REVISION 1.0 (original public submission: 18 September, 2009)

REVISION 2.0 (as of: 3 May, 2011)

STORY DETAILS: A Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger fanfiction. The story follows the novel canon and the EWE (Epilogue, What Epilogue?) format. Characters are OCC (out-of-character) for the sake of this plot. This story's over-arcing plot is slow to be revealed, so stick with it, please, to the end (90 chapters + 2 epilogues + a separate 3-part aside story)! THIS IS A VERY DARK, ANGSTY, ROMANTIC STORY THAT HAS A HAPPY ENDING!

TIMELINE: Starts September, 1996 (will not give you an end date, as that would spoil the plot)

SUMMARY: During the beginning of their sixth year at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy are compelled by an ancient and powerful destiny to be together, but will their feelings for each other be enough to save Draco from the taint of his Dark Mark & his evil alter-ego, "Malfoy"? What happens when love and hate collide? The fate of the entire magical world is on the line this time - as well as a love that Heaven itself has fated.

MAIN CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name): Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley

SECONDARY CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name): Frederick Avery Jr., Susan Bones, Lavender Brown, Vincent Crabbe, Albus Dumbledore, Gregory Goyle, Mr. & Mrs. Granger, Astoria Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ernie Macmillan, Lucius Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, Cormac McLaggen, Pansy Parkinson, Poppy Pomfrey, Gawain Robards, Madam Rosmerta, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Severus Snape, Angelina Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Weasley, George Weasley, Molly Weasley, Blaise Zabini, Voldemort + some original characters

RATING: M+/NC-17 (to include: consensual & non-consensual sex, masturbation, profanity, violent fighting, violent fighting leading to secondary character death, alcohol consumption; controversial topics include rape, pregnancy, bondage, sadism, masochism, attempted suicide, implied homosexuality, magical mental illness)

IMAGES for this fanfic can be found here (remove all spaces from the URL to make it load properly): s905 . photobucket albums / ac260 / RZZMG / When%20Love%20and%20Hate%20Collide

*ASIDE NOTES: Spellings for various terms from the 'Potterverse' is double-checked with POTTERWORDS LIVEJOURNAL ( potterwords . livejournal . com), the most comprehensive and correct site for spellings from the UK and US versions of the novels. When there is an option, I have decided to use the U.S. spellings for words, rather than the U.K. version. Also, for the sake of this fic, I have converted all metric measurements to Standard System (U.S. units). Finally, there will be unique British-isms contained in this story. I have included a definition key for the lesser known/archaic words/phrases in the AUTHOR'S NOTES section at the end of each chapter, just to cover the bases.

STORY AWARDS: This story was nominated for and won the following accolades:

2009 DRAMIONE AWARDS - FIRST PLACE: BEST NOVEL-LENGTH STORY

2009 DRAMIONE AWARDS - FIRST PLACE: BEST HERMIONE

2009 DRAMIONE AWARDS - FIRST PLACE: BEST ANGST

2009 DRAMIONE AWARDS - FIRST PLACE: BEST SMUT

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, and I make no profit from this work of art.

WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDE

By: RZZMG

Chapter One: Instigation

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland

Monday, September 2, 1996 (Hermione Granger's sixth year)

Hermione Granger looked over her paper schedule for the year and smiled enthusiastically. This year, she would finally catch up on her studies! Perhaps she could even regain her fallen spot as top of the class.

The last few years had been a real strain on her academic life. The Triwizard Tournament in her fourth year had caused her to worry more about her best friend, Harry Potter's safety than her own grades, and as a result, she'd turned in many projects and papers late – and been docked for it. Then there had been the romantic attention of Durmstrang's heartthrob, Viktor Krum; that hadn't helped her keep her head on straight either. Viktor's very presence at her table in the library, where she normally escaped to study alone, had distracted her concentration efforts, and her memory recall had suffered as a result. Her grades had begun to decline then. In fifth year, she'd had to contend with Professor Dolores Umbridge's successful coup of Hogwarts, and the responsibilities of helping Harry run Dumbledore's Army right under that foul woman's nose. Consequently, she'd slipped from her position as her year's first chair student, and was now second behind the Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan.

Such a lapse was simply unacceptable. It was time to get her nose – and her mind - back into books.

Thankfully, her third year "acceleration efforts" with the Time Turner were working to her advantage now. She would begin this first semester taking advanced classes with the sixth and seventh year students in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, her two favorite courses. The remainder of her daily schedule for the first term was booked with the standard, required magical program for her age group, however, consisting of Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Term two would cover Astronomy, Charms, and Transfiguration, while term three encompassed Care of Magical Creatures, the History of Magic, and the easiest subject of all for her - Muggle Studies. Also, with the advance permission of Professor Dumbledore, she had opted to take on extra after-school, specialized subjects: Wizarding Law, to be taught by Professor Binns on Tuesday evenings after dinner in term one, and in term two, Controlling Elemental Magic with Professor Flitwick on Thursday evenings.

