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Chapter 6

Draco woke up feeling notably sore all over his body. His muscles felt like they'd been traded overnight by rigid cables in place of supple fibre. Even his tongue felt heavy. All thanks to that dried up, prudish little wretch. Her potent Body-bind spell had finally faded sometime around two in the morning and he had to walk back to his room limping like an old witch. He swore just thinking about it. That consolatory Head Girl badge must have gotten to her already massive head. She seemed to have acquired a new cocky attitude in addition to that aggravating bossiness. Talking him down and taking points left and right. Making a fool out of him, the nerve! He was going to make her pay. Maybe not immediately, but he'd make her pay alright. Preferably when she was least expecting it.

He got out of bed gingerly. It was start of the weekend and classes were scheduled to start from Monday. He could have slept in till late but he liked to start his day early when he was at school. He opened his trunk to pick out some fresh robes for the day and stepped into the shower.

If he were being completely honest, he knew he had expected, even hoped for her to walk in on the pair of them. Just so it could mess with her head. He had managed to shrug off Pansy's attempts for the greater part of the night but he hadn't been able to resist when he saw that desk smack in the middle of a common territory that he was to share with Granger, knowing that she would come in to investigate it any moment. What he hadn't counted on, was her gaining the upper hand and leaving him petrified on the ground.

Well, all things considered, he always got his revenge. Tidied up and feeling immensely satisfied at his reflection, he was preparing to leave his room when he heard muffled rustling. It seemed to originate from the other door, so the little mudblood must be up and about. This was way too good an opportunity to miss, hence he changed his tracks and headed for the office.

He tried to enter as sneakily as possible but the damn girl had the ears of a bat. She gave no outward response to his presence but he could tell from the way her spine stiffened. She sat poised at the head of the long table with stacks of parchment and quills scattered around her. Her hands alternated between writing down something and flicking her wand with quick, agile movements. She was muttering under her breath.

"What the hell are you doing?"

All her frenzied activity came to an abrupt halt. It pleased him immensely to know that she knew better than to ignore him. Her head rose slowly and he felt the full impact of the murderous glare she sent his way. He sneered automatically.

She opened her mouth to retort but then thought better of it and resumed her work.

"Take a seat and help me copy down the half of these."

She slid a stack of parchment towards him.

"And what are they supposed to be?"

"Timetables for the years Five and below. Here, you can do Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

He walked down to where she was sitting, and stood towering over her.

"Now here's the thing Granger. We haven't gotten around to laying down some ground rules. Luckily for you, there's only one: You don't tell me what to do."

She finally looked up at him. "Oh, I wouldn't even dare. But here's the thing, Malfoy. You just have to do it."

"I don't have to do a darn thing. You seem perfectly capable of tackling these alone, and I have got breakfast to attend to."

She pushed off her chair and stood up to face him.

"I don't care to know how you manage to bully your housemates into doing all your dirty work but it won't work on me. You've been given a badge here when you would've been a lot more useful getting shipped off to Durmstrang. So accept the responsibility and do your share of work. They are to be distributed first thing in the morning."

He listened to her griping with mounting anger. That dig about Durmstrang had been her crossing the line. She was still mistaking him for one of those Gryffindor idiots whom she thought she could boss around and he wouldn't have that any cost.

Fuming, he gripped her collar with a single fist, absently noting that she was still in her pyjamas. One of those baggy, hideous things…could she be any more of a prude?

"Listen to me and listen closely, Mudblood. You can keep up this charade of playing tough as long as you like but know this, you'll never fool me. I'll do whatever I want, whenever I want and you won't do a damn thing about it. You know why, don't you?" he pulled her closer to his face, "because I will break your neck."

He noted with satisfaction as her eyes widened and mouth dropped open. He pushed her off and sent her staggering into the chair. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it toward his other hand.

"Scourgify."

Her eyes were glinting with suppressed rage.

"Now go off and clean yourself up. You have a foul case of morning breath."

Her face tinged pink but he couldn't tell whether it was due to embarrassment or anger. Possibly both.

After giving her a look full of disgust, he turned to make his exit, making sure to knock down her stacks of timetables with a swipe of his arm on his way out.

Today looked promising already.

Hermione began loading her plate with sausages and bacon as soon as she sat herself at the breakfast table. Ron's eyes bulged as he took in the amount of food she was mindlessly piling up.

"Hey, leave some for me!"

She silenced him with a glare. "Finish yours first, Ronald."

"Er-Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yes, how about you Harry? Had a good night's sleep?"

They stared at their friend who was behaving very un-Hermione like for their first morning back at Hogwarts. She was staring at her food with a deadly intensity and her bushy hair nearly crackled with electricity. The way she stabbed at her sausage had them convinced that she was sure to cause some damage to her food as well as the cutlery.

They saw this side of hers very rarely. She was usually polite, meek even. The only time she appeared animated was in class while firing off answers, or when she was scolding them. Then there had also been that brief spew thing. But that had been quite a while ago. So they wondered what could have happened in the last ten hours that had her so agitated.

Harry dropped his spoon first.

"What did he do?" he demanded.

"Who?" Ron asked, stupefied.

"That git Malfoy." He ground out.

She lowered her head, suddenly tired. She sighed as she recalled the embarrassing episode of the morning. She had allowed him to get to her. He never got to her. She had been sitting there like a duck and gaping like a fool. Somewhere in the back of her mind she'd had to marvel at his audacity. Really, who did he think he was? Acting like a Neanderthal, knocking her around like a caveman. She would've thoroughly given him a piece of her mind, except she'd been too shocked to move. Malfoy was just a bully, but she'd never been at the receiving end of anything apart from his ridiculous taunts and that horrid word he was all too fond of. And a liar too! He'd been obviously lying about her 'morning' breath for she had brushed her teeth first thing after waking up.

And now she was going to have to do those timetables all by herself. Oh, she wouldn't let him get away with it in a million years; but she couldn't risk having no timetables to give away to rest of the students while she figured out what was to be done. Talking to Snape was the obvious option but she figured it was absurd to be complaining over something as trivial as this. Besides, Snape would undoubtedly take the ferret's side.

She rubbed at the sore spot on her neck where her top had dug into her skin when he had pulled.

"Seriously, 'Mione. What did he do?", Ron asked, now concerned.

"Oh he was just being his usual charming self. Nothing too alarming. He refused to do his share of the job is all."

They appeared outraged at this. Well, looking back now, it wasn't all that surprising, was it?

"You want me to set him straight?"

She sent a grateful, albeit amused look at Harry.

"No, boys. I don't want anybody to end up in the Hospital Wing. I'll handle him on my own just fine. Don't I always?"

Harry and Ron glanced uncertainly at each other but knowing better than to argue with her, dropped the subject.

The three of them looked over to the Slytherin table, who weren't their usual miserable lot as their beloved Head Boy was holding court. He seemed to be enacting a scene that Hermione realized with a sinking feeling was exactly what had transpired in their office an hour ago. He was obviously exaggerating her facial expressions. She distinctly remembered not having begged him for anything. And she hadn't pulled out her hair, dammit!

Like a scene out of a muggle teen flick, one by one the Slytherin heads turned over to look at her. They appeared delighted. And they called Gryffindors gullible, how couldn't they know that Malfoy was nothing but a Grade A coward with a God complex?

She ignored their mocking gazes and instead focused on the Ferret in charge, who by chance was staring directly at her. Upon meeting her eyes, his face split into a Cheshire grin. How immature. She kept her face carefully blank and turned her focus back on her friends.

He couldn't have missed that sour expression even as she struggled to hide it. Oh, he'd show her. This could turn into a fascinating educational experience for him. His very own personal Mudblood Studies. He figured she'd soon sic her boyfriends onto him and he'd show them too.

Although their game had been on since that first time they'd known about their positions, but being the Slytherin that he was, he deemed it an apt time to start keeping score.

Draco 1, Granger 0.

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