The library was pleasantly silent, not in a hollow, vacant way, but in a relaxing, serene way that called for a warm blanket and a fireplace. With the nasty weather he had left outside, the wind and rain still howling against the glass doors that had just closed behind him, he could have happily melted by a roaring fire with a good book while cocooned into a heavy blanket. Of course, neither was available but a comfy reading area complete with over stuffed armchairs, electrical outlets, and tables set up for study was at his disposal. But first he needed what he had come for, a calculus text book and some pleasant weekend reading material. Shaking the water from his hair and jacket he headed towards the back corner, where the text books were located.

The calculus text book was not on the shelf, again, that was 4 days in a row now. He silently huffed out a sigh, whoever kept the thing constantly checked out needed a lesson in courtesy. 'Maybe it's been miss-shelved', he thought to himself, a hopeful spring back in his step, he would have to check with the librarian. He dropped his bag and jacket off on one of the armchairs, running his fingers through his hair as he headed to the service desk. The assistant was there, she was young, around his age from her looks, she had wild, curly brown hair, it reminded him a bit of controlled chaos, he liked it. She was dressed in a comfy looking cardigan, v-neck, and skinny jeans, she was cute he decided, short and petite someone he could see himself cuddled up with, but that was unimportant, he just hoped she knew how to use the archives properly.

"I'll be with you in a moment." She said, barley glancing up at the person in front of her. She finished scanning in the book from the return box, placed it onto the cart to be returned to the shelf and turned back to the boy, no, man standing in front of the desk. Blond hair, it wasn't very long, which she liked, he had a lovely face and was quite broad shouldered, they were shown off well in his grey jumper. But his eyes, they were what captured her, a gorgeous mixture of slate and lavender, they were stunning,she could have drowned in them. She had to mentally shake herself to get her brain started again.

"How can I help you?" She asked, with a smile. That smile, stunned him, she was cute before but that smile radiated a warmth he wanted to bask in, like the fire he had been daydreaming of. He needed to focus, this assignment was important.

" I'm looking for a text book, I've been in for the past four days and its always gone." He asnwered, a bit of his irritation seeping into his tone. He would try to settle it down, it wasn't her fault the book was gone. "I'm wondering if maybe it was misplaced, can you see if its still checked out?" He continued, much calmer this time.

" Sure, do you know the title or author?" She had been a bit taken aback by his irritation but, if she had needed the book for an assignment, she would have reacted the exact same way.

He held out a slip of paper with the information written on it in pen, he gave her a tiny grin and she gave him a small smile in return. She took it from him and logged into the archives, putting the title into the search bar and clicking 'Enter'. They waited about 8 seconds for the computer to respond to the request, for his part it seemed like much longer.

"It says that it is checked out and overdo by two days. I honestly don't understand why you can check out text books at all, I think they should be left where they can be constantly accessible." She was rambling, she knew she was, she had been stuck in a similar situation involving a literature book just last semester and it honestly made her upset. But also she really wasn't looking forward to seeing the disappointment on his face when she looked up. As she did, she was gifted with exactly what she'd been dreading, an incredibly disappointed college student, the brightness of his eyes seemed to fade. He nodded his thanks and turned to head back towards his belongings, when she called out to him.

"I do have a telephone number I could try."

He turned around, a little bit of hope trying to make an appearance, but not much, he had already become accustomed to the fact that this particular assignment would be late. He was going to tell her to not worry about it and just head home, until he looked into her eyes and saw a camaraderie there. She had been in a similar situation and empathized and he knew whether he told her it was fine or not she was going to call that number. So he came back to the desk and waited while she dialed.

She had thought he might walk away, she saw the defeated slump in his shoulders. She mentally encouraged him, 'Don't give up yet, let's at least call the number". Something in her eyes must have communicated her sentiment because he came back to the desk, determination set into his jaw 'good' she thought. She smiled to herself as she turned to the phone and dialed. Four rings later and someone answered.

