You Set Me Free, chapter 1
Hermione hurried down the hall, not daring to believe that she was about to be late for potions. As she ran down the hall, she opened
her bag to make sure she had everything she needed, when- BANG!- she slammed into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn' watching where I was going..." she began, but trailed off when she saw the person's face. It was Draco Malfoy.
"Yeah... excuse you," He sneered, strolling away without a backwards glance. Hermione's face grew hot with anger.
"Hey Malfoy, remember when I hit you?" she spat with clenched teeth. Malfoy glared at her.
"I don't recall anything like that ever happening," he said lazily. Hermione stood up angrily, tossing her books in her bag.
"Would you like me to refresh your memory?" she asked with a hint of an evil grin. Malfoy turned a little pale and then headed into the
classroom without a word. Hermione followed him, grinning at her silent victory. Snape looked up sharply from his teaching.
"Since you two decided to hold up the entire learning process, you will have to be partnered together for this experiment." He
snapped, sending Malfoy a sympathetic look. Hermione rolled her eyes and flopped down in the emtpy seat next to Draco. They
worked silently and hostilly (A.N. is that a word?) until Hermione saw that Malfoy was going to mess up the experiment.
"No, no, it's two dragonfly wings, not three," she said, quickly pulling the extra wing from the concoction. Malfoy glared at her.
"Did you just correct me, Mudblood?" he whispered savagely. Hermione was in no mood to take his crap, and she looked him
straight in the eye.
"Yes I did, Asshole," she replied, putting the wing back in the jar. Malfoy looked shocked, then surprised, then angry, and then
extremely angry. Hermione could almost see his blood boil. He called Professor Snape over to their table.
"Professor, Granger just called me an obscenity," he whined. Hermione almost laughed. Snape rounded on her like a black python.
"Is this true, Miss Granger?" he asked. Hermione nodded.
"Yes, Professor. I was unprovoked and felt the need to express my anger to Draco," she said. Harry and Ron snickered in the back,
and Snape and Malfoy gave her disbelieving looks.
"10 points from Gryffindor," Snape said slowly, before heading back to his desk. But, to the Gryffindor students present at the time, it
was worth it. Malfoy looked annoyed that his plan to hurt her had backfired, but couldn't help but feel a little impressed by her daring.
When the class was over, Malfoy left (to her pleasure) without a word. Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors congratulated her on her
boldness, and the day went on. That night at dinner, Hermione felt Malfoy's eyes on her, and when she turned to look at him, he was
glaring at her (surprise, surprise). She couldn't help but grin, happy with her triumph against the evil Slytherin king.
Later on that night, all Hermione could think of was Malfoy's angry face. All Malfoy could think of was Hermione's sudden boldness,
and how much is annoyed him.
*************
The next day in potions, Hermione and Malfoy learned, to their great displeasure, that they would be partnered for quite awhile
while working on a specific complicated potion. Unavoidably, they got into another riff.
"Malfoy, pass me the snail's skin." Hermione said offhandedly. He glared at her.
"My name is Draco, and I wouldn't want to touch your skin, Mudblood," he said maliciously. Hermione looked up at him calmly.
"Good, because I don't want to touch your skin, either, asshole," she said. "Pass the snail skin," she repeated, calm as ever. This
was the final straw for Malfoy. He grabbed an acidic snail's skin and threw it at her. It landed on her arm, burning the top layer of
skin off of it. She howled in pain, before angrily throwing poisonous giant rat's blood at him. Soon, they were having an all-out
potions ingrediant fight, hurling anything that could do damage at eachother. Snape soon had them under control.
"Mister Malfoy! I'm surprised at you! And Miss Granger... well, I can't truthfully say I'm surprised at you. No matter, because each of
you have lost 20 points for your house, and you will come during lunch and dinner every day until you get the potion right!" he
snapped. "And clean up this mess!" he said before storming out of the room, followed by 20 excited students.
"Nice going!" Ron mouthed at Hermione with a big grin. She rolled her eyes and started to wipe the stains from the gecko liver off
the table. Malfoy packed his bags and left, without cleaning up and without a word to Hermione. Before he left the room, Hermione
picked up a forgotten book of his and threw it at him, catching him in the head.
"You forgot your book, Malfoy," she said cooly, as he stomped out of the Potions lab. Hermione finnished cleaning up the tables and
floor before leaving. At lunch, she headed down to the potions dungeon to work on the potion with Malfoy. When she walked into
the room, he was already there.
