Hermione was climbing the stairs to the owlery, then she stopped. She heard someone in there

she opened the door revealing Draco. She quickly shut the door and hurried back down the stairs

Having heard her, he looked over, but she was already gone.
She paused at the end of the stairs turned around, and started climbing the stairs again, but quieter this time

Draco sighs, watching the grounds. He doesn't notice you this time.
She quietly opens the door but it creaks, and she freezes

Draco turns and upon seeing her, he looks away, sad.

Hermione, realising she's been caught, goes up to the window and watches the grounds while standing next to him.
"What are you doing granger?" He demands.

"oh, I uh," she stammers " I, uh, was gonna send a letter to uh--" Something attacked her from behind. Draco's eyes widened in alarm, as he struggled to get a giant eagle owl off of her. Draco manages to push it off and it flies away but he loses his balance and falls on top of Hermione, who screams
He quickly gets up. "Sorry about Scorpius. I guess he knows a filthy mudblood when he sees one." Draco says, but his voice lacks his usual malice, as he blushes profusely.
"The owl-- its name is scorpius?" she says
while blushing He nods. "My owl." He adds. She stammers "well um I guess I have to go now, um my owls are not here" she starts for the door. Ron steps through the door. "What are you doing with Hermione?" He snarls at Draco, and Draco quickly draws his wand. 
"Be careful Weasley." He snaps back

Hermione steps between them just as Ron sends a stunning spell at Draco and she falls to the ground

Draco stuns Ron and rushes to Hermione's side. At first, temptation tugs at him, but instead, he uses the counter curse.

Hermione's eyes flutter and she groans softly
"Are you alright?" Draco asks before he remembers he doesn't like her. 
"Yes," she says while muttering the counter curse for Ron. Draco immediately draws his wand again.
 "Happy Weasley? You cursed your little girlfriend." Draco sneered. 
"Go jump off the astronomy tower, git." Ron retorts, leaving. Draco freezes. 
"That wasn't very nice of you, and besides, I'm not his girlfriend. He likes Lavender Brown" Hermione huffs before going to the door to leave the room

Draco follows her. "Granger, wait. Don't go. I do need to talk to you." Draco says urgently.

"What ?" she says, annoyed
"I wanted to ask you- if you maybe wanted to go to the Yule ball with me. I'll wear red if you agree." He asked.
"Oh!" Hermione says, blushing red ̈"̈Yea, I'd go to the ball with you" He smiles. "I'll see you there then, Hermione." He winks and rushes off.

Hermione stares in the direction Draco went until Harry bumped into her and she started. "Hermione? What are you doing?" Harry asked, getting Hedwig's attention.
"́Oh, nothing," Hermione replies dreamily. Harry looks at her curiously as he ties his letter to Hedwig's leg. As Hedwig takes off, Harry turns back to her. "Hermione, you know you're missing breakfast, right?" He asks.

On the night of the Yule Ball, Draco is changing the colour of his dress robes to Scarlet, just like he'd promised. he slicks back his hair, and heads down to the great hall, waiting for Hermione. Parvati is there with Zabini, Glaring at Draco. He had never asked her. Hermione enters the room. She wore dress robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and her usually bushy hair was made sleek and shiny by Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head Draco held out his arm for Hermione, making everyone gasp in shock.
"̈The Slytherin is going with the geek?!" Parvati whisper shouts to Lavender. "Wanna put on a show for these gits?" He whispers to Hermione.
"̈Lets do that" Hermione replies. Draco smiles, and he takes her hand, leading her to the dance floor, his hands on her waist, as he guides her in an elegant waltz. Harry and Ron caught sight of them, and their jaws dropped.
"Is that Hermione?!" Ron says to Harry. Harry nods, in shock. Draco smiles at them and his attention returns to Hermione. Hermione and Draco both lean in at the same time and Draco trips on Hermione's dress, and they kiss. Draco pulls back after a moment and blushes. "I apologize. I don't mean to rush things." He mumbles quickly.
"It's ok. I liked it" Hermione says, equally red.
"Fuck" Harry says.
Draco smiles. He pulls her close and kisses her for real this time. It feels like it lasts forever. When he does pull away, they notice how quiet the great hall got. Everyone is staring. Eventually, Ron storms over, and Punches Draco across the face. "You'll regret this Weasley," Draco warns. Ron Charges at him again. Draco just steps out of the way, watching as Ron stumbles into the snack table.

