A/N: Here is a chapter with a more agreeable Hermione. I can't believe we're 10 chapters in already! I can safely say we're looking at 10 to 15 more chapters to go. 20 more is max.

Chap 10

Sneaking into the library at midnight was a stroke of genius in Hermione's opinion. She needed to be sure to avoid Draco at all costs, because, after only a little more than fifteen hours, things were already beginning to change in how she regarded him, and she didn't like that idea one iota.

The old Hermione, the somehow more stable yet just as unstable, but in different ways, would have already hexed him or cursed him, knowing McGonagall would never believe the blonde if he told on her. But she hadn't done anything at all. She hadn't cursed, or hexed, or punched him, and she wasn't sure she could trust herself around him. Next thing she knew, they'd be studying together and she'd be blushing again, and by the gods, she'd rather get arrested for assault than have a repeat of her earlier pink and embarrassing reaction to him.

She'd gone through the entirety of the lunch encounter without having such a reaction, so she had to think that her flush had been a one-time happenstance, brought about by anger and her holding her breath to keep herself from cursing him.

'Yes,' she thought. 'That was TOTALLY what it was.'

With muffled snow boots and a warming charm on her cloak, she snuck from Gryffindor down to the surprisingly warm and near pitch black library. The only light was from the roaring fireplaces, which she'd suspected would be out by that time, and one single, though bright, candle somewhere in the stacks. Hermione tilted her head in confusion as she gripped her wand tighter and moved through the maze of shelves towards the middle of the library where the candle's light shone like a beacon.

The witch held her wand out as she quickly turned the corner, only to drop her hand to her side not a second later.

At a table sat Draco. Or, slept Draco, rather.

She drew closer, seeing that the left side of his face was on an open book, and his ink covered right hand loosely gripped a quill over a long piece of parchment covered in Herbology notes. His left arm was up and framing the outside of their advanced Herbology textbook.

"Two. Two classes together," Hermione said quietly as she inspected what he was working on.

Then her eyes traveled up from the paper to the man's face, and her head tilted again as she got lost in assessing his features: his perfectly trimmed eyebrows that grew in towards each other but didn't get close to touching; black lashes that were longer than most men she knew, but not as long as her own, that lined the eyes she'd recently grown to think of quite a bit; a nose that came to a perfect point, that did just as much for his profile as his lips, which were relaxed and didn't hint at a frown or a scowl or a smirk. His aesthetically pleasing features ended with a strong and pointed chin, and she could admit that a sleeping Draco Malfoy was a handsome Draco Malfoy. He seemed so natural, and it was strange to see him in such a state.

Of its own accord, her right arm raised from her side and she had to stop herself from testing a section of blonde hair that she suspected would always feel soft. Like he'd just conditioned it heavily.

But she stopped herself, physically and mentally, as her hand instead went to rest on his shoulder to shake him lightly from his sleep.

Draco jumped awake suddenly, his eyes widening in fear and panic as he sat back from her, his hand dropping his quill and reaching for his wand that hung out of his jeans pocket. He almost had his wand fully drawn by the time he realised who he was looking at, before sighing loudly and dropping his forehead into the palm of his left hand.

"Merlin's beard, Hermione!" He said her name like he'd said it a million times: easily. She ignored it. "I… I almost bloody cursed you!" He rubbed the heel of his hand into his eyes, then shook his head in an attempt to wake up faster.

"I'm sorry," she apologized with a tad of genuine remorse. "But you were sleeping, and I'm sure this wasn't your first choice in places to sleep."

Hermione knew all too well what the look on Draco's face had been when he'd awoken to her touch. It was PTSD, the kind one got from going through war. She, Harry, and Ron all reacted the same exact way when they would wake each other up, and Hermione suspected that it would take years to go away, if it ever went away.

"Yeah, well…" Draco began as he leaned back in his chair, tossing his wand onto the table near his book. "You'd be surprised how wrong you are. There's a first time for everything, though, I'm sure."

"I beg your pardon?" She asked him, confused as to what he'd meant, the meaning even harder to decipher in his tone that was scratchy with sleep.

"I slept three hours in Slytherin last night. I figured it would take me some time to get used to it. Sleeping on a book is far more comfortable than being there," he said. She could only blink at this answer, and he looked up at her with a small smile as he added, "I'm sure you've fallen asleep on books plenty of times."

Hermione didn't know what kept her where she was, or why she answered instead of walking away to get to her own studying, but she said none-the-less, "I have. Plenty. I did so two nights ago. My neck doesn't even notice anymore."

His hand with long fingers raised to his neck and rubbed it lightly, then he said, "I'm not used to it. But it's welcome." He paused for a second as he looked down at his book, then back up at her in confusion to ask, "What time is it? What are you doing here?"

The witch licked her lips and considered not answering. She'd done her civic duty. She'd woken him from what looked like an uncomfortable sleep, and she should have already been on her merry way… But she answered, "It's midnight, and I'm here to study."

He drew his brows together as he asked, "I thought you weren't going to be here until morning? "Bad times" and "bad channels"? Whatever that means."

She couldn't help but let her lips twitch into a small smile for a second before she controlled herself, saying, "I was being sarcastic, Malfoy."

"Ah. I should have guessed," he said.

"You really should have," she said with a nod.

There was a pause, until he looked up at her uneasily and asked, "Would you… care to sit and study, then?"

A/N: I'm already working on the next chapter. It should be up later.