Disclaimer: There are only three dollars that I can rightfully call mine, yet J.K. is one of the richest people.therefore, there is no way in hell that I could own the HP characters.cuz if I did, I would own Draco hehehehe - yummy - sorry, naughty thoughts!! I am soooo bad - I wonder if he likes his girlfriend to be bad - sorry, I keep getting side-tracked! On with the show! *and I apologize for the crappy formatting cuz I have no idea how to do the html's.(hint, hint - PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO USE THEM!!!) _______________________________

The first thing that Harry and Ron noticed after their last class, Potions, as they started to return to Gryffindor Tower from the classroom was Hermione wasn't with them. As they realized this, she ran up to them from Professor Snape's desk looking flustered, distraught, and utterly pissed off. The boys chalked it up to her "accident" with Malfoy that had occurred earlier that class, but they weren't exactly right.

"Thanks to that Ferret, I now have to face a detention with Snape writing out the ingredients to the most complex potions we've learned this year!" Hermione blurted out angrily, but before Harry or Ron could cuss Snape or Draco out, she began speaking again. "Even worse, I have to do it with that idiot!"

As she said "that", putting special emphasis on it, she pointed to Draco Malfoy, a.k.a. the bane of their existence.

Both Harry and Ron automatically curled their hands into fists after hearing their best friend become so unsettled at the hands of Malfoy. They would have pulverized him right then and there if Hermione hadn't snapped them out of their hate-filled trance.

"Guys?"

As soon as she caught their attention again, Hermione finished what she was saying. "I have to be back here at 8 o'clock and won't be back until 10, so you'll have to study for Transfiguration alone." Apparently, she was oblivious to the fact that they never studied for Transfiguration until the morning of the exam. So, the fact that she wouldn't be there actually made them relieved, not stressed.

The time flew by, and Hermione found herself facing the door of Snape's classroom way before she was ready to. She remained standing there for about then minutes, not wanting to go in, and she would have stayed there longer if the boy she wanted to avoid the most hadn't started tapping his foot in annoyance.

"Are you planning on actually opening the door, Granger, or do you intend to make both of us late?" Draco asked bitterly, clearly regretting spilling Hermione's sleeping draught on the entire table she sat at (excluding Ron, Harry, and herself, to their relief), causing mass bedlam. Choosing to ignore him, Hermione opened the door and walked into the room, expecting to find Professor Snape waiting for them. Instead, Draco and she were alone in the room. As they noticed this, the door locked behind them.

"Oh, great. I'm stuck in here until 10:00 without Snape, accompanied by a filthy mudblood. Nothing could be worse than this," Draco muttered under his breath.

But as he said that, two huge stacks of fresh parchment, two quills, a bunch of ink bottles, as well as a list of instructions left by Snape, appeared.

"I take that back," Draco said as his eyes opened wide in shock at the amount of work that Snape had given his favorite student.

Hermione approached the desk where everything apparated and she began to read the list to herself. "Wonderful. Well, grab a stack of parchment and a quill. We have to start now if we're ever going to finish by 10."

"Accio parchment," Draco said lazily as he picked up a quill and a bottle of ink.

Hermione took the desk that the left-over materials were on as Draco sat down in the seat across from her. She began to wonder why he would choose a seat so close to her that she could feel his breath on her hand. ____________________________

30 minutes later, they began to get tired of writing, and their hands started to hurt.

"Mudblood, I forgot the last ingredient to a love potion."

"And that's my problem because?" Hermione said spitefully, narrowing her eyes and raising one of her eyebrows at Draco.

As he spoke again, his leg rubbed against hers, seemingly accidentally, but Hermione automatically shuddered. From what, she didn't know.

"Okay, I'll try that again. Hermione, could you please tell me the last ingredient to a love potion?"

"That's better. See, being nice didn't kill you, now did it?" Hermione said in a smug tone. "And to answer your question, it's frozen ashwinder eggs."

"Actually, it did cause me a great deal of pain."

"Sure it did." "What? I'm not used to being kind. If you haven't noticed, I am constantly surrounded by moronic imbeciles who are so proud of the money their mums and dads have."

"Gee," Hermione said in a mockingly thoughtful voice while tilting her head to the side, "that sounds like someone I know. Wait.that's you isn't it?!"

Draco looked directly into Hermione's eyes and began to speak in an honest, emotional voice. "Hermione, I really do despise my father, and I wish that I could get rid of my so-called "family" and money and exchange it for an ordinary life with loving parents. Even more, I don't want to become a Death Eater."

He paused for a second, as if he wasn't sure that he wanted to disclose what he was about to say to a girl who he considered as one of his worst enemies. He continued anyway.

"Remember what I said to Potter - Harry, I mean - in our fourth year? That he was on the losing side? I only said that because that year, I finally started to realize that it was I who was on the 'losing side.' At that point, I started to re-think my ambition of becoming a Death Eater like my 'dear old dad.'"

At first, Hermione was in shock that Draco Malfoy could actually be good. When she finally came to her senses, she spoke in a soft voice, "Draco, I never that I'd hear that from you."

"Well," Draco began nervously, but continued in a stronger, suave voice, looking deep into Hermione's dark brown eyes, "there are more things that you probably never thought you would hear, either."

Hermione became puzzled by his simple statement that meant so much.

"What are you saying - or, rather, trying to say?"

Draco cleared his throat and reached for Hermione's hand, which he immediately held, and he became surprised that Hermione actually allowed him to do