A/N: Hello, everyone! Still here and still writing! I had to step away for a little bit because I had myself trapped in a box, but I hope you all are staying safe and continue to R&R!
XxXxX
"No one can hate you more than someone who used to love you."
-Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus
XxXxX
Draco was enjoying a rare moment of solitude.
It was early Monday morning, and he was sitting alone in the Great Hall with his feet propped up on the chair next to him. He had a black coffee in one hand and the Daily Prophet in the other, and he was casually flipping through the pages. He took a sip of his coffee and after a moments' consideration he dropped the paper in his lap and reached across the table for a cherry croissant. But as soon as his fingers touched the pastry it turned black and crumbled into dust. He stared at it for a moment, then reached for a different croissant. Once again, it turned black and dissolved. He thought he heard a snicker and looked up. His eyes scanned the Great Hall and settled on the Ravenclaw table. His date from the other night, Madra, was glaring at him, and he could see her half-concealed wand pointing his direction. He held her gaze for a moment, then pushed the plate away from him, propped his legs up on the table, and opened his paper again.
All of a sudden his mug was yanked out of his hands. "Hey!" Draco exclaimed.
The cool green eyes of Daphne Greengrass flashed at him as she took a huge gulp of his coffee, then she shuddered. "I don't know how the hell you drink this every day. It's so strong I think it could take the roof off of a dragon's mouth."
"Then give it back, Greengrass." Draco said as he lunged for his cup, but Daphne held it out of his reach.
"No way. It's double Transfigurations this morning and I've been up most of the night trying to talk some sense into Pansy. Actually, I've been failing to talk some sense into her, so I might even need a second cup." Daphne said as she took another huge gulp. "Maybe I'll get out of class if this stuff gives me an ulcer."
"Why are you trying to talk sense into Pansy?" Draco asked, sitting back into his chair.
Daphne sat down across from Draco and grabbed a pumpkin scone from the platter to her right. "Because her taste in boys is absolutely abhorrent. And yes, Draco, I'm including you in that sentiment."
"Oh come on, what did I ever do to you?" Draco asked.
"Nothing, thankfully. I consider myself to be living proof that not all Slytherin girls are easy." Daphne said primly, taking a bite of her scone.
"I've never thought Pansy was easy." Draco objected.
Daphne nodded. "I know. And while I've never pretended to understand your on/off/whenever-it's-convenient relationship, I get that you guys are really close. Which is why I'm telling you: go talk to her."
Draco wrinkled his nose. "About Blaise? Don't you think that would be a little weird, coming from me?"
Daphne looked at him sharply. "Why? Do you want her back?"
He shook his head. "No."
"So make sure you tell her that. Then it won't be weird."
Daphne finished Draco's coffee and wrapped her scone in a napkin. "I've got to go. I'm getting a good seat for class this morning because if I have to sit with a bunch of Gryffindors again, I might actually puke. So you'll check on her?"
Draco nodded. "Yeah, I will. But I still don't know why."
"Because it was my understanding that that's what friends do." Daphne said, with a hint of anger in her voice. "Plus, she actually listens to you."
"But what's wrong with her?" Draco demanded. He had barely seen Pansy in the last few weeks, and when he had she'd been glued to Blaise's side so he could barely talk to her. She seemed like her normal bubbly self, and while Draco might not actually like Blaise, he respected him enough to not mess with his girlfriend.
Daphne shook her head. "Ask her yourself. And do it soon."
She stormed off. Draco watched her go, still feeling slightly irritated. When she got to the end of the Slytherin table she turned the corner and immediately ran into Ginny Weasley. "Watch it, Weasley!" She snarled.
"If you weren't so inbred, maybe you could see where you're going!" Ginny snapped back without stopping.
Bloody hell, everyone was in a lovely mood this morning. Draco watched Ginny stomp through the Great Hall to where Granger was sitting by herself and – of course - reading a book. For a moment he was tempted to cast a well-aimed amplifying charm in their direction to see what exactly had Weasley all worked up, but the thought of possibly facing the combined wrath of Granger and Weasley made him nix that idea quickly, and instead he pointed his wand at his coffee cup and once it refilled he propped his feet back up and opened his paper once more.
XxXxX
"Well, it's over between me and Dean." Ginny announced as she slung her bag onto the Gryffindor table.
