Hazardous Wager

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You make me sad,
You make me strong,
You make me mad,
You make me long for you

You make me live,
You make me die,
You make me laugh,
You make me cry for you

I hate you,
Then I love you.
Then I love you,
Then I hate you
Then I love you more
For whatever you do
I never, never, never
Want to be in love with anyone but you.

-- I hate you then I love you, Celine Dion

Chapter 1 -

The perfect opportunity for Draco's plan to begin came the very next day in Arithmancy class, the only one he shared with Hermione without the annoying interference of the Red Freckled Wonder and the Boy Who Lived To Be Self-Righteous.

He arrived at the classroom earlier than usual and sat in the third double desk in the second row to the left, usually occupied by Hermione and her pile of books, waiting expectantly for her to arrive.

However, as the class filled with chattering Ravenclaws, a couple of Hufflepuffs, and the Gryffindor Irish git, Draco noticed that she was late. That was definitely not normal. When was Hermione Granger late for any class?

"Yours, Malfoy." Lisa Turpin, one of the less ugly Ravenclaws, handed him the last week's exam on Trigomancy. Draco didn't bother to thank her as he checked his grade: 97%, his usual standard, with just a couple of wrong sums.

He grinned to himself. He couldn't help but glance at Hermione's exam, which Lisa had left beside him. His grin turned into a frown. She had got 100%. Draco swore softly, profoundly annoyed. He had studied hard for a test for the first time that term and still hadn't been able to beat her. What did she have that he didn't? Vector's verbal lashing to the rest of the class interrupted his train of thought, and since he really enjoyed that kind of thing, he focused his entire attention on her.

"In all my thirteen years of teaching at this school, I have never see such a high rate of failures," Vector was saying. "Three out of fifteen passed the test. Just three! Did all of you suddenly forget the four years of Arithmancy you've taken? Or three and a half for you, Abbot?" Hannah Abbot, one of the Hufflepuffs, looked down to avoid the teacher's piercing glare and flushed scarlet.

Draco watched the Ravenclaws' expressions with amusement. He knew they weren't used to this kind of scolding. However, he also knew about the little "party" they had thrown the night before the exam, and it was a well-known fact that the majority of them had to be taken to the infirmary for hangover remedies the next morning.

Vector continued rambling about their stupidity and their limited mental abilities for what seemed like hours until, short of breath, Hermione finally entered the classroom. Vector stopped talking instantly and turned around to face her, narrowing her eyes.

"So, Granger has finally decided to grace this humble classroom with her presence. I hope you have a worthy excuse to be..." she glanced at the wall clock, "seventeen minutes late to my class, and I want to hear it now!"

Hermione blushed and looked down but said nothing. "Well, do you have one, Granger? Or am I doomed to waste my time on you forever?"

Hermione opened her mouth as if to say something, but changed her mind in the middle of the process and just shook her head, mumbling something that seemed like, "No, professor. I have none."

Vector took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and pointed at the empty place besides Draco. "Very well, Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor. Don't think for a second that being one of my best students gives you the privilege of being late." Hermione nodded meekly and shot a glare in Draco's direction, which he returned with a wink, making her madder than ever.

Calmer, Vector gave the pages of the book and the number of exercises to be done for the assignment. "Bones, Granger, and Malfoy, you will work on page 562, the last twenty-three exercises. Those are a little bit more advanced." she looked sharply at Draco and Hermione and then added, "You two will be working together. Granger, Malfoy seems to have trouble doing some of the equations. I want you to help him out." This time, it was Draco who shot a death glare towards Vector, but she ignored him and just added to the rest of the class, "This will be graded, so those of you who failed, pay special attention to what you do."

Hermione sat reluctantly beside Draco and got out her copy of "Advanced Arithmancy: The Chaos Theory and Beyond," her notes, and her bottle of ink, placing them neatly on the desk.

