Hi everyone! This is a one-shot that has been sitting in my head and partly in an old notebook for years now. It's just a little fun, fluff and laughs. It's complete as it is, so no begging for continuation, okay? =) Also, please do review, point out any mistakes and give constructive criticism where it's due. I've got a few more ideas floating around for future one-shots/possibly short stories, so any help on my writing style or grammar etc would be indeed very much appreciated.

This fic is also dedicated to the awesome craaazyaboutMalfoy who's story I've been beta-reading and who managed to get me back to being more active and actually publishing something after a loooooong time.

A disclaimer just in case: the characters and settings in the story don't belong to me, but to the amazing J. , who owns all of Harry Potter, including Draco, that lucky woman. XD

And finally, go read! Enjoy, toodles! ^^

Puzzles

The day had been a success. His lessons had gone well and he had gained yet another invitation to an unknown 6th year Slytherin's bed. So with a quiet whistle and a slight bounce in his usual swag, Draco was walking down the corridor towards his, well, their dorm. But even the fact that the ever-nagging witch was waiting for him there couldn't dampen his mood today. It must have been the sun that had come out to melt the winter snow and blind the students with its brightness. Even since the beginning of the eighth school year he had returned to finish, the weather had been gloomy, grey, and overall miserable.

What made it even worse, he had been made Head Boy. It wouldn't have been that bad, had it not come as a double package with that annoyingly optimistic Granger tied up inside. He had protested at first, refusing to stay in one dorm with her, no matter that his prejudices towards her had ever so slightly diminished since the war and the Battle of Hogwarts. But for fucks sake, it was still Granger, and to keep his dignity he had avoided the dorm for the first week, sharing a bed with different Slytherin girls.

After that one week, though, he had understood that it was pointless and quite tiring living the was he was at that moment, plus, the number of girls still willing to let him sleep with them was dwindling and so he grudgingly returned to the Heads' dorm. Granger had by that time, of curse, made herself feel at home and the place was full of her. Her things, her smell, herself. Sitting comfortably on the couch in the small living room area, she was reading ("So typical", he thought) yet another book. She'd barely looked at him when he'd barged in, his things floating behind him in the air. This, of course, had irritated him even more and the two had ended up blasting each other with spells. Harmless, but hurtful nevertheless.

The next few weeks had gone by with more blasted chairs, plates and walls, but by the end of the third week the place was clean and quiet again. With that began the ignoring period. "Not that it was my fault," he mused while practically skipping towards the dorm. She had started it. The brunette witch had come in that evening and stormed straight into her bedroom without even sparing a disgusted glance at him. Draco had spent the rest of the evening sneering and shooting spells at her door, but to no avail. The door had stayed closed and the room quiet.

He'd tried to talk, or rather, insult her the next morning, but he had gotten no answer. She'd whooshed into the tiny kitchenette, made her coffee as usual and then rushed out. No words, no looks, no nothing. It was as if he didn't exist. This made him angry at first, but after a few days of uselessly trying to gain her attention he gave up and decided to hit her with her own spell. He began to ignore her. For a while they managed to live an almost normal life pretending the other wasn't there, when Professor McGonagall, that old hag, had decided it would be fun to see how they react when she paired the two up for a project. They had to talk to each other now, or they wouldn't have been able to complete the task.

So, grudgingly, the words came out again. Short, one-word sentences and answers at first, but after some time they found that they make fairly good partners, being the two best students in the whole school. Draco suddenly found himself unable to insult her any more. The word "mudblood" just refused to leave his mouth. He guessed it was the late-night conversations and the comfortable way she kept herself up when around him that had made him see more in her than just a person with muggle parents.

So, long story short, he now relatively tolerated her, though they still bickered sometimes, mostly, about nothing important, just for the sake of familiarity. And even that started to seem pointless. Draco didn't exactly know what was happening and that made him moody, but not today. Today he was gay and bouncy, all full of sunshine, butterflies and the rest of that bullshit. So when the door to their dorm opened, he smugly walked in, spotting her sitting behind the coffee table, doing something he couldn't quite see.

