Books loaded in her bag, Hermione walked up the stairs towards the Astronomy tower. It was the last class of the day and she was pretty tired. After nine classes already, she was allowed to be tired. The one thing she was dreading in this class was the fact that it was with the Slytherins and she didn't think she'd be able to stand one of their sick jokes again.
Walking in, she took a seat near the back of the room. Soon after she opened her books on her desk, the class started. No one was sitting beside her as Ron and Harry were sitting further up the front and everyone else had partners already. Sighing, she focused her attention on the professor at the front of the room.
"I would like you to hand your assignments in please class, you've had long enough to work on them now." The Professor said, gathering some papers on their desk and waiting for students to begin walking to the front with assignments in hand.
Hermione flicked through her books for the assignment she'd stuck there a week ago. Pulling it out, she walked to the front of the room and handed it in. The door opened with a big bang and everyone turned to look as Malfoy stood there, panting.
"Sorry I'm late." he mumbled. Hermione rolled her eyes and went to sit down.
"You can sit beside Granger." the Professor said. Hermione's head snapped up with shock. Malfoy seemed to be feeling the same way.
"You've got to be kidding! I can't sit beside her, I'll get diseased!" He protested. The Professor stared at him angrily. Malfoy sighed, realising he'd lost the argument. Walking over to her table, he had his chair grating against the leg of the table in an attempt to get away from her. Hermione was doing the same thing.
"Today, we will be starting a new project." the Professor said. Hermione turned her interest to what they would be doing and began taking notes. Malfoy looked at her hand as it whizzed across the paper. Rolling his eyes, he looked over at the other side of the room.
"Draco, wanna sit beside me? Blaise can sit beside Granger." Malfoy looked over to where Pansy was batting her eyelids at him. He hated to admit it, seeing as Pansy was a Slytherin, but he hated Pansy more than he hated Granger.
"No thanks, the Professor'll have our heads." he replied.
"I would like you to talk quietly to your partner about the project that you will hand in to me next week. Now get to work." Malfoy looked over at Hermione, confused.
"Why do I have to talk to you about it?" he asked. Hermione had an angry look on her face. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle this.
"Weren't you listening? The person we're sitting beside is our partner, we have to work on the project together!" she snapped, glaring at him. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
"No way, I'm not working with you!" he protested.
"Well you didn't take the opportunity to sit with Parkinson so you're stuck with me! Now just tell me which constellation you want to research." Hermione said firmly.
"I don't know the difference between half the constellations Granger, I never have." Hermione clenched her teeth to stop herself from yelling at him.
"Then how about you research Scorpio?" she asked. Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged.
"Whatever that is." This time Hermione rolled her eyes, writing down what he would be researching.
"All right, go take a look through the telescope and tell me what you see." Hermione instructed.
"What are you? The Professor?" he asked. At Hermione's 'no funny business' look, he grudgingly stood up and walked over to the telescope, looking out at the night sky. Truthfully, Hermione hated night classes. All she wanted to do was go to bed and sleep.
"Hermione, you gonna be all right?" she looked up at see Harry standing there, obviously feeling sorry that she had Malfoy as a partner. She gave a small smile.
"I'll survive." she said. Harry nodded and smiled back, walking over to Ron again. When Malfoy came and sat down again, he pulled out his book and began to draw. Hermione's eyebrow was up about as high as it could go.
"This is no time to bludge! What did you see through the telescope?" She asked. Malfoy looked up at her and sighed.
"I can't explain it, so I'm drawing it. Relax." He said. Hermione folded her arms and watched as he continued drawing. When it was done, she couldn't help but gasp.
"That's amazing! You're such a wonderful artist!" Taking his book off him, she studied it carefully. "You caught the small glow from each star, that's amazing!" She said.
"Careful Granger, don't want my head exploding do you?" Malfoy asked, smirking.
*
The next day was a saturday, but Hermione was up at seven to go eat breakfast. Walking into the almost deserted room, she sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat.
"Hermione! What are you doing up? You should be sleeping in, I hear you had a night class yesterday." Hermione looked over to see Ginny scooting over to sit beside her.
"Yeah, but I've got to work on a new project I've got." She said. Ginny frowned, studying the bags under Hermione's eyes.
"No offence, but you look terrible. You really should catch up on some sleep." Ginny said. "Who's your partner? I'll tell them what's up and ask them if they wouldn't mind working on it a bit while you sleep." Ginny offered. Hermione laughed.
"Good luck getting Malfoy to work on the project." Ginny's eyes bulged.
"Malfoy's your partner?" She squeaked. Hermione nodded slowly.
"There was no one else, and he was late to class so we got paired off." she shrugged. Ginny blinked, obviously very sorry for her friend.
"Then I'll work on it for you. But you have to get some sleep!" she insisted.