Hermione looked up from her book. "Really?! That's great! I mean…"
"Oh, it's fine." Ginny rolled her eyes and sat down. "Now everybody can stop pretending they were happy for me."
"I was!" Hermione objected. "I mean, I like Dean, but you never really seemed happy…"
"I was." Ginny cut in. "Enough, anyways."
"So what happened?"
Ginny reached for a piece of toast and buttered it ferociously. "He wanted me to sub out of the Slytherin match this weekend."
Hermione's eyes widened. "You're kidding."
"Oh, I wish I were." Ginny shook her head. "He said that since they still don't know who poisoned Seamus and Slytherin is low in the standings after losing to Hufflepuff it might be a good idea if someone else flew for me because they're sure to try something."
"I can guess how that went down." Hermione said drily.
Ginny took a huge bite of her toast. "I mean, what did he think I was going to say? Other than the cup, it's the biggest match of the year! There are always league scouts at this match and even if there weren't, does anyone really think I'm afraid of a few Slytherins on brooms?"
"He was just trying to protect you." Hermione said consolingly.
Ginny slammed her hand on the table so loudly that it made Hermione jump. "I'm sick of people telling me that! I don't need protecting!" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and seemed to regain control. "I couldn't breathe, Hermione. I had no air. He was smothering me. And do you know what the worst part was? When I finally told told him it was over...I felt nothing. I wasn't sad or upset or anything...just relieved. What does that say about me?"
Hermione didn't have a response for that. She twirled her fork delicately between her fingers while Ginny stared fixedly at her plate. "So...does Harry know?" She finally asked.
Ginny looked up and fixed her with such a -ish glare that Hermione flinched. "No, Harry doesn't know. And if he wants to talk about it he can come and find me himself. I've done enough chasing after him, now it's his turn."
Hermione threw her hands up on a conciliatory gesture. "I was just asking. It would take someone far braver than me to try and play matchmaker with you two."
"I know." Ginny said shortly. "It's just…I've waited for Harry to notice me for so long and now I think we might finally be on the same page...but I need to be the sodding girl for a change. So if he wants to see if this will work, then he is going to come to me."
"Alright." It was the only thing Hermione could think of to say. Their conversation was apparently over; Ginny scarfed down the rest of her toast and a scrambled egg and pulled out a piece of parchment covered in Quidditch diagrams. Even though she was a known Quidditch fanatic, she stared a little too fixedly at the pictures to be convincing, and Hermione shook her head and picked up her bag. It would take a braver girl than Hermione to try and reason with Ginny when she got into a mood.
XxXxX
The morning of the Slytherin/Gryffindor Quidditch match dawned grey and cool. Hermione peered out of her dormitory window and looked up at the clouds that were threatening to burst open at any moment, wrinkled her nose, and cast a quick Impervius Charm on herself. The Slytherin match was always the biggest game of the year, and Hermione knew from experience that it could go on for hours because of the sheer amount of penalties that both teams always drew.
The pitch was already nearly full by the time Hermione got there. The air was humming with excitement and the competing cheers of "Go, go, Gryffindor!" and "Slytherin pride!" were deafening. The wind had picked up, making the steps up to the Gryffindor student tower creak as they climbed to their seats, but the rain was still holding out. Hermione sat at the end of her row and had just reached into her bag when she heard someone calling her name. "Hermione!"
She looked up and over at the next tower. Anthony Goldstein was leaning against the rail and waving at her. "Hey!" She waved back.
"Want to meet at the gate after the game? It's our turn to lock up."
"Sounds good!" She yelled back.
A chorus of trumpets suddenly filled the pitch, and Hermione turned back to the field. Madam Hooch was hovering on her broom in the center of the field, with the trunk of Quidditch balls laying across her lap.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third match of the year, Slytherin verses Gryffindor!" announced Zacharias Smith, acting as commentator as usual. "On the north side of the Pitch we have Gryffindor with Potter, Weasley, Bell, Robbins, Peakes, Coote, and McLaggen!"
The stadium roared with approval. The Gryffindor team ran onto the field and got into their starting formation, with Harry in the center.
"And on the south side we have Slytherin with Urquhart, Zabini, Vaisey, Crabbe, Goyle, Timmons, and Malfoy!"
A solid chorus of boos followed this announcement as the Slytherins took the field. Harry stepped up to shake hands with the Slytherin captain Urquhart. They seemed to be trying their best to crush each others' fingers.
Madam Hooch opened the case in her lap and unleashed the two bludgers that went hurtling into the sky. She then held up her right hand up to release the Snitch and eyed the assembled players. "Now I expect a good and clean game." She said sternly. She blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air.
The Chasers flew into action. Ginny caught the Quaffle and immediately flew towards the goalposts with Simon Vaisey and Blaise Zabini close behind her. The Slytherin Keeper hovered in front of the nearest hoop but Peakes sent over a well-aimed Bludger that forced him to roll over on his broomstick to avoid being hit in the face. Ginny took advantage and easily sent the Quaffle flying through the hoop.
"Yes, she scores! And Gryffindor takes an early ten point lead!" Smith announced gleefully.
Hermione could see Harry circling high above the action. He was scanning the sky intently, but Hermione knew he was in no rush to catch the Snitch. As he had told her multiple times over the last few days, Gryffindor needed to be eighty points up before he caught the Snitch to keep Slytherin third in the house rankings. He had gone through some long and complicated sounding algorithm to explain this to her but she had merely nodded and agreed with him. Hermione could remember every single rune that she'd learned since she was a third year and rattle off the ingredients for Polyjuice potion without blinking an eye, but Quidditch strategy was hopelessly lost on her.
She didn't, however, see Malfoy. This was weird, because he was known for tailing the opposing Seeker during matches, but he wasn't flying anywhere near Harry. After a few minutes, she finally spotted him circling the bottom of the field, but her attention was forced back onto the match by a hue roar as Blaise Zabini scored Slytherin's first goal and Peakes, who had let Blaise get by him, was so irritated that he sent a bludger flying down towards Malfoy. Unfortunately Malfoy was looking in the opposite direction and couldn't see it coming.
With half of the stadium trying to warn him and the other half shrieking in anticipation, the noise in the stands grew deafening. Hermione stood up and screamed with the rest of them, not entirely sure if she wanted Malfoy to get pummeled or out of the way. Malfoy turned around at the last second and swerved out of the way as the bludger streaked past where his face had been only a few moments earlier, and Hermione released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Too bad." A voice behind Hermione caught her attention. She turned to see Dean watching Malfoy fly away with venom in his eyes.
"You sound just like him." Hermione said coldly. She couldn't see either Malfoy or Harry now; they had flown out of sight.
Dean looked at her. "After what he did to Seamus, can you blame me?"
"Malfoy didn't poison Seamus." Hermione said firmly.
"What makes you think that?"
"He told me."
Dean rolled his eyes. "And you believe him?"
"Yes, I do." Hermione said flatly.
Dean shook his head. "I can't believe you're defending him. You know he wouldn't do the same for you."
"Talking like that, what makes you think you're any better?" She asked snippily.
Madame Hooch blew her whistle. Hermione looked up to see Ginny nearly purple with rage, screaming at the referee and pointing at Goyle, who was holding his bat up in feigned confusion.
"A penalty has been called on the Slytherin team for illegal use of force against the Gryffindor Chaser. Nobody believes you thought her head was a bludger, idiot!" Zacharias Smith announced scornfully.
Harry flew down to check on Ginny. They exchanged a few brief words before Ginny flew off to rejoin the action. Madame Hooch blew her whistle again and Ginny flew forward to take the penalty shot. She scored easily, making the score 80-30 Gryffindor.
It was one of the dirtiest games that Hermione had ever seen. The Slytherin team seemed to be reaching deep into their bag of tricks to try and cut into Gryffindor's lead. Malfoy had gone back to his old ways and was tailing Harry so closely that the two boys kept bumping into each other. Meanwhile, Ginny was flying towards the Slytherin goals when Urquhart tried to yank her off of her broomstick by her ankle, only for Ginny to turn around and kick him in the face with her other foot. Outraged at the attack on their Chaser, Peakes and Coote sent both bludgers after Vaisey and they very nearly succeeded in knocking him off of his broom but Vaisey managed to climb back on. And when Harry finally managed to ditch Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle tried to go after him, but his Firebolt was so fast that he managed to outmaneuver them both and send them crashing into each other. When Madam Hooch declined to call a penalty on Harry for the trick, Vaisey retaliated by elbowing Katie Bell in the back of the head, causing her to pitch forward and crack her nose on her broom.