"That's highly unusual of you, Granger," said Draco as she looked for the assigned page in the textbook and ignored him. "I bet you did have an excuse, didn't you?" He idly scratched his chin. "I wonder what kind of rule-breaking odyssey you and your loyal bodyguards were up to."

That seemed to bother her, so she turned to face him. "Sod off, Malfoy. I do not give explanations of my doings to anyone, ever. And especially to smug bastards like yourself." She continued to flip pages and then added before he could think of a suitable retort, "Oh, and if you could manage it, don't talk to me. It's bad enough to be sitting this close to you. I don't want to have to bear your voice."

Draco watched as she wrote fiercely, still unable to mutter a reply. To be left without anything to say was something that happened rarely, if ever. It was very un-Malfoy behaviour to be at a loss for words. He didn't even dare to think what his Father would say on the matter. The shame! Especially because it had been a Mudblood who had committed such an abomination.

Turning to his book, he couldn't help but think that if there was lack of collaboration from the other side, this was definitely not going to be as easy as he had thought at first.

* * * * * * *

Damn it, thought Hermione, realizing she was out of ink. That meant she probably would have to ask Draco for some, seeing that the Ravenclaws and her fellow Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan, had decided to work together in a group in the opposite corner of the classroom, and Susan seemed to be helping Hannah, who, in turn, seemed clueless.

"Malfoy, can I have some of your ink?" she muttered, loud enough for Draco to hear. He turned around and raised an eyebrow. Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Hello? I'm talking to you!"

He sneered. "Am I allowed to speak now?" She ignored the pique and repeated her question.

Draco said nothing in reply, but handed his ink bottle to her. She smiled. "Thank you, Malfoy." And dipped her quill and then placed the ink bottle back on his desk.

"You see? When you want to, you are not the prat you usually are." A ghost of a smile seemed to play at the edge of his lips, and it was quite noticeable, even with that small gesture, the huge change a real smile could do to his face. She wondered why she hadn't noticed before. It's the first time you have been this close to him, and the first time you have seen him smile....

But, in just a second, his face darkened again, and he broke eye contact, passing a hand through his hair. "Yet you remain the insufferable prig you usually are." She flushed in anger, and held by a mysterious force, somehow she resisted the urge to slap him.

"Bastard," she hissed instead, glaring at him.

"Mudblood," he replied acidly, and seeing her hurt expression, almost instantly regretted his words. This was definitely not going anywhere.

"Malfoy and Granger!" Vector looked up from the fourth-year exams she was grading. "If you have any personal problems, resolve them after the lesson!" she glanced sharply at them and added, "Granger, I don't see you helping Malfoy. What are you waiting for? The Knight Bus?"

Hermione looked at Draco and took his exam, which was lying by his notes, to check his wrong answers. "Hey!" he said, grabbing it back. "That's mine, Granger!"

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "What is your problem, Malfoy? I'm just trying to help you!"

"Who said I needed your help?"

"Professor Vector, as a matter of fact," she replied. "But it seems she's the one that's going to have to do so." Reopening her textbook, she started to copy the exercises on her parchment, ignoring him completely.

Nice going, you git, Draco thought and could almost hear Blaise's hollow laugh inside his head. He needed to change tactics and needed to change them quickly.

"Granger, look..." he started, unsure of what to say. She instantly faced him, waiting for him to complete the sentence. "I'm sorry, okay? Can you help me now?"

She smiled, revealing a small dimple near her mouth. "Sure, whatever, Malfoy. Now, could you please hand me your exam so I can see what you got wrong?" Draco nodded, and did so.

Hermione raised both eyebrows as she scanned his answers, realizing that they were brilliant. She had never thought Draco could do well in any subject besides Potions, where she knew his good grades were based mostly on favouritism by Snape, the Potions master and Head of Slytherin house.

"Your only problem, Malfoy, is that you're not combining the like terms to both sides of the equation, so it's nearly impossible for you to simplify the rest," she stated. Draco's face was unreadable, and he said nothing, so she continued.

