The next morning as all of them waited outside their Potions classroom, Hermione fidgeted uncomfortably. Sia and Ginny had come up to her dorm before breakfast and had shortened her skirt by a considerable 6 inches. It was still modest compared to Sia's, but Hermione was not used to running around showing that much of her legs in school. And to top it all, she had been told very strictly by her two 'teachers' that she was not to look in Malfoy's direction at all, till she felt his eyes on her. This was easier said than done, she thought, as now her eyes seemed to want to do nothing else except look at him. Ron, of course, hadn't noticed anything about her appearance, just as Sia had predicted. But she was vexed because Malfoy didn't seem to have noticed either. He was still lolling against the wall, eyes closed, at peace with the world. Damn him! Hermione didn't like to think what else she would have to go through to catch his attention with her 'teachers' coming up with one wild idea after the other. And then there seemed to be something fundamentally wrong with the idea that in order to catch the attention of one guy, she would have to make another one notice her…and when the other guy was Malfoy, it was downright suicidal.

Draco was amused. He didn't show it, of course, but he was. He had noticed Granger's shortened skirt right away and such a small change had surprised him, given the fact that she was being tutored by Raisingh. He had seen her and Weaselette trooping up the stairs to Granger's dormitory earlier in the morning, and knew something was up. Granger was looking good, no doubt about it, but he wanted to laugh aloud at the fact that this subtle change had bypassed Weasley completely. He wanted to tell them that subtlety had no place in Weasel's world; if Granger was looking for attention from him, instead of shortening her skirt so infinitesimally, she should be walking around in a bikini. Now that should open Weasel's eyes! He felt a delicious shiver slide down his spine at the thought of Granger in a bikini but almost immediately schooled himself: Granger is not a girl, Draco; she is a tool that will get you in the good books of Potter if ever the need arises. So stay away from her, and don't let your hormones come in between. And anyway, there were a lot of outlets for relieving raging hormones…he opened his eyes and looked at Sia, and was taken aback at the scowl he received from her. What have I done now, he thought wonderingly. She was looking daggers at him, as though Weasley not noticing Granger was his fault. Crazy Gryffindors! And he closed his eyes again.

Potions class that day was a disaster, at least for Sia. Not only did the jerk called Malfoy fail to evince the smallest bit of interest in Hermione, but she had also got a detention from Snape. She had been so busy concentrating on Malfoy's non-existent reaction to Hermione, and Ron's non-existent reaction to that, that she had quite forgotten that Snape would nail her the moment she let her guard down, and that's what had happened. She didn't relish a detention with Snape…he would make everything ten times horrible for her, if the evil gleam in his eyes was anything to go by. And all this for Ron…the perfect idiot who was so totally unfit for Hermione in every way, and who Sia herself wouldn't have looked at if he hadn't been Harry's best friend. What she didn't have to do to attain her goal, she sighed.

And so this continued for the entire week. Hermione would daily make a tiny bit of change in her appearance, and Malfoy would just as doggedly not notice her, and Sia would end up with a detention every other day. In the beginning, Sia and Ginny were pushing Hermione into it, but now Malfoy's steadfast refusal to acknowledge a change in her appearance was starting to get to her. When she went to bed on Friday night after another day of fruitless labor, she wondered whether she really was so bad looking that Malfoy wouldn't even raise an eyebrow at her. And if she wasn't bad looking, then what was wrong with him, was he in love? Was he gay? Was he a kinky pervert? Or something worse?

Draco woke up very early on Saturday morning and was annoyed by it. He had quidditch practice later that day but had meant to sleep till then. Now that he was up, however, he decided to get a little workout. Got to keep the hot bod in shape, he smirked to himself. Not wanting to wake up Granger who was having so many troubles with Weasel turning a blind eye to all her efforts, he quietly left the Heads dorm after putting on his tracksuit and headed towards the Room of Requirement. The corridors were deserted, and he allowed his mind to wander freely, from commiserating with Granger's luckless efforts to wondering on Raisingh's drop in mental faculties. The girl had served three detentions this week…three. And all from Snape! Pity, she had looked so promising at first.

As Draco reached the seventh floor corridor outside the Room, he concentrated on thinking about a place where he could work out, which would be equipped with whatever he needed. On his third turn, the door appeared and he grasped the knob, turned it and went inside.

