A/N: I am horrible when it comes to updating my story. Thank you for still sticking around.

Chapter 13 The Boy Who Stared

Draco glanced at the intricate silver-green clock on the wall. It was 3 A.M. and he hadn't slept a wink.

It wasn't even that he wasn't tired. It was just that so many things and people (especially people) annoyed him at the moment. His parents and them going on and on about his younger sisters and his duties to them, made them the worst offenders.

He did not remember being his sisters` parents, so why was he responsible for anything in regards to them?

And then of course his friends. He decided that he needed better ones that did not constantly annoy the fuck out of him. Many had completely ghosted him after the Potions incident. (The few loyal ones, Draco did appreciate… in his own kind of way.)

Staying on the topic of friends, Draco`s mind went back to a conversation with Pansy and Tracey earlier. Pansy had been prattling on about Jupiter and Saturn lining up with the moon tonight and the effects of it.

Supposedly, this meant a fabulous period for Leos (Pansy) to strike up a romantic relationship. however, a horrid time for Geminis (yours truly) overall.

Pansy told him to be mindful of this but he had only shrugged her off. He did not believe in such nonsense. Pansy, of course, didn't care that he didn't care. She went so far as to recommend a Moonstone (perfect clarity only!) amulet to counteract the effects of this planetary event.

Even if Draco believed in Zodiac Studies, it wasn't like everyone had a Moonstone, much less a Moonstone amulet handy. Those things were incredibly rare.

After another twenty minutes of tossing and turning in bed, Draco finally gave up and headed to the common room. Perhaps he could review his notes for the upcoming test this week.

Draco gave up after twenty minutes. Whilst he wasn't tired enough to sleep, he also wasn't awake enough to study for Potions.

He scanned the common room area for entertainment. Granger`s cat was lounging on one of the corner sofas. Draco coaxed it over. As he pet the feline, Draco`s eyes landed on a pile of various magazines that Pansy and Tracy must have forgotten earlier.

After telling him that he was doomed for the next ten days, the two girls had mostly chit-chatted amongst themselves and read silly articles to each other. Draco skimmed through a few but couldn't see the appeal. A lot of very bad writing in his opinion.

But just for the fun (and boredom) of it, he decided to check out one of those match-making tests his friends had been so giggly about.

Dating is fun, however, finding someone who truly understands you is not easy. To help you with this, we made this test to help you find out what kind of guy matches your personality and preferences the most!

Draco snorted. How fucking dumb. Anyways.

Let's start with the first question!

Which trait do you find most attractive?

a.) Good looks (duh!) HP

b.) Humour SF

c.) Modesty EM

d.) Confidence MC

e.) Intelligence HG

f.) Loyalty BZ

g.) Independence TB

h.) Thoughtfulness JFF

Draco noticed pink and green exes next to two of the answers.

Tracy, shallow as always (but at least honest about it), was no doubt the one that had chosen answer a. Draco also wasn't the least surprised to see that Pansy had chosen h, seeing as she had been labeling everything and everyone "inconsiderate" lately.

On your six month anniversary, he takes you to

a.) a Quidditch game

b.) a fun pub

c.) a family dinner

d.) a party thrown in your honour

e.) a sold-out theatre play

f.) a the place you always go to but has a surprise waiting there for you

g.) nowhere - you stay in and have a three-course meal (cooked by yours truly)

h.) that café you always wanted to check out

What trait is the least annoying to you?

a.) Friends with exes

b.) Needs to be forced to be serious

c.) Indecisive

d.) Show-off

e.) Know-it-all

f.) Needs-to-know-it-all

g.) Unromantic

h.) Too Considerate

He has a pet. What animal is your favourite?

a.) Dog

b.) Ferret

c.) Fish

d.) Snake

e.) Owl

f.) Lizard

g.) Cat

h.) Horse

Ten questions later, Draco counted the results to his answers.

The Intellectual it was:

You are attracted to the smart guy who always has interesting topics to talk about. You enjoy having loaded debates that can sometimes escalate into arguments. But in the end, it is all good fun. His ambition motivates you, if not, rivals yours.

