Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but J.K. Rowling owns the world...
"…mudblood. Hey. You."
It had been a long day; two essays already today, as well as the constant… well… Harry-and-Ron-isms that filled most of Hermione's day. With a tired sigh, she replied "Why do you always say that as if I'll answer?"
"Who said I was talking to you?"
"Who else would you talk to?"
This was true. The library was currently occupied by Draco and Hermione, as well as some first-years scattered here and there, scurrying to finish some last minute assignments before sleep-deprivation set in.
"Vanity killed the cat, Granger," the blonde boy stated oh-so-matter-of-factly.
"What?"
"Oh, it's an old wizard saying. So I wouldn'texpect a mudblood like you to know it."
Being the friend of Ron and Harry, Hermione is no stranger to incredulous stares, and Draco looked much too friendly with his smirk than Hermione would have liked.
"How 'bout we strike a deal?" she started, "Your lackeys aren't even here to laugh at your jokes, so how about you stop talking?"
"Pff. What's in it for me?" Draco replied. Everyone knows you can't make a deal without winning some and losing some.
"Well, what do you want?" Hermione asked, instantly realizing she had just sealed her own tragic fate. The constant smirk on the boy's face had just widened tenfold, it could possibly now be categorized as a grin. Draco. Grinning. Who knew?
What did I just do?
"My buddy ol' pal, Goyle has had his eye on a certain deal-maker, believe it or not. Now, I won't question his sanity since you brought this whole thing up. How say you about a little night out with my right hand man?" Draco replied coyly.
"Goyle? Me? A LITTLE NIGHT OUT? No. Oh no no no. Deal off, make all the jokes you want," Hermione almost screeched, standing up and collecting her books and things. She began walking toward the door, but stopped when she felt something holding on to her elbow.
"Oh come on. You can't give up that easily, now can you, Granger?" Draco said, being the owner of the hand on Hermione's arm. Hermione, again, gave him an incredulous stare.
"If it involves me, Goyle, and a 'little night out', then yes, I can walk away from any deal," she replied, trying to shake Draco's hand off her limb. Unfortunately for her, Draco had his mind set.
"Fine. Forget Goyle."
"Then that makes it a night by myself? Okay. Can never get any peace and quiet around Ron and Harry anyways. I'd appreciate-.."
"No. Not alone, idiot." Draco cut her off. His hand was still on her arm, but she gave up trying to free herself.
"Well, then who? No one who smells, please."
"No no, of course not. I may be a bit of a bully, but I would never wish stench on anyone. I know stench, have you ever sat next to Crabbe after running after a sweets trolley? Ugh," the boy explained.
"Okay. Then who? And anyways, if you're trying to make me go on some date with one of your friends, we have to set how long you can't send an insult to me," Hermione said, fair is fair. She was not going to deal with some hormonal teenage boy for an entire evening, just to get to class the next day to see Draco sneering in her direction. She'd have to punch him again.
"Fine, I won't say a mean thing to you for… how's a week?" Draco volunteered.
"A week sounds good. But will you tell me who. And get your hand off me."
"Touchy touchy," he teased. He finally let go, and moved toward the table to get his stuff.
"Why aren't you telling me who I have to deal with for an hour or so? Who is it?" Hermione was almost going to stomp her feet, but resisted after seeing some first-year out of the corner of her eye do it, making the poor fellow look like he had to pee.
"Alright. I'll tell you," he answered, walking ahead of her, toward the door.
"Will you?" Hermione just stood there, watching him walk on, eyebrows furrowed, mouth in a stout frown. "Well. I can't wait. When are you planning to tell me the news?"
Draco turned at the small hint of sarcasm he heard. "Wow. I didn't know you were able to make a joke. Heh. Now, it wasn't all that good of one, but you have to start somewhere…"
Hermione saw his smirk actually turn into a small smile. Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Fine. No deal. You make your jokes, and I keep to myself." This last attempt proved futile, as she passed Draco on the way to the library door, he stepped his foot out a tad, and Hermione plummeted to the ground.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS YOUR BLOODY HELLISH PROBLEM?" she screeched. Fumbling and flustered, she started picking up her spilled things. She reached for a piece of parchment, but held back when she saw it being lifted by Draco's hand.
"You're sounding more and more like Weasley everyday. Better watch out, there, Granger." He handed the parchment to her, with that smile on his face again. She grabbed it from his hand and stood quickly. Her flushed face held an angry frown, and hissed at Draco.
"What the hell was that for? First you start off on me, 'ooohh, mudblood..'" she imitated, "and then I try to make a little deal, and I try and make it fair, but noooo, you have to go and make it hard. You have to go and devise some plan to get me on some date with one of your little lackeys. And then you won't tell me who, and what, or why, or just whatever. And I say deal off, forget it, AND YOU TRIP ME? WHY? WHAT DID I DO?"
"Don't you like Weasley? I heard that from somewhere, that you had a little crush on him or something. Geeze, it's like everyone in this place has an issue with sanity or something." Draco avoided the confrontation with seemingly ease. He had stood up and was looking off into the distance, as if pondering if there was something in the water that made everyone so odd.
"Wha- Well I- I-. I don't like Ron. What ever gave you that idea?" Hermione replied, still angry at being tripped and what not, and now rather embarrassed that word had actually gotten around somehow.
