Title: Rudeness Never Gets You Anywhere, But Greed Might.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Prompt: Greed
Word Count: 936
Rating: PG13. I've got one naughty word in it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters belonging to the Potterverse. JK Rowling owns them
Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at replying to prompts/challenges (other than the dmhgficexchange), so I hope this turned out good enough. No spoilers.

It seemed, to everyone else in the world, that Draco Malfoy always got exactly what he wanted. The way he saw it, everyone just gave him what he wanted. How could he possibly say, "no thanks, I'd rather stick with the same old cloak as last year, even though I've had it for seven years," when his mother had practically begged to spend those shiny galleons on him?

While in school, Malfoy Jr. used Malfoy Sr.'s power and influence as a means to get things done in his favor. Of course, he never thought he was being greedy at all. He would always rationalize that if the power was readily available to him, why not use it?

But what Draco never took into account was that he always wanted the unnecessary things in life. He always had to have the brand new brooms right before they hit the market and all the new gadgets even though he never knew their purpose. All he really wanted was the bragging rights, because even though Malfoy's were seen as being on the wrong side of the spectrum, they never lied. So if he wanted to tell those dunderheads Goyle and Crabbe that he had his hands on the new floating wirelesses, he had to already have them. Who cared if he never had any use for them?

Now that The-Wizard-He-Feared was gone, his father had no power and most importantly, no influence to manipulate. And it especially didn't make Malfoy Jr. feel any better that he no longer had Hogwarts as his holding ground because that meant he was off on his own. So even if Malfoy Sr. still had his power somehow, Junior could never use it as bribery. He fucking cursed everything he could get his hands on.

The lucky part of the situation was that his father had been forced by his mother to give him his inheritance the split second he turned eighteen. Obviously, it had been handed over with a few grunts and more than enough evil glares. If the Wizarding World had witnessed the interaction and never knew who they were, at that moment they would see that Junior inherited his greed from Senior.

Buying a mediocre flat in the middle of London was something he would never result in doing, even if it had been Narcissa's idea to lay low for awhile. He wanted a house surrounded by land and trees and with more rooms than necessary and even though he would never step foot in it, he wanted only the best kitchen. He had to have it all. "I'm worth it," he would tell himself out loud.

So it came as no surprise that the day he found the only thing he could definitely not have, Draco Malfoy became obsessed. Usually, he would get what he wanted and by the following day or within the week it would be forgotten or brushed aside. But when he found that one single thing he couldn't attain, something inside him snapped.

He didn't rest until he found out more information about everything he wanted to know.

And even though it was easy for him to realize why he was there, Hermione Granger had a hard time coming to that realization.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she instantly screamed when he 'accidentally' ran into her and strangely said 'hello.'

"Now that you mention it, I want you."

"We've already been over this almost twenty times. No! Why are you this determined to take me out on some stupid date?" She put her hands on her hips and her stance gave him the impression she was being stubborn.

"Because Granger, you are the only person who I've never been able to have, and I wantyou. I need you."

He would never admit it to her that he was beginning to fall apart. There was no way that he would tell her how he would stay awake some nights imagining her just giving in to him. But he would most definitely not tell her how in those dreams he would never let her go.

No, Junior here wasn't in love, but he was beginning to feel a huge turmoil in his mind. He didn't know why he let this girl bother him so much, but he never blamed it on his greed.

"Look," he said when he noticed how shocked Granger looked, "I'm just asking for one date, so accept it. After that you can decide whether to chuck me to the curb. But I will not take no for an answer."

"What do I get out of this?" she asked, never realized how greedy she had sounded.

"First of all, you get the pleasure of knowing that you're tormenting my thoughts by just being yourself. Then, if you decide to stick around long enough, which I'm planning on you doing, I'll be able to put some pretty pearls around your neck and even…"

She scoffed before he finished.

"…give you some decent clothes to wear instead of that shattering blue sweater and white-washed jeans."

"There's no need to shower me with material things, Malfoy. All you had to do in the first place was just ask nicely instead of being demanding," she said, relaxing her posture.

"Okay. Hermione Granger, could I have the honor of taking you out to dinner tonight?" he asked, trying his hardest to be nice without smirking.

"Alright," Hermione replied happily with a smile. "Pick me up at seven sharp. You know where I live," she added before turning and walking away with a small skip in her step.

Whoever said that Hermione Granger could never be greedy at times, too?

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