Hermione turned her head and stared out of the window. A strong wind was whipping the trees in the Hogwart's grounds into a frenzy, and rain was lashing the windows. Christmas had come and gone, and the miserable January weather was dragging everyone down. Students moped around the huge castle, lurking in gloomy corners. And no one seemed to lurk better than Malfoy.

She supposed it made sense that he had been made Head Boy. He wasn't an idiot, he was just arrogant. There hadn't been any proof that he had been involved in the Deatheater invasion of the castle, and with the Dark Pureblood families on the rise, there was never any question of him not having been allowed back to Hogwarts. As it was, she was grateful that she had been able to come back.

But then…was she? She sighed and rested her head against the cold glass. Harry was at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, in the centre of the Order of the Phoenix, helping them conduct their resistance, and preparing to look for Horcruxes. He was still learning but only Defence. Ron had immediately said that he had no intention of coming back to Hogwarts and leaving Harry alone. Hermione had tried to do the same, but the Order had quashed her protests. Their reasoning had been that it was far better to have the Golden Trio split up, then to risk having one of them being hurt and slowing the other two up. So all plans had been changed : Harry would stay at 12 Grimmauld Place until he had to leave to search for Horcruxes (not that the Order knew about that, they just knew of his mysterious 'mission'), Ron would join Lee Jordan and Fred and George as they publicised the Resistance over the Wizarding Radio. And Hermione would go back to Hogwarts and keep learning and training.

She knocked her head gently against the window. She was absolutely useless. What were her two best friends doing? Risking their lives to fight Voldemort. What was she doing? Getting good grades in her classes. The two were hardly comparable. The Order had told her that Ron and Harry would contact her if they had any problems and she would use her considerable brains and Hogwart's resources to answer them. She had argued of course, no one wants to be a human search engine, but no one had understood the reference and she had been packed off like a complaining child.

And now, she was sitting in her bedroom, too troubled to go down to the Head Common Room, not wanting to have to deal with yet another confrontation with Malfoy. Now that Snape was headmaster, there was very little to stop him doing what he wanted. And that mainly involved being as vile to Hermione as he possibly could.

Hermione blinked furiously, refusing to let hot tears spill down her face. Checking her watch, she realised it was time she went down for dinner, and glancing briefly in the mirror, ran down the stairs quickly, not pausing to check if Malfoy was anywhere around. Slamming the door after her, she pattered down to the Great Hall and slid into a seat next to Ginny.

''You ok?'' Ginny smiled at her, and passed her a bowl of potatoes. ''Here, these are really good.''

''I'm fine.'' Hermione pushed her hair back over her shoulders and began to serve herself. ''I just wish it would stop raining.'' Glancing up, she saw that the enchanted ceiling was still grey and cloudy.

''It's going to get worse apparently. Storms are coming.'' Seamus leaned over the table and began speaking to the two girls. Hermione chattered away, her troubles temporarily forgotten.

Draco watched her from across the hall, completely ignoring Pansy as she tried to get his attention. Eventually, she snapped.

''For Merlin's sake Draco! Could you at least pretend to pay attention to me?''

''Piss off Parkinson.'' Draco drawled at her, not even bothering to look at her. ''I'm trying to eat.''

''No, you're not.'' Pansy snapped as she pushed her chair back. ''You're staring at that Mudblood. Again.'' She slammed her chair under the table and stormed towards the doors.

Blaise grinned, a wicked light in one of his eyes. ''She's right, you know.''

''I am not staring at the Mudblood.'' Draco's voice didn't contain any emotion but he did look down at his plate.

Blaise moved into Pansy's now empty seat. ''Are you sure Draco? I mean, you do focus a lot on Granger.'' A malicious smile was quirking his lips. ''There are plenty of other Muggleborns in school, and yet you choose to focus on Granger. I wonder why?''

''I live with her. It's hard not to be more aware of her numerous irritating qualities.''

''But then from what you were bragging about the other night, you've managed to scare the poor little thing so much that she hardly ever leaves her bedroom unless she's going to classes, the library or here. So how could you be aware of her irritating qualities? Unless you're aware of her more…shall we say, pleasurable ones?'' Blaise quailed slightly as Draco turned icy eyes on him.

''What are you trying to say Zabini?''

''Nothing.'' Blaise smiled winningly and took another mouthful.

''Good.'' Draco refilled his goblet and sat back, staring at it contemplatively. There was a minute of blissful silence and then…

''Are you sure though? Because I'm sure I could overlook her blood status for her appearance.''

''Shut it Zabini!''

''No, seriously Draco, have you looked at her properly?''

''You're making the serious mistake of thinking that I'm going to honour her with my attention. I'm thinking about how much I hate her when I look at her.'' Draco took a mouthful of drink, trying to indicate that the subject was now closed.

''That's exactly what I'm saying. Stop thinking about what she is, and have a good look at her.'' Blaise pulled Draco's goblet away and watched as he reluctantly moved his eyes over Hermione.

''I'll grant you she isn't bad.'' Draco dragged the words out as though they were causing him intense pain.

''Not bad? Oh. Come on Draco. She's gorgeous.''

Draco nodded without thinking about it. Her heart shaped face had a sweet smile on it and her cheeks were dimpled from where she was laughing with her friends. Her eyes were a beautiful chocolate colour and fringed with dark lashes and her mouth was looked soft and kissable. Then Draco came back to his senses. ''But she's a Mudblood and that comes before anything else. She could be the most beautiful witch in the world and I still wouldn't care.''

