Opposites Attract
Chapter One
Hermione was once again spending her night in the library engrossed in her studies. Since she was the Head Girl she wanted to be ahead of her studies even more than usual. She needed to keep her grades as high as possible in order to keep her position. Not that anyone was even remarkably close to her marks, besides the Head Boy that is. However, as it stood, her marks were still higher than Malfoy's, much to his dismay. She knew that if Malfoy somehow managed to get higher grades then her that he would rub it in her face, and that she would not be able to handle. Hermione was very competitive when it came to her grades. She knew that everyone thought of her as a walking encyclopaedia, and she was fine with that. She liked being intelligent, it made her stand out from all of the other students that attended Hogwarts. That was the reputation that she had been given the moment she walked in that school. She was proud of that title.
Another reason that Hermione spent most of her nights in the library was because Dumbledore had decided that the heads were to share a dorm this year. This was clearly another one of his master plans to make the houses try to get along by placing the Head Boy and Girl together in the same dorm. He had stated that "If the Head Boy and Girl who have had all these problems with one another in the past could show that they were getting along and putting their differences aside, that maybe other people would follow their example." Hermione, who never liked to disappoint people, told Dumbledore that she would try. Obviously, things were not working out as the Headmaster had wanted because Hermione and Draco were still down each other's throats whenever the opportunity permitted.
Hermione was in the middle of the textbook she was reading when she heard a shuffling sound behind her. Her eyes immediately snapped up and looked in the direction from which the sound had come from. Her eyes scanned the library, taking in every detail. If anything was out of place, Hermione would know. She knew the library like the back of her hand. She could walk the library with her eyes closed and not even come close to running into something.
She grabbed her wand from her schoolbag, and stood up silently. Hermione stealthily made her way towards where she was certain the sound had come from. Her footsteps could not be heard. She had many years of practice to perfect her way of moving around silently and stealthily with all the years that she had snuck off to the library after hours, where she had felt most comfortable.
She crept along the library, looking down every aisle of bookcases, along with every nook. If someone was in the library, she was going to find them. She was turning down an aisle, thinking she had spotted something when she heard a loud "thunk" followed by a "fuck" from the next aisle, which happened to be the restricted section. Changing her course, Hermione quickly paced towards the next aisle where she saw a figure in all black, except for the platinum blond hair that was visible even in a limited amount of light.
"Malfoy, what are you doing?" Hermione asked suspicious. It was after hours, and the head boy was sneaking around in the library of all places.
"None of your business Granger. Now go back to your table and do what you do best, being an insufferable know-it-all" Draco drawled lazily.
"See, I would love to do just that Malfoy, but as it so happens, you appear to be doing something that you're not supposed to be doing, as you are in the restricted section of the library" Hermione stated.
Draco stood up from his crouching position on the ground and turned towards her. "Before you try and terrorize me, maybe you should check and see if you have the facts Mudblood. As it so happens, I have permission to be in the restricted section from the old bat himself" Draco said a smirk now etched on his pale face.
Hermione took a second to study Draco. He was very attractive, Hermione would admit. With his pale, yet always perfect complexion and his strikingly unique platinum blonde hair that never fell out of place. And then there were his eyes, which were normally grey, but now looked almost silver with the way that the little light available illuminated his eyes. Hermione also noticed that he was always wearing black, which made his skin seem even more pale then it probably was, but it's what gave him the mysterious bad boy look that had the girls swooning over him.
Draco noticed Hermione scrutinizing him and raised an eyebrow. "Like what you see Granger?" he asked huskily.
Hermione snapped back to reality and looked at him. "Not really Malfoy, you remind me of an albino"
Draco looked at her confused. "And what exactly is an albino?" he asked.
Hermione smiled remembering that Draco was not used to muggle terms. "It means that you're inhumanly white Malfoy. Us muggles refer to people who can't tan and who remain white no matter what the season as an albino. You could definitely pass for one" Hermione said smiling at Draco, trying to hide her laughter.
"For your information, the ladies like my pale complexion Granger. And I guarantee I am way better looking than these albino creatures that you are referring to" Draco said defending himself.
"They're not creatures you prat, they're people" Hermione said laughing at Draco.
"Well whatever they are, do not compare me to them. As no one is comparable to me" Draco said arrogantly.
"Whatever Malfoy" Hermione said shaking her head at Draco's obvious conceit.
"Now go back to your table and leave me alone while I'm still in a reasonable mood. You never know, I may decide to let it slip that the Head Girl is breaking school rules by being in the library after curfew every night" Draco said smirking at Hermione.
