Author's Note: So in my efforts to research canon Dramione moments for this series, I dusted off my Harry Potter books. Good idea, right? Nope. I have read the series many times. My books are 20 years old (I'm sure you can guess the edition). Pages have started FALLING OUT of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and you guys, I LOST my shit. So I'll come right out and say it… the binding is fragile.

Posting this chapter in between tears of mourning. I am officially packing up my set and keeping it in storage until I'm a withered old lady, and can bequeath my books to my offspring while I am on my deathbed. The Amazon order of paperbacks is already on its way. Do I have any shame in owning two sets of HP books? Absolutely not. When the illustrated versions are all out, you better believe I'll buy those too.

Anyway, this chapter occurs in tandem with the first half of The Midnight Duel / mid-September 1991. Hermione's birthday is in that time frame. So 2 + 2 = …Chapter 3! I really loved writing this entry, too. It just flowed!

Special Thanks: AppleOrangePie, you brave first reviewer. You kind friend. You beautiful soul. Thank you for your encouragement.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even intact HP books anymore

Over the next couple of days, Draco's interest had seeped out of the library and Potions class, and into the castle. He would look for her everywhere. She wasn't hard to spot- that conspicuous shrub on her head frequently gave her away.

By breakfast on Wednesday, he was openly watching her in the Great Hall. Hermione had glanced in his direction a couple of times, which both thrilled and mortified him. But his attention found its way back to her again when she received a package with a large ribbon on it. Hermione unwrapped it with delight as Parvati Patil leaned over to undoubtedly ask her what she got. Parvati is so nosy, Draco thought to himself as he observed the exchange. At that moment, Neville Longbottom sat down next to the pair of girls. Longbottom must have made a friendly comment to Hermione because she gave him the widest smile Draco had seen, her large white teeth displayed prominently. Draco felt something hot burn inside him. How could Neville Longbottom possibly say anything to evoke such a response? Longbottom was about as charming as a garden gnome.

Hermione offered him what looked like a food from her package, and Longbottom happily accepted it. As if he needed to become any rounder than he already was. Draco was beginning to seethe with envy at this point.

"She probably does Longbottom's homework for him too. I wouldn't be surprised if the Gryffindors took turns changing and burping him," Theodore Nott joked. He had noticed his friend watching the muggleborn witch for several minutes now.

Nott's joke earned a raucous cackle from Pansy, whose ears seemed to perk up whenever a Gryffindor was being made fun of. "Little Lumpy Longbottom can't do anything right," she jibed. "Did you see the way his potion attacked him the other week? Even his potion couldn't stand him anymore!" She crowed again.

"I thought it was Potter's fault?" Nott responded.

"Saint Potter," Draco spat. If there was anyone Draco despised in this moment more than Neville Longbottom, it was Harry Potter. It would always be Harry Potter. "He and Weasel are always late to class and the rest of us have to wait on them. And the teachers just adore them for no reason at all. Potter this and Potter that. Meanwhile, we Slytherins have already mastered basic magic," he fumed.

"Hogwarts is a joke," said Pansy. "Dumbledore should have separate classes for muggleborns and blood traitors. Better yet, I don't see why they should be allowed to attend Hogwarts at all. They're holding us back."

"The Granger girl seems to be doing well," commented Nott. "For a muggleborn, especially." He eyed his friend.

Draco glowered at his breakfast.

Draco was looking forward to seeing Hermione at their table in the library. He knew she'd already be there; he was getting used to her routine. She was laughably predictable, though. The witch was pretty much in the library any time she wasn't in class or in the Great Hall. He wouldn't be surprised if she had a little mattress in the corner of the library made out of books so she'd never have to leave. He almost laughed aloud at the image.

He spotted her easily. "I saw you got a package today," Draco remarked as he strolled up to their study area. His curiosity had been eating away at him all day.

Hermione shot a pretty smile at him as he sat down. "My birthday is tomorrow." She shrugged. "Mum and Dad haven't gotten used to owls yet. They still think it's slower than the muggle post so my gift came in early. Nothing extravagant, though… just some sugar-free fruit leathers and a book. You're welcome to try a leather if you want."

Draco was unsurprised she got a book for her birthday. "Fruit leathers?" He snorted. "What a terrible gift."

Hermione looked dismayed. "My parents are dentists so we don't really have sweets that much."

"Dentists?"

"They attend to people's teeth," she explained. "And sugar rots teeth."