"No Ginny, thanks for the offer but I really think I should do this." Standing up to leave, Hermione gave one last thankful smile at Ginny. Pushing the doors open, Hermione almost ran into Malfoy. They both jumped back, startled.
"Watch where you're going Granger." he spat. Hermione sighed and nodded, stepping aside to let him pass. He frowned, knowing that normally she'd be yelling at him by now.
"Are you going to walk?" Hermione asked tiredly, seeing him just stand there.
"Are you ok? You've got bags under your eyes." he said. Hermione closed her eyes and counted to ten. There was no way she would start crying in front of Malfoy.
"I've had a few late nights recently, but I'm fine." she said. Thinking things over, Malfoy knew he would regret it but opened his mouth before he could stop himself.
"How about we work on the project? Try and get it half done so you can go sleep and get rid of those bags." he offered. Hermione looked up at him, speechless from shock.
"Are you serious?" she asked. Malfoy almost said 'no' but this time he did stop himself.
"Yeah, I'll try not to be a jerk while we work." Malfoy couldn't believe what he was saying, but put it aside to the fact that he'd had a couple of late nights too.
"Thanks." Hermione said. They both walked up to the Astronomy tower and Hermione pulled out some large books with information on Scorpio. Malfoy sighed and began looking through one that she handed him. Deciding to do what Hermione normally did, Malfoy started jotting down some points.
"Don't you think it's amazing? Just how many stars there are in the sky!" Hermione said as she flicked through an extra large book.
"I guess." Malfoy said, shrugging. "I usually only notice how many stars there are when I take a girl out on a date at night." he explained. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued looking through the book.
"Scorpio's rotation around the earth.. Scorpio horoscopes.." Hermione mumbled, scanning the list of chapters.
"What page am I supposed to be looking at?" Malfoy asked, confused as he tried to find the right chapter. Hermione leant over and flicked to chapter ten, her hand accidentally brushing his and causing them both to jerk back suddenly.
"Sorry." Hermione mumbled, going back to her book. Malfoy made a bit of a face and started reading.
An hour later, Malfoy had chucked thirty scrunched up pieces of paper in the bin from where he was sitting, feet propped up on the desk. Hermione had thirty pages of notes.
"I'm bored, let's play twenty questions." Malfoy said, aiming with his thirty-first piece of paper and landing it in the bin. Hermione sighed, not looking up from her book.
"You start." she said. Malfoy grinned and chucked another piece of paper in the bin.
"Do you think I'm hot?" he asked cheekily.
"No." Hermione said, still not looking up. The grin dropped from Malfoy's face, replaced with an annoyed expression. "Ever loved someone before?" Hermione asked.
"Duh." Malfoy said.
"Who?" Hermione looked up and folded her arms on the desk, waiting for an answer. Malfoy shifted uncomfortably.
"It's really embarrassing, I'd rather not say." He mumbled.
"Embarrassing? Oh, do tell!" Hermione said excitedly.
"Only if you promise not to tell anyone." Malfoy said angrily. Hermione nodded and he sighed. "I was five and she was four, ok? Her name was Belle." Hermione stifled a laugh and looked away.
"That's, uh, great." she said, a smile on her face.
"Yeah, yeah." Malfoy frowned, thinking of something he could ask. "Ever kissed a guy before?" his smirk was on his face again.
"Of course I have!" Hermione said, looking over at him and glaring.
"Your dad doesn't count Granger." Malfoy teased.
"Do I have to spell it out to you? Yes I have kissed a guy around my age before. In fact, I've kissed many guys around my age." she said. Malfoy smirked wider.
"Bet you haven't kissed as many guys as I've kissed girls." he said. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to her book.
"You bet I haven't." she mumbled.
"Your turn." Malfoy reminded her. Hermione tapped her pen on her book in thought.
"Do you think I'mhot?" she asked. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and smirked, realising she'd asked the same thing he'd first asked.
"Absolutely Granger, it's killing me having to sit here without kissing you." Hermione's head snapped up to look him to make sure he was joking. Relieved, she looked back down at her book.
"This is getting boring. We should really work on the project." Hermione said.
"I don't want to." Malfoy said shrugging. "Do you like Ron?" With a sigh, Hermione shook her head.
"Why does everyone think that?" she asked in an annoyed voice. Malfoy shrugged and chucked another piece of paper into the bin.
"Probably 'cause he likes you." he replied.
"Yeah right, as if." she mumbled, writing down some more notes on the constellation Scorpio. Malfoy sighed and began doodling in his book. Hermione glanced over and tried to hide her amazement at how well it had turned out in only a couple of seconds.
With a sigh, he screwed it up and chucked it in the bin.
"I thought that was pretty good." Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"My aim or the drawing?" Malfoy asked teasingly. Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's your turn to ask me a question." he added. Biting her lip in concentration, Hermione tried to think of something she could ask him. Glancing up at him, their eyes met and she quickly looked away again.
"What's your natural hair colour?" she asked finally. Narrowing his eyes, Malfoy sat up in his seat properly.
"Blond. Why does everyone ask me that?" he snapped. Hermione shrugged, not wanting to get on his bad side (which technically she already was since they were enemies).
"I am so tired." Hermione said, putting her pen down and leaning back in her chair.
"Yeah, why do we have to get so much work? You must be completely overloaded seeing as you have like, ten classes a day." Malfoy agreed. Hermione frowned slightly and looked over at him.
"How did you know I have ten classes a day?" she asked. Malfoy clenched his jaw, defences up immediately.
"Everyone knows it Granger, you're the craziest witch to ever attend the school." he responded. Hermione wasn't convinced. At all.
"Not even Harry and Ron know how many classes I take, how do you?" she asked. Malfoy rolled his eyes and began doodling again, not wanting to look at her accusing eyes.
"Potter and Weasley are dimwits. They wouldn't know it if your ten classes came and bit them on the nose." he said. Despite her efforts to stay composed, Hermione laughed. Malfoy smirked slightly and glanced up at her. They shared a smile for about two seconds.
"So Granger, my turn is it?" Malfoy asked quickly. "Have you ever had a detention other than the time I caught you three sneaking around?" Hermione paused to think, and then shrugged.
"Yeah, a couple. Mostly for being caught in classrooms trying to find some books to help me study." She explained. Malfoy laughed.
"I've been on stacks of detentions. But that probably doesn't shock you." he said. Hermione shrugged and started flicking through her notes.
"I guess not. I just don't understand, why do you hate Harry so much?" she looked up at him, really wanting his honest opinion on this question.
"He's a halfblood. I don't like halfbloods." Malfoy said. Hermione raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
"It might just be me, but it seems like you hate him more than me, and I'm a muggleborn." Hermione pointed out. Malfoy rolled his eyes, annoyed that he had to be having this conversation with the smartest witch in their year.
"Fine. I'll tell you about my stupid reason for hating Saint-Potter." Malfoy mumbled. "The first time we met, I tried to befriend him, remember that?" Malfoy waited for Hermione to respond.
"Yes." she said.
"Well, my father had wanted me to make friends with him. You know? Get up close to Potter so it'd be easier to pull him down." Malfoy explained.
"But Harry didn't want to be friends with you." Hermione said quietly.
"Yes, exactly. And that's why I hate him. My father got so mad when he found out I couldn't befriend him, but quickly changed his mind as to what he wanted me to do. Then my job was to hate him. Much easier, seeing as it comes naturally." Malfoy shrugged.
"Your father wants you to hate him?" Hermione asked, shocked.
"Yeah, can we change the subject?" Malfoy shifted uncomfortably and Hermione nodded her head.
"Sure. It's your turn for the question." Hermione made sure all her notes were stacked in an orderly pile and turned to look at him. Malfoy didn't have much time to think before the next question was out of his mouth. He didn't even know where it had come from.
"Would you kiss me if I asked you to?" he asked. To hide his own shock of what he had asked, he decided to smirk. Hermione's eyes were bulging and her mouth fell open slightly.
"Um..." She was at a total loss for words. For some reason she didn't quite know the answer. Would she? "Actually, I don't know." she whispered. Malfoy frowned, he had thought that her answer would be a repulsive 'NO!', but it wasn't.
"Well anyway, you can ask a question now." He said, trying to get onto a different topic.
"Why did you ask that?" Hermione looked him straight in the eye, wanting to know what had caused the unexpected question. Malfoy shrugged and looked away.
"Random thought that entered my head. Can we move on now?" he said, irritated.
"Fine then, let me ask another question." Hermione flicked her hair behind her shoulder and straightened up slightly. "Would you kiss me if I asked you to?" she asked. Malfoy glared over at her, immediately thinking she was trying to mock him. Swallowing slowly, he looked away.
"We've got something in common. I don't know either." he mumbled. Hermione blinked in astonishment and quickly turned back to her notes.
"Do you want to finish this off later?" she asked. Malfoy nodded and closed the book he'd been looking through. Hermione shoved all her stuff in her bag and got up, leaving the room. Sighing, he got up and left also.
*
Sunday came and Hermione slept in until twelve o'clock. When she finally got up, she felt like she had missed a huge opportunity to get extra work done.
"I wasted so much time! Ginny, why didn't you get me up?" she asked, groaning and putting her head in her hands.
"Because you need your sleep!" Ginny said. "Look on the bright side, there are no bags under your eyes any more!" Hermione rolled her eyes and walked off, heading straight to the astronomy tower to get some of the books she needed for her project.
"Hey, don't bother going up there." she turned around to see Malfoy following slowly with his hands in his pockets.