He leaned onto the desk as she spoke with whoever was on the other end of the phone. Her name was Hermione, at least that's what she told the buffoon on the other end who refused to give up the book he needed. She was professional and polite, he really wanted to grab the phone and give them a piece of his mind. Four days of stressing over this assignment with no way to complete it. He was terrible at all things mathematical, not that he would admit it, that's why he wanted to start early, he needed every minute with that text book he could spare, and he had lost precious time he needed to complete the chapters and assignment due on Monday. He was brought out of his silent reverie by her hanging up the receiver.

"They said they had returned it, two days ago, right on time." She looked pensive and he looked about walk away in a huff, when she suddenly remembered something and smiled. "Follow me." She said as she grabbed a set of keys from the drawer and headed to the entrance where a small door was connected to the drop box shoot outside.

"Sometimes books get stuck on the edges of the shoot," she explained as she kneeled down and unlocked the door. "If we aren't actively looking for one, it could be months before another book knocks it out of place." She stuck her head in and started feeling the edges for the book she hoped to find, she pulled out two children's books and a racy romance novel that made both of them a bit fidgety and pink cheeked. She was starting to think she had been lied to when her fingers slid across a hard cover she couldn't dislodge. "I might have found it," she told him, " But I can't seem to get it out, maybe you could..."

He found himself kneeling next to her, reaching up into the shoot where her hand was already grappling about. They were incredibly close, he came to the conclusion that they're faces and chests were nearly touching and he suddenly became very hot. She hadn't seemed to notice anything was amiss, she just kept grunting and groaning attempting to get a better handle on the book she could barely reach, while he became increasingly uncomfortable the more he realized how beautiful she was.

It was hard to see the color of her eyes from under the florescent lights blaring down on her, but in here with no glare he could plainly see that her eyes were distinctly a mix between milk chocolate and sweet tea, two of his favorite treats. She was concentrating, judging by the tip of pink tongue peeking out from between her lips, which he noticed were quite plump and lovely, but also quite close to his. He suddenly jerked back, it was getting a bit hard to concentrate and breathe with her proximity and in his haste he knocked her over and she went sprawling across the marble floor.

"I'm so sorry," he was on his feet and headed her way to give her a hand up when she punched her find into the air in victory, it was the coveted Calculates book. He stood in awe of her, his mouth hanging open while a grin slowly spread across his face and then he was laughing at the strangeness of the entire situation.

'Why is he laughing?' she thought to herself, 'I must look a fright from having my head lodged up in that shoot'. They had been so close to each other she could smell his cologne, musky but sweet, she just wanted to melt into that scent. But, here he was laughing at her, the best she would be able to do is ask where he purchased said cologne and then spray it on a pillow to cuddle with, not that she would have the guts to ask him now. Any guy who laughs that hard at a girl, has absolute zero interest in her melting into him. She stood dusting herself off, trying to scrape together a bit of dignity, and headed back towards her desk.

He opened his eyes, trying to get his laughter under control and realized he was alone in the entryway. 'Where did she go?', he noticed the book drop was still open and closed it for her, 'maybe there was someone who needed help so she had to leave in a rush', he mentally concluded. He walked inside to find her back at her desk, not a person in sight, once again scanning in returned books and placing them on the cart to be re shelved.

"You, um ... you forgot to close the door to the book drop." He told her, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, as he sidled up to the desk. He suddenly felt as if he had made a mistake. She glanced at him and turned towards the entrance to, what he could only assume was to close the door. "I did it for you." He quickly called out, awkwardly trying to find out what happened to make the warmth that had been flowing from her drastically transform into aloofness.

"Thank you," she replied, turning back towards the desk and casually picking up the calculus book. "Did you want to check this out?"

She wouldn't look him in the eye, she had been teased by boys all her life and had mistaken this one for a man, that was her fault. She didn't know him, she had just been captivated by his eyes and his drive to find a book, and finish an assignment, that wasn't enough to build something from, she knew that, she just couldn't help but imagine what a boyfriend like him would be like. She quickly squashed the daydream of studying together here at the library and cuddling together on the couch at her apartment while they read together, stupid. He still hadn't answered her so she risked a look at his face and what she found there made her pause. He seemed a bit distraught and she couldn't for the life of her understand why.

