Hermione looked up at the clock. 10:25. Darn, she thought, she had read through dinner. She grabbed the large stack of books that she had selected, and exited the library, staggering slightly under the weight of her books. She was walking down the stairs slowly and clumsily, trying to keep her massive pile of books balanced. Suddenly she missed a step, the first book fell, then the second, and then the whole pile gave way, taking Hermione down with it. She braced herself, waiting for her body to hit the cold stone floor. But it didn't, instead she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. She gasped in surprise and relief. Eyes still closed, she became aware of the same pair of strong arms lifting her to her feet. She opened her eyes and found herself looking up at the smirking face of Draco Malfoy.
He needed to clear his head. The astronomy homework was really getting to him. He set his homework down and slipped out of the dormitory. Why on earth do people choose to spend their entire lives looking stars through a telescope, Draco thought as he rounded a corner, it seemed so dull, so- all of a sudden a large flurry of books and brown hair came crashing down. He instinctively grabbed the brunette girl around the waist to keep her from hitting the ground. He helped her onto her feet and saw that the girl was none other than Hermione Granger. Of course, she wasn't at dinner so she must have been in the library, only Hermione would skip a meal to read. She was a notorious know-it-all, and had been part of the Famous Trio. She was the only one to come back to school and finish her education as a NEWT student. They had always a mutual dislike for one another but recently there had been a shift, he no longer loathed her, he didn't ignore her, or treat her poorly. Draco found himself thinking of her warm brown eyes, the way her eyebrows scrunched together when she was reading, and the kind, loving expression that came to her face when she smiled, oh and her smile. That was one heck of a smile, Draco thought to himself on his way back to his dormitory after running into Hermione. Little did Draco know that he was slowly, painfully, falling for Hermione Granger.