Draco stepped inside and closed the door behind him, but as soon as he turned to face the room, he got the shock of his life. The room was a huge place…with all sorts of strange things inside it. There were a couple of wooden pillars standing in a corner, with what looked like a sword lying beside them. Behind that was what looked like a grass court of some sort, with a net dividing it from the middle. Beyond that were a couple of huge mirrors facing each other. But what caught his attention was just before him…a line of piles of bricks arranged in different ways, some wooden slabs arranged on some bricks, and right beside them, looking like she meant to chop a wooden slab down with her bare hands, was Sia.

She was dressed in a tracksuit as well, a sky-blue colored one, the jacket zipped up to her chin. Her hair was tied behind her in a plait, and she again looked severe. Draco was standing near the door, which was in shadows, and he hadn't made a sound, which was why she hadn't noticed him. And anyways, her face was a picture of intense concentration as she brought down the side of her hand with a whiplash on that wooden slab, which broke in two. Draco raised his eyebrows…he couldn't have done it. He watched her wordlessly as she proceeded to demolish several more items with hands in a similar fashion, and the place was filled with pieces of splintered wood and broken bricks. Tough, Draco decided, this girl is really tough.

Next, she moved on to kicking the air with her legs, emitting strange sounds from her mouth as she did so. Draco found it comical. But then, she ran at the wooden pillars, and with one fluid movement, was balanced between them with each of her feet planted on a pillar, her legs forming a straight line. She remained in that position for a few moments, and then jumped down and picked up the sword.

Draco was mesmerized as he saw her swish the sword around her gracefully, sometimes charging and sometimes backing away from an unseen opponent. Her movements were fluid, one action smoothly flowing into another, even as she handled a potentially harmful weapon.

Sia seemed to be taking a momentary break, as she opened a bottle of water and drank from it thirstily. Then she unzipped her jacket and threw it off, revealing a zipped up teal blue top beneath. She picked up a towel off the floor and wiped her sweat, and Draco suddenly wished he could do that for her. Tough, but sexy.

Sia had still not noticed Draco, so intent was she on her workout. She proceeded to pick up, what appeared to Draco, a strange looking wooden club from the ground which had a handle at one end, and the other end was a framed oval with net in it. Then she picked up her wand from the ground and muttered something to a few balls lying around, which suddenly glowed green for a moment. Then she walked on to the grass court, balls in her hand, and stood on one side of the divider net, and hit one ball, and then the other, with her strange club. The balls traveled the length of the court, one after the other, and charged back at her after bouncing off the ground. Sia hit them back with tremendous force, and on and on it went.

After what could have been fifteen minutes or maybe more, Sia stopped what appeared to Draco her crazy antics and caught the balls in her hand as they hurtled at her. By that time, she was again bathed in sweat. This time she peeled off her pants, and Draco felt suddenly very hot himself without having moved a single muscle. Underneath she wore denim shorts with frayed edges. Not stopping at that, she tore off her top, revealing her sports bra, and picking up her towel again, started wiping away her sweat. Draco felt his knees go weak and slid down to the ground.

Next, Sia walked towards the mirrors and with her wand, motioned them to stand parallel to each other, their reflecting surfaces facing each other, about seven to eight feet apart, right beside the grass court. Then she put some spell on them so they glowed red for an instant. Draco was intrigued. What the heck was this girl going to do now? If she did any more of her strip tease routine, however, Draco decided he was going to run for it. After seeing her exhibition, he sure as heck wasn't risking his limbs with making a move on her, but neither could he take her raw sensuality that seemed to fill him with a gnawing hunger.