"Was this not the book you were looking for?" She asked him, becoming worried that maybe the book he desperately needed was still missing.

"No, No it is, I just..." He didn't know what to say, he felt something for her. Minutes they had known eachother and he was already drawn to her, just imagining what hours, maybe days could be like spending time together. He had no idea what type of person she truly was but she had already shown him kindness, compassion, determination and he just craved to see, to know more.

"You just?" She was confused, he looked no better than when he had thought the book totally beyond reach and now here it was in front of him.

"I had thought we were getting along well, you know?" He wasn't the forward type, but he knew if he said nothing now he never would and this moment would pass him by.

"We had been," She quietly agreed with him. "I just don't enjoy being made fun of, especially when it was the book you needed that I was trying so hard to retrieve." There, she put it out there and now it was his move. She silently prayed he would scoff, say 'whatever', check out his book, and leave, she couldn't handle being laughed at again, not without screaming, bursting into tears, or both. She tried not to, but she wore her heart on her sleeve, and by doing so it had been chipped away at. Her feelings ran high and she would prefer to not have an emotional outburst at her workplace.

"I wasn't making fun of you, why would I?" He was genuinely perplexed, she could see it in his eyes.

"But you were laughing at me."

She probably hadn't meant to, but she pouted and it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. If she ever used it against him, he would be helpless. A slow smile spread across his face, and that seemed to befuddle her even more.

"The situation was a bit odd is all, I had come in looking for a book that couldn't be found and then some beautiful librarian's assistant arrives to save the day and ends up on the floor clutching a text book like its a trophy. Just the oddity of it all made me laugh. I would never make fun of you, I swear." He wasn't that type of guy, he had grown up around guys like that and had always been the one girls ultimately ran to with their problems, a shoulder they could cry on.

"oh, gosh." she covered her face with her hands, a disbelieving smile playing at her lips, imagining things from his perspective, she must have looked right mad the way she had held that book up. Wait, had he called her beautiful? She peeked out between her fingers to see him still standing there, and still smiling at her. "I'm actually not an assistant anymore," she found herself saying in a small voice, as she uncovered her face, " I'm a full fledged librarian now."

"oh, my apologies" he said, in an overly exaggerated bow and sweep of a non existent hat. He was pleased when he noticed she hadn't fished for more compliments after being told he thought her beautiful, another positive attribute to add to her ever growing list.

She huffed a tiny laugh, biting her lip at the ludicrousness of her day. However, she noticed he was drawn to the motion and all humor had left his eyes and something intense replaced it. She stopped immediately, not quite ready to jump that far ahead and smiled at him gesturing back to the book in her hands.

"You're forgiven, now how about a library card?"

He smiled back as he retrieved his wallet and produced his library card. Draco, his card said, she quite liked the uniqueness of that. She scanned it and the book and handed both back to him.

"Good luck with your assignment." She told him, smiling and getting ready to go back to work, but was surprised to see he wasn't leaving. "Did you need something else?" Emotions were bubbling inside of her, had she been more bold she would have asked him out for lunch or something, but she wasn't, she was praying he might be.

"When do you work again?" He found himself saying, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile.

"I don't work again until Monday afternoon, Draco."

He looked surprised but very pleased to hear her say his name. It made her feel a bit powerful, but then he smirked at her and she felt that power fluctuate from her to him.

"Would you maybe want to have coffee with me tomorrow, Hermione?" He had started off confident but now he was rubbing the back of his neck again, a nervous habit she realized. She could have melted on the spot to know that she could make a man as hamdsome as him nervous.

"That would be great, I'd love to"

He had been prepared for rejection, 'I understand', was already half way to his lips when his brain caught up with him and he realized what she had said. He looked up eyes wide and disbelieving and she gave him a shy grin peaking at him through her lashes and he couldn't help but to return it with a smile of his own.

"10 o'clock?"

"Sounds great."

"Meet you here?"

A nod and a smile was his answer. He walked back to his belongings, a smirk on his lips, to finally start that assignment, which now seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind.