"That's Veritasirum. It's a powerful truth-telling potion."

"Right again Miss Granger. Ten more points to Gryffindor!"

Of course. Little Miss Granger, my know-it-all mudblood, had gotten another question right. No one even payed the smallest amount of attention to her and Professor Slughorn as she answered all his questions right. No one but me of course. I scoffed when Slughorn asked the girl if she was related to Hector Dagworth-Granger. Merlin knows it would make my obsession with her less complicated if she was related to a wizard. Granger blushed and denied the accusation, but I watched as a twinkle in her eye diminish. We both knew how untrue the accusation was. Even though she brushed it off, I knew how disappointing the truth was.

Slughorn kept smiling, even when the door burs open to reveal the Boy Who Just Wouldn't Die and his idiot best friend. I glanced at the Gryffindor bunch that I shared Double Potions with. Three girls glowed with happiness when the pair arrived. That Brown slut, that Romilda slut, and my mudblood. My Granger, whose eyes went wide when Weasley gave her a lopsided smile. My hands clenched in fists, my body simmering with suppressed anger. Then, she had the audacity to look over at me with shy eyes and an apologetic smile on her face before facing forward again. My nostrils flared, and I dug my nails into my palms, trying to keep myself from walking over and strangling her. There was more to that kiss than I thought. There was more to that kiss than she told me.

As those two dimwits walked to Granger after fighting for a book, I watched that Brown girl shuffle closer to Weasley. I watched as Granger's lips curled into a Malfoy sneer, and I couldn't help but smirk with pride. One day she had asked me to teach her how to look mean. That was the first time I had genuinely laughed with someone. She kept curling her lips and dipping them into exaggerated frowns, so I asked her to show me how to make her passionate faces. She laughed at me, a beautiful melody that haunted me while I was looking at the Vanishing Cabinet, and she told me I knew her faces better than she did. I agreed, and I showed her.

"Ten more points, Miss Granger. I suppose you can tell the class what it is," he encouraged her.

She blushed and stepped closer to the potion. I leant closer in my seat as she stared at the concoction, her eyes glazing over with stars. I took in a sharp intake of breath. She always had that look when she came, when she came for me.

"Amortentia," she breathed huskily. "It's the most powerful love potion in the world. Of course, it doesn't actually cause love, but it causes a very strong infatuation. The smell changes accordingly to each person, depending on what they're infatuated with at the time."

"Very good, Miss Granger! How about you take a practice smell?"

There was no need to ask her. She was practically leaning over the potion, standing on her toes to inhale the scent deeply. Her eyes fluttered closed as a slow smile graced her perfect lips, and my eyebrows rose to my hairline. My eyes widened as she let out a deep sigh, and I clenched my jaw as my stomach tightened uncomfortably.

"I smell… new parchment, old books, freshly mowed grass, and…" Her eyes snapped open, and she backed hastily away from the potion, blushing furiously as she cleared her throat and made her way back to her seat. Weasley stared at her with shining eyes.

Slughorn flew to the potion, staring at Granger excitedly. "Was there more, Miss Granger? Another scent?"

She sniffed and held her head high. Her voice was firm and loud, echoing around the walls of the dungeon. "Sandalwood and verbena."

I could feel Blaise's eyes question me as I faced Granger, my lips fighting the urge to spread into a Cheshire grin. She smelled me, just as she should. My scent clung to her every night. My scent was all around her, all inside of her. My scent was what she slept in. She didn't smell Weasley or Potter or that damn Krum. She smelled me and only me. I surrounded her, suffocated her. I possessed her, I tortured her when she slept at night because all she could smell was me.

Slughorn whistled and patted his round belly in surprise. "Expensive smells, but nice aromas all the same. Let's move on. Ah, Miss Granger, I don't suppose you know what this fellow is?"

She blinked once, focusing on the little vial of clear liquid that the professor held up. "Felix Felicis," she muttered. "Commonly known as liquid luck."

My head snapped to Slughorn in an instant, all thoughts of how to reward Granger gone. "Liquid Luck," the professor repeated. "Once you drink this potion, you'll find that all your endeavors succeed. I took it twice in my lifetime, once when I was twenty-four, and another time when I was fifty-seven. Both days were the best in my life. I felt that I could accomplish anything and everything. This potion shall be your prize at the end of class, should any of you happen to finish brewing a perfect pot of Draught of Living Death, one of the trickiest potions to make. You'll find the instructions on page 10 of your books. You may begin!"

