The weeks passed and, with them, a few things changed. Draco was still unable to produce a Patronus charm, although he was slowly getting better, and he and Harry remained good friends. Their friendship wasn't without disagreements and arguments, but they were rare, and if Harry was honest with himself, he didn't really mind them. He quite liked the fact that Draco was one of the few people who was actually able to challenge him – it was refreshing, after having to put up with most people in the school worshipping him.

The one thing that was really puzzling Harry was Hermione, who seemed to be acting stranger and stranger as the days wore on. He often caught her giving him oddly furtive glances, usually when he and Draco were together, which he still couldn't understand – the only thing he knew for certain was that it was to do with Draco.

I wish she wouldn't do it.

He was already uncomfortable enough around Draco, and having Hermione around only increased his discomfort. His feelings for Draco seemed to change every day – one day he felt sure that he only liked Draco as a friend, and the next day his heart would leap whenever Draco looked in his direction. The whole thing, he had decided, was mad. There was no other word for it. The fact that he was even considering the possibility of falling in love with someone he had used to hate, someone he had always looked on as an enemy, was crazy.

Harry winced as he replayed the words back in his head. Falling in love. He felt his cheeks flood with colour – he had never thought of it like that. If there was anything in his 'feelings' towards Draco, it was simply a fleeting crush, certainly not love-

"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione's voice broke his thoughts.

He nodded impatiently, not in the mood for a conversation.

Hermione sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" said Harry defensively. "I'm just…worrying about the exams, that's all."

One look from Hermione told him that she didn't believe him. "You've not been yourself recently-" she began.

"Well, neither have you!" Harry protested. "You've been giving me weird looks for the last couple of weeks, for no apparent reason."

Hermione hesitated. "I've just been wondering about something, that's all. Trying to work something out."

"Something to do with me," Harry stated, unimpressed. "You know Hermione; it isn't really your business-"

"I know," Hermione interrupted, biting her lip. "Look, Harry, it doesn't matter, it-"

"No," Harry interrupted. "Tell me. If it's about me, I think I have the right to know."

"That's true," Hermione admitted, shifting awkwardly in her seat, "but I also think-"

"What do you think?" Ron lowered himself into the chair beside Hermione, his red hair tousled and face flushed.

"What happened to you?" Hermione asked, staring at him.

"Oh, I accidentally stood on Filch's cat's tail," said Ron, waving a hand dismissively. "I had to run before he caught me. Anyway, what were you saying?"

"It doesn't matter," said Hermione, standing up and flashing Harry a meaningful look. "We'll talk later – I have to go and ask Professor Sprout something."

Harry watched her leave with a feeling of frustration, mingled with panic. He knew that it was something to do with him and Draco – had Hermione guessed his thoughts about him? He groaned aloud, forgetting Ron was there.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, watching him quizzically.

"Fine," Harry sighed, getting to his feet. "Look, I need to go and, err, get a book from the library for Potions, so I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Okay," Ron replied, frowning slightly. "I didn't even know we had Potions homework!"

"Yes, we do," said Harry quickly, cursing himself inwardly. "Or, I do at least, because I'm falling behind, you know…."

Ron's face cleared and he nodded, pulling his school bag onto his lap and beginning to rifle through it, evidently searching for a piece of homework he still hadn't done, probably the Charms homework due in tomorrow, Harry thought with faint amusement.

He headed out of the common room, intending to hunt Hermione down. Although it turned out that she wasn't in the library, he decided that he might as well wait there for her, as she would probably be along soon. It was virtually impossible to keep Hermione away from the library for more than a minute.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he spun round, finding himself face to face with Draco, who gave a small smile.

"Hello, Harry."

"Hi," said Harry quickly, trying in vain to collect his thoughts. His mind felt as though it had gone numb, which recently seemed to happen whenever he was around Draco. "Err," he began lamely, "what're you doing here?"

"Homework," Draco replied, gesturing towards the table he had been sitting at, covered in books and quills.

Harry laughed despite himself. "How many quills do you need?" There had to be about ten of them lying on the table.

Draco's smile grew. "Quite a lot after making the mistake of buying a pack of quills from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. They go blunt before I'm even able to write a sentence."

"I'll make sure I don't buy them, then!" said Harry.

"No, I don't think I'll buy them again, somehow," said Draco, sitting down at the table and pulling up a chair next to him. "You can sit here if you want."

Harry sat down, feeling slightly nervous. "I can help you with your homework, if you want," he offered. "I don't have any to do right now."

"You're lucky!" said Draco enviously. "I have loads."

The two of them were silent for a few seconds as Draco scribbled down a few words on a piece of what looked like Arithmacy homework.

"When do you next want to help me with the Patronus?" Draco asked, without looking up.

"We'll have another lesson soon-" Harry began, but the rest of the sentence died on his lips as he caught sight of Hermione lowering herself into a seat at a table in the corner of the library, clearly having just arrived there.

"Harry?" said Draco in surprise, raising his head to look at him.

"Sorry, Draco, I just need to go and have a word with Hermione," said Harry quickly, already rising from his seat. "See you in a minute."

"See you," said Draco, lowering his head back down to his essay and adding a few more words to it.

"Hello, Harry," said Hermione vaguely as he reached her. "I thought you were with Draco?"

"I was, but I need to talk to you," said Harry urgently. "Hermione, what were you going to say before Ron came in?"

Hermione shook her head as Harry sat down. "Is this really the best place to discuss it?" she whispered.

