Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. Never have. Never will.

Warnings (please read): This oneshot may contain OOCness, and a possibly "corny" plot (as one anonymous reviewer said). Also, if you don't like the idea of Hermione and Draco making love right after they get together, please refrain from reading this. You have been warned.

This oneshot was written by request for HedwigGirl. I found your plot very cute and fun to write, and I hope you like how I wrote it.

The Better Wizard

a Harry Potter fan fiction

by TheAmericanWeasley

Hermione Granger briskly walked through the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, eager to get to the library to return an overdue book. She was extremely disappointed in herself for forgetting about the book being due, but she hoped that since her record was clean, Madam Pince would spare her of any harsh words.

She entered the library and trotted up to Madam Pince's desk, the book in hand.

"Hello, Madam Pince," Hermione said with a small smile. "I'm terribly sorry about the overdue book. I promise it will never happen again. I have it right here, and it's in perfect condition and everything..."

"Miss Granger," Madam Pince said sharply, "what overdue book are you speaking of?"

"This one," Hermione responded, placing the book before her.

The librarian examined some papers on her desk for a moment. Then, she replied, "Miss Granger, my papers tell me that this book isn't due until next Friday."

"Oh," Hermione said, her face flushing a deep shade of red. "I'm sorry. I must have written down the wrong date."

"Do you wish to return it now?"

"No, thank you. I would still like to do some studying from it."

"Very well then. On your way, Miss Granger."

"Thank you, Madam Pince," Hermione said with a nod. She decided that while she was there she might as well pick up a book or two for a bit of light reading. She made her way to the back of the library and began scanning the shelves. She noticed Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherin friends sitting at a table doing their essays.

"The way you hexed that one Hufflepuff bloke was so brilliant," Vincent Crabbe was saying to Draco.

"Well, he got what was coming to him," Draco responded, "How dare he insult the way I style my hair."

"You are really good at spells, Draco," Gregory Goyle said, his voice dripping with sickening admiration.

"I know," Draco said, not even attempting to hide his ego. "I bet I'm the best dueler in this whole damn castle. I bet I could take on Dumbledore."

Hermione snorted with laughter at this comment. Draco, who had not noticed her until that moment, turned in his chair to glare at her.

"Something funny, Granger?"

"Actually, yes." She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's funny that you think you would last five minutes against Albus Dumbledore."

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you? You're one to talk. You're only good with the bookwork, Granger. You lack when it comes to the tactile wand work."

"I do not, and my grades certainly reflect it. While I will never be as good as Albus Dumbledore, I know I could take you on any day."

Blaise Zabini, who had been sitting at the table reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, stood up.

"If you're so sure about that, Granger," the Slytherin said, "why don't you and Draco spend a night and the Bloodworth Manor?"

"The what?" Hermione asked.

Blaise tossed the newspaper at her. Hermione caught it and stared at the cover. In capitalized bold letters were the words MORE CLAIMS THAT THE BLOODWORTH MANOR IS HAUNTED.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the Slytherins surrounding her.

"Read it," Blaise said.

Hermione cleared her throat and began to read the article softly, but loud enough for the others to hear:

The Bloodworth Manor, located just on the outskirts of London, is an ancient building whose exact date of construction is unknown. In the mid nineteen-sixties, the first people to move in were David and Rachel Bloodworth, a newly married couple in their late twenties who were already expecting a child. Shortly after settling into their new home, several complications with Rachel's health led to the unfortunate loss of their unborn child. This apparently caused a stain in their relationship, for soon after Rachel witnessed her husband committing adultery with Katherine Johnston, a girl fresh from her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Stuck with rage and grief, Rachel threatened several violent deeds on her husband and his young mistress. This lead to her being sent to the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Before she was taken away, she swore that her husband would pay for his wrongdoings.

A year later, David Bloodworth mysteriously died from an illness that doctors at the time were not able to identify. Katherine fled the country with the young boy produced from the affair. All accounts of Katherine Johnston and her son have been lost since then, as if she never existed. Rachel Bloodworth suffered an early death when she stole one of the nurse's wands and attempted to hex her, but instead the spell rebounded.

The Bloodworth Manor was not labeled as haunted until several more years had passed. A group of teenage boys, who wish to keep their names private, decided to spend a night at the abandoned house. Only an hour after being in the manor, the boys came out screaming and claiming that they could hear Rachel Bloodworth's melancholy cry for her husband and unborn child. This incident naturally led to many more groups of young people daring to spend a night in the house, each of them returning with the same or similar story.

Last night, the Daily Prophet received news that yet another group of teenagers (who again wish to keep their identities a secret) claimed that they sneaked away from school in order to spend a night at the manor. They claimed that they spent several hours within the building before hearing ghostly cries.