Blaise and I sighed in unison, starting up our cauldrons to brew this difficult potion. On the outside, my face was impassive, but I was boiling with anticipation on the inside. If I could get this potion right, I could win the Liquid Luck and fix the Vanishing Cabinet. Maybe I could kill Dumbledore the same day. My insides churned at the thought of that unforgiving green light. No, I don't think that even Liquid Luck could get me to take a life. I exhaled slowly and rolled my sleeves up to my elbows, my brow furrowing in concentration. I just had to get that Felix Felicis, though. With that, I could at least fix the Vanish Cabinet. If I could finish that part of the task, there was a chance that my mother's life would be spared. Her dazzling blue eyes flashed across my vision, and I sucked in a breath to keep from passing out. There was no way I was going to let my mother die. I just had to get this potion right.

As Slughorn walked to my table, surveying the liquid in my cauldron, I flashed him a bright smile, to which he gave me a jolly one. "Hello, professor," I started casually as I cleaned my knife. "I'm aware that you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy."

Slughorn beamed. "Ah, yes, such a well-known man. I'm sorry to hear that he passed on, although it wasn't such a surprise. He did have dragon pox at such an old age."

I glowed as he patted me on the shoulder. "Well, sir, did you know that-"

Slughorn bellowed at Finnigan as the twat managed to blow his cauldron up into flames. The professor walked away from me, and I was left glowering at his wide back.

Blaise laughed loudly at my misfortune, and my sneer turned towards him. "What the bloody hell are you laughing about?"

"Mate, Slughorn won't let you into his little club. No offense, but you're Lucius Malfoy's child. There's no way he'll let a Death Eater's son into the club." Blaise smile turned into a frown, and his voice dropped to a low whisper. "Then again, you are one of them, too. Draco, do you think Slughorn knows?"

I slapped him on the back of his head with my textbook. "Of course not, Zabini. He's just a dazed coot who doesn't acknowledge greatness when he sees it." Apparently, his greatness was the Boy With the Ugly Ass Scar. Slughorn boasted about Potter's ability to get the potion to turn the right shade, and Potter smirked at me with pride. I sneered and looked towards the mudblood. She was blushing, but a small frown was etched on her lips. Slughorn patted her on the shoulder, saying, "It's not nearly as perfect as Mr. Potter's, but it's very passable Miss Granger."

Did he just say my mudblood's potion was passable? Blaise and I gaped at each other before bursting out loud laughs from our stomachs. We pointed and snickered at Granger, and she pursed her lips in annoyance. Her hair was surrounding her face like a bird's nest, the curls matted and frizzed on her head. We laughed even harder at the sight before Slughorn calmed us down with a good-hearted warning.

Blaise's smile stayed on his face, though. "You should've seen Granger when she saw you get dissed by Slughorn."

I arched an eyebrow, all traces of humor gone. "What exactly did she look like?"

"Ah, mate, she had to cover her mouth with her hands because she was laughing so hard. Even the mudblood thought you were pathetic." He chuckled and kept trying to finish his potion, even though it turned a sickly green color. I glanced into my own cauldron, stirring it until it turned a nice clear shade. I sighed in defeat; it wasn't the perfect Draught of Living Death, but it was close enough. The only person I had to worry about winning the potion was Granger. We had been in class for fourty-five minutes, and there were already three strikes against her: she lit up when Weasley was around her, she laughed at my misfortune, and she was probably going to get that Felix Felicis.

I scooped up my potions' materials and unused ingredients, heading over to the cupboards when a flash of a chestnut bush flew past me. I smirked slyly as I sauntered to the cupboards, thankful that they were in a secluded corner of the dungeon. Granger was on her knees, stacking her utensils up in an organized order. My breath hitched, memories of her on her knees flashing passed my vision in an erotic haze.

"Malfoy, you're such an arse," she whispered heatedly in my face, red flames dancing in her golden eyes.

I fell out of my memories, staring at Granger as she glared at me with a small frown on her lips. Her face was red with anger, her nose scrunched up as if I smelled bad. I smirked, and her eyebrows furrowed. She basically had just told the whole class that I smelled good and expensive.

My fingertips reached out and stroked her cheek. Her brow rose, and her lips parted slightly. "What did I do now, Granger?"

She blinked and slapped my hand away, turning back to cupboard to gather up her bag. "You didn't have to laugh at me, Malfoy."

I stepped behind her, looking behind me to make sure no one was watching. She took in a sharp intake of breath as my hands rubbed gently up and down the sides of her body, her heartbeat hammering unsteadily in her ribcage. "You laughed at me when Professor Slughorn walked away from me."

"That's different," she breathed out. "You were being path-"

My hands fell to her thighs, and I held onto them roughly, my nails digging into her flesh. She let out a small gasp of delight. "Say that word, and I will spank you. Right here, right now."

