False Pretenses

Chapter 1: The Lie

Written by: ecocolatte

A/N: Hi everyone! This is my attempt at a Dramione fanfiction. If you're coming to my story from my Blaise/Hermione fanfiction, thank you so much for believing in me and following me in my Dramione journey. If you're new to my work, welcome! Please feel free to read and review my Blaise/Hermione story as well. Anything in italics is a thought, or used for emphasis. This story is inspired/loosely based on the anime Wolf Girl and Black Prince, so if you're familiar with that anime you'll probably recognize a few plot points. This is my second time writing a fanfiction, so we'll see where it goes. Updates will be sporadic, as I write whenever I feel inspired. Sometimes I will post multiple chapters at once, sometimes I'll post one chapter every few weeks. Please be patient with me – I'm a full time student and I work, so I don't have a lot of time to write. Also, reviews, favorites, and follows are much appreciated! Anyway, thanks for reading my little note, let's dive into chapter 1!

Hermione was angry. No. She was livid. Ron was being even more of an arrogant ass than usual and Harry wasn't helping much either by staying out of it. Ron had gotten back together with Lavender and it felt like a huge slap in the face.

"I'm just saying that I think you can do better!" She yelled, exhausted with their argument.

"Don't be so mad at me just because you're jealous of Lavender," Ron said in a huff. Their quarrel in the Great Hall was starting to draw attention, but Hermione didn't care. It all started when Ron had tactlessly boasted about his relationship with Lavender and made fun of her and Harry for not having someone special.

That did it. "You think I'm jealous of her!?" She asked incredulously.

"You obviously are. Why else would your panties be in such a twist over this?" He said crudely. "You're just jealous that she's fun and you're practically a librarian who can't live a little. No wonder you don't have a boyfriend. Who would want to date that?" He spat at her.

"Ron!" Harry hissed at him, finally coming to his senses and leaping to her defense.

Hermione could have said anything. She could have just left it alone. Instead she had to go and say something stupid. "For your information, Ronald, I do have a boyfriend," she said, shoving her books in her bag rather violently and getting up from their table. The lie had just tumbled out of her mouth before she could think about it. Anything to get a rise out of Ron, to hurt him the way he always hurt her. She had to get away from here before the lie got her into trouble.

"Oh yeah? Who?" He challenged, standing up to face her.

"We've kept it a secret," the words tumbled out of her mouth.

"Because he doesn't exist!"

"He does exist, you conceited prat! And we're very happy together!" She added with extra viciousness in her voice before running out of the Great Hall.

"Ron why would you say that to her," she heard Harry say before she ran through the open doors and out into the corridor.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now she was going to look like a fool if she couldn't prove that she had a boyfriend. But why was all this so important to her anyway? If she was being honest with herself, he had a point. Everyone saw her as a prude bookworm who never left the library. It was because she felt like she never connected to people on a personal level. No one ever fully understood her except for Harry, and he was like a brother to her. Maybe she was just a little jealous of Lavender. The girl had the brains of a rock but the looks of a model and everyone loved her for reasons Hermione couldn't even begin to understand. It just wasn't fair.

All these years she thought she was in love with Ron. When he didn't have the balls to ask her to the Yule Ball in 4th year she was crushed. She was even more heartbroken when he got together with Lavender. When the two of them broke up she finally thought she had a real chance. They got closer over the weeks and Hermione thought that maybe Ron was finally starting to see her as a real woman. Clearly she was wrong since he got back together with that stupid girl only a few months later. As if he would even have gotten her attention in the first place if Hermione hadn't secretly helped him at Quidditch tryouts. Ungrateful git!

As the finally reached an empty corridor she leaned back against one of the pillars and took a few calming breaths to fight back tears. She had to place her hand against the stone behind her just to steady herself, feeling the anger dissipate little by little. Since she was using all her efforts to calm herself, she didn't hear the footsteps approaching her.

She had almost fully calmed down enough to think rationally until she heard a smooth voice from the other side of the hallway.

"Look what we have here. A crying mudblood. How pathetic." Draco Malfoy in all his conceited glory stood before her, hands in his pockets looking at her smugly. She wanted nothing more than to smack that smug grin off his stupid face.

"Not now, ferret-boy." She said through grit teeth. The mudblood comment no longer bothered her like it used to, since it was apparently the only word in his vocabulary these days.

"What happened to you this time, Granger? Got dumped by the ugly Weasel again?"

Not feeling up to their usual insults, she turned around and crossed her arms. "It's none of your business. Leave me alone." He seemed a bit taken back by her change in demeanor. Normally they would have a verbal sparring match for at least a few minutes until one of them backed down temporarily to plot the other's demise. Whatever. She didn't care at the moment. All Hermione wanted was to be alone.

