t w o

"No, Hermione! No matter how many times you say it, it won't work." Ginny said with a sigh. "It's impossible, absolutely impossible to make Malfoy fall in love with you." She insisted and caught her mistake, her eyes growing wide. "And I'm not implying that you're lovable or anything, I'm just saying Malfoy is not your guy-"

"Don't be silly, Ginny, nothing's impossible."

"But let's think about this. He's our enemy, he used to be an death eater, he's a Slytherin - he, he's just Draco Malfoy! No, it won't work!" Ginny cried, trying to convince her friend. "If you two start to date it would be like ... what do muggles call it? World War Six?"

"World War Three, actually."

"That's besides the point! Let's be rational here—"

"Don't be so dramatic, Ginny. If ... we were to date, I suppose we'd just bring house unity. I'll be getting what I want and I'll be bringing peace to this school. How great is that?" Hermione asked with a grin.

"No, that's not great at all. Who cares about house unity at this point? We already have house unity since the war kind of solved that problem for us, Hermione!"

"Ginny, I have everything under control. I know what I'm doing."

"No you don't." She muttered under her breath and looked at her friend desperately. "Okay, well, you guys have been enemies ever since you two laid eyes on each other. Hell, none of us talked to him ever since the war. It's going to be weird if you just started talking to him so out of the blue. How will you make him fall in love with you?"

"I'll do whatever I have to do to make him fall in love with me." She said coolly as she leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed across her chest. She was done talking about the plan. "Please promise me you'll keep this a secret."

Ginny furrowed her eyebrows and stared at Hermione for a long time. She finally gave up and sighed. There was no turning back now. Hermione had made her decision and she was quite the stubborn one. "I promise but please just don't get into any trouble." She requested with a hopeful grin.

"You're the best." Hermione stated happily as she shot up from her seat. "I guess I'll be busy this winter break, huh?" She asked her friend and grinned.

"Wait, is Draco Malfoy staying here for the holidays?" Ginny asked as she stood up.

"Well, considering his father ..." Hermione stopped herself and sheepishly met eyes with Ginny. "I don't think he'll want to go back home for the holidays." Hermione answered with her voice suddenly low and quiet - almost like a whisper.

"That's right." Ginny said under her breath and felt the awkward atmosphere around them. The Malfoys' were all over the newspaper when the war ended and almost everybody in the Wizarding World knew about them. It was a touchy subject to talk about, considering it didn't end well for Draco Malfoy.

"Let's go back to our dorm and just get some rest." Hermione suggested.

"That sounds very welcoming right now." Ginny said with a grin as they started walking out of the library. "So how long is this of yours going on for? Have you decided yet?"

"My plan is to try to at least be friends with him by the end of winter break. That'll give me two weeks to become friends with them and hopefully I'll be able to make my first move by the third week in."

"Let's just pray that it works."

"Pray hard."

"Really Hard." Ginny sighed and stared at her friend. "I can't believe you're still doing this. There's still time to turn back—"

"I've decided that I will stick to the plan and that's final, Ginny. I'm not changing my mind so let's just have a peaceful night and I'll see you tomorrow morning." Hermione said as they reached their destination. Hermione walked up the stairs with Ginny and separated into their own rooms.

Hermione set her book bag down on her bed and sighed as she walked into the bathroom. She examined herself through the mirror and frowned. She wasn't exactly gorgeous, she still had freckles sprinkled across her nose and although her bushy mane tamed itself and turned into soft curls, she just wasn't attractive. She had a slender body, 5'6 and lean. Was she that unattractive? Was that why ...? She suddenly imagined Ron and groaned in frustration as she shook her head, erasing her train of thoughts. She sighed and tied her hair back into a messy bun, getting ready to wash up.

"What? You're going to do what?" Blaise asked as he stared at his friend, shaking his head.

"Are you deaf? How many times do I have to repeat this?" Draco asked his friend with a sigh.

"As many times as possible until it gets through my damn head because I'm thinking this is outrageous." Blaise stated clearly.

Draco snickered and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "The plan will work and I will succeed."

"It's impossible. She hates us."

"Ah, you won't know what's impossible unless you try! Besides, nothing is impossible. Where's your spirit?" He asked his friend with a smirk.

"Amuse me then, tell me your magnificent plan." Draco raised an eyebrow at his friend's sarcasm but brushed it off.

"I, Draco Malfoy, will make Hermione Granger fall in love with me. First, I will befriend her during the winter holidays and after that, we'll be good friends. Good enough friends to start making my move on her. You understand me?"

"Go into more detail for me, will you?"

Draco rolled his steel grey eyes out of frustration and annoyance. "Look, I'm just going to start acting civil towards her until winter break is over. I'm going to awaken that curiosity inside of her because if we know one thing about her, it's that she's curious. We'll banter and if I say something just a little bit out of character, she'll start to wonder about me. I'm sure we'll go through a cycle of banters before we become the best of friends in which I will make my first move on her afterwards. I assure you, Granger will be all over me."

"You should really get that brain of yours checked out at St. Mungo's. It's really beginning to worry me."

"Blaise, I'm serious."

"Are you?" Blaise questioned as he raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know you want Pansy to leave you alone but must you have to go this far?"

"Yes." Draco said and got up from his seat and sighed.

"But, think it over. The war has ended, mate. And none of us has exchanged any words with each other ever since then. I mean, they all probably still hate us."

"I know but I'm going to get through that."

"You'll go to extreme measures for that girl?"

"Anything to get her to—"

"Fall in love with you and make Pansy back off. Yes, okay, I get it." Blaise sighed in defeat; there was no turning back for Draco. A stubborn one, he was.

"Glad you're finally getting with the program. Now, that we are done discussing I'm going to go sleep now." He stated and started to walk towards the boys' dormitory stairs. "Oh, and Blaise." He started as he turned around. "This is a secret between you and me, okay? So if word gets out about this, I will come straight to you and hex you to oblivion." He warned his friend with cold, ominous grey eyes.