this is an accompaniment to my other story, 'The new Beauxbaton Professor'... how Harry and Hermione even began to find each other attractive...

Harry entered into Hogwarts muddied after a training session with his fellow Gryffindors. It was not helpful that it was still raining hard ever since the start of the term. And the fact that there were Dementors flying around the castle grounds did not at all help in any way.

It was really unnerving to everyone, even the teachers at Hogwarts. Ever since news of an escaped convict from Azkaban, (which was the first in Wizarding history), would be coming to Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic deemed it appropriate to assign Dementors to the school. They say it for the protection of everybody.

It was also in part of Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who was driving them hard during Quidditch practise. "This is our last chance, my last, to win the Quidditch Cup. This is my last year at Hogwarts," he would say to them as though they would gain inspiration from it.

So, Harry and the rest of the team were pushed hard during practises, often with Oliver shouting instructions among other things. After, the team would be giving him the dagger-stares, him being oblivious as he plans the next practise sessions.

This particular session was most grueling, it was the fifth one since the beginning of the term. Harry, Fred and George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet tumbled in to the castle all muddied-up.They were tired, angry and wet, not to mention dirty.

They grumbling as they hurriedly went up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

"A shower would be nice," said Fred, his beater bat on his right shoulder. He was smiling a little as he stared into space.

"Yeah, my muscle are really aching," said George, his bat and broomstick held by his left hand while his right massages his shoulder.

"But one thing's for sure, Slytherin's going down," exclaimed Angelina, waving her fist in the air.

Katie and Alicia nodded their assent. Harry was quiet behind them, looking a little uneasy.

"Hey, Ron," Harry called his bestfriend as he came through the portrait hole. The red-haired boy looked up from a game of Wizard's Chess against Seamus Finnigan. The latter was obviously losing.

"Where's Hermione?"

"Maybe she's in the library," answered Ron, frowning at Harry. "What happened to you?"

"Wood happened. The team got it all."

"Blimey, Wood should tone it down a bit if he wants to win," commented Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor. He was watching Ron and Seamus.

"Yeah, he should," said George as he came in next. Behind him came Fred. "Or else," he commented nudging at his twin to change and bathe at their dormitory.

The Chasers came last, muttering something under their breaths that sounded like "wood" "die" and some other things to that effect.

Harry hurried upstairs to his room to change.

Hermione Granger was once again in the library, reading something about Transfiguration, when Harry found her. She was writing on a piece of parchment.

Harry smiled and leaned near her right ear.

"Studying?"

Hermione jumped, knocking over her bottle of ink. She hit Harry on the chin.

"Harry!" she exclaimed as she tried to gather her parchments before the ink get to them.

"Hermione," Harry said, rubbing his chin. He was grinning, which left her unnerved.

"What are you smiling about?" she muttered, having caught Madame Pince's sharp stares.

Waving her hand she muttered, "Scourgify." The ink disappeared, the wet parchments were still soggy and smelled of ink.

Harry sat down, still smiling, and promptly grabbed the book Hermione was reading. Hermione was still busy with her parchments, she was sorting them out. All the while she was muttering incoherent words.

"This is advance stuff," Harry said as he read through.

Hermione turned to look at him, he was still smiling, although it was absent-mindedly. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, his emerald-green eyes slowly moving across the page, the corners of his mouth slightly curled upwards.

She shook her head, "What was I thinking?"

"What did you say?" asked Harry without looking up from the book. Oh shit.

"Nothing," she mumbled. She arranged her things, dividing the parchments into three separate piles.

"Why did you come here?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry. He turned to look at her with his piercing green eyes, sparkling with animation.

"I forgot," he said, then smiled.

Hermione lifted an eyebrow, looking at him through eyelids that were continuing to become horizontal slits.

"Sorry, to have disturbed you," Harry said, handing back her book. "See you at dinner."

"Yeah."

She watched him go, watching him skip out of the library. She laughed to herself, she have not known Harry to skip away