While not necessarily the life of the party, he still knows how to keep you entertained and interested. He knows how to make a loud impact without being loud.

Well, that didn't sound too bad in Draco`s opinion. Could have been worse. He could have been matched with the pinhead (a.k.a. the Popular Guy) like Tracey or the wuss (the Romantic) like Pansy.

He browsed a few more magazines before he decided to head back up to his dorm to try to get some sleep. The boring articles actually cured his insomnia.

Draco felt like he was going to be okay. Jupiter and Saturn be damned.

The next day was a very busy one for Hermione. But then again, were there ever really school days that weren't?

Luckily, her "work day" was nearing its end. She was currently seated at a table with the Head Boy, whom she liked collaborating with quite a bit. He was very to the point and had a no nonsense attitude. Just like a Head student should be. He reminded her a lot of Percy Weasley. And say what you want about Percy and his Ministry-arse-kissing-ways, he had been a fantastic prefect and Head Boy.

"Now we just need to assign new patrol partners for the next two weeks," Zacharias suggested as he erased the old plan with a flick of his wand. He had a long day as well. All he wanted to do was to plop into his nice comfy bed.

"Let's start with the difficult ones… Malfoy…," Zacharias started off, rubbing his temples.

Hermione internally chuckled. Difficult indeed.

"I can patrol with him again if it makes things easier. Malfoy has been pretty tolerable lately," she offered. Tolerable and odd.

The Head Boy's eyebrows disappeared under his bangs. "I highly doubt that but it is your call."

Hermione shrugged. "I can handle him."

"Are you sure?" the Head Boy pressed. Because, well, why?

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. It wasn't a big deal.

"Okaaay," Zacharias replied slowly, still not entirely convinced but not attempting to sway her any further. "He does seem to be… more agreeable with you, I have noticed. Whatever you`re doing, you`re doing well."

Before Hermione could reply to that, Zacharias had already moved on to the next subject.

"Now Parkinson…," he continued. The next matches were found quickly.

As she headed back to her room. Hermione pondered over Zacharias` comment. Malfoy and her had had a pretty agreeable patrolling time, didn't they?

When he allowed himself to be nice –which wasn`t often – he could actually be funny. Hm…

"How did testing go for you today, Malfoy?" Hermione asked her, once again, patrolling partner.

"That is none of your business," Draco answered flatly whilst walking next to her, dragging his feet as always. Hermione held up her hands in defeat.

"Just trying to make conversation - since you keep complaining about how awfully boring I am. And that is getting old. Hence, me trying to converse so I don't have to hear you complain to and about me. It's exhausting."

"And school seems like a good topic to you? Is that all that exists in the Granger universe?"

"I am open to other topics. Feel free to suggest something else."

Draco didn't say anything else however.

Hermione glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. The top of a glittery book, no, magazine, poking out of the top of his book bag, caught her attention. When Draco noticed her looking, he quickly shoved it deeper into his bag. (He had packed the three magazines to return them to Pansy.)

His action piqued Hermione`s curiosity even more. What was that sneaky snake trying to hide so bad?

She was going to catch him off guard.

After walking down a dimly lit hallway for about two minutes, Hermione suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Her abruptness made Draco stop as well.

"Did you hear that?" Hermione asked, pointing to a heavy wooden door to their left.

"Hear what?" Draco asked with a frown. He hadn't heard anything.

And this was when Hermione struck. Her hands quickly drove into Draco`s bag, fishing the flimsy glittery magazine out.

Draco`s eyes grew wide. "Granger!" he warned as he jumped to rip the read out of her hands.

She dangled it above his head to antagonize him even further.

After fighting him off for about a good minute, Hermione managed to skim through the magazine. As she studied it, her expression of victory changed to confusion.

Malfoy was reading a girly magazine? Not only that, but apparently also doing one of those silly "Who Is Your Dream Guy"-quizzes?

Draco's face was red-beet. Hermione wasn't sure whether this stemmed from anger or from embarrassment. Not that she particularly cared.

"Look at what we have here," she egged him on, not even sure why. She was usually a pretty nice and peaceful person.

