Chapter 2 - Heads' dorm

As soon as the feast ended Draco jogged to the Heads' Dorm, excited to start thinking of a plan to get back at Hermione for the embarrassment she had caused him after that punch. Hermione, on the other hand was dragging her feet to the dorm, she didn't want to see Malfoy, the annoying bouncing ferret, turning Malfoy into a ferret was the one good thing that the Death Eater did while pretending to be Mad-Eye Moody. Thoughts of her and Ron's break up the night before haunted her thoughts, and would almost surely haunt her dreams when she fell asleep.

When she finally reached the dorm she found a smirking Malfoy stretched out on the couch, his muddy shoes still on, causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust, "Malfoy, or should I call you Ferret, get you nasty muddy shoes of the couch, it's mine too, and I don't want mud on it."

His smirk grew more pronounced as he moved his feet along the couch, taking off his shoes when he got them over to him, making sure to leave lots of mud in the movement, wiping it on the couch cushions. Rolling her eyes at the very immature, childish display, she flicked her wand at the couch, muttering a quick cleaning spell under her breath, snorting in disgust as she did so, the spell leaving the couch free of mud, with a sigh she plunked herself down on the couch, on the far right side, with Malfoy on the far left.

Suddenly Draco had a small idea of how to get her back for the punch, he scooted closer to her, so they were nearly touching and leaned near her ear to coo into it as he heard her sharp intake of breath at his closeness, "Something wrong, Hermione?", he knew using her given name would confuse her.

Confuse her it did; she quickly shot of the couch to sit in a near by chair, careful not to touch Malfoy at all. What the hell was that? He called her by her first name? She wasn't even aware her KNEW her first name, seeing he only called her her last name and that horrible word, mudblood.

Hermione knew she was a muggleborn, she had no magical blood in her, and she was dang PROUD of it, she was the top of her class, the brightest witch of her age, and had saved Harry and Ron's lives on several occasions. How is blood status important when she had done much more good things than many purebloods. It was just proof that blood isn't important in the slightest.

Draco smirked, he had startled her and he noticed the red tint in her cheeks. She was blushing, good. He had an idea to get her back, he would cause her to fall in love with him, and when he thought she had fallen hard, had kissed him, had started to date him, he would dump in the the Great Hall, in front of at the school. She would be humiliated for life. It would be the perfect payback for the punch.

"Hey, Gran- I mean Hermione. Since we have to work together all year, lets call a truce. I won't call you names, and you... you won't try to punch me like you did in third year, or hex me.", Draco said as he held his hand out to Hermione for her to shake, "Deal?"

Hermione eyed Malfoy's hand suspiciously, why was he offering a truce after he had just tried to.. whatever he had tried to do. She cautiously asked, "This better not be a trick Malfoy, because if it is I will hex you into next week."

Draco hid a smirk, "Oh it's no trick, Grang- Hermione. I just want to not wake up to your wand at my throat this year, since we share the dorm. So, do we have a deal?"

Hermione carefully took his outstretched hand and shook it, "I guess we do.."

Draco didn't bother to hide the smirk this time, "Good, now how's Weasely and Potter?", he asked.

Hermione winced like she had been slapped, "Harry's fine.", she stated, her face a bit paler than normal.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "And Weasely? Aren't you two together?"

Hermione turned as pale as a sheet of parchment, "We were, we broke up last night."

Draco blinked, "Oh, I'm sorry Hermione. What happened? I thought you two had been in love since we were, like, first years."

Hermione blinked and tears started to drip her cheeks, "We were", she choked out, "We had a fight over me being Head Girl, he thought I was going to cheat on him or dump him for whoever was Head Boy..", She looked at Malfoy, "Which seeing how you're Head Boy it's really unlikely.. like impossible.."

Draco stepped closer to her and hugged her on instinct, Hermione stiffened in his arms and then turned her face into his shoulder and sobbed, tears drenching his school robes he had on. He stroked her hair, "Shh, I got an idea to make his jealous and beg for you back", he stated, his own plan forgotten.

She lifted her tear-stained face, her brown eyes filled with tears and Draco felt something inside him wrench at the sight. "What is it?", she whispered, her voice raw from the sobs.

At her rough voice he again felt something wrench inside of him, "Well, you said it'd be impossible that since I'm Head Boy to cheat or break up with Weasley?", she nodded, "How about we prove that wrong? You date me, to drive him MAD."

Behind the tears in Hermione's eyes, something flashed, "I think... I think I like that idea.. But, why do you want to help me with Ron? You hate me.. you tormented me for 6 years...your aunt tortured me last year.. you're were a Death Eater! Why do you want to help me?"

Anger flashed in Draco's eyes and he was screaming at her, "Do you think I don't know that? I can't help the way I was raised! I was taught before I could talk to be horrible to muggleborns! As for my Aunt Bella if I tried to stop her not only would I have been tortured too, but my dad would have probably killed me! Same with the fact I was a Death Eater, I would have been killed if I didn't! I'm sorry, for all I did. I really am.", his plan to get back at her was long forgotten, he just wanted her to understand him, and his past actions.

Hermione stared at him, startled. She hadn't known any of this, though if she hadn't been blinded by hatred for so long, she may have guessed that. She was upset at herself for yelling at him, "I'm sorry.. Draco. I didn't know.. I'm sorry.", she repeated. She was truly sorry.

Draco's anger evaporated as she said his first name, no one but his family called him Draco.. but he liked that way she said it. He sighed, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that.." Suddenly he was hyper aware that he was still hugging her, her chest against his, her heart beating fast, and his doing the same. What was this he was feeling? He'd never had felt it before, it made his throat go dry, his heart beat faster, he was noticing all at once how beautiful she was, how her hair wasn't bushy anymore and had been replaced by curls, how her teeth were straight now, no buck-teeth, how her brown eyes were framed by black lashes that made her eyes stand out, how red her lips were, the red tint in her cheeks. What was wrong with him? He was suppose to hate her, she was muggleborn. He wasn't suppose to think that her lips were full and red and kissable looking or that he would love to bury his hands in her curly hair. He shook his head slightly in an attempt to rid himself of the thoughts buzzing around his mind.

Unknown to him, Hermione was having similar thoughts running through her mind, she was noticing Draco's grey eyes swimming with emotions she'd never seen in his gaze before. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, but she was also noticing how his white-blond hair looked almost golden in the lighting, how muscular his body felt under her's, and just so dang handsome he was. But, she shouldn't be noticing these things, he was the enemy, he had taunted and hexed her for 6 years. Though one of his hexes that made her teeth grow caused her to have normal, straight teeth after the hex was removed.

She pulled herself out of his arms quickly and ran to her room, shouting over her shoulder, "Thanks.. err, Draco. If your idea gets me Ron back, I'll owe you one!"

Draco stared at her back as she ran away from him before regaining his composure, "When it works, you do owe me one", he replied with a smirk before going to his own room.