Absolute Gravity

Chapter Three: Impossible

A/N: Don't have much to say other than thank you for all your reviews!

Disclaimer: My name neither has a J, K or Rowling in it

The day before she was due to go back to Hogwarts, Hermione was trying on her uniform. She nibbled her lip as she fastened her Head Girl badge. She tilted her head and watched the Hermione in the reflection mimic her actions. She sighed. When the badge had fallen out of the envelope, the first thought that had crossed her mind was: 'And what about Malfoy?' Not her parents, not the honor… just Malfoy.

It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that Malfoy had received the partner badge to hers. They were the top two students in the year, the most organised and dedicated. Soon she started thinking about the common room, the opportunities to torture him or keep tabs on his studies and extra curricular.

So when Ginny asked her, "What are you looking forward to most this year?" She had almost said, 'Malfoy'. It was on the tip of her tongue but just before the sound escaped her she swallowed it. She stuttered and fumbled with her words as she dealt with the nauseous feeling swirling inside her. She couldn't even fathom why that was her answer. It wasn't like she was looking forward to him. She was looking forward to… to the fighting, to watching his eyes narrow and his hands clench. After that Hermione spent the next few days shutting him out. For instance, she placed her Head Girl badge in her trunk and it didn't see sunlight until September 1st, not even when Ron begged to see it.

The day after she had stood opposite the mirror, she was walking towards to Prefects Carriage and her heart began to pound gently. In her head a multitude of insults formed in her mind and she readied herself for him. When she entered, he was sitting there, waiting for her. He fixed his gaze on her Head Girl badge and sneered. She looked him over; he was in his uniform but there was no bright gold badge…

"Impossible," she near whispered.

He gave a cold smile, "That's exactly what I said." He stood up, marched towards her and shoved a crinkled letter into her hands. She unfolded it, her eyes flicking to his; they burned with rage and she felt very sorry for whoever was Head Boy. "Read it."

"Dear Mr Malfoy-"

"Not out loud, you idiot," he snapped.

She paused to take a calming breath and continued reading – in her head.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

We are pleased to welcome you back to your final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As you know two seventh years are chosen to lead the student body. A girl and boy, to take the title as Head Boy and Head Girl. We are aware you and many others expected you to gain the title of Head Boy. However we cannot present you with this title. This is as we are also aware your relationship with our chosen Head Girl, Miss Granger, is toxic and you find it impossible to work together. Though you would be our desired Head Boy if you could show an ability to work, professionally, with Miss Granger.

Therefore we have not chosen another Head Boy, or at least for the first term. You will be acting as Head Boy alongside Miss Granger and you will have the first term to prove to the senior staff that you are mature enough to be our Head Boy.

The reason why Miss Granger has attained a badge and not you is due to your blood prejudice This is something you will also have to move past if you are to retain your badge. Trust me, the Headmaster will know if you have truly washed this prejudice out or not.

If, by Christmas, we believe you have earned the title of Head Boy, your badge will be under the Christmas tree on Christmas day.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"Oh." She was surprised to find she felt empty.

"Yeah, fucking oh," Malfoy snarled, snatching the letter back and stuffing it in his pocket. He looked around at the crowd of Prefects watching them and grabbed Hermione's arm, roughly dragging her to an empty set of seats. "I have to get that badge, Granger," he said urgently as she tugged her arm free and sat down opposite him.

"So?"

He sighed. "You know exactly what I mean."

"Do I?"

"Granger," he moaned, "Don't make me say it."

A small smirk tugged on the corners of her lips, "Say what?"

His grey eyes locked onto her brown ones,. He glared at her; probably wondering if it was even worth it. "I'm going to get this badge, Granger."

"Oh really?" she imlpored, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes. I am. But I can't do it without you," he explained, sounding as if it physically pained him to say so.

Her smirk broke free, "Me? Little ol' insignificant me?"

"Yes," he hissed through his teeth.

"You need my help. You need my help… Oh I love this," she murmured, the last bit mostly to herself.

Draco sneered at her, "Drink it up, Granger. It'll be the last time." She just smirked. "Oh piss off," he muttered, "The very sight of you makes me sick."

"Well that's not a very good start is it?" And so had begun her downfall.

Draco was marching towards the Head Common Room. 'This is all bloody Granger's fault,' he thought viciously, 'Now I have to fucking work with her and if I don't my badge goes to some tosser. I deserve that badge! I've worked by arse off for years for that badge – or perhaps to beat Granger… But it doesn't matter who for or why! Granger and I are neck and neck academically. There is no other person who could do the job justice'

The Slytherin started to climb the stairs of a tower he didn't knew existed until McGonagall had given him and Granger the directions to their shared common room. It wasn't a high tower but it was only lit by a few flickering torches.

'I can work with Granger,' he assured himself, 'We can get our jobs done even if we can't stand each other. I don't need to pretend to like her. I just need to get work done.'

He reached a statue of a cawing phoenix, he muttered, "Incendio." He then lifted the flame into the beak of the phoenix. Immediately the inside of the beak set alight, he removed his wand as the beak started to close. When it shut with a clang, the phoenix rose and revealed a door with a golden doorknob. He sighed. Getting into the common room, though glamorous was tedious. He turned the doorknob and said, "Condoria." It clicked, the door swung open and, of course, Granger was there already, looking through the bookshelves.

