Second Year: The Mudblood Incident

"You filthy little Mudblood."

Hell had broken lose right after he said it, but Granger had stayed calm. She just looked confused at the reaction it had broad among her Gryffindor friends. Weasley had even tried to curse him, but thanks to his broken wand, he had cursed himself. It had been hilarious seeing the red-head throw up slugs all thanks to his own. Eight days later it still was the laughing stock in the Slytherin common room.

Right now, he was studying in the library even though it was close to midnight. Sadly, he had no choice; he needed to get a higher score than that stupid Mudblood if he wanted to avoid punishment. But he was tired, so bloody tired that his thoughts had started to wander to that particular hilarious day. He snapped himself out of it, he didn't have time to laugh about his well placed Mudblood comment or the failure the Weasley-kid made. He needed to study his transfiguration notes once again, or even Potter would do a better job than him. So with an exhausted grunt he took another look at his notes and his assignment, tried to turn the piece of rope into a tie, and failed miserably. "Damn it!" he muttered loudly "Why doesn't it work?" He thought about his Father, angry and disappointed, and couldn't hold back the tears.

After sobbing quietly for a few moments, he felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. He turned around to look at the owner of the hand when she asked: "Hey, are you okay?" His eyes widened in shock, the Gryffindor Mudblood had seen him cry. He had shown weakness. Granger herself looked conflicted, not sure what to do and a little scared, probably afraid of his reaction. With the back of his hand he wiped away his tears and tried to regain control over his emotions. "I'm fine" he responded finally, still a little shaken, "just leave me alone." She hesitated and bit nervously on her lip. Her brown eyes left him and she looked at the books and notes scattered around the table and finally settled on the piece of rope. "You know, I could help you with that. I managed to transfigure it a few times already." "Of course you did." Draco muttered under his breath. He pulled himself together and made the face of disgust she knew so well. "Why would I want help from a Mudblood?" he spat. She flinched when she heard the invective. This surprised him as she hadn't flinched last time. 'That stupid Weasley must have told her what it meant', he thought bitterly.

He was getting nervous. Granger still hadn't responded, she just stood there staring at him. Finally she sighed and spoke: "Because you need it and I can help you." He hesitated, she had a point, but he couldn't accept help from her. She wasn't like him, he wasn't even supposed to talk civil with her. "No I don't need your help. Now go away, before you infect my blood." She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. She didn't though, she just stood there again, clearly thinking hard. Angry he took his wand and pointed it at her. "Go, or I'll jinx you." he hissed. She looked appalled, but still didn't move. "No, I can stand wherever I want. You don't get to boss me around. Now just think for a second. You're a smart boy and with my help, you'll probably be finished in ten minutes. So what are you going to do? Jinx me and spent another few hours trying to transfigure your rope, or let me help you for ten minutes and then we'll both can go to bed?" He thought for a moment. She was right of course, he had spent the last two hours trying to figure out what was wrong and he hadn't made any progress. He just wanted to get some sleep before the test tomorrow. He made a decision. "You can't tell anybody about this. Nobody, not even your stupid friends Potter and Weasley." She just stared at him in disbelief. "You honestly think that I would tell Harry and Ron about this? They would just as much disapprove my kind gesture as your friends would." He scoffed. "I doubt it, but I get your point. Let's just get this over with."

And so they started. "Okay, first close your eyes and picture the rope, then think about the tie you want it to become. Try to vision the transformation from the rope into the tie." He looked a moment at Granger who was bossing him around. Then, thinking of the time, he just sighed and closed his eyes. Concentrating on his task, he felt Grangers stare, but ignored it. "Can you envision it?" she asked after a minute. "Yes." "Good, now try the spell again." He flicked his wand and said: "Vera Verto". The peace of rope transfigured into a tie, but it wasn't nearly as neat as he wanted it to be. Still, it was a huge progress. Granger smiled warmly at him and he was taken aback by it. He wanted to smile back, but he refrained himself. "Good, very good." But he shook his head. "No, it's just a black tie. I envisioned a black and green one." She just nodded and thought, and then she smiled knowingly. "Show me your wand movements again." He did and she nodded excitedly, like she just figured out the answer on a big problem. "I think your movements are too long. I had the same problem at first. You need to tap it three times, not quickly, just short I guess. Let me show you, it will be clearer than." She showed him the correct way, then his way and then the correct way one final time. His eyes grew wide as he realized his mistake, he would have never figured that out on his own. "Okay I think I got it. Let's do it again." Granger nodded and transformed the tie back to a piece of rope. He tried again, and this time the rope was replaced by a beautiful Slytherin tie, with green and black stripes and a snake on the bottom.

