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- "Fraternizing with the enemy." -

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"Why are you taking her to Slughorn's party?" Blaise asked, utterly disgusted.

"I need something from Slughorn, but he never will talk to me, so I had to ask Granger." Part of me felt like I was betraying her my spitting on her name like I had, but it was necessary, just like every other time.

"What do you need?"

"Let's just say it is in The Dark Lord's best interests."

That shut him up. Blaise always wanted to be in with me. In the 'cool' crowd of Slytherin, but whenever it came to serious darkness, he was always too cowardly to take any part in.

That evening, I was fitting myself into my expensive dress robes. The black leather accents contrasted my pale skin, eyes, and hair quite nicely. There was not a fold anywhere on them, and I had to admit, I was one stunning bachelor. I just hoped Granger thought so as well.

I uncovered the posioned wine to hand to Professor Slughorn from under my bed and grabbed the bouquet that I was going to gift Granger. After all, I didn't want to seem suspicious with gifting something to a teacher, but not my date. The bouquet consisted of red roses and gardenias. It was the same bundle that I had brought to the hospital wing in our second year.

In the Malfoy family, flowers meant a lot. From a young age, I was taught the meaning of different flowers, and which ones not to use at a dinner party. Gardenias represented a secret love, like mine and Grangers, and the red roses translated roughly to, "I love you." It was perfect, even if I only knew the meanings. I wanted this to be perfect for her because I didn't know how many parties we have left.

I met her outside of the Gryffindor common room, along with some nasty sideways glances from younger students. Potter and Weasley must not speak very nicely of me. No wonder Granger doesn't want them knowing about us, everyone in Gryffindor despises me.

When I caught sight of her angelic beauty, I lost my breath. She was absolutely perfect. Her rosy pink dress flattered her body in just the right spots. The neckline of the dress was revealing, but not inappropriately so. Her hair seemed to have been impregnated with heavenly sparkles. In short, she was beyond my wildest fantasies. She had dressed up for... me. This can't be real. I don't deserve this.

Evidently I wasn't the only person who thought so. "HIM?" shouted Weasley from inside their portrait hole, "Why him Hermione? He's vile!"

She didn't respond, but I could tell his words hurt her. I wanted to stand up to Weasley, but I couldn't find the courage.

"Fraternizing with the enemy," he said to Finnigan, who was standing right next to him. Finnigan nodded.

"The ENEMY Ronald?" she screamed back at him, defending me. I should have walked away, telling her he's right, I am the enemy, but I had a job to accomplish. If I failed, Professor Snape would be venomous.

"You heard me."

I grabbed her arm gently, and whispered in her ear, "Hermione, let's go." She didn't listen, instead she continued her banter with Weasley.

"That's rich, coming from you. Sneaking off at night to go and snog!" What was she referring to? Surely Granger and Weasley weren't-

"What Lav and I have is different," he replied. Good. I was glad to hear that my Hermione hasn't been snogging two people at once. "This is just mental!"

She was trying to hold back her sobs, "Goodbye, Ronald," she snapped, taking my arm and leaving one of her best friends behind. The portrait hole closed, and the two of us were left in the hallway alone.

"Well in light of... that," I started a conversation with the sniffling Granger, "I got these for you, beautiful." I handed her the bouquet of gardenias and red roses that I prepared earlier today.

"Roses and gardenias?" she exclaimed, "Oh Draco, they're perfect!" I smiled as she admired them, "I love you too," happy little tears were forming in her eyes.

"You know flower meanings?"

She nodded, "It was mentioned in Muggle Studies a few years ago. I was a little disappointed that we didn't go farther into it, I had already read the book you see, as you've probably guessed. How do you know?"

"My mother," I responded plainly, "She always needs parties to be perfect."

"Ah." She studied the bouquet for a while, surely recognizing them as the same snow white and blood red flowers that had been on her night stand when she woke up from petrification. When she finally realized, she blushed. "Secret admirer," she whispered under her breath.

"Yeah, it was me." Flattered, she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. I held out my arm and she placed hers on it. That's when she noticed the wine bottle.

