Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Draco didn't see Granger again until Wednesday when they had potions together again. Apparently, Professor Slughorn had been so pleased at how well they worked together a few weeks ago, that by the time of their next practical, he'd paired them together again.

Granger sat primly next to him, as annoyed as he was at being forced to work together again. Although she was back to her new normal of well fitting shirts and short skirts, but Draco couldn't remove the image of her from the Hog's Head. She'd been the perfect balance of classy and sexy and he wondered what kind of bra and knickers she'd been wearing under the soft green cashmere of her dress. More emerald green lace, perhaps? Or maybe something alluring like black silk?

He couldn't stop himself from groaning. If Granger noticed, she must have assumed it was because they were working together. He covertly studied her face. Although he had liked the way she looked on Saturday, with messy curls and dark lipstick, he found her much more beautiful this way. Simple, clean, pure.

Theo had been perplexed at his annoyance over Graham taking Granger on a date, but when pressed for details, he couldn't put to words why he was upset. It wasn't right, seeing as Graham didn't know anything about her except that she was good looking and previously undiscovered. The way he'd come back into the common room with that smug look on his face…he'd a smudge of Granger's dark lipstick on his cheek and his hair was well ruffled.

Granger deserved more than a guy who just wanted to snog her…she deserved romance and…

She returned to their desk, carrying the ingredients she got from the supply closet. "Doesn't it bother you?" He asked her, before he could stop himself.

"What? That you are making me do all the work while you sit there pensively?" She snarked at him, with a small smile on her face. "Yes, it does Malfoy."

He frowned, taking some of the nettles she'd retrieved and started cutting them into equal sized lengths. "No, that Montague…Finnigan…guys rather, are only after you because you've changed up your looks?" He winced. That wasn't smooth at all.

He felt her stiffen beside him in discomfort. "What, are you worried about a pureblood sullying himself with the likes of muggleborn me?" She finally settled on.

"No, it's just…you can't have much in common with Montague." He tentatively said, processing his own thoughts as he was talking with her.

"How are you supposed to get to know someone if you don't spend time with them?" She asked, perplexed. Sure, she didn't think that she'd had much in common with Graham either, but she was pleasantly surprised with his company.

"I just thought you…you Gryffindors were all about finding someone who liked you for you." Draco told her.

Hermione was perplexed by his line of conversation. "How do you know Graham doesn't like me for me?"

"Because he probably wouldn't have been able to pick you out of a crowd at the beginning of term?" He told her, as though it should be obvious. But it wasn't obvious to her. She was a Gryffindor and they operated differently than Slytherins. "In Slytherin, it isn't about dating someone for love. It's all about having something someone else wants."

"I'm not a possession!" She spat, upset at him.

"I know you're not." He said quietly. Hermione let her mind wander over her words. She knew what to think about Malfoy's words. It was true that they way Slytherins handled social interaction was vastly different from what she was used to. Daphne's love life was evidence enough of that. And it was true, she was a bit annoyed by the sudden attention of all these boys who'd known her for years, but wouldn't give her a second look until she'd changed her look.

But what she didn't understand was why he was sharing this information with her. It almost seemed like Draco Malfoy was looking out for her best interest. She felt an emotion that she couldn't quite name at the feeling that Malfoy might know her better than anyone else right now. It seemed they had more in common than she'd initially thought. "Let's just finish this potion." It made her head ache to think on this too much.

Ron and Harry were still not speaking to her the following week. Hermione was certain though that her attendance at the Slytherin-Hufflepuff Quidditch match wasn't doing her any favors. She sat next to Ginny, who'd gone for some reconnaissance work. Ron had taken one look at her sitting there in the stands and stormed off down to the other end of the section.

"Fuck, Slytherin are looking good this year." Ginny had said once they'd sat down for dinner. The green and silver had won the game by a stunning 565 to 70. Hermione still didn't care for the game, but she'd found her eyes dancing between Graham and Malfoy.

"Wouldn't they do better with a proper seeker?" Hermione asked Ginny.

"Uh, Malfoy's a proper seeker alright. And he's improved a lot over the summer too." Ginny said, stabbing her bit of roasted chicken.

