A One-Time Thing

Hermione shivered against her thick wooly scarf. Her ears pink from the cold frosty air. Shoving her gloved hands in her jacket pockets, she looked next to her. Her two best friends; Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. They were having a heated argument about Quidditch. Having no interest in the topic she looked ahead as they reached Hogsmeade Village. Left over snow littered the rooftops and the front of the shops. The shop keepers regularly came out and shuffled the snow away from the doorways. For mid- February, it was a rather cold day. Lots of snow still littering Hogwarts and it's villages.

"I'm off to Madame Puddifoot's. I will see you guys back up at the castle." Harry informed his best friends.

"Give Cho a big kiss from me!" Ron joked, a whisper of jealousy spread across Harry's eyes. He elbowed his friend in the stomach. Ron bent over, struggling to catch his breath.

"I was kidding." He breathed out. Hermione rubbed his back comfortingly.

"I will see you back in the common room. Ron. Go kiss someone else's girlfriend." And he was off, leaving Hermione alone with Ron.

On Valentine's day.

"Come on Ronald, let's go into The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the tavern.

They entered the establishment and were met with warmth. Shrugging off their jackets, scarves, beanies and gloves they walked over to an empty table

They sat down and talked amongst themselves, completely oblivious to Draco Malfoy and his friends on the opposite side of the room.

Draco Malfoy sat opposite his friends; Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and unfortunately, Pansy Parkinson could be found clinging to his arm and rested her head against his shoulder.

Draco was clearly uncomfortable. Blaise being the dedicated friend he was noticed this.

"Draco mate, can you please go and get us some butterbeers?" Blaise asked his friend.

His eyes met Draco's and flickered towards the bar where Hermione Granger, in all her Gryffindor glory, stood at the bar, arguing with Madame Rosmerta.

Draco suddenly excused himself and made his way towards the bushy haired witch.

On the pretense of only getting butterbeer.

When three feet away, Draco stood frozen.

He hadn't talked to her since last year. Since their kiss.

He turned his head to catch Blaise's eye, but he was busy trying to flirt with Pansy.

Taking a deep breath, Draco moved in towards Hermione.

"Five butterbeers please." Draco asked the bar keep. The bar keep let out a small grunt and turned around to make the warm drinks.

Hermione then turned at the familiar voice. Her mouth was open as if to speak but nothing came out.

"It's good to see you Granger." Draco acknowledged the Gryffindor.

Hermione cleared her throat before replying, "it is a surprise."

Draco arched his eyebrow, "how is it a surprise? The Three Broomsticks is a popular place to meet with friends."

"But we're not friends, are we?"

This time it was Draco who was speechless.

But that didn't discourage him in away.

He moved closer to whisper in her ear. His breath warm and tingly on her neck.

"Why don't we find out?"

Draco moved way from Hermione, taking the warmth with him and walked into the bathroom. Hermione hesitated for a moment, as if to think about what this would mean. But then she stopped analyzing it and gathered her Gryffindor courage she was so proud of, and walked in the direction of the blonde Slytherin.

Blaise Zabini reluctantly tore his eyes away from Pansy and looked over to the bar, as he watched the two teenagers walk into the bathroom.

Hermione and Ron did not see Harry in the common room after their Hogsmeade trip. They finally found him piling his plate high with mash potato and lamb chops. Ron slid in next to Harry, with their backs to the Slytherin table and Hermione was left facing them.

"So… How was your date with Cho?" Hermione asked Harry.

Harry looked at the food and suddenly found them more interesting than his friends.

"Yeah mate. How was the date?"

Harry blushed crimson.

"It was alright." He replied modestly.

"So how was Hogsmeade?" He asked Ron and Hermione.

At Harry's comment, Hermione's eyes locked with Draco's who was sitting, facing her on the Slytherin table. She thought she saw a shadow of a smirk.

A soft blush reached her cheeks as she remembered what happened in the bathroom at The Three Broomsticks.

Ron and Harry did not notice.

"We went and warmed up with a butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks. That Madame Rosmerta, she's mental that one. It's her hair. Anyway, then we went to

Honeydukes; got some sugar quills, pepper imps and exploding bonbons. And then to Spintwitches and Zonkos. Harry, the Quidditch sets are on sale!"

Harry and Ron then dived into the topic of Quidditch.

It was as if it was all they talked about.

Ginny soon pulled her out of her thoughts as she tore herself away from Dean.

"Has he made a move yet?" The Weasley witch asked Hermione.

Hermione ducked her head down and started shoving chicken into her mouth.

After chewing and swallowing, she replied nonchalantly, "I'm not sure what you are talking about."

"I have seen him looking at you. I saw you blush before, when you looked over."

"Shut up." Hermione murmured as she continued eating her dinner.

"So something did happen." Hermione put down her fork and turned towards Ginny.

"Ginny, I promise, I will tell you everything but after dinner. It is too public in here. When we head back up to the common room, I promise to tell you everything." Ginny let out a wide grin and was just about to turn back around to Dean when Hermione interrupted her.

"Has Harry noticed yet?" Ginny's grin faded.

"No. Not yet." Her eyes saddened.

"Is that why you are still with Dean?" Ginny nodded.

"I was hoping dating Dean would make him jealous, but it only set off Ron. It's stupid Cho Chang who won't stop snogging Harry for him to even glance at me."

"Well from what I heard, I don't think it's not going to last much longer. Apparently on their date, Cho didn't stop talking about Cedric the whole time." Ginny finally let out a small smile.

"Really?"

"I think so."

"Thanks Hermione. You would think Harry and Ron would pick up on a few things relating to romance, being friends with you and all but it's like the only thing that actually gets through their thick skulls is Quidditch."

"I know!"

"Anyway, thank you so much, and I still do want to hear everything about it when we go back up to the dormitories.

As soon as Dumbledore dismissed all the students from dinner, everyone crowded around to get to their common rooms. It wasn't until she was finally on top of the moving staircase on the third floor that a hand pulled at her.

She didn't see who pulled her aside to Godric knows where. It took her few moments and the realisation that she had a wand to finally see her captor.

Hermione wasn't sure if she was surprised or confused.

His silver eyes were illuminated by her wand, his blonde hair neatly falling over his eyes.

Hermione opened her mouth, and just as she was about to ask what he was doing here but his lips were soon on hers. She didn't protest as he pressed his mouth against hers, pulling her closer towards him.

She moved her lips against his, slowly at first, as if to taste his lips, then fast and passionately as she threw her whole body into the kiss. It seemed though, that he was a bit more desperate than she was and they were quickly slammed against some sort of shelf of some sort. His tongue soon discovered her mouth, which she opened the first chance she could get. His hands ran through her bushy mane, moaning into her mouth as she did something with her teeth and the bottom of his lip. Her hands grabbed fistfuls of his shirt pulling him closer. Their tongues and mouths discovering unknown territory, that was also somewhat familiar.

Hermione, then, was the first to pull away. Draco almost desperate to hold onto that moment, held her face, keeping their final kiss, chaste.

"Wha- what- was that?" She stuttered out. She had to lean against the door for support. Her knees felt like jelly.

"That. Granger was a one time thing." Was all he said as he pushed open the cupboard door and walked to his common room.

Leaving Hermione breathless and furious.