"Where's Snape?" she asked him coldly. He looked up at her quickly.
"At lunch," he answered, as if she were stupid. Hermione sighed and sat down next to him.
"Look, Malfoy, if we're going to do this, we might as well get along," she said. He looked at her with a grin.
"You think we can actually work together without fighting?" he asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"If we try, yes," she replied seriously. He laughed at her again.
"Sure. Whatever," he said. Hermione stared at him.
"Well, I'm trying, there's 50% of the effort we need for it," she said. Malfoy glared at her.
"I'm not going to try," he said stubbornly. Hermione shrugged.
"Not like I wasn't expecting that," she said. Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Let's get to work," he snapped. Hermione smiled evilly.
"Alright," she said. Her plan was simple, but brilliant and effective. By the end of the lunch period, Malfoy was almost speaking civilly
to her instead of snapped and calling her mudblood. She knew that he wouldn't be able to take yelling at someone with no reaction.
When time was up, they cleaned up (yes, both of them) and left. They didn't see eachother until Care of Magical Creatures, 2 hours
later. Hermione, Harry, and Ron, were working together next to Malfoy, Pansy, and Goyle. Hermione accidently knocked over
Malfoy's glass of water.
"Sorry," she said quickly.
"Watch it, muggle-born," he snapped before going back to work. Hermione was slightly surprised that he was going back to acting
the way he was, even if it was subdued a bit. She recovered from her surprise quickly.
"No problem, pond scum," she said under her breath, making Ron laugh hysterically.
That night, Hermione headed to the potions room to work on the concoction again. She walked into the room, occupied by Malfoy
only. He looked up as she worked in.
"Hello," he said, before going to work again. For the second time that day, Hermione was surprised by the pale boy's actions.
"Hi," she said back, diving right into the potion making. They worked silently for a few minutes.
"Oh, Malfoy, I figured out what we did wrong last time. We were supposed to make the dragonfly wings powder. Can you hand me the
bottle?" she asked. He handed it to her.
"Here," he said. 'Progress,' Hermione thought with a smug grin. And, from then on, it was like that- outside of their private potion-
making class, they were as rude and malicious as ever, but in those classes they were civil and almost friendly. Throughtout the
weeks, that friendliness grew, until they almost slowed down their pace on the potion so they could still meet like this. Finally,
Hermione decided to bring up their friend/foe conflict during one dinner/potion period.
"Draco... do you ever wonder why we're friendly when we're alone, but when we're around our friends, we're enemies?" she asked.
Draco looked up abrubtly, looking surprised.
"No... but I guess it's because my friends expect me to hate muggle-borns, and your's expect you to hate me," he said. Hermione
decided to press the subject further.
"And how do you feel about muggle-borns now?" she asked. Draco cocked his head to the side.
"I'm not sure... they're not so bad, once you get to know them," he said, shrugging. "What about me?" he asked. Hermione nodded.
"About the same," she said. Draco looked like that settled it.
"Good," he said.
"And... what will we do once we're done with the potion?" Hermione asked. Once again, Draco looked up from his work.
"I guess things go back to normal," he said. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"As in... we're enemies, and we were never friends?" she asked. Draco shrugged again. Hermione threw her hands up in the air.
"Doesn't that seem a little wrong to you?" she asked. Draco looked at her.
"Yeah. So?" he said, as if it were unimportant. "We can't change our friends' minds, so we might as well pretend it never really
happened."
"But it did," Hermione rebuttled. Draco looked up at her.
"Yes, and what will the Famous Harry Potter say when he hears his girlfriend is friends with his worst enemy?" he shot back. Hermione
was taken aback.
"First of all, don't talk about Harry like that. He didn't ask for his fame. Secondly, I'm NOT his girlfriend," she said firmly. Draco added
the final ingredient and sat back.
"O, gosh, sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. Hermione glared at him.
"Forget you," she said angrily. She stormed out of the dungeon, and Draco called after her.
"Don't worry, I'll forget you, too!" he laughed maliciously. 'How could I have ever gotten along with that git?' Hermione wondered as
she headed to the Gryffindor common room.
Later that night, Hermione decided to sneak out to the kitchen to have a quick drink of pumpkin juice. When she arrived, she was
greeted by a cold, lazy voice.
