Despite being Hermione's neighbor for most of his life, Derek had never had the courage to talk to her. He didn't have great talent with girls, and Hermione was his favorite girl and he didn't want to embarrass himself. He really thought she should have been placed in Ravenclaw with him. If she ever challenged him to a quiz, he would wave a white flag because she was so smart that there was no way he could win. Derek spent most of his time designing computer browsers, modifications, and cheats. It was his talent and he could do almost anything with a computer, leaving other Muggles in the dust, not to mention most witches and wizards who didn't even know what computers were. He took Muggle Studies for the grades that he could easily get, and also because he liked Hermione's idea of taking the class to see if there was anything he hadn't learned from his parents about technology. He got excellent marks, and he was proud of them. He just wasn't as good at writing as Hermione, and Derek both envied and loved her for that. He really loved everything about her, and he would sit in his dorm room daydreaming about ways that he could capture her affection. Of course, he knew that he was far too chicken, and that he didn't have enough self-confidence to go against Weasley.
Little did he know that his passion, technology, would score him his girl. Over the summer he frantically took every computer class he could find to catch up on his skills in the changing technological world that he could not access during the school year from Hogwarts. Every year, he tried in vain to connect to the Internet with his 3G device, but the magic in the air always screwed it up. On his first day of his first class that summer, he walked into the door of the computer lab of the nearest Muggle high school to his house...and straight into Hermione Granger. He helped to steady her, and mumbled an apology, shuffling past her and blushing all the way to the computer in the corner of the room. He set up his headset and settled in to wait for the instructor to show. There were only a few people total in the lab, and it was relatively cool.
"How's your summer going, Derek? I never thought I'd see you here! I'm doing this for extra credit in Professor Burbage's class, are you?" Hermione said from behind him, pulling up a chair to the computer next to him.
With a sudden spurt of confidence, he replied, "It's not too bad! I am actually taking this to catch up with the technology I can't access from Hogwarts. I'm what you would call a computer wizard!" He ended this with a wink at the wizard reference. "How's your vacation going? I haven't seen you about much!"
"That's right, you live right next door! After this, you should come over and help me set up my new computer! I really am dreadful at this sort of thing. Care to be my tutor?" Hermione was interrupted by the instructor stepping in. Derek nodded his agreement, and after the class, which was fairly boring, he helped Hermione set up her computer. He didn't splutter, or stammer, or blush. He was so very proud of himself and his newfound social skills. Hermione thanked him profusely, inviting him to come over the next day after class for a tutoring session on the material. Derek was reveling in this attention and started to think of a witty parting line when Hermione stopped his thoughts completely...by kissing his cheek softly in farewell.