A/N: This is gonna seem to go pretty fast, but, let's just say that in the very beginning of the year, Draco and Hermione made a sort of truce (like you haven't seen that one a billion times), and there's been a sort of unspoken understanding and attraction. They've been seeing each other at deeper levels because of their dorming situation, so they've gotten to know each other a little better even without talking too awfully much. Anywho, on with the show! :)
Disclaimer: I own the plot, but that's about it.
Chapter 1
"Granger, get up! Granger!" Draco sighed and stopped pounding on the girl's door long enough to magically unlock it. "Granger! You have until the count of three! One . . . Two . . . Three!"
He burst through the door and saw Hermione Granger, Head Girl, lying on the floor, her eyes closed and blood trickling from her lip and gushing from her forehead.
Without a second thought, Draco rushed over retrieve her. Then, brow creased with a frown, he lifted her up and walked quickly through seemingly endless corridors until he reached the infirmary.
When he walked in holding Hermione's limp, bloody body Madame Pomfrey gasped. Draco gently laid the unconscious girl on a nearby bed and unwillingly stepped back as the mediwitch began to fuss over her.
"I found her lying on the floor, tangled in her bedsheets."
Madame Pomfrey tut-tutted and told him to go on to breakfast, that he could see Hermione later-then she closed the curtain around the bed.
So of course Draco turned to leave. Then he stopped short, swore softly, and sat on a chair in the corner to wait.
Hermione woke up with an almost numb throbbing headache. Looking around, she saw that she was lying in a bed in the infirmary. The curtains were no longer closed around her.
Her eyes widened; the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, was asleep in a chair by the door. He looked stunningly angelic without an evil glint in his eye and a smirk formed by his perfect lips.
A few minutes later, Draco opened his eyes to see Hermione gazing at him.
"Look, I know I'm gorgeous, Granger, but you don't have to stare," he said jokingly.
She blinked. "Huh? Oh! Um . . . Sorry, I . . . was thinking."
He would have believed her excuse, too, if not for the telltale blush that forced its way to her cheeks.
"No surprise there."
She looked away, a small unbidden smile reaching her lips.
"Well," said Draco, standing up. "Now that I know you're alive, I should get back to the dorm. You, Granger, just succeeded in making both of us miss Transfiguration."
He gave her a slight bow before strutting out the door.
A few minutes later, Hermione's best friends, Ron and Harry, came rushing in. She smiled at them and they slowed their pace considerably.
"All right, Hermione?" Ron asked as they reached her bedside.
"Yeah, all right."
Harry spoke up then. "Hermione, what happened?"
"I'm not quite sure. I woke up here."
"If it was Malfoy-" Ron began, turning a bright red color that clashed with his orange-red hair.
"Ron, I'm sure it had nothing to do with Dra-Malfoy. Don't worry. Besides, he's not that bad."
"Not that bad? Hermione-Have you forgotten the past six years? This is Malfoy we're talking about," Harry said.
Hermione fought unsuccessfully to keep down a blush and Harry's emerald green eyes narrowed in suspicion. He glanced at Ron, then shook his head slightly at her in warning. She cringed, but gave him a tiny nod.
Ron, oblivious to this exchange, said, "We brought your Transfiguration homework-Madame Pomfrey told McGonagall you were here."
"Oh, thank you, Ron. That saves me a trip and being bored."
Ron shook his head, feigning despair. "Only you, Hermione."
"Yes, but you love me for it," she said casually.
As Ron's eyes widened, he began turning red again; Harry winced at the remark and again shook his head at a perplexed Hermione.
Madame Pomfrey came in then, and shooed away the two boys. Hermione sent them a half-hearted smile and wave, still pondering the boys' reaction to her comment.
"Ferret-boy," Hermione said, smirking, to the portrait that was the door to Draco's and her common room.
When they'd gone to change the password, she and Draco had an argument. She couldn't remember what it was about anymore, but at one point she'd called Draco "Ferret-boy" and had accidentally made that the new password.
The teenager in the painting, a pretty girl with long, red hair, giggled and the painting swung open to reveal the common room.
Hermione walked in and plopped down sideways in a big, cushioned chair facing the fireplace. Unfortunately, the seat was already occupied.