"Oh." Hermione said, confused. "I always thought he'd bought his way onto the team."

Ginny nodded. "I thought so too a few years ago, but…he's got real talent. Now I think Lucius Malfoy might just like to flash their wealth."

That gave Hermione something to think about. Everything she thought she knew about Malfoy was slowly unraveling. Before she could think on it too hard, Graham came up to the table, and slid into the open spot next to Hermione, kissing her on a cheek. Hermione felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment at the public display. "Great game today, Graham." She told him quietly.

"Thanks. Say, Slytherin is having a little celebratory party in our common room tonight. I was just wondering if you'd like to come." He said, his hand running through his brown hair, ruffling it a bit.

Hermione bit her lip. She knew that going would annoy Harry and Ron even more, but she supposed current relations couldn't get much frostier than they already were. "I'd love to Graham."

He kissed her cheek again before standing. "Great, see you there."

Hermione looked across the table to Ginny. Her ginger friend looked annoyed, until Hermione asked. "Do you think you could help me get ready? I have no idea what to wear."

Ginny had helped Hermione pick a blue blouse and a pair of tight fitting jeans for the party. But now, standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room, she felt nervous. Maybe she should have checked to see what Daphne was going to wear before she'd left the room. Before she could fret over her appearance any longer, Terry Boot came up behind her with Tracey Davis.

"What are you doing here Granger?" Tracey asked, her nose stuck in the air.

"Er- Graham invited me to the party." Hermione said quietly, feeling so out of place.

"Terry, you wait here with her, while I get Graham." Tracey settled on, looking Hermione up and down. "I don't know if I believe your story."

Hermione scoffed at that, as if she would try to sneak into a Slytherin party. And if she did this certainly wouldn't be the method that she would choose either. Terry didn't say anything, just stood next to her awkwardly, shuffling his shoes on the stone of the dungeon floors.

Before long, the door reopened and Graham was there, eyes flushed and cheeks red from alcohol. He planted a sloppy wet kiss on her lips, not caring that they had an audience. "I'm so glad you came, come inside."

The Slytherin Common Room wasn't anything like what she'd expected. The way Ron and Harry had described it, you would have thought that there were people strung up by their thumbs for decorations. Instead, it was all tasteful brown leather and green wall decorations with a huge fireplace to keep everything warm and cozy. Daphne was right, it was freezing down here.

The party was in full swing. It seemed like everyone from Slytherin house was there and quite a few Ravenclaws, with just one or two Hufflepuffs rounding out the group. She was the only Gryffindor. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, with butterbeer all around and even a bottle or two of firewhiskey.

Graham walked her over to a pair of couches, settling her down. "I'll just go get drinks. You know Daph?" Hermione smiled across the tasteful table at her blonde friend. She was snuggled rather closely to a boy Hermione identified as Adrian Pucey. They both seemed to be well into their cups.

"Hermione!" Daphne gushed. "So glad you came to our little party. Do you know-Adrian?" Her sentence was punctuated with a little hiccup.

"Er, yes, though I don't think we've been formally introduced." Hermione said. Adrian looked neutral to her presence. He wasn't fawning over her being there like Daphne or Graham, but he wasn't rude like Tracey either.

Soon Graham came back and handed her a firewhiskey. She stared into the glass tumbler, trying to think about what she should do. She'd never had firewhiskey before and wasn't quite sure she should drink it, but she decided that one little drink wouldn't hurt. She held the glass up to her lips and took a small sip before coughing as the liquid burned all the way down her throat and into her belly.

Graham just chuckled at her and patted her back. "You'll get used to it. Now, shall we play a game?"

Draco stood with Pansy, Blaise, Tracey and Terry Boot from Ravenclaw. Theo'd been around early, but then he'd seen Daphne snuggled up with Adrian Pucey on the couch and stormed off in the direction of the dorms. Now he wished his friend was here to save him from this drivel.

He'd noticed when she'd entered the room. How could he not, when her demeanor practically screamed 'I should not be here'? But if he hadn't Pansy had spoken for the group. "What on earth is she doing here?"

"That's what I asked her when I saw her loitering in front of the entrance, and she said Graham invited her." Tracey told Pansy with a triumphant smirk on her face, as though she was giving some really juicy gossip.