"What are you doing here?"
Hermione hurried down the hall, not daring to believe that she was about to be late for potions. As she ran down the hall, she opened
her bag to make sure she had everything she needed, when- BANG!- she slammed into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn' watching where I was going..." she began, but trailed off when she saw the person's face. It was Draco Malfoy.
"Yeah... excuse you," He sneered, strolling away without a backwards glance. Hermione's face grew hot with anger.
"Hey Malfoy, remember when I hit you?" she spat with clenched teeth. Malfoy glared at her.
"I don't recall anything like that ever happening," he said lazily. Hermione stood up angrily, tossing her books in her bag.
"Would you like me to refresh your memory?" she asked with a hint of an evil grin. Malfoy turned a little pale and then headed into the
classroom without a word. Hermione followed him, grinning at her silent victory. Snape looked up sharply from his teaching.
"Since you two decided to hold up the entire learning process, you will have to be partnered together for this experiment." He
snapped, sending Malfoy a sympathetic look. Hermione rolled her eyes and flopped down in the emtpy seat next to Draco. They
worked silently and hostilly (A.N. is that a word?) until Hermione saw that Malfoy was going to mess up the experiment.
"No, no, it's two dragonfly wings, not three," she said, quickly pulling the extra wing from the concoction. Malfoy glared at her.
"Did you just correct me, Mudblood?" he whispered savagely. Hermione was in no mood to take his crap, and she looked him
straight in the eye.
"Yes I did, Asshole," she replied, putting the wing back in the jar. Malfoy looked shocked, then surprised, then angry, and then
extremely angry. Hermione could almost see his blood boil. He called Professor Snape over to their table.
"Professor, Granger just called me an obscenity," he whined. Hermione almost laughed. Snape rounded on her like a black python.
"Is this true, Miss Granger?" he asked. Hermione nodded.
"Yes, Professor. I was unprovoked and felt the need to express my anger to Draco," she said. Harry and Ron snickered in the back,
and Snape and Malfoy gave her disbelieving looks.
"10 points from Gryffindor," Snape said slowly, before heading back to his desk. But, to the Gryffindor students present at the time, it
was worth it. Malfoy looked annoyed that his plan to hurt her had backfired, but couldn't help but feel a little impressed by her daring.
When the class was over, Malfoy left (to her pleasure) without a word. Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors congratulated her on her
boldness, and the day went on. That night at dinner, Hermione felt Malfoy's eyes on her, and when she turned to look at him, he was
glaring at her (surprise, surprise). She couldn't help but grin, happy with her triumph against the evil Slytherin king.
Later on that night, all Hermione could think of was Malfoy's angry face. All Malfoy could think of was Hermione's sudden boldness,
and how much is annoyed him.
*************
The next day in potions, Hermione and Malfoy learned, to their great displeasure, that they would be partnered for quite awhile
while working on a specific complicated potion. Unavoidably, they got into another riff.
"Malfoy, pass me the snail's skin." Hermione said offhandedly. He glared at her.
"My name is Draco, and I wouldn't want to touch your skin, Mudblood," he said maliciously. Hermione looked up at him calmly.
"Good, because I don't want to touch your skin, either, asshole," she said. "Pass the snail skin," she repeated, calm as ever. This
was the final straw for Malfoy. He grabbed an acidic snail's skin and threw it at her. It landed on her arm, burning the top layer of
skin off of it. She howled in pain, before angrily throwing poisonous giant rat's blood at him. Soon, they were having an all-out
potions ingrediant fight, hurling anything that could do damage at eachother. Snape soon had them under control.
"Mister Malfoy! I'm surprised at you! And Miss Granger... well, I can't truthfully say I'm surprised at you. No matter, because each of
you have lost 20 points for your house, and you will come during lunch and dinner every day until you get the potion right!" he
snapped. "And clean up this mess!" he said before storming out of the room, followed by 20 excited students.
"Nice going!" Ron mouthed at Hermione with a big grin. She rolled her eyes and started to wipe the stains from the gecko liver off
the table. Malfoy packed his bags and left, without cleaning up and without a word to Hermione. Before he left the room, Hermione
picked up a forgotten book of his and threw it at him, catching him in the head.
"You forgot your book, Malfoy," she said cooly, as he stomped out of the Potions lab. Hermione finnished cleaning up the tables and
floor before leaving. At lunch, she headed down to the potions dungeon to work on the potion with Malfoy. When she walked into
the room, he was already there.