Ginny's gonna get it… she thought to herself. She walked off quickly, her hand on the door knob, when Draco saw the perfect opportunity…
"What, you don't want to know who your little date will be?" he said, still standing at the scene of the tumble. He really was smiling now, and seemed rather happy that he got a reaction from Hermione, who had turned, hand still on the knob, to look at Draco.
"You're really going to tell me? Or should I just leave before I get involved in any other mess that ends with me on the floor again?" Surprising to Hermione, she actually wanted to know who Draco was planning her to spend time with. Of course, she would never tell Draco that straight out, she'd have to maneuver subtly to figure it out. Well, as subtly as one could when working with one who actually has very well-groomed hair, and-
HIS HAIR HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Ohmigod… His hair totally has something to with this… THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A LOT WRONG IN THIS SITUATION.
"Well, it is all up to you, of course. I mean, I could have told you MINUTES ago, but you just kept avoiding it…" the boy said, avoiding telling the girl again, apparently enjoying the not-so-subtle ways that Hermione was getting frustrated with him.
"What? No. I just kept asking you, which gave you plenty of opportunities to answer… How is this MY fault? WILL YOU JUST TELL ME?"
Well, there goes the subtly….
"Well… Aren't you eager?" Draco replied, slowly nearing the door, and still smiling.
"Fine. Call it eager. Or call it the want to… prepare myself… for… a…a… A HORRIBLE DATE WITH ONE OF YOUR UGLY CROONIES!" she yelled, and stalked out the library.
"WAIT. HERMIO-"
"SHUSHH! Young people these days! GEEZE! Making racket this way and that! OUT." Apparently, the librarian finally had had enough with the two's noise, and ordered Draco to leave, pushing him out and shutting the door behind him.
"Rude…. HERMIONE! WAIT! Oh my go-…" Draco yelled after the girl, and broke out in a run down the hallway to catch up with her.
But the yelling behind her only made Hermione walk faster, almost a jogging herself. Suddenly a book struck her back, and she stopped, stunned, slowly turning to the boy who threw it.
"What. Was. That?" she said in an angered tone.
"I… I had to make you slow down… And, well, you obviously weren't going to stop at my yells… so… I thought The Dark Arts in the Modern Wizarding World would do the trick…" Draco said, coming to a stop near Hermione. Sheepishly, he scratched the back of his head, "So- Sorry."
"Sorry! You apologized! YOU? APOLOGIZED! Is there something wrong with you, are you running a fever or something? Should I get you to the nurse?' Hermione started, sounding genuinely worried for the boy's health, "Why'd you want me to stop so badly? It's not like you're in a very informative mood…"
Hermione saw this was actually hard for the boy. No, he was a young man. His shoulders were quite –
NO. NO NO NO. NOT AGAIN.
Draco did seem to be having trouble getting the right words come out in the right order. His eyes kept wondering all over, and barely ever met the inquisitive gaze of Hermione's eyes.
"Well.. Uh. You see…"
"Out with it. I still have to finish an essay due next wee-…"
"WILLYOUGOONADATEWITHME?"
"… P-par-…pardon?"
Draco stepped back, head hung low, and said, "I know we haven't always been on the best of terms, but… Would… Would you like to get a butter-beer with me sometime or something?"
"This isn't part of the bet, is it?" Hermione inquired.
"It could be. But it... Seems a tad out of the boundaries," Draco replied.
"Well. As long as you don't grumble about mudbloods or yell at my supposed stupidity, I suppose I can stand one drink in your company… We just cannot tell Ron or Harry, no matter what."
"I am completely fine with that!"
-Two Nights Later-
"Where did Hermione say she was going off to?" Ron asked Harry, while the two were trying to work on some concoction in the commons area.
"Oh, she said she was out with Lavender. I forget why though. I always thought Hermione 'despised' your ex…" Harry replied, imitating Hermione's refusal to use 'such strong words'…
"OKAY, LAVENDER IS NOT ONLY TO BE KNOWN AS MY EX, OKAY… That bugger. Wait…"
Harry looked up from his work, "Wait what?"
"I could have sworn I just saw Lavender go out with her friends. Hermione left hours ago." Ron said, trying to put things together.
"Maybe… Lavender… Got lost?"
Ginny had overheard parts of the duos conversation, and knowing all about what was going on with Hermione, she snuck behind the two, and said "Maybe she's out with Draco."
"WHAT?" Ron cried.
Ginny snorted at Ron's expression, and continued, "Or maybe she's out with Hagrid, who knows. She never tells me anything…"
"You bloody liar!"
"Hey guys…"
"Hermione? When did you get back?" Harry said, ignoring Ron trying to bludgeon his sister.
"Oh. Just now. What's, uh, what's wrong with them two?" she asked back.
"Oh. They're just fighting over whom you were out with. Who were you out with, anyways?"
"Uh. …Who said I was out with anyone! Hah… hm." Hermione hastily replied before running up to her room.
"Oh. Maybe she was out with Draco…" Harry said to himself. Unfortunately, Ron overheard, and launched himself at Harry, yelling out random grunting sounds.
Ginny smirked and ran off to hear all about it from Hermione…
Author's Notes: I just want you all to know that I do not actually ship Draco and Hermione. I'm all canon, okay? I just wrote this for pure entertainment of myself. Please no flames. But do review (just not, as just said, with flames), this is my first fanfic written. Okay.