A/N : Well, crap. Last chapter, I forgot to thank my betas! I suck! So here goes.

Thank you Jack! I love you! You're great, and I know I'm perfect, but I still need you! :Draco-like smirk: And thank you "other" Jessica! You rock so hard. You give plot-beta's everywhere a good name. This fic would probably suck eggs if not for you guys. :tears up: :sniff: I love you! (And then we hug, right Jack?)

And I think I told a couple of you I was going to update Tuesday (tomorrow), but as some of you know, I'm the most impatient person in the world and I find it difficult to wait to update my stories. So here we are. Just so there's no confusion. I said I was going to update tomorrow. I'm updating today. Sue me, if you like. :D

The previous summer had done quite a bit to change Draco's opinion of his father.

As a child, he had feared and respected the older man. Every young boy idolizes his father. Lucius had trained Draco to be himself in miniature, and he had every hope that his son and heir would one day follow in his footsteps.

He had nearly succeeded.

However, at the beginning of the summer following Draco's fourth year at Hogwarts, Lucius had decided his son was no longer a boy, and should no longer be treated as such. He began to really educate him in the noble art of serving the Dark Lord.

The more Draco learned about He Who Must Not Be Named, the less the cause his father was fighting so hard for appealed to him. It wasn't so much the idea that purebloods were superior; that much had been plain to Draco since birth. The part that left a bad taste in his mouth was the servitude, always being second-class under the Dark Lord and doing his bidding, no matter how twisted and undesirable the task may be. It was do as Master says, or be Avada Kedavra'ed until you are dead. No third option.

Besides, it was utterly ridiculous how they were on and on about weeding out the Muggleborns and blood traitors. Even if they succeeded in their quest, all would still be under the rule of the Dark Lord anyway. No one would ever be free. Not even his most "trusted servants" would have any real power.

So Draco began to tune his father out whenever he started in on the subject. It was far too dangerous to openly rebel against Lucius, but he quietly decided he would never serve his father's Master. The only master he would ever serve was himself. He would never be the Dark Lord's lapdog.

One night towards the end of Draco's summer holidays, Lucius came home utterly excited. He had been given a very important mission, he confided in Draco, and he was to bring his son along for a little tutorial. Draco wasn't exactly thrilled, but he didn't have much of a choice.

Lucius had taken Draco by Side-Along Apparition to a dark wooded area where they stood quietly for a while and waited. Draco began to wonder what they were doing, and was about to open his mouth to ask his father when he heard voices.

"…this way, Viktor," came the simpering voice of a young witch. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as the voice came closer and closer to where Draco and Lucius were hidden. Draco's heart was pounding in his chest.

"Vat is it you want me to see, anyvay?" a gruff voice asked, and Draco recognized it at once as the voice of Viktor Krum, the professional Quidditch player and the Durmstrang champion from last year. Suddenly the young witch and Krum burst into view, the girl practically pulling him through the underbrush of the forest.

"There's this really lovely waterfall, just up here," the girl, who was English from the sound of her voice, tugged at Krum's arm to get him to follow her, but he growled and pulled her into a tight embrace instead, kissing her enthusiastically.

Draco smirked. He knew from the rumor mill at Hogwarts that Krum was supposed to be dating Hermione Granger, but from this little display, either that was over or he just didn't care. Something about that amused Draco and he almost laughed. Served that stuffy little know-it-all right.

Before Draco could even form another thought about Granger finally getting her come-uppance, his father was raising his wand at the couple. Draco gasped, and the girl broke the kiss and looked over Krum's shoulder to where Lucius stood, wand raised.

"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius bellowed, and there was a rush and a flash of green light and the girl was dead, lying on the ground at Krum's feet. Krum roared and drew his wand, firing curses at Lucius, and Draco ducked and was narrowly missed by several spells he didn't recognize. He dived behind a large boulder and listened, his breath coming hard, not daring to stick his valuable neck out into this fight that wasn't his.

A moment passed, both men shouting curses and dueling fiercely from the other side of Draco's boulder. Then he heard it again. The Killing Curse.

"Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!" Apparently Krum was excellent at dodging curses, for Lucius kept screaming it over and over; but finally the curse struck home and Draco heard the body fall to the forest floor.

The next thing he knew he was being dragged up by the collar of his robes and his father was Apparating them back to the Manor.

"You fool! You could have ruined everything, you insufferable coward, hiding behind a rock like a frightened little girl!" Lucius was yelling as soon as the air filled their lungs again. Draco looked round. They were standing on the front lawn, just outside the Apparition wards. He came back to himself and snatched his arm away from his father's grasp.

"Talking of cowards! You were going to curse him from behind!" Draco didn't know where exactly the words were coming from, for usually he had no problem with cursing people when their backs were turned. But he was furious with Lucius for being so quick to risk Draco's life, and his stomach was clenching uncomfortably as though he might be sick. He'd never witnessed the Killing Curse up close before.

"Just be happy you didn't sabotage that task, Draco," Lucius said softly, straightening his robes and seeming to come back to himself once again. "The Dark Lord would not have been pleased with you for almost destroying our chances of taking out the newest member of the Order of the Phoenix. As it stands, I will withhold that nasty bit of information from our Master," he added imperiously, sweeping up towards the Manor in a flutter of dark robes.

Krum was in that stupid Order thing? Draco remembered hearing about Dumbledore's little "club" earlier in the summer when his education began. They were the enemy. Of course it made sense to take Krum out immediately; he would have to have been powerful and talented to have been his school's champion for the Triwizard Cup.

But something about bearing witness to his murder and the murder of the girl, whether she had been innocent or not, didn't sit well in Draco's stomach. As soon as he made it to his private quarters he promptly threw up. A Scourgify charm vanished the evidence of his weakness and he steeled his nerves and told himself it didn't matter anyway.

For even though Draco knew he wasn't on his father's side in this upcoming war, he knew with equal certainty that he wasn't on Potter's side, either.

The next two weeks before term started were a blur. The news of Krum's death was widespread, and although no one knew who it was that killed him, they knew it had been the forbidden Killing Curse that had done the deed, so the rumors flew.

No one was willing to admit the Dark Lord had returned to power, but the evidence was plain that a dark wizard had offed the promising young Quidditch player, and for apparently no reason. The girl, who had not been anyone of real importance, wasn't even mentioned in most of the articles that were written in the wake of Krum's murder.

Draco felt miserable. He hid his uneasy feelings on the matter from his father expertly well; when growing up with Lucius Malfoy for a father, you learned not to show your feelings, starting from a young age.

The first week back at Hogwarts passed without event, unless you call having a giant toad for a teacher an event. Nevertheless, Draco noticed that Hermione was conspicuously absent for the first week of term. He wondered if she had gotten so depressed that she actually had done something stupid and hurt herself.

He didn't care if she had. One less Mudblood to deal with, after all.

Then he saw her come into the Great Hall. She looked pale and harried, with deep purple marks under her eyes from lack of sleep, he supposed. Something jolted in his stomach. He found himself almost pitying her. Almost.

The next afternoon in the library, he had been finishing up an essay for Snape when she rounded the corner and discovered him at his secret table. The table far back in the stacks was best suited to him because he really didn't want to be seen poring over books in the library like some Ravenclaw. It also provided an excellent place to snog the various girls in his year, as it was quite secluded.

And yet here was Granger, looking surprised and embarrassed to see him, a pretty blush appearing on her cheeks as she mumbled something and turned away. Draco, angry and confused with himself for thinking her blushing was pretty, had quickly risen and gathered his things for a quick escape.

Something was definitely wrong with him.

Draco paced his dorm room that night long after the others had gone to sleep. He decided that he needed to get a grip on himself. Just because he wasn't going to fight for the "Dark Side" didn't mean that he had to go all mushy gushy teddy bear Draco either. He had an image to uphold, after all.

He decided that Granger was a Mudblood after all, and that his displays of emotion towards her - the pity he'd felt, the thing in the library, whatever the hell that was about - were all uncalled for and therefore should not be repeated. Ever.

With this thought firmly implanted in his brain, he climbed into his bed and fell asleep instantly for the first time in three weeks.

The next morning Draco went down to breakfast amid much chatter from the students that filled the Great Hall. As he moved to sit at his usual place at the Slytherin table, he caught snatches of conversation.

"…made High Inquisitor. I just read…"

"…What in the bloody hell is that, anyway? Some kind of…"

"…Umbridge. Yeah, I know, she's so off, but she hates that Potter kid, so…"

Draco's curiosity was piqued, but he didn't like to appear that he didn't know everything that was going on, so he remained silent as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. It wasn't long before a tall blonde girl was slipping onto the bench beside him. Right on cue, he thought dryly.

"Draco, have you heard the news?" the girl asked excitedly, positioning herself so she was directly next to him and their thighs were touching slightly. The subtle scent of roses drifted up to Draco's nose as she tossed her long hair over her shoulder and turned her heart-shaped face up to him.