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows together while glaring at Draco "You wouldn't" she said.
"We both know I would Granger, so don't test me" Draco said challengingly.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, her brown eyes glazing in fury as she looked at him. She knew that he would go and tell on her, why wouldn't he? A chance to get the Head Girl into trouble? He would jump at that opportunity. So she had to back down to him, and they both knew it.
Hermione was not one to back down to Draco, but she knew that he had her on this particular subject. She did not want to get into trouble for being out after hours, that could get her heads position taken away, and she cherished her Head Girl position quite a bit.
So, that's how she found herself sitting back at her table scowling down at the book in front of her. She hated showing Malfoy weakness because he was likely not going to forget it. And she could tell by the look on his face as she grudgingly backed down. He knew he had won, and that pissed her off. She didn't like Malfoy having the upper hand on her.
She listened intently to what Draco was doing since she was not able to do anything else about it. Not even two minutes later she heard his footsteps growing faint as he headed towards the library doors. She had tried to pick up on her studies from where she had left off, but she found herself too frustrated to be able to comprehend what she was reading. She had read the same line about five times when she decided it was time to give up, as she was clearly not in the mind set anymore to study, thanks to a platinum blond haired ferret.
So Hermione gathered up her books, and stuffed them into her school bag. She looked up at the clock that was hanging on the wall to her left and saw that it was only 11:00pm. She was only over curfew by two hours, which wasn't bad compared to normal. She would usually study in the library till about 1:00am. Now Hermione, unlike most people spent the majority of her time studying, which wasn't really a shocker if you thought about it.. She never used to spend all night in the library though, it was just a new habit that she had picked up recently. This was because she found herself throwing herself into her studies more to keep her mind off of things. Harry and Ron both had girlfriends now, and even though they did try and invite her places or ask her to hang out with them, Hermione would politely refuse, as she didn't like being the fifth wheel. She felt very alone, something that she would not admit to anybody. And studying made her forget about all the troubles that she was having. So, she had chosen to study and do work more profusely now than before. Had Harry and Ron been aware of what Hermione was doing, they definitely would have found a way to fix it, but as it was, Hermione was good at keeping secrets and hiding her emotions.
Hermione sighed as she left her comforts of the library and headed towards the heads dormitory, where Malfoy had probably headed to only minutes before her departure. That was the only downfall about being the head girl, having to share a dorm with the king of ferrets himself, Draco Malfoy.
Most girls envied Hermione, and she had found that a lot of girls that she thought were nice or her friends would often be giving her dirty looks. She had no idea why this was, until Ginny informed her that many of them were jealous that she was sharing a dorm with Draco. Hermione didn't understand why the girls were jealous, Draco was a complete asshole. But clearly, many girls fancied his "I'm better than everyone" attitude, much to Hermione's disgust.
Hermione found herself at the portrait to the heads dorm.
"Amore" Hermione said to the portrait, which opened once she uttered the password. (Amare means to love in Latin. I googled it.)
Hermione stepped into the heads dorm and looked around. She spotted Draco sitting on the couch with the book that he had taken from the library on his lap. He was writing something down furiously on his parchment. Draco hadn't heard her step into the room. Either that or he was ignoring her. Hermione walked by him, and on her way to her room she peered over Draco's shoulder to see exactly what type of book he had taken from the library.
The textbook was open to a page about illegal love potions, something Hermione was sure that Draco definitely did not need. She didn't hesitate a second longer, because she didn't need Draco to find her peering over his shoulder.
She continued to her room, which she had enabled to have password protection so nobody could enter the room unless they knew her password. There was only one person that Hermione had given the password to, and that was Ginny.
She whispered the password to her door so Draco would not overhear it and be able to gain access to her room. The door swung open for her, and she went inside looking around in awe at her bedroom.
She never really could get over how extraordinarily beautiful her head girls room was. Dumbledore had allowed them to choose the colour and set up of the room, and Hermione had chosen her room to be a soft yellow. Something about that colour automatically cheered her up even when she was in a bad mood. It was just a happy colour. Her window curtains and bed drapes were a light pink, which Hermione believed went with the colour of her room nicely. Her floor, she had chosen to be hard wood, as Hermione was not a very big fan of carpet. Her bed was in the left corner of the room, right up against the wall with a night stand right beside it, where Hermione kept her lap top and other necessities. On the right side of the room, just opposite the bed was a light pink bean bag chair that Hermione had insisted to have in her room, as she loved to sit in it and read long into the night. About two feet away from the bean bag chair was a white desk, which she did most of her homework and assignments on so she wouldn't be bothered. She also had a set of speakers set up which were hooked up to her iPod. She didn't have any dressers, as she had a massive walk in closet that had more than enough room to fit all of her clothes and shoes. Overall, the room was huge, something Hermione was not used to when being in the Gryffindor dorm rooms, as she had to share a room with other girls of her house, which could get to be very annoying.
