Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter
A Couple Days of Confusion:
Somewhere around the Middle….
Hermione didn't seem too distraught, Draco noticed the next morning in potions, as he ground beetle's eyes on his desk at the front of the class. True, Dean Thomas had been gone for a bit more than three weeks already, but he would have suspected that she'd still be heartbroken if she had truly loved him.
Draco flicked his eyes a bit to Hermione's left in time to find Ron Weasley glaring at him, and banging the pestle on the desk loud and hard enough to make sure Draco got the clear message that Ron wanted to be hitting him with it, not the beetle's eyes. Draco made the assumption that Weasley didn't like people staring at his best friend.
But just the fact that Weasley had caught him staring at Hermione made Draco turn back around to the front of the class and blush lightly. Although, at the same time, he didn't understand just why exactly it should bother him so much.
He was thinking these thoughts over when Snape decided it was time for his favorite part of the class; watching Neville Longbottom consume his own potion. He had chosen an especially difficult one today for the students to attempt to brew, in hopes that Neville's reaction would be more amusing than usual. The boy certainly had a knack for comedy.
Snape reached Neville's desk just as he was finishing the last touches on his potion. The substance in Neville's cauldron looked the exact colour, texture, and had the right smell, but Snape would not give up his stubborn hope that something had indeed gone wrong with it and that when the boy took a sip he might change into a miniature pink elephant, or something along those lines. Then he would be able to do what he did best- take house points away from Gryffindor.
"Ready to test it, Mr. Longbottom?"
Neville looked up just to see Snape looming over him and almost cowered in fear, but right before the urge took over his muscles he remembered himself and nodded a 'yes' to the Professor before taking a ladle and scooping some of his potion into a cup. The potion didn't burn a whole through the metal, so he took that as a good sign and downed the sticky liquid with one gulp.
Then, Professor Snape watched, horrified, as Neville began to turn invisible. He couldn't believe what was happening, and his first thought was that Hell must have frozen over, because Neville's potion was doing exactly what it should be doing, which shouldn't be happening because it was Neville's potion!
And then the answer came as reassuring and calming as a warm bubble bath in the dead of winter. Granger must have helped him. That was the only answer. He heard himself sigh in relief, before quickly turning to face Granger's desk and meeting with the three blanched and horrified faces of Hermione, Ron, and Harry.
"Ms. Granger. What have I told you about helping others cheat when making their potions?" Snape had now switched victims and was looming over her in the same way he had been Neville.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She knew very well that it had been Harry who'd helped Neville, but she certainly couldn't get him in trouble by telling Snape that he had done it. She'd just have to deal with the detention and be responsible for the loss of house points.
But right at that moment, when she had been on the verge of agreeing that she shouldn't have done such a silly thing, that she'd never do it again, and that she was prepared to take any and all responsibility for making Neville's potion actually work, Draco spoke up in the silence that had filled the class.
"She didn't do it, Professor."
"And how, may I ask, do you know this?" Snape's face was turning a bit purple, he was obviously upset that anyone would dare contradict him, and even more disturbed to find that it was his favorite student.
But Draco's reaction was much more pronounced. He actually blushed a deep red, something none of his classmates had ever witnessed before, or ever thought they would witness in their lifetimes, and answered:
"I….I was watching her. And I didn't see her do it."
Silence.
No one may have spoken, but there were still a great many reactions. Snape's face had turned a very unhealthy pallor, while the Slytherins thought Draco may have some trick up his sleeve and were smiling a bit mischievously. The Gryffindors all had mixed reactions ranging between simple confusion to full out anger- Ron's very red face and narrow eyes being the most dangerous looking example of the latter.
But the only reaction Draco had any desire to determine was Hermione's. He watched her expression turn from one of confusion, to one of embarrassment. He couldn't read any more than that because, when she realized Draco was watching her once more, she dropped her head down to stare at something interesting by her shoes.
Just knowing that he caused even a slight reaction in her made Draco's stomach lurch a little, and his heart begin to pound a bit faster. But he wasn't aware of this, he was practically in shock over what he had done and could hardly think clearly. It felt as if he were trying to run underwater, as if everything was in slow motion and he could hardly comprehend what was happening.
But everything did finally calm down, people started to speak again, finding their voices. The last to snap out of their state were Ron, Harry, Draco, and Snape, whose colour wouldn't be regained completely until the next day, so horrified he had been.
Hermione broke out of her own embarrassed state as soon as possible and immediately tried to forget the entire situation, but this was turning out to be one of those impossible tasks as it was the only thing anyone seemed capable of talking about.
She unceremoniously flopped back down on the chair she had risen from moments before, when she had been about to apologize to Snape. But now all that seemed a century ago. Hermione placed her forehead on the desk and quickly tried to block out all conversation, all sound, but that only left Draco's statement ringing in her ears.
What did he mean when he had said that he had been watching her? Was it only that he had been preparing to do something nasty to her, which was of course the obvious answer, but didn't fit with why he was defending her now when it would be much more funny to see her get a detention she didn't deserve.
Maybe he felt sorry for her, and was trying to help her just out of the good and kindness of his heart. But that didn't sound right either. Did he even have a heart?