They both looked at the tie in amazement for a few seconds and then both of them started to smile. "You did it. It looks perfects." He just nodded and took the tie of the table to take a closer look. While examining it, his smile faltered. "What? What is it?" Granger asked taking the tie from him. "It's the snake. His stupid head is misshapen." While she looked at it again, she just shrugged. "It looks fine to me, but we can try it again if you want." With a quick wave of her wand, the rope was back and he tried it again. This time he concentrated extra hard on all the details. When he was done, he snatched the tie of the table to examine it. He let out a grunt of frustration, the head was still not perfect. "Why do you care so much about the snakes head? It's hardly noticeable."

"Because" he finally said, "your tie will be perfect, which means that my grade will be lower than yours. And if my grade is lower, than I will be punished. Again." "What do you mean 'punished'? By whom? And why?" It took a second, but then her face fell. "You get punished by your father don't you? Because you should be better than me, better than a- a Mudblood?" He looked up at her in surprise. "Did you just call yourself a Mudblood?" She shrugged. "Well yeah. I am one aren't I? You're not the first one to ever call me names you know. I've been called a know-it-all, a freak, ugly. And they were all right. I learned to live with it, I am not going to change myself just because someone doesn't like me." He looked at the girl in front of him. He saw her insecurities, the ones she was trying so hard to hide. But he could see them, he had for over a year used them against her. He thought of her words and then shook his head. "You're wrong. You're not a freak, you're a witch. A muggleborn witch, but still. Those muggles are just jealous, because they can't do what you can do. And you are definitely a know-it-all, but that is not bad. You're just cleverer than the stupid friends you hang around with. And," he hesitated, he had already told her to much about his fears and was being to kind to her. But then he remembered, that she couldn't tell anybody this. Even if she did, nobody would believe her. So he continued. "And, you are not ugly. I don't know why you would think that." He chuckled at her expression, turns out she wasn't the only who could surprise someone. He had surprised himself to be honest.

After her shock she found her tongue again. "I- I- I mean you tell me all the time, you're not the first you know. I've been told I am ugly since I was a child." "I've said a lot of things about you that probably aren't true. Never listen to your bully Granger, especially not to me. I am going to say this once and when we see each other nothing will have changed, because I've been thought to bully you, and that is what I will do." He sighed. "You are not ugly. You are a pretty and kind girl, with a little too big front teeth and weird bushy hair. But you will grow into it. Now you are pretty, someday you are going to be beautiful." She looked at him with a weird look on her face. "So you're saying I'm the ugly duckling." Frustration took him over. "I just told you, you're not ugly. Can't you just accept the only compliment I am ever going to give you?" But she shook her head. "No, no that is not what I meant. It is a muggle fairytale. There is this little bird that grows up in a duckling nest. They mock him, because he is a dull grey and all the others are a bright yellow. But when they grow up, the little bird grows up to be a beautiful swan, while the others just become ordinary ducks. So the ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan." They just stared at each other. "You muggles have the strangest fairytales, but fine. Yes you are the ugly duckling from the story." Granger gave him another warm smile. "Thank you. You are one too you know." "I am not, I am gorgeous." She giggled. "No, I mean on the inside. You're ugly know, but you will learn. Someday you will be gorgeous inside and out." "Humph."

They sat in silence, not knowing what to say or do. He was thinking about tomorrow, how he would torment her, not thinking about now. He would pass his test thanks to her, but it didn't matter. He couldn't be nice. She was a muggleborn, a mudblood. Suddenly she spoke up. "You know, I could get lower grades. Just right beneath yours. I would still have a great report card and you wouldn't get punished." 'Unbelievable, that's what? The fourth time she surprised him with her kindness?' He looked at her, it would help him a lot. No more beatings, no more preaches, no more threats. But she worked so hard, she deserved to be the top of the class. "No, don't. I don't need your pity, I don't want it, so don't even think about it. You deserve those grades and I'll just have to work even harder and then maybe, I'll beat you." He grinned and so did she. He just challenged her. A challenge he was bound to lose, but it didn't matter. He'll manage, he'll always had.

She looked at her watch. "By Merlin's beard, how come madam Pince hasn't kicked us out yet?" He snickered. "I always sit here, this corner of the library has been enchanted. You can't be found or heard by anyone, if you don't want to." "So, you wanted me to find you?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "No, but I also didn't want not to be found. You just passed by I guess." She smiled at him. "I am glad I did." She packed her stuff and he did the same. Together they walked out of the library and looked around for teachers. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody you are an ugly duckling. This is our little secret." He smiled at her. "See you Granger." He began to walk away, but she followed him and gave him a hug. "Thank you Draco." And before he could react, she was gone.