With such an arsenal of knowledge at her command, Hermione hoped that she would receive all "Outstanding" marks on her Ordinary Wizarding Level exams, which the Ministry of Magic, now under the guidance of Rufus Scrimgeour, had given permission for last year's fifth level class to retake at the end of this year. Soon after Scrimgeour took over, the Ministry realized they'd have a serious problem of enrollment for this year at Hogwarts – that is, people pulling their kids out of Ministry-approved and observed programs to home-school instead – if their children weren't even learning how to pass their O.W.L.s because of Ministry politics. To prevent a funding problem, the Ministry decided that a retesting would be in order for all fifth years at the end of their sixth year. That pretty much guaranteed that most people would get high marks on their O.W.L.s, their parents would be pleased, attendance would not become an issue (and neither would funding), and then Hogwarts could go back to normal next year.

If Hermione received straight "Outstanding" marks on all of her O.W.L.s this time around (she'd received a single "Exceed Expectations" out of the eleven tests she had taken, and that had miffed her), then she could regain her place as top of the class. Her goal was to graduate as Valedictorian, as she'd had her eye on attending Yvelinnes Wizarding University in Paris post-Hogwarts. The competition for Y.W.U. was fierce, however, with wizards and witches from the dozens of worldwide magical schools, as well as those who'd been magically home-schooled, all vying for one of the forty-five semi-annual open slots. Her N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) would all have to be exceptional, and her list of advanced studies and extra-curricular classes impressive.

She looked back at the schedule and suddenly felt a little trepidation. It was going to be a daunting and intense year. Was she up for it all? She shook her head, silencing her doubts. She'd take it one day at a time, and put her head into the workload. She'd grind the parchment. She'd focus. She could do this!

Her stomach unexpectedly growled and knocked her from her reverie, reminding her of more immediate, pressing needs. She sighed, checked her magical pocket Sandkeeper, and picked up the pace, hurrying along the corridor to the Great Hall to meet up with her friends for breakfast. There would only be forty minutes to relax and eat before the beginning of her first class of the day.

Rounding the corner at a near jogging speed, she didn't see the student standing in her path until it was too late. They collided hard, and she stumbled, her books tumbling from her arms as she started to fall backwards. A pair of strong hands grabbed her in reflexive response, and Hermione clung to her savior, breathing hard at the close call. "I'm so sorry!" she muttered, positively mortified. "Please forgive my clumsiness."

The hands that had preserved her just a moment before suddenly released her, jerking back as if they had been burned, and this time, Hermione did stumble. Luckily, she caught her balance against the wall, preventing further humiliation, but the strap of her favorite, careworn shoulder bag finally gave as she fell against it, and the whole kit tumbled to the ground at her feet.

An all-too-familiar voice reproached her loudly and disdainfully. "Watch where the bloody hell you're going, Granger!"

Hermione sighed in dismay and glanced up and through her chestnut-brown curls at Draco Malfoy, the bully of Hogwarts. Of all the people to have run into, literally! She cursed her luck.

Malfoy took a quick step back, treating her as if she carried the plague and sneered at her. "Your filthy germs are all over my new robes now," he rudely commented, pointing to his fashionably tailored, expensive wool school uniform and Italian leather shoes.

Behind Slytherin's Prince, his longtime, sidekick troublemakers – Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle - sniggered. Hermione's cheeks flushed in anger and felt her courage buck up. "Up yours, Malfoy, you stuck-up prat," she contemptuously spat back.

Draco's face became a dark cloud of anger and his jaw clenched. He stepped towards her, looming and blocking her view of anyone else but him. "Who do you think you're calling a prat, you filthy, little Mudblood?"

She put her fists on her hips, and stood her ground. Draco Malfoy had bullied her for the last five years, but Hermione wasn't afraid of him. She'd made him tremble before her wand several times in the past, and once she even smacked him across his smug, arrogant face, causing him to break off his cruel jeering and bolt to save his scrawny bum from her full wrath. "You're a despicable human being," she threw back between clenched teeth, refusing to be intimidated. "Being pureblood doesn't make you smarter or better than anyone else. It just makes you more of a snobbish bigot and moral coward."

This comment seemed to enrage the wizard before her. His face turned bright red as heated blood flooded into his cheeks, and his fists balled up at his sides, but Hermione refused to be cowed by his threatening demeanor. He wouldn't dare strike her for her words, especially with so many witnesses around. But if, for some reason, he did try hitting her, she'd hex him all the way home to his mother. They both knew that Hermione was the better magic practitioner between them.

For the space of a dozen heartbeats, their eyes locked and the air thickened with their undisguised hatred of each other.

Unexpectedly, Malfoy's sneer transformed into a wicked smirk, his fists relaxed and he crossed his arms instead. He leaned back on his heels with an arrogant tilt to his chin, seemingly more amused by the entire affair than outraged. Hermione blinked once, twice in surprise, thrown off guard by the swift and unexpected de-escalation of the violence level between them. She started back, frowning, suddenly suspicious. What game was he playing at now?