"Harry had better find the Snitch soon." Hermione commented to Neville. "Or there won't be much of them left."
As though he'd heard her, Harry suddenly leaned forward and began hurtling towards the ground. Malfoy didn't hesitate and dove down behind him.
"Potter has definitely seen the Snitch! And Malfoy is right behind him!"
Harry and Malfoy were hurtling neck and neck towards the ground towards the Snitch and the entire tower was shouting and jumping up and down. Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of the two of them; her hands were clenched so tightly she was forming tiny crescents on her palms. They had to stop, they had to, they were going to hit the ground...
There was a collective gasp from the spectators in the stands. At the last second Harry pulled his broom up to skim the surface of the field, with Malfoy hot on his tail. Hermione could see Draco leaning further and further forward trying to match Harry's reach and she could just make out the tiny golden glimmer of the Snitch flying just ahead of Harry….
...then Malfoy lost his balance and flipped off of his broom. He pitched forward and caught the tail of Harry's Firebolt and then both boys were tumbling through the grass and mud, their brooms clattering uselessly to the ground behind them. For a few moments all Hermione could see were limbs flying as Harry and Malfoy wrestled furiously on the ground, but then Madame Hooch blew her whistle and Harry shoved Malfoy away and held the Snitch up in his hand. The roar in the Pitch was deafening; Gryffindor had won 270-90.
The Gryffindor team landed back on the ground in a single mud-spattered heap. Harry went through the group and hugged every member of the team, but when he got to Ginny he hesitated. Ginny had an unreadable expression on her face. She turned on her heel, grabbed her broom and marched determinedly towards the shed. Harry watched her go and he took a single step like he was going to chase after her, but he shook his head and turned back to the rest of the team. Hermione made a mental note that the first chance she got she was stealing their wands, shoving them in a room and hexing it shut until they worked it out. Enough was enough.
She was climbing down the tower stairs when she caught a glimpse of blonde hair out on the field, and she squinted her eyes and saw Malfoy, now forgotten, slinking away from the celebrating Gryffindor team. He snatched his broomstick off of the ground and strode towards the rest of the Slytherin team. They all had stormy looks on their faces, and Urquhart angrily grabbed Draco's shoulder, but Malfoy shoved him off with what looked to be some harsh language and the Slytherin captain backed off. Merlin, did anybody ever stand up to Malfoy? He wasn't that impressive.
"Coming, Hermione? Party in the common room!" Neville called from two levels below her.
Hermione waved down at him. "I'll be there soon. Just have to make sure the Pitch gets locked up first."
She waved as her friends headed back to the castle, then she sat perched on a tree stump as the rest of the stadium emptied. By this point the sun was starting to set, causing the towers to cast long shadows onto the field and the path surrounding the pitch. She startled slightly when she heard the leaves crunching behind her, but when she turned around it was only Anthony. "Hey."
"Hey. Some match, huh?" Anthony greeted her. "Harry's a fantastic Seeker, I don't think it gets much closer than that."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I just wish he wasn't so fascinated with that Wronski Feint maneuver. I swear I think that he actually enjoys terrifying everyone."
Anthony shrugged. "He's getting pretty good at it, though. Too bad Malfoy didn't fall for it. Watching him hit the dirt is just about the only thing that might have made the match better."
"Yeah. Too bad." Hermione said. "Hey, do you want to divide and conquer this? I'll take the north side and the shed if you want to cover the rest. Just send up some sparks if you run into any trouble."
"Sure. I'll just meet you here in a few minutes." Anthony nodded.
Hermione watched him disappear around a corner before turning around. The pitch was completely silent as she wound her way through the towers, murmuring the spells that kept anyone from trying to sneak up when there wasn't a game. After ten minutes she had completely covered the stadium and all that was left was to make sure that the shed was locked up. She hopped onto the stone path and walked down the sloped path from the pitch to the shed where all of the students' uniforms and equipment were kept...
...and she ran right into the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"Look who it is! Potter's little pet." Vaisey sneered. "Did you get lost or something?"
