"Draco?"
He wasn't here. Hermione refused to feel disappointed. She raised her wand a little higher.
"Draco? Are you here?" She whispered just a little louder. The words bounced off the bookshelves and echoed through the library.
"Keep your knickers on, Granger. I'm here." She flashed her wand in his direction and found him lying on the floor in between two bookshelves, one hand acting as a pillow under his head, the other crossed over his eyes. He lifted the hand covering his face, looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Or not."
Hermione felt her face burn. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. He smirked, knowing she felt uncomfortable under his gaze.
"You might want to turn out that wand." Draco suggested, going back to his previous position. "Filch will check the library in approximately 14 seconds."
"Nox." She murmured hastily, extinguishing the light. Hermione placed her wand back inside her robes and groped through the darkness, trying her best to get to Draco without stepping on him or knocking into any tables. She gasped when she felt his arms on her waist. He clamped one hand over her mouth.
Mewing sounds came from outside the library doors. Claws scratched against the doors. Filch's irritated voice rang through the corridor.
"Mrs Norris, there's nobody there! If you pull me out of bed one more time because of some stupid notion that there's a student in the library, it's out of the castle for you!"
Draco didn't relax his hold on her until his footsteps receded, and he was sure Filch was safely far away from the library. He released her and she turned around to face him.
"You come here a lot." She stated. It wasn't even a question. He nodded briefly.
"Every night."
"Why?"
"I share a dorm with Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe makes the most unholy snores and noises while asleep, and Goyle keeps muttering. I also think Zabini sleepwalks."
"Do you come to the library to sleep or to research, Draco?" Hermione moved forward and brushed her knuckles over his cheekbones. He flinched, catching her hand and holding it too tightly. Hermione bit her lip in pain.
"I've been watching you." She continued, cupping his angular face with her other hand. He looked down, still keeping a vice-like grip on her right hand. "You have such dark circles under your eyes. You argue with Crabbe and Goyle. You're doing horribly in Potions." She sniffed, annoyed. "Although, I suppose I am too; thanks to Harry's wonderful textbook."
"Don't say that." His voice had gone hoarse. "You're top in Potions. Hell, you're top in everything. Except Defence against the Dark Arts, I think."
She nodded. "Harry's top in that."
"What about Weasley?" He asked, not caring to disguise the jealousy in his tone.
"Ron?" She asked. He nodded. Hermione shrugged indifferently, and Draco decided not to mention him again. "He's mad enough because you tried to Crucio Harry."
Draco's hand tightened around her waist. "I'm so sorry about that, Hermione. I wouldn't have ordinarily."
"Harry thinks you would've." She whispered, stepping closer to him and burying herself into his chest. His arms drew around her and pulled her down with him. They settled down against a bookshelf.
"Potter thinks the world of himself. I don't care what he thinks." His words grated harshly on Hermione, whose only wish for a few months was for Harry, Ron and Draco to get along.
"Draco, you realize he suspects you're a Death Eater? He was right in that aspect." She shifted against him and freed one of her hands, using it to trace the Mark through his thin button-down.
A tear trickled down his cheek. "Not by choice. I wanted to, but after fourth year, I just couldn't. And any doubts I had about my decision were dispelled after fifth year."
They both knew what he was referring to. Hermione smiled as she remembered when he kissed her. She'd resisted first, and then given in. That's when he started telling her to meet her in some of the oddest places in the castle.
"Ouch." Draco's voice sounded. She lifted her head.
"What?"
"Just...my bandages. Potter fires a good curse." He chuckled humourlessly. She frowned.
"It's not funny."
"I know it isn't, Hermione."
Silence.
"Can I meet you tomorrow?" Hermione said, hesitating first and then blushing.
He shook his head. "Tonight's the last time. I...I have a job to do. And once I've done it, and you find out I have, you'll despise me."
She kissed him; softly, chastely.
"I will never despise you."
Draco disregarded this.
"Sleep." He said, smoothing a hand down her back.
She did, and when she woke up in the wee hours before dawn, she found that Draco had disappeared.
It was only later that she found out his 'job' was Dumbledore.
And she cried. She called him names she knew he would never hear.
But she never despised him.