"Where's Snape?" she asked him coldly. He looked up at her quickly.
"At lunch," he answered, as if she were stupid. Hermione sighed and sat down next to him.
"Look, Malfoy, if we're going to do this, we might as well get along," she said. He looked at her with a grin.
"You think we can actually work together without fighting?" he asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"If we try, yes," she replied seriously. He laughed at her again.
"Sure. Whatever," he said. Hermione stared at him.
"Well, I'm trying, there's 50% of the effort we need for it," she said. Malfoy glared at her.
"I'm not going to try," he said stubbornly. Hermione shrugged.
"Not like I wasn't expecting that," she said. Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Let's get to work," he snapped. Hermione smiled evilly.
"Alright," she said. Her plan was simple, but brilliant and effective. By the end of the lunch period, Malfoy was almost speaking civilly
to her instead of snapped and calling her mudblood. She knew that he wouldn't be able to take yelling at someone with no reaction.
When time was up, they cleaned up (yes, both of them) and left. They didn't see eachother until Care of Magical Creatures, 2 hours
later. Hermione, Harry, and Ron, were working together next to Malfoy, Pansy, and Goyle. Hermione accidently knocked over
Malfoy's glass of water.
"Sorry," she said quickly.
"Watch it, muggle-born," he snapped before going back to work. Hermione was slightly surprised that he was going back to acting
the way he was, even if it was subdued a bit. She recovered from her surprise quickly.
"No problem, pond scum," she said under her breath, making Ron laugh hysterically.
That night, Hermione headed to the potions room to work on the concoction again. She walked into the room, occupied by Malfoy
only. He looked up as she worked in.
"Hello," he said, before going to work again. For the second time that day, Hermione was surprised by the pale boy's actions.
"Hi," she said back, diving right into the potion making. They worked silently for a few minutes.
"Oh, Malfoy, I figured out what we did wrong last time. We were supposed to make the dragonfly wings powder. Can you hand me the
bottle?" she asked. He handed it to her.
"Here," he said. 'Progress,' Hermione thought with a smug grin. And, from then on, it was like that- outside of their private potion-
making class, they were as rude and malicious as ever, but in those classes they were civil and almost friendly. Throughtout the
weeks, that friendliness grew, until they almost slowed down their pace on the potion so they could still meet like this. Finally,
Hermione decided to bring up their friend/foe conflict during one dinner/potion period.
"Draco... do you ever wonder why we're friendly when we're alone, but when we're around our friends, we're enemies?" she asked.
Draco looked up abrubtly, looking surprised.
"No... but I guess it's because my friends expect me to hate muggle-borns, and your's expect you to hate me," he said. Hermione
decided to press the subject further.
"And how do you feel about muggle-borns now?" she asked. Draco cocked his head to the side.
"I'm not sure... they're not so bad, once you get to know them," he said, shrugging. "What about me?" he asked. Hermione nodded.
"About the same," she said. Draco looked like that settled it.
"Good," he said.
"And... what will we do once we're done with the potion?" Hermione asked. Once again, Draco looked up from his work.
"I guess things go back to normal," he said. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"As in... we're enemies, and we were never friends?" she asked. Draco shrugged again. Hermione threw her hands up in the air.
"Doesn't that seem a little wrong to you?" she asked. Draco looked at her.
"Yeah. So?" he said, as if it were unimportant. "We can't change our friends' minds, so we might as well pretend it never really
happened."
"But it did," Hermione rebuttled. Draco looked up at her.
"Yes, and what will the Famous Harry Potter say when he hears his girlfriend is friends with his worst enemy?" he shot back. Hermione
was taken aback.
"First of all, don't talk about Harry like that. He didn't ask for his fame. Secondly, I'm NOT his girlfriend," she said firmly. Draco added
the final ingredient and sat back.
"O, gosh, sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. Hermione glared at him.
"Forget you," she said angrily. She stormed out of the dungeon, and Draco called after her.
"Don't worry, I'll forget you, too!" he laughed maliciously. 'How could I have ever gotten along with that git?' Hermione wondered as
she headed to the Gryffindor common room.
Later that night, Hermione decided to sneak out to the kitchen to have a quick drink of pumpkin juice. When she arrived, she was
greeted by a cold, lazy voice.
"What are you doing here?"