A/N: Hello, all. Just a few quick notes. I really appreciate the feedback I have gotten from you all so far. A couple of people mentioned the Vanishing Cabinet already making an appearance. I went back and forth on that one, but I decided to go ahead and throw it into play. I don't really plan to go back to it too much, the important thing is that it's a thing. This chapter is a little low on Dramione action, there is a little more 'scene setting' to be done. There may be a lot of hitting and swearing on both sides, but I swear we'll get there.

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"But there really isn't much difference between love and hate. They both get out of control easily, and one turns into the other."
Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

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The clock in Hermione's Head Girl dormitory chimed ten o'clock.

Hermione was sitting curled up in an armchair by the fireplace with a half-empty cup of oolong tea perched next to her and a novel open in her lap. She was dressed in her favorite pair of black leggings and gray camisole; it was the perfect night in but she was having trouble focusing. Every time she tried to start over, her mind started drifting and she always settled back on the same thought.

She had a niggling suspicion that she may have underestimated Draco Malfoy.

She had always considered him to be narcissistic, arrogant, and spoiled. Intelligent, sure, but not as much as she was. Good looking, but that was beside the point.

But now she realized something else: he was a master manipulator.

Close observation of Draco Malfoy over the two weeks since that first Head meeting had made Hermione realize just how good of an actor he was. Draco could impress the boys and charm the girls. He could impress the teachers - his appointment as Head Boy after Lucius was outed as a Death Eater was proof enough of that - and espouse Pureblood rhetoric all while making you think it was your own fault for being Muggle-born.

All of this, of course, didn't change anything. She still hated him. It only meant that Hermione was going to have to keep a really close eye on him this year. Dark Mark or not, Hermione felt in her bones that Draco was somehow involved with the Death Eaters. Hermione just had to make sure that if he tried anything, the only person he took down was himself. And it would serve him right, too. She wouldn't even feel bad for him.

And yet…her brain wouldn't be quiet.

Does the monster start out a monster? Or is he made into one by the people around him?

There was a knock on her door. "Hermione?"

It was Ginny. Hermione got up and unlocked her portrait door for the younger girl to come in. "Hey, what's...oh my God I forgot."

Ginny was dressed in her Quidditch uniform, and she had added golden streaks to her flaming red hair. "You forgot the party? Gryffindor's first match is tomorrow!"

"Oh, that I remember. You guys haven't let me forget all week. Come in, just let me change right quick."

Hermione closed the portrait behind Ginny and watched as the younger witch stomped across the room and flopped down across one of her chairs. "Nervous?"

Ginny looked up and snorted. "About Ravenclaw? Hardly. Have you seen their team practice? Their Seeker couldn't find the Snitch if it was hovering in front of her nose, and their Chasers drop the Quaffle more than they pass it."

"Then what's with the dramatic entrance?" Hermione asked as she opened her wardrobe. She quickly changed into a pair of dark jeans and a red scalloped top. She considered herself in the mirror, then swept her hair up into a loose bun.

"That obvious?"

"You're about as subtle as Peeves with a group of first years." Hermione said. "So spill."

"It's Dean." Ginny sighed. "I left him outside in the courtyard."

Hermione caught her eye reflected in the mirror. "At this hour? Ginevra Weasley!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't get excited. He keeps trying to help me through doors."

"And that sounds very rude of him." Hermione said teasingly. She pulled her bun down. "Come put some gold in my hair too."

Ginny stood up and pulled out her wand. "What it is, is infuriating."

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need more to go on here." Hermione said.

Ginny threaded Hermione's hair through her left hand and began waving her wand with her right. "I mean literally, he keeps trying to open doors for me. And he helps me through those doors. And he walks me up the stairs. There are times when he has me half convinced that if I try to do anything by myself I'll shatter."

"Well, he's trying to show that he cares about you."

Ginny shook her head and grabbed another section of hair. "It's suffocating. I mean, I get it, we're all freaked out with You-Know-Who being back, but he's hardly likely to try and storm the castle while Dumbledore's here. And it's not like I'm fragile. I mean, I fought at the Ministry!"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, and telling Dean about how that Death Eater had you caught with his wand pointed at your head probably has a lot to do with all of the door opening."

"But Dean wasn't even there! Harry was, and Harry doesn't treat me like…" Ginny seemed to realize what she was saying and clamped her mouth shut.

"Like a helpless little girl?" Hermione finished for her. She turned her head left and right. "This looks great, Ginny."

"Thanks." Ginny stepped back so Hermione could finish getting ready. "You know, Harry has never treated me like I'm weak. Not after I was possessed by You-Know-Who, or even when I broke my ankle last year."

"That's because you're not weak." Hermione said as she rustled through her shoes. She pulled out a pair of black flats.

"Could you tell Dean that for me?" Ginny wrinkled her nose. "You know, a pair of heels would make that outfit perfect."

Hermiome stuck her tongue out at the younger girl. "So I can break my own ankle trying to get back here tonight after they break out the firewhiskey?"

"There won't be any firewhiskey there. It's a school party."

"If I know Seamus, there will be." Hermione predicted. "Shall we?"

By the time they got to the Gryffindor common room, the party was in full swing. Gold and crimson streamers hung from the ceiling, and an image of a large lion paced back and forth on one of the walls and roared periodically over the music was being magically amplified from a small radio on the bookshelf. The large table in front of the fireplace was covered in Chocolate Frogs, pumpkin pasties, and so many other sweets all lumped together that Hermione couldn't possibly identify them all. Off to the side was a large cask of butterbeer and several steins that refilled themselves as soon as they were emptied.

"Do you see Harry anywhere?" Hermione yelled at Ginny.

She shook her head. "Just look for the giant crown!"

"The what?!"

"Giant crown. Parvati and Lavender made this monstrosity of a hat for Harry to wear since he's captain this year. It's this enormous golden crown with a lion right in the center that shouts things like 'Ravenclaw stinks' and 'Potter for Minister'. I can't decide if it's terrifying or brilliant." Ginny shouted.

Hermione scanned the crowd and her jaw dropped. "Oh, it's brilliant. Definitely brilliant."

Harry was backed into a corner and surrounded by at least five people. He had a large badge with a golden C pinned onto his Quidditch uniform and the crown on his head was easily twice the size Hermione had been picturing in her head. Hermione could overhear people shouting Quidditch strategies at him, and Hermione spotted Romilda Vane at his side trying to coax him into eating a large pumpkin pasty. Hermione waved, and he spotted the two of them and slipped through the crowds. "Oh my God, some sanity at last!" He said as he sped over.

"So what did Parvati and Lavender have to threaten you with to get you to wear this thing?!" Hermione laughed as she gave Harry a hug.

Harry shook his head. "Well, it wasn't as much that they threatened me, exactly, but they did mention that if I didn't wear this thing that I might be finding out more about Fred and George's WonderWitch products than I might care to."

The three of them laughed.

By two o'clock in the morning, most of the Gryffindor students had gone to bed. Hermione and Ginny had moved with the boys up into their dormitory and were currently on their fifth round of Exploding Snap. It had started innocently enough, but halfway through the second round, Seamus had decided to make things interesting by breaking out his hidden stash of firewhiskey ("Ha!" Hermione had whispered to Ginny). It sounded simple: everytime the cards exploded, they all had to take a drink. The problem was they were playing Bavarian Style, and the cards exploded quite a lot.

Three empty bottles later, they were all thoroughly tipsy.

"Seamus! The goal is to make the cards not explode, not set them off yourself!" Ginny shrieked as she ducked for cover and the deck in the middle of the room exploded yet again.

"Just keeping everyone on their toes!" Seamus cried. He was missing half of an eyebrow. "You know the rules!"

They all drank, and Hermione made a face as the liquor burned her throat. She cleared her throat. "I guess it's time to call it a night, we're all out. Plus some of us," She glared with mock severity, "Are going to have to be able to fly tomorrow!"

Harry waved his hand dismissively. "We'll be fine. This won't the first time half of the team shows up with a hangover, and it's not going to be the last either."

Hermione covered her ears. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. You guys are making me look like a terrible Head Girl!"

