AN: Here is chapter three of 'Jar of Hearts

Before the beginning of this chapter I would like to thank Lingo10 for the reviews.

So, thank you! It means a lot to me :)

Enjoy!

Chapter three

The days passed by and ever since that scented encounter outside the Potions' classroom Hermione had been very confused. It was the only thing that kept going through her mind, beside her lessons of course.

She had to admit that she had been behaving like a coward during the days following her supposed attraction to Malfoy.(Now even the tiniest thought about it sent shivers through her spine). She had been ignoring him: taking other paths when walking through the castle, not entering a room at the same moment as him and sitting as far away as possible from him during their classes. Just so she wouldn't smell that scent again.

'Chicken.' She thought. Hermione knew that this wasn't the right way of handling something like that.

She was a Gryffindor for crying out loud, she was supposed to be brave and full of courage. She ought to be handling a problem right away, not ignoring it.

'But then again was it a problem? Sure, it was weird… scary even. It seemed so unreal, so…'

'Hermione? Did you hear me?' Immediately her thoughts were cut short by Harry. ' Huh… I'm sorry. What did you say Harry?' He rolled his eyes at her: ' I said are you ready to go?' 'To go where?' ' To class of course' Ron cut in. Hermione blinked and her cheeks turned the brightest of red: 'I'm sorry. Yes , I think I have everything, so lets go.' 'Are you sure about that? Don't you want to… check?' At this Hermione faced both of her friends, surprised. 'Why?'Both of the boys looked at her, unsure about how to respond to that. It was Harry who started: 'well, it feels like you've been very distracted lately…' 'What do you mean? Distracted?' 'Well, erm…like you have something on your mind.'

Her eyes were drawn to the wooden floor. Was it that obvious? 'I didn't' know I seemed distracted.' ' Well , you do,' Ron said gently, 'these passed days you've forgotten your books twice and one time you'd even forgotten your quill. You've been acting…' 'Not like you.' Harry finished his friend's sentence. Hermione didn't know what to say, so she apologised once more.

They entered the Transfiguration classroom. Apparently they were later than usual, because the room was already packed with students. There weren't many seats left, but Hermione spotted three empty ones in the third row. ' Shall we sit there?' The boys nodded and followed her. As soon as she sat down, a fresh odour entered her nose trills. She knew that smell. Hermione looked up and turned her head a little to the left. Her eyes rested on a blond head.

' Shoot!' she thought; Malfoy sat in the row in front of her. She made amends to stand up again, to go to another seat. But then professor McGonagall walked into the room. There was no escaping now.

'Good day everyone.' The professor started her lesson. 'Today we are going to learn more about a very difficult topic: human transfiguration. It includes things as changing the colour of your eyebrows to reshaping the form of your nose. Now, will you all please take out your handbooks and start reading page 62 to 76.'

Everyone did as they were bidden, except Hermione. She had already read that chapter twice, in her spare time. So she still could remember a lot of it, she almost knew it by heart.

Hermione let her eyes wander around the room. It was quite a nice classroom, very different from that of Snape. Here the curtains weren't holding back the daylight. The October sun was shining through the large windows, letting in as much natural light as possible. It was also a very clean room, although there were a lot of different kinds of animals sitting in cages, from birds to lizards. Hermione remembered them from her second year on Hogwarts. Back then every student was provided with one of these animals so they could practise their transfiguration charms on them. They had to turn the creatures into water goblets, books or pencils. She'd always felt a bit sorry for them, sitting in their cages with nothing to do. Of course they were properly taken care of and most of them were released back in the wild when the lessons were finished.

Then Hermione's eyes drifted towards the blond-haired boy and she was lost in her own thoughts, again. She still couldn't believe that she was attracted to Malfoy. It was just so…unreasonable. Come on! How could she be drawn to him? He was cruel, cold and also dangerous… in a way. Ok, she had to admit that he could be very charming sometimes, to the ones he wanted to be charming to, and that his bad- boy attitude was kind of sexy…

Oh no. 'Hermione stop it!' She told herself severely. 'Think girl, think!' He is repulsive, not attractive! He's just an arrogant, cunning prick!