Sia stood poised between the mirrors, her feet wide apart, taking deep breaths, concentrating. She held her wand ready, as if poised for a duel, and lifted her feet one by one off the ground slightly, as though testing her flexibility. She needed to have all her wits about for this one. Then suddenly, she turned to one mirror and said a non-verbal spell, which rebounded, without breaking the glass, struck the other mirror and came straight at her. She quickly jumped out of the way, but by then it had rebounded again and was again coming at her. Sia jumped over it, and aimed another spell at the mirror, and now two spells were after her, making her jump around to avoid them as though she were standing bare feet on hot coals. Draco watched open mouthed as Sia aimed yet another spell at the mirrors, increasing her difficulties. The spells collided midway and shot off in different directions, sometimes avoiding Sia altogether, sometimes coming at her concurrently. Draco watched in horrific amazement as Sia was now being chased around by six spells, making her jump around like an accomplished acrobat. This strange, even dangerous game continued for about fifteen minutes, after which Sia suddenly catapulted herself out of that small corridor formed by the two mirrors, landing on the grass. She turned around immediately, and pointed her wand at the flashing mirrors and rebounding spells. The spells were lifted, and Sia lay down on the grass, completely winded.

Draco looked at her, lying flat on the grass, covered in sweat, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she took deep breaths. He suddenly had a vision, of her panting like that beneath him, sweaty and out of breath because he had made her so with his ardor. The vision was so real, he had to shake his head and blink several times to clear it. This was just not done, Draco, this girl can kill you without wand. Or at the very least, break a few of your bones.

Sia opened her eyes, her breathing, though still not normal, was less labored now. She turned her head slightly towards the door, and noticed light bouncing off something. Not sure what it was, she stood up, and started wiping away sweat from her legs. As she bent down, she stole a glance at the door, and was now able to make out a hazy outline…someone was sitting on the floor. Someone had been watching her, covertly, someone whose hair was reflecting that light as they moved their head. Whose hair reflected so much light, and who would watch her without making any sound at all? Certainly not a girl, and not a Gryffindor. Gryffindors believed in banging doors down, not in silent observation. Then who?

As Sia proceeded to wipe the sweat away from her arms and neck, the answer came to her- Draco Malfoy- the sly Slytherin with platinum blond hair. Sia quickly put on her jacket and zipped it up, and picked up her bottle for some more water, composing herself after that unnerving realization. She felt strangely embarrassed at the thought that he had been watching her while she was not aware of it. And while she was working out wearing just slightly more than nothing. The best way to get out of uncomfortable situations for her was simple-take the battle to the opponent.

"You are good to look at too," she spoke into the silence.

Draco started, shocked that she had noticed him while he had been daydreaming. Well, she had to sometime as he was sitting at the door, he reasoned, and stood up and walked into the light to stand in front of her. He felt slightly unsure at being caught like that, but covered it up with his smirk.

Sia saw him walk out towards her, his smirk in place. That confirmed her worst fear-he had seen it all. She felt distinctly disadvantaged, but raised her eyebrows at him.

"So… voyeurism is a hobby of yours, is it?"

A slight pink tinged his cheeks at that, but he smiled at her barb. "You really are good looking, Raisingh; in fact, I can say that you look…deadly." He put soft emphasis on the last word.

Sia had to smile at that. He had a way with words, she thought. "What are you doing here, apart from the obvious?" She really was curious to know how he had got inside the Room.

"I came here to work out, Raisingh, same as you. So you can relax…I don't need to resort to attacking helpless girls, alone in deserted rooms, to have my way with them." He gave her the benefit of his full smile as he leaned slightly closer, "My weapons and methods are slightly different, and shall we say…less lethal?."

Sia felt the familiar tug in her navel at his smile, but managed to ask amusedly, "Helpless girl? Anyone we know?"

Draco laughed outright. She was right, of course…there was nothing helpless about Sia, even if her wand was lying a few feet away from her. He had never met anyone like her, and he was amazed that he liked her toughness.

Sia saw Draco laugh, and felt a strange melting sensation inside her, his rich laughter touching her in strange places that she didn't know could be touched by a voice.. Nobody should be allowed to look that good, she thought.

Draco then looked around him, and asked her the one question he had been burning to ask her ever since he had entered that room. "Raisingh, what the heck were you doing out there? I've never seen anything like it."

"A lot of things. Some Karate, some Taekwondo, some tennis, and some reflexive training." At his blank look, she continued, "These are muggle techniques in unarmed combat, and tennis is a game, just for exercise."

Draco looked deep in thought as he looked around, his gaze resting on the mirrors. "And what was that mirror thing?"

"As I said, reflexive training. A training to improve your reflexes in a combat, when you are dealing with more than one opponent, and don't know where the next spell is coming from."