The last explanation she could come up with was to her the most absurd. Maybe he secretly admired her, that's why he had been watching her and ended up defending her. She reasoned with herself that this was the silliest explanation of them all because when would he have had time to fall in love with her? In between the numerous rounds of insults?
Although, when she thought a bit more about it, she realized that there had been no name-calling or insults for the past few weeks, and when she thought a bit harder, she realized that they had stopped just around the time Dean had left.
But what did that mean? She really had no idea, and now the strange thing was, she kind of wanted to know what had caused this sudden change of behavior in Malfoy.
She lifted her head from the desk long enough to shoot a glance in his direction, and noticed that he was looking dazedly around the room, but also that his gaze came to rest on her a bit more than seemed appropriate.
The last look he gave her was longer than the others, and while not so intense, was definitely pronounced. To her horror, she found herself blushing under his scrutiny and having to avert her gaze to something less, for lack of a better word, dangerous. She moved it over to Ron and Harry who were in the midst of a small row.
"…..date whoever she wants, Ron," whispered Harry harshly, trying to keep his voice hushed so that no one could overhear. He obviously wasn't succeeding. "I mean, did you see the way Draco stood up for her? And he hasn't said one single insult to us in the past few weeks. Even you must have noticed that."
"Oh, its Draco now then, is it? I can't believe you would let a few weeks of no name-calling change your mind and…..and put the fiend back in your Good Books!" Ron's voice was rising rapidly and a few of their classmates surrounding them had turned to try and overhear better what was being argued.
"He was never really a fiend, Ron, jus very very annoying and self-absorbed. Maybe he's turned over a new leaf or something, we should at least give him a chance….For Hermione. I mean, if she's able to go on with her life after Dean, than so much the better." Harry was visibly calming down and Hermione tuned out of their conversation knowing that Ron wouldn't be long to follow Harry's example.
They thought that there was a mutual affection between her and Malfoy just because he stood up for her in potions? Boy, were they ever experts at jumping to impossible conclusions. And the more she thought about it, the more humorous it became to her, so that by the end, she was turning red and having to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud and appearing a complete fool. She was only able to sober down a bit when she realized she had bitten down so hard that she could taste the metallic taste of blood, and that it wasn't very pleasant.
When she did finally calm down enough though, she realized that Snape was no longer in the classroom. "Probably out crying over his most precious student's betrayal" she thought to herself, her lips forming a small smile.
There were only about another 5 minutes to go before lunch, and then she had the rest of the afternoon off, which was highly unusual for her as she had crammed her schedule packed with classes this year, but it had happened, and she wasn't complaining. Ron and Harry had divination after lunch, so she'd be on her own. Maybe she would have enough time to finish that transfiguration essay that was giving her so much trouble.
She was still musing over these thoughts as she filed out of the class along with the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors, carrying all of her books and supplies for potions under one arm as she fiddled with her tie using the other. Was it just her, or had it become a tad warmer in the hallway?
She turned to her left and suddenly determined the cause of her discomfort. Draco Malfoy was walking casually alongside her.
At first, she didn't understand what was happening. Then she realized, however reluctantly, that it was lunch and that this was the fastest way to get there. It was probably just a coincidence that he was walking next to her, even after the episode in potions.
But the doubt began to form in her mind when she realized that he was watching her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe what Harry and Ron said about her liking Malfoy wasn't true, but could the rest have been?
And that's when she realized what she had hid in the back of her mind until now. She hadn't even been upset after overhearing her two best friends discuss her love life, centering on the one person who was the most improbable of them all to drag her back out of the 'just dumped' slumps.
She wondered unconsciously if that gave any truth to what they had said, and decided that, for her own good, it did not.
But by the time she reached the Great Hall, and realized that Draco had kept deliberate pace with her the entire time, she wondered how Harry and Ron could have been so sure of something even before she was.
Draco, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on. He couldn't help how he acted, it was like a second instinct to be near her, to watch her every move. He didn't understand how Crabbe and Pansy could be right, as they so rarely were, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't acting a little….weird.
He tried desperately to remember how Goyle had acted last year when he had been 'in love', but in vain. Still, he had some idea that it was similar to how he was acting now. He wondered if Goyle had felt as he felt at this moment, all muddled up and anxious but at the same time deeply ecstatic, and all mixed in with a drop of sheer anticipation.
Out of complete lack of another word, he decided to call this new feeling love, more as an experiment than anything else, and was surprised at how well it fit- no matter how untrue it was. He looked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye once again and gave a small smile, followed almost immediately by a frown.
By the time they reached the Great Hall, both were thoroughly confused. They hadn't spoken one word to each other, yet it was the silence that gave them cause to believe and disbelieve so many different thoughts.
They were at the doors, and about to enter the Hall, but before they could, Draco did something neither of them expected. He gently reached out his hand and trailed his fingers down the inside of Hermione's palm.
It seemed so intimate a gesture that Hermione, eyes opened to their fullest, had to look up at him in surprise. But if she thought that his expression would answer her questions then she was terribly mistaken. He was wearing the same expression of surprise as she was, and may have been even a bit more shocked at his own actions than she.
But before anything could be said about it, both students abruptly turned on their heels and strode to their own opposite ends of the Hall, leaving with very disturbing, yet similar, thoughts to mull over.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed that part, the last should be out soon. Till then,
-minda