A Spoonful of Sugar

Highly suspicious character, rather dubious morality, and repellant Slytherin-esque nature aside, Hermione Granger begrudgingly admits to finding a certain Draco Malfoy's existence to be rather… Tolerable.

Similarly, Draco Malfoy is surprised to find that a certain Hermione Granger's sickeningly righteous honor, infernally obstinate personality, and diabolically alluring figure grow more and more... Endurable, by the day.

Players: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy

Genre: Friendship/Romance... Though, I must warn, any/all romance will be quite slow in coming.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Title is borrowed from Mary Poppins.

Title: Tit for Tat

Summary: He gives, and she gives (a little) back.

Author: bleu-bella, previously of the title wishing-bells

Word Count: 396

Created: April 2nd, 2010

Completed: April 13th, 2010

Author's Note: Good lord.

He was entirely insufferable, she decided, his nasty ferret-faced smirk fueling her temper with each passing second as the horrid stench wafting from their cauldron grew more potent by the moment.

Completely intolerable! She screamed within the confines of her own mind, his haughty chuckle mingling with their concoction's putrid stench to rub her in just the wrong way.

Awfully unendurable, she grumbled, as he magicked away their disaster of a project (which had reached its dreadful state with the assistance of one Ernie Macmillan, who had conveniently chosen the exact moment Hermione had been adding to Slughorn's assignment a very precarious amount of Black Arum to bump rather violently into her).

Extraordinarily unsympathetic, to boot- she reeked of their previous attempt's unfortunate outcome, which she chose to ignore in lieu of the ever-shortening class period. After a few moments of agitated preparation to begin again the assignment, Hermione felt a light tingle skate around her senses. Smelling the fresh tang of a clarifying spell (one even she couldn't recognize, much to her increasing ire), she looked up at her normally contrary partner, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Vexatiously egotistical! She hissed inwardly, as he shrugged his shoulders and sneered at her, crossing his arms and tossing back his bright platinum hair with a sleek, brief movement. "I couldn't bear that awful stench in my presence any longer. Though the spell didn't do much… Not surprising."

Perhaps a bit forgivable, she amended, as she lay in bed that night clean and refreshed and stench-free (unlike poor Ernie, who had been left in the care of Professor Sprout to spend the entire evening trying to neutralize the smell), thanks to the mysterious spell that she was caught between wheedling out of him and turning him in for.

… Though his lack of generosity to Macmillan certainly cancelled his miniscule little kindness out.