"Hermione?" Ron's voice called out. Great.

"What do you want now!?" She snapped at him as he approached, realizing that Draco was still there and glaring at him too. This was most definitely the worst day in history.

"Ah, how lovely. The Weasel joins us on our little date," Draco said in what she could only presume was an attempt to irritate Ron further. Unfortunately for him, the wording couldn't possibly have been any worse for her.

Ron looked back and forth between them. "You can't be serious," he said flatly. "This is a joke right, Hermione? The idea of Malfoy being your boyfriend is absolutely laughable."

Before she could reply properly, Malfoy took a step forward with an amused gleam in his eyes. "Oh, it's true Weasley. Isn't that right, Hermione darling?" He slid his gaze over to her as he said the last bit, his voice turning to butter and his eyes roaming over her body.

What the hell does he think he's doing? "I-I," She sputtered helplessly in shock, rage, and a certain amount of satisfaction seeing Ron's hurt reaction. He took this as a confirmation.

"Wow. I see how it is. Whatever, Hermione. And to think I came out to see if you were alright. Just…just don't speak to me!" Ron said angrily. He quickly turned and walked out of the hallway, leaving her alone with Malfoy.

Malfoy eyed him his retreating figure with disdain. "Well, that was gratifying."

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!?" She screeched at him, flailing her arms in what she thought was a threatening matter to emphasize how mad she was. He simply smirked down at her.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." He said gleefully, stepping closer to her so they could have a proper conversation this time.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, backing away from him until her back hit the pillar once again.

"I overheard your argument in the Great Hall just now. Everyone did. You really do have the lungs of a whale you know."

"What's your point!?" She said, crossing her arms again and looking up at him.

"Here's the deal, Granger. I'm going to play along with your ridiculous lie and in return you're going to do everything I say, all of my schoolwork, and come in 2nd in the class this year and let me take 1st."

Of all the crazy ideas she had heard, this one took the cake. Even crazier was that Draco Malfoy was the one proposing it. "If you think for even a split second that I'm going to go along with your outlandish and horrendous proposition-"

Malfoy leaned forward, bringing his eyes level with hers. "Or, I can just tell the entire school that you lied about having a boyfriend and that you really are as pathetic and lonely as everyone thinks. And everyone will believe me because of who I am. What will it be, Granger?"

"Let me get this straight. You want to pretend to be my boyfriend? Have you gone completely mad?"

"That's not an answer."

She simply glared at him defiantly, hands clenched tightly at her sides refusing to give him the upper hand. Even though he did have a point, she would never lower herself to his standards. She was surprised though that he would willingly be this close to her face given how he felt about muggles.

Standing back up to his full height he looked down at her with mock disappointment and shrugged. "If that's what you want, Granger. I guess I have a big announcement to make in the Great Hall then," he said and started to walk away from her.

Damn him! And damn his stupid Slytherin arrogance! She didn't need him. She would be fine without him right? And people would believe her! But then again she had no proof and if she told people that he was a muggle boyfriend that would almost be worse than lying because definitely no one would buy it.

"W-wait," she stammered embarrassingly as she jogged after him. She could almost feel the satisfaction emanating off him as he stopped in his tracks and casually turned back towards her.

"Yes, mudblood?" He said, sounding far too innocent for her liking.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but fine," she grit out. "We have a deal." She was beyond irritated to see that his smug expression didn't change one bit. It was as if he had expected her to come running back to him like a dog to its master.

"2nd in the class?" He said, raising his eyebrows tauntingly.

"This is ridiculous. I've worked harder than anyone at Hogwarts for my academic prowess and if you think you're just going to-"

"2nd. In. The. Class?" He repeated, more slowly and forcefully this time as if she were an infant.

Seething, she gave him the coldest glare she could muster before responding. "2nd in the class."

He condescendingly patted her on the head. "That's right. Don't look so put out, Granger. I'm doing you a favor here. You should be honored that your fake boyfriend is someone so influential and handsome."

She angrily swatted his hand away. "You're about as handsome as a garbage can. How is this even going to work? No one would ever believe that we of all people would be in a relationship."

He simply rolled his eyes at her, ignoring her sub-par insults and began walking away.

"Where are you going!?" She called after him. How dare he walk away from her in the middle of an important conversation! "We have to talk about this!"

"Don't worry, mudblood." He said nonchalantly over his shoulder. "I'll take good care of you. Just do your part and everything will be fine."

She watched his retreating figure round the corner with pure hatred. Then the realization of what she had just agreed to finally sunk in. Oh, Merlin. What have I gotten myself into now?