She didn't even turn when he entered and slammed the door shut. "Granger, we need to talk about this working together thing," he said firmly before launching into a rant, "I don't need you help. I don't need you to go easy on me. I'm certainly not asking you to stop hating me or trying to make my life hell because I'm certainly not giving up that privilege." He wasn't sure but he thought he saw a ghost of a smile brush across her face. "But when it comes to Head duties, we work together. We don't try to out do each other, we just do the best job we can. Because I'll be damned if I let this badge get away from me but there is no way in hell I'm going to pretend to like you."

A bubble of laughter escaped her, "That a bit Gyrffindor. Like the sort of one Harry gives before we run into a dangerous situation we know nothing about, with only a crappy let's-just-go-with-it plan."

"Well a crappy let's-just-go-with-it plan is all I have," he snapped, scowling. He wasn't a ruddy Gryffindor.

She turned, pulling pieces of parchment out of her pocket, "I wasn't complaining, Malfoy. It was just what I was thinking about. I mean even if we tried to be civil all the time, we'd eventually explode and I'm sure whatever happens after that would be pretty ugly."

"So… We're at an agreement?"

"For once? Yes," she answered, passing him the parchment she was holding, "These are some Prefect schedules I wrote up a few days ago. This includes patrols and meetings, I thought we'd better take the night watches seeing as we're the eldest."

He overlooked them, slightly impressed and fiercely trying to hide it, "Looks okay. I can write this up properly - assuming this is just in rough." She nodded. "Right. I'll do that now, seeing as McGonagall said we'll be meeting the prefects tomorrow evening."

So he went to the table and started writing and Granger curled up on the sofa closest to the fire and started reading. They sat there for a few minutes, absorbed in the sound of the crackling fire, the scratching of his quill and the gentle sound of her turning pages until- "Malfoy you write irritatingly loud."

"Apologies, I'll just sit here and force the words to appear on the parchment with my mind."

She clicked her tongue, "Or you could just write a bit lighter. I'm surprised you haven't snapped it by now..."

"Well it's a very expensive quill, Granger but I wouldn't suppose you'd know the difference."

"And what do you mean by that?" she demanded furiously.

"Well I've seen your quills."

"What in the world is wrong with my quills?!"

He held back his smirk, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Granger. They're just quills." He heard her book slam shut, he heard her march over to him but she still took him by surprise when she ripped his quill from his hand and threw it into the fire. He was thrown into shock. Did she actually…? No she didn't just…

She smiled coldly at him and as she turned to walk away he grabbed her wrist, still staring at his quill as is burned and curled in the fireplace. "That was a fucking expensive quill!"

"Oh I'm sorry," she said sweetly, "I don't know the difference between expensive quills and normal quills." Fury burned inside him as she leaned towards him, using her free hand to cup his cheek and bring his face towards hers. They stared directly into each other's eyes, his anger started to diminish as she ran her thumb along his jawline and instead he found himself getting lost in her chocolate orbs. Just when his eyes were about to move down to her lips, she breathed,"And anyway, Malfoy, it's just a quill."

Smirking proudly, knowing she'd won, she pulled away from him, ripping her wrist from his grip and proceeded to flounce up the stairs. "Bitch," he growled his new found rage was coursing through him but the world still look hazy with lust. He then spent the next half an hour, watching the flames engulf his quill and assuring himself that there was nothing to worry about. There was nothing strange about an attractive young man being attracted to an possible-less attractive young woman. Sure, they hated each other but not even that can block the most primitive of desires… apparently.

When he had started to develop a headache, he headed back to the desk and, after finding a new quill, he continued writing up the timetable.

"I think it's ridiculous that you haven't been given your badge," Pansy announced the following morning at breakfast.

"Join the club," Draco muttered sourly, buttering a piece of toast.

She took a nibble out of her blueberry muffin. "I mean I know this a time of change and all that crap the Ministry has been singing about but it's not like your seriously prejudice anymore. I mean Granger knocked it all out both of us, really. We were taught Muggle-borns were useless at magic and then she comes along and just destroys all of our beliefs. I know you took longer than me to simmer down but honestly, it's no reason not to give you the badge," she concluded.

He took a sip of orange juice, swallowed and said wearily, "Yes, well that's very lovely, Pansy but I think Dumbledore wants it all out of me. So it's hopeless."

"It's not hopeless!" Pansy cried, "I mean I'm not prejudice anymore."

Draco sighed, "Well I always thought you should have been in Hufflepuff." He paused as she thwacked his arm, "Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Nott, they all still think Granger is scum. They wouldn't like it so much if I started high-fiving Muggle-borns."

"I couldn't imagine you high-fiving anyone, Draco," Pansy said dryly then she finished off the last remains of her muffin.

He chuckled, "Well maybe that was bit of an exaggeration… I just- I mean pure blood must mean something. I can't get my head around the idea that the thing that makes me stand tall and gave me a footing in this school means nothing."

"It doesn't mean nothing," Pansy insisted, "It's something we can be proud of, of our ancestors and our pure blood. But it doesn't make us any better than those who are from muggle or half-blood families."

"I just don't know, Pansy. It's hard. I mean my whole life-"

"I know Draco," she interrupted, "I've been there. Just try." He sighed again, it seemed rather bleakly impossible to him.

A/N: So how was that? Reviews help me know how to improve it for you, so write one! Also I like hearing if you enjoyed it :P - Orla x