It would be impossible for her to fall in love with a guy with a skin as white as a sheet of paper. Because that's not attractive now, is it? It looks quite unhealthy actually.

Ok, stupid excuse.

She started to watch him more closely: his skin might be very white but the rest of his features were pleasant to look at. He had a straight nose and full lips. His neck was slender. His hair had a golden colour and was very neat. She scrutinized his hands next. His fingers were long and slim; they would be perfect for playing a musical instrument.

Hermione stopped thinking about the physical characteristics and thought about his other abilities. She had to admit that Malfoy was quite smart; apparently he had passed all his O.W.L. 's . And she knew that he was good at Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. He was also good at his roll as a Seeker in Quidditch and…

Before she could finish that consideration she noticed that Malfoy had turned his head towards her. She immediately pretended to be reading in her handbook.

But it was too late; he had seen her looking at him. Hermione tilted her head up once more and saw that Malfoy, at his turn, was staring at her. Astonishment was reflected in his grey eyes, another pleasant thing about him. Just like Hermione he focused himself back on his textbook and… he swallowed. The Gryffindor Head girl frowned at that; he acted as if she had busted him instead of the other way around.

'Have you all read it? Good. Now who can give me a short summary of the text?'

Hermione had heard that professor McGonagall had spoken, but she didn't know what she had said or asked. ' Harry? What did the professor just say?'

He looked at her, bewildered. Normally he was the one to ask her that question.

'Someone has to give a summary of the text. Are you all right?'

' Yes , sure, why wouldn't I be?' ' Erm… I don't know, it was just a question.'

She sighed and raised her hand.

'Yes, miss Granger.'

'The text explains everything there is to know about human Transfiguration. Its history; how it evolved through the ages, who the inventor was and so on. How and when we can use human Transfigurations is also clarified and there are a few handy tips as well.'

' And who can tell me something about the guidelines?'

Hesitating, Draco Malfoy raised his hand. Professor McGonagall was as surprised as all the other students in the room, Malfoy almost never answered during class.

' Yes… mister Malfoy.'

'As Miss Granger indicated, there are a lot of useful tips. One of them is using your spells in a non-verbal way. '

Did Hermione hear that right?

He'd called her Miss Granger? Without a single sign of disdain? Impossible!

'Don't think about it Hermione, he's gone back to his usual taunting.' Ron said to her.

She nodded but then she saw him watching her.

And his grey eyes told her that it wasn't his intention of insulting her… at all.

Hermione was sitting at a table in the almost deserted library. Five candles were lit in their candlesticks, their flames dancing in the breeze that came through the large window in front of her.

Hermione's eyes were drooping; she'd been here for hours. At the last minute professor McGonagall had decided to give them an assignment. They had to write an essay about today's lesson. Immediately she'd made her way to the library to do research for hers.

Approaching footsteps sounded from behind her and her eyes snapped open.

'Miss Granger , I'm going to close the library. It's time for the students to go to bed.' Madame Pince said.

'Ok.' Hermione gathered her books and started her way down the corridor. She was longing for her bed, but al least she had all the information she needed for her essay.

When she passed the entrance of the Head boys' bathroom she came to a hold. Did she just hear something? She stepped a few paces back and looked at the door. Yes, there were definitely strange sounds coming from behind it. Hermione listened more closely and could distinct voices (?) and something that sounded like…yes… definitely crying.

She hesitated, should she go in or not? A strange feeling whelmed up inside her; she felt that she had to go in. After all, it could be one of her friends in distress.

Hermione pushed the door open: ' Harry? Ron? Are you ok?'

She walked to the middle of the room and stopped death in her tracks.

'YOU!'