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"Hey, Hermione! Wait up," a familiar voice called, causing Hermione to pause on the steps.

She turned around and threw Ron a small smile as he bounded towards her, his fiery hair falling around his ears like a glowing halo.

"I'm glad I woke up in time. I know that you usually like to go to breakfast pretty early," he said, stopping beside her.

"Were you hoping to catch me?"

He grinned down at her, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, actually. I uh…I wanted to talk to you about something," he said, visibly nervous all of a sudden.

Hermione had an inkling as to what this conversation was going to be about.

"Okay. We can walk to breakfast together then," she softly said, trying to calm his nerves.

As they began their trek, she noticed that Ron's fidgeting was beginning to increase. If her suspicions about the impending conversation were correct, then Ron was clearly nervous about telling her. No doubt, he didn't know what her reaction was going to be. Of course, he had no way of knowing that Hermione already knew, having witnessed a sweet, yet intimate, moment between the two.

Ron suddenly let out a loud sigh, startling her.

"Okay, so…here's the thing. The thing…uh, the thing is…," he trailed off, rubbing his hands together.

Hermione wanted him to spit it out already, and was very tempted to tell him so, but she decided against it. She didn't want to rush him when he was clearly tearing himself up over this. He suddenly slowed down, causing her to do the same, before turning to face her.

His blue eyes sparkled as he looked down at her, his teeth tugging on his bottom lip. It was an annoying habit that he had picked up lately, something he'd do whenever he was nervous. She'd constantly scold him about it, warning him that he would cause his lips to bleed. They always did, of course, proving her right.

"I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else," he slowly began.

"Okay."

Ron swallowed.

"You see…Lavender and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. I like her…a lot, actually. We've been hanging out and stuff," he said.

Hermione bit back a smirk, knowing what 'stuff' entailed.

"That's great, Ron. I'm really happy for you," Hermione honestly replied.

Ron blinked before all of the tension seemed to ease out of him with the sagging of his shoulders. He exhaled, his eyes and face brightening.

"Really…?"

"Yes, really."

"That's…that's great. I just…I know that…well, a lot of people thought that we were…you know. Or at the very least, well on our way to. I-I didn't know if you were one of those people," he confessed, his hands moving about as he fought to get the words out.

Hermione shook her head with a small smile.

"No, Ron, I am not one of those people. You're my friend, and like I said, I'm really happy for you," she responded.

Ron nodded, a bright smile on his face.

"Good. That's good…"

He began to walk again and Hermione followed, her eyes on him. She let out a soft chuckle as she could see it all over his face. She decided to put him out of his misery and ask.

"You want to tell me about it?"

Hermione wasn't really in the mood to hear about anyone's relationship bliss at the moment, but Ron's smile was worth it. Ron was normally a very chipper, happy-go-lucky kind of person, but when he talked about Lavender, it was different. Hermione could see that he liked the girl and was very excited about beginning this new relationship. It was obvious that he was happy with Lavender, and therefore, Hermione was happy for him.

She realized that she was incredibly quiet throughout his tale of his epic romance. She looped her arm through his, sending him an encouraging smile, letting him know that she was indeed very interested in what he had to say about Lavender. Hermione didn't voice her opinions about how Lavender wasn't exactly known for commitment, but she figured that there was a first time for everything. Besides, he liked her and she clearly made him happy. Hermione wasn't going to spoil that.

Their little chat had taken a few minutes longer than Hermione had thought because when they entered the hall, it was lively with the chatter of students. Hermione took her seat in between Harry and Ginny while Ron sat across from them, Lavender immediately tucking herself under his arm. Ginny leaned close towards Hermione.

"You're taking this rather well," the redhead commented.

Hermione chuckled, turning to lean in towards Ginny.

"I know that you and everyone else seemed to think that Ron and I were involved in some sexual tension filled dance, but we weren't. I'm happy for him," Hermione said with a shrug.

Ginny crinkled her nose, briefly throwing a cold look at the pair across from them.

