he longed to do and had yet to accomplish.

'What, uh-' she sighed heavily with the strain of trying to remain standing now, 'what were you looking for?'

'Your potion from Slughorn, give it to me.'

She froze in place. He couldn't possibly have known she was there with him earlier, could he? He had made no sign to indicate he was aware of anything out the ordinary at the time and she sure as hell didn't think he would have even gone in the room, revealing it's contents to her knowing she was there. No he would have confronted her there and then, she was sure of it.

Growing tired of waiting on her response, Draco dug his wand under her chin and nudged it upward until she was looking up into his face. 'Bring me it! Now!'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' she panted, the tip was digging painfully in the sensitive skin between her neck and chin and she fought the urge to shirk away any further, not wanting him to think he had her where he likely wanted her, afraid..

'Don't act like an idiot Granger, it doesn't suit you,'

She moved her hands back to her sides as she stared back blankly. 'I don't know what you're talking about,'

He let out something resembling a chuckle then but the facetious smile didn't reach his eyes as he laughed, 'It's almost like you actually want me to hurt you Granger, is that it?'

She panted softly, keeping her breaths shallow and hoping he didn't hear them.

Deciding to try another tack she challenged him back, 'How do you even know I still have it?'

For all he knew she'd only been given the one batch, it seemed bold of him to sneak into her room in the hopes of stealing the remaining bottles she had stashed safely away.

'Oh please,' he drawled, 'look at the state of you Granger. Just the same dismal mess of a mudblood you've always been. I know for a fact if you'd had even one sip of that stuff, that birds nest of a thing you call hair would've caught fire. Now that would be lucky,' he laughed darkly.

She had drawn up to her full height again, but at his words comprehension and relief simultaneously flooded through her and she tried not to smile.

'You want my prize?' she said in disbelief, 'You've somehow snuck in here, started a fight with a prefect, and for what? My liquid luck? Christ Malfoy, talk about dramatics.' It was her turn to laugh then, and it only caused Draco to dig his wand deeper into her neck. She stopped in case he genuinely was deranged enough to stab her with it.

He glowered as his wand slowly left her neck, but he didn't lower it completely, leaving the lingering threat clear for her.

'This is the last time I'll ask nicely, bring it to me now.' he said.

She had a few moments to weigh her options up, on the one hand she could simply give it to him and be done with it, she would simply keep up spying on him and soon enough find out what he wanted to use it for. Then again she knew how Felix worked, her following him would without doubt be counted as a hindrance to his plans and she couldn't be sure it wouldn't somehow prevent her from finding him, his luck would only help him evade her.

The idea of keeping it from him was equally distasteful, though she was sure she could probably keep him busy long enough for the rest of her housemates to get back and force him to leave, she wouldn't put it past him to try the same thing again another night.

Her pride paired with common sense prevented her from calling out for Neville, who she was sure would hear her in the quite tower, even if he was still in the common room. He wouldn't be able to get up the stairs even if she wanted him to and the thought of acting a damsel in distress in front of Malfoy turned her stomach.

She had another thought and figured it was her safest option, though she did come to it reluctantly since it seemed a waste. 'Fine, whatever gets you out of my sight fastest!' his arrogance as he smirked with satisfaction at her response only cemented her decision.

'Well?' he sighed impatiently, expecting her to simply tell him where to find it.

'I'll need to get it myself, it's in my Safe Touch box.' She glanced down indicating she would need to get on her knees to find it under her bed.

Draco nodded but kept his wand on her as she crept low to the floor and ducked her head to see the mess under her bed from his earlier search.

She made out the smallest glimpse of her wand handle from where it had rolled under the bed earlier and could almost brush it with her finger tips as she made to reach for the box.

She didn't dare use anything else to reach for it, knowing Draco would hear it's tell tale clink on the floor and would make his move before she would even have it back in her grasp.

She wouldn't need it yet anyway.

At her touch, the box's lid nudged open and she could see her potions and the map peak out in the faint light still cast be his wand.

Her fingers carefully pulled the Felix Felicis out and she made sure to push the lid firmly closed after her. The thought of Draco finding out about, and potentially stealing, the map from her would be catastrophic. In the wrong hands, she knew that map could be very dangerous.

As she tentatively ducked back out from under the bed, getting to her feet to stand before him again, her thumb was already positioned at the rim of the bottle's stopper.

His smirk and wand both in the same place she had last seen them, his other hand now outstretched, palm open waiting for her to deliver. She returned his smirk as, with an inaudible click, the stopper came free of the potion clasped in her hand, falling to the floor with a quiet clunk and causing his eyes to shoot down. It gave her the split second advantage she needed and before Draco's eyes snapped back up, the bottle was already at her lips and she knocked the lot back.

It was almost poetic, the dawning realisation on his face crept in parallel to the speed at which she could feel the golden potion trickling down her throat.

Feeling the effects almost instantly Hermione confidently licked her lips and quirked an eyebrow up at him challengingly.

'You little bitch-' Draco started, aiming his wand back up to her face, though she still registered the threat of the impending curse Hermione's gut told her to goad him into it anyway.

'You know, Draco,' she internally blanched at using his first name for possibly the first time to his actual face but outwardly continued as if it meant nothing to her. Why did she use his name? 'I get you're a bully, I think we've all come to expect the worst from you by now-' his wand was gradually glowing bright and brighter, now almost a blinding electric white that reminded her of the lightning from weeks ago and her eyes went wide straining against the brightness of it.

Her voice turned darker, the disgust she felt for him evident in her words. '-But this is the second time, at least that I know of, you've attacked a girl with your bare hands let alone with magic. You repulse me and-' She took a breath as she felt his curse bubbling below the surface of his screwed up expression, for some reason she knew she was right to rile him. '-Coward is too good a word for what you are.'

It hit her like a bullet, if he had spoken at all she didn't register. She saw a blur of the colours of her dorm room, the red and gold in the drapes and curtains exaggerated by the ruby glow of his curse as it hit her.

She screamed out as she hit the wall behind her, sinking quickly to her floor the pain in her side from earlier suddenly flooding back into her senses as her legs splayed out in front of her. She felt her skirt ride up almost to her thigh and quickly tugged to pull it back down.

'I would never lay my hand on a girl,' he spat, '-and before you butt in with that smart ass mouth of yours I don't consider you as anything other than the filthy abomination you are,'

His words washed over her like a cool, familiar breeze, barely making her sway as she raised her eyes to meet his.

'I know you hurt Pansy,' she said, looking to see if his face betrayed any hint of feeling: shock, remorse, anger.. If there was it was hidden far beneath the surface, far beyond her reach to see. 'I found her after your little, fight, in the library. You're a spineless ferret and you're lucky she didn't want to report you or-'

He quickly interrupted, 'This is the second time I've had to tell you this, so let me make this as plain as I can-'

He moved around the front of her bed, making his way towards her, each footstep enunciating his words as he slowly spoke, 'you-don't-know-the-first-thing-about-me,'

She wanted to get away from him and looked around to find the easiest exit. Felix, however, told her body to stay put so that's what she did, letting him make his way over without taking her eyes off him. As he drew near, he crouched down to bring their eyes level, using his wand again to tilt her head up.

'Nor-do-I-want-to..' she mimicked him and tilted her head.

He grabbed her by the collar of her jumper and tugged her close, 'You know what Granger? I'm starting to think Slughorn gave you a dud there - from where I'm standing doesn't seem as though luck is on your side,

With a fierce grunt he tossed her behind him, letting his grip lessen only at the last second so she hit the base of her bed again with a thump.

From where she had landed she felt her fingers brush the handle of her wand and she doubled over, using the pain to disguise her movement as she grasped the handle and pulled it close to her body, still out of his sight.

She knew she had the means and the strength to hit back at him now and given the potion she knew she would not miss, her magic was already surging back through her veins, her rage at him desperate for an outlet.

