Cracking Draco Malfoy

This chapter is dedicated to my faithful reviewer, oceans13!! Thank you so much for your continuing reviews and support. Yayy, you rock:)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own the magnificent Harry Potter characters which J.K. Rowling has admirably created for all of our uses and enjoyments... however, I do own the plot of this story... do enjoy! Read if your inhibitions and conscience permit! Please review!

Important Note: Scene changes will be noted by "11111111111111111111111", since regular lines aren't working for me... hopefully it won't be confusing.

Hermione wandered around the castle looking for the two boys, and finally found herself in the Griffindor Common Room where Ron and Harry were complaining (naturally) about how unfair the pairings were that Snape had created for the class--Ron somewhat more than Harry. And also about the abnormally large amount of essays he had described to the group.

"Bloody bastard... thinks we don't have anything else to do than spend our lives doing homework! And with the Slytherins, too!" Ron ranted.

"Oh boys," Hermione quietly scolded, "This is a very important year... you knew potions would be difficult!"

"So you're for this? Are you insane! He's paired with bloody Malfoy!" Ron argued without giving Harry the chance to reply.

"Oh, honestly! Of course I'm not for it... I just think it's important that we all learn a lot--"

Harry chuckled and interrupted her, "Sure, Hermione... I think I'm gonna go visit Hagrid, anyone want to come? I haven't talked to him since this term started."

"Oh, that sounds lovely, I'll come... What about you, Ronald?"

"That's okay, I've got to owl Mum and remind her to send my robes. I must've forgotten to pack them," Ron walked away muttering about what he may or may not have done with them.

Hermione smiled brightly and led Harry out of the Common Room. They made their way through the hallways, and towards Hagrid's hut. They talked of nothing of great importance, and eventually found themselves drinking strongly flavored tea and munching on Hagrid's bread--which was extremely hard, one might add.

Hagrid invited them to stay for dinner, but because of their past experience with Hagrid's cooking skills, they politely declined and promised to visit again soon. They meandered up to the castle--it was a beautiful night, and Harry was rambling excitedly about how great their quittich practice was going to be that evening. Harry was captain this year, and was having a couple practices for the remaining members from last year's team before recruiting the new members.

Heading into the Great Hall they ran into Pansy, Draco, and Blaise, who asked Hermione if they were still meeting in the library. Draco sneered in discontempt at how friendly Blaise was being towards the 'mudblood', but Hermione pretended to take no notice, and continued happily into the Great Hall with Harry, calmly reassuring Harry that she would be fine meeting Blaise by herself. After all, she was the brightest witch of her age, wasn't she?

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"You're meeting the mudblood already, Blaise? Honestly, you'd think you'd put it off as long as you could! I know I will with Potter!"

Pansy laughed softly, but immediately quieted recieving a terse glare from both Draco and Blaise.

"We want to get the essays out of the way; and besides, working with her, I might actually pass potions for a change!" Blaise announced happily.

Malfoy humphed, "Well, working with Potter, I'll be happy to escape alive. Let's just hope he doesn't blow me up, honestly! Without Dumbledore there's no way he and his precious trio would have landed in the advanced classes!"

Pansy just shook her head, "You and I both know Granger would've gotten in anyway, she's practically the smartest of the year!" Pausing at the dark look on Draco's face, she continued, "Besides you, of course."

Pansy leaned into Draco so the fronts of their bodies were flush together, and kissed him softly on the lips. Draco's body immediately stiffened.

"What's wrong? You've been acting strangely all day."

"Hmmm, nothing... I just don't want you to rumple my hair!" Draco replied distractedly. Ignoring the concerned looks he recieved from his friends, he led them into the Great Hall for dinner.

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Blaise wandered into the library and saw Hermione perched at the back table, her nose buried in a book. He sauntered over, and loudly plopped his books down, startling Hermione.

"Oh! I didn't see you come in!"

Blaise grinned at her, "'Kay, which essay should be start with?"

"Miss Granger, Mr. Zabini the library is closing, you'll have to leave!"

"But it's only eight o'clock, the library shouldn't close for another four hours!"