She shivered and grabbed my wrists, shakingly pushing them away from her body. I frowned as she stepped away from me, my space suddenly feeling cold and depressing. She crossed her arms and faced me, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the sight. This small ass witch, with her matted curls frizzing around her like a thick halo, tapping her foot like a nagging mother, was sulking as she stared at me with cold but gentle eyes.

"What Granger?" I drawled out, shoving my hands into my pockets and leaning on the cabinet.

She squinted her eyes and pursed her lips before letting out a loud sigh and fleeing past me. I stared at the spot she had just been in, my head suddenly pounding with confusion, my hands balling into fists. Did this girl just leave me? She just sauntered off as if I didn't matter?

I turned around quickly, my eyes locking onto hers as she stared at me with her head cocked to the side, as if she was inspecting me. My brow furrowed, and my nostrils flared. She straightened her back and gasped, then looked down at her potion as she waited for Slughorn to come grade it. I walked back to my table, not even listening to Zabini as he chattered off.

This girl has me fucked up.

She was going to pay tonight, and I was going to make sure of it. There's no reason for some mudblood to look at me like I was a fucking problem. And then to leave? To just walk away as if I mean nothing.

Oh, this girl was going to pay.

My stomach churned uncomfortably as the image of her walking away swirled around in my head. I hated when she left me. Each time she walked away from me, I felt stuck, isolated. I felt as if I was drowning in the cold ends of the Black Lake and there was no one to save me. I was afraid to be alone, but I was more afraid to be without her.

Merlin, my feelings for her are disgusting.

I sighed and packed up my stuff as Slughorn patted me on the back sympathetically, giving me a timid smile.

"Maybe next time, Draco," he said. "But it wasn't all bad. It was almost perfect."

Almost perfect. I am the fucking epitome of almost perfect. My life was almost perfect, but then I took the Dark Mark. My life was almost perfect, but now I must murder someone. My life was almost perfect, but Hermione Granger was a mudblood. Nothing in my life would be fully perfect, fully right, with all of this shit going on. I sighed deeply and ran my hand over my face, my body suddenly sinking with exhaustion. Every night without Granger felt lonely, so I would spend my time trying to fix the cabinet. Trying to bring Death Eaters into the castle to wreak havoc and hopefully kill Dumbledore without my involvement was a ludicrous idea.

And yet, I was going to have to make it happen.

"How did you win!"

My eyes snapped to my screeching mudblood, her eyes wide and on fire. I looked around to see that Slughorn was gone, and that the rest of the class was packing up to leave. They looked over at Granger, some of them smirking at the failure of the mudblood. Blaise had turned off my cauldron and cleaned my side of the table, and I made a mental note to do something nice for my friend later.

Potter blinked at Granger, concern and worry swirling in his eyes. I balled my hands into fists to stop from grabbing the girl's hair and jerking her towards me. No one should be concerned for the mudblood. I made sure she was fine every night. "Why are you screaming at me?" Potter asked frantically. His head suddenly snapped to me, and his eyes slanted. "Are you upset with him? I saw him messing with you at the potion's cupboard. Did he hurt you?" Potter yelled, his hand shoving into his pocket to presumably clutch his fragile wand.

I rolled my eyes, mentally sighing at the boy. If he was going to hurt me, he might as well get to it. I deserved it. I was going to bring Death Eaters into the safest place of the wizarding world. I deserved to die.

Granger brushed off his concern, jerking his arm down and staring at me indifferently. "Oh, you saw that. He was being his normal self. A prat as always."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You wound me, Granger." I slung my bag over my arms and exited the classroom without looking back.

"I can't believe Potter won the potion," Blaise muttered to me, pushing Weasley out of his way.

I let out a deep sigh, grabbing my stomach as it churned with fear. "I won't be able to do it without that damn potion."

"Steal it from him."

"I doubt he'll have it in a place so easy to steal, Blaise."

He nodded in agreement. "You're pretty friendly with the mudblood."

I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my pockets to keep them from shaking. "Depends on what friendly means in that situation."

"I mean, I've seen you two patrol together before. It was like, last week when I was sneaking into Ravenclaw's dorm. You know how much I like Ravenclaw women. Well, I was walking, and I heard Granger laughing, so when I peeked from behind the staircase, I saw that she was laughing with you. I don't know how you did it, but she seemed to be less of a bitch towards you."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. That was far from the truth. "Turns out the mudblood has an appreciation for making fun of the Weasel."