Draco scoffed. "There are potions and elixirs for that. And you should have proper sweets on your birthday." He pulled out a shrink-wrapped lemon tart from his bag. "Here," he offered it to her.

Hermione reached across the table to accept the treat from him, tilting her head. "Do you often carry around desserts in your school bag?"

He shrugged. "My parents send them to me nearly every day. I couldn't eat them all by myself even if I wanted to. I reckon Mother sends extra sweets to share with Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Theo… you know." The Malfoy witch had in fact advised Draco before the school year to share his sweets with his House. ("Your father may believe in favors, but your housemates won't say no to sweets," she'd say before lowering her voice as if to share a secret with him. "A little simple bribery can go a long way.")

Hermione looked at him curiously. "Did you all know each other before Hogwarts?"

"Of course," he said matter-of-factly. "Our families are very close. We've all been friends for years. Some of us are even related I think." He thought back to an old family tree he had seen in the Manor with its branches spanning several meters of parchment. The Blacks, the Lestranges, the Malfoys… Draco had cousins he hadn't even met.

The young witch frowned. "Must be nice."

It dawned on Draco then that the girl might not have many friends. "You have friends," he offered in an attempt to cheer her up. He thought back to Parvati and Longbottom, and remembered the way the tosser had smiled at Hermione in the Great Hall. Draco's face started to tinge pink with jealousy again.

"Not really," Hermione sighed while smoothing out the wrinkled plastic with her thumb. "I think the other students find me annoying." She looked up at Draco, who was willing himself to stay expressionless. "I don't try to be. I just don't know how to talk to people. It was just me growing up, and the other kids in primary thought I was odd because strange things kept happening around me. Everyone shied away from me. I didn't even know I was magical until I got my letter." She looked back down at the lemon square. "But now that I'm here, it seems everyone already knows each other and the only people who like me are the teachers. And not even all of the teachers." Hermione leaned back in her seat, shoulders slumped. "Sometimes it's just easier to be around books."

Draco didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he felt a glimmer of pride at the fact that she confided in him as a friend. But it also made him uncomfortable to hear about her depressing muggle upbringing. He'd have to remember to check the pureblood family archives when he returned to the Manor for the holidays. He still didn't want to believe she was a muggleborn, despite her compelling tale.

Instead, he gave her a half smile. "Go on then, have a bite."

Hermione's expression softened. She glanced around nervously. "I don't know. I don't think we're supposed to eat in the library."

Draco chuckled. "I didn't realize you were such a stickler for rules, Hermione, what with your fascination with the Restricted Section and all," he teased. "Besides, there's no one here. This is our little corner, and we'll keep it between us."

"Some rules are worth breaking and some aren't," she smiled. "I couldn't live with myself if I accidentally got some rare book sticky, or damaged it because I couldn't wait to eat a lemon tart."

"Not even a birthday lemon tart?"

"I'll eat it by my birthday. I promise."

"Have it your way." He started to flip open his Charms textbook. Sensing that he had cheered her up a bit, Draco felt more at ease.

She looked at him a moment longer. "Thank you for the treat, Draco," she said softly. "And please thank your mum for me."

Though Draco had no intention of relaying her thanks to his mother just in case she was muggleborn, he welcomed her appreciation all the same. "Sure. I mean, it's not a big deal. We're friends, right?"

"Yes. We are" She beamed at him. His pulse quickened.

Draco put down his quill. He had reached a good stopping point in his note-taking, and as much as he relished studying with Hermione, two hours without her attention was almost too much. Draco peered at her only to see her scribbling furiously on her parchment. She then let out an exasperated groan and pushed her hair away from her forehead before scratching out whatever she had just written.

Concluding that Hermione could use a study break as well, Draco ripped off a square of parchment from the bottom of his scroll. He glanced at Hermione, but she didn't look up. Draco returned his focus to the parchment, and he pinched the center of the paper before twisting the end tightly. He took another sliver of parchment and carefully tied it around the twisted side like twine. Draco then made several tears in the untwisted end. Hermione still paid him no notice.

Finally, Draco tore off a strip of paper, wrote a few words on it, and tucked it into the small paper broom. Pulling his wand from his robes, he whispered a quick charm, and the toy floated up off the desk, and directly into Hermione's line of sight (which was particularly tricky since her line of sight was just the few centimeters between her and her notes.)

