Description: Hermione attempts to teach Draco the Patronus Charm, but without a happy memory to reflect on, why will Malfoy do?

Author's Note: This was written for the contest over at .com, but I could honestly see myself continuing with the story if people enjoy it. So if you like it, please review!

Draco pulled at the hem of his black suit jacket and dusted off the edge of his sleeves. His head turned slowly from side to side, watching for any signs that someone had followed him. Being Draco Malfoy, it wasn't unlikely that someone had. The door to the Room of Requirement was slowly appearing behind him and the sound of crunching bricks as it formed startled the young blonde. His heart had been racing since she had agreed to help him—something she had very little choice in when he cornered her in the back of the library. He had heard her breathing hitch in her throat as she turned around and noticed him traipsing towards her. He'd had to hide his amusement at the fear he knew she felt. Despite (or more likely because of) her fears, she had consented to give him her time. How could Hermione Granger pass up the opportunity to help someone learn?

Gray eyes scanned the room for the instructor. The room was large and empty, save for a table and a chair in the corner. Sitting at that table was Hermione, her eyes glued to the book in her hands. She wasn't in her school robes that she had been wearing earlier. Instead she was clad in casual Muggle clothing—khaki trousers, a pale pink t-shirt, and an unbuttoned beige and wine striped sweater. Her hair was pulled back, her bangs being the only exception and the wall that blocked Draco from her vision. He realized he had been staring at the girl—obviously because of the oddity of seeing her in such attire.

"Let's get this over with, Granger," he stated sharply as he walked to the center of the room.

Hermione rolled her eyes from behind the book before sitting it down on the table (albeit more aggressively than she normally handled her books). She stood up and walked towards the tall body that had its back turned to her.

"It's not that simple, Malfoy. A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult to produce," she said. "It took months for Harry to teach it to us."

With no hint of a smirk, Draco faced her and said, "I think you're forgetting who I am, Granger."

She laughed. "No one can forget who you are. You're constantly reminding everyone—you're Draco Malfoy, pureblood wizard extraordinaire."

"How dare you, you little mu—," he started as he made his way across the distance between them. His left arm leapt from beside his body and to her right shoulder, forcing her into a wall.

"You need me," she said, looking at the spot where his hand connected with her shoulder. Her eyes were twinkling with amusement. "You won't rest until you can do the Patronus Charm, and I'm the only one willing to teach it to you. So I would refrain from calling me silly little names if I were—."

Her voice halted as she lifted her gaze from their affixed body parts and to Draco's eyes. His eyes, usually cold and emotionless, were squinted almost as though he were in pain. If she had looked even deeper, something she had to strongly will herself not to do, she would have almost seen the storm brewing within them. She tentatively lifted her hands, encasing his wrist and moving his hand back to his own body.

"Okay," she half whispered, "let's get started."

"About time," he spat at her as he followed her back to the center of the room.

She forced her annoyance at his words to subside before saying, "Like I said, a full-bodied Patronus is very difficult to produce. It takes a lot of focus and determination and only lasts as long as you are focused on it."

Stopping, she lifted her wand and paused. Draco noted that the sides of her mouth turned up in a slight smile before she belted out the words, "Expecto Patronum!" A burst of bright, white light sparked from her wand before taking the form of a frolicking otter. It bounced around her giggling frame before fading into the air.

Not many things made Draco's mouth drop open in awe. But as Hermione turned to look at him she realized that was exactly what he was doing. She smirked as she stood beside him and said, "Malfoy, gather yourself. You need to focus."

"Okay, Granger, so I just say the incantation and—"

"No, no, no. It's not that simple," she sighed, letting her frustration get the better of her. "You have to think of an extremely," she paused and whispered, "happy thought. Your happiest."

Draco looked down at the witch standing to his right. She shifted nervously as her eyes stayed planted firmly on the ground. Taking an angry step away from her he yelled, "What, you don't think I have a single happy thought?"

Her eyes narrowed at they met his. "Excuse me for thinking that the boy that grew up surrounded by evil might not have had the happiest childhood!"

"You know nothing of my childhood or the people in it!" he retorted.

"Stop!" she yelled, her hands balled up in fists at her side. "Like you said, let's just get this over with."

"You started it."

"I beg your pardon? I was only being cautious, something that one is wise to be around your lot."

"My lot?" he scoffed. "What do you know about my lot? Your kind would never be allowed anywhere near."

"Malfoy, just say the bloody incantation!"

His rage towards her ebbed as he decided he did want to learn this charm he had been truly amazed by. He spaced his feet at a greater width, as though he would need the extra balance, and gripped his right wrist with his left hand. Slowly he lifted the wand into the air and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

And nothing.