''Whatever.'' Blaise looked away, bored by the conversation.

Hermione rubbed her neck as it began to prickle unpleasantly. It was as though…yep, someone was watching her. Malfoy's cold grey eyes were staring at her from the Slytherin table, slightly narrowed. She turned back to her friends and faked laughter, trying to act as though she wasn't bothered by his behaviour. After all, if he knew that she was worried, he would never let up on her.

This was perfectly true, but at the same time, there was another facet to Malfoy's behaviour. It didn't make any sense to him that Hermione had come back from the summer holidays without her two best friends. He couldn't see why Potter and Weasley had decided to dump Granger on her own, especially with the Dark Lord on the rise. Didn't they know that Granger would be the first in the firing line? Not that it bothered him, he'd quite like to be watching. But it did mean that something unusual was likely to happen and he quite wanted to be around when it happened.

More to the point, if he could stop the Golden Trio (or at least one part of it), he would definitely win back some of the favour that he had lost after the disaster that was Dumbledore's death. So, when he saw Hermione leaving the hall with her friends, he knocked back the rest of his pumpkin juice, and followed them. Waiting until they split up, he followed Hermione quietly, as she walked up the deserted corridors. He watched as she changed from the happy, confident Head Girl to a scared teenager, avoiding the larger patches of shadow that the flickering candlelight spread.

Slipping up the corridor faster and faster, he was just a pace behind her when one of the suits of armour turned its head, making a loud creaking noise. Hermione's head whipped around, and her eyes widened as she gasped, taking in the sight of Draco in such close proximity to her. Draco cursed himself, not even knowing what he had been planning to do.

''What do you want?'' Hermione had raised her chin defiantly as she spat out the words.

''Why so hostile Mudblood?'' Draco jeered.

''Don't you dare talk to me like that! You're the one who was sneaking up behind me!''

''What the hell gives you the right to talk to me like that?'' Draco's voice got lower and silky, like a cat preparing to pounce.

''Don't try and intimidate me Malfoy.'' Hermione met his eyes levelly, willing herself not to show any sign of fear.

''But it works so well.'' Draco raised his hand towards her and smirked as she flinched. ''So much for Gryffindor courage Mudblood.''

''You know what Malfoy? Slytherins are meant to be intelligent, so why the hell do you act like such a complete idiot? Do you get some kind of thrill out of it?''

Draco's eyes narrowed in bemusement momentarily. ''I'm not acting like an idiot.'' He remembered himself again and drew himself up to his full six feet. ''And you do not have the right to call me an idiot.''

''You know what Malfoy, you can go screw yourself. You've been insulting me like that for so long that I've actually stopped caring, I just don't listen to anything you say anymore. So screw you.''

She turned on her heel and made to walk away, but Draco reached forward and grabbed her wrist, spinning her around. She looked at her arm where he was holding it in shock, and then stared up into his face with loathing, all her fear forgotten. Draco snarled down at her. ''Don't you dare walk away from me, I'm not done with you yet.''

Hermione thought about trying to respond, but decided he wasn't worth it. She shook her arm, trying to get him off her, but he just tightened his grip, crushing the small bones in her wrists. Tensing, she swung her other arm up as hard as she could, landing a slap across his face that left a loud crack resonating through the empty corridor. In shock, Malfoy let go, and Hermione was gone, dashing along the corridors before he could respond.

She locked herself in her room, and slumped onto the bed, not wanting to think about what had just happened. Draco on the other hand could do nothing but think about it. Looking in his bedroom mirror, he could see that one side of his face had gone entirely red from where he had been slapped, and a small white hand print was emblazoned on him. He was gingerly prodding the skin when Blaise barged into the room.

''How the hell did you get in here?'' Draco glared at him.

''Never mind that, what happened to you?'' Blaise laughed and slumped into one of the chairs.

''She slapped me.''

''I saw you following her. Admit it Draco, you're hooked.''

''I'm not.''

''Intrigued at the least.''

''Maybe, remotely interested in when she suddenly got a backbone. I told her not to go and she hit me and ran.'' Draco pointed his wand at his cheek and reduced the swelling.

''You mean, a girl ignored what the great Draco Malfoy told her to do?'' Blaise widened his eyes sarcastically. ''Of course she has a backbone, she's in Gryffindor.''

''Well I don't like it.''

''Break it then. And I don't mean literally.''

Draco was about to shoot down his friend, but then thought about. That could work. At least it would pass the time until he could leave Hogwarts. And like Granger had said, he had been insulting her in the same way for a very long time. It would be good to shake things up a little. But how to do it?

''Well then, what are your suggestions for breaking her backbone? I'm intrigued.'' Draco sat in a chair opposite Blaise, lounging elegantly.

''Why not be nice to her? That's the one thing she won't know how to deal with.''

''True…but, being nice to Granger?''

''Come on, it's all for the greater good, isn't it?''

Draco nodded. ''So, I'm going to make Granger want to do everything I say, and I'm going to do it by being nice to her?''

''Why not? I doubt you'll be able to manage it.''

''That sounds like a bet to me.'' Draco's eyes lit up. He loved a challenge.

''I'll bet you twenty galleons you can't make her yours by the time this weather stops.''

''Unfair, it could stop tomorrow.''

''Nah, forecasts say that we've got at least two more weeks of this.''

''I don't know…''

''Is the wonderful Malfoy backing out?''

Draco sat up and grinned. ''You know what Zabini, you should just go and put those galleons in my room right now. You're on.''

AN: Come on guys, you know what to do. That review box has your name written all over it!