Chapter 3

Hermione watched the red liquid, which was her drink, trickle gently from a ladle into her glass.

"Hey…"

The sudden voice caught her off-guard. She turned around sharply, her drink swaying violently in the motion.

Upon seeing Draco's smirking face, she scowled and turned wordlessly back to the punch bowl.

Arrogant prat…

"Would you do me the honour of a dance, fair lady?"

This time, Hermione really did drop her glass in shock. It fell to the ground shattering into a pool of red punch and shards of glass. She froze on the spot for an instance, staring at him with wide eyes.

What?!

"Here, let me-" he started to take out his wand to clean up the mess of glass.

"No! Its fine… Really." Hermione jolted back to reality, snapping curtly at him, her own wand already out.

A flick of her wrist made quick work of her broken glass. Then the two stood staring at each other, not quite sure what to do next. Hermione had never felt a more awkward moment in her life.

"Do you want to dance?" Draco repeated.

The cocky smirk, she'd always loathed had returned. Glittering silver eyes challenged her.

I dare you… They whispered tauntingly.

I'll show him…

Taking his hand with a burning defiance in her eyes, she let him lead her onto the dance floor.

Hermione groaned inwardly as the rhythm of a tango struck up. Draco's smirk grew (if at all possible) wider at her obvious discomfort.

Without a hint of warning, Draco pushed her into a series of complicated dance steps. Hermione graced through them, never breaking her glare.

Two can play this game…

Smirking back at him, she wordlessly force-fed him a few of her own tricks. To her dismay, he was surprisingly able to pull them off. Then, Draco twirled her out and pulled her back sharply into his vice-like grip.

Jerk…

It was only then that Hermione noticed how close he was.

Shit…Not good… Not good…

She could feel his short breaths, warm on her forehead. Her stomach quivered as her heart started beating a little too fast. Nervously, she wriggled in his hold, hoping to put a kilometre, at least, between them.

All around them, couples were slowly joining them in the lively dance. Sharply, he twirled her again.

And I thought it couldn't get any worse…

But it had. Now, her back was pressed against him, right hand caught in his. Her mind was racing, on the verge of trembling.

Get a grip…

"So, about just now…" came Draco's drawl as he dipped his head close to her ear.

Hermione clenched her jaw, determined to seem unaffected and calm.

"Sorry now, are we?" she asked with a little too much sweetness.

He turned her again, to face smirking silver eyes.

What am I? A rag doll? Merlin!

"A Malfoy never apologizes."

Hermione completely missed the glint of humour in his stormy eyes.

"You insufferable prat!" she hissed, trying to wrench herself free.

With a smirk, Draco tightened his grip on her wrist, only to be greeted by a dangerously low growl.

"Let me go, ferret-face…"

The furry insult hit a home run. Smirk turned to frown as he returned her threat.

"Watch your mouth, Mud-" Draco stopped short. He'd gone one step too far.

Fire flickered in Hermione's golden-brown eyes. This time it wasn't a playful flame. Draco knew he was in deep shit. His grip loosened unintentionally.

Before he knew it, she'd seized his arm and dragged him out onto the veranda. Pushing him back with a sudden force, his back hit the cold, stone wall. Her furious glare held him frozen there.

"What did you say?" Her falsely sweet voice was daring him to speak.

It was a game, one wrong move and there would be hell to pay. For the second time in his life, Draco was scared of this girl. He gulped nervously, eyeing the wand held at his throat.

"Freak?"

Game over. Roughly, she grabbed his collar and would have slammed his head painfully against the wall had she been a little stronger.

"Nice try Malfoy, but we both know what you said. Call me that again and I'll hurt you so fucking bad that you'll be dragged to the brink of insanity and back! Don't fuck with me, Malfoy! I'm perfectly capable of worse…"

Her words echoed through his mind as her raging eyes met his. Golden fiery red swirled and sparked. Magic saturated the air around them. Suddenly it was getting difficult to breathe. Sweet Merlin, she was choking him! His eyes widened with sudden panic.

And then… one second he was staring into the inferno of hell and next, the star-lit night sky.

Hermione practically fled to her room. The moment she slammed the door closed, she froze against it in the darkness. Slowly, she slid to the carpet floor, staring into nothing.

How could she have been so stupid? To nearly loose control of her temper like that? It was all his bloody fault! That asshole!

"Mao?"

The golden eyes of her huge kneazle glinted in the dark. With a grace that came naturally to all felines, Crookshanks leapt into her mistress's lap, purring handsomely. The soothing noise washed away the rage, the panic, and the fear even.

Closing her eyes and letting her head fall against the door, she stroked the silky ginger fur. She could practically see those stormy silver eyes in her mind, if she tried. Filled with panic and wide with fear. Swirling liquid mercury…

Crookshanks 'meowed' indignantly. Snapping out of her reverie almost immediately, Hermione glanced down to meet Crookshanks' sharp gold glare.

"You're right. Malfoy is just a stupid little prick… I shouldn't let him get to me. I won't let him get to me! Hell, I don't let anyone else rile me up, why should he be allowed to! Anyway, it's not like I'll have anything more to do with him… Oh, for Gods sake, don't look at me like that!"

Unfortunately for this girl, she would have a lot more to do with Draco Malfoy.