Fraternizing with the Enemy

Chapter Two:

Another Battle

Hermione entered the Library feeling very nervous indeed. For one thing, she didn't want to get caught talking to Draco, but she also didn't really want to talk to him period. They had agreed to meet there after yesterdays little episode, and all day she had been dreading it. He wasn't exactly the kind of person who was pleasant to be around, and Hermione knew that all too well.

She saw him sitting at her secluded table in the corner waiting for her, and she felt her heart catch in her throat. "Show no fear. Show no fear," she said to herself. He noticed her approaching and looking up at her flatly.

"Alright Mudblood, lets get this over with," he said with a sigh. She glared at him and sat down, pulling a piece of parchment and a quill out of her bag.

"Okay, let's make a list of things that would really make Ron mad," she said clutching the quill.

"How about knocking him over the head a few times?"

"I thought you'd be good at this," she said, realizing the perfect way to get him going. "Anyone knows that hurting someone with words is much more effective that clocking them in the head. And I thought you would be good at this," she said smirking.

"What? I have even started yet!" Hermione smiled to herself. "Perfect! Of course the way to get to Malfoy is by hurting his ego. I have him now."

"Fine then, what would you do?" He took a deep breath in as if he was about to jump into water and he leaned in closer to her. His eyes narrowed, and she could see quite clearly that he was trying to prove himself.

"First, I would take something away from him that he holds dear. And I wouldn't take it by stealing, no, that would be too easy. I would take in such a way that he would know he couldn't get it back simply because I am better than he is."

"Well that's good and all, but what could we take?" They both just stared at each other for a moment, pondering everything that mattered to Ron. "Besides," she said under her breath. "If we took everything away from him, he still wouldn't notice me."

"Well there you have it!" Draco exclaimed.

"What?"

"We'll take you away from him," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How would we do that? I'm not gonna' leave Hogwarts or anything," she said, puzzled.

"No, I mean why don't you just give him the finger and ignore the poor bastard? He'd surely notice that."

"Yeah right! He wouldn't notice me if we ran right in front of him and started snogging...well maybe he would notice that, but," she stuttered, her face reddening. An awkward silence hung in the air in which the pair refused to look at each other.

"There is absolutely no way that I would kiss a disgusting Gryffindor like you," he snarled thru clenched teeth.

"HA! As if I would ever kiss you! You flatter yourself way too much, Malfoy." Just then she had a brilliant idea. One that was sure to work. "We could pretend to be friends though..."

"Sorry, but that is just impossible. I couldn't even fathom being friends with a Mudblood like you."

"Oh I see. Then I can't fathom ever giving that diary of yours back to you. In fact, I do believe I shall read it aloud in my common room tonight. I think that every one will be interested to hear what secrets Draco Malfoy has hidden," she said, letting the words roll off of her tongue like silk. "How does it feel to be black mailed, Malfoy?" she thought to herself. He looked as though he could kill her, but the anger was soon replaced with a smirk.

"Alright Granger. I'll do what you want, but if you ruin my reputation I might just accidentally push you out of the Astronomy tower, or something," he said with a glare.

"Oh, but then how would you find out where I put your journal?" Man it felt good to have control over Malfoy. "Now this means that you will actually have to be civil with me. That is, if we are to make this believable," she added, breaking their eye contact.

"Fine," he spat, irritated. "But you had better follow my lead."

"Alright, but you must really sell it or you know what's going to happen," she said, smirking malevolently. His eye twitched in anger, and she could definitely tell how much he hated this. Just then, the Library door opened and none other than Harry and Ron came waltzing in. Draco rose from his seat upon seeing this and grabbed his things.

"Come on now, Gra-Hermione," he said loud enough for them to hear, holding out a hand. Her eyes widened, but she still managed to grab her things in one hand and cautiously place her other hand in Draco's.

As they walked past Ron and Harry, hand in hand, Hermione didn't think she had ever seen them so shocked in her entire life. Ron's mouth was dangling open, and Harry's eyes were so enlarged she thought that they might pop right out of their sockets onto the floor.

"Hi Harry," she said happily, not even looking at Ron as they walked by. She couldn't believe how well this had worked. She also couldn't believe that she was holding Draco's hand, an action that would have rendered her nauseous, had she had time to think about it. The second the Library doors closed behind them, Draco released her hand more violently than necessary and began wiping his hand on his cloak as if it was covered with filth.

"How disgusting! I touched a Mudblood!" he spat, acting as if he had slept with Hermione, rather than simply held her hand. Hermione chose to ignore him.

"That certainly worked well. You may get your journal back sooner than I planned," she said, looking at him sideways. Draco opened his mouth and Hermione was sure he was going to say something cruel, but his expression changed.

"Hey Granger, don't read my journal."

"I wouldn't want to read that crap anyways," she said, noting the fleeting look of relief on his face.

"See you tomorrow, Mudblood," he said before walking off towards the dungeons.

"Right," she said quietly. As she walked up to her common room, she looked down at the hand that Draco had held. She could still feel the imprint of his grip. "He was actually kind of gentle," she thought, but she quickly shut the idea out of her head. "Draco couldn't be gentle if his life depended on it."

That night as she sat in her bed, she fumbled the journal in her hands. "I wonder what kind of things he puts in here," she mused. "Can't be anything good..." Just as she was about to open the book, she remembered the promise she made to him. "A promise is a promise, even if its just Malfoy," she decided, shutting the little black book and placing it on the table beside her bed.

When Hermione entered the common room the next morning, she was instantly cornered by Harry and Ron. They bombarded her with questions to which she simply answered, "He's actually a really nice guy," though she was really quite sure he was a jerk. She was, however, extremely happy with the fact that she had re-awoken the jealously in Ron. If Victor made him angry, she couldn't imagine what an effect Malfoy was having. "So that little ferret is actually good for something." She felt bad for playing Harry, considering he had nothing to do with it, but it was unavoidable. Maybe she would tell him later.

Later that day, as they were waiting outside of Charms for the teacher to open the door, Ron continued interrogating her.

"Why were you holding hands with Malfoy?" he persisted. When Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe arrived a few minutes later, it seemed as though Ron might explode with anger. He watched Draco approach with narrowed eyes, and Hermione couldn't help but take advantage of this opportunity. She looked around to see if anyone else was coming, and when she saw that the coast was clear, she walked up to him.

"Hello there Draco!" she chirped, giving him a weak, awkward hug. Draco went rigid under her, and for a second she thought that he might die of shock, but he slowly put a stiff arm around her waste and patted her back.

"Hi," he said thru clenched teeth. Hermione couldn't believe she had done that, and apparently Ron and Harry couldn't either. When Draco released her she managed to catch the looks on their faces. Ron looked as though he wanted to hang himself and Harry was so shocked, she doubted that if Voldemort danced naked in front of him at that very moment, he would bat an eyelash.

Luckily for her, Professor Flitwick opened the door and beckoned them to come inside as more of the students in their class arrived. For the entire lesson she could feel Ron staring at her (Harry couldn't even bare to look at her). Things were working out just as she had planned, and she was tempted to smile, but decided against it. Finally, she had gotten Ron's attention. If only she could figure out why looking at Draco now sent chills down her spine. "I wish I knew what that journal of his said," she thought to herself. She snapped her attention back to Flitwick, noting that Ron wasn't the only person in the room staring at her...