Prologue
She sighed listlessly. Practically everyone had gone home for the holidays, even Harry and Ron; Ron's father had gotten free tickets to a Quidditch game from the ministry - England versus Ireland if memory served her correctly; which it normally did. Though they had asked her, she had been adamant -listening to them talk about Quidditch was tiring enough in school, and in light of the match she knew the amount of Quidditch talk would be doubled... which would probably drive her insane.
Now, standing alone in the still halls of Hogwarts, Hermione had to ask herself, would it really have been that bad? The only people still in the building were some teachers and one or two students in the younger year. Greeaaat. She rolled her eyes. Ah well, might as well make the best of this. No Ron to chide her for studying so strenuously - she was free to immerse herself in her studies. After all, her O.W.L.'s were creeping slowly around the corner... she allowed a small grin to form at the thought of her friend's reaction if they could've heard her.
"But Hermione! They're still half a year away!", would be the loud exclamation from Ron; forever tactless, yet forever faithful Ron. Though he wasn't as bad as Neville, it was obvious that when it came to studies he followed the twin's footsteps, rather than Percy's. He had an impulsive nature, as fiery as his hair, with a sense of mischief that seemed to be directly inherent to that of the twins as well. They had gone out for a while during their fifth year, only to realise that they weren't completely suited to that close relationship, fighting with each other continuously and straining their friendship until near breaking point. Once they had broken off though, everything seemed to fall back into place, and despite the harsh words that had passed between them previously, it now seemed as if their friendship was closer than ever.
Of coarse, getting back to the subject of her friend's reactions, there would be Harry, the constant voice of reason; "Come on Hermione, why don't you just kick back for a while and relax? You know that you could probably have taken and passed the O.W.L.'s last year; you were in the advanced class for every subject, not to mention the result for your mocks were the highest Hogwarts had ever seen." She could almost imagine his voice, fair and levelled, after years of playing 'peacemaker' between her and Ron. She had seen him grow up from a shy, insecure child to a handsome and caring teenager, currently making a particular Virginia Weasley an extremely happy girl.
She loved them. All of them, with her heart; and she missed them terribly. Hell, she even missed Ron's silly remarks that sometimes made her laugh... and other times made her want to slap his the freckles off his face. Yet she had to admit, sometimes she felt out of touch with them. Sure, they were Gryffindor's Golden Trio, yet sometimes she felt as if the latter should be changed to 'Duo'. To put it in simple terms, she felt like a third wheel at times. She was well aware that the two boys did tend to exclude her from their midnight romps. At one time they had actually told her about an exciting trip to the forbidden forest, but once she questioned them why they hadn't brought her, she was only met with stumbling explanations, red faces, and eyes that wouldn't completely catch her own. And she knew. They expected her to lecture them. They expected her to tell. She sighed. Ever since the Firebolt incident in the third year, they had never given off to trusting her completely. She sighed. Oh well, that's what happens when you worry about your friends too much... they exclude you for your troubles; she thought bitterly.
Trying to rid the morose thoughts from her mid, she made her way through the familiar passage towards her sanctuary; the library. Looking at the doors she smiled. The home to her greatest love. Where she could just sit and travel away from reality, whether to bury herself in amazing facts or to travel into new worlds of fiction, this was her perfect unwinding spot. Twisting the large brass handle she pushed the heavy oaken doors open to see rows and rows of book-shelves filled to the brim, empty seats, polished oaken tables and... her mouth dropped.
Malfoy?
A/N:- yeah short i know, little fic that was meant to be done and come out on valentine's ... but my beta didn't reply me for ageees w/ what she thought of the first chap... so i was left with it on the back-burner. shall be slightly pwp n sweet as it was meant to be a valentine's fic. well tell me what you think people! Should I continue? Constructive critcism will be welcome, flames will be used to cook me marshmallows... *yum* nice reviewees will get some marshmallows ^_^ well until next time..
rabid~
ps, anyone wanna beta this li'l fic?