Malfoy's smug smile abruptly dropped away, and his cold, ash-colored eyes began languidly appraising her from the top of her curly, carelessly styled hair down to her breasts, where they lingered for a few seconds before continuing on down, stalling again at where her knees peeked out from under her uniform's skirt. When his gaze met the tips of her practical, inexpensive shoes, he swiftly reversed course, again hesitating on the more obvious feminine parts of her anatomy.

Warning bells went off in Hermione's head, and she became uncharacteristically unnerved, feeling weirdly violated by Malfoy's indolent examination of her person. She crossed her arms over her chest in a protective gesture, glaring up at him, tense and readying for his next move. Her wand was in her bag on the floor, but she could reach it if she had to with a quick bend of her knees, and prepared a defensive spell on her lips just in case.

His gaze paused and lingered an extra second over her lips before lazily sweeping upwards to finally reconnect with her stare. She'd expected him to begin round two of the taunting at that point, but instead, he remained oddly mum. Instead, something dark, hot and hungry slid through his eyes, changing the steel-white rims a shadowy sable, and giving him a more sinister, seductive expression. He licked his lips with what might be deemed anticipation.

Riotous butterflies erupted in Hermione's stomach in response, triggering a prey's biologic response to being faced down by a hungry predator. Her heart picked up its paces, hammering under her ribs, her breath hitched in her lungs, and her mind went utterly blank. In short, she simply froze up, and was suddenly very afraid for her safety and worse - of wanting to respond to what called out to her from behind Draco Malfoy's eyes. Like a pixie to laminar flame, she was irresistibly drawn to the things his heated stare promised.

From the time she'd realized she loved Ron back in her fourth year, Hermione had believed that she had also desired him. Now she knew beyond a doubt that any feeling she had previously experienced for her beloved ginger-haired friend and this feeling now that made her body flush with need – and directed towards her greatest rival, to her utter mortification - were two completely different things. Romantic love was not the same as sexual attraction, and the two weren't necessarily congruous.

Somewhere in the castle, the eighth hour bell tolled and the moment between she and Malfoy passed. As if on cue, her stomach growled again, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since last night, well over twelve hours ago. She put a hand on her tummy and sighed. Now there was only thirty minutes left until classes began – hardly enough time for a proper breakfast!

She chanced a glance back up at Malfoy, who hadn't budged an inch, and she realized that she was really very annoyed with him. How dare he so brutally embarrass her for something that had been an innocent accident! She hadn't asked to bump into him. She'd have preferred a Malfoy-free day, in fact, given all of the self-imposed stress she was under. He was such an unbelievable git.

Dismissively turning her nose up at him with all of the disdain she could muster, she bent to retrieve her books. As she reached out for one particular tome, Malfoy's foot unexpectedly stomped down on it, then shoved it with enough pressure to send it spinning across the polished granite floor, away from her outstretched fingers. She glanced up at him again, irked by his senseless cruelty. His malicious smirk was back. "Right where you belong, Mudblood - on your hands and knees before me," he mocked. Before she could retort, he turned about, retrieved his leather satchel from Goyle, who had undoubtedly taken it from Malfoy's hands when this whole fiasco had begun, and he and his snickering friends continued on down the passage towards the Great Hall without another word.

The haughty, sadistic snot! Days like today were exactly the reason why she had hated Malfoy.

Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood, the strange girl with whom Hermione had a tentative new friendship with, bent at Hermione's side and helped her to collect the remainder of her books. When the pile was once more assembled, Hermione turned to her. "Thank you so much, Luna," she gratefully acknowledged. "I appreciate your help."

"Oh, it's all right," Luna hypnagogicly stated, glancing at Hermione through a pair of reflective, blue-tinted eyeglasses. The strange contraption – which Luna claimed helped her to see the imaginary creatures known as "Gawoozles" - perched on the edge of her nose. "I'm used to Draco Malfoy doing the same thing to me on occasion. Don't let him bother you, though." She leaned closer, as if to impart an important secret. "He's a magnet for Ehdis, the poor guy." She sadly shook her head.

Hermione stared at Luna in silence for a moment, considering a tactful way to ask what exactly an Ehdis was. Before she could do so, however, Luna smiled, turned and skipped off towards the Great Hall for breakfast, leaving their strange encounter behind without a second thought. Hermione smiled and shook her head. Her new friend had a good heart, even if she was a little looney-tooney.

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR'S NOTES FOR CHAPTER ONE:

Future fun plot hint: If you were looking into the Mirror of Erised, what would 'Ehdis' spell?

MUSICAL SELECTIONS FOR THIS CHAPTER:

"Extraordinary" by Mandy Moore

"How Does It Feel?" by Avril Lavigne