Introduction:

Draco Malfoy was one of the most popular kids at Hogwarts. He was known for being able to get any girl he wanted. You'd think he'd be a spoiled, conceited git, well, he was. All of his friends were always jealous of how girls simply swooned over him. He could flash some girl a smirk and she'd do anything he wanted. He always took advantage of that. He was very, very confident in his charms and in his ability to snag any girl who he had his eye on. He believed that by walking up to a girl, smiling, and saying something amiable, she'd be his. Well, now his real opportunity to prove himself had come.

Hermione Granger was not very popular. She was usually pretty quiet but always was very outgoing around her best friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. They seemed to bring out the best in her. Hermione had a very nice figure but always hid it beneath her baggy clothes and robes. She would have been very beautiful had she worn clothes that weren't fit for Hagrid and actually tried a bit of makeup. However, she didn't think that looks should matter. She believed that the only thing that mattered was the personality of a person. She had a wonderful personality. She was very kind and compassionate to others, and would do anything within her power to help those who needed it. Although, she did tend to be incredibly bossy. However, she was completely different in school. In school, she was shy and ALWAYS kept to herself. Whenever she wasn't under the protection of Ron and Harry, she was being constantly ridiculed. People would always tell her that she should get a makeover, but she, once again, would say she had better things to do with her time, like studying, and that it definitely shouldn't matter. So she had never even attempted to brush up her looks because in her opinion, it was COMPLETELY unnecessary. She really never worried about looking for a boyfriend because she had her whole life ahead of her and once again, she had better things to do with her time. She couldn't waste precious study time batting her eyelashes and giggling like a madwoman. However, the work of a young man would soon change her opinion of everything.

It was the end of august and it was everyone's 6th year. Dumbledore had announced that there would be an opening ball so the younger years could meet new people, but everyone else was invited, just for the fun of it. This gave some nasty slytherins a brilliant idea...

Draco Malfoy's friends were all huddled together in potions whispering something, and then snickering. Being that they were slytherins, the fact that Draco was one of their best friends didn't matter at all, and they were all plotting against him. "Hey Draco!!" Blaise Zambini called him over.

Draco walked over, sending lucky lady slytherins a wink, and sat next to them.

"What's up?" he asked them.

"Draco...we have a proposition."

Draco raised his eyebrows in interest. "Really, what exactly are you proposing?"

"Well, being that you're the most popular guy in school," Draco smirked, "and you're oh-so confident that you can get any girl, we'd like to make a little bet with you."

Draco, being a Malfoy, was not only over-confident, but could never refuse a bet. "Go on..." Draco urged.

"We'd like to challenge you to gain the trust and affection of Little-Miss Perfect." Draco raised an eyebrow in confusion. He didn't know who they were talking about. And if there actually was a "Little Miss Perfect" surely he'd already been with her.

"Uhhm...who, exactly, are you talking about?" He asked them. He scowled when they laughed at him.

"Ohhh Draco," cooed Pansy, "surely, you know who we're talking about...a certain ...Gryffindor." She said Gryffindor as if it pained her to say the word and then followed her statement with an overly dramatic shudder. Pansy had always been madly in love with Draco, but soon stopped with her obsession when she heard a rumor that Blaise liked her. She then, of course, switched to him. Draco stared at them in confusion but then groaned he realized who they were talking about.

"You can't mean... you wouldn't make me... the mudblood?!" 'Well it wouldn't be that bad just to get her to trust me I suppose... but what's the point to this?'

"Is there a point to this or do you guys just enjoy watching me suffer?"

Blaise smirked cruelly, "Oh, we're not finished. Not only do you have to gain the young mudblood's trust, but you also have to bring her to the dance. Making her love you is also included."

"ARE YOU FRICKIN KIDDING ME!?"

"Mr. Malfoy, please, contain yourself." They had been having this conversation in potions, but being that they were slytherins; they didn't get reprimanded for it. However, having Draco scream out in the middle of class minorly crossed the line.