"Looks impressive. But what use are they to you, apart from the work out factor? You don't need unarmed training…you are a witch, not a muggle. And even if your work in Defence is…er… slightly off the mark, you don't need to resort to such drastic measures surely!"

Sia looked at him with narrowed eyes, certain he was making fun of her. What business was it of his anyways if she was bad at Defence?

Draco looked at her suspicious look, and couldn't hold his laughter in any longer. "C'mon Raisingh, what did you expect me to say? You cant even hex Weasley, and he is the most pathetic dueler I have ever seen, apart from Longbottom."

Sia's color slightly heightened and she looked down, unable to meet the gray eyes laughing at her. She knew she was bad…and here she was being laughed at for it. Well, she'd get over this, she had gotten over much worse.

And then the sound of laughter stopped, and Sia looked up to see Draco watching her intently. "I just cant figure it out, Raisingh…you are so good at some subjects, how can you be absolute rubbish at this one? I think you have a mental block or something…nothing else can explain it. Tell me, what is it?" Draco was genuinely intrigued, and Sia was shocked to hear him ask a question that had never been asked. Everyone had just laughed at her failure at DADA.

Not wanting to go into details, Sia just shrugged. But she was touched nonetheless that he had bothered to ask. There seemed to be more to Malfoy than met the eye, obviously. He was certainly a lot sharper than he seemed to get credit for.

Draco understood that Sia didn't want to discuss her DADA performance with him, so he left it at that. This surprised him; he had always got kicks out of tormenting other people, but then, he had more things to ask, anyway.

"Okay…forget about that. Tell me, why do you need to go into this entire muggle unarmed thing so much? Just for fun, or is it something else?"

Sia was glad at the change in subject, and decided to have some fun with him.

"Do you really want to know, or just asking?"

"I only ask when I really want to know."

"Okay…so hex me."

"What?" Draco was taken aback.

"I said, hex me, and I will show you why a witch or a wizard should bother with what I was doing. C'mon, now, I don't even have my wand."

That was true, as her wand was lying some three feet away on the ground. Well, Draco thought wryly, heres a Gryffindor asking to be hexed, so why not! And then he took out his wand and pointed it at her, only to be confronted by her wand practically shoved up his nose.

"Slow, aren't you? Lets try again, shall we?" Sia smirked as she threw down her wand again.

Draco wasnot really amused this time. Nobody laughed at Draco Malfoy, or called him slow. He'd show her.

"Dunsaugeo!" he snarled.

But Sia simply sidestepped his spell. "Try again, Malfoy. And this time, aim well." Dammit, she really was laughing at him. Draco's eyes turned glacial as he aimed at her.

"Furnunculus!"
"Stupefy!"
"Incarcerous!"

It was no use. Sia was too quick at jumping out of harm's way, and not a single spell hit her. And then he understood what her Reflexive Training was all about. This is what she had been practicing; how to defend yourself if you lose your wand! Well well well, so Miss Smarts knew something useful after all, he sneered to himself.

"If you can do this Raisingh, then how can you allow yourself to be hexed by the Weasel in every DADA class? Just to make him look good?" Draco mocked her, his eyes now cold and distant.

Sia looked away, thinking what to say to ward off his curiosity, and was suddenly lifted off her feet and slammed to the ground. Winded and shocked, she looked up to see Draco wiping his wand on his jacket. "The game was not over, Raisingh, and it never is until I say so." Then he smirked at her and turned away, satisfied at having the last word at last. He had thought too soon.

With a single lithe movement, Sia got up and took a running leap at him, slamming him to the ground and knocking the air out of him. Then she sat down on his back, her hands pressing his face in the grass, her legs holding his arms. "You didn't say the game was over, yet, Malfoy."

Draco mentally hit himself over the head for virtually handing this to her on a plate. His face was pressed deep in the grass, very firmly, and he had to hold his breath for fear of inhaling dirt. After a few moments, however, he felt the grip relax, so he took a deep breath after turning his face sideways. "You know, Raisingh, this position would be much more fun if I was lying on my back. But if you prefer it this way, I have no objections," he drawled out.