"Good afternoon, Granger," he drawled in his usual voice, with a hint of a smile.

"Hi," she mumbled back, not turning to face him, but instead continuing that mysterious activity she was engaged in. Draco frowned and walked around the couch and the table to see her sitting behind a huge bunch of little colourful paper pieces littered all over the place. Some of them were laying in an order, revealing a picture of an eye of some animal. He stared at the mess, then at Granger searching through a big pile of the pieces, then back at the small eye, and sat down opposite her, completely dumbfounded.

"What is this mess? Did you rip a book of yours apart or something?" he sneered, watching for Granger's reaction. She merely sighed, placed one piece next to another and so completed a picture of a flower. Then she looked up at the young silver-blonde wizard and arched an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you've never seen a jigsaw puzzle," she said, noting how his expression turned even more confused than before.

"A bloody what?"

"A jigsaw puzzle." The smart-arse witch pronounced the two words very clearly, like talking to a small child. He frowned at her intonation, but didn't say anything. Instead he reached out his hand and tentatively took a piece between his thumb and forefinger. It was thicker than it had seemed from further away, and not at all a perfect square – there were holes on two sides and outcroppings to match the holes on the opposite edges. He slowly twirled the piece between his fingers, then raised his eyes to find an amused-looking Granger watching him.

"What are you ogling at?" he spat, throwing the piece back into the pile and feeling slightly ashamed and angry at the thought that the witch had found a glitch in his knowledge.

Hermione just smiled lightly in answer and finished putting together an ear. Draco sat, fuming, for about 30 seconds, then stood up abruptly and stomped off to his bedroom. And there he thought the day had been just fine.

Hermione was kneeling in front of the low table, reaching for a puzzle piece on the far side of the table. The puzzle as almost done. Just a few more pieces and her favourite picture from childhood would be complete again.

She was so intent on reaching that piece without having to move from her position she didn't even notice the blonde wizard standing to the side, smirking at her attempts. Suddenly he moved like the snake he was, and grabbed the exact piece she was trying to get. Furious at him for ruining her moment, she stood up only to see him kneel down, look at the almost-complete puzzle, and, without hesitation, place the piece where it was supposed to go. She was so surprised she even forgot her anger towards him.

"Shut your mouth, Granger, you look like you just saw You-Know-Who come back from the dead," Malfoy smirked, turned on his heel, and left the dorm.

The auburn-haired witch, still standing, quickly shut her mouth and slightly frowned at the closed door. What was that all about?

The magically frozen picture was now adorning the dorm wall, right beside her full bookcase. As much as Draco hated to admit it, it did look quite lovely, even if it didn't move as he was used to. Plus, from one of his counting sessions, he had deduced the piece had 3000 small parts, and he'd have been hard-pressed to say he wasn't a bit impressed with how quickly she'd managed to put the thing together beside all the workload they were constantly getting from their Professors.

"What are you staring at?"

The icy blonde jumped, silver-grey eyes widening at the soft voice that suddenly pierced the silent room. He whirled around only to find her leaning on the back of the couch, looking at him with a strange look in her eyes. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it sure did look like fascination.

"What are you doing sneaking up on people like that?" he shot back, quickly gathering his wits and composure.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Neither did you."

Silence.

"Alright," she gave up first. "I came in quite normally, but you were so engrossed in staring at my puzzle, you must have missed it."

Draco frowned. Was he really losing his senses or had he so grown accustomed to living in close quarters with her that the witch's comings and goings didn't even register with him at times? He made a mental note to be more on guard when in the dorm whilst saying: "Not that it's any of your business, but I was just thinking – why waste all the time putting this thing together when you could just wave your wand and be done with it in two seconds?"

Now it was Granger's turn to frown, nibbling on her lower lip. Evidently the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Typical muggle-borns. Still not used to having magic help through all those boringly mundane activities. He sneered and was about to make a remark to that extent when she opened her mouth.

"Well, I never thought of using magic because I've been putting the puzzles together like this since childhood. My mother always used to tell me they helped with hand and eye coordination, not that that made much sense back when I was still small..." she smiled fondly over some memory from the past, staring into space. Draco had to grudgingly admit the small smile suited her. It's like her features softened into something he had no right to see in front of him, not after everything he'd put her through all the years before. It made his skin itch uncomfortably and he reverted his eyes quickly.