"Sorry professor snape," he mumbled. He then turned back to Blaise and pansy. "That's insane! What is the point to getting her to fall love with me?.. Exactly, there isn't one!"

Blaise smirked at his panicked friend. "Well, you said you can get any girl, but if you can't even get a mudblood Gryffindor, welllll then..."

"OKAY OKAY! I'll do it. But, what do I get if I win? And what happens if I can't do it?"

Pansy smiled cruelly at him, "Well, if you don't, you get to be my boyfriend for the rest of this year," (apparently Draco was wrong in thinking she was over him), "and you have to do whatever Blaise here tells you to. If you win, well, we'll worry about that when you win, which you won't, so that's not really important right now."

Draco glared at her. Pansy's confidence that he would lose just made him angry. He could do it. I mean, come on, he was Draco Malfoy (AN: and we all know how hott he is =P), he could get any girl he wanted!

"Deal," Draco said daringly, extending his hand. He shook Pansy and Blaise's hands and then left for the next class thinking, 'What the hell have I gotten myself into? I have to get Granger to come to the dance with me! And if that's not bad enough, I have to get her to fall in love with me! Ugh, maybe I should back out. But then, I'd have to be Pansy's boyfriend and Blaise's house elf. Well maybe if I—'"OUCH!" He had bumped into something. He heard a small 'oof' coming from his feet and looked down. 'Perfect.'

Hermione looked over at the whispering slytherins and rolled her eyes. 'Dumb Slytherins. Dumb Snape. Geez, if Harry, Ron, and I decided to strike up a conversation in the middle of class, he'd tie us down under the Whomping Willow!' She heard Draco randomly shout out something and growled under her breath when snape did nothing but tell him to contain himself. She decided to just forget about them. Malfoy was a fag anyways. He didn't deserve her time. Hermione turned her attention back to snape, who after silencing Malfoy, had gone right back into his lecture on the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione, Ron, and Harry already knew everything about that already of course. Hermione smiled lightly as she thought back on second year. 'Ahh, good times.' She would never have broken school rules for everyone else, but then again, Harry and Ron had always brought out a very rarely seen Hermione; the fun Hermione. Potions class, much to Hermione's relief, ended and she hurriedly left the room heading for her favorite class with her favorite professor, Transfiguration with dear McGonagall. She was nearly out of the dungeons when she stopped dead in her tracks. 'Aw bugger!' She had forgotten her quills on her table in the classroom. She spun around quickly and sprinted back down towards the dungeons. She was nearly there when... "OUCH!" "oof!" She had run into something terribly large. Seemingly a great brick wall. She was knocked over backwards and landed hard on her butt. She looked up and saw that her great brick wall was actually not a great brick wall but a very tall blonde slytherin. He looked down at her and she expected him to say some smart remark and walk off. But no, this time, he looked down and spoke. "Sorry, I should've been watching where I was walking. You ok?" "Umm...yeah...I um ..." She didn't know what was going on. He was being nice! He was definitely up to something. She glared up at him when she thought this but all her thoughts immediately left her when she saw him reach his hand down to her.

She really didn't trust him but she was sprawled out on the ground in a very painful position. She hesitantly took his hand and he pulled her up. At that moment, Professor Snape came out of his classroom with Hermione's quills.

"Ahh Mr. Malfoy, helping a poor Gryffindor. 25 points to slytherin. Well done." He looked at Hermione, who was now smoothing her robes. "Miss Granger, how could you be so clumsy, you could've hurt someone running down the corridors not watching where u were heading, not to mention, being so forgetful," he motioned towards her quills. "25 points from Gryffindor." Hermione had the strongest urge to go up to snape and rip his greasy hair of off his head and stick it all up his large nose. Snape noticed Hermione's death glare and added, "Oh yes, and another 10 points for that last thought Miss Granger," he said, tapping his temple with his finger. He smirked cruelly; he tossed her quills to her, and then went back to his classroom, cloaks billowing behind him. As soon as Snape's cloaks disappeared around a corner, Hermione growled very loudly in his direction and stuck up her middle finger for everyone in the corridor to see. Malfoy, never having seen this side of her, raised his eyebrows in surprise. Hermione still didn't know why Malfoy was being nicer than usual, so she turned to him, gave him a sarcastically sweet smile and headed towards the transfiguration classroom.

