Learning to Breathe
-Eternal Storm

Draco Malfoy rushed into Potions class just as the bell rang. Snape gave the boy a disapproving glance, but said nothing.

Being a Slytherin has its perks, he thought to himself, smirking. The smirk didn't last long.

The blond haired boy groaned as he looked at the only empty seat in the classroom. Next to Granger. Even better was Potter and Weasel sitting at the desk in front of her. He reluctantly walked towards her and took a seat, not missing the glares sent his way from the three Gryffindors. Hermione didn't bother trying to hide the fact that she scooted her chair as far away as possible.

"Students," Snape droned, distracting Draco from his well practiced frown, "today will be a 'free period' of some sorts. Professor Dumbledore has handed out paperwork for the staff at Hogwarts to fill out by the end of the day, so our study of the Polyjuice Potion will continue tomorrow."

The class cheered noisily. After all, how often did Snape give free periods?

"However," he continued loudly, "there will be no talking. It's a double potions day, so use your time wisely...If you can find nothing to do, I'll be overjoyed to find something for you."

With one last sneer at the now silent students, the Professor sat down at his desk to concentrate on his work.

Well this was just great. A whole double potions day, with absolutely nothing to do, and he was stuck by the mudblood of all people. Just his luck. Speaking of the mudblood...what was she doing? Through the corner of his eye, he watched as she scribbled on a small piece of parchment. Giggling, she folded the note and took the time to glance up at Snape. Seeing he was still heavily distracted, she flicked the note at the table in front of them. The piece of folded paper hit Ron in the back of the head. Grabbing the offended area, he turned to look hatefully at Draco. Draco returned the stare. Hermione cleared her throat and pointed at the note lying on the ground. Ron understood and picked it up, unfolding it for Harry and him to read. After a few moments, the note was tossed back, read by Hermione, and the process was repeated. Draco found this mildly annoying after a few minutes.

"Granger, stop acting like an idiot and find something less annoying to do, would you?"

Hermione looked up at him, surprised. She obviously either wasn't expecting him to speak to her, or forgot he was sitting three feet away. Probably the later, he decided.

The bushy haired girl promptly ignored his comment and continued to scribble on the piece of parchment. What could be so important that she would ignore him? She usually had a halfway decent comeback to throw at him. Curiosity got the best of Draco as he tried to snatch the paper the moment Hermione stopped writing.

"Malfoy!" she hissed quietly, not wanting to catch Snape's attention. She hastily snatched the note back from him.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "Don't want me to find out about your secret love life with Potter and Weasel?"

She gave him an icy glare, but said nothing. It wasn't the time to fight, in the middle of Snape's classroom. Draco just couldn't have that, now could he?

"So tell me, which one kisses better?" he continued. "Do you have a preference, or do they just take turns with you?"

Hermione's face got beat red. "I don't have a love life with either of them, Malfoy..."

"No? Well it must be Neville, then. How's that going for you?"

"You little ferret!" she growled. "How does my love life concern you? Are you really that interested?"

It was Draco's turn to blush as his mind raced for a decent comeback. None came. Hermione smiled in victory.

"That's what I thought," she grinned, and turned back to her note.

Draco turned away from her to fume. Since when did she win these verbal wars? What had happened? He always had a comeback...So why not this time? How did her love life concern him, she had asked. How did it? Did it concern him at all?

No, of course not! That's disgusting! he thought.

Then...why was it bothering him so much?

He wasn't interested. Not in her, or anyone for that matter. He could have any girl in this school if he wanted to. Relationships weren't a big deal when you had looks, money, and power. He had all three. Anyone he wanted could be his in a heartbeat.

But her? He doubted she would be interested in him. He was a Slytherin, for starters. Not to mention the rivalry going on with him and Potter. Plus, he had always suspected a secret romance between Granger and Weasley. But she has denied that, right?

Wait a second! Stop it! he yelled to his mind. What does it matter if she would want me or not? I don't want her! She's a filthy mudblood, so why would I? She's worthless and will never amount to anything. And downright ugly, now that I think about it!

But he knew he was lying. She was the smartest witch in their grades, and possibly all of Hogwarts. She could probably outsmart some of the teachers. Heck, she had proved that with all the 'adventures' she and her boyfriends got into. They, with her help, had outsmarted He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on numerous accounts. That was saying something! His own father had fallen victim to the trios might on occasion as well.

Glancing over at the girl next to him, Draco realized the second part of his thoughts, too, were lies. She was not ugly at all. Her hair actually looked sort of tame today, with her soft brown curls hanging beside her face. She had a beautiful skin tone, and pearly white teeth. Draco had to admit, she was not bad looking. True, she had been quite an interesting sight during their first few years, with her bushy brown hair, large teeth, and tiny form, but now...now she was almost breathtaking. Almost.

Who am I kidding? She's beautiful, he thought to himself. A moment later his eyes widened in disbelief. I, Draco Malfoy, just admitted that he thought that a Gryffindor Mudblood was...beautiful? I must be ill!

The Slytherin was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard snickering from across the room. He quickly jerked his head towards the sound to see Blaise and Pansy sitting together at a desk. They appeared to be having a hard time not laughing...but at what? Following their gaze to in front of the duo, Draco saw Lavender Brown digging through her bag. Suddenly she shrieked, throwing an object into the air. Blaise and Pansy started laughing uncontrollably at this point, not bothering to hide their joy from the prank. The whole class watched in horror as the slimy pink worm landed right on Professor Snape's greasy black hair with a sickening 'splat!'

Ron spoke for the entire class when he muttered a well-timed "Bloody hell..."

Snape sat frozen. To anyone who didn't know him well, it would appear as if he hadn't realized there was a slimy worm on his head. But to anyone who knew him as well as this particular class of Slytherins and Gryffindors did, they could tell they were in for it.