"The process is fairly simple, as a matter of fact. As soon as you gather the like terms, isolate the variables to one side and the non-variables to the other, getting the variable by its lonesome."

She looked at Draco, who was biting his quill in concentration. "So, if the equation was 8x - 20 = 6x + 0," he wrote on a stray piece of parchment. "I would have to isolate the variables, right?" Hermione nodded as Draco wrote the next part of the problem below. "And the non-variables on the other side, changing the sign." She nodded again, and as Draco worked with concentration, she felt the need to place a strand of his blonde hair behind his ear, a thing he did as soon as he completed the equation.

"X equals 10," he said proudly.

"Very good, Malfoy," Hermione said. Then, without giving him a second glance, she focused again on the book's exercises, which they had yet to complete.

Draco had started to do the same when Hermione's wand fell to the floor. As she bent to collect it, he couldn't help himself but comment. "Nice ass, Granger."

She turned around, and he didn't get the chance to say anything else as a hand connected with his cheek. I seem to be getting a lot of those lately, he thought bitterly, rubbing his cheek.

"How dare you!" she was shaking in anger, not noticing the murderous glares Vector was sending in their direction, wasting no time in getting to their desk.

"I believe I told you to resolve your personal affairs after the lesson!" Vector said, as calmly as she could manage. "I'm very disappointed in you, Granger. As one of my best students, I would have expected more mature behaviour from you. Twenty points from Gryffindor, and detention." Then she glanced at Draco. "I still don't understand why you seem to be pestering Granger every opportunity you get, even though she's helping you. Twenty points from Slytherin, and you too will be serving detention." her eyes briefly flickered on Hermione. "With Granger, I might add. Let's see if that improves your relationship."

The bell rang a couple of minutes later, and as the Ravenclaws and Seamus handed in their work (Susan had spent nearly the whole time trying to make Hannah understand, so she hadn't been able to finish on time), Hermione waited patiently for Vector to explain the details of her detention. Draco leaned on one of the nearby walls.

"I believe Professor Snape requires assistance with the making of some potions, tonight." Vector said gravely. "I will escort you to his office right after dinner, and I expect nothing less than exemplary behaviour from both of you, you hear?" she narrowed her eyes. "Now, get out of my sight."

They didn't need to be told twice.

* * * * * * *

Hermione stormed into the common room, making noise as she did so. A few heads turned around to see who had entered. She was clearly in a very bad mood, so no one dared to ask her what was wrong and turned back to what they were doing in haste. She didn't blame them. She knew she was dangerous when angry and preferred to be left alone.

But it seemed Ron still hadn't learned that particular lesson. "Hermione, are you all right?" he asked, concerned. She decided it was best to ignore him, even though he meant no harm and had the best intentions. He still didn't get the message. "You could at least tell me what is wrong, Hermione! I am your friend."

Taking a big deep breath with a profoundly annoyed look on her face she said, "Sod off, Ron! I'm not in the mood." Focusing on her History of Magic essay, which wasn't due for at least two weeks, she ignored Ron completely.

Harry looked up from his reading of Quidditch Today and motioned Ron to come sit by him. Glaring at Hermione, Ron did just that.

"I just wanted to know what the bloody hell was up!" he complained, loud enough for Parvati and Lavender, who were reading Dean's palms, to turn around and stare.

"Not so loud, Ron," said Harry, looking at Hermione. "She probably had a bad day, that's all. I think she just came from Arithmancy, and she had to bear the sickening sight of Draco Malfoy for two straight hours. She probably had to talk to him as well. I'd be in a bad mood, too. Wouldn't you?"

Ron nodded. "I guess you're right. But something tells me that's not the whole reason. I mean, she's been taking Arithmancy for four years straight, with Malfoy included, and I have never seen her like that. In fact, she's usually in a cheerful mood because it's Monday and we have a whole week of class ahead."

Harry remained thoughtful and said nothing while he looked sharply at Hermione's back.