"Why not? I just want to get some more work done." she said.
"Yeah I know, but don't bother." He persisted. "I've already done the whole project." he explained. Hermione's eyes bulged.
"What?" she asked. "But why would you do that?" she asked. He shrugged and walked a bit closer.
"You looked terrible yesterday so I decided to help you out a bit." he said. Hermione shook her head, not believing her ears.
"How?" she asked. "You said you didn't know the difference between any of the stars!" she said. Malfoy smirked.
"Yeah, I lied." he explained. "But if you want to see it I'll show you." he offered. She nodded and he lead her up to the astronomy tower where the project sat neatly on a shelf. She sifted through the pages and finally nodded, smiling.
"Wow, you did a great job!" she said.
"Thanks." he said, folding his arms and smirking.
"I just have one question." she said, putting the project down and facing him. He gestured for her to continue. "You hate me, so why did you help me out by doing the entire project?" He rolled his eyes.
"I'm not going to sabotage you, it's my project too! I can't afford to have my partner working overly-hard and wrecking the project." This time Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Whatever." she turned to leave but Malfoy's hand shot out, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. She frowned, her eyes asking him what he wanted.
"We only got up to ten questions." he said. Hermione immediately knew he was talking about when they'd played 'twenty questions'.
"Malfoy, that was just to pass the time. Besides, I can't even remember who's turn it was next." she said.
"It was my turn." he said confidently.
"Um, ok." she said, sitting down on a chair. He smirked and sat down opposite her.
"What's your favourite colour?" he asked.
"Not quite sure." she said. "Pink or blue definitely, I just can't choose between them." she said. Malfoy chuckled. Hermione paused in thought and then shrugged. "Do you have a crush on anyone in our year?" she asked.
"Nah." Malfoy said, looking away. "You like anyone?" Hermione considered the question and thought of all the possibilities.
"I don't know." she said. "I don't really like anyone like that." she said. Malfoy looked at her and raised an eyebrow, not believing her.
"Come on, there's gotta be someone." he said. She shook her head.
"Nope." she repeated. Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"You're so boring."
"Well you didn't like anyone either!" she retorted. He smirked up at her and shrugged.
"Ok then, there is someone. But I am not telling you." he said cheekily. Hermione just shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Then I'm not telling you my someone." she said. "My turn. What's your favourite food?" Malfoy thought about it and shrugged.
"I like all foods." he said.
"Ok." Hermione said. "Your turn." he nodded and thought about it for a moment.
"If Weasley asked you out, would you say yes?" his eyes glinted with mischief as he waited for her answer. She narrowed her eyes slightly, annoyed.
"No, I would gently tell him no." she said.
"Ok." Malfoy said. "I don't believe you, but it's your turn anyway now." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Of course you don't believe me." she muttered. "What would you do if Parkinson asked you out?" Malfoy made a disgusted face.
"Ew, I'd say no." he answered quickly. Hermione shrugged.
"Ok then." She twiddled her thumbs to show that she was pretty bored. Malfoy raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He was thinking of another questions he could ask.
"Do you ever get tired of Potter's 'Hero' act?" he asked, looking her in the eyes. She stared right back at him and shrugged.
"It's not his fault really. What would you do if you had the weight of the entire world on your shoulders?" she asked.
"He does not." Malfoy said angrily. "He could walk away whenever he wanted." Hermione glared at him.
"No he couldn't. Even if he didn't want to be 'the-chosen-one', Voldemort would still come after him." she said. "He can't escape it so he's decided to face it head on."
"You never answered the question. Do you get tired of his 'hero' act?" Malfoy persisted. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked away.
"Occasionally." she mumbled. Malfoy smirked. "Do you ever get tired of being the prince of Slytherin?" The smirk remained on his face, but he raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Yes, occasionally." he said, mimicking what she'd said. She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Could you ever see yourself liking me?" he asked. She looked up at him, hoping he was joking. His smirk said that he wasn't joking, and that he really wanted to know her answer just so he could laugh at her again. She stared at him for a moment, considering his question and seeing if she could see herself liking him.
"Well.." she said slowly.
"What are you two doing here?" They both turned their heads, startled, to see Professor Snape standing in the doorway. Hermione suddenly realised how suspicious it must look. Malfoy and herself were alone in the astronomy tower.
"We were just talking about our project." Malfoy said casually. Snape raised an eyebrow. "We got paired up in class." Malfoy added, just to let Snape know they hadn't chosen to be together.
"Very well. But you should have asked to be let into the classroom first." Snape said. "I am going to have to ask you to leave. You may continue talking about your project another time." Hermione stood up and headed towards the door. Malfoy nodded and jumped up, following her out.
"So?" he whispered as he passed her. She looked up at him and smiled slightly, an uneasy feeling coming over her.
"Yeah, I could." And then she rushed off to find her friends.