"Ugh, that's true?" Pansy asked, annoyed. "I can't believe that he actually brought her to Hogsmeade. I thought it was a rumor."

"I don't even know what he sees in her. She's still an annoying know-it-all." Terry Boot piped up beside them.

"Never thought I'd be agreeing with you Boot." Blaise agreed. "Even if she cleaned up alright, she's still a mudblood. A mudblood with a smart mouth."

Draco was getting more and more upset over their words, although he couldn't tell you why. Hearing all of these people talk about her that way...didn't they understand that she was...He supposed he felt a little bit glad that they were dismissing how beautiful she looked tonight, laughing on the couch. She was like a beacon of light in the darkness. And he thought that she hadn't been annoying in a long time, he was genuinely interested in her.

Blaise sighed. "I can think of a couple of things she could do for me with that mouth though."

"Ew, Blaise! How could you even suggest that? She's filthy!" Pansy was truly outraged at the idea of any of the boys in Slytherin entertaining lustful thoughts about her.

"Don't talk about her like that!" Draco raged, surprised by his own outburst.

All of the people surrounding him looked at him with true surprise. "What gives Draco?" Pansy asked, knowing how much Draco detested the little mudblood constantly showing him up.

Backpedaling, Draco came up with a reasonable excuse. "I just don't like thinking about Granger doing anything with her mouth. I don't want to think of her at all. It's bad enough that she's here. Can't we just talk about something else."

Satisfied with his response, the group began discussing the recent engagement of Millicent Bulstrode and Demades Avery.

Hermione had been sitting alone on the couch for ten minutes before she realized how awkward she felt. After an enjoyable game of never have I ever - which she won on account of being fairly sexually innocent - Daphne and Adrian had slinked off to make out somewhere. Graham had chatted with her for a few minutes before getting up to retrieve them more drinks. But now, she had been sitting alone long enough to feel out of place and the reality of her situation dawned on her.

She stood and looked around the room for Graham. She'd just tell him good night and thank you for inviting her to the party and then she could leave to go back to her own Common Room.

No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find Graham. Soon, she felt someone come to stand beside her, and looked up to see none other than Draco Malfoy. "What do you want?" She asked, her question coming out harsher than she intended.

"I've come here to take you back to Gryffindor Tower." He said, a serious look on his face. Hermione turned to look up at him, surprised. His blond hair was attractively tousled and his grey eyes searched her face. Everyone always talked about how much Malfoy looked like his father, but in this moment, Hermione was surprised by how much he reminded her of Sirius.

"That's very...kind of you to offer Malfoy." Hermione said. It was...unusually nice of something for Malfoy to offer. "But I will just find Graham to say goodnight and then head back myself."

Draco scoffed. "You don't need to find him, he's right there." Draco subtly pointed near the stairs to the dormitories where Graham was in a lip lock with none other than Pansy Parkinson.

Hermione felt dread settle into her stomach. She tried to make it seem like it didn't bother her, but it did. "Oh." She settled on. "Well, I guess I will just be leaving then."

"She's only doing it because he invited you here." Draco tried to explain. He'd wanted to make her dislike Graham, not feel upset, like she wasn't good enough. Because she was. "Pansy is just peeing on everything in her territory."

Hermione swallowed and put a smile on her face. "Well, it's not as though Graham and I are dating exclusively. He's welcome to kiss whomever he'd like. Just like I am." Hermione knew it was true. This was exactly what Daphne had been telling her the whole time.

"Come on, let me walk you back." Draco insisted again, though he wasn't quite sure why. "I have my prefect rounds anyway and I won't give you a detention for being out after curfew if you come with me."

Hermione finally nodded, following Malfoy out of the Slytherin Common Room. "Did you really just manipulate me into following the rules?" She asked with a smirk on her lips.

Oh, that look on her face. It had Draco's knees feeling weak. This was one of the things he loved about her, she had a little bit of a wicked streak that others never saw. He wasn't sure why, even Potter and Weasley didn't seem to understand the devious minx that their best friend was. "I just…you looked uncomfortable and I thought you might like to go back."