"Isn't that part of your plan, then?" my friend asked, his voice dropping to a whisper as Potter and Granger caught up with us. Potter bumped his shoulder into mine, then sighed loudly as Granger lectured him about following the right textbooks. She glanced behind her shoulder, giving me a small wink that only I could catch. I bit my cheek to stop from laughing. She hated winking. She only did it because she knew how funny I thought she looked when she winked. I guess she forgave me for what happened in Potions. Sucks for her; I sure as hell didn't forgive her for all the shit she did during class. Looking at Weasley the way she did, laughing at me, walking away from me. Oh boy, was she going to fucking pay.

"Aren't you trying to be friends with her to get the juice on Potter?" Blaise continued. He had noticed the wink since he was looking at me strangely.

I shrugged again, licking my lips as Granger tossed some hair behind her shoulder. "She hasn't spilled anything yet, Blaise."

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "Well of course not, Draco! It's only the beginning of October!"

I chuckled and followed Blaise up the stairs to the fifth floor. My insides coiled together, and a lump formed in my throat as I stood in front of the door to the Room of Requirement. I paced back and forth in front of three times. Give me the room of hidden things.

"There's Crabbe and Goyle," Blaise announced, nodding towards two girls that were sweating and shaking. They were small girls, probably second and third years, but that was of no concern to me. They shook in front of me, holding brass cauldrons and potions utensils.

"Drop it all when someone comes," I muttered in reminder to the boys, and they shook their girlish heads frantically. I nodded to Blaise, who patted me on the shoulder before disappearing down the hall. I stood in front of the door, my brow begin to perspire as I held onto the golden knob. The door laughed at me as I opened it, a cruel laugh that echoed throughout me as Voldemort's red eyes and menacing smile haunted my mind. I exhaled slowly and entered the Room of Hidden Things, heading straight for the Vanishing Cabinet. I touched my palm to the cabinet, a large, rusty wooden wardrobe that had been destroyed four years ago by Peeves. If anything was put into the broken cabinet, it wouldn't be stuck in time, not being able to reach the cabinet in Borgin and Burkes. The only one who was able to get out of the cabinet had been Graham Montague, and he did that by Apparating out and into a Hogwart's toilet. He told me how he could hear people at Hogwarts, and people from a different place. He said he had been stuck in darkness before finally Apparating out of there. It didn't do him any good, though. He was disorientated for weeks.

He had described one voice that would pop in and out of his head as he was in the cabinet, and that voice was the description of Borgin from Borgin and Burkes. I knew there had to be a connection, and I had been right. The only thing now was to repair this cabinet. So far, I've been sticking the same thing into the cabinet, and each time I did the incantation, my object never came back, meaning I had failed once again at repairing the cabinet. I glared at the cabinet, inhaling deeply as I pulled out Granger's golden necklace. I smiled in awe at the shining piece of jewelry, the golden chain twinkling as it led down to a dangling sapphire gem. I smirked as I remembered how hard it was to get something from her, anything that belonged to her. She fought and argued with me for three weeks until I had to tell her that I wanted something as a constant reminder that she was always with me.

That wasn't a complete lie.

I placed the necklace in the cabinet and stared at them for a long time. Sometimes, when I looked at it in the cabinet, a chill of fear swept through me. I hated feeling like I was putting my mudblood in the cabinet. If she went in here, I knew that she would never come back. If Granger disappeared from me, I'd make it my life's mission to find her. I couldn't live without her. Sometimes, I felt like I couldn't breathe without her. Hell, sometimes I wouldn't even start eating in the Great Hall until she sat her ass down at the Gryffindor table.

I shook my head and slammed the cabinet shut. There was no time to dwell on my feelings for Granger right now. There was never going to be time because there was never going to be a chance that our affair would go any farther. Nothing changed the fact that she was mudblood, and I was a pureblood. Nothing changed the fact that she would be better off with Weasley or Potter.

But I knew, ever since that first night, that I was going to need her to stay alive. She was my distraction from this, from my task. She was the only calming and normal thing in my life right now, as weird as that sounded. She was the only thing that reminded me that there was good in the world, and I was not going to let her goodness slip away from me. I clung to it like it was my lifeline. I would drop her after this year. She wouldn't want anything to do with me anyway. I would be able to leave her after I showed her how much of a horrible human being I was.

I closed my eyes briefly, shivering from Granger's smiles as they flashed through my mind. I opened my eyes and pointed my wand to the cabinet, preparing myself for the task at hand. If bringing Death Eaters into the castle would risk me Granger, then so be it. If they couldn't get into the castle, then my mother was going to die. I'd pick my mother over Granger any day.

I just hope Granger will be able to understand that.