Gender Changing Toffees Chapter Ten:

Draco Malfoy, back and fabulous

Draco woke up with an idea burning bright in his mind. He wanted to take the potion then, at that moment. After his fight with Hermione, he wanted nothing more than to push himself as far from her as possible. Now that he was inside of his Potion Professor's office however, he was having second doubts. He knew that he potion was not yet ready, having still a few hours to go.

And then…once he took it, he was back. No more being friends with Hermione, no more being nice. He would be Draco Malfoy again, back in all of his glorious hateful existence. Hermione had changed Draco; did he really want to change back to his old ways? He looked at the shimmering blue potion and made a decision, he was going to do it. His feelings for Hermione made him nothing but weak, she had hurt him. He would go back and never have to experience the unwanted feelings she stirred in him again. He procured a vial from his robes and eagerly dipped it into the potion. It was full to the brim with the fluorescent blue liquid.

Without fear, he tipped the beaker to his lips and downed it in one gulp. Draco licked his lips and felt them grow warm and tingly. Soon his whole body was tingling and vibrating. This must be part of the process, he assured himself. He couldn't have taken it too early. Surely not. He gasped suddenly as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. The next thing Draco knew, the room faded to black.

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Hermione sighed and stretched. Her arms came in contact with warm flesh and she opened her eyes to see Harry's face right next to hers and her arms and legs entangled around him. She immediately felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she remembered the night before. Harry was sleeping peacefully and deeply, he had not noticed her awake. She carefully eased out from around him and sighed with accomplishment as she did so with out waking him. She turned to find a bathroom- which she was sure would pop up sometime, since she very obviously needed one, and tripped on a large object and promptly fell flat on her butt.

"Argh!" she exclaimed and grabbed her foot, which happened to be what hit the object. The object Itself was a tray of delicious breakfast. What? She hadn't wanted that. Why was it here?

"Are you okay?" Harry startled her by asking her feebly. Hermione have a squeak of alarm and saw that Harry was setting up on the couch.

"I'm okay, I tripped over something,"

Harry blushed and chuckled lightly, "I think I accidentally wanted that, so I suppose it's my fault that you fell," he told her.

"Oh, well I'm fine so no harm done there. Do you know what time it is?" she asked, trying to cover up her immense embarrassment from her fall.

"Uh, I think it's seven," Harry replied, pointing at a hanging wall clock that just popped up over Hermione's head. She laughed , of course it would have appeared just as she asked.

"Well then we should be going to breakfast now, I bet Dumbledore's just serving it," she said Harry yawned and nodded, his stomach growling. He was tempted to offer that the two of them just stay in there and eat together, but that was probably too bold. Besides, he knew she would probably want to find and make up with Draco after their fight the night before. He and Hermione grabbed their robes and Hermione ran a brush quickly through her hair then they exited the room.

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"Morning Hermione, Harry," Ron said through a big bite of hash browns when the duo spied him at the Gryffindor table not long later.

"Morning Ron, I see you're already cleaning off the table," Harry joked. Ron glared at him and looked questioningly at Hermione.

"Did you hear?" he asked her sadly. Hermione shook her head and Ron nodded towards the teachers table. "That friend of yours, Diana is gone. She went back to America! Just like that. Without even saying goodbye to me."

"What?" Hermione couldn't believe what he had told her. If Diana was gone, that meant that Draco was back and didn't even tell her goodbye. Ron didn't reply, he was gaping at the Slytherin table. Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she glanced to see what he was staring at, knowing even before she looked what she would see.

Draco Malfoy strutted to the Slytherin table, his black robes billowing behind him. He looked just as he had before becoming Diana. His white-blonde hair shined brilliantly and his cool gray eyes were hard and sharp. He even had his typical "I'm better than you" look, and characteristic stride to complete the look that was known as Draco Malfoy. He smirked at the attention he was getting and raised a single eyebrow delicately as everyone gawked at him. Cheers erupted from his table and several students stood up to clap at his arrival. Pansy ran to him and threw her arms about his neck in a painful-looking embrace.

"Oh Draco darling, you're back!" she cooed. Draco smirked again and hugged her back lightly. Hermione stared at him in wonder and her heart skipped a beat as his eyes met hers over Pansy's dark hair. He narrowed them and turned away from her as if looking at her offended him. Hermione turned her head away sharply and flinched. He hadn't changed a single bit, he was still the same Draco Malfoy that he had always been.