"Just locking up." Hermione said coolly. She surveyed the scene. They had changed out of their uniforms and all of their gear littered the ground. Vaisey and Urquhart were actually leaning shirtless against the trees and several of them were holding what looked like Muggle cigarettes. "What is this, the losers party?"
"If I were you I'd keep your mouth shut, considering Potter isn't here to protect you." Urquhart said.
Hermione scoffed. "Please. I don't need Harry to handle you lot. Between the seven of you that makes what, seven whole brain cells? And that's with some very generous rounding."
"Get a load at this. The Mudblood thinks she can taunt us and just walk away." Crabbe said in a horrible baby-like voice. He had been laying stretched out on the ground but now he stood up menacingly. The other Slytherins followed suit, throwing their cigarettes onto the ground and spreading out to surround Hermione.
"What kind of wizards would we be if we didn't teach her her place?" Vaisey asked the other Slytherins self-righteously.
Malfoy hung off to the side with a look of boredom on his face. So far he had remained silent, but as the Slytherins moved to surround Hermione, he silently slid into their ranks and completely blocked her exit.
"So what are you going to do, Granger? Knock off a few house points?" Vaisey asked. "Or we could just settle this now, and see how dirty your blood actually is."
Hermione took an unconscious step back and immediately cursed herself. "Look, I'm not going to fight you guys. Anthony's literally on the other side of the pitch and if I don't show up in a few minutes he's going to bring down the entire school on you."
"Oh a few minutes are all we need." Zabini said in his silken voice. "And don't worry, we'll be sure to leave enough pieces for Goldstein to identify you when we're done."
Cold steeled down Hermione's back. She turned to leave but Crabbe and Goyle blocked the path back to the castle. Merlin, why was everyone on the Slytherin team so huge? Other than her, Malfoy was easily the smallest person there. She took a few steps back as Crabbe and Goyle began closing in on her, and she backed into Vaisey. She whirled around but the Slytherin grabbed her wrist and squeezed. She whimpered in pain and dropped her wand. It bounced on the stone below her and rolled until it stopped right at Malfoy's feet. He slowly bent down and picked it up and stared at it intently.
Hermione abruptly changed tact and stopped struggling. She turned and swung her free arm at Vaisey, but she might as well have been a gnat for all the effect she had. He barely flinched and simply grabbed her other wrist and pinned it at her side. Urquhart shoved one of the team's discarded jerseys in her mouth and she gagged and screamed but the sound was completely muffled. Vaisey held her left arm out and Blaise yanked her sleeve up past her elbow. The tip of Blaise's wand was pressing into Hermione's wrist and her whole body tensed, waiting...
There was a loud bang behind her.
The Slytherins all ducked. Hermione took advantage of the momentary confusion and kicked Vaisey in the shins as hard as she could. He swore and let her go, and she fell onto her hands and knees with a shriek.
"What the hell are you doing, Malfoy? Now the entire castle knows we're here!" Urquhart snarled.
"It wasn't my fault!" Malfoy snapped. "It was this stupid thing!"
He held up Hermione's wand. "All I did was pick it up. Of course a Mudblood would have a defective wand!"
"What do we do? We can't let them find us with her like this!" Goyle grunted.
While the Slytherins were arguing Hermione was frantically trying to get away, and she didn't care if she had to crawl on her hands and knees to do it. She pulled the gag out of her mouth and crawled away from Vaisey as quickly as she could. Between the wet leaves that covered the ground and her sudden inability to stop shaking she was making a lot of noise, but the Slytherins didn't seem to notice her. She was just starting to think that she was going to get away when Malfoy stepped in front of her and blocked her path. She sat back and looked up at him. He stared down at her like she was the scum on his shoes and grabbed a huge chunk of her hair. He roughly twisted her head around as he gestured in the direction of the castle. "You guys get out of here. Granger and I are going to have a little chat before we head back to the castle."
There it was again. The voice of a man that radiated authority and didn't allow for discussion. The rest of the team moved away from Hermione, and she could hear the rustling leaves as the rest of the Slytherin team left. The hold on her hair vanished and Malfoy stepped away from her. The sudden silence was deafening and the only thing that Hermione could hear was her own heavy breathing. The realization caused her to close her eyes and take several slow, deep breaths. She refused to show Malfoy just how terrified she was. She was still unarmed and if he was going to hex her she really wanted him to just do it and get it over with...