"I'm sorry, we're closing early tonight," Madam Prince looked at them sympathetically. "You'll have to go somewhere else to work."

Gathering up their materials, they gazed at each other in confusion. Where would they go? Voicing her concerns Hermione said, "Well we can't go to my Common Room, there's no way they would let you in..."

Blaise shrugged, "We can go to mine, I have a private room so no one will bother us."

Private room?

As in bedroom?

"Err... I don't know--maybe we should work on this another night."

"Ugh, it'll be fine. I have a private entrance, too, so we don't have to go in through the Common Room."

Hermione still looked skeptical, but agreed as Blaise led her to his private room. "Ahh, here we are. Abundantia Caelum," he murmured. It was a beautiful room--not large or overbearing, but tastefully elegant. There was a beautiful oak bed on a slight platform in the corner, covered in satin sheets--ones that would obviously feel good upon one's body. There was no doubting it--Blaise's family was loaded.

But the room wasn't exceedingly large; besides the bed, there was only a fireplace with one large arm chair in front of it, some book shelves, a desk, and a dresser. There were two intricately carved doors, one of which, by Blaise's quick exit, obviously led to a bathroom.

Hermione took it upon herself to feel comfortable, and instantly gravitated towards the book shelves, which were lined with many rare and beautiful books. She picked up one that looked particularily inviting, and plopped down on the corner of the bed. She heard a door open and close, signaling Blaise's return, but was entranced in her book, so Hermione took no notice.

She felt the bed lower, as someone obviously sat on it, and instinctively scooted closer to the edge. Hermione looked up when she heard a quiet sobbing, and let out a yelp when she realized who was on the bed.

Said person merely stared back at her, he knew she saw him crying, and there was no way he could cover it up. His face showed evidence of crying: his eyes bloodshot, cheeks red and blotchy, and his nose slightly running.

"Malfoy?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Draco looked thundrous, and considering he had just been sobbing, he was quite the sight to behold.

"Err... I... Blaise and I were going to work on our project..."

"Why the bloody hell are you in his room! God damn mudblood whore! If you ever fucking--"

Blaise took this as the oppertune time to emmerge from the bathroom, "Draco!" he said brightly, ignoring his bloodshot eyes and marred appearance. "Come to visit? Granger and I were about to work on our essays."

"Fucking, bloody, brilliant."

"What are you doing here? Don't you usually hide away in your rooms?" Blaise commented lightly, he knew he was treading in unsafe territory.

"Pansy was trying to get in..." Draco sighed, "I told her I don't go for... her type," Draco quickly admitted.

Blaise raised an eyebrow... "So that's the way you swing, eh, Draco? Always thought you used enough colone for the both of us."

Hermione's jaw dropped.

Draco Malfoy.

Gay.

Draco Malfoy and gay in the same scentence?

No fucking way!

Draco turned to face Hermione, "If you ever, EVER fucking tell anyone; I swear to Merlin I will kill you, and I'll make you wish you died at the hands of the Dark Lord!"

Hermione gulped, and backed away wimpering. She collapsed into a chair as she mutely watched Draco leave the room through the other door, which she now realized led to the rest of the Slytherin Common Room.

"Well there's a side of Draco you don't see every day, eh?" Blaise mused. "I'll bet my life you're the only Griffindor that ever saw him cry." He chuckled loudly at the absurdness of it, and was soon jonied by Hermione who might have been crying, or might have been laughing--neither of them really knew. All they knew was that they had made the imparative transition from awkward aquantiances to friends.

They fell onto the floor, gasping for breath, and eventually came to the conclusion that they would be accomplishing no work that night, so Blaise settled into his bed for the night while Hermione picked out several very large novels which she promised to return as soon as she was finished with them.

Hermione hummed happily as she skirted through the halls back to her Common Room where Harry and Ron were slumped unhapily in front of the fire place.

"How was quittich, boys?" Hermione asked brightly.

Ron humphed in reply, and it was only after a terse look from Hermione that Harry replied. "Well we got there and everything was going great until Crabbe, Goyle, and some other Slytherins came out and insisted they had the pitch booked for this evening. But I know they already had practice before dinner!"