Draco had never seen this side of Granger before. She was somewhat, fun. He had always considered her to be a know-it-all bookworm, but here she was flicking off a professor. However, the next time he saw her, she was in the library curled up on a chair with her nose in a book. 'Figures. Back to normal I see.' He saw Granger glance up at him and then back at her book.

"What do you want Malfoy?" She asked him coolly. "I am rather enjoying myself right now and I don't need a git like you to ruin this for me. Now go away, you're not wanted here." Draco was slightly taken aback by her smart remark but unfortunately he bit back before he could stop himself.

"I'm sorry but I don't take orders from filthy, worthless, mudbloods like you." Hermione wasn't expecting him to say anything and was caught off guard by this. She felt her eyes stinging with tears and before she knew what she was doing she had stood up, walked up to him, and hit him soundly over the head with her book. He stumbled backwards into the table and after regaining his composure glared daggers at her. She gave him a small smirk freakishly similar to his own, put her book back in her bag, and walked out of the library. He watched her leave with his jaw dropped. 'What has gotten into her!? I've only got a month and a half to get her to come to the dance with me and at this rate, by the time of the dance, I'll be lucky if I can get a word in before I lose a limb.'

Hermione was very happy with the whole library incident. She didn't appreciate his attitude and hopefully by attacking with a book, she'd have gotten her point that she doesn't want anything to do with him across. She was heading to the Great Hall for lunch and was nearly there when she was confronted by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hey Mudblood. What're you doing roaming these halls all alone. You're just a little girl, and without Potter and Weasley here to protect you...who knows what might happen?" While he was saying this, Goyle had been advancing on her. She was steadily taking steps back and was prepared to turn and run but, unfortunately, Goyle had strategically lead her under a staircase and she was now in the shadows of it, with no way out. She dropped her bag and whipped out her wand.

"Get away from me. I know more spells now than you'll learn in a lifetime and, trust me, I know my fair share of spells that will leave you in the hospital wing for weeks lacking body parts," she jerked her head in the general direction of Goyle's pants. His eyes widened at this and he went to take a step back but instead, he took a few very quick steps forward, until he was only inches away from Hermione. She could feel his breath on her face.

"I warned you." She said to him. She lowered her wand so it was pointed to somewhere Goyle definitely would never want a wand aimed and began to mutter something under her breath. Crabbe, who had been standing a little behind Goyle all this time, realized was she was doing, ran up to her and grabbed her wand. Hermione gasped in horror. She was now cornered by two heartless sons of death eaters, and she was wandless. Goyle stepped up to her and traced her face with his index finger and slowly ran his thumb along her lips. Hermione was disgusted beyond belief. But, she had an idea. She lifted her arms and rested them on Goyle's shoulders. He seemed surprised at first but then recovered and moved his arms to her waist. "Ohhh Goyle, I'm so glad you finally want me. I've wanted you so bad ever since I first laid eyes on you! Take me now!" Goyle leaned towards her and just before their lips touched, Hermione moved her head to the side so her lips were right by his ears. "This should be fun," she whispered seductively, "now...just relax!" With all her might, Hermione kneed Goyle right in the groin. He doubled over in pain and she took her chance. She grabbed her bag, and as she shot past Crabbe, who was now looking down at Goyle, snatched her wand and sprinted as fast as she could towards her common room. She was no longer hungry. Somewhere in that process, she had lost her appetite.