"I guess they do help, not just the coordination but also with memory, since if you remember seeing a piece somewhere in a certain spot in the pile, you'll have better chance of finding it when your memory's working good," she mused on, not noticing the junior Malfoy's slight discomfort.

"And it's always immensely satisfying once you finish a puzzle. I'm keeping the one on the wall as long as I'm working on the next one, and then I'll switch them out," she finished, proudly looking at her work.

Draco still didn't quite understand where the point of the whole thing was, but since he had no other questions in his mind, he simply shrugged.

"Bloody mental, if you ask me," he finally mumbled, though the remark was so half-hearted that he cursed himself silently,making his feet move him towards his bedroom door before the whole situation got even worse. He was almost there when her voice stopped him.

"If you want, you can help me with the next piece... I... I think you might find it interesting once you try it..." her voice died out at the end, as if she wasn't sure why she was saying that.

The cold wizard scoffed: "Right, let me know when hell freezes over and maybe I'll bloody will," then continued his walk and slammed the door, trying to make up for his stumble back in the living room, and for the time last week where he'd placed that piece into the puzzle. He had no idea what on earth had made him do it, but he couldn't very well turn back the time, so what was done was done.

What on earth had possessed her to ask him for his help? Hermione shook her head as she poured out the pieces for her next puzzle onto the table the next day.

She had found him standing still in the middle of the room, staring at her hanging puzzle. He'd looked so peaceful, just watching it, that she'd taken the chance to really look at him. Obviously he was good-looking, what with his rugged, though slight Quidditch build, white-blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, but she'd never really seen him without a condescending sneer or an angry look. Without the ever-there frown he suddenly looked much younger, vulnerable, even, and she felt something tugging at her heart. Shaking her head, she'd thrown the not-quite-formed thoughts out of her mind and opened her mouth.

And now there she was, with burning cheeks, embarrassed to even have asked, sorting similar colours into different piles and putting aside all the frame pieces. She loved puzzles, it was always really peaceful putting them together and somehow it helped her organize her own thoughts and problems in her mind during.

The door to the dorm opened and Draco walked in, his usual infuriating sneer on his face. She sighed inwardly and continued to set up the puzzle, pretending not to notice his presence. She expected him to bring one of his usual comments, or at least bang around the dorm a bit before disappearing into his bedroom, but when the footsteps stopped at the end of the couch and silence ensued, she looked up from her work, intrigued.

"What are you staring at?"

He imitated her voice in a childish manner, sniggering slightly at the end.

This time Hermione sighed out loud, turned back to her work and said: "Nothing, just thought there was an actual person standing there, but it's just you."

Hurtful. That shouldn't have hurt as much as it did, but somehow it did. Angry, he turned on his heel, then thought better of it and plopped down in an armchair.

"Well, then, you don't mind just me sitting right here, do you?" he sneered at her the best he could, trying to gauge a reaction. The last weeks had been way too civil and he needed one of their clashes badly. "Oh, don't mind me, I'll just watch your stupidly pointless failing with this puzzle stuff." For good measure he drew out his wand, slowly twirling it in his hands whilst staring at her.

She was decidedly ignoring him. Fine. Be that way. He'd get an answer out of her soon enough.

"Where did that stuff come from anyway, a trash bin? From the look of it it has to be ancient."

No answer.

"I bet you had to cut it up yourself first, didn't you? Without magic and all..."

An amused scoff and following silence.

"What do the muggles use for that anyway? What are they called again, sensors?"

A small giggle. "They're called scissors."

"Well look who is talking again. Scissors. What a pathetic name. Suits for a pathetic muggle object."

Silence again. It was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Bet you're all used to feeling like a slave, having to do everything on your own, taking ages for something that could be done in a second."

A slight annoyed frown, but nothing more.

"Bet your parents had to work months to allow you to even have these..." It was as far as he got because her head had shot up, an angry look on her face. Finally.