"That's twice now that I've saved you, Granger." Malfoy drawled. "I think I'm going to start keeping track."
She looked up at him standing nonchalantly in the twilight, tossing her wand back and forth between his hands. "I really hope you didn't think I was going to let them carve you up."
Hermione didn't answer.
Draco scoffed at her silence. "Of course you did. Here."
He reached down to help her up but she smacked his hand away. "Don't touch me."
Draco stood back as Hermione slowly got to her feet. Her entire body was shaking from the cold and from the unadulterated terror that had been flooding her veins only a few minutes before, and she hated that of all people it was Malfoy who had to see her like this.
He held out her wand. "Are you alright?"
She snatched it out of his hands. "Why do you care?"
"Why? Hell, Granger. Dumbledore told us to work together, remember?"
"And you always do what the professors tell you to do." Hermione said bitterly.
She took a few steps but was still wobbly. Draco reached out to grab her but she slapped him away again. "I said, don't touch me!"
"Will you relax, Granger, and let me help you get back to the castle!" Draco said angrily. "Or at least stand here for a few minutes so you don't fall and crack your skull! For God's sake, I'm trying, Granger. Would it kill you to trust me?"
Very probably. She thought, but she didn't say anything. Draco tried one last time to help her but Hermione shrank away from him and he caught a glimpse of the wrist that Vaisey had been holding and he could see the red, angry marks encircling it. Self-consciously, she wrapped her cloak around herself tightly and glared at Draco so hatefully that it shocked him. He was used to Hermione telling him that she hated him, but he had never felt like she fully meant it until this moment. Then they both became aware of someone calling Hermione's name off in the distance, and she turned at the sound. It was Anthony.
She looked back at Draco and he took a step forward and was about to tell her to ignore him but Hermione gave a very small but firm shake of her head, and she began to walk away.
She had reached the top of the hill and was almost out of sight when Draco called, "Granger!".
He half expected her to ignore him, but she stopped.
"I think…" Draco said slowly. "I think I won't call you Mudblood anymore. If that helps."
For a second he didn't think she'd heard him because she didn't move. But then she glanced over one shoulder at him before quickly turning back around and disappearing over the top of the hill.
XxXxX
The next day was Sunday, and Hermione was really beginning to hate the weekly Head meeting. She had pretty much stayed hidden in her room since the Quidditch match. She didn't want to talk to any of her friends. She didn't want to pretend like everything was okay. And she really didn't want to run into Malfoy since just thinking about him was driving her mad. Two times now he'd come to her rescue, and while that was infuriating enough she still couldn't figure out why he had, and that was really making her crazy. She could sum up her relationship to Malfoy in three sentiments: Draco Malfoy was not nice to her. Draco Malfoy did not help her. Draco Malfoy insulted her and belittled her and would probably hex her into the middle of next week if given the chance. So why the hell did he seem to be going out of his way to help her? No matter how Hermione spun it in her head, it didn't make sense.
And she could not shake the feeling of absolute terror when she remembered Vaisey holding her down with Zabini's wand stabbing her wrist. She had been so close to getting seriously hurt, and despite her bravado, there'd been nobody close to hear her scream. Zabini had been right; by the time Anthony realized something was wrong, there could have only been pieces of her left.
So Hermione was late for their meeting. And she didn't even care. She opened the door to their study room and found Malfoy sitting at the table with the top two buttons of his shirt undone and a book perched in his lap.
It really wasn't fair.
"You're late, Granger." Draco said, not looking up from his book.
"I almost didn't come." Hermione told him as she dropped her bag on the ground by her chair.
He looked up. "Why not?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I got a little preview of what things are going to be like if You-Know-Who takes over." Hermione said bluntly. To hell with tact.
"I would think that if the Dark Lord does win, you'd have the sense to get the hell out of Britain. Or at least not be stupid enough to go anywhere by yourself." Draco said drily.
Hermione felt suddenly exhausted. "Why do you hate me so much?" She asked. "And I don't want any of your bullshit non-answers, tell me seriously, what did I ever do to make you hate me as much as you do?"
Draco closed his book and glanced at the fire. "Isn't it obvious?" He responded. "Wasn't I born to hate you? Aren't you everything that I'm supposed to despise...poor...Muggle-born...aren't I everything that you hate? If I believed in such things, I'd say I was fated to hate you, Granger."