"It's sickening. She's all over him like a bloody beard or something," the other girl whispered.

"Ginny," Hermione admonished, taken back by the girl's hostility towards them.

Ginny simply shrugged, a look passing over her gorgeous features that told Hermione that she wasn't sorry in the slightest.

"I think it's cute…like puppy love," Hermione said, endearingly.

Ginny let out a cynical snort.

"Yeah, sure. I guess it would be like puppy love if they were both inexperienced teenagers who were having their first taste of ecstasy and romance, unsure what to do with themselves. However, that girl has been passed around more than a spare quill. She's got enough experience to share with half the girls in this school," Ginny scornfully replied.

Hermione sighed, shaking her head.

"Play nice," Hermione sweetly said, causing Ginny to roll her eyes.

Hermione didn't agree with Ginny's sentiments, but she knew that Ginny was just worried about her brother getting hurt. Anyone with vision could see how Ron glowed around the bubbly blonde and Hermione sincerely hoped that she was as into him as he was into her.

"Do I have to kick someone's arse," Ginny suddenly threw into Hermione's ear.

Hermione frowned in confusion, looking away from her food and at Ginny. The other girl wore a hard expression, an eyebrow raised in question.

"What are you on about?"

Ginny jerked her head towards the Slytherin table and Hermione turned to find Malfoy glaring at her. Her blood ran cold and she winced, glancing away. No, glaring was not the right word to use. That look had pierced itself into her very soul, causing a fearful shudder to travel down her spine. He had never looked at her like that. In all of his years of teasing her, he had never looked at her with such a look filled with promises of awful things to come.

"He's been trying to set you on fire with his eyes for the past five minutes, now. Is there something that I should know, Hermione?"

"No. I don't know what crawled up his butt and died," Hermione immediately answered.

Ginny's eyes lingered on Hermione, skeptical, before she eventually glanced away. Of course, Hermione had lied. Hermione knew exactly what had crawled up his butt and died. Their last encounter was still fresh in her mind, causing her to gulp as she remembered the way he had pressed her into the wall.

Throughout her entire education at Hogwarts, he had never treated her like this. The first time that he had called her mudblood didn't even compare to this. Then, it was just an ignorant kid saying the first thing that came to mind. It was just a snot nosed daddy's boy of a brat trying to make someone else cry. Now, it was an angry young man who seemed to be out for blood…and he had set his sights on her.

She kept telling herself to not be fearful of him, but she found that extremely hard to do. She had to admit to herself that this was not the same boy who would run to daddy first chance he got. Malfoy now seemed the type to be more than happy to handle things himself. He had not even done anything to her that would warrant such fear. No, his eyes, his words, and his aura did that all on its own. Harry's suspicions of Malfoy being one of them now may have been a little far-fetched, but Harry was right about one thing; there was something different about him this year. For the first time in her life, Hermione was afraid of Draco Malfoy.

"I should go," Hermione mumbled, attempting to sit up.

Blaise groaned in protest, wrapping his arms around her, holding her in place. He liked the feel of her soft body against his firm one, but he would never tell her that. They had both agreed that even though they had no idea what this was, it couldn't get serious.

Hermione's thoughts did not differ too much from his. She was reluctant to leave, extremely content to just stay in his bed, but she couldn't. She, unfortunately, had to get back to the real world and that was something that she never looked forward to. Their stolen moments together had become her much needed respite, her own little piece of heaven. With a sigh, she pulled away from him, clutching the sheet to her bare chest.

"Five more minutes…?"

His question came out like a plea and he raised his eyebrows, his hand reaching up to trail down her arm. He pouted at her like a child and Hermione was very tempted…

"I can't. I have some homework that I need to look over," she mumbled, forcing herself out of the bed.

She had just bent down to grab her shirt and skirt when he spoke.

"Why are you lying to me?"

Hermione paused and they both knew that he had her.

"You look over your homework at least five times once you complete it and we both know that you complete your homework way ahead in advance," he said.

