Hate You, Hate Me

~Chapter 3 - Agree to Disagree~

I hate you, Hermione.

I ran my fingers slowly through my blond hair all the while cursing myself for carelessly forgetting to comb it. I had been too frustrated about not getting Head Boy. It was something I had been so convinced I was going to get through most of my years at Hogwarts. And I hated being wrong.

I was standing at Platform 9 ¾, my mother buzzing around my trunk.

"I have everything, mother," I said, sharply.

The blonde woman turned to me, looking concerned.

"Now, Draco... I just don't want anything to go wrong," she cooed, softly. "Don't you want your 7^th year to be perfect?"

I highly doubted that my 7^th year would be anywhere near perfect, but to please my mother, I agreed. She quickly came over to me and adjusted my robes to her liking before glaring at my hair.

"Messy," she mumbled.

My mother hated it when my hair was messy. I never quite understood why. Upon asking her, she always said young ladies preferred men who took the time to look nice, not ones who looked like they had just finished an exhausting game of Quidditch. The malice in her voice, however, had not been so easy to explain.

A smile curved upon my face as I caught a glimpse of Pansy. Her hair was much shorter and pulled back out of her face, save a few strands on each side. She looked extremely different. In a very good way, I must say.

My mother thrust herself into my view, her icy eyes still narrowed. Her lavish sapphire necklace glinted at me in the sunlight.

"I'll fix it on the train, mother," I said, quickly. "I promise."

Her eyes lost their anger but gained a sort of sadness that felt quite familiar. It was like she knew I was just trying to wave her away, yet she had to believe me anyway. She had to keep her trust in me intact somehow.

After a quick peck on the cheek, she was off, her amber robes flowing behind her. I almost wanted to follow her home, when I remembered that my father would also be there. I turned back to the woman approaching me.

"Nice hair," Pansy whispered, running a hand through it.

Okay, something was definitely weird here... I could swear her voice was different, too. She stepped back to let me admire her, and I could only think of what a wonderful year this might turn out to be after all. I would not get to be Head Boy, but I would get the new Pansy all to myself. And I could not wait to-

Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed down from behind. My head hit against the stone ground, hard. I felt blackness circle me for a few minutes before a sharp female gasp brought me out of it. I opened my eyes to see myself staring into the face of Hermione Granger.

"Granger," I moaned, groggily.

Hermione said something, but I wasn't really listening. She looked heavenly with the sun reflecting from the skylights shining around her like a halo. Her Head Girl badge gleamed in the light. Her lips were moving as though in slow motion. It was a lovely sight.

"Draco?" she asked.

Huh? Had she called me... Draco?

"What?" I asked.

"Are you all right?" Granger asked.

Had that been all she had said? It seemed like such a long time and all...

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled at a total loss for words.

"Stupid Mudblood," Pansy hissed. "Can't you even control your own animal?"

It took a few minutes for me to realize what had happened. Granger's humongous ginger cat had attacked me.

I hate how you were chosen for head girl instead of Pansy, not that she deserved it.

Granger got up, ignoring Pansy's comment and focusing on me. She looked awfully distraught for someone who had a glinting Head Girl badge on. How could Granger not be ecstatic? It was insane. But worse... I was jealous.

There was nothing worse than watching her there taking that honour that she had wanted so dearly for granted. I wanted to retch. I wanted to die. There was nothing worse...

Until I saw it... Potter had on a badge. Rage boiled my blood. I swear if I had had my wand in my hand Potter would have been a dead man on the spot. Fortunately, (or perhaps not) my wand was tucked away in my cloak. My nails bit into my empty hands.

Hermione... I, I mean, Granger... Granger stared at me. She wore an expression that I couldn't quite decipher. It was almost a mixture of concern and confusion. No, no... that couldn't be it. Could it?

I looked back to Potter. He frowned at me as he walked over. When Potter was right in front of me, he leaned down so his face was level with mine.

"Need help, ferret boy?" he asked before laughing hard at his own joke.

Her-Granger flashed him a silencing look. Potter's frown returned and he straightened up swiftly. Not swiftly enough, however, for me to not see that the badge shining on his chest was only that of a prefect's. I laughed with happiness. At least Potter wouldn't be doing Hermione on the Head Common Room couch in this lifetime.

I meant Granger... really, I did.

"See, even he thought it was funny," Potter said, pointing at me.

I glared at him and stood up as I said, "Actually, I was laughing at the lack of Head Boy badge on your chest, Potter."

'Bastard,' Potter mouthed at me as Granger rushed to place herself between the two of us. She backed into Potter slowly causing him to back up as well, shooting daggers at me all the while.

"I'm really sorry about Crookshanks," Granger said, giving Potter a final push that drove him to give up and walk away.

I looked down to see the damn cat was hissing at me -- much like his owner's best friend.

Yeah, me too," I said, icily. Then, as an afterthought, I added, "Mudblood."

Granger's expression changed from concern to rage in seconds. She pulled something out of her pocket and threw it at me. My seeker skills let me catch it with ease, but it jabbed me hard in the palm.

"What the Hell?" I asked, throwing it to the ground.

It was a Head Boy badge. My Head Boy badge.

"Congratulations," Granger said frigidly, before scooping up her cat and stomping off.

The train whistle sounded so I didn't have time to think about what had just happened. I boarded the train in a daze. I declined Pansy's offer to share a compartment rather bluntly before moving to a completely empty compartment near the end of the train. I flopped back onto the seat, a million thoughts spinning around my head.

"Stupid Granger," I mumbled, rubbing my punctured hand.

The train began to move, and sunlight soon streamed through the window. I polished my Head Boy badge so that it sparkled as it caught the sunlight. I smiled. It was probably the first time I had done so in... years.

Becoming Head Boy was probably the first thing I had been truly proud of. It was something my parents' money and influence could not buy me. It was something I had to earn myself. Despite the fact that my longing for it had diminished slightly over the course of my 6^th year, I was extremely proud to pin the badge onto my robes now.

For some reason my mind turned to the silver ring in my pocket, and I sighed.

"It's to protect you," my mother had said. "It's blessed with special charms that shall take care of you if ever I am not with you."

I didn't believe in this "blessed" ring, but I would keep it with me if only to remind me of the one person in this world who truly cared what happened to me.

The compartment door was thrown open, and in the brightness from outside, I thought I was seeing some kind of angel. An angry angel...

Granger shut the door with the same fury with which she had opened it. She flopped into the seat across from me and glared. I was still too in shock to utter a word.

"Professor Dumbledore is making us share a compartment," Granger said, quickly.

I didn't wonder how she knew this. I should have myself, but I suppose I was still too enraptured over becoming Head Boy. I should have known that it wouldn't last long.

We rode the entire time in silence. Granger stared out the window while I kept myself busy by rubbing my Head Boy badge until my hands ached.

I thought that in my star- glancing at Granger I saw a tear trickle down her cheek. I actually felt bad. Perhaps, we should call a truce. After all, we would once again be stuck together for the rest of the year.

I hate how you complained to Dumbledore when you found out I was Head Boy and not Potter.

Once we arrived at Hogwarts, however, things got even worse. After Dinner, Granger walked over to my table and grabbed my arm. I would have done something had I seen her before I felt her claws in my arm.

"What the Hell are you doing, Mudblood?" I managed to get out finally.

The whole of the Great Hall seemed to have their eyes on us. The Slytherins seemed to be particularly concerned that their self-elected leader was being dragged off by a common Mudblood. Crabbe and Goyle had had identical confused looks on their faces... not that this was a completely uncommon occurrence for them, but the rest of the Slytherins mirrored their expressions. Pansy had an added element of pure loathing in hers.

"We're going to have a talk with the Headmaster," Granger said, hastily.

I would have pulled away at that point had my arm not been numb from her nails digging into my skin.

"Professor," Granger called as we neared the grey-haired man approaching the hidden staircase to his office. "Professor Dumbledore!"

"Hello, Miss Granger... Mr. Malfoy," he said, smiling at us as he adjusted his half-moon glasses.

"Professor, I'm sorry but there must have been a mistake," she said, finally letting me go and moving closer to Dumbledore.

My hand flew to my arm which was burning obscenely and had even begun to bleed a bit.

"Mistake?" Dumbledore asked, as though he was confused.

Granger looked awestruck.

"Y-yes," she stuttered, as she finally found her voice.

"And what kind of mistake are you referring to, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked.

"Professor," Granger said, looking at me and back to him. "We cannot work together."

Dumbledore put on a look of false shock.

"Why ever not?" he asked.

"Professor," Granger gasped, exasperated. "We're just too-"

"Different," I put in for her.

She turned and glared at me with infuriated brown eyes.

"Yes," Granger said, nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry," Dumbledore said. "But the decision has been made."

"Wh-" Granger started, turning back to him.

"Now, if you will excuse me," Dumbledore said.

He turned back to his staircase and said, "Chocolate Frog". Soon he disappeared from our sight. But we were not alone for long. Professor McGonagall had somehow managed to place herself right behind me.

"Follow me, please," she said, scaring me to death.

McGonagall lead us through a part of Hogwarts that I had never seen before. The hallways seemed darker than even the Dungeons, but I rather liked it that way.

"We're here," McGonagall said, stopping in front of what seemed to be an empty, boring wall.

"It's a wall..." Granger said, tilting her head.

I rolled my eyes. Even though she was Head Girl, Granger was still a Mudblood. I had experienced thousands of hidden passages such as these in my own home!

"See this?" McGonagall asked, pointing at a chipped block on the wall.

"Yes," Granger said, still confused.

"That is how you open your passageway," she said. "Now when you are ready you may press both of your hands on it to choose a password."

Realization finally spread across Granger's face. It glowed in her soft, light-coloured cheeks, and...

"I will leave you alone now," McGonagall said, as she gave me a stern glare. "Good luck."

"All the luck in the world could not help us agree," Granger said once said she had gone.

"Damn right," I said.