Is the Bloodworth Manor truly haunted by the brokenhearted ghost of Rachel Bloodworth? Or are the tales that these youngsters claim simply made up to receive attention? This is left for the wizarding community to decide.

Hermione finished the article and stared up at the Slytherins before her. Then, quite suddenly, she burst into laughter.

"What rubbish!" she said, slapping the newspaper onto the table next to her.

"Quiet back there!" came Madam Pince's voice from the front of the library.

Hermione blushed and stopped laughing. "What rubbish," she repeated in a quieter tone.

"Rubbish?" Blaise said incredulously. "You think it's rubbish?"

"Of course," Hermione said, her hands on her hips.

"What about all those people who spent the night there?" Blaise continued. "Are you saying that they are all liars?"

"If you were listening to my reading, you would have noticed that all the people who claimed to hear a ghost were teenagers. Sometimes teenagers can get so insecure that they feel the need to make up ghost stories to get attention. They aren't liars, just insecure."

"You are speaking as if you are an adult, Granger," Draco spat.

"Well, I practically am compared to these people," she said, motioning to the newspaper.

"If that's the case, I expect you'll have no problem spending the night with Draco in the manor then?" Blaise said.

Hermione's face fell at this question. "We could get in serious trouble for leaving school grounds without permission."

Draco chuckled. "I knew you'd be to chicken to do it."

"Chicken?" Hermione said with raised eyebrows. "I don't see what poultry has to do with this, but I'm certainly not afraid to do it, if that's what you're implying. I just care more about following rules than something as stupid as this."

"Please Granger," Draco began. "Just admit that you're scared."

"I'm not," she said firmly.

"Then why won't you come? We'd only be gone for one night! We could leave after everyone else has gone to bed to ensure no one sees us leave. And we could return early in the morning before anyone even notices we're gone."

"How would we get there? You can't Disapparate within Hogwarts."

"We could meet at Hogsmeade, and then Disapparate from there."

"And what exactly is the purpose of us going there?"

"Easy. To prove which one of us truly is the better magical being. If we do encounter a ghost, we'll have to use our wands to scare it away. That shouldn't be a problem for you, since you are so confident with your wand work. The one who gets scared and leaves first is the coward. The loser."

"And what does the winner get?"

"If I win, you have to admit in front of the whole school tomorrow morning at breakfast that I'm the better wizard, and that I'm much more intelligent than you in every way."

"And you'll do the same for me if I win?"

"Of course," the Slytherin said, extending his hand. "But I bet you won't win."

Hermione glanced at the newspaper again, considering what Draco had just said. Then, her eyes locked with Draco's and she firmly clasped her hand against his own.

"It's a bet," she said through gritted teeth. "See you tonight."

The Bloodworth Manor was not an attractive sight. The large black building towered over the two menacingly, as if warning them to stay away.

Hermione was standing next to Draco, her book bag filled with necessities that she would need for one night at the manor, including a magically miniaturized sleeping bag.

"Let's go inside then," Draco said after a moment of silence. The two pushed the rusty gates open and walked up the small amount of steps leading to the door. The door was unlocked and opened with a loud creak.

"I don't think we should do this," Hermione said, suddenly regretting her decision to agree to the bet.

"Then leave." Draco said with a sneer.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Never mind."

They decided to settle in the living room: a spacious room with hard wood floors and a dusty carpet in the center. The little furniture in the room had been pushed against the wall from previous sleepovers at the house. Hermione pulled her wand and sleeping bag out and restored it to its original size, followed by two pillows.

"Crap," Draco muttered at the sight of it. "I forgot to bring something to sleep on."

"You could sleep on the couch over there."

"You seriously think that I'm sleeping on an old couch where some broad and her husband probably fucked? I don't think so."

"You could go to one of the bedrooms upstairs."

"Again, they probably fucked there!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're so immature. And please refrain from using that dirty word."

"Whatever."

Hermione glanced down at her sleeping bag. Though she thoroughly disliked Draco, her kind and thoughtful disposition caused her to feel bad about him having no place to sleep.

She sighed. "I suppose...I could enlarge my sleeping bag so you could sleep on it."

"You mean, sleep next to each other?"

"No. I would enlarge it so we could each have our own sides. We wouldn't be touching each other."

"Fine," he said with a shrug.

Hermione flicked her wand at the sleeping bag and muttered a spell, causing it to grow to the size of a large bed, easily big enough for two people.

"I'm going to go change into my pajamas," Draco said, grabbing the small bag he had brought.

"How is it that you remember to bring pajamas but not something to sleep on?"

"I dunno. Crabbe and Goyle did the packing for me."

"You treat your friends like slaves. It's disgusting."

Draco smirked. "Isn't that what friends are for?" He disappeared down the hall.

Hermione took the opportunity to change into her own sleepwear. She slipped into the cool material of the sleeping bag and closed her eyes. Draco returned a few minutes later and rested on the immediate edge of the sleeping bag, as far away from Hermione as possible.