Hermione sighed, pulling on her skirt and shirt before facing him. The sight that greeted her almost made her lie again, just so he could stay like that. He had pushed himself up to lean on one arm, the black sheets covering the bottom half of him, giving her a teasing view of that oh so wonderful 'V'. His skin was still glowing with a light sheen of sweat, chocolate eyes resting on her.

"Malfoy hates me," she spoke into the quiet room.

Blaise frowned and Hermione sighed again.

"While I may not be his biggest fan, I don't hate the guy. Malfoy on the other hand…he completely hates my kind and it's practically driving him crazy that the two of us are…shagging," she spat out.

Blaise sighed, dropping his head before looking back up at her. She could tell by his expression that he was going to try and pacify her.

"He's just…confused-."

"Bollocks! That is…utter crap and you know it, Blaise. He isn't confused by anything, okay? He's not some innocent ten year old boy who's just finding out where babies come from. He understands perfectly and he hates it," Hermione ranted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Blaise bit his lip, an unreadable expression crossing his features before he threw the sheet away. He walked towards her, reaching out and brushing a stray curl behind her ear.

"Did he say something to you? Is that what brought this on," he harshly demanded, eyes hard and searching.

Hermione blinked before looking away, swallowing as she recalled Malfoy's biting words.

"Nothing worse than what I'm used to," she said.

"For fuck's sake," she heard him swear before he turned around.

She watched as he grabbed his pants, hurriedly putting them on before he began looking around. With a shock, she realized that he was looking for his wand. Hermione sighed in exasperation and placed her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing?"

Blaise looked up at her as if she had grown a second head.

"What do you think I'm doing, Hermione?"

"Blaise, stop it. It's just Malfoy being Malfoy, okay? I don't know why you're reacting like this because you know what kind of company you keep," she stated.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on, Blaise! You know what Malfoy is like to everyone else. You know that the Malfoy you interact with is infinitely different from the one the rest of us have to put up with on a daily basis. You, Nott, and maybe Parkinson are the only people who have seen this oh so great friend you are apparently lucky to have. Newsflash, the rest of us have to deal with the racist, hateful, haughty pureblood extraordinaire who thinks that the rest of us are just lucky to even be graced with his presence," she spat.

"I'm going to talk to him," Blaise said.

Hermione put her hand out, halting him.

"No, you already did. If he really is your best friend, then one talk should have been more than enough," she responded.

Blaise sighed, ending his search for his wand and approaching her again. He grabbed her hands within his much larger ones, pulling her closer.

"Do you want me to cut him off for a bit? Let him know just how serious I was?"

Hermione immediately shook her head.

"No. Merlin, no…"

Doing that would just make things worse, she was sure. Hermione didn't even want to imagine…

"Tell me, Hermione. Tell me what I need to do to make this better, to make you happy," he offered.

Hermione shook her head, pulling her hands away from him.

"It's not your job to make me happy."

Blaise sighed.

"Hermione…"

"No. It isn't your job. You're not boyfriend and we are not together. I shouldn't have even brought it up," she said.

She buttoned her shirt, continuing to get dressed before grabbing her bag. She brushed past Blaise's hand on the way out.

"Hermione-."

"I'll be by tomorrow."

And then she was gone.

Hermione focused all of her attention on the task at hand, determined to pretend that he was not even in the same room. He was the reason that she was even in this mess and she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much she was angered by him. It would be like adding gasoline to an already raging fire.

Due to the lovely scene the two of them had presented in Snape's class the other day, they were now scrubbing cauldron's at eight o'clock at night. It was such a tedious task. For one thing, they were not allowed to use their wands, Snape being very clear on the fact that it must be done by hand. Once they were done, he was going to check to see how well they had done.

Hermione sighed, shaking her head. In all honesty, she blamed herself. She knew that Malfoy had just been itching to get a reaction out of her and she gave it to him, right on a silver platter.

"Problem, Granger?"

She briefly closed her eyes at the sound of his mocking voice. He's not even here, Hermione.

"What are you, deaf?"