But her instinct was to wait one more moment, again she had to trust in what Felix was telling her here. What was her endgame again exactly? She no longer felt her primary goal was to escape, she already had the ability to do that any second she wanted to. She thought instead of her wider goal, of her conversation and task given by McGonagall. She thought of desperately needing to know what he was up to. Could she ask him now? With Felix on her side she wondered briefly if there was even the smallest chance he could be tricked into giving something away.

The words that came out of her mouth seemed to take her just as much by surprise as Draco, 'You could always just brew your own, although I doubt you'd stand half a chance without someone who knew what they were doing to help you.'

Why did she say that? He looked down at her crouched below him, one hand still gripping her side and hiding her wand from his view, the other clutching the handle as it started to shake with her effort to remain calm, knowing she had the upper hand but needing to remain looking weak and defeated.

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, 'I hope you don't mean yourself do you? Filthy little-'

'Flipendo!' she yelled, Draco's expression quickly turning to one of complete shock as he went flying backwards, hitting the door with a deafening thud that she knew would be be heard down below. Even in the common room, she knew there was no way Neville wouldn't have heard that bang, if he had already gone to bed the noise would've been right above his dorm.

Draco glared and was quickly getting to his feet again and was starting to make his way back over to her when they both heard the faint call below them, 'Mione! You ok up there?' Neville's voice came from below. He sounded like he was on the landing below them, outside his room.

Draco sneered at Hermione who looked from the door to him, then back again, silently waiting for him to decide how he wanted to play this.

He seemed to make his decision reluctantly, reaching into his robes and quickly whipping out a small flask that he took a hasty swig from, the disgust of the taste evident from the shake of his head as he swallowed it down.

Before her eyes he doubled over, his skin bubbling and transforming. His pale blonde hair began to grow, tumbling down over his shoulders which themselves were starting to shrink and turn inwards, his broad chest narrowing as he shrunk down until he was almost to her level where she was still huddled on the floor by her bed.

His robes brushed the floor, swamping his petite frame as he raised his face, the features of the thin young first year with the long plaits who had grabbed Hermione's attention on the first night of term stared back at her, lips turned upwards in a smirk that had no place amongst the rest of her tiny, delicate features. It horrified Hermione.

'Mione!' Neville was already calling again. 'Do you need help? I can get someone?' She kept her eyes trained on Draco, watching for any reaction on his part. He didn't move a muscle, it seemed he too was waiting to see how his adversary wanted to play this out.

Still pumping confidently through her veins, as it would continue to do for the next few hours at least, Felix laid out her words for her and she knew she needed to go along with whatever it prompted her to do. She felt as though she was looking down a long road, too foggy to make out the destination or what lay on the path ahead of her but her gut told her the path itself was the right one, whether she could see where it lead or not. She trusted in the potion and smiled sweetly at Draco as she called back to Neville who was now repeatedly shouting her name.

'I'm fine Neville,' she shouted.

'Wha- you sure?' he called back.

'Yes. Nothing I can't handle.' she watched Draco's eyes narrow but continued to smile at him, though it didn't reach her eyes.

'Okay..' Neville's reply came, still a shadow of uncertainty in his tone but he seemed to accept her answer. 'Everyone else might not be back for a while yet so just.. shout me if you need anything okay?'

'I will, thanks Neville!'

Draco had stayed silent and still throughout, but as he heard the close of Neville's door below, he moved towards her, somehow looking a lot less menacing under the effects of the Polyjuice potion but the image still unsettled her. It didn't look right for the young Gryffindor girl to be stalking towards her with her wand raised, clearly armed to attack again from the way she held it out in front of her.

'You won't land a single blow on me now Draco, we both know how Felix works...'

Why on earth did she keep having the urge to use his name?

'I'm just wondering-' she continued, keeping her tone just the right balance between suspicion and innocent curiosity, '-what's so important for you to succeed in, that you felt the need to stoop this low,' she waved her hand, gesturing to his new disguise.

He scoffed, 'Like I'm going to say another word to you about any of this.. Are you incapable of keeping your nose out of everyone else's business Granger?'

'Pretty rich coming from someone who's just spent their Saturday night rifling through my room,' she commented.