A few hours later, Hermione stirred in the sleeping bag and then sat up, feeling immensely thirsty. She glanced over at Draco as she stood up. He looked as if he were sleeping peacefully, but she could not tell as his back was turned to her.

She walked down the hall until she found the nearest bathroom. The moon provided her with just enough light to make out the pearly white sink. She turned it on and splashed some water on her pale face, then, using her hands as a cup, drank some. The water was surprisingly ice cold and felt heavenly against her heated frame.

The door to the bathroom creaked behind her. She turned to find that it had closed. After turning the water off, she approached the door and grasped onto the knob. A sense of panic overwhelmed her when she found that the door would not budge. She tried again and again, but to no use. She pushed her body against it, hoping her weight would cause the door to open, but the door remained closed and unwilling to move. She broke out in a nervous sweat, feeling suddenly terrified.

"Draco!" she said, pounding on the door. "Help me!"

The wind from outside made the small bathroom window shudder violently. She felt as if someone was watching her, and laughing at her terrified state.

"Draco!" she yelled again, pounding against the door with both fists. "Open this damn door!"

She heard water running. She turned to see that the bathtub was filling itself with water.

"What the –," she began, but had no time to complete her outburst before an invisible force caused Hermione to fall backwards into the tub, hitting her head in the process. She cried out in pain as the water continued to fill around her. She tried to sit up, her head still throbbing, but found that she was being restrained. Someone she could not see was applying incredible pressure to her shoulders and legs, making it so that she could only squirm as the water rose higher and higher in the tub...

She was going to drown. She saw no way out of it. Just as she stopped squirming beneath the invisible force, she heard a voice that would forever haunt her dreams.

"Are you the bitch that my husband slept with?" the voice was burning with rage and jealousy, yet it ached with loss.

Hermione opened her mouth just long enough to release a deafening scream. Her eyes closed as she slipped into unconsciousness, the water covering her face...

"Granger!" came Draco's concerned voice.

Hermione opened her eyes to find that she laying on the sleeping bag once more, Draco kneeling before her. His hands were on her shoulders, shaking her back into consciousness.

"What?" Hermione said, sitting up and blinking her eyes rapidly in disbelief.

"I heard you scream," Draco began. "So I followed the sound to the bathroom. You had collapsed on the floor next to the bathtub. Your eyes were closed and you were thrashing about like a mad woman...like...like you were trying to get up but something was holding you down."

"No," Hermione said, feeling tears sting her eyes. "I was in the bathtub! The water was filling...the ghost was holding me down...it was going to make me drown."

Draco shook his head. "There was no water in the bathtub. I managed to get you to stop moving long enough to pick you up and carry you back up here."

"How did you get in? The door was locked."

Again, Draco shook his head. "It was open."

"No," Hermione said softly. "No..." Tears flowed down her face.

Draco awkwardly stared at her. He couldn't just leave her like this, no matter how much he disliked her. He reluctantly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She buried her face in his wide shoulders, smothering her loud cries.

"Shhh," he said, petting her untamed brown hair. "It's okay. It's over now. Whatever happened back there is over now. Maybe we should just stay close to each other for the remainder of the night. You really scared me back there, Hermione."

She looked up to meet his eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said you really scared me."

"You called me Hermione."

"Oh," Draco said. "Am I not allowed to call you by your first name?"

"No, it was just kind of weird hearing you say my name." To his relief, a small smile broke out across her red, tear-stained face, immediately lighting up her delicate features.

Draco licked his lips, feeling an unusual warmth grow in the pit of his stomach. Had he ever noticed how pretty she was before now? Or how her hair, though it was untamed and bushy, seemed to frame her face perfectly? Or...how thin and pink her lips were?

Draco would never know what caused him to kiss Hermione Granger at that moment. He moved his face and brushed his lips across her own, causing both of them to gasp in surprise. His lips continued to linger against hers for a moment, waiting for her to respond.

All of the hidden feelings Hermione had kept locked within her heart spilled open as he kissed her. She pushed her face harder against his own, deepening the kiss. Her tongue grazed across his upper lip, requesting entrance. Draco groaned and opened his mouth. Their tongues began massaging each other sensually, mixing the tastes of their mouths together. Draco savored each moment, gently moving his hand up and down her back.

Hermione groaned from the back of her throat. Her body was responding to his touch in a way that she had never experienced with another person. A pleasant dampness grew between her legs, telling her what she wanted.

"Draco," she said, breaking the kiss. She hadn't even realized that some time during their snogging they had changed their position so that they were both laying horizontally on the bed sized sleeping bag. Draco's weight pressed into her lithe frame. She could feel his own arousal pressing into her upper thigh. He was just as ready for intimacy as she was.

"Yes?" Draco said breathlessly.