"Draco, what's that?"

"A gift for Professor Slughorn."

"Oh, how thoughtful."

Together we walked down the numerous flights of stairs to Professor Slughorn's office.

The professor had outdone himself. The stories weren't exaggerating, it was like I had walked into one of my mother's fanciest dinner parties. There were golden curtains hanging from the ceiling and covering all the walls. There were students hired as waitstaff, dressed in elegant white uniforms with gold trim. The food was extravagant, certainly nothing compared to what we were served in the Great Hall, even during feasts.

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" Granger awed.

"Ah, Miss Granger!" Professor Slughorn cried, "I see you found yourself a strapping young fellow here." He turned to me, "Mr. Malfoy, if I am correct."

"Yes sir. You've outdone yourself Professor," I complimented.

"Why thank you Mr. Malfoy."

Granger spotted the Weasley girl and waved, she returned it, but when she saw me with Granger, she frowned. "Hermione, why don't you go talk with her, I need to have a chat with the professor."

She nodded, and I was left alone with Professor Slughorn.

"Yes my dear boy? What is it that I can help you with?"

"Well Professor, I was planning on gifting this to Professor Dumbledore, but I see that he isn't here tonight." I showed him the bottle of poisoned wine.

"Ah, well, yes, he isn't at Hogwarts right now. He's on a business trip, you see."

I had known about the old man's trip, but I pretended not to.

"Oh, well that's too bad."

"I could give it to him myself, if you wanted, say it's from both of us," he leaned in to tell me a secret, "It's a bit embarrassing, but I forgot to purchase a gift for him myself."

I smiled slyly to myself under my mask. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. "Oh, no need Professor, your need is far greater than mine," I handed him the bottle, eager to get it as far away from me as possible. "Say it is from you, don't embarrass yourself for my sake."

"Oh thank you my boy, how can I repay you?"

"You've done enough for me already Professor, there is nothing you owe me."

He smiled fondly, then let me go. I went over to where Granger was conversing with Ginny Weasley.

"Yes, but I don't understand what do you see in him." she was lecturing my date.

"Ginny, he's just misunderstood. He's actually quite a gentleman. He's kind and vunerable, but also strong and brave."

I came up behind her, "I believe that you are describing yourself Granger."

"Draco! You heard me?" she sounded slightly offended, but she gave in. Weasley contorted her face in utter disgust and left us, still not believing the monstrosity of our relationship. Nor should she. This thing between me and Granger is illegal, but for some reason, neither of us mind.

Potter came into the room, arm and arm with Lovegood. Of all the eligible ladies at Hogwarts, he chose Lovegood? I guess that says something about his heart, however much I loathed Potter. He saw me, leaning over Granger, and he approached me, flames searing out of his ears.

"Come off of it Malfoy. Don't you think you've hurt her enough?" he spat in my face.

That set me off. Of course I know how much I've hurt her. "Why do you mind Potter?" I raged back.

"She's my friend, that's why!"

"Harry, stop it," Hermione interrupted our devilish yelling session.

"Why Hermione? Why him?"

"Harry, can I talk to you? Alone." I let her go, knowing that whatever terrible thing she was about to say was only part of our plan. They went behind one of Slughorn's golden curtains to speak with each other. I could still see their outlines and hints of the colors they were wearing. My Hermione, dressed to the nines, and Harry Potter telling her exactly why he thinks I am a bad date for her. I hated to admit it, but I knew he was right. I was a terrible choice for her, but that didn't stop me from wanting her.

I knew that eventually, I would have to let her go, but I knew that she had grown forbiddingly attached to me, so much so that it would take a lot more than my words to break her from me.

I should have just stayed away from her like Professor Snape had told me to. Losing her now is going to hurt so much more.

That is when the man himself walked right past me, and behind the curtain where Potter and Granger were still conversing. He told Potter something, then came back for me.

"I take it the task has been finished?"

"Yes sir, but my-"

"Excellent, now let's leave, I need to talk to you, privately."

"But sir, my date-"

He grabbed my shoulder, yanking me out of the room with him. "I didn't ask for your permission boy."