Seamus stumbled slightly as he leapt to his feet. "Wait! Let's have a nightcap before you go."

Ginny groaned. "Seamus Finnegan, there is no way you could possibly have any more alcohol hidden in this dormitory."

"Want to bet on that?" Dean grinned as Seamus began digging around under his bed.

Seamus pulled a dark bottle wrapped in paper out from under his bed. "My cousin sent this to me a few days ago. I was going to save it for the holidays, but what the hell. Who's in? Everyone? Good."

Seamus popped the bottle open and poured a generous amount of mead into each glass. Hermione raised her cup to her lips but Seamus cried, 'Wait! We have to toast to something!"

"Like what?" Ginny asked, swaying slightly and leaning against Dean's legs for support.

"How about our Quidditch team? Ravenclaw doesn't stand a chance!"

"I'll drink to that!" Harry cried.

"To our Head Girl!"

"To Slughorn, may God have mercy on his soul!"

"To Ron, may he not be eaten by a dragon!"

"Cheers!" Seamus downed his glass. He almost instantly looked like he was going to be sick and started to cough.

"Guess it's a good thing you save this for Christmas!" Dean laughed as Seamus' eyes bulged.

It took about half a heartbeat for Hermione to realize something was wrong. She jumped to her feet as Ginny raised her glass. "One more to Gryffindor! Ravenclaw isn't going to know what hit them!"

"Seamus!"

Seamus collapsed. Foam started spewing out of his mouth as his body jerked uncontrollably. Dean dove for his friend and knocked everything out of the way of his flailing limbs. "Do something!" He roared.

"Like what?!" Neville cried.

"Anything!"

"Throw your drinks away!" Hermione ordered. "I think it's the mead!"

Seamus was starting to turn blue. "We've got to do something fast, I don't think he can breathe!"

Harry was staring at Hermione like he was struggling to remember something. "Oh!" He gasped. He dove under his bed and pulled out his Potions kit. He started rummaging through the bag and tossing out ingredients. "Where are you...where are you..."

"I'm going to get Professor McGonagall!" Ginny shouted. She leapt to her feet and ran out of the dormitory.

"Get him on his side!" Hermione ordered. She and Dean struggled to turn Seamus and keep him as still as they possibly could.

"Here!" Harry yelled triumphantly. He crawled towards Seamus and Hermione caught a glimpse of a small stone in his fist. Bezoar.

Harry shoved the stone in Seamus' mouth and clamped it shut. Seamus' body gave one more jerk and then lay still. Slowly, they rolled him over so he was laying on his back. They could just see the faint rise and fall of his chest.

Harry broke the silence with a slightly unhinged laugh. "See, I do know a few things."

"I don't ever want to hear Snape give you a hard time in Potions again." Hermione said in a low voice.

There was the sound of a door banging open and Professors McGonagall and Snape rushed into the dormitory. "Oh my goodness!" McGonagall exclaimed as she saw Seamus' unconscious body.

"He's alright now." Neville said breathlessly. "Harry shoved a bezoar down his throat."

"Clever." Snape said, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He knelt down to check Seamus' pulse, and nodded at McGonagall. "He's stable."

"Does anyone care to explain what happened here? And why are there female students in the boys dormitory?" McGonagall asked severely as she took in the scattered cups and bottles along with the five guilty faces.

Hermione could feel her skin crawling; she hated when she got in trouble with her teachers. She was Head Girl, she should never have let this escalate, much less taken part in it. "I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall." She spoke up. "We should have known better."

"We just wanted to let off a little steam." Dean said forlornly.

McGonagall gestured at the mess. "A little steam?"

"It's just been so difficult since we've been back, with You-Know-Who at large." Ginny said. She was still trying to catch her breath from running to get the teachers.

"And the first Quidditch match is tomorrow...we just wanted to relax a little bit. I guess we got a little out of hand." Harry said.

Hermione walked over to the bottle that Seamus had dropped when he collapsed. "Seamus pulled this out from under his bed. He said his cousin sent it to him. He poured some for all of us but he drank his before the rest of us, and that's when he started seizing."

"May I see that?" Snape reached for Hermione. She handed him the bottle wordlessly and watched as the Potions master sniffed the mouth of the bottle and traced its outline with his wand. He pulled something out of the folds of his robe and dropped it into the bottle. A puff of sickly grey smoke billowed out. "Well, Severus?" McGonagall asked.

Snape looked up from his work and at the assembled students with thinly veiled distaste. "The boy will be fine. Potter made the correct call in administering a bezoar before his condition could become critical. He will need to go to the hospital wing for a few days, but I believe he will make a full recovery."

"And the mead?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself.

Snape looked at her. "I can't tell you much more than it seems to be laced with baneberry. Unfortunately, that is a common enough poison that I cannot identify the source without further investigation."

"We will get Mr. Finnegan to the hospital wing. Miss Weasley, Miss Granger, you will go straight to your dormitories immediately and we will discuss this further in the morning." McGonagall shooed the students into activity. Hermione leapt to her feet but Dean got to the door first and opened it. Ginny dearly looked like she wanted to say something to him, but McGonagall was hovering behind them and the two girls kept their heads down and practically fled to their respective dormitories. The last thing that Hermione saw before she left the common room was Snape levitating Seamus' unconscious body and floating it down the stairs. If she hadn't known better, she'd think it was a corpse.

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Ginny had been right about Ravenclaw's Quidditch team. Even Hermione could tell that their Chasers were awful; she'd never seen Madame Hooch have to retrieve the Quaffle so much in a single match. Gryffindor took an early 70-10 lead and she could see Harry hovering over the match keeping an eye out for the Snitch, but she knew he wouldn't catch it too early. Even if Hermione didn't care much for Quidditch, she could appreciate strategy: he wanted to let his Chasers drive the score up as much as they could before the game ended, giving them some wiggle room when it came time to face the more formidable Slytherin team.

Speaking of the Slytherin Quidditch team, she could see Draco and the other Slytherins in the tower next to hers and she could only assume they were gathering intel on Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Draco and Theo Nott, at least, were very invested in the match. They were alternating between scanning the skies and pointing at the match and scribbling furiously in a small notebook. She saw Pansy Parkinson with her head resting in Blaise Zabini's lap, and she felt a small twinge of satisfaction that she and Draco were no longer together.

The score was now 120-30 to Gryffindor. She saw Harry make a sudden sharp dive and the crowd gasped, and all of a sudden he was diving under his bed again and Hermione was looking at Seamus heaving on the ground and turning blue. What would have happened if Harry hadn't had a bezoar handy? Snape had said the mead was laced with baneberry, and Hermione knew perfectly well that baneberry was accessible to everyone. It was even kept in the dungeon storerooms, although it was protected by both charm and key. But who would want to poison Seamus?

She glanced back over at the other tower. The easy answer was Malfoy. He was the only person Hermione could think of that would have the guts and the cleverness to sneak poison into Gryffindor tower. But after he had called her out for jumping to conclusions with Dennis Creevey she could hardly accuse him of poisoning Seamus without proof.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle. The match was over, 270-40. The Pitch was suddenly flooded with red and gold, with dozens of students waving their arms yelling "Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"

Hermione could see the Slytherins pretending to vomit as they got up to leave and she made an impulsive decision. She took advantage of the chaos and tugged on Neville's sleeve. "I've got to go! I'll meet you guys in the common room to celebrate!"

He was too busy yelling to do anything but nod at her. Hermione jumped down from her seat and slipped through the packed rows and she practically flew down the stairs and around to the next tower. She caught the Slytherins just as they were reaching the bottom of the stairs.

"Malfoy."

Draco's eyes narrowed at the sight of her. "Yes, Granger?"

"We need to talk."

Pansy sneered at her. "Get out of the way, Mudblood."

"Not today, Pansy." Hermione said shortly. "I don't know if it's possible for a house to have negative house points, but push me enough and we can find out."

Pansy dearly looked like she wanted to call Hermione's bluff, but Draco raised his hand. "Go ahead, guys. I've got this."

Zabini snuck his arm around Pansy's waist and pulled her away. The rest of the Slytherins followed, but Hermione kept her eyes on Draco. "Pansy and Blaise, huh?"

Draco shrugged. "There's no accounting for taste."

"Are they gone?"

Draco nodded.

"Good." She snatched his wand and held it out of his reach.

"What's your damage, Granger?" Malfoy exclaimed. He lunged for his wand but Hermione stepped backwards and stuck out her foot. He tripped just enough to hit his thigh on the rail and he swore loudly.

"You. Me. Over there. Now." Hermione said through clenched teeth.

"You're crazy. Give me my wand!"

She shook her head. "Not until we have a little talk. And by talk, I mean I talk and you listen, got it?"

She turned on her heel, Draco's wand still firmly in her grasp. She walked briskly through the stands and away from the Pitch with Draco following close behind her and somehow managing to look both murderous and bewildered.

She marched into the castle and stopped at a small alcove and grabbed Draco by the arm and shoved him in. "Muffliato." She muttered, and then she turned to face him.

Draco stuck out his chin in defiance. "Alright, now spill, Granger. You're acting even crazier than normal, and for you that's saying a lot."

"I swear to God, Malfoy, I am so not in the mood for your attitude. Not this time. Calling us names and belittling our bloodlines is one thing. But this time you're gone too far, someone's going to end up getting seriously hurt, or worse!"

Draco rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Would you mind being a little clearer about what I've supposedly done this time?"

Hermione let out a small snarl and stamped her foot. "Seamus was poisoned last night! He's in the hospital wing."

Draco shrugged. "And this relates to me how, exactly?"

"He had a bottle of mead. He said his cousin sent it to him but Snape said the bottle had been tampered with. We all nearly drank it."

"We? You guys were drinking in the dormitories? And here I thought Gryffindors were a bunch of goody-goodys!" Draco laughed. He lunged again for his wand but Hermione ducked and punched him in the arm. "So not the point!" She said shrilly.

Draco winced as he rubbed his arm. He should have learned by now. Hermione hardly classified as a weak girl, that hurt. "Then do you mind getting to the bloody point so I can have my wand back?"

"Was it you?" She demanded

Draco shook his head. "No."

"You had better not be lying to me. Who else could it have been?"

Draco rolled his eyes. Was he really going to have to spell it out for her? "Look, Granger, you're supposed to be smart so think about it. First, of all the people at Hogwarts I could possibly want to target...Potter...you...why would I pick Finnegan?"

"He was passing the bottle around. Any of us could have drank it. We nearly did, he just downed his first."

Draco nodded. "Exactly. So again, think, Granger. And give me a little credit. If I wanted to take someone out, and you guys really do tempt me sometimes, do you really think I'd pick something so clumsy as a poisoned bottle of mead that you might drink out of?"

He saw her visibly relax as she processed what he said. "Well then, if it wasn't you, then who was it?"

Draco shook his head. "I don't know. But I do think it was someone here at Hogwarts."

She crossed her arms. "Really? And how do you figure that, exactly?"

"Security has been tightened tenfold this term. Everything is being screened and searched; there's no way a bottle of poison could make it through all of the protections Dumbledore has rigged up without being detected. So whoever did this messed with the bottle once it got to the castle, but before it got to Finnegan."

"You seem to know a lot about this." Hermione said suspiciously.

Draco shrugged. "A guy has to get his firewhiskey somehow."

Boys. She thought with a barely suppressed smirk. But the smile froze on her face as she realized two things simultaneously. One, she believed him. She couldn't explain how, but she knew that Draco had not tampered with the mead. And two, that meant there was likely someone else at Hogwarts who tried to poison them, and she didn't have a clue who it could be. And like he said, a bottle of poisoned mead was sloppy. That meant the person was either reckless or didn't care who they hurt. That made them dangerous.

For a moment, they just looked at each other. Her face twitched. "I hate it when you're smarter than me."

"I'm sure it's just a fluke." Draco said. "Now, my wand?"

Hermione handed him the blackthorn wand. Draco snatched it back, and their hands touched briefly. He didn't say anything else, but as he walked away she saw him flex the hand that had brushed hers, like he was trying to remove any lingering trace of her. And although she would never admit it to anyone, the thought stung.