Harry nodded impatiently. "Of course it is – we'll whisper. Now, tell me what your theory is about me and Draco."

"You know it's about Draco?" said Hermione in surprise.

"Shut up!" Harry hissed, glancing over to the other side of the library where Draco was sitting, still hard at work. "You don't want him to hear us!"

"Sorry," said Hermione, lowering her voice and looking sheepish. "I doubt he would hear us anyway, as he's miles away after all-"

"Yes, but I don't want anyone else to hear us either!" said Harry, uncomfortably aware that there were a couple of seventh year Slytherin's sitting near them, and both were shooting curious looks over to where he and Hermione were sitting.

Hermione sighed. "For the last few weeks," she began quietly, "I've been wondering whether you and Draco…well, you know, have feelings for each other."

Harry stared at her, feeling nothing but pure shock.

"I haven't told anyone!" said Hermione quickly. "I just wondered about it, that's all."

"But," said Harry faintly, finding his voice at last, "he isn't even gay!"

Hermione smiled ruefully. "I heard him talking to Pansy the other day – they sit in front of me in Arithmacy. Pansy was going on and on about all the 'hot boys' in the room and she said to Draco…" Here Hermione hesitated and took a deep breath. "She said to Draco that it was a shame you weren't here, because if you were, Draco would also have someone to eye up."

Harry spluttered. "Hermione, she didn't say that!"

"She did," Hermione insisted. "Trust me, Harry. She practically screeched it out for the whole class to hear, not that any of them did. I mean, it would be all around the school if they had!"

"Well then," said Harry, his head in a whirl, "she must have been joking!"

"She wasn't," said Hermione quietly. "He went bright red and told her to shut up. Anyway, I've picked up on a lot of other signs that show he likes you-"

"What, have you been spying on him or something?" said Harry indignantly, temporarily forgetting that they were in the middle of a quiet library.

"Don't talk so loudly!" Hermione implored, casting an anxious look over to where Madam Pince was skulking between the shelves.

Harry shook his head, a feeling a dread beginning to take over from the shock. "So, you think that we both have feelings for one another," he said flatly.

Hermione nodded tentatively. "But Harry, what I want to know is, do you have feelings for him?"

Harry groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I don't know," he said, his voice muffled.

"When did you start wondering if you felt something more?" Hermione asked gently.

Harry raised his head to look at his friend. "Hermione, why aren't you shocked? Or angry?" He shook his head helplessly. "Why are you so calm about it?"

"Because I know Draco has changed," said Hermione simply. "I mean, I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised at first, but if I'm honest, I always had an inkling that it would happen. You were so obsessed with him in sixth year and, well, he always wanted to get attention from you, even when he was making fun of you-"

"You always thought it would happen?" Harry stammered.

Hermione nodded. "Anyway," she said, her voice brisk all of a sudden, "what are you going to do about it?"

Harry took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together. "I honestly don't know," he said weakly.

"Well, you don't have to do anything about it if you don't want to," said Hermione. "But you do know that if you need to talk to anyone, you can come to me, don't you?"

Harry smiled weakly. "Thank you Hermione." He shook his head in confusion. "I still can't believe we're talking about this."

"Neither can I, really," Hermione admitted. "But it will all be fine Harry, I promise."

Harry gave a single nod. "I appreciate the support Hermione." He smiled faintly and stood up, glancing over to where Draco was sitting. "I don't know how I can talk to him after having this conversation…" he began in despair.

"Harry," said Hermione firmly, "it will be fine. Try not to act as though there is anything different between the two of you-"

"Easy to say," Harry muttered, making his way over to Draco. He glanced round briefly at Hermione, who gave him a supportive smile.

"Hi," said Draco as Harry reached him, glancing up from his work.

"Hi," said Harry, fighting to keep his voice steady as he slowly sat down beside Draco.

Draco frowned. "You okay? You look quite pale."

"I'm fine," said Harry quickly. "Absolutely fine."

"You don't look it," said Draco sceptically.

Harry remembered Hermione's words about Draco eyeing him up and felt a hot flash of embarrassment. Shaking his head, he jumped to his feet. "I…I'm going to lie down for a minute," he gabbled, ashamed with himself for acting like this around Draco, but so overwhelmed by the whole situation he hardly had any control over himself.

Draco got to his feet and followed Harry from the library, looking concerned. "Are you ill Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "Not ill." He turned round and met Draco's eyes, immediately experiencing the now-familiar leap of his heart as he looked directly at the other boy.

Draco frowned. "So what's wrong?"

Harry couldn't move, he couldn't speak, all he could do was stare into the grey eyes in front of him. He could feel himself slowly moving closer, hardly able to think…

Xxx

Hermione entered the common room and headed over to where Ron and Harry were sitting, keeping her eyes focused on Harry, who was hunched over in his seat.

"Harry?" she said tentatively as she reached them.

"Hi," said Harry hoarsely.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," said Ron, answering Hermione's unasked question. "He isn't talking to me."

"I don't think it's anything personal, Ron," said Hermione, noticing the rather put out expression on his face.

Harry rose unsteadily to his feet. "I'm going to bed."

"Look Harry, what's happened?" Ron asked in confusion.

Harry took a deep, steadying breath. "Nothing, I'm tired, that's all." He managed a weak smile, before making his way slowly in the direction of the boy's dormitories.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter :) I always really appreciate getting feedback!