Hermione rounded on him once they had gotten up the flight of stairs. The castle was dark, but she could see the outline of his face. "Why do you care so much? All of a sudden?" She asked. "You seemed content to let me be miserable before."

Draco's sneer had her feeling oddly disappointed. "I don't care about you." He insisted, but somehow it didn't seem as sure as he thought it would. "I just don't like you sticking your nose about in places that it doesn't belong."

Hermione frowned. "I fail to see how me going on one date with Graham is sticking my nose where it doesn't belong."

"Do you have to call him Graham?" Draco asked, annoyed at her familiarity with his teammate. "What do you even talk about anyway?"

"He asked me to call him Graham." Hermione said, primly. "I was actually surprised by how much we had in common." She said, with a smile, remembering their conversation at the Hogshead.

Draco scoffed. "Don't tell me he told you that tripe about being related to Romeo from Shakespeare." When he noticed Hermione's blush, he stopped short. "And you fell for it?"

"You mean it's not true?" Hermione was embarrassed that she'd had the wool pulled over her eyes.

"Yeah, the Montagues have lived in Wales for a millennium. I doubt any of them have even set foot in Italy." Draco told her, glad that he was able to ruin Montague's reputation in her eyes even further.

Until he heard her little indignant huff beside him. "Why do you insist on ruining everything for me, you awful ferret?" She was annoyed, her chest rising and falling with her breath. Her hair was a wild mass of curls and reminded him of the pre-Daphne Hermione.

"Because you're…you're mine to tease and mine to belittle and I don't want anyone else getting any ideas about you. You're mine, Granger." Draco took a step closer to her, as though possessed. He grabbed the sides of her face in his hands and stared into her brown eyes, mesmerized. "You're mine to…mine to kiss."

Hermione watched with eagerness as his eyes focused on her lips before he brought his lips down to meet her own. Hermione felt her eyes closed as their lips came together in perfection. While Seamus was too sloppy and Graham was too dominating, Malfoy was just right at kissing. He didn't overpower her, but rather invited her to a passionate battle for control.

He nibbled on her lower lip, which caused her to open her lips in a gasp of surprise, giving his tongue to opportunity to enter. Their tongues tangled together playfully, erotically. Draco wrapped his fingers into her curly hair and pulled her to him so their bodies were flush against each other. He groaned in satisfaction that she was kissing him back and how perfect she felt against him.

Hermione was dizzy and surprised to realize that the gentle feminine moaning was coming from her own throat. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his back to help steady herself against him. She loved feeling the way the muscles in his back jumped at her lightest touches.

Soon, though, they had to break apart of air. Hermione didn't want to, but she reluctantly opened her eyes to meet the mercurial gray of Malfoy's eyes. They stood there, still breathing heavily and clutching one another, before realization seemed to settle across both of their minds at the same time.

Draco stiffened and removed his hands from the tangle of her hair, stepping back. Hermione was surprised to see a stricken look flash across his face as he backed away from her, step by step. "Err—you can manage to get back from here by yourself."

Then he turned tail and strode off down the hallway into the darkness as quickly as he could, leaving Hermione standing there by herself. "Malfoy?" She asked after he, confused about what had just happened. Had she really just snogged Draco Malfoy? And was it really the best kiss of her life? The tingling on her lips and the heat between her legs would tell her yes.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first bit of action! I actually just finished writing the rest of the story this weekend and it has nine chapters - only three left!

Huge thanks to those who favorited or followed after last chapter. Big thanks to those who reviewed: hgregg80, Pwrmom2, monsoon, SereniteRose, niknik0201, Beautiful-Liar13, arabellagrace, pianomouse, Guest, The Butterfly Dreamer, trinka belle, ShaleeDeaver, HarryPGinnyW4eva, bluepixiestix, Sapphire water goddess, Guest, emmmma7, QueenOfThieves, everlastingtrueromance, and nostalgiakills! Y'all are the best!

If you are looking for more of my work, I just finished Back to the Future (a Sirius/Hermione) yesterday! Please check it out if you are interested. Currently, I am working on a James/Hermione and I hope to begin posting in a week or so. You can check out my profile for a more complete description and other future fics in the queue too!

So, please let me know what you thought of chapter six and be on the lookout for chapter seven next week!