"Let's make one thing clear, shall we?" she said, furiously pointing her finger at him. "You leave my parents out of this. You know nothing of my family life, and I know nothing of importance from yours, let's leave it at that. Besides, we are not poor, it's not like we're the Weasleys -"

She stopped suddenly, eyes going wide and hands clapping onto her mouth. He burst out laughing out loud.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Gryffindor's Golden Princess dissing on her best ginger pal -"

"Shut up! I – I didn't mean it! It just..." she looked positively terrified at what she'd just said.

"It just what? Slipped out? I had no idea you thought so low of your own friends, Granger." This was like Christmas for Draco and he was going to enjoy this to the full extent.

"No! I definitely don't think about them like that! I didn't mean it like that, I meant... well, everyone knows their family isn't financially -"

"Yes, do go on," he smirked even wider.

"Well, I... you... I mean..." she ground her teeth together, evidently flustered and angry, though at who he couldn't decide. "Grrhh, you mean evil little prat! You set me up!"

"No, I didn't. All I implied was that your parents are poor, I didn't say anything about the Ginger Clan. That was all you." He was openly laughing now again. It was a delight seeing Granger so frustrated, and the fact she'd said that about the ever-multiplying redhead family at all had just made his day.

She was getting ever more flustered. Her cheeks were burning scarlet and she was obviously having difficulties coming up with a good throwback. Draco's laugh quietened down, but his smirk was fixed upon his lips. He watched her gnaw on her lower lip, trying to come up with a good enough answer, the puzzle sitting forgotten on the table.

Tilting his head slightly, he observed her struggle. His eyes roamed over her face, taking in the raised colour in her cheeks, the slight movement of small hairs when she exhaled, the white teeth still biting down on the full lower lip. It had turned a few shades darker from all the attention. Suddenly, an unperturbed image popped up in his mind, making something in his groin twinge. He jumped in the armchair and then tried to cover it up by sending a half-hearted smirk towards the witch who was now watching him with confusion.

"Found your answer yet?" he asked seemingly nonchalantly whilst trying to erase that disturbing image of her out of his mind. Well, not quite that disturbing, but definitely so not appropriate, especially at that moment.

"I've decided I don't have to explain anything to you. This was a one-time slip-up, a bad mistake, and I would appreciate it very much if you managed not to repeat it anywhere," she finished with a slight grimace, hoping against hope that he had some small decency left in that twisted mind of his.

He opened his mouth to tell her straight who and what he was exactly going to say, but something made him stop. The look in her eyes suddenly looked so vulnerable and pleading, he somehow couldn't bring himself to say what he had been about to say. Another uninhibited picture popped up in his head, this one worse than the first. The second twinge down below was also worse than the first.

He shot up quickly, praying to Salazar nothing was showing. What was wrong with him? This was the muggle-born, this was Granger for Merlin's sake, he shouldn't be reacting to her in this way. With nothing better to say he mumbled: "I won't say anything," and almost ran to his bedroom.

Her puzzle was half-way done. It had been crowding the coffee table for over a month now. Her mind had been so full of homework, after-class projects, organizing various events and planning out duties for the Prefects, she had barely had time to work on it. She stared at it now, wishing that she could just take some time to finish it, but the amount of parchment in front of her still needing her attention wasn't going to go away on it's own.

With a sigh, she grabbed her things and decided to continue working in the library where there would be less chance of her being side-tracked by puzzles. She was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn't notice the storm-cloud eyes following her out the door.

He had barely talked to her after that disastrous afternoon last month. Better that than having another unwanted episode of inappropriate twinges. The only words exchanged were hellos, byes, and general stuff about Prefects and school.

Now that she was gone, for the library he supposed, he was free to roam the dorm. Besides the workload it had been a boring month and he was hard-pressed to find something to do.

His eyes flickered upon the pile that had barely diminished on the coffee table. Sauntering over he dropped gracelessly onto the couch and eyed the small pieces with a certain disdainful interest. The frame was complete, as well as the eyes, ears and paws of two purple-blue tiger cubs. They were lying openly inside the frame, roughly in the position they should be in.

