Perhaps that was overdoing it just a little, Malfoy pondered as he jogged out of Les Café Riches. He hadn't thought Hermione would be so uptight over a joke. Wasn't that what their relationship was based off of anyway? Mutual hatred and attempts to make the other miserable?

He kept his eyes trained on the woman several streets ahead of him as he followed her, dodging the clumps of people that occasionally floated down the street. Man, she walks fast, he grumbled to himself, and he picked up the pace a little to keep up with her.

Draco's stomach grumbled at him for leaving a delicious meal behind. Second time this week, it reminded him. Normally I'm your priority, but now you meet some girl and suddenly I'm no longer first in your life…

Not a girl like that, his mind argued.

That's what you think, his stomach responded with a snarky gurgle of hunger.

Draco rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the battle waging inside. Granger was simply a girl to amuse him, one he'd be glad to be rid of once they reached Hogwarts and he could socialize with other equally aristocratic and superior wizards. His eyes scanned the crowds for said figure in red. His heart skipped a beat when he didn't see her. He cursed himself for letting his stomach get the better of things and broke into an outright run.

There! There she was! Slow down! His mind screeched at him as he tried to stop, but his legs rebelled, and he just kept going.

"Oomph!"

"Bloody-"

"My dress!"

"-second item of clothing ruined this week-"

"-Malfoy?!"

"Wotcher, Granger," he said cheekily, smirking down at her.

"Didn't I just tell you to rot in hell?" she roared up at him.

"Yes, you did," he admitted, "but I figured you didn't mean it. With me being the only person to keep you sane for the next five days, I mean."

"I most certainly did mean it!" she screeched in a most annoying fashion. Draco was reminded of a certain enchanted planner and grimaced. "And if you'd kindly get off me, I would sincerely appreciate it!"

"Oh, right," he said, doing that.

"You have ruined everything of what was supposed to be a happy week," she continued, glaring swords, knives, and daggers at him. "You sleep in my room, you make fun of me, you hurt my ankle, you steal my wand, and you rip my favorite dress robes!"

"I couldn't escape," Draco pointed out. "And believe me, I would've rather slept on the roof than in your bed. Might I add that you also make fun of me, I carried you up the stairs so you wouldn't have to walk, I gave your wand back, bought your pet a bed and you a book, and took you out to dinner."

"Oh, and that's supposed to just make up for everything?" Hermione said furiously, standing. Her poor torn dress robes flopped open, revealing quite a bit of leg. Draco politely averted his eyes after gawking for a second.

"Hey, wait up!" he called, starting after the limping witch. During those five seconds he looked away, Granger had begun walking away from him.

I try to be nice, and look what happens.

"Sod off, Malfoy!" she yelled back at him.

"Where are you going, Granger?" he ignored her request for him to leave her alone.

"None of your beeswax!"

Rollage of eyes. "Granger, just cooperate for once in your life."

"I don't want to!" she retorted, sounding like a five year old in a tantrum.

Sigh. "You can be quite the little brat, you know."

"Thanks a lot, Malfoy," she responded, sarcasm apparent. "That's the way to get on a person's good side."

"I'm not trying to-" he started, but she had entered a building and slammed the door, apparently trying to send the message, "Go away!"

She did a very good job of it.

She made it very clear that she wanted nothing more than for Malfoy to drop dead outside her door.

He looked up and realized the building she had entered was The Cat's Paw, so most likely, she was going to bed and wouldn't be come back outside until tomorrow morning.

So, the next reasonable move would be for him to retire to his hotel and return the next morning.

Instead, he sat on a bench below a street lamp.

"I suppose I shouldn't have tricked her like that," he told the fireflies buzzing around. "What if she had really been looking forward to going out with me? I mean, what girl wouldn't be?"

He paused a moment to preen.

"So, I suppose I'll need to buy her something to make up for it…" he pondered, tapping his fingers on the back of the bench. "Too bad I already used the book option. And the cat card. Perhaps a new—"

Suddenly, a flurry of brown curls shot past him. Pure reflexes (it resembled a fuzzy snitch, in an odd way) made his arm shoot out and grab the person passing.

"Let go of my arm, Malfoy!" Granger thundered.

"Oh, it's you." He blinked at her.

"Who else would it be?" she bellowed.

"Well, it could—Granger, where are you going?" Draco gawped at her. "And… what are you wearing?"

Granger blushed.

Gone were the very pretty (but fully modest) dress robes. In their place were a short black skirt, a red tank top, and a pair of black heels. Draco had seen many other women in smaller amounts of fabric, but there was something about seeing Bookworm Granger in something a little more daring…

"Wow," he breathed.

"What?" Granger blinked at him.

Draco realized he had breathed out loud. Oops.

"Where are you going?" he repeated.

"Abso-bloody-lutely none of your business," she snapped.

"But you owe me a date," he tried.

"I owe you nothing," she spat, pointedly looking at his hand, which was still clamped on her arm.

Draco followed her eyes, then slowly dragged his gaze up to her eyes. To his delight, she turned a red that matched her shirt nicely. "Well, I owe you a date. Let me make it up to you."

"Let go of my arm, and I'll think about it."

"Will you run away if I do?" he asked, not breaking eye contact.

"Most likely," she muttered.

"I'll just catch you again," he offered.

"Fine," she sighed.

Draco let go of her arm and she immediately took it back, hugging it to her body.

"I didn't hurt you," he said, exasperated.

"That's what you think," she retorted.

Pause.

With a sigh, Granger started walking away. "Where are you going?" Draco asked her.

"To get food."

Draco's stomach perked up at the mention of food. "Where?"

"Muggle London."

Apparently she had tired of giving him cute answers.

"Can I come?"

Another sigh. "If you must."

Definitely worn down her defenses, Draco thought to himself.

Too bad that as he stood and followed her, he couldn't quite decide whether that was a good thing or not.

---

Author's Notes: Wheeee! I'm back! And in record time, too, I might add. Though, um, anything after last chapter's sabbatical would seem in record time. Hmm. Anyway, here's hoping this chapter meets your expectations and desires for more. Don't know when I'll be updating again, because school is starting in one week (choke! Gasp!) but I'll try to keep it around one chapter every two weeks or so (but we all know how sucky I am at updating regularly). Thanks to everyone who reads my crappy knockoff of JKR's masterpiece. For my shoutouts, I've split it into newbies and oldies (i.e., people that have reviewed before and those that are new). If I screwed up and stuck you in the wrong category, my apologies. If I missed you, my apologies. If you read this fic, my apologies. But, um, just lemme know and I'll do what I can to fix it. Wotcher!

Shoutouts:

To my newbies:

Insidiae- the tears worked! Here's another chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews!

Paprika90- indeed I am alive! does the alive dance glad you thought the end justified the means.

Love it!- wow, I love your name!

Poetic-Mind- Aww, glad to know you were worried about me. Don't worry, had I really croaked, I would've invited you to my funeral.

Insane and Crazy- yeah, I wouldn't have gone either. Well, perhaps if I had been really bored, I would have, but… well, I woulda have to have been really bored.

Irelandkicks-ass03- grins glad you thought it was funny. That's what I was aiming for.

Mistress-eos14- here's the update! Thanks!

In Dreams- definitely back to stay. Never really left! Okay, I kinda did, but… um, yeah. Yeah, French… it seems to be an aristocratic language… something Draco dear would know… I can't quite picture him speaking Spanish, can you?

ILUVRONWEASLEY- wow, what are you doing reading a DM/HG fic? Just kidding. Thank you for the three review in a row J made my night!

IceSugarHigh- wow, interesting name. I think I've gotten high off of water before… no, the best thing to get high off of is the new car smell… know what I'm talking about? Just riding in a new car makes me all happy… um, anyway, thank you for the review! (and I don't like French food much, either. I prefer Italian.)

Diamond girl- sings diamonds are a girl's best friend… er, anyway, thanks for the review!

Rachel- definitely am continuing to write! I have conquered my writer's block!

Muggle Lover- awww!! Thank you! I wouldn't call this exceptional by any means, but I'm glad you (and others) seem to enjoy it.

Karana Belle- hehe, go to a French/English translator and copy paste what I said into it. It's nothing special, I promise. Thanks for reviewing!

For the love of music- wow, great name. I'm glad I updated to! Thank you!

Shimmering evil- wow, another cool name. 45 minutes to read all of it… hmm… that's pretty good time! We all know it took way more than that to write the stupid story… geeez…

Dodobird- whew, glad you like it. Thank God it's not all mush… I think I'd kill myself if it was.

Blackonyx- wow, another cool name! They're everywhere! Thanks for the review!

To my crew:

Dragonspirit7037- Hmm, those are odd numbers. What do they mean? To answer your question, chum is shark bait. Usually ground up bits of fish that are sprinkled over the ocean. Your review amused me so much!

Dracos-kiki- haha, a funeral email? Never heard of those before… but I'm glad to be forgiven!

Monikkadaluver- whoa, a new name!! Thanks for telling me who you really were… I would never have guessed!

ThreeEaredBunny- man, your reviews seriously raise my ego another notch. Keep them coming! J but seriously, you're encouraging and enthusiastic… I love you, man!

Rinaula- well, there wasn't really an audience, I was just comparing it to actors with an audience… but yeah, they all speak French, since it was at a French restaurant.

White Crow- hey, it's you! How's it going? Glad to know my French wasn't horrible… thank God for online translators!

Kole17- aw, it's okay. I was slacking in the updating department too. J

And finally…

Kate- AH! You remember me! hug thank you for the review… and I made it under the month deadline… go me! Thanks so much for sticking with me. Love ya!