The room quieted abruptly and Hermione looked up to see that Dumbledore had risen to the podium and was about to make a speech. She sat down with Harry and awaited his words, but in the back of her mind she was stunned by Draco's return. Dumbledore smiled at the students and waited for them to quiet.

"As you all remember, a student of ours went to America on a foreign exchange program, and we in return received a student from America. Due to some personal family matters, Diana had to leave last night to head back home. This of course means that Draco Malfoy returned this morning. Everyone, give Draco a greeting home!"

The Slytherin table cheered loudly, the other tables clapped politely. The Gryffindor table didn't clap at all, on the principle that they would not clap for the return of any Slytherin. Dumbledore beamed as Draco was greeted warmly and sat down to continue with his breakfast. Hermione no longer felt hungry and pushed her food in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked her. Hermione couldn't explain to him that she was terribly disappointed because Draco had not changed, Ron wouldn't understand. She shook her head and said she just had a headache.

"I think I'll go to the library where it's quiet, I think the noise is getting to me," she lied. Ron nodded his head, not paying attention. Hermione nodded at Harry, avoiding eye contact because she knew that he would be able to read her face and know what was troubling her. She excused herself quickly, and nearly ran out of the room. Harry watched her go with a frown. He didn't need to read her face to know what was wrong, Draco's presence was verification enough. Bloody Malfoy! He cursed. Why did he have to go off and do that? His heart hurt knowing the pain Hermione must be feeling, she had looked so sad.

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Harry nudged Hermione beside him in Potions and watched her come back to life. She'd been spacing out something horrible the past few minutes and Snape was outlining the potion they were about to perform. Harry needed Hermione alert so that she could help him make it.

"Hmm?" she asked. Harry nodded toward Snape and Hermione sighed. Oh right, the potion project. Hermione had completely forgotten about it. She'd been thinking about Draco, to be honest. He was setting in the back of the room with Pansy and Crabbe, snickering about something or another. She was sure she'd heard the word "mudblood" from him. Why had he gone back to his Slytherin ways? She began taking notes as Snape talked and tried to ignore the snickering Slytherin's.

"I'm going to put you in partners and you'll make the Calming Drought," the oily haired professor instructed, keenly aware that few students were paying much attention to them. Well, they would certainly pay attention once they failed their potion. He almost chuckled at the thought as he started to pair up each student with a partner, calling out their names then pointing them to a designated cauldron and table to work at. Finally there were only a few students left, and Snape knew he was going to get immense pleasure from pairing up the last two.

"Granger, you are going to be with," Snape trailed off, smirking slightly. "Malfoy."

What? Hermione turned to Draco in shock and saw his face twisted in displeasure. He paired her with Draco after he knew good and well what happened between them? She frowned and looked at Harry, who shrugged his shoulders to show that he sympathized, but didn't know what to tell her. He himself got paired with Goyle and wasn't looking forward to working on the potion either. Hermione sighed and looked over at Draco again, who had just been getting up and heading over to their work station. She grudgingly picked up her things and joined him at their designated cauldron and lab.

"Watch it," Draco growled as Hermione accidentally bumped into him while getting out their ingredients. Hermione glared at him but kept her silence. It was quite obvious that neither of them were going to be talking to one another, which was more than fine with her.

Five minutes later she had started their potion and was off to a wonderful start, but she stopped when Pansy suddenly made an appearance beside Draco. She was paired with Zabini, who was doing all the work for their potion. Hermione eyed the sultry Slytherin as she sat herself on a table near Draco- who was on the opposite end of their station in effort to get himself as far from Hermione as possible. Annoyed at her intrusion and the fact that she was leaving her partner to do all of their work, Hermione asked her what she thought she was doing there.

"Well Mudblood, I'm talking to Draco, do you have a problem with that?" she sneered.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and lowered her eyes, "Yes, Pansy I do. As it is, Draco has to work on this potion and I hardly think your being here will help."

Pansy looked sweetly at Draco then back at Hermione before replying. " I think you can do it yourself. Draco and I have much catching up to do," she said. Hermione rolled her eyes and was slightly offended when Draco didn't stand up for her. Well then again, he was Draco and not Diana. She cursed in her mind as she once again continued her potion. If Draco wasn't going to help, she would do it all herself and get an A. Her grades would not suffer for his stupidity. As she worked diligently, she could not help but overhear the Slytherin's conversation.