The rest of the pieces were either piled up or distributed evenly around the frame, according to colour. Ever the little perfectionist, he thought as he idly fingered a piece. He looked at it, then back at the work, and then noticed a hole in one of the paws. The piece in his hand seemed to fit the hole, and she wasn't here. Shouldn't make a difference now. He gingerly placed the part onto the hole, moving it into place, and pressed on it. With a satisfying click it slid into place and the smooth paw was now really complete.

He leaned back. What a waste of time. But he had nothing better to do. Another piece had caught his eye, and before he even knew what he was doing he'd already positioned and pressed it. This time it didn't fit as nicely as the first two times, though. Slightly irritated, he pressed harder, until realizing that it would break if he continued that way. He raised the part closer to his eyes, scrutinizing it carefully. The blue parts matched, but the white looked a bit off to where he'd tried to place it. Frowning, he leaned over and started searching for a spot where it would fit.

This was the second time she'd found him so engrossed in her puzzle that he didn't even hear her coming in. A small smile formed on her lips as she watched him frown and mutter something to himself, leaning over the puzzle whilst holding two pieces in either hands.

She quietly dropped her bags onto the kitchen chair and tip-toed behind him, leaning slightly over his shoulder to see the picture. He'd already completed the bigger tiger and was currently searching for a piece to finish up some back hairs for the smaller one.

"Enjoying yourself?"

He jumped up so fast, she never saw it coming. A moment later she found herself flat on the floor, holding a pounding head and watching the stars dance with the little birds.

"Fuck, are you alright, Granger?" the voice seemed to come from a distance. She blinked to clear the spots swimming in her vision. Malfoy was leaning over her, a concerned and slightly annoyed look on his face.

"What are you up to, constantly sneaking up on people like that? This is not my fault this happened," he grumbled as she tried to sit up and a new bout of dizziness took over. His annoyance at her seemed to crumble, though, as she struggled to get rid of the vulnerable state she was in. He kneeled beside her, pulling out his wand, and mumbled a spell that escaped her hearing. A few moments later the dizziness faded and her vision was once again clear. Just her head was pounding where it had connected with his shoulder.

"Thank you, Dra-.. Malfoy," she stumbled on his name, not quite sure of the urge to call him by his given name. She got up to her knees and suddenly found herself face to face with the blonde wizard. It was much closer than they'd ever gotten during their usual fights, and she suddenly found her mouth dry, unable to form an apology or anything else for that matter. His grey eyes, she suddenly noticed from the closeness, had small silvery flecks in them which currently were shining in the slanting sun shining in from the only window in the room.

Swallowing hard, she pushed herself back slightly, making to stand up, but her legs wouldn't quite work yet. Stumbling, she almost lost her footing. His hand shot out to steady her and there it was again. That strange feeling in her stomach, almost like butterflies were trapped in there. She looked up, biting down hard on her lip, and her breath caught. His expression was no longer annoyed, bored or angry. Rather, he was staring at her bottom lip with a clouded look, his light hair tousled and falling to his forehead with a careless grace.

She swallowed again, not able to tear her eyes away from his face. What in the name of Merlin was wrong with her? Her breath hitching she dared not move, dared not break this precious moment.

It was he who made the first tentative move. Inching closer by a millimetre he brought his face even closer to hers, inhaling her intoxicating scent. His eyes almost closed, he seemed to move as if in a trance. His free hand was raising towards her face, almost touching, but not quite. The ghostly fingers moved across her jaw, up towards the hairline, barely gracing the forming bump on her forehead and down again, across her cheekbones, to stop just before her lips.

She'd been concentrating on his fingers so much, she hadn't even noticed how close he'd really gotten. There was barely an inch between them now. She could feel the body heat emanating from underneath his shirt. As she raised her amber eyes to stare up into his grey ones he tilted his head just a bit and leaned in, a curiously detached expression upon his features.

It was fleeting, careful and tasted of minty apple, that kiss. As soon as it had started it was over. He was still looming over her, but she didn't mind.

"Why?" was all she could whisper.

He took a moment to ponder. Finally, with a small smile, he answered.

"I decided to give this puzzle a try."