Draco, in the meantime, had regained his composure. He had put on the infamous Slytherin poker face.

"We have a magazine that I confiscated from annoying, giggly Fifth Year Hufflepuffs in the library today. Some people actually go there to study but Hufflepuffs don't seem to get that. I now understand why Madam Pince always acts so pissy with students," he explained condescendingly, hoping Hermione would buy his little lie.

She did not.

"Well, then let me check out this little test right here… to see who you got," she said challengingly.

Draco grew angry again. "I told you that it is not my magazine. I confiscated it from those Fourth Years!"

"Earlier you said that they had been Fifth Years!"

"To-may-to, to-mah-to - who cares?" Draco said huffily, holding out his hand for the magazine. "Granger, I would appreciate it if we continued patrolling. Don`t want to be here all night."

Hermione ignored him. Her eyes bulged a bit when she saw the initials associated with one of the result boxes. "Why is my name there?"

Draco looked at her in genuine confusion. "Your name is on there?"

"Yes, Malfoy. My name is on there. And so are several other students' names from our year," she explained, pointing to the initials scribbled next to the answers of the first question.

Draco had noticed them but not paid mind to them. He thought they had been random scribbles to be honest.

"Your story does not check out. Not that I believed it in the first place. You are not a very good liar," Hermione commented. Draco snorted.

"Yet you believed me about my family sob story like the naive Gryffindor that you are."

Hermione ignored the insult. Judging by the three different quills used, three people had taken this test.

She deduced Pansy and Tracey being two of them, seeing how they had visited Draco in their common room earlier. That left number three as Malfoy…

"Who did you get?" Hermione pressed, not even trying to hide that smirk.

Draco threw his head back in annoyance. "For the hundredth time: I did not take the test. Pansy and Tracey did."

"There is a third person. And this person is you!"

Draco ignored her and started walking again. Hermione caught up with him quickly.

"Come on."

"Leave me alone."

"Did you get Harry?"

Her question made Draco stop. "What? Potter?" He ripped the magazine out of Hermione`s hands. His eyes went to the initials in question number one.

HP SF EM MC HG BZ TB JFF

The initials were also matched to the results at the very end. HP, for example, was matched with the Popular Guy.

"My best guess it that the Fun Lover is Seamus Finnigan, the Mysterious Guy is Terry Boot, Bad Boy is Michael Corner, the Romantic is Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Shy Guy is Ernie Macmillan, the Best Friend is Blaise Zabini and the Intellectual, well…" Hermione trailed off before pointing to herself.

Draco guffawed.

"Hey, it only makes sense. Who else has those initials in our year?"

Draco wrinkled his nose. "This is completely ridiculous! Potter got the Popular Guy? And you the Intellectual? You are not even a lad! Don't flatter yourself! And this should say DM instead!" Draco pointed to one of the result boxes.

Hermione tried not to roll her eyes. "Harry is both famous and popular. This choice totally makes sense. Girls like him – like a lot. That cannot have slipped your notice."

Draco studied the page further. Blaise got the title of Best Friend? What the hell?! Draco Malfoy got demoted?

Surely Pansy would not betray him like that? He imagined that it was Tracey who insisted on this poor pick.

"Sooo," Hermione started again, "Harry, huh?"

"I did not get Potter. Now stop pestering me."

He looked so dead serious that Hermione did as requested. She, however, still tried to match the Slytherins to the results in her head.

Perhaps there was more to Malfoy. He had been surprising her with a lot of things lately, so maybe he had gotten the Romantic. Weirder things had happened.

Pansy going for the Popular Guy actually made a lot of sense to Hermione. She wouldn't be surprised if Pansy harboured some weird twisted crush on Harry.

As for Tracey, well, Hermione did not know much about her. But Tracey did date that older Slytherin prefect last year who supposedly got a top notch Ministry internship after graduation. If it had been for his smarts or his connections, Hermione could not tell. She was willing to give him the benefit of doubt though. (He had been fairly decent towards her.)

Hermione sighed. Perhaps she should try to be less nosy. Her nosiness often ended in awkward arguments between her and Malfoy.

She would try to be better.

