Chapter Three

"If he tries to do anything or if he upsets you in any way, go talk to McGonagall. I'm sure she'll understand," Ron reassured Hermione, after walking her to the empty Transfiguration classroom. "Do you want me to be here at eight o'clock?"

"I'll be alright walking back alone. Just wait for me in the common room," Hermione instructed.

It was almost time for her first lesson with Draco. She had explained the situation to Ron and Harry last night and both were just as outraged as she was. Ron even offered to have a talk with McGonagall about making Ernie Macmillan do it.

Draco had appeared in Transfiguration that morning and it turned out he was in several of the trio's classes. So much for a better year, Hermione thought.

"I'll see you in an hour." Ron planted a hard kiss on her lips.

Hermione reluctantly watched him leave and entered the room that she was already beginning to hate. For the first session, she planned on reviewing spells from the past couple of years. That would be simple enough and would require little explaining.

She went to the shelves in the room by Tonks' desk and collected a few objects that Draco could practice transforming. Hermione carried them to a desk visible through the little pane of glass in the door. It was a silly move but she wanted to make sure that someone would be able to see her lying stunned or dead on the table if Draco got a little carried away.

Surprisingly, he arrived on time, barely looking at his new tutor. The temperature of the room seemed to drop instantly and Hermione felt her muscles tense. He approached the desk that Hermione had prepared and sat sulkily in one of the old, creaky, wooden chairs.

"Hi," Hermione forced herself to say. Draco's empty eyes shot up from the miscellaneous objects on the table to meet Hermione's.

"I'm not here to make small talk, Granger," he spoke harshly as if it actually pained him to talk to her. "Teach me what I missed so we can both get out of here."

Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket, pointing it at a candlestick on the table. "We can review spells first. That's what we did on the first day of class, anyway."

Draco took his wand out of his robes, as well. "Which spells?"

"Color changing, shape-altering, and transfiguring into similar objects."

He immediately turned the candlestick from gold to silver, made it taller, and finished by transforming it into a silver drinking goblet. He did it all with simple flicks of his wand while murmuring the proper spells.

"Alright," Hermione started, staring in slight amazement. Maybe he wasn't an idiot after all. "We can move on to self transfiguration. Same type of spells, just on yourself."

Without hesitation, Draco turned his wand to himself. He whispered the spells under his breath, turning his eyes a dark blue, making his white-blonde hair shrink back into his skull, and finally transfiguring his non-wand hand into a lion's claw.

Hermione would have laughed at the sight, had she not been afraid that Draco would take a swipe at her with his deadly claw, so instead, she nodded slightly in approval before he returned to his normal skeletal and sickly figure.

"What are you making that face for?" Draco demanded, glancing swiftly at Hermione. He looked much less violent when he had the navy colored eyes.

"What face?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, trying to remember her last reaction.

"I don't know, you seemed surprised, as if you didn't think I was capable of successfully doing magic," Draco grumbled. He put his wand down and waited for Hermione to explain.

"Well, I just expected to be reviewing spells for the first few lessons. I didn't think you would remember them so easily," she admitted. A bit of hope grew inside of her. Maybe this meant less sessions if he paid attention.

"In other words, I'm not as stupid as you imagined I was." He threw Hermione an angered look.

She figured it was best to not respond and chose a dozen more spells for him to practice. He did them all perfectly without thinking.

"If you're good at transfiguration, why don't you seem to care during class?" Hermione finally asked, once they had run out of spells. There was still half an hour before the end.

"That's none of your business," Draco spat. Obviously Hermione had managed to hit a nerve.

The lesson had gone well up until this point; there was no excessive amount of rudeness, but now Draco's voice was as cold and hard as ice. Hermione didn't think her question was too personal.

"Sorry, I was just curious. I am trying to help you here, you know," Hermione pointed out. She wasn't sure why she apologized, she hadn't done anything wrong.

"No, you're not! You were forced into this just like I was. Don't make it seem like you're being such a saint here. You're not as perfect as you think you are, Granger." His eyes were dark as ever now. Hermione shuddered at the intensity of his glare.

"I just thought that if we're going to work together for a few hours a week, it would be easier if we got along. I was simply asking a question, hoping with some conversation, I wouldn't loathe you so much," she said, placing emphasis on the fact that she really did loathe him.

"There is nothing you need to know about me." Draco pushed his chair away from the desk, standing abruptly. He nearly tipped the desk over in his outburst but Hermione made sure nothing fell off of it. "It would be easier if you just taught me Transfiguration and then left me alone," he growled, shoving the door open and hurrying out.

Hermione found Ron and Harry playing chess in the common room. "That disgusting git!" Hermione exclaimed, frustrated. "He does the spells flawlessly, I try to find out why he doesn't put the same effort in during class, and he completely rips my head off."

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked, taking one of Harry's chess pieces.

"There's nothing I can do. It's just who he is. I'll have to keep my mouth shut next time and only open it when he wants to know what spells he missed while he was ditching class!" Hermione decided. She couldn't stand any part of the Slytherin. Even when she tried to understand his thought process and the reason behind his actions, she only received a rotten load of insults. She sat down by the fire and pulled out a book to take her mind off of things.

"Hermione, we should sleep," Ron suggested, watching Harry disappear up the boy's staircase to the dormitories a few hours later. The common room was now empty apart from the two of them, curled up on the couch.

"I won't be able to sleep. I'm thinking too much of having to teach that horrible Slytherin over and over again," Hermione cringed, burying her head in Ron's chest.

He twirled his fingers through her hair with one hand and lifted her chin with the other so that he could see her eyes.

"Don't think about it. He's not going to hex you or anything while in this school. I swear I would kill him if he tried," Ron promised, "Just don't ask him about his life and he'll leave you alone." Hermione looked pleased and thanked Ron by closing her eyes and leaning her face in to rest her lips against his.

Their lips moved together in harmony before Ron gently parted Hermione's open with his own. Their tongues danced rhythmically, causing Hermione's heart to flutter. Her mind went blank, focusing only on the pleasure of kissing Ron. He moved his hands frantically to her hips, brushing the sides of her body as he did so, then proceeded to shift her body so that she was lying under him, her back to the couch cushions. Hermione tried to deepen the kiss but Ron cut her off in an attempt to regain his breath.

He slowly moved his lips to her neck, never lifting them from her heated skin as Hermione's chest rose and fell, steadily returning her heart beat to normal. Withdrawing his mouth from her collar bone, Ron started to kiss her again. She placed her hands on Ron's chest and lightly pushed.

"Mmm- stop, Ron," she murmured against his hungry lips. He opened his eyes, a troubled look now on his face as he lifted his head.

"You have no idea how badly I want you right now," he whispered in his deep voice, struggling to focus on what she wanted.

"We need to go to sleep," Hermione reminded him. If she wasn't so tired suddenly or so afraid of someone walking in on them, she would have snogged Ron until the sun rose. However, that was something that could get her Head Girl privilege taken away. How very frustrating it was to have to be responsible sometimes.

Ron rolled off from on top of her and stood at the edge of the couch. He took Hermione's soft hand and helped her stand, pulling her close so that all the space between their bodies disappeared. His long arms wrapped securely around her waist and bent his head down so their foreheads were touching.

"I love you," he stated, staring down at her beaming face.

Hermione reached up to peck at his lips. "And I love you."