"Oh Draco, I missed you so much," Pansy purred sweetly. "You should have seen the awful girl they sent in your place. She was dreadful."

Draco smiled a little, "How so?" he asked.

Pansy pursed her lips and sighed, "Well first of all, they put her in Gryffindor. Then she made friends with that mudblood over there and harassed me! Can you believe it?"

"That must have been terrible for you, just awful," Draco said, comforting her. They began talking some more but Hermione wasn't listening as clearly. Had Draco forgotten that he had been that new girl? He'd had courage then, she remembered. He had stood up for her then but he wouldn't now. Coward, she thought. He could do the right thing when no one knew he was doing it, but not when people thought of him as Draco. She didn't realize that she'd turned the berries she was supposed to slightly mash into a fine liquid until she looked at them. Hermione fought down the urge to curse and grabbed another dish of the berries and began again. She couldn't believe that he had made her that mad.

"Hey mudblood, you're lucky that Diana bitch left before I got to show her a piece of my mind," Pansy taunted, interrupting Hermione's work and thoughts.

"Oh really?" Hermione asked, obviously not believing her.

Pansy smirked, "Yeah, that blonde bimbo was going to see what was coming to her. Too bad she had to leave first."

"That blonde bimbo was twice the person you are, Pansy."

"Why you little! The nerve. Draco, do you see the way she talks to me?" Pansy pouted. Draco shrugged his shoulders, feeling a little uncomfortable. He was mad at Hermione, sure, but he wasn't about to see a fight occur between her and Pansy.

"Cool it Pansy, you don't want to get into trouble by Snape," Draco said softly. Pansy looked at him and made a great show of melting.

"Of course Draco, of course," she cooed. "I'm going back to my cauldron, if I don't now I might do something to that mudblood bitch that I will regret."

Draco began to nod his head when Pansy planted her dark red lips on his own. He was caught off guard but allowed the kiss to go on. However, the only thing going through his mind as his lips smashed onto hers, was how much he wished that it were Hermione and not her whom he was kissing. Once he realized that thought, he broke the kiss abruptly.

"Why did you do that? Did you not want the Mudblood to see us kissing? She's with Potty now so you shouldn't worry. She won't try to ravage you, darling. Although I do have to say, Potter could do better than her," Pansy said in a sweet evil voice. Draco glanced at Hermione, who's hands were clutching the vial she was holding so tight it was as if the glass were about to break. She was furious.

"I-" he began when Hermione's angry voice cut him off.

"Harry is my friend, Pansy. I'm sure the idea of just being friends with a male without sexually being attracted to them is quite beyond you, but that's what Harry and I are,"

Pansy was utterly horrified, "Are you calling me a slut?" She looked to Draco for support in this argument. He knew that he was obligated as a Slytherin to defend her.

"Shut up, Mudblood. Just because Pansy's had more boyfriends than you, and you're jealous, doesn't give you the right to harass her," he drawled. Hermione's eyes widened and before she knew what she was doing, she'd dumped the entire contents of their potion over his head.

"You little prat! I can't believe you would talk to me like that. Don't you dare ever call me a mudblood again!" she screamed, finally having let out her pent up anger towards Draco. The class, whom by now was watching Hermione and Draco with the utmost interest, broke out into laughter.

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ron said across the room. His eyes were wide and his face red from laughter. Harry, Neville, and the other Gryffindor's joined in on the humor. A few Slytherin's even chuckled. Hermione, Draco, and Pansy were not smiling. Neither was Snape. The class quieted to a dead silence when their potions master stood up. Draco was standing, stunned, the potion dripping down his hair to his face and robes.

"What happened here?" Snape asked in a deadly silky voice. Hermione's face burned and she started to explain, but Snape cut her off with a cold stare.

"Granger did it! She poured it all over my poor baby!" Pansy squealed, trying furiously to wipe the liquid off Draco's robes and hair. Unfortunately, the unfinished brew was beginning to turn his hair a light pink tint. The Gryffindor's noticed this and snickered quietly.

Snape ignored them and turned his wrath to Pansy, "Did I ask you?" he questioned icily.

Pansy gulped and lowered her hands from Draco's hair. "Uh, no, sorry Professor Snape," she mumbled. Snape ignored her apology and now focused his attention on Hermione and Draco.

"Get to Dumbledore's office, now," he ordered. "I will join you later and we will discuss this situation."

Hermione and Draco both hadn't a thought to disobey him- Draco had rarely seen Severus Snape so angry. He grabbed his coat and marched out of the room. Hermione followed at a much slower pace, accepting looks of sympathy and praise from Harry and Ron. She knew she would just about become a hero for what she did to the stereotypical bad Slytherin, but she had a feeling that the trouble she was about to get in would far outweigh any fame she would receive.

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Tears stung Hermione's eyes as she silently followed Draco along the passage to Dumbledore's office. She was mortified at the thought of getting into serious trouble. When she had dumped the potion on Draco, she hadn't really thought the consequences of her actions out. And she was going to be in so much trouble! They might suspend her. Draco could claim harassment even. Hermione bit back tears and gulped as she imagined her spotless record dirtied by this single incident.

Draco couldn't believe Hermione had embarrassed him like that. Didn't she know who he was? She couldn't do that to him, especially in front of everyone like that. He knew she had done it on purpose. What was worse was everyone laughing at him. Today was supposed to be his day, how could she ruin it? By this time they were nearing the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. What was the password? Cursing under his breath for not knowing the password, Draco turned to Hermione- who looked on the verge of tears, and asked here if she knew.

"What's the password?" he barked. Hermione bit her lip and shook her head, signaling that she did not know. Oh this was just wonderful. Stuck outside Dumbledore's office waiting for someone to come along and tell them the password. Stuck with Hermione in fact. Great. It was about now that he noticed that Hermione was crying. Oh for Merlin's sake, he hadn't asked her that harshly, had he?

"What?" he asked, not really knowing even why he asked. It wasn't as if he cared how she felt. She was nothing to him anymore.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

Draco knew she was lying, "Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not!"

"Then what are tears running down your face for?" he asked haughtily.

Hermione tried to stop more tears from flowing her face to no avail. "You wouldn't care," she said.

But despite what he wished to feel, Draco felt compelled to find out why she was crying, "Try me," he told her.

"Fine. I'm crying because you're a prat and I don't know why I ever thought you would change," she spat with venom.

"Well that's your fault then for thinking I would. Did you think we would go to being buddies or something? Merlin Granger, life doesn't work like that,"

Hermione shook her head and stomped her foot angrily on the ground. "What about when you were Diana? You had no problems being my friend then!"

"That was different," Draco replied immediately.

"Oh really? How?" Hermione asked, her arms now crossed and her eyebrow raised.

"Because…because it just was," he said weakly, knowing Hermione would find that as a pathetic excuse for an explanation.

She frowned, "Because then no one knew. You were Diana, you didn't have to hide it. But now that you're the wonderful Draco Malfoy, you can't be seen with me. That's it. You're nothing but a filthy coward afraid of losing the respect and admiration of your classmates. You can be my friend in secret, but not when it counts."

"You say it like it's a lot worse than it is. You don't understand what it's like to have to keep up a reputation-"

"I don't? Are you so self centered that you haven' t stop to think about what I would risk with our friendship? Ron would be horrified, my housemates would be disgusted. I have just as much to loose as you do, I don't know why you can't see that," she snapped.

Draco had to acknowledge that she was right. "Okay, so you have something to lose also. But Hermione, think about it. I'm Draco Malfoy. I can't just up and become friends with you. I mean, what would my dad do?"

"So you're ashamed to be my friend…"

"No! I didn't mean it like that. Merlin Hermione you make this difficult. It would be downright dangerous to be your friend. For me and you too. Do you think Pansy would leave you alone? Or any of the rest of them?"

Hermione thought about this, he had a valid point. She could definitely see Pansy forcing her into a fight or something over Draco's friendship. "You're right. But why didn't you even tell me you were going to take the potion? You didn't even say goodbye to me."

"Well after that night, I didn't think you would want to speak to me again," he told her.

"Oh Draco, I would have if you had tried. I was…well I was very upset,"

Draco felt ashamed, he didn't mean anything he had said to her that night. "Hermione…I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean any of it, I just couldn't help it."

"Do you really mean that?" Hermione asked him, surprised by his apology and moved by the emotion in his voice behind it. Draco nodded his head and sighed.

"The truth is Hermione, I think I miss being your friend. You have a way of making me feel like I'm a decent person." he told her.

Hermione felt herself smile, "I miss being your friend also, Draco."

"Well then let's stop fighting or whatever and talk to each other again. I mean in secret of course-" Draco noticed how Hermione's face fell slightly, "because it would be too risky otherwise. We can't tell anyone. I mean you can tell Harry since he knows about me, but that's it. Okay?" He watched for Hermione's reaction, knowing that she would be hesitant because he didn't want anyone to know about their friendship. He noticed how she fidgeted with her hair for a moment, twirling it on her finger. He was really asking a lot of her. Finally after a few moments of thought, she met his eyes.

"Okay," Hermione told him quietly, a soft smile on her face.

"Well I am very glad to see that the two of you have made up," a voice spoke suddenly from behind the two students. Draco and Hermione both flinched and gasped in unison. Albus Dumbledore chuckled lightly and smiled at both Hermione and Draco. "Surprised you?" he asked.

Hermione regained her breath from the fright, "Yes Professor, very much!"

Dumbledore chuckled again, "Ah yes well I do hope you didn't mind my eavesdropping, but you see I was to meet two students here sent by Professor Snape, and I was to punish them for a class mishap."

"Professor, that was all my fault, I goaded Hermione into it-" Draco started, horrified at the idea that they would be getting into trouble. Both he and Hermione had forgotten about what had happened in class.

Dumbledore cut him off, "No explanations, please. Severus has informed me of the incident ,and I think none are necessary. Though both of you have behaved quite appallingly, I think that having to speak to one another and make up was punishment enough. You may go with only a warning that such an incident is not to happen again."

"Thank you so much Professor!" Hermione exclaimed, thankful that her record would not have a black mark upon it. Dumbledore smiled at Hermione and Draco and told them that they had better hurry to lunch. They had been there so long that class was already over! Hermione gasped and thanked Dumbledore again, then her and Draco started for the Great Hall.

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Unbeknownst to any of the party, there was a fourth witnessing the conversation between Hermione and Draco. Harry signed as he watched them walk together to lunch, his mind processing the information he had heard. It was blatantly obvious to him that Hermione had feelings for Draco, romantic feelings. He had watched her twirl with her hair as she thought about his proposition of friendship, and noticed the look in her eyes every time her eyes had met Draco's. There was no doubt in his mind that Hermione liked Draco. And of course Draco liked her, Harry had known that for a while now. It was made known in the way he looked at her, the way he said her name, and the way he watched her walk away from him. Yes, they liked each other.

Oh Merlin what a mess! Harry had just worked up the guts to ask Hermione to the upcoming ball, even though under the pretense of "friends". But she obviously liked Draco. And he liked her, so shouldn't they be happy together? Though Harry had liked Hermione for quite some time now, she just felt for him as a friend. He felt guilty about going to the dance with her when she could be going with someone she really liked. Maybe he could do something to help her. He knew she wasn't happy with her and Draco's friendship being hidden. Maybe he could persuade Draco to take Hermione to the ball. He himself could take Ginny, she was friendly and nice enough. Harry made up his mind then to have a talk with Draco, and hopefully make the dance a night memorable for Hermione.

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"Well, I suppose we should go in separately," Hermione said when her and Draco became near to the Great Hall.

Draco nodded his head, of course they would have to. He smiled at Hermione apologetically, he knew that she didn't like the fact that they would have to hide their friendship. But Draco saw no other way for them to remain friends unless in secret.

"You can go first, I'll wait a while and go after. And Hermione, thanks," He told her. Hermione nodded her head and waved goodbye softly, then proceeded to the Gryffindor table. Draco watched her go and sighed. It seemed like things were almost easier when he was Diana.

Wow I didn't think it would take me so long to get this chapter out. School has been keeping me extreamly busy. That and a new boyfriend :) I guess I've been having some writers block. But now that it's Christmas break, I've had some more time. I don't really like the second half of this chapter much, I think it's really weak, I prefer the first part. I have two more chapters that I'll write, then this will finally be done :) And I can focus on my other fanfic, My Daughter (I think that's what I have it called now, I change the title a lot). Anyways I hope you like this chapter, the next one should be out before I go back to school.

Of course, I think my reviewers!

Sayaku-chan- Thank you very much for your review :) I'm sorry this newest chapter took such a long time to come out, hopefully you'll read it!

Angelo Del Ghiaccio- I did, it just took me a while :) Hope you like this chapter!

your.anti.drug- hehe thanks, hopefully I'll be finishing this very soon!

mony-hp- lol thank you very much for saying you don't mind waiting till I finish, because this chapter took a long time to get out! Sorry it was more than a few weeks- more like ten! I hope you like this chapter, and if all goes well the next one will be out sooner!