He gave a quick glance back to the door, probably making sure his escape route was clear, she thought.

She felt an urge to push the point home, 'I know it's nothing to do with cheating in the Quidditch cup, since you're not even part of the team now...' She used the little strength she had left to push herself to her feet, raising her wand to meet his again. 'We've got no exams coming up anytime soon,' she mimicked his earlier threatening prowl over to her, and took her steps slowly, calculatedly.

'So I'll ask you again, before I hex you out of my sight...' her mouth turned upwards, the smile in complete contradiction to her tone, 'Why did you need to steal it?'

His mouth set in a hard line and she could tell he wasn't going to give her anything.

She gave him a good few moments to leave of his own accord, but when it was clear he might have stayed there indefinitely she took matters into her own hands.

With a swift swish of her wand, she sent him flying backwards, but making sure he landed softly in front of the door as she opened it wordlessly for him. He looked back over at her, the contempt clear on his face.

'Accio Polyjuice,' she called softly, the flask sailing through the air into her outstretched hand before Draco could make a grab for it.

'How dare you!' he hissed, 'Give that back to me now you little m-' he seemed to catch himself just in time as his voice rose, remembering that Neville was only the floor below him now.

She walked over to him, waving her wand to light the lamps on all the bedside tables. The glow and heat of the room coming to life behind her, gave her the strength to finish this with the authority she needed to.

'Don't you ever try anything like this again.' she told him, the warning in her voice apparent.

He sneered back at her and turned to leave, 'This isn't over mudblood,'

'Keep calling me that... I don't really care anymore. You had an eleven year head start on me before I knew anything at all about this-' she gestured with her hand around them, 'world. Funny how you've never beaten me at anything, even with that advantage, isn't it?' she cocked her head to the side.

'Not everything is a fucking competition Granger,' he snarled quietly, the language coming out of the small girl's mouth taking Hermione by surprise as she had to remind herself who she was speaking to.

'I never said it was,' she replied quietly as his foot hovered over the first stair. 'Just pointing out that whatever you needed to use the potion for, I would probably manage the same thing just fine without it,'

His back was to her but she definitely noticed the moment's pause as he heard her words before the darkness of the stairs consumed his retreating figure. Only after she heard the faint swing of the common room door open and close for him did she retreat back to her room, securing the door safely behind her as she finally gave in to her own exhaustion. She would have to ask the Fat Lady to replace Diligrout with another password for tomorrow. Hermione had no doubt in her mind that Draco had been the 'poor little girl' the lady had told her and Neville about.

She collapsed onto the bed and with a concerted effort pulled her legs up to stretch them out properly, muttering a simple healing charm and feeling the force of it work through her muscles and bones as it repaired the damage that both Draco had just inflicted plus what she still had lingering from earlier that morning with the pixies.

Although she was usually fairly competent at healing charms she had never been able to fully perfect them before, but with the magic of the potion to empower her the charm was performed masterfully, much stronger than she had ever been able to previously cast. Each pain and dull ache vanished as she worked her magic, softly tracing the tip of her wand in a small figure of eight up and down her side. She reached behind her head to see if there was any damage from Draco's earlier curse throwing her back into the wall. She stared numbly at a few droplets of blood and quickly encircled her head as she continued casting. The encroaching headache that had been beginning to brew in the back of her vision receded and with relief she place her wand and her head down as she reclined back against her pillows.

Her face relaxed and for the first time since entering her room she let her breathing resume a normal pace.

She sat like that for a good half hour, pondering over what had just happened and finding that, although she didn't yet know the fully story, she now knew enough to start piecing the picture together, an admittedly blurry picture at this stage though it may be.

She knew Draco was using the room of requirement to work on the cabinet. She knew he was clearly struggling to complete whatever it was he was trying to achieve, hence the need for the potion. Then finally, given the things Felix had encouraged her to say, she knew that she had just implanted the idea in his head that he could use her to help him. If and how he might decide to act on the idea would have to remain a mystery to her, she only hoped Felix knew what he was doing because she certainly didn't.