Hermione walked over to the window and looked outside and sighed. She'd already been in school for a month, but to her it felt like a week. She could see that the trees and plants were starting to change colour as it was already fall, winter approaching way too soon for Hermione's liking. She couldn't believe that it was already October. She let a single tear escape from her eye as she realized that this was her last year in Hogwarts, a place she felt was like her home. She would be leaving everything behind in about a year's time. No more fooling around with friends, it would be all serious once she went to the real world.
Hermione heard a loud bang out in the common room. Normally, she would have went to investigate to see what had caused the noise, but she knew that Draco was out there, and he was more or likely the one responsible.
She heard a loud knock on her door, and went and answered it.
"Granger, I need your help" Draco said angrily, as he did not like asking for the help of others, especially from the Head Girl.
"For what?" Hermione asked curiously, taken aback.
"For a stupid potion that I'm brewing for my advanced potions class I signed up for cause I need that class to graduate. Snape has me making the hardest fucking potion possible, and you need two people for one part, and frankly, you're the only one around and I don't trust anyone else to do it" Draco stated honestly.
Hermione now understood why Draco had been in the restricted section in the library. He was in advanced potions, something that Hermione herself hadn't even taken since it was a private class. If this potion was as hard as Draco said, then obviously it would not be in one of the normal class textbooks that each student got at the start of the year. And knowing Snape, he probably did want his students to have to go elsewhere to get their information, because that was just how cruel he was. He hated making things easy.
"Alright Malfoy, but make it quick, I was getting ready for bed" Hermione said as she made her way past him into the common room.
"Bullshit Granger, you never go to sleep this early, but nice try" Draco said as he followed her to the common room.
Hermione turned and glared at him her hands on her hips "And what makes you so sure that I didn't feel like getting a good night's sleep tonight Malfoy?" she asked.
"Cause I know how you are Granger. Now shut the hell up about this crap and help me with my potion" Draco said looking at Hermione, and then looking at the way she was looking at him he added "Oh for fuck sakes..Please"
"Fine" Hermione snapped. "Now what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Well, these last few steps need to be timed perfectly, but you also have to mix other solutions and objects together at the same time that you drop certain ingredients into the potion. So that's why I need your help. I need you to drop this into the potion when I tell you to, so I can start stirring these liquids together at the exact same time. That process has to be repeated twice." Draco said reading his instructions out of the book.
"Okay. Just tell me when to drop it in then" Hermione said.
"Alright, on the count of three Granger. 1..2..3" Draco said as Hermione dropped the object into the potion, as he started to stir his liquid components together. "Let me know when it's been a minute" Draco said as he concentrated on stirring his liquid ingredients.
Exactly a minute later Hermione said "Alright, it's been a minute, now what?" she asked.
"Now I have to pour this ingredient in, and then we need to do the exact same thing again, but this time add this ingredient here to the potion as I stir these two bottles together" Draco said pointing around to all the things that he needed.
"Okay, just tell me when to drop this in again" Hermione said.
Draco poured the first bottle of liquid into the potion that he had mixed together and then he went back to his former position "Alright, on the count of three again" he stated as he grabbed the two bottles getting ready to pour them into another container where he could mix them together. "1…2…3"
"Do I time you for a minute again?" Hermione asked.
"Yes" Draco said concentrating.
…..
"Okay, it's been a minute" Hermione said.
Draco got up and poured the rest of the liquid into the grey potion, making it turn into a startlingly bright hot pink. Draco smiled and let out a deep breath.
"I'm guessing that was supposed to happen?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Yes, it was." Draco replied lazily.
"Alright, well you're welcome Malfoy. I'm going to bed" Hermione said as she turned and went into her room closing the door behind her.
"THANKS GRANGER!" Draco yelled knowing that Hermione could hear him through her closed door, as he then made his way to his room too for a good night's rest.
A/N: Here's chapter one! Please R&R to let me know if you guys like this story so far, and if I should continue writing. Thanks! Jessica, ox.