"I'd never deny you the pleasure of telling me a juicy bit of gossip, love," he drawled, winking rakishly and resting a hand on her leg just above her knee. His actions had the desired result and Pansy blushed gracefully. Although, Draco couldn't help thinking, it didn't become her in quite the same way it did with Granger. Angry with himself for thinking this thought, he quickly dropped a kiss on Pansy's cheek, just to show himself that he could do much better than that filthy-blooded goody two-shoes.

"Draco! What's gotten into you today?" Pansy said breathlessly, and Draco immediately regretted kissing her. She was going to get the wrong idea and start hanging all over him again, and he couldn't endure that kind of thing. It was suffocating. So he gave Pansy a half-smile, turned to his empty breakfast plate, and began to fill it.

He could almost hear her pouting behind him as he tossed over his shoulder, "So did you have something to tell me or not?"

"Hmph," Pansy said sullenly from beside him. "Perhaps I won't tell you after all." But Draco knew she would. If there was one thing about Pansy Parkinson he knew, it was that she couldn't resist spreading a rumor.

"All right then," Draco replied casually, pretending not to care. He could practically hear the inner struggle Pansy was having trying to decide if it was worth it to not tell him her news. Five, four, three, two…

"Oh, fine then," Pansy sighed heavily. Bingo, Draco smirked. Then he turned to the pretty girl with a cocky lopsided grin and waited. She glared at him for a moment, then smiled. "I can't keep anything from you, you know that?"

Draco inclined his head to say, Of course not, who could blame you?

"Professor Umbridge has been made Hogwart's High Inquisitor," Pansy rushed out, all in one breath. Draco lifted an elegant eyebrow.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it means that she gets to inspect the other teachers, and if they aren't up to her standards, then she can fire them! Imagine! First she can get rid of that great oaf Hagrid, ugh, I can't stand him, and then she can…" Pansy continued on for a few more minutes in that vein, but Draco was no longer listening.

Hmm, he thought. This should be interesting.

Draco was rather looking forward to seeing some of his teachers evaluated by Umbridge, but it wasn't in the cards for that day. Double Potions with the Gryffindorks was.

As much as Draco hated Potter and his band of do-gooders, he always rather enjoyed having Potions with them, as Snape hated them all just as much, probably more.

Entering the dungeon classroom, Draco noticed that Granger was already there, busying herself with setting up her cauldron and Potions supplies. Draco brushed past her and deliberately tipped her bowl of beetle eyes onto the cold stone floor, where they scattered hopelessly. Hermione gasped and dropped to her knees to gather them up.

"Evanesco!" Snape's cold voice rang through the cavernous room and echoed off the walls, making it even more impressive. The beetle eyes vanished with a wave of his wand. "Get up, for heaven's sake, Miss Granger, and ten points from Gryffindor for being so graceless in the first place," he sneered as he swept past her to his desk.

Granger flushed crimson, and Draco smirked and thought smugly that her blush wasn't so pretty this time. In another instant her eyes flashed up at him and she shot him a piercing glare that wiped the smirk right off his face and made his mouth suddenly very dry. Then she was turning her nose up and seating herself upon the bench behind her table as if it were a throne.

Hmph, stupid girl; who does she think she is, anyway? Draco seethed. He was angry again and he didn't even know why this time. He had won, after all. But why wasn't she more upset?

The rest of the class passed uneventfully. Snape passed back their essays on moonstone and its uses in potion-making, and Draco was pleased to have received an E for Exceeds Expectations. Next, they prepared Strengthening Solutions, and he managed to do a pretty fair job of his; it was the right color, anyway. He glanced over at Granger.

Her hair was falling into her face, which was pink-tinted and slightly damp from the heat coming off the cauldron. She bit her lip and added the final ingredient to the green liquid simmering before her. The potion immediately turned a clear turquoise and she smiled. Draco suddenly felt a bit too warm and decided he'd better put out the fire under his cauldron.

That done, he dipped a flask into his potion, filled it, and then walked to Snape's desk as he sealed it with a flick of his wand.

"Here you are, Professor," he drawled. Snape cocked a greasy eyebrow at him and gestured for him to place his flask on the desk. Draco saw him write a large "E" on the parchment in front of him, and he suddenly felt much better. At least he wasn't useless at Potions like most of his year.

Smirking, he packed up his things in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He headed out the door and to the Great Hall for lunch, firmly pushing any further thoughts of Hermione Granger out of his mind.

A/N 2 : Um, so I have a question for you guys. Last story I did previews for the next chapter in this space down here. Would you like for me to do that with this story, too? Or are chapter previews evil? By the way, you can only answer my question in a review if you say something about the chapter as well. I will not take into consideration those reviews that say "Chapter previews suck!" or "Yes, do chapter previews," if they don't say something about the story as well. Just so you know. :D