DISCLAIMER: I am not the literary master mind known as J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own any of these characters.
*~*~*~*~
Hermione Granger was almost finished with her potion and decided to take a look around. As usual she was the furthest on with her potion.
‘Well except for Harry and that stupid Half-Blood Prince,’ she thought.
Ron’s potion was horrible, and Ernie’s wasn’t that much better. Then her eyes fell on him.
Why was it that every time she looked at him her breath caught and she broke out in goose bumps? Recently she had not been able to keep her eyes off of him. She couldn’t understand it…
*bell rings overhead*
“Earth to Hermione…heeelloooo….anyone in there?” Harry had noticed that his friend had all of a sudden zoned out and apparently hadn’t heard the bell signaling the end of class.
“Oi! Hermione!” yelled Harry.
“Wha…oh! Has class ended? Sorry, I just sort of…blanked.” She packed up her things, and left the dungeon with Harry. She couldn’t believe that she had zoned out like that.
‘I didn’t even finish my potion!’
Angry with herself for getting distracted, they entered the Great Hall and found Ron already started on his lunch. She began to eat but soon found her thoughts traveling back to the dungeons…to him…
“Well thank you very much for ignoring me Hermione,” said Ron. Hermione came out of her trance and looked around. Ron had a very irritated look on his face.
“Oh sorry Ron, I was…er…thinking about some homework that I believe I messed up on.” She really hoped this excuse would work.
Looking a little suspicious Ron continued, “Well I only asked you about five times whether or not you were going to come watch me practice today.”
She thought about it then said, “Sorry Ron, but I need to go to the library to finish an Arithmancy essay I’ve been working on.”
With no classes after lunch, Harry and Ron proceeded to the quidditch pitch for some practice; Ron had asked Harry to have extra training sessions with him. Hermione however, went to the library to finish her essay. She found her favorite table, sat down, and pulled out the essay that she was working on.
Forty minutes later, she had finished. After packing up her things she got up and headed for the door, intending to take a nap before dinner.
Not watching where she was walking, she ran right into someone heading into the library at the same instant she was leaving. She looked up and froze. She had run right into him…they both stood there staring at each other…him with a look of disgust…her with shock…
“Get out of my way you filthy little mudblood!”
Hermione stood transfixed. Then, abruptly coming to her senses, she ran flat out towards Gryffindor Tower, all the while her thoughts lingering on those electric blue eyes…
‘Why is Draco Malfoy having such and effect on me?’
*~*~*~*~
He had seen her staring at him during potions. He could not understand why though. Surely she had no idea. She couldn’t know…
Draco walked up and down the rows of books, in search of none in particular. He had only decided to come to the library out of pure boredom and exhaustion. He had been working night and day on the task the Dark Lord had given him but was hitting dead ends. Plus there was a distraction. He had been falling for her ever since they both had become prefects. But he couldn’t act like he had feelings for her.
He couldn’t let this happen. She is a mudblood for heaven’s sake! And she wouldn’t want him anyway. Her shocked face was enough for him to realize that she knew. She knew what he had decided to become…
*~*~*~*~
Dinner that night was very strange. Not only could she not stop thinking of her encounter with Draco, but she found herself staring over at the Slytherin table. A fact not lost on her two best friends, Harry and Ron.
“What in the bloody hell could be so interesting over there?” Ron was looking from Hermione to the Slytherins then back to Hermione.
“Nothing,” answered Hermione, quickly shifting her gaze back down to the fork held in her hand.
“Yeah, right,” said Harry who did not believe this for a second. “Who exactly are you staring at? Because in potions you were completely gone, and you’ve just left us again, and each time you’ve been staring in the direction of Draco Malfoy.” Not being able to look away from Harry’s accusing glare, Hermione just blinked.
‘I’ve been staring! What is wrong with me?’
“What would I be staring at Malfoy for?” she asked Harry.
“I don’t know but that sure looked to be what you were doing.” answered Harry.
He thought he understood why she had been staring. No matter what she said, Harry knew that Malfoy had been attracting Hermione’s attention lately. Whether or not Malfoy had noticed was a different story…
Ron looked completely confused and shocked. He hadn’t noticed that Malfoy was in Hermione’s line of sight. And obviously Harry knew something he didn’t. He kicked himself for always being so slow on the uptake.
“Hermione…you don’t,” he paused not knowing how to continue, “you don’t…like Malfoy, do you?”
‘Like Malfoy…LIKE Malfoy!?...Do I like Malfoy?’
“I…no…of course I don’t like Malfoy Ronald! How could you ever suggest such a thing?”
The use of his full first name was enough to convince him, and Ron decided to drop the subject. Harry however gave Hermione a look that suggested disbelief, but decided not to continue with it.
‘I’m in a right spot now’ thought Hermione, as she finished her dinner.
Once done, she told Harry and Ron that she was going to go to bed early, and with that got up and started towards the doors of the great hall.
*~*~*~*~
He sat there and watched as she got up and walked out of the great hall. He couldn’t understand it. She had been staring at him all through dinner, until apparently Potter and Weasley had noticed. Well, he knew Weasley was too daft to catch on, but he was uncomfortably aware that Potter might know why Granger had been staring at him.
‘This isn’t good’ he thought
He couldn’t let Granger tell Potter what he was. The Dark Lord would not be pleased if he was found out. He was starting to wish that he had never agreed to take the dark mark, but it was too late now…
‘Wait a moment,’ he thought. ‘Granger’s not stupid. If she knew that I had become a death eater she would have reported me! No, that couldn’t be why she’s been staring at me…unless…no. no, that would never happen. She would never…’
Draco got up and headed towards the doors of the great hall. Ignoring the question of “Where are you going Draco?” from Pansy, he made his way out of the great hall and down towards his dungeon common room