Hermione gasped. She looked up at Draco and he grinned in return. Then, with a wag of his eyebrows, he made the broom fly in circles around them and watched with joy as Hermione twisted and turned in her seat to follow the toy broom that waved "Happy Birthday" from its end.

"Draco!" she breathed. "That's amazing! Is that the Levitation spell? We're not supposed to learn that for weeks!" Then with a gasp she started flipping through her Charms textbook. "Right? That's not something I missed, is it?"

"No!" Draco let out a laugh. "We haven't covered it yet. I just wanted to show it to you." He floated the broom back down to their table where it landed gently in front of her.

She gave him a bright smile. Take that, Longbottom. "It's lovely magic," she beamed. "I've been practicing some spells on my own too, you know."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm." She gave him a wicked smirk. Her cute little nose scrunched up and Draco couldn't help but grin back at her. "I've been working on some BlueBell Flames."

Draco's eyebrows shot up. "Cold fire?" He was impressed. Manipulating matter was easier than creating them. He could move and minimize trinkets, sure, but conjuring objects was slightly more advanced. He believed Hermione could do it, though. He wouldn't even bet against her performing NEWT level magic.

"Want to see?" she whispered.

"What? In front of all these books? What if you damage a book on Ancient Runes? Could you live with yourself?"

"Oh hush! That's what I have this for," and she reached into her bag and pulled out a small glass jar.

Draco let out a loud bark. This witch was full of surprises! "And here you mock me for keeping sweets in my bag."

She rolled her eyes and placed the jar on the table between them, one hand tilting the glass to face her. After a moment's focus, she pointed her wand in the jar and a bright blue flame shot out of her wand and rested itself at the bottom of the glass. Hermione looked up at him.

Draco was captivated. He could hardly tear his gaze from the blue fire between them. When he finally did look back up at her, her expression was one of pride and joy. Draco couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun talking to someone. He was beginning to… admire her.

"I've been working on a Protean charm" he spluttered.

"Protean charm?"

The blue flame flickered between them, and the hue danced across her features.

"I haven't figured it out yet. It's a bit tricky. But it's supposed to link objects together and make them act the same." Hermione looked at him quizzically. Draco continued, grabbing her parchment. "In theory, if I cast a Protean charm on our two parchments, whatever I write on mine will also appear on yours." He pushed her paper back to her.

"Really? How useful! Probably best for writing secret messages," she winked at him. Draco turned a deep red, grateful for their blue lighting. Did she actually wink at him?

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm still working it out." He stiffened. Nervousness was starting to set in and he couldn't quite figure out why.

She offered him a tender smile. "I really did like the broom, Draco. Thank you."

Draco felt his blush getting deeper. "I was just thinking about our Flying Lessons together tomorrow." That was partially true, he supposed. Draco knew their Flying Lesson would be with Gryffindor in the morning. He was very much looking forward to showing off his flying skills to Hermione, as well as certainly mocking Potter and Weasel's inexperience.

Hermione's expression changed. "Oh, that's right! I saw the notice up in the common room today! Oh dear, I haven't even studied flying yet." She returned to her books, searching through them. "I'm going to be so unprepared," she moaned. "I don't know how to fly!"

"It's not really something you can learn from a book, Hermione," he pointed out.

"I know! But it couldn't hurt!"

Hermione awoke in the middle of the night to a tap-tap-tap at the window closest to her. She turned over groggily to see a large eagle owl staring directly at her.

Tap.

Drowsy and confused, Hermione opened the small window, and the large bird attempted to hop in. Upon realizing it was carrying a small parcel, Hermione untied the string to take the package. This gave the owl a little extra space to duck in, and it nipped at Hermione impatiently for its payment.

"Right, yes," Hermione muttered to herself before reaching in her book bag to see if she had anything to offer the messenger. She sifted through the items in her bag and felt the small shrink-wrapped dessert with her fingers. With a soft chuckle, she pulled the treat from the bag to unwrap it, and offered a broken piece to the bird, which it accepted happily before flying off.

Hermione looked at the parcel the owl had delivered. It was small and neat, tied together with a delicate string. Hermione pulled the twine to discover a note and small book inside.

Happy birthday, Hermione.

- D.M.

Beneath the note laid a library copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Hermione let out another chuckle and lit a BlueBell into the jar on her bedside. And there she celebrated the early hours of her birthday by studying flying and nibbling on a lemon tart.