"I want you."

"I'm yours." Draco said, grazing his lips across her red cheek. "Be my girlfriend? Please? I don't care what other people think."

"Yes, of course," Hermione said, her eyes becoming wet with joy. This was all happening so fast, but it felt strangely right. She knew that she wouldn't regret it later.

"I want you," she repeated, this time more firmly. Draco gazed into her chocolate brown eyes, suddenly understanding what she meant.

"Hermione...are you sure? We just got together, are you sure you want to go this far so soon?"

"I'm sure."

"Once we do it, we can't take it back," he warned.

"I know. I want this experience with you, and only you. I'm educated, and I know how to protect myself."

He brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "I don't want you to think I'm pressuring you."

She rolled her eyes. "You're not. If anything, I'm the one pressuring you. Do you want to...be physically intimate with me?"

He nodded.

Hermione didn't say another word as she stood up and removed her clothing. Draco watched her lustfully as her well developed body came into view. Her breasts were deliciously full, with rosy, erect nipples that were practically begging to be licked and caressed. Her flat stomach was splattered with light freckles that led down to her wide hips, and her slender, hairless legs. His eyes rested on the patch of wet flesh between her legs. Her womanhood was mostly bare, except for a few wisps of dark brown hair located near her lips.

She felt suddenly shy as he stared at her. She turned away, her face tinted red, and placed her arm over her chest.

"Please," Draco said, approaching her. "Don't. You're perfect. Better than perfect, actually."

"How is that even possible?"

"You tell me," Draco said with a chuckle. "I suppose it's my turn now, eh?"

Hermione nodded eagerly. Her eyes widened with lust as Draco removed his shirt, exposing his Quidditch toned chest and arms. His pajama pants were the next to go, followed by his underwear. Hermione blushed a deep red when his erect manhood came into view. His shaft was long and thick with a slight curve near the head.

She wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders, pulling him into a passionate kiss. While their tongues moved viciously against each other, Hermione's right hand slithered down to Draco's manhood, where her forefinger lightly made contact with his head.

"Fuck," Draco groaned at the contact, thrusting his hips against her. She took his size in her hand and stroked him gently. She found that she liked the feeling of his aroused flesh in her small palm.

"Let's lay down," Draco murmured against her lips.

They did so. Draco was now on top of her, his manhood pressing into her wet entrance. She wrapped her legs around his waist, preparing herself for what was to come.

"Are you sure?" he asked a final time.

"I've never been more sure about anything in my whole life, Draco."

As he gazed into her eyes, which were passionate, dark, and intense with sexual desire, he knew she was being honest. He placed his head on her shoulder, and, putting his hands on the sides of her waist, slowly slid into her tight inner walls. Draco groaned as her tight, wet tunnel enveloped him pleasurably. Hermione arched her back against Draco in pain. A single tear stung her eye, but she blinked it away.

"I'm so sorry," Draco whispered, sensing her discomfort.

"It's okay," she said.

He didn't move within her for a few moments, which was very hard to do. He was tempted to start thrusting away, but knew he could never hurt her this way. Even if, in the past, he had hurt her verbally, he knew that now they were together, he could never bring himself to inflict any kind of pain on her. It killed him that he was the cause of her current discomfort.

"Oh," she finally spoke, wriggling beneath him. "Start moving."

He gently moved within her in a sensual back and forth motion. Her tight walls squished pleasurably around him, building a delicious friction. He moved his face to her breast, where he took the plump flesh in his mouth. He sucked passionately, sending shivers of ecstasy down Hermione's spine.

Draco felt her barrier break beneath him. She had just given him something that no other man would receive. Knowing this caused Draco to smile against her skin.

His member hit against her aroused clitoris with each thrust, making Hermione pant his name in pleasure. The pain she felt before was slowly dissolving, only to be replaced with a wonderful friction that made her feel as if her whole body was submerged in a cloud of pleasure.

She came with a whisper of his name. Her walls spasmed softly around his shaft, causing his own release. Draco grunted and squirted his seed deep within her womanhood, filling her up with his pearly white substance.

"Was I gentle enough?" he said after they had recovered from their orgasms.

"You were wonderful," Hermione said, raising his chin so he could look her in the eyes. "And now that we're together, we have plenty of time to perfect our lovemaking."

"What are we going to say to our friends when we return tomorrow morning?"

"The truth...?" It sounded more like a question. She looked at him, nervous to hear his response.

"That sounds good. We'll tell them that this time alone changed us. We'll tell them that we're together."

Hermione blushed and pecked her new boyfriend on the lips. "Whether they like it or not."

After several minutes of discussion (and cleaning up), they decided to leave the house early before another supernatural encounter could disturb them. They didn't know what tomorrow would bring - what their friends would think when they found out about their new relationship - but they didn't care, for as long as they were together, things would be all right.