Hermione ran as fast as her legs would carry her down the hall and up several flights of steps. She was about to turn the corner when, once again, she collided with something very large. Because she was running so fast, and since she was so small, she was thrown several feet back. She moaned in pain as her tailbone hit hard on the cement floor. Although she had landed sitting up, she fell back on her back and just closed her eyes, willing the pain to stop.

"Hey! You alright Granger?" She heard an all too familiar voice say. Although, it sounded somewhat worried. She opened her eyes and saw Malfoy looking down at her. She closed her eyes again for a few minutes and growled slightly when she felt Malfoy nudging her side with his foot. 'Maybe he'll think I'm dead and leave me alone.' She thought hopefully. But she wasn't so lucky. Malfoy squatted down next to her and began poking her mercilessly in her side. Now, THIS was bad. Hermione was VERY ticklish. She tried so hard not to laugh. She didn't want Malfoy to know her weakness. Harry and Ron were the only ones who knew this and that was only because they had tickled her senseless to cheer her up in 6th year when she had gotten an answer wrong on her Transfiguration exam. Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer. She felt the sides of her lips twinge upwards in a slight smile and opened her eyes. She saw Malfoy looking at her and he must have noticed her smiling because she had started to tickle her. She burst out laughing and shoved Malfoy with all her might and he fell backwards. He lied flat on his back and closed his eyes. 'This is going to be harder than I thought. I'm trying to be nice here but nooooo; she can't just see my kindness and accept it can she?' Malfoy thought, slightly frustrated.

"What are you doing here Malfoy? Why aren't you in the Great Hall eating with the rest of your death eater friends?" Hermione had pulled herself together after being tickled and now realized just who was tickling her. She was standing now and glaring down at Malfoy. He opened one eye, sighed, and then closed it again.

"I was looking for Crabbe and Goyle, mudblood, why do you care?" He mentally slapped himself as soon as the word had passed his lips. He opened his eyes to see her reaction and was surprised to see her laughing under her breath. "What's so funny Granger?" He snapped. She watched him stand up and then looked up at him.

"Hehe, I know where they are."

'Did she just say hehe?'

'Did I just say hehe?'

They stood in silence for a minute, before Hermione started to crack up. She was thinking over what she had done to poor Goyle and found it hilarious. She was seducing him! She reminded herself immensely of Pansy. Not only had she done that, she had kneed him hard right where it counts.

"Seriously Granger, what the hell!?" She realized that she had been laughing for a few minutes and stopped immediately, letting the occasional giggle.

"Well, I kind of, well I...well Crabbe and Goyle, they...oh bloody hell." Hermione told him the whole story ending with her attack on Goyle and her getaway. She noticed that during the part where Goyle was tracing her face, Malfoy looked pretty disgusted. Then, when she had started to shamelessly flirt with him, Malfoy looked as if he needed to run to the bathroom. She finished up her story and looked at Malfoy expectantly.

"So that's why you were running so fast. You were running away from the cronies were you?" She nodded her head in response. "Well, that was just plain disgusting of them! You're way too good for them." With that, he stalked off towards the Great hall.

Hermione was just plain confused. Malfoy had just somewhat complimented her. He was definitely up to something. She wouldn't let him get her that easily. Over the past years, they hadn't fought much. Usually, they sought each other out to insult each other but, recently, they'd rarely been seen fighting in the halls, and usually just glared. Now that Hermione thought about it, she hadn't really even spoken to him since the train ride home after fifth year, and that wasn't so much talking as it was shouting spells. She had just had a civil conversation with him. She just figured he was having a good day and went into the common room.

Draco walked down to the Great Hall and looked under the stairway Granger had said she had left them. And, as she had said, Crabbe was sitting picking something out from under his nails while Goyle rolled around the floor screaming in agony. He approached Crabbe, "How long has he been like this?" Draco asked Crabbe.

Crabbe glanced at his watch, rolled his eyes, and replied, "About 15 minutes." Draco chuckled slightly and turned to Goyle.

"Hey Goyle...Goyle!...OY GOYLE!!" Goyle opened up his previously squeezed tight eyes and raised an eyebrow in question. "You do know that there's food in there right?" Draco asked while motioning towards the Great Hall. Goyle raised his eyebrows in interest, stood up, and limped into the Great Hall, with Draco and Crabbe at his heels.

Draco sat down next to Pansy and Blaise. "So," Blaise started, "how's it coming?"

Draco smirked, "Not too bad actually. I actually had a civil conversation with her."

Pansy's eyes widened a bit. "Already?! We just made the bet this morning!" Draco laughed at her.

"Yes, already. Might not be as hard as we thought, huh?" Blaise and Pansy exchanged glances and went back to their food. Draco smiled to himself. 'This is going well. Although, I doubt it'll be that easy to get her to come to the dance with me, let alone fall in love with me.'

Hermione sat in the common room doing her homework, waiting for Ron and Harry to come back so she could tell them what had just happened. After waiting awhile, she got impatient and decided to go look for them herself. She was just about to go into the Great Hall when she heard cheers from outside. 'Geez! I'm so dumb! There's a Quidditch game. No wonder no one came back to the common room.' She made her way to the entrance hall and left to go out to the pitch. She squinted her eyes to see who was playing and saw separate streaks of gold and green. Slytherin and Hufflepuff. She heard roars from the slytherin side of the field and then she heard Dean Thomas' voice echo through the grounds. "And another 10 points for SLYTHERIN! They lead Hufflepuff 120 – 90!!" She heard him say something about a sighted snitch and broke into a run, hoping that she could catch the end of the game. She headed towards the Hufflepuff side and joined Harry and Ron who were both screaming for the Hufflepuff seeker. Everyone around her was jumping up and down and screaming unnecessarily loud. She looked towards the pitch and saw Malfoy and the other seeker neck and neck flying at blinding speeds, both with arms outstretched. However, there was a bludger close behind Malfoy and he didn't see it. The snitch took a sharp turn right towards the bleachers. It zoomed to where it was right in front of Hermione, maybe 5 feet out. They all start to wave their arms trying to get the attention of the seeker. Hermione was so into the game, she didn't even notice that she was leaning way far over the edge of the bleachers. She just wanted to get a better look. She saw Draco and Matthew (hufflepuff seeker) speeding right towards her. She watched intensely as the both reached for the snitch. Draco's hand was not even an inch ahead of Matthew's and his fingers were about to clasp around it when, "DRACO WATCH OUT!!" Pansy was screaming to him from the stands. The bludger was zooming towards him, coming right to his head. She saw him zoom upwards to avoid the bludger, but the bludger kept going forward. It was coming right for her. She made to move to the side out of the way but the bleachers were too crammed for that to be possible. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the impact. "OH MY GOSH! DRACO MALFOY JUST FLEW INTO THE BLUDGER'S PATH! It was flying towards the spectators and he flew in front of it. He just got hit real hard right in the back." She heard Dean scream. Hermione opened her eyes just in time to see Malfoy fall off his broom and land hard on the quidditch pitch's floor.

Ever since Malfoy had been somewhat decent to Hermione, she had started to think that maybe he wasn't all that bad. But there was no way she would forgive him that easily for all the tears and pain he made her endure. She looked down at his motionless body and saw many figures rushing towards him. She saw a woman clad all in white, Madame Pomfrey, kneel down next to him. She saw her point her wand at him and suddenly his eyes shot open. Hermione saw Pomfrey force a potion down his throat and watched as she levitated him towards the castle. She looked over at Ron and Harry and while Ron had a blank look on his face, Harry was laughing.

"Harry Potter! What on earth could be so funny about this?" She asked.

"Mione come on, it's Malfoy. Who really cares?" With that he walked off towards the castle.

Hermione looked at Ron, who was watching Harry walk away, jaw dropped. He turned his head to Hermione.

"Wow that was something. I mean, it might be Malfoy, but, I never thought someone could be so heartless as to laugh when someone might be dying as we speak." Hermione nodded in understanding but really all she could think about were Ron's last words. '"Dying as we speak."' She couldn't deny the curiosity welling within her so she told Ron that she was off to the library and made her way to the hospital wing. 'He could be DYING! Why the hell did he do that?! He could've gotten himself killed! He even might have!' She quickened her pace. 'Why did he come back down? He still had a good chance to get the snitch. Matthew had moved too! Neither of them would have had an advantage or a disadvantage. What WAS he thinking? Honestly, how could he be so thick?' Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She was worrying about Malfoy! Actually worrying! One civilized conversation and she was concerned about his health. She DEFINITELY needed some sleep. Even as crazy as she thought she was she continued on her way to the hospital wing, her face etched with worry. As she passed through the corridors, she could hear students whispering.

"Did you see Draco Malfoy?"

"I honestly have never seen so much blood!"

"He looked like he was gonna die!"

"Madame Pomfrey looked worried too, now that's saying something. If I know anyone who's confident in herself it's her. If she's worried...I don't know."

Every whisper Hermione heard made her move faster, especially that last one. She was worried?! Madame Pomfrey was never worried! She had regrown bones for crying out loud! And she wasn't worried about it at all! If she's worried, that is never a good sign. Finally she saw the doors entering the hospital wing. She saw Malfoy lying in a bed, motionless.

She hurried to his side and whispered, "Malfoy...Malfoy?...Oh God Malfoy why did you have to be so damn stupid?!" She heard him groan slightly and saw his eyes flutter open. He squinted in the bright light and looked over at her. It took awhile for her face to come into focus and when it did, he smiled, very slightly of course.

Draco was so close. He was about to snatch the snitch when he heard pansy yelling for him. He spun his head around and saw a bludger speeding towards him. He shot up and looked down. He saw Matthew swerve also; the snitch was gone. He looked at the bludger and looked to where it was headed. He saw a very panicked Granger trying to get out of the way but was unable to. He saw her shut her eyes and saw a tear escape her squeezed shut eyes. Before he knew what he was doing, she shot down and stopped his broom right in front of her. He looked at her face for a second before he felt the bludger smash into his back. He felt himself plummeting towards the ground, and everything went black. After awhile of darkness, he felt himself being pulled back. He opened his eyes and saw Pomfrey's worried eyes staring down at him. He felt a potion being forced down his throat and felt himself being levitated. He assumed he was taken to the hospital wing but he blacked out somewhere along the way. All he saw was black, and then he heard a soft, concerned voice in the distance. She sounded so far away. He just wanted to get to whoever was talking. The voice sounded so kind and he just wanted to hear it and see who was making it. He opened his eyes and saw obnoxious bright lights. He looked over and saw a blurry face. He squinted his eyes to focus in the person and finally saw who she was. It was Granger, for some reason, this slightly cheered him up. She was waiting for him to wake up. She has to have some feelings for him then. He was already winning and the bet had only been made earlier today. This thought made him smile. Granger started to talk. But he couldn't hear her. She was mumbling something under her breath.

"Well, why did you...you shouldn't have... you could've... thanks." She said all this loudly but her last word was not even audible.

"What was that last bit Granger?"

"You heard me."

"No, no I actually didn't."

"I said thanks Malfoy you happy?"

"Yes actually I am." He said with a smirk.

She smiled slightly at him and then her face turned serious. Her brow furrowed and she frowned. "Why'd you do it Malfoy?"

"It would have hit you."

"Since when do you care about what happens to me?"

"Well, I really don't. But I couldn't have that bludger messing up your beautiful face now could I?"