The air around him stayed still. There was no trace of light stemming from his wand; no creature appeared in a silvery beam around him. He huffed and threw his wand across the room. His eyes squeezed shut and Hermione stood a few feet away from him, staring with her mouth agape. The sudden burst of anger from the boy was nothing she hadn't grown accustomed to since meeting him upon her arrival at Hogwarts. The looks of pain, however, left her heart beating unpredictably as she quickly tried to decide the best course of action.

"Bloody spell," he mumbled, and for a second Hermione thought she had heard his voice break.

She trekked across the room towards the lone table, the direction in which Draco had thrown his wand, and placed in gingerly on the table as though it (and Draco, she whispered in her mind) were among the most fragile things she had ever encountered. Sitting down at the table, in the spot where Draco had first seen her that night, she curled her knees up to her chest and stared at him. He stood in exactly the same position—his head turned down, eyes squeezed shut, and fists curled at his side.

"Draco, come sit down," she spoke softly, not expecting him to comply so easily. But he did, and slowly turned on his heel and headed in her direction. He roughly pulled the chair away from the table, his eyes locked with hers as though it was his way of showing a bit of disobedience toward her, placed the suit jacket that he had taken off on the back it and finally sat down across from her.

They sat in silence for a good five minutes, Hermione taking her chance to observe the male across from her from a closer proximity. His hands were wound in his blonde hair; his eyes were wide and pointed straight down at the table's top. Sweat was beginning to seep through the chest of his shirt, making the thin white material stick to his body. What had him sweating so profusely in such a short time was somewhat of a mystery to her, though her leading thought was that he was embarrassed that he hadn't perfectly performed the charm on the first try.

She jumped when his face quickly turned up and his eyes met hers, and gasped when he let out the jumbled and nervous question, "What do you think about?"

"Uh… Um…," she started. "You mean when I perform the spell?"

"No, I actually care about the thoughts that Know-It-All Granger has all of the bloody time," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. His hands were still balled up in his hair.

Glaring at him, she spoke. "I think about getting on the Hogwarts Express for the first time and, of course, the moment I realized Harry and Ron were going to be a big part of my life. I think about walking down the staircase at the Yule Ball and dinners at the Burrow. I think about the time I punched you during our third year."

"Har-bloody-har," he said as his fists made light thuds on the table. "What if you're right, Granger? What if I don't have any happy thoughts or memories?"

"Draco, you have to…," she said. Her voice trailed off as she began to study his face again. His eyes were pointed towards the table once more, quickly bouncing from side to side, trying desperately to find a good memory.

It took exactly three seconds for Draco to violently raise himself from his chair and close the distance between the two of them. It took three more for Hermione to realize that her back was pressed against the cold stone wall and her lips were conjoined with the soft, warm pair that belonged to Draco Malfoy. It took only two for her to push him away, her hands falling flat on his chest and sending him a foot away from her before the right found its way to his left cheek.

"What…" she gasped, "the hell…" another gasp, "was that, Malfoy?"

With his body turned to the side, he stared at her and studied her features. Her breath was ragged, her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were gaining a reddish tint. Her eyes tried to look angry—oh, how they tried—but Draco found that the confusion overrode the anger. Her furrowed brows gave that away.

"Trying to make a happy memory," he replied with a smirk. The smirk became a full-fledged grin as he noticed her narrowed eyes become wide with further confusion. Her body was swaying to and fro. Whether it was simply a nervous tic or her trying to decide if attacking him would work out in her favor, he wasn't sure. She looked down at the ground to the left of his feet and her lips slowly began to move. Had it been a stranger standing with Hermione, they would have thought her crazy. Draco was sure of that. But tonight wasn't the first night he had observed the witch. In fact, he had been keeping an eye on her since their second year at Hogwarts. The small things she did whilst trying to rack her brain for answers that would look psychotic to most, Draco found slightly endearing.

He was pulled from his thoughts when her eyes rose to meet his.

She continued to stare at him, their eyes locked on one another, as her right hand made its way to rest their fingertips on her lips. Her left hand crossed her chest to cradle the elbow opposite. The eyes that Draco was searching for some type of reaction in widened as he neared her, but closed softly as he took her hand away from her mouth and held it against his chest. They stayed closed as he whispered in her ear, sharply and bitingly, "You don't have to understand everything, Granger."

It wasn't until her hand no longer felt the warmth of his that her eyes sprang back open, only to find his figure retreating towards the door. She tried to sweep across the expanse of the large room but, knowing she would be unable to reach him before he reached to door, she raised her wand and yelled, "Colloportus!"

