Flipping through the hurriedly scrawled notes of Draco, they looked at each other, unsure how to react. Hermione at first thought she'd misread the words on the parchment – as she slept through half of the discussion Malfoy had with Snape's portrait –, but seeing Draco's uneasy expression, she was sure, that in fact, she did read it right.

"Unicorn blood?" she hissed, her knuckles squeezed to whitening. "Dittany and asphodel, some minerals and dragon scales, that is possible, but unicorn blood?" She felt like crying. She got all of the ingredients for a potion that could save her life, but these were either rare or hard to find. Or impossible for that one. Not to mention the right order of brewing it – Snape was unsure if he put the grinded dragon scales before or after the unicorn blood. So they needed to brew the potion twice. At least.

And it took him two months to make.

"We should start to prepare some ingredients," Draco said gently, but still firmly. They were sitting on a blanket in the middle of Myrtle's bathroom, with a bronze cauldron in front of them, waiting to be filled.

The déjà vu crept up and settled in her mind, and she selfishly wished she'd be back in her second year. She might had become a stone statute, but at least wasn't dying.

"What are you planning to do, Malfoy?" she asked in a small voice, doubtful and broken. To his obtuse stare she looked away, awkwardly massaging her left forearm. "Our deal. We don't even know if I'm alive when we finish the prototypes. If we finish. I mean, unicorn blood and Antarctic Ice Dragon scales are rare at best. I know you are exceptional with potions, bu—," and then, she found herself eating some foul-tasting herbs.

"You chew, and then survive," he exclaimed dryly, looking away as he concentrated on his hand that held the elegant Jack-knife, ready to slice the asphodels, which he did with special cruelty. He was annoyed – but Hermione wondered if the shaking of his hands was the fault of his anger or the improper amount of alcohol he had devoured in the last few months.

Not to be prejudiced, but she believed the last.

"Don't worry your pretty, bushy head about those, I'll get them," he promised with a smirk. Hermione didn't know how he was able to still be an asshole while helping her surviving. She decided not to comment. Silence was still better than a shouting match.

Trying not to scrunch up her nose in disgust at the taste on her tongue, she rather studied his hands – the blue veins were visible as he held the knife tightly, the blade cutting through the fragile flowers mercilessly. She could see how hard he was concentrating not to mess up or cut himself. He still worked like an expert, confidently and effectively.

"Shit!" She flinched and snapped her head up. His blood dripped from his index finger as he cursed in a wide scale and dropped the knife with a clang. From the corner of her eyes she could see Myrtle jumping on the windowsill out of surprise.

Without second thought, she took his hand in hers, examining his bleeding digit carefully. "It's not long, but a deep cut," she informed him as he still cursed, the asphodel's juice probably numbing his hand. Draco tried to move his fingers, but they just mockingly twitched back at him.

When in the blood system in high concentration, asphodel could make an average person go paralyzed for a few days –, Hermione knew that. And seeing as Draco's eyes became dreamy at that very same second and his controlled expression loosened, she took action.

Sucking the juice out of the cut, she watched the man beside her as he started perking up. He was fighting with the urge of sleeping, she could see that. Hermione continued on, occasionally running her tongue over the cut and spitting out the mix of her saliva, his blood, and the asphodel's juice.

She was truly flabbergasted when she felt Draco's finger move under her tongue's caress, and when looking up, she found his mercurial, stormy eyes gazing in her owns. Hers widened, and suddenly she felt so embarrassed. What was she doing?

The deep blush blazed up on her cheeks, as she slowly pushed his hand away from hers, rubbing the dripping finger in her skirt. She was afraid he might shout her head off, she expected him to lose it and burst out in hysterics. But instead, Draco acted as he'd not even sensed anything from her actions, he continued to watch her, his intense gaze burning up her entire being.

"I'm sorry," she muttered bashfully, looking anywhere but at him. It was something too intimate for their somewhat friendly relationship, and even though both knew that, they couldn't help on the changing mood.

Hermione felt it was too hot in the abandoned bathroom and hurriedly stood up to go over to the taps. She chose to escape – she reminded herself bitterly.

Maybe that were her nerves, or Draco's close presence, but it was too much to bear and too abrupt. Hermione wasn't prepared for a change so unexpected and so ominous.

She splashed some water on her face in a hope of refreshing herself, hoping that her blush would disappear with the big drops of water rolling down on her cheeks.

"Ya' know... I can see your panties?"

She considered throwing a soap at him – that she was sure the observing Myrtle slipped there –, but quickly realized that she was putting up with a Slytherin. Therefore, it was a bluff. Even though his unsure tone sounded weirdly truthful.

"I don't believe you."

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he answered, his spirits seemed to lift, "Tell that to the black lace on the French panties."

The soap crashed with his head.

Hi there lovlies! ;D Thank you for all of your comments! It's really good to have a feedback on what I'm doing and knowing that I'm not wasting my time with it. Oh, and I got bithday tomorrow (17th), so if you want me all-so-smiley, please consider writing back... even an emoji would be enough! Reviews are like drug for writers. And I'm not ashamed of my obsession! ;D

Besides, I'm working on 3 other things - one of them being a multi-chap, and I love that one. Full of opposites! Ah, my cliché!

So, hope you had fun and sorry for rambling (no not really, but I tried.) Love ya all! ;D