"Why don't you ask her what's up, Harry?" Ron suddenly said, touching Harry's shoulder slightly. He blinked twice and turned around to face Ron, who then added, "She usually talks to you."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I guess I will, as soon as she relaxes a little bit. Believe me, I don't want to be yelled at for no apparent reason. Besides," he leaned closer to Ron and added in a conspiratorial tone, "I suspect she's in that time of the month."

"Oh, I see..." Ron replied, an understanding tone in his voice, although a little bit absentmindedly as he glanced one more time in Hermione's direction. "Anyway, I still think you should go and talk to her, Harry, as soon as posible," he added before he stood up and walked towards the staircase leading to the boy's dormitories.

* * * * * * * *

Draco's already bad mood didn't improve when, as he muttered the password ("Pureblood." Prefects truly need better ideas. Honestly!) and entered the Slytherin common room, he found Blaise waiting up for him in the table nearest to the fireplace. Bugger, he thought. She was definitely the last person he had wanted to see.

"So, how did phase one of the plan go, tiger?" she said jokingly, but Draco preferred to ignore her and kept walking towards his dormitories. That made her stare in disbelief after him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled, catching up with him before he could even reach the door. Draco looked down, taking a big deep breath before speaking.

"I have a bloody detention with the damn Mudblood, Zabini, and it's all because of your brilliant plan," he said angrily. Blaise raised an eyebrow, her hand on her hip.

"Excuse me? Did I hear correctly?" she leaned closer to him, so that Draco could feel her warm breath in his face. "Are you admitting you are incapable of getting the Mudblood?"

Magic words. Blaise chuckled softly as she saw Draco's expression. Touching his cheek slightly with her fingertip, she added, "Just as I thought. C'mon, Malfoy, do I have to tell you everything?" Draco said nothing, so she sighed in false exasperation. "Can't you see detention is a perfect opportunity?"

"Sure, Zabini, especially when we'll be supervised carefully by Snape's three eyes. Snape of all people!" Draco snapped. But Blaise was not giving up that easily. She wasn't the leader of the Black Serpents for nothing.

"You're admitting defeat, then," she said. "I was convinced that you could do more than that, Malfoy. I'm thoroughly disappointed in you." She got no reaction from Draco, whose eyes were fixed on the gray wall, "I'm still kidnapping the Mudblood, you know. Don't think that your cowardice means that my plan will fail." She toyed with one lose strand of his blonde hair. "But I had thought that you were up to a challenge. That will certainly eliminate the fun of this assignment." Draco didn't even flicker his eyes in her direction. Playing her last card, she added, "I'll go to your dormitory to collect my Concealment Cloak, then. I won't take long." she turned around, but Draco's hand was already around her thin wrist.

"You're not going anywhere, Zabini," he snarled. Blaise narrowed her eyes and wrestled her wrist free from his grip.

"Let go of me! I'm entitled to my winnings, Malfoy. We had a deal!"

Draco grabbed her by the wrist again. Making her kneel in front of him, he held eye contact for a moment. "I never said I was giving up, Zabini," he snarled. "Until I say so, you have no rights whatsoever to the Concealment Cloak. That, too, was part of the deal, in case you don't remember."

He was right of course, and Blaise knew it. She had been the one to write the contract, after all. She stood up and leaned against the wall.

"Show me, then. Show me that you're not giving up. And I expect quick results." she broke eye contact before continuing. "And Malfoy, just remember we need to have the Mudblood in our hands before Easter."

He nodded, and opened the door to his dormitory, "I'll keep that in mind, Zabini." And slammed the door behind him.

* * * * * * * *

"Mind if I sit with you for a while?" Harry asked as Hermione closed the book in front of her with a thud. She faced him and smiled.

"Of course not, Harry. I was just finishing this," she replied, glancing at her neatly rolled History of Magic essay. At that precise moment, as if he understood what was said, Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, jumped on her lap, waiting to be petted. She rolled her eyes in false exasperation.

"You never miss one, do you, furball?" she added as stroked the cat behind his cinnamon ears.

A comfortable silence filled the common room, which was surprisingly empty. It seemed no one had wanted to miss lunch. It was rumoured that huge ice cream blocks would be served for dessert, and that happened rarely, except on the first and last days of term. But neither Harry nor Hermione had felt in the mood for ice cream.

"You seemed a little... irritated this morning. Is something the matter?" Harry asked suddenly. Hermione nodded and kept petting Crookshanks, who was now purring loudly.

"I had a horrible Arithmancy class, Harry. Simply horrible. In fact, the very worst I've ever had. You see, I arrived a couple of minutes late..." she scowled at Harry's amused expression, but secretly was thankful that he didn't ask any questions that she didn't want to answer. "And Vector took ten points from Gryffindor and made me sit by Malfoy, who was sitting in my double desk."

Harry raised both eyebrows. He had never been able to raise just one, and that brought a smile to Hermione's lips.

"And I had to help him do some simple equations. God, I can't believe he wasn't even able to isolate the bloody variable!" she said, raising her voice. Harry stroked her arm softly.

"Cool it, Herm. There's no need to shout," he said soothingly.

"I'm sorry, Harry. Even talking about Malfoy gets to my nerves." Her eyes lingered on his for a moment and then she looked at the floor again. "Anyway, as soon as he finished doing his equation, I started to work, thinking it was all over when he suddenly insults me. I was so outraged that I can't even remember what it was, and I simply lost control and slapped him," she buried her face in her hands. "And the worst thing is that I lost another twenty points and have detention tonight in the dungeons with Malfoy and Snape."

Harry hugged her. Now he understood perfectly Hermione's bitchy mood from before.

"Don't worry about that, Hermione. I know it's pretty bad that you have to be in the same room with your least favourite people for a very long time and all..." he shuddered at the thought of Snape and Malfoy combined in the same place. "But there's very little you can do about it. Just finish quickly and come back to us. I promise you can rant all you like." Hermione laughed a little.

"Thank you. I needed that," she stood up and looked at her wristwatch. "Dear me, it's almost one o'clock, and I promised McGonagall to help her with something!" she quickly gathered her things in her schoolbag and added, "Oh, Harry, could you please tell Ron that I'm sorry for yelling at him? I'm pretty sure that the proud ass won't listen to me." After reassuring Hermione that he would tell Ron, Harry couldn't help but grin as she hurriedly left the common room.

* * * * * * * *

"What did Hermione say?" Ron asked Harry anxiously as both of them entered the Great Hall for dinner. Even though they were very hungry, they were still a bit revolted after a very boring and gruesome Divination class. They were working on chicken entrails, and it had been quite hard not to vomit at the mere sight and smell of them.

"It seems I was right," said Harry, sitting in his usual place at the Gryffindor table. "It was all Malfoy's fault. She has detention tonight because of him, in Snape's dungeon." he served himself a big chunk of mashed potatoes, "With Malfoy."

Ron opened his eyes wide in astonishment, as he sat besides him, "C'mon, Harry, her Arithmancy teacher can't be that bad, can she?"

Harry shrugged and added, "It looks like it. And she took thirty points from Gryffindor, too, ruining Hermione's perfect record..." Harry looked Ron in the eye. His friend was waiting expectantly for him to finish the sentence. "Ron, she also said she was sorry for yelling at you."

Ron sighed. "Can't she say sorry herself?"

"She was afraid you wouldn't listen." Harry looked sharply at Ron and then added. "Come to think about it, you rarely do." Before Ron could mutter a reply, he looked around and noticed that Hermione was missing. "Where is she, by the way?"

This time, it was Ron who shrugged. "Bugger if I know. She had Ancient Runes this afternoon, I think," he glanced at the Slytherin table and saw Professor Vector speaking with Malfoy, "She'd better show up soon because her teacher is already looking for her. And I suspect she'll get in a lot of trouble if she doesn't."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *