Chapter 3: Narcissistic Prince

H e r m i o n e G r a n g e r

"It's him!" Ron whispered ecstatically. "It's Viktor Krum!"

The whole room stared at the famous Bulgarian Quidditch player in amazement. Durmstrang Institute being the last school to enter the room, Hermione eyed him as he walked through the dining hall. She stared at his broad shoulders and his perfectly chiselled facial features. His serious facial expression made him more attractive.

"He's quite dashing don't you think?" Ginny whispered beside her.

"Yeah." She agreed. The two girls giggled as half of the ladies in the room ogled him.

"Be right back." Hermione whispered. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay." Ginny replied probably not hearing what Hermione just said. She was too busy being hypnotized by the Quidditch king.

Hermione slipped out of her seat and tiptoed out the door taking the long way to the toilet. Her mates have finally stopped chasing after her to take part in Ginny's revenge plan. After telling them no repetitively, they finally got the message, and she would now finally be able to go to the library and read a book in peace. Maybe a quick trip to the library to checkout some books would help her catch up on her reading. She lifted her wrist to check the time on her watch; 25 more minutes till her class starts.

"Hmm… maybe a few books on Potions." She thought.

She skipped through the hall looking at the courtyard. It looked beautiful outside. Not too hot. Not too cold. The sun slightly gleaming through the clouds looked beautiful as its sunrays tried to break through the barrier of the billows.

"But I'm the head girl of the Slytherin house… We're perfect for each other." A voice came out.

Hermione stopped to hide behind a pillar slightly bobbing her head out to see who that was. She squinted, her eyes finding Pansy Parkinson crying behind Draco Malfoy.

"Pathetic…" Draco replied before disappearing back into the school.

Hermione clenched her fist after hearing an insensitive reply. She didn't like Pansy Parkinson at all. In fact you can say that she hated her as much as she hated Draco, but even she shouldn't deserve being told off in a harsh way. She stared at the girl breaking down into tears, her sleeves slowly being drenched in her fluids.

"You know, it's not polite to eavesdrop on a private conversation."

She turned her head to see Draco standing before her. His face looking confident as ever and his lips forming that smirk he makes probably a thousand times a day. It's like he instantly forgotten about the girl crying out in the courtyard.

She rolled her eyes at Draco. "How could you do that?" she asked. "That's so rude. If you wanted to break up with her, you could have at least done it in a sensitive way!"

"Whoa, calm down Granger. There's not enough time in this world for me to go with the same girls over and over again." He walked over to Hermione putting his arm around her. "Shall we walk back to the dining hall together?"

She shrugged his arm off of her and slapped him right across his face. "You egotistic jerk!" she yelled out. "You think you can have any girl you want? You're wrong! I would never go for a boy like you! Gosh! You're such a Narcissistic Prince!"

She stomped away from him taking a quick glance at Pansy. The crying girl certainly heard everything she said. Hermione clenched her fists tighter. After seeing Draco's way with girls, she finally understood why they all wanted to get revenge on him. She certainly wanted to get revenge on him now too and Ginny's plan was the perfect way to get back at him.

"Hermione, you have to get this right. You can't stop hitting him every time he says something arrogant." Ginny advised.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Hermione replied. "He's just a bloody idiot." Hermione regretted changing her mind to go with the plan. She shouldn't have made a decision when she was mad.

Ever since she accepted the plan, a few girls from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses would meet every day two hours before class would start in the most discreet part of the library to advise Hermione on how she should deal with Draco. Two weeks have passed, and so far their progress with the plan was quite slow. On the bright side, Draco would attempt having a conversation with her at least three times a day. No one had a clue to as why Draco would try conversing with Hermione, but none of them decided to question it either.

"Well… Let's just go over the rules again, and hopefully they can get into that shrewd head of yours."

The Rules to Dating a Narcissistic Prince

1. Take Charge: He likes a girl who is dominant.

2. Play hard to get: He loves a challenge.

3. Be aloof: Cool and distant.

4. Always leave him wanting more.

5. Breaking the school rules: sometimes you have too.

6. NEVER trust a word he says.

So far, there were only six rules, but the girls were still trying to gather information to make this plan full proof.

"You should probably add "No hitting, slapping or back talking" till she gets him." Cho Chang teased.

They all started to laugh at her little joke as Ginny decided to write it down. Hermione rolled her eyes crossing her arms over her chest. The thought of dating Draco was revolting and against her morals. What would Ron and Harry say if they caught her flirting with a Slytherin boy during class time? Ginny forbid her to tell Ron and Harry about their plan, yet she allowed Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, and Padma Patil into their circle of trust.

"Here's your chance Hermione. Don't mess up." Lavender said leaning back in her chair seeing Draco at the entrance. She seemed to look bedazzled and excited to know that Draco was in the room. It wasn't a 'yes! I finally get to see this plan in motion', but it was more of an 'it's the boy I like or in this case still like'?

Hermione took a moment to collect her thoughts. She puked a little in her mouth as thoughts of dating Draco lingered her mind again. There was no turning back now. She already tried that. Even if she tried to work her way out of it, all of the girls would remind her of how she promised not to back out. Again, she seriously had to stop making promises and choices when she was mad.

She took a deep breath before standing up from her seat. On the bright side, she was now used to actually having to speak with him.

She finally stood up and decided to head towards the door.

"Good luck!" Ginny whispered. "And remember the rules!"

Hermione walked her way over to the blonde haired boy who was picking up a few books from the counter. She felt like she was going to take a final exam, unprepared as each step she took towards him left her forgetting each rule one by one. Hermione stood there in front of him watching him sign a few pages of parchment paper for their librarian Poppy Pomfrey. Hermione took the first book she saw on the counter flipping through the pages randomly turning around to see her friends analyzing her every move.

"Say something." Ginny mouthed as the girl's giggled behind her clearly finding it amusing that Hermione was most likely going to embarrass herself.

"Wow Granger. You must be quite a smart one if you're able to read a book upside down."

Hermione turned around her face turning red realizing that she's been holding her book the wrong way up. Ms. Pomfrey seemed to disappear into her office to process Draco's papers. She now wished that she was back in her room reading a book or sharing memories with Harry and Ron beside the fireplace instead.

"Errr… Uhh… I-I…" Hermione stuttered seeing Draco placing a smirk on his pale face.

"I'm pretty sure you don't read erotic stories either." Draco winked at her taking the book off her hands, brushing his fingers against hers and setting it back down on the counter. He was enjoying every moment of making her squirm. "We can make one of our own you know…"

Hermione's face was bright red in embarrassment now seeing that she did manage to pick up Ms. Pomfrey's book. It couldn't be a part of their school either as such books are forbidden to be read by the students. She clenched her fists as tight as she could, her veins popping out and fingernails burying deep into her skin.

"Relax Granger…" Draco laughed. "I'm just playing with you. If you wanted to talk to me you could have just said hi."

"Err… Well… Hey there…" Hermione managed to say. She was feeling a little too out of her comfort zone. She kept telling herself to keep and calm and just to relax. The little hairs on her neck were starting to stand up from her discomfort.

"Wow… You would have hit me by now…" Draco raised an eyebrow a surprised look on his face seeing that Hermione wasn't going to rebuttal or smash him.

It's not that she didn't want to hit him or anything. It was the fact that all her friends were behind her watching her every move. She didn't want to disappoint them.

"I'd like to say sorry for that…" Hermione gritted through her teeth trying to pull off a lie, but her body language was doing no good.

Draco let out another smirk. "Well then, you should make it up to me by letting me take you out on a date."

Hermione relaxed a little, her popping veins seeping down back to where they were supposed to be. She broke all the rules, and yet it was that simple to get a date from him? Of course she forgot that Draco probably had a list somewhere of girl's he still had to date. Was a mudblood really a part of that list?

"Okay." She replied forcing to curve her lips into a smile. "When?"

"Madam Puddifoot's Teashop… I shall meet you hear at 5pm Saturday." He smiled slowly turning to head out the door.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief, her first satisfying conversation with Draco being over. She uncurled her hands staring at Draco as he made his way out of the room. Her tense posture finally made its way back to its relaxed and laidback form.

Draco quickly turned around staring back at Hermione. "You should smile more Granger. It suits you very well." He gave her a final wink before leaving.