The attraction was unexplainable. But did it need explaining?

Hermione Granger stared on. He was laughing and joking among a crowd of females, putting his arm over a girl's shoulder. To put it simply, he was a flirt. How many girls' hearts has he broken since he arrived at Hogwarts?

Countless, I guess, she thought to herself.

And yet, she couldn't understand why she felt so attracted to the blond-haired Slytherin boy. She knew Harry would definitely not approve of her feelings towards Draco Malfoy, but still, she felt the strong magnetic pull attracting her to him. It wasn't something susceptible to explanation.

She shook her head clear of the thoughts. It wasn't the time to be thinking about this. Her end-of-years were coming in 2 months and she still hadn't studied.

And yet, no matter how hard she tried to push the thoughts of Draco aside, he would come creeping back into her thoughts. She hadn't told Harry or Ron about it yet, because she knew they would go totally ballistic over it. She smiled when she imagined what Ron might say.

"Have you gone nutters? This is MALFOY we're talking about. How could you ever like someone like…like him?"

And Harry would most probably say this.

"Hermione, you should know better than to get yourself involved with somebody like Malfoy."

She knew that they wouldn't agree or approve. Even she found it difficult to accept that she actually, well, liked someone like Draco Malfoy. He was a playboy to boot. Every week he was seen with a different girl under his arm, but still, many girls flock to him. Even the nicest Gryffindor girls found themselves falling under the spell of his blue eyes and experienced kiss. Well, she didn't know if it was experienced or not, but many of her friends who had dated him briefly told her that. She couldn't deny that she wanted to find out whether it was true for herself, but she knew better than to be one of the groupies following Draco around.

Of course, many girls see him for what he is on the outside. Rich, cute, good-looking. Seductive. What Hermione actually saw in Draco, she couldn't explain. She simply assumed that she saw him for what he was on the outside too.

She sighed and turned away. She was going to be late for Arithmancy if she stood around any longer. And besides, she had to make a trip to the library after the lesson to study for her end-of-years.

This is not the time to be attracted to nasty Slytherin boys no matter how good-looking they are, she thought to herself determinedly.

She walked quickly down the hallway towards the Arithmancy classroom.

**

Draco turned and looked at the departing figure for a little while, and then turned back to his female friends. Hermione Granger had been staring at him, for what, he didn't know. But he knew the girl was different from the rest of her peers. First of all, she wasn't one of the girls who often clung to him. He knew that she was a more…sensible girl.

"Draco darling…why are you looking so distracted?" the girl he was holding asked him.

"Nothing…my dear…girl." Now what was her name again? He quickly tried to recall, but to no avail. He often dated girls whose names he barely knew. And now he had to figure out a way to tactfully ask the girl her name again. Hmm. "My dear girl, repeat your full name for me. I love it when I see your name coming out of your lips."

"It's Padma Patil. Pad-ma Pa-til." She beamed at him, and winked.

"Oh Padma, you have such a lovely name. I mean it."

She grinned widely. "Shut up and kiss me, Draco."

And so he did. He pressed his experienced lips against her soft ones and kissed her deeply. Padma almost lost her balance.

"Really, Draco, you shouldn't keep doing that," said Hannah Abbot. "You're making all of us jealous."

He pulled his lips away, putting his hand around Padma's waist. "All right. Then maybe Padma and I have to go to a private place to finish our business. Want to go, Padma?" He looked at the young Ravenclaw female. Her eyes widened.

"Where are we going to, Draco?"

"You'll see when we get there. You'll definitely like it there," Draco said, smiling mischievously.

"And Draco Malfoy claims another prey," said Lavender Brown, winking.

"See you all around," said Draco, grinning.

And he took Padma away from the rest of the crowd.

He never really understood why girls threw themselves at him. What was it about him that girls liked? He wasn't that nice, and he had already broken so many girls' hearts. But the girls still came to him. It was pretty weird, come to think of it.

Surely I ain't that seductive, he thought to himself. (A/N: Well, that's what he thinks. Isn't it, girls? ^^)

"Say, Padma, what is it you girls see in me?" he finally asked.

"You're hot, cute, and sexy. Need I say more, Draco?" she grinned impishly.

"No," he said, smiling.