"So then they fucking called Snape, who obviously took their side and kicked us off the pitch so the few of them could play!"

"What? That's so unfair, have you talked to McGonagall? I'm sure she could do something about it," Hermione offered.

Harry sighed in recognition, "She said there was nothing she could do about it... Snape must've changed the records so that it showed Slytherin had the pitch all day! So we had to fly around the grounds--just fly--and we got absolutely bloody nothing done, so now we're behind on training, and our first match is already coming up in a little more than a month!"

Harry and Ron continued ranting about their horrible misfortune of being kicked off of the quittich pitch, and contemplated several dangerous ways of retribution against the Slytherins before Hermione called it a night and sent the pair up to bed.

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The next morning Hermione arose from bed by the excited squeals of two very annoying roommates: Lavender Brown and Patti. Said girls were obsessing over the looks Draco Malfoy had given them at breakfast that morning. Apparantly they thought Draco "had the hots" for them...

But they didn't know what Hermione knew.

Because he would never like them...

Hermione rolled her eyes at the absurdness of their situation, and hauled herself out of bed for a quick shower before going to breakfast. She dressed in her simple robes--as per usual, grabbed her books, and met Ron and Harry in the Common Room to walk together. She sat between the two at the breakfast table, and immediately whipped out one of the books she had borrowed from Blaise, "Rare Charms and Their Origins". Entranced in the book, she didn't notice when the boys on either side of her dropped their toast and stared at the people currently standing before their table.

She eventually looked up to see Blaise grinning at her with Malfoy close by his side. His appearance, unlike the night before, was immaculate, and she immediately noticed what Blaise had commented upon. Draco did wear a lot of cologne... but not so much that one minded.

"Enjoying my books already, Granger?" Blaise chucked and continued, "Well I suppose someone 'ought to... I'll never read them. Anyway, my lovely companion here would like to converse with you!"

Draco glared at Blaise.

"Fine! I would like to speak to you privately... please accomany me."

Hermione laughed, Blaise had this mock way of speaking where he made fun of everyone and everything without really making fun of anyone... He was such a person that one would have to meet to understand--and so jolly for a Slytherin!

"Hermione!" Ron warned as she got up from the table to go with them. "I'm coming with!"

"I don't believe our invitation invited you, Weasel!" Blaise taunted. "Come, Granger."

"It's fine Ron, honestly, I'm not a child!" she smiled appologetically at Harry and followed Blaise and Draco out of the Great Hall.

"So what do you want to say to me?"

"Errr... about last night... I just... wantedtomakesureyoudidnttellanyone!" Draco quickly said.

"NO! Err, of course not."

Draco visibly relaxed, "Good."

"And?" Blaise probed. "Draco?"

"Fine, damn it! I'm sorry that I threatened you..."

"And?" Blaise probed again.

Sighing Draco continued, "I wouldn't kill you... But this doesn't mean we're friends now, you know, you're still a mudblood whore to me!"

"Fine. As long as you don't call me mudblood anymore!"

"Deal."

"Good!" Blaise said exuberantly, obviously pleased with his 'peace-making skills'. "Ahh, so shall we head off to Potions, then? It begins in precisely eight minutes, and I do believe we ought to be on time."

Looks like the Griffindors aren't the only ones afraid of Snape...

"Err, I think I'll meet you there... I left my books at breakfast," Hermione explained. Blaise nodded and the two boys left to go to Potions.

Truth was... she did leave her books at breakfast, but there was no way in hell she was walking to class with Draco Malfoy!

A few would dream about it, (mostly horomone driven girls),

Most would, at all costs, avoid it,

But no one sensible would actually do it...

And sensible included Hermione Granger... And although she had to befriend Draco for her plan, she wasn't quite ready for it yet--after all, he had just threatened to kill her the night before. Hmm, such things do take time to get over.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed... please review--even if it's short!! And do you want Hermione and Blaise to get together, too? Hmmm... I just can't decide... Lots of love, and thanks for reading, XOXO