Disclaimer: Everything belongs to this lovely British lady called J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, no matter how ardently I wish I did.

"Odero si potero, si non, invitus amabo"

~I will hate you if I can. If not, unwillingly will I love.~

Draco felt her presence the moment she entered, smelt her perfume drifting towards him. He forced down the traitorous leap in his chest, and kept his eyes on his potions textbook, determined not to look at her. He should've known that his efforts would be futile. Draco's body had stopped listening to his brain for quite some time now, yielding instead to the heart Draco hadn't known he had.

The head girl walked into the library, her nose in a book and hair in a messy ponytail. She looked up only to smile and greet Madam Pince, who rolled her eyes at the frequenter. Draco thought he caught the hint of a smile on Pince's stony face, which was an accomplishment in itself. He smirked at his Hermione's gryffindor do-gooderness.

There was no escaping the truth. He had fallen for her, this girl who had stolen his soul, sleep and sanity. He was in love with the one person he couldn't have. Draco Malfoy had officially parted with his sneaky, little, green-and-silver heart.

"Malfoy, we have a potions assignment due next week"

Draco barely looked up from his book, all faux nonchalance and indifference. "I am well aware of that fact, Granger, but thanks for the reminder."

She sighed in exasperation and sat down beside him. Merlin's grey beard, why did she have to be so close? "You know very well that the head boy and girl are paired together. Why do you insist on making this difficult?"

"I try not to think about it too much. Being paired with a swotty, little, gryffindork is not working wonders for my reputation."

Hermione huffed in irritation. "As if bouncing ferrets are much better." She pulled out The Compound Handbook Of Advanced Potion Making from her dangerously heavy book bag.

He gave her his most dashing smirk. "Oh, I dunno Granger, half of the female population of Hogwarts would love to be in your place right now."

She massaged her temples. "I would love for them to be in my place too." That wiped the smirk clean off his face. Still, this probably counted as the civillest conversation they'd ever had, which certainly was progress.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

"You've changed, Malfoy"

Granger was staring at him curiously. Those topaz-brown eyes flecked with stardust gold stared into his mercurial ones, reading the secrets of his soul.

"You haven't exactly been civil to me, but to your credit, you haven't used that word since fourth year either. As per usual, you've been picking fights with Harry and Ron, but the insults never sound as venomous, and never seem to be directed towards me. I must say that you've changed for the better, Draco."

Draco. He savoured the feeling of his given name on her tongue, it made the world a little brighter. Draco's Slytherin sensibilities kicked in a moment later, clearing his face of treacherous emotions in a heartbeat.

He chuckled dryly. "I must thank you for the insightful observations, O enlightened sorcerer."

"Sorceress," she corrected, turning back to her potions book. "I'm a woman, you know."

Draco closed his eyes. "Believe me, I know."

Hermione glanced at him, shocked at what he was admitting. Then slowly, a smirk to rival his wound up her cheek. "Is Slytherin's Prince possibly attesting to a secret desire for me, repressed for long by petty house rivalries and blood purity?"

Draco's heart pounded, horrified by her spot-on reckoning. His sneaky-serpent instincts kicked in and turned the tables on her, going offensive when threatened.

"I didn't realise you were this desperate for love, Granger, so as to look for it even in your supposed enemy." He leaned closer, hoping to intimidate her. "Isn't your weasel of a boyfriend paying you enough attention?" Draco's lips ghosted over the delicate shell of her ear, barely touching, almost whispering. "Isn't he kissing you enough?"

He expected to frighten her, to detect fear in her eyes. Instead, she just looked back at him with her jaw set and eyebrows raised, and Draco finally, finally understood why she hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw. It made him want her more. It made him give in to the burning desire that had been eating at him since last year.

"You sound awfully jealous, Malfoy, So I'd say my intuitions were accurate." She gasped as Draco kissed the bottom of her jaw. The sound did things to his body he didn't want to think about. "Ron isn't my boyfriend."

"I know, bookworm. You wouldn't let me do this if he was." Draco's lips and tongue brushed against her jawline lightly. She shuddered under his touch.

His fingertips traced her cheekbones, temples, the shape of her mouth, meaning to commit her face to memory. "Your lovely, little heart wouldn't let you cheat on someone-"

Salazar's soul, he'd screwed up. He just complimented her, and her personality, at that. Now she'd see through his whole cold-and-cruel facade, if she hadn't already.

Hermione laughed aloud, and the sound melted some of the ice cubes of dread freezing his own heart. "Stop looking like a hippogriff caught in wandlight, Malfoy. Yes, yes, I know that you've been secretly crushing on me since the beginning of time. I know that you think I don't feel the same way. Now just kiss me already."

She made an impatient noise - which Draco thought was adorable - grabbed him by his green-and-silver striped tie and kissed him on the mouth.

Hermione moaned softly, which was all the permission Draco needed. His hands went snaked around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer. It wasn't surprising how well they fit together, Draco always knew they would. They were Malfoy and Granger, two stubborn, pragmatic, too-smart-for-their-own-good people who completed each other.

Even their lips melded perfectly, battling for dominance. Draco smiled against her mouth, they fought even when they were kissing! Her hands settled at the nape of his neck, running through his soft, platinum blond hair.

The rose-and-vanilla scent of her hair, the feeling of her lips moving against his, whispering his name as a promise and a plea, the way her pulse pounded erratically under his hands, all of it formed a single, perfect moment when all was right in the world. And he just knew that he couldn't live without this, that he was was addicted to this new, better kind of magic. Because she was his fire, and he'd been cold his whole life.

Hermione was the one to break the kiss, panting wildly. Draco touched his forehead to hers. "Looks like I took your breath away, Granger."

It was the most cliché thing to say, but the shit-eating grin on his face was definitely not. She looked into his eyes, those silver-grey eyes, now filled with pure happiness, and she just knew. She knew that she wasn't alone in this dangerous game of love and hate.

"You love me, don't you?" She whispered and slowly, slowly the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

Draco was sighing now. "The line between hate and love was even thinner than I'd imagined."

Her heart was in her throat, constricting her words. "Draco, I-..."

"Shhh, Hermione. You're dangerously close to the line, dangling over the precipice." He kissed her forehead. "I'm sure you'll fall for me any moment now."

He grinned again. "I mean, how long can you resist my sneakiness and slytherin charm, not to mention my ravishing good looks-"

"That sure of ourselves, are we? Maybe I don't fancy falling for an egotistical prat like yourself."

"Oooh, someone's in denial. Looks like you're halfway there, Granger, hmm?"

"Shut up, Malfoy" she said, and kissed him again. Little did he know, she'd already fallen. Little did she know he'd promised to catch her forever, that he was her one weakness. Because she was a perfectionist, and he was her fatal flaw.

~The End~

A/N: Like it, love it, hate it? Tell me what you think! Also, this is my first attempt at fanfiction, so be nice:)

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