Sia flushed and jumped away from him as though burned. The cocky bastard! What had she been thinking! Draco laughed softly and got up, dusting off his clothes. He looked up at her, his eyes full of laughter, and saw her faint blush. He walked over to her, and bending slightly so that he was at her eye level, asked her softly, "Tell me why, Raisingh!"

His words wafted like a zephyr along her skin, giving her goose bumps. She was again disoriented, and looking blankly up at him, asked stupidly, "What why?"

Draco smiled at her confusion, knowing full well he was playing havoc with her senses, and enjoying every bit of it. Maybe he would get his answers this way. "If you are so good at this sort of defence, why let yourself get hexed?" He kept his voice soft and low, as though drawing a cosy, intimate circle around them, banishing the world beyond.

Sia didn't know what was happening. Some part of her brain was functioning, she was sure, but it was not very well coordinated to form logical thoughts. Seduced by his eyes and silky voice, she spoke without realizing it. "It's a sort of secret…I wanted to refine these muggle techniques to suit the magical population. And then…" She trailed off, staring wide-eyed into those mesmerizing gray eyes, so near to her.

"And then…?" Draco prompted softly, taking a gentle hold of her chin, his face inches from hers. Sia shivered.

"And then…I wanted to teach them to Harry, to help him in his fight against Voldemort and deatheaters...and anybody else who wanted to help him. A sort of secret weapon."

It wasn't until Sia was taking her shower sometime later that she climbed out of her wooziness and realized what had happened. She had told everything to Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin, when she had not yet trusted anyone else with her secret. She froze with horror and shock, water running down her body unheeded. She had actually blurted out the truth to him, how could she have been so stupid! And then the realization hit her; he had seduced her into telling him, not using anything except his eyes, his voice, and his proximity.

It was as though a sudden flame of anger erupted within her, consuming her entirely. She was so angry, she wanted to kill him, herself, and everybody she knew. She didn't know what angered her more, the fact that she had willingly told her plans to a Slytherin, or that Malfoy had got them out of her so easily without actually trying, or that he knew she was attracted to him and had used it to his advantage. She felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her, and buried her face in her hands; he knew she was attracted to him, the conceited git. And she had been so susceptible to his charms it was downright humiliating. Oh, he must be laughing at her now. Maybe even telling all his Slytherin friends how he had brought the high and mighty Raisingh to her knees.

And then, another nagging thought hit her. He knew what her state of mind at that time was…and yet, he hadn't used it any further. He could have taken her then and there, and she would probably have begged him to do that if he had so much as kissed her, or even touched her. But he hadn't. He had just stood looking at her for a few moments, or maybe several moments, she wasn't sure, and then had backed away with an enigmatic expression on his face. And then he had spoken, just one sentence, and very quietly, "I think you should now go and freshen up." Why had he said that! Surely it hadn't been her body odor, as she had been working out! Oh, the horror and the shame of it! Sia closed her eyes tightly in consternation; she had been dismissed without a kiss because she smelled bad. But wait a minute…what was she thinking! She should be angry because he had made a fool of her and pried her secret away, not wishing she should have been kissed by him. It was probably the best thing that had happened; if he had so much as touched her…Sia shuddered, it would have added insult to her injury, not that she wasn't already injured and insulted.

Sia felt a fresh wave of anger assault her, and got out of her shower and got ready. She had to do something to get even, or she wouldn't be able to face him ever. What should she do, maybe Obliviate the entire incident from his memory…that sounded good. And if he got his brains addled in the bargain, so much the better. Or maybe throttle his neck with her bare hands…or kick his stupid face into oblivion. Each idea seemed to have its own merit, and Sia felt some satisfaction as she pictured these scenes in her mind.

She stomped out of her dorm, her face thunderous, and ran into Ginny and Hermione at the portrait hole. This displeased her entirely, as she was in no mood for gossip or anything even remotely frivolous. All she wanted to do was remove Malfoy from the face of the planet.

Ginny, entirely oblivious to Sia's mood, said a bright and cheerful "Hi". Sia ignored her completely. Hermione, however, seemed to sense that something was drastically wrong with Sia. She cast a furtive glance at the common room and finding it rather full, dragged Sia outside, Ginny bringing up the rear.

"Whats wrong?" Hermione asked almost immediately.

Sia looked at her, and found her face full of genuine concern. She couldn't tell her everything…she wanted to keep her humiliation private, or as private as Malfoy allowed it to be. How she hated the thought!

"Malfoy!" she managed to spit out.

"What! What happened?" Ginny seemed to perk up at the sound of his name.

"He…" Sia seemed to be having problems speaking normally as she swallowed a few times. She tried again. "He…well, he found out something about me that he wasn't supposed to know, the sneaky bastard."

Hermione seemed distinctly puzzled, while Ginny seemed to be trying not to look too eager or too happy, or maybe both.

"What exactly…" Hermione began, but Sia cut her off.

"No, HG, I'm not really ready to share right now. I just want to know where he is."

"Why, what are you going to do?" Ginny was now unable to hide her excitement.

"I'm going to teach him the lesson of his goddam, miserable life." Sia ground out.

Hermione was alarmed at the violence in Sia's eyes and voice. Ginny, however, seemed to get even more excited. She wanted to see Malfoy's face in the mud, having hated him for as long as she had been at Hogwarts. And with Sia involved, there were bound to be fireworks. She decided a prod in the right direction was the least she could do.

Even as Hermione glared at her, Ginny piped up, "We just saw him outside, practicing quidditch with his team. And they were all awfully bad." The last bit seemed to cheer her even more.

Sia didn't wait to see or hear anything more, but headed towards the quidditch pitch. Hermione and Ginny ran after her, trying desperately to match her long strides which were now even longer. Hermione tried to think of something to say to avoid an unpleasant situation, while Ginny didn't want to miss out on any part of what promised to be an interesting tête-à-tête.

While Hermione was crooning soothing words to Sia, Ginny decided to stop her in case she really managed to douse her anger. If she stayed angry enough, there was a distinct possibility she might find out what exactly had triggered Sia's anger.

"Oh shush, Hermione, Malfoy must have done something really bad. Why would Sia get so angry otherwise? And what else can you expect of him, honestly, a deatheater's son and a budding deatheater to boot…." Ginny suddenly stopped speaking as she walked right into Sia, who had halted in her tracks without any warning.

Sia turned slowly on the spot to look at Ginny, her face carved in stone. Ginny's eyes widened as she felt a shiver of apprehension slide down her spine. Hermione looked even more troubled now.

"Sia, what happened?" Hermione tried to catch Sia's attention, who was staring intently at Ginny.

"What did you just say? About deatheaters?" Sia's voice was so quiet Hermione thought it was a miracle they managed to hear her.

"What! Well, its common knowledge…more than half of his family are deatheaters; his father Lucius Malfoy, his aunt and uncle…Bellatrix and whatsis name! Everybody thinks its only a matter of time before he formally joins Voldemort. Why Dumbledore made him the head boy is a mystery to everyone…"

Sia didn't hear the rest of Ginny's speculations about Malfoy; she just whacked herself hard on the head, and then scrunched her eyes tightly shut as though in pain.

This was wonderful…just wonderful. She had just blabbed her plans to a potential deatheater, of all people. It wouldn't even matter now if she shelved her idea altogether, even if it was her dream; the deatheaters might hijack it and use it to further their own ends.

Sia opened her eyes and looked around bemusedly. Wasn't that strange now! Lavender and Parvati had told her everything about Malfoy…from his height to the width of his shoulders to the six-pack he was rumored to carry under his clothes to the number of girls he had had to date…everything. They had just forgotten to tell her that he was a fucking budding deatheater and had a family full of people whose favorite pastime was muggle hunting and running around in masks shouting Avada Kedavra. And she was actually disappointed he hadn't kissed her! The nerve of him, Sia suddenly thought viciously as anger coursed though her veins, making her head throb.

She turned on her heels smartly and stomped towards the grounds fuming at herself. Hermione and Ginny were startled at first, and then they ran after her. It was a bit like running after a speeding train…for not only was Sia now doing double time, she was also muttering under her breath and refusing to stop.

They got outside the castle, and Sia made straight towards the quidditch pitch. Soon, they were there, and looking up, saw seven green figures on broomsticks high above them. Hermione wondered what was going to happen, and saw that Ginny seemed a bit apprehensive too.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I had gone to Disneyworld. Yay me! Anyways, heres the chapter, now wheres the review?