"I suppose I should thank you." Hermione said bitterly. "For putting it so bluntly. There's just one more thing, then."
"What's that, Granger?"
"Do something awful to me."
Draco, who didn't startle easily, looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
She stood up and walked slowly towards him. "Do something awful. I don't care what. Just hurt me."
Draco considered her slowly. "You could at least give me a good reason why."
"You never take anything seriously, do you?" She asked through clenched teeth. "School, the war...it's all just a big game to you, isn't it?"
"Is that the reason?" He asked.
"I can't figure you out. Your father is a Death Eater but you like Van Gogh. You have called me a Mudblood more times than I care to think about yet twice in the last few weeks you've stopped some terrible things from happening to me."
"I'm confused. Did you want me to let Zabini slice you open?" Draco never would understand Gryffindors.
"Yes! Because for the life of me I can't figure out why you stopped him. Literally any other day you would have let him, so what are you up to?" She snarled. "So just do something awful and I can stop obsessing and things will just go back to the way they were."
Draco laughed uncomfortably. "You really are one of the most ridiculous people I've ever met, Granger."
She crossed her arms. "Is that it?"
He reached out and gave her a slight shove. She stumbled back and hit her leg against the corner of the table. She stood up quickly. Infuriated that he wasn't taking her seriously, she lunged at him. "That's still not good enough!"
Draco caught her by the wrists and slung her around. He drew her close to him. "I stopped the wizard in Hogsmeade. Why shouldn't I have stopped Blaise?" He asked her softly.
"Because I'm still the same person you despise! Nothing has changed. The only thing I can think of is that you have something awful planned." She struggled to free herself.
"People change." Draco said evenly.
"You don't."
"Why are you so determined to hate me?"
"Don't turn this on me!" She exclaimed.
"Well, if I'm going to hurt you, I need to know the best way to do it." Draco said reasonably.
She stopped struggling. "I'm sure you can figure something out."
He thought for a minute. "Okay."
And he did the worst thing he could think of. He slipped one arm around her waist and the second cupped her neck, and pressed her lips to hers.
She instinctively pushed him away and stared at him, shocked. Her eyes were huge but she didn't yell. For a moment all they did was stare at each other.
"Malfoy…"
He didn't give her the chance to talk. Moving with a hunger that he hadn't realized was there he swept her into his arms and kissed her again, softer this time. A traitorously warm flush flooded her cheeks and after a few moments she started to kiss him back. Draco reached a hand up to trace the line of her jaw and around to the nape of her neck. Hermione slowly became aware that they were moving backwards and she felt the table hit the back of her legs, but Draco continued to push forward, causing her to lean back on the table and wrap her arm around his neck for support. His hair, that mysterious pale hair that she had always been able to pick out in a crowd, was surprisingly soft and she ran her fingers through his hair, causing Draco to shiver. He tried to shift his weight to accommodate Hermione's precarious balance, but his feet slipped and he stumbled. They broke apart, and Hermione opened her eyes to see Draco's flushed face inches away from her own.
She bit her lip and looked away. "Malfoy…"
She could feel him hesitate for a moment. He was still leaning over her and a good deal of his body weight was pressing down on her. But slowly he straightened up and backed away from her. She slid off of the desk and onto her feet, and she self-consciously pulled her skirt down as she looked at Draco.
He looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to kiss her or hex her. He was standing with his legs a fair distance apart and his arms crossed in front of his chest. His chin was low, almost touching his chest, and he was leaning forward ever so slightly. It was a defensive position, and Hermione couldn't remember a time she'd ever seen him so...vulnerable. "How was that?" He asked huskily.
Her trembling voice matched his. "Better." She said quietly.
Unsure of what to do, she took a step towards him. The movement seemed to break Draco out of a trance and he snapped into activity. "Good. I'd hate to think I was losing my touch."
He brushed past Hermione and began shoving his things back into his bag. She turned around and watched him, still in a fog of shock and disbelief.
He brushed past her again and grabbed the doorknob to leave. "Malfoy!" Hermione called, still very shaken.
He paused. "Yes, Granger?"
"What do you want?" She challenged him.
"What do I want?" He repeated. "What do I want?"
For once he was lost for words.