The professor stood up calmly and picked the worm from atop his head. Muttering a spell, it disappeared, probably to one of the many jars of pickled...objects...'decorating' the room. He sat back down and took a deep breath.

"Essay. Polyjuice Potion, step-by-step. This is to be turned in, completed and for a grade, at the end of class."

Hermione raised her hand. "Sir, we haven't even discussed the Polyjuice Potion yet."

"Yeah," Ron added. "And there's only an hour left of class! We can't possibly finish with-"

"Ten points from Gryffindor. Anyone else want to comment?" Snape sneered, pausing. "Good. Get to work."

He went back to his work, doing his best to once again ignore the class of Slytherins and Gryffindors. Once Snape was busy with his work again, Ron turned around to face Hermione.

"I really hate stupid people," he whispered.

Hermione looked at Draco, smiling. "I don't think he likes you very much, Draco."

Draco rolled his eyes and opened his potions text book. He mentally groaned. He was good at potions, but this was ridiculous. Only an hour to write a detailed, step-by-step essay on how to make Polyjuice Potion? It was one of the longest and most difficult potions to make! It took nearly a month to brew properly! And had Hermione called him by his first name? That was a change. He wondered-

No! There's no time for that kind of thinking! he reminded himself mentally. He sighed and got to work.

Forty minutes had now passed in silence since Blaise and Pansy's prank. There was only less than half an hour left of class. Every student in the room had been working vigorously the entire time, not wanting to tempt Snape in his bad mood. Draco muttered to himself as he tried to find the next step for the Polyjuice Potion in his text book. What ingredient were you suppose to add on the third week? He knew he had read it before!

From the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione putting away her things. There's no way she was already done with it...Draco still had at least another few inches to write!

"Are you finished already?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

Hermione answered his question with a curt nod and returned to her work of packing up her things. Draco turned back to his work. He growled to himself several minutes later, snapping one of his quills in two in frustration. Hermione raised her brows in question.

"Do you need help?" she asked hesitantly. Draco looked at her and realized two things. One, he was in serious need of some help if he was going to finish this essay in the next fifteen minutes. Two, Hermione had just offered to help him. Had that ever happened before?

"Not from a mudblood like yourself, Granger. I'll do just fine on my own."

What? That's not what he wanted to say! Why couldn't he just think before speaking?!

"Fine," answered Hermione.

Draco continued staring at her. Well that was stupid, he thought. Now what? There were twelve minutes left now. He was sure he could finish in just a few of those if he knew what the next ingredient was! Hermione knew. He had no doubt of that. But Malfoys did not apologize to mudbloods. There was no way. He had way too big of an ego to do that! Yet he still felt the urge to say something...

"Sorry," he mumbled, barely audible. But Hermione had heard.

"What?"

"I said- uhm...I guess I really could use your help...if you don't mind..."

Hermione stared at him like he had just grown another head. "Uhm...sure," she finally got out. "Where have you gotten to?"

Draco pushed his paper between them. Hermione scooted her chair closer to his, mere inches apart now. Draco's heart started beating faster.

"Oh, you're almost done. You just need to write in that you add fluxweed here, and then it's simple from there..."

Draco hadn't heard her, his mind elsewhere. What is wrong with me? This is not Malfoy behavior! If my father knew...

But he suddenly didn't care what his father thought. He didn't care that his long time rival's best friend was sitting right next to him. He didn't see her as that. Why hadn't he noticed this Hermione before? She really was nothing like her two 'best friends' at all!

"Draco?" Hermione asked. He snapped out of his thoughts instantly at the sound of her voice, and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"Wha-?" he asked confsued, not hearing what she had asked.

"I said, are you okay? You're look like you just ran a marathon!"

Draco struggled again to come up with a comeback. Why was he having such issues speaking to her?

"I-I'm fine. I just erm...forgot to breath..." he stammered after a slight pause. Forgot to breath?! He mentally slapped himself across the face. How stupid was he? Hemione giggled at his awkwardness. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Draco was saved from explaining his 'lack of breathing' to her. Snape cleared his throat, standing in front of their potions table.

"Malfoy, Granger...Detention with Flich tonight. Eight o'clock."

The bell rung, saving them from any more lectures from Snape. The students hastily turned in their papers and fled the room, wanting to be as far away as possible from the cruel potions teacher. Draco followed Hermione out in a daze. Collecting himself outside the door, he felt the need to say something to her. Anything at all, really. Just to prolong their departure.

"Nice going mudbl-...Granger. You got us detention! I had Quidditch practice tonight!"

Hermione gave him a strange look, not missing the switch from 'mudblood' to 'Granger'. Deciding it wasn't worth asking, she rolled her eyes and ran to catch up with Ron and Harry.

As he watched her go, he wondered once again what was wrong with him today. What had changed between them in the past hour? She was still just a filthy mudblood...right? Suddenly, he wasn't so sure...Still, she had just cost him a Quidditch practice for a lousy detention with Filch!

But somehow...a night of detention with Hermione didn't sound all that bad anymore.

Hey! So I hope you enjoyed that. A lot of what was said was from one of my friends and me at school (Semma on fanfiction). We do some crazy stuff, haha. Like the "I forgot to breath" thing. That was me, during a heart monitoring thing. Apparently my heart beat was suppose to be going down, but due to my lack of breathing, it wasn't...Good times.

Well anyways, if you liked this, then you should definitely review. Or...if you didn't like it, review anyways. Tell me what you didn't like. Flames will be used to cook marshmallows! This is a one-shot unless you want more. I'll just see what happens. It's up to whoever is reading this if there will be more or not!

Special thanks to Semma/Jaicey for helping me come up with this! You're not amazing!!

:)

Peace out!!

-Eternal