Astoria (a Gemini) was having the .ever. Well, the third worst day ever.

Sophia had been trying to cheer her up all morning. Astoria appreciated the effort but her mood stayed the same. Currently, her best friend was preparing a big breakfast plate for her. It was very sweet.

Astoria wished everyone could be this sweet.

Despite not feeling very hungry, Astoria took a few bites. What Potter had told her a few days ago still echoed in her mind: "Hermione said no."

What made everything even worse, were the pitying looks that Potter kept sending her from across the room.

For all Astoria cared, Potter could stick his pity up his arse. She didn't need his pity.

Today, she answered him with her best frosty glare. Potter, to her surprise, finally seemed to understand the message and stopped. Thank Goodness!

"Victory," Astoria muttered, pushing her plate away. She was determined to forget all about Hermione and that annoyingly annoying Harry Potter.

The only problem about forgetting or ignoring someone's existence was that the subject had to somewhat cooperate and not constantly (and literally) run into you.

While Potter had gotten the message to stop sending her those apologetic and pitying looks, he could have tried harder to stay out of her way.

But no, Potter strolled around the place like he owned this damn castle, crashing right into her when she was headed to the next class.

"Shoot, I`m sorry, Astoria!" he apologized, handing her the book that she dropped from their collision.

"Watch it," she snapped, unleashing her bad mood on him. Harry stood rooted to his spot. Astoria could swear he was holding his breath. Her eyes then fell on the bar of chocolate in his hands. She rolled her eyes.

Could he just stop trying to feed her chocolate already?

Nonetheless, Astoria grabbed the candy and ripped open the wrapper. To please him (so he would perhaps finally leave her alone), she took a big bite off of it and chewed it obnoxiously.

"Happy?" she demanded. Harry looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Um…that actually wasn't for you," he answered carefully, whilst also drawing a much too deep breath.

Upon hearing his answer, Astoria`s cheeks turned bright pink.

"Oh," she said meekly, looking down at the candy bar in her hand in embarrassment.

"You can have it though… I have another," Harry said awkwardly.

After a few seconds he added, "I, um, have to go." He motioned towards the library. "Her-, uh, someone is waiting for me."

Astoria caught his quick correction and cringed. Harry saw this and couldn't help but give her that pitying look again.

He hesitated for a moment before asking her carefully, "Uh, you can have the other one too - if you want?"

His hand dove into his pocket and he presented her another candy bar. Astoria gave him a blank look but accepted the treat nonetheless.

"Thank you."

Harry nodded and then there was silence. Surprisingly, not awkward at all. It was an okay silence.

"You did pretty alright in your last match," Astoria said neutrally after a while.

The slightest smile crept onto Harry`s face. She went to his game? Funny.

"Why, thank you. A few people have told me so. I personally think I need to work on my Wronski Feint," Harry said humbly.

"It was a pretty close call. But you managed to pull it off. Badly, but you pulled it off, " Astoria replied, pointing to the shiner under his left eye. "Not that I know much about Quidditch. I mostly go to socialize…"

Harry nodded understandingly. Sounded like someone he knew. "I still didn't expect you to come to one of our games."

Astoria shrugged, adjusting her book bag. "Might as well keep tabs on other teams. It is good to know how the enemy is faring."

"Enemy, huh?" Harry teased as he leaned against a nearby wall.

"Okay, rival, I guess," Astoria corrected with a poker face. "I don`t mind the other House teams… as long as they don't steal our title."

Her response amused Harry. "Well, you can't really have your title stolen when you are not defending it in the first place." Gryffindor had won the last four times consecutively.

"Even you have to admit that last season you got very, very lucky," Astoria countered. "You only won with the help of the Hufflepuffs. It is almost like they wanted to lose that game."

Harry let out a laugh. "No, they are just that bad." It was a mean thing to say but true.

Astoria bit her tongue in order to not to smile. When she realized this, she knew it was time to leave.

She announced, "Well, this was a nice chat but I must go now."

Harry nodded. "Indeed."

"Indeed," the Slytherin replied and walked off the opposite way without looking back – not knowing that the boy she left behind stared after her longer than he needed to.