Chapter One

Hermione Granger looked down at what she had scrawled on the first page of her Potions essay and sighed. It was no use. She just wasn't concentrating at this particular time. The only thing she'd be able to write an A-grade essay on would be the ways in which Draco Malfoy mystified her. She sighed more loudly at the thought of his name and instantly regretted it as Harry Potter leaned towards her and looked at the single sentence she'd written that hour.

"Mione, honey, are you ok? You seem distant and your Potions essay looks the same as it did yesterday."

"You don't seem to be yourself this week" chirped Ginny

"Yeah you haven't finished your homework yet" added Ron to which Ginny shot him a glare.

"I know. I don't know what's wrong with me" replied Hermione sullenly.

"Maybe you need to take some time out. We're worried about you, we don't want you to burn out especially cause we have NEWTs this year. Be careful ok?" said Harry. Ginny and Ron nodded in agreement.

"I will and thanks for your concern, guys. Really, thank you." Hermione smiled, she had the greatest friends to ever grace the Wizarding world. Her eyes and thoughts drifted back to Draco Malfoy and any hope to finish her essay was soon diminished.

At present he was leaning against the seventh year common room doorframe. From the appearance of his face, she guessed he had been running. He did that, all the time, three times around the Quidditch pitch every now and then. No one knew his reasons behind it because his body was so perfect and worshipped by every girl at Hogwarts. Hell, even the female teachers were suspected to have lusted over him. His face was flushed, trickles of sweat falling from where his pale forehead met his platinum blond hair, down to his smooth and perfect jaw line. His eyes were closed with furrowed eyebrows and he looked as if he was in pain. She wanted desperately to know what was on his mind and instantly pitied him. She kept watching, knowing that he would soon reveal his enchantingly sexy eyes. Yes, there. The hottest eyes in the school, possibly the world: grey, a dark bluey grey – like no other.

He looked fine now, not in pain as he casually strolled over to the Slytherin table. She scanned the row furthest away, stopping when she saw the black haired boy and girl whom he always placed himself between. Sure enough there was a space between them. He had reached the chair by now and as he leant back into it, he wiped the sweat from his face knowing that every girl wanted to be the serviette he had scrunched in his dark grey jean-wearing lap. He looked bored, possibly exhausted, as the black haired girl next to him instinctively draped her arm around his shoulder and stroked his jaw.

Suddenly there they were: his startling eyes, upon hers, piercing them. Her eyes widened and she felt like she would melt to the ground. Praying that her resistance could last, she diverted her gaze. He kept staring, burning a hole through her, daring her to look at him again. In a sudden lapse of resistance, she looked back, making her fatal mistake. The smirk: his signature trademark grabbed hold of her. Everyone seated around him turned to look at who his smirk was intended at, suppressing grins when they saw her, Hermione Granger.

"Graaaanger do come over here would you… Now."

She gasped. Her whole body stiffened with shock. It was bad enough she had been spotted staring at him, now he wanted to embarrass her in front of the seventh years that inhabited the common room. Her body sank lower in her chair, as the rest of the year looked over at her. Her face was as red as Ron's hair; his shocked expression nearly causing him to empty the contents of his mouth back onto his plate. Hermione turned to look up at her other friend: raven-haired, emerald eyes, just as gorgeous as his blond haired nemesis. Harry gave her a look of sympathy and she felt his hand rest on her knee, squeezing it.

"You can do it Mione, if you need me just look back at me, okay?"

She looked into his eyes once again and recognised in them what she knew so clearly as pity. She wished she had his invisibility cloak right now. Hermione closed her eyes to blink away the tears that were threatening to hinder her vision and thoughts, and took a deep breath. Slowly, she rose out of her seat, and her eyes involuntarily locked with the boy who haunted her thoughts and dreams. If he was surprised, his smirk portrayed otherwise. She walked down her aisle, everyone watching now, towards the boy every girl wanted as much as she did, Draco Malfoy.