The wizard turned to find the witch mere inches from his body, her face held in a stony gaze. "Granger, I'm not a Muggle nor am I a first year. I know the spell to unlock that door."

"Yes, you do. But had you wanted to unlock the door and leave you surely would have done it by now," she said in a strong and confident voice. "I damn well deserve an explanation for what just happened. I need to understand it!"

"Why?" he bellowed, a slight echo reverberating throughout the room. His face had quickly drifted so close to hers that they were nearly touching. The heated moisture from her slightly erratic (though she was trying hard to hide it) breathing landed on his neck and he willed himself not to give in and repeat his earlier action. He succeeded, but barely, and brought his forehead to rest against hers. His eyes closed, eyelashes tickling against hers, and said in a softer but still irritated voice, "Why do you need to know everything there is to know about everything?"

A small smile plagued her lips. "It's just in my nature, I guess," she whispered.

Most people, or more likely all people, other than Hermione Granger herself would be immensely confused and uneasy at the positioning of their two bodies. And while she was also slightly confused and a bit uneasy, she was also excited. There was a reason that she had agreed to meet with Draco Malfoy tonight, and it wasn't because of her love of learning that she wanted to spread to others. The reasons, really, were simple. It was that nervous twinge she felt in her stomach when her eyes landed on him, whether it be from across the Great Hall or while passing him in the hallways. It was the fact that, even when he was being a complete prat to her and her friends, she still found that being near him exhilarated her. It was that she couldn't keep her eyes off of him when he was around and that when the other girls were talking about Oliver Wood or Harry or how nicely Neville had grown into his looks, she had to force herself not to fawn over the Slytherin Prince himself.

She was pulled from her thoughts as his voice purred, "You're smart, Granger. You'll figure it out… if you haven't already." He pulled away from her with a smirk and started for the door.

"Wait!" she yelled, a smile forming on her face after he actually did stop. "Wasn't I supposed to teach you something?"

"You could teach me a thing or two. Or vice versa, I'm sure," he replied as he walked towards her again. She let out a laugh—the real kind, that started deep within and rose to the surface—that signaled the last of her defenses crumbling away.

"Malfo—Draco," she whispered, "The charm. I know you want to learn it."

Her hands gripped his shoulders from behind, turning him to face the empty room, before her hand slid down his right arm to the hand that gripped his wand. Their arms rose into the air as one. Draco looked over his shoulder at the witch, the slightest bit of apprehension hinted on his features. He was scared of failing and the fear was magnified tenfold with the 'Brightest Witch' of their age, not to mention the girl who had changed his entire belief system and tore down his protective barrier without his consent, standing behind him.

"Now think of a happy memory," she whispered, her hand leaving his. He felt her lips press to his earlobe before hearing the light thuds of her feet as she stepped away.

He closed his eyes and imagined Hermione's lips pressed to his. Her scent filled his nostrils and sent his heart into overdrive. His earlobe and neck were still tingling from her touch. Something was happening to him, he knew, as he felt a heavy pressure within his chest. It was as though his body felt full of something—something that wasn't altogether bad. Goosebumps rose on his arms and his hair stood on end. Tears began to prick his eyes and he knew that he wouldn't fail this time when he yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

It was the gasp from Hermione that sent his eyes open. Prowling in mid-air in front of him was a large alligator, precisely as long as Draco was tall. The small hand that stopped to rest on his shoulder faltered his concentration, and the silver gleam of the animal disappeared. She heard him huff in frustration before forcing his wand into his back pocket.

"It's fitting, you know," she said, "your patronus being an alligator. They are usually solitary creatures but they do, of course, form bonds that they are extremely territorial over. Generally they do not attack unless they feel as though their territory is being threatened, preferring to stay under the surface, so to speak. But when they do decide to attack, they are fierce and do not back down."

"Granger, stupid question, but how do you know all of that?"

With a smile, she grabbed his other should and turned him to face her. "Truth be told," she started, "ever since I was a little girl I've had a fascination with reptiles. They've always intrigued me. You know, alligators, turtles… snakes."

He smirked at her last example. "Really, now? Intrigued by snakes. Color me surprised," he joked.

She lifted herself up on her feet, using his shoulders for support, and kissed him.

"Since we're being honest," he said, "I've never really had a fascination with felines, but there is this certain creature with hair like a lion's mane that interests me."

She rolled her eyes and laid her head on his chest as though it were the most natural thing to do. His arms found their way around her body and pressed her closer to them. Sighing, she asked, "Draco, what are we going to do?"

"Do you realize the number of hidden corridors in Hogwarts? I'm not exactly ready to stop making these little happy memories. Think of it as a bit of tutoring," he laughed.