--published here--

Ron stumbles toward Draco and Hermione steps between them and socks Ron in the jaw. Then she takes Draco's hand and takes him to his dorm.
"W-What are we doing?!" Draco stammers.
"I didn't know you were that innocent, Draco" Hermione smiles mischievously. Draco quickly pushed her into a chamber, as Snape cornered him. Snape hadn't noticed Hermione. "What do you think you're doing, Mr Malfoy?" Snape demanded coldly. "I don't know what you mean," Draco responded slyly. "You and Granger. The Dark Lord will kill you. Do you intend to make me break my promise to your mother?" Snape demanded. "I can handle myself, professor. Now, I believe Karkaroff was looking for you." Draco responded coolly. With one last glance at Draco, Snape swept off.
"So what are we really doing here? This is my dorm room" Draco asks. He looked back at Hermione, blushing.
"It's your choice," Hermione replies. He smiles. He puts his hands around her waist and kisses her softly.
Hermione looks toward the bed, and blushes, looking away quickly. He notices. "Oh, Granger, you aren't as innocent as I thought." He whispers, leading her to it. Hermione smiles, blushing harder.
"You seem to be reading my mind," she says seductively. "Occlumency is a favourite subject of mine." He whispers, holding her to him. The door bursts open and they whirl around.
"Aha" Zabini Blaise said. He smirked at Draco. "I knew you naughty children were up to something." He laughs. Draco and Hermione just stared wide-eyed at Zabini, saying nothing. Zabini laughed again. "Zabini, you ruin everything." Draco snaps, blushing.
"Ok, that's not true," Zabini protested
"Name one time you haven't ruined something then!" Draco says.
"Um, well-- Uh," Zabini tried to answer. Draco smirked and then left. Zabini couldn't meet Hermione's eyes and just looked at the ground awkwardly.
"What a wonderful life you must lead" Hermione scoffed and stomped out in search of Draco. He'd gone to the common room, and he looked pissed.
"What's wrong Draco-pie," Pansy says as she sidles up to him. "Go away, Pansy." Draco snapped, pushing her away, but Pansy still clings to him.
"Draco, what in the world are you doing?!" Hermione shouts from across the common room. "Hermione, wait!" Draco says, struggling against Pansy. "He never loved you, Granger! It was all a ploy. Humiliating isn't it." Pansy sneers. Draco looks at her, pleadingly.
"I hate your GUTS, Malfoy! What were you tHiNkInG, you could bloody well make me infatuated with you? Well, it worked, got and now what? It's all your bloody fault, and you have the nerve to act all innocent and blushing like your so guiltless!!! Don't you go and look so chuffed! It's my bloody heart we're talking about? Why do I waste my time on you? I'll go and find someone who actually cares about me, not my body!" Hermione practically screams and storms out of the room.
-- published here --
Draco turns on a sneering Pansy. "Happy? You have no idea what you're doing." Draco snapped at her, running after Hermione.
"What do you want?!" Hermione whirls around to find Draco's hand on her shoulder. She pushes it off and glowers at Draco "I said, what. Do. You. Want?!" He stared at her, his eyes filled with tears. "Pansy lied to you. She's just jealous of you. I broke up with her to be with you." Draco admits.
"Really? Oh. Maybe you should just be with her then. Because I know I don't deserve this," Hermione turns back around and stomps away.
"Bad luck mate, Hermione holds grudges super long," Harry says, stepping out of the shadows, "What did you do to offend her?" Harry asked. "Oh buzz off Potter. It's none of your bloody business." Draco snapped.
"Well, I'll find out soon enough from Hermione, but I want to hear both sides of the story," Harry replies calmly. Draco pushes past Harry, back down the stairs to the Dungeons.
Hermione stalks back to the common room, and on the way bumps into harry. "Hermione, I've been looking for you. Wanna talk?" He asked.
" If it's about that slimy piece of snake scum, then NO," she replied. "It is. I wanted to know why you're so mad. You seemed happy at the ball." Harry says.
"Drace wanted me for my body. As soon as my back was turned, he was all over that dipshit, Pansy Parkinson" Hermione explained. Harry was furious. "That's why I never trusted Malfoy." He seethed. On the way to the common room, they also bumped into Ron! Ron smiled at her. "Back so soon?" He asked.
"From what?" Hermione asked, confused. 
"The yule ball," Ron said, as though Hermione were a little kid. Ron had a piece of parchment in his hand, and he seemed to be trying to hide it.
"Oh. Yeah. So, what's that piece of paper?" Hermione said quickly. "Oh, uh, Potions homework. Yeah. I was just going to go talk to Harry about it." Ron says nervously. 
"Mhm. We both know Harry is horrible at potions. Let me see the homework. I can help you with it," Hermione replies. "Oh no that's okay," Ron replies, already backing away.
"Ron, give it to me!" she says, snatching it out of his hand. It was a letter from Pansy, regarding her and Ron's plans to split Draco and Hermione up. Hermione hands it to Harry, who in turn punches Ron in the face.
"You bloody douchebag!" Harry yells.
"How could you?! I thought we were friends!" Hermione shouts at him. "You're fraternizing with the enemy, Hermione. He's a Slytherin! You are a Gryffindor. His father is a death eater, you're a mudblood!" Ron replied.
"You- you complete ass!" Hermione says as she stalks away in search of Draco. Draco was near the whomping willow, contemplating death by the branches. 
--published here--
"Draco? I-" Hermione faltered. He turned. "What Granger? You made it clear what you think of me." Draco said softly.
"I-I'm sorry," Hermione said. "No, you aren't, Granger. I tried. No wonder my family has hated people like you. You'll always assume the worst in me." Draco replied.
Hermione burst into tears and ran away, dropping Ron's note behind her. Harry saw her, and he followed behind her.
"Hey, are you okay?" Harry says softly.
"Go away, Harry," Hermoine says, her voice muffled with tears.
Harry thinks for a moment, then walks away in search of Ron. Draco had beat him to it. "The bloody hell were you thinking Weasely?!" He demanded.

Joker woke up with a start. He looked in the mirror and realised he had no makeup on. He smiled. This way, no one would recognize him. He got off the bed and opened the door of his flat.

Batman gazed at the city. For once, the sirens didn't go off. There was silence. He knew he was helping the city, but he also knew his work wasn't over. And yet, he couldn't go forever. He'd have to pass on the mantle.

Joker cries out in frustration. His lipstick is not covering up all the grey. No matter. Joker finished putting it on and stepped back to see himself in the mirror, forgetting he was on the top of a building. The last thought that went through his head before he blacked out was "Oh my god, I'm completely recognizable"

Batman flew through the skies, his cape into bat wings, and he saw something familiar. At first, a flash of lime green, and he realized, Joker was atop a building. "Great. He's probably planning bombs." Batman thought as he glided over.

Joker wakes up and is flying through the air in a black figure's arms. "C-c-catwoman?" he stutters before blacking out again.

Batman took Joker to the Batcave, where he laid him on a couch, gently binding him to it so that Joker wouldn't hurt Alfred. He examined the unconscious clown carefully, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Aaaa-a-a-ah...?" Joker stopped screaming and looked around. He was tied up, and he hurt all over. 
"Where am I?" he muttered to himself. He was on a black loveseat sofa, and he was in a cave. Suddenly someone appeared from a dark space. And it was Batman.

"Joker, calm down," Batman said firmly, taking Joker's pulse, and then walking away. Batman typed something in on his computer, and then made a phone call, before disappearing again.

Joker smiled as soon as Batman walked away. He never got captured without escape methods. Using the knife he hid in his mouth, he sawed away at his binds. He was out before anyone knew it. He washed off the makeup, made himself unrecognizable, and admitted himself to a hospital.

When Batman returned, he immediately realized Joker had left. Batman drove through the city, looking for the clown. Alfred sent him a text. "It was on the news that someone with the same cuts and bruises admitted himself to the Avery Infirmary." The text read. Batman made his way there. The front desk lady led him to Joker on request. "Joker, I'm trying to help you, and you're making that difficult." Batman sighed, as he opened the door.

Joker smiled to himself. He'd admitted himself to every clinic in Gotham. He limped back to his apartment, locked the door, and collapsed into bed. Nobody would find him here, and he could lay low for a month. He had enough supplies to last that long, and his injuries would heal by then. He could be wreaking havoc now, but instead, he had chosen to fall off a roof and get captured. Stupid.

Somehow, Joker kept evading Batman, but no matter. Security cams had found him, going to an apartment. Batman crept in and found a sleeping Joker. Batman stayed by his side all through the night.

Joker woke up. He hurt all over. With a start, he realised someone was sitting next to the bed. He eased himself into a sitting position and found Batman next to him in a deep sleep. Disgusted, he stood up, and wincing, he unmasked Batman.
"Bruce Wayne?!" exclaimed shockingly. Batman wakes up, dazed. 

Batman's heart dropped. He snatched back his mask. "Joker, if you tell anyone I promise I'll end you. I don't even care." Batman snapped. Though, he was secretly glad Joker knew. He'd never admit that of course.

"YOU will end ME?" Joker chuckled. "Wow, I mean I guess you could, but not before it got out. I'll not tell on one condition." Joker paused dramatically.
"You be my slave."

Batman took a Batarang and pressed the blade to Joker's throat. "Never," Batman whispered. He knew he wouldn't be able to do this, but he'd rather not be enslaved by the clown. There was too much darkness behind him, but even then, Batman considered Joker's offer.

"Oh, well," Joker said, nimbly leaping onto the windowsill while grimacing in pain, "Guess your secrets gonna be out soon. Bruce Wayne!" He leapt out the window, meaning to gracefully land on the ground, but something stopped him. He gasped in agony because there was a firm grip on one of the bruises on his arm. "OW!" he shouted, his arm slowly being ripped out of its socket 

Batman pulled Joker back through the window and made him lay down again. "I apologize if that hurt. It was not my intention." Batman said. He looked at the clown, concerned. "Joker, I won't be your slave. Try and find something else, before you decide you want me to kill you." The bat adds, hopeful.

"Fine lemme think," Joker said. He thought carefully. Then a evil smile spread across his face. "Be. My. Boyfriend!" he declared, smiling.

Batman considered this. That would be easy. "Alright. I'll do that." Batman said, putting up his Batarang. He sighed, nervously, and then had Joker lay back down again, and made sure Joker was comfortable.

"W-what? I didn't realise you'd say yes to that!" Joker stammered out. He must not fall asleep. Don't fall asleep. Who knows what batman would do while he was unconscious. But he could feel his eyes sliding shut.
"Don't fall asleep" he whispered, before drifting off.

Batman was on his phone most of the night. He would occasionally glance at Joker. He had an uneasy feeling about this. Still, it was better than killing Joker. Or having his identity leaked. Joker was peaceful in his sleep, relaxed. Batman had never seen that side of him. Never seen Joker so at ease. And then batman suddenly tensed up.

"No catwoman. No, no no no no. I really actually like Batman.... I wish he was my boyfriend. For real!... That's why I can't date you.... No, don't tell him that..... I swear I'll do anything. Don't tell him I like him." Joker was reliving a conversation with Catwoman that he had a week ago. He was dreaming, unaware that he was speaking out loud. Unaware that batman could hear him.

Batman looked at Joker. He was stirring a bit. Batman gently stroked his hair, with the hope he'd calm him. And yet, he couldn't help but feel flattered by his words. Joker did like him. He did want him. Batman decided to tread carefully, so as not to break the clown.

Joker woke up with a start. 
"Again?" He said. "I had that dream again?" 
He got off the bed and ran his hand through his hair. He went to the closet and pulled out some clothes and then he remembered. He remembered what happened yesterday. Slowly, he turned around. 

Batman wasn't in the bed but the faint sounds from the kitchen and a heavenly smell went through the house. Joker had changed and he was making pancakes.

Joker set the pancakes on the plate and put the on the table. He took a bowl and poured some milk in, then the cereal and started eating. Batman walked in.
"Hey." Joker said through bites.

Batman smiled. "Hey." He says. He looks at Joker. His hair is messy, and his eyeliner has ran, but Batman liked him better this way. Relaxed. Calm. Joker seemed happy in a way Batman had never seen. 

Joker eat his cereal, unaware that batman was looking at him. He looked up "What?"
"Huh?" Batman said.
"Why you staring at me like that?"
Batman reddened "I- I dunno."

--published here--

Batman looked away, hiding his embarrassment. Joker had seen. "I'm going to have to go soon. I have some stuff to do." He tells Joker, checking his phone.

"What? No. No. You can't leave." Joker said.
"Wait what? Why?" said Batman, looking up from his phone.
"Cause you haven't had breakfast yet!" Joker says, pointing to the plate of pancakes.
"Oh. Well. Sorry but it's really urgent." Batman said quickly. Then he jumped out of the window.

As he glided over the city, he couldn't help but think of Joker. He missed him. He wondered why. He'd never really thought about Joker as a romantic partner, but now that's what Joker was to him.