It wasn't until the following day that they had any news from the Professors. The counter curse had worked as it should. It had stopped the curse affecting the Purebloods. However, because of the blood exchange, each Muggle born now had some Pureblood in them and it was blood that had been exchanged before the curse had been lifted. The counter curse had been written before there were any Muggle born wizards and therefore it did not work on them. The students were told that the counter curse would have to be adapted and the professors had called the St. Mungo's Mediwizards to help, they were on their way. Hermione had asked how the blood exchanges they were doing now could be helping and Professor McGonagall explained that the exchanges were mixing their blood again but this time the blood was no longer affected by the curse and therefore it was diluting the illness. As before, being close to your blood partner increased the effectiveness of the blood exchange.

So everyone felt like they were repeating a process they had already been through and out the other side. Stay together, keep exchanging blood and wait. Hermione had read the book they had brought back from Malfoy Manor from cover to cover about twenty times but had found nothing to help. The problem was that all the books in the Merlin Collection were centuries old, most of them written before Muggle born wizard existed and therefore no help.

It was a week since Hermione had left the infirmary and she was now ploughing her way through Hogwarts library, particularly the shelf marked M. Half the books were written in an ancient language and even Hermione was finding it hard going. She was stretching for a book on the top shelf when a hand touched her shoulder and she cried out.

"Sshh! It's only me." Draco's voice said in her ear and he grabbed the book she was reaching for.

Hermione held out her hand for it but he kept it out of her reach. "No. You can bring this with you but it's time you had a break," he said.

"Why? Give me the book."

"No. It's time for a break, put the books back." He started putting some of the books she had been looking at back on the shelf.

"Since when do I let you tell me what to do?" Hermione's voice rose and she heard someone say quiet to her from the next shelf. She lowered her voice back to a whisper. "Leave me alone, I'll meet you at lunch time." She went to sit back at the table indicating for him to pass her the book but Draco just sighed loudly and grabbed her arm, preventing her from sitting down.

"Have you already forgotten how ill you felt a week ago?" Draco was also whispering but his tone was forceful. "Remember how ill I was when I tried to not keep asking for your help? You've been in here all morning on your own we need to spend some time together."

Hermione stopped trying to sit down and stared at him. She was feeling slightly unwell but had been ignoring it. She was loathed to admit it but she knew he was right about them needing to be together for a while. She sighed and shook his hand from her arm.

"Alright. I'll go and sign out that book and meet you in our room."

"No, it's a nice day, put a warm coat on and we'll go for a walk."

Hermione nodded and watched Draco leave the library.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

She found Draco just by the main doors leaning against a tree waiting for her. She didn't know if it was intentional but he looked amazing standing there, his hair blowing in the breeze. She walked over to him and they made their way down to the lake.

It was an exceptionally warm day for the time of year and the sun was reflecting off the water of the lake so much so that Hermione had to shield her eyes. Draco wasn't saying much and seemed to be deep in thought so Hermione just let her mind wonder off too. He spoke suddenly making her jump.

"Hermione, you know that day in the library?"

"What day in the library? There have been far too many lately if you ask me." Hermione stopped walking for a moment.

"The one when we were at The Manor, when Bellatrix came." For once, Draco's voice lacked its usual confident tone and his eyes weren't meeting hers. She didn't need any further explanation though because she now knew exactly what day he meant. She wasn't sure she really wanted him to bring that particular day up right now! Draco was looking at her, waiting for her to acknowledge that she knew what he was on about. Hermione guessed that this conversation could go two ways. She could let him continue and just listen to him before fumbling a reply because whatever he said, it was going to be embarrassing or she could take the initiative and face the issue full on. This would still be embarrassing but hopefully a little less so. She came to a decision and turned to face him.

"Is this going to be a conversation about Bellatrix?" she asked, twisting her hair in her fingers nervously.

Draco shook his head. "No. I mean before Bellatrix arrived." He was still not meeting her gaze and it really surprised Hermione how he was acting. If you listened to his reputation you would think he'd be taking this all in his stride! You could imagine him strolling through the school happy to give details of his latest escapade with Harry Potter's sidekick. She knew him better than that, of course but was still a little shocked how shy he appeared to be about it.

"So am I right in presuming that this is going to be about you kissing me whilst pressing me up against the bookshelf and running your hands over me?" Hermione couldn't quite believe she was saying these words and from the look of utter shock on his face, neither could Draco. Somehow this was far less embarrassing than them both being overly polite about it. When the look still hadn't left Draco's face a few seconds later, Hermione actually managed a small smile. She'd managed to really shock Draco Malfoy! She saw him gather his wits and straighten his face before he spoke.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! You should stop skirting round the issue and say what you mean if you ask me!" he said this very sarcastically but she could hear it was tinged with a hint of admiration for her honesty. He raised one eyebrow at her and she knew his usual confidence had returned when he said, "nice description though, you had me reliving it all for a moment!" He appeared to gaze off somewhere for a moment before bringing his eyes back to hers and winking. "I do have to point out however, that it was you who kissed me."

"I don't remember you giving much resistance." Hermione came back at him but her tactic didn't work because Draco was quite willing to admit how much he had enjoyed it.

"Oh, no I didn't resist. Why would I do that? You were throwing yourself at me, your hands were everywhere!" She could tell Draco was enjoying this now and he was purposely trying to get a response from her. She tried to keep any emotion from her voice as she answered.

"My hands were not everywhere! You're dreaming that bit up!"

Stepping much closer he grabbed her hands and put them round his neck.

"So you didn't put them here then?"

He moved them to his shoulders, "or here?"

She didn't respond but a slight smile was playing around the corners of her mouth. He was such a know it all! Suddenly he grabbed her, spun her round and walked her backwards until she was up against a tree.

He then moved her hands again to the muscles at the top of his arms. "How about here then? I don't hear you denying any of this so far."

She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again. What was the use? He wasn't making this up. In fact he was being surprisingly accurate about how and where she'd touched him.

He reached up to her hands again and placed his own over the top of hers before sliding them back over his shoulders and slowly down to his chest. He then leant close and spoke quietly next to her ear.

"Are you still insisting you didn't touch me here, Hermione? Because if by any chance it's slipped your memory, it most definitely hasn't slipped mine. I definitely remember you touching me here right before you ripped my shirt buttons off."

Hermione was having trouble breathing, he was so close, his lips almost touching her ear, his voice deep and warm and husky. His graphic demonstration of the last time they had been like this wasn't doing much for her heart rate either. She tried to bring the conversation back to normality.

"I didn't rip your buttons off! And was there a point to all this, Malfoy?"

"Malfoy! You're calling me Malfoy! That's not going to work any longer, Hermione. We know each other too well now." Draco emphasised her first name and laughed at her attempt to change the tone of the conversation. He leant close again, her hands still on the toned muscles of his chest as he slid his arms around her waist. "Don't tell me it wasn't fulfilling one of your secret fantasies, Hermione Granger! Kissing and touching me whilst completely surrounded by BOOKS!"

He was smirking like crazy at her and Hermione was about to slap him really hard when a voice stopped her.

"Excuse me. Professor McGonagall has asked me to fetch you. She wants to see you both in the infirmary."

They both turned to find a very anxious looking 1st Year fidgeting around on the spot. Draco said they would go and the young boy scurried off, obviously glad his task was over.

"This conversation isn't over," Hermione said forcefully before walking off leaving Draco staring after her grinning.

This was fun to write. He's a tease isn't he? Please review. x