She bit the inside of her cheek, scrubbing the cauldron much harder now. She refused to let him get to her. He didn't speak for a while and she had fool heartedly let herself believe that that was the end of it.

"Ignoring me, are you?"

Hermione jumped in surprise from the sound of his voice coming from right next to her ear, dropping the cauldron in the process. She pressed her hand to her chest, forcing herself to calm down before glaring up at him. His face was so close to hers that she could smell the suffocating scent of his fragrant shower gel.

She went to bend down to pick up the cauldron when his hand shot out, grabbing it before her and tossing it behind him. Despite how much she wanted to just hit him, she didn't, and instead went to move around him. He stuck his arm out, placing it on the desk to her left. She exhaled, slowly looking up to glare into his eyes, her chest brushing against his.

A sneer was plastered on his face as he looked down at her. There was that look again. That new look of intense loathing that made Hermione's hair stand on end.

"What? You think that you're better than me now or something just because you're getting some pureblood dick?"

She mentally flinched, not appreciating his crude language. Hermione slowly placed her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side as she gazed at him as if he were an anomaly.

"Why are you so insecure, Malfoy?"

Her question didn't come out scathing or disdainful at all. It came out like a simple question asking about the weather and Malfoy blanched, eyes going wide from shock at her question.

"Is your friendship with Blaise that rocky, that shallow? Do you really view me as that much of a threat? If so, that's your fault…not mine," she said with a shrug, shoving past him.

She gasped in shock when he grabbed her arm, shoving her against a desk and she winced as the corner dug into her side. He had an iron grip on her wrist, his nose pressed against her cheek as she turned her head away. He lingered there for a few seconds, his warm breath fanning over her skin.

"Who do you think you are? You are nothing, Granger. You're filth, garbage," he sneered.

"Well, I guess that means that your friend likes trash, huh. The same can go for you, I guess. Birds of a feather and all that jazz," she said, desperately trying to retrieve her arm back.

Draco chuckled, a dark, menacing sound that made her falter. He tightened his grip.

"Was he your first, Granger?"

Hermione felt her face flush and she looked down, refusing to give him the satisfaction. It was too late.

"Aww. How adorable. Was it everything you ever imagined? Was it sweet and romantic? Did he give you a long passionate kiss after your round of boring, vanilla sex," he questioned, mocking her.

She finally was able to twist herself free and she shoved him away with a huff.

"You disgust me. I don't understand how Blaise can possibly be friends with someone like you," she snapped.

He glared at her, trying to curse her with just his gaze alone.

"There's a lot about Blaise that you don't understand, sweetheart. I personally don't understand how he can even kiss you, let alone fuck you when there are far better options in this school," he threw at her.

"Well, why don't you go and harass one of those better options and leave me alone. Blaise clearly enjoys being with me, so get over it."

He smirked, taking a step towards her.

"You're right. This has been going on for a good minute now, so clearly someone is a good shag. I'm betting on Blaise, but I can't exactly test that theory, now can I?"

Hermione took a step back.

"Why don't you show me a thing or two? Maybe you'll convince me that you're actually worth my attention," he purred.

Hermione glowered at him, turning away and heading towards the door. She didn't care how much trouble she would get into with Snape. She just wanted to be away from him.

"Come on. You're giving it up to him, might as well keep it moving down the list. After I've had my turn, I'm certain that Nott would love a go," he chuckled.

The sound of the harsh slap reverberated throughout the quiet classroom. Malfoy's head was turned to the side, his cheek glowing brightly from the force of her hand. Hermione's chest ached from the harsh words he had thrown at her and tears threatened to spill over. Her hand throbbed, but she didn't care.

"You are not even worth the sting in my hand. I will make sure that Blaise sees you for what you really are if it's the last thing I do," Hermione quietly whispered.

Malfoy slowly lifted his head, blazing eyes turning to gaze into her own with a look that froze her in her place.

"Careful, Granger. It might just be the last thing you do…"

Hermione lifted her chin, refusing to be affected by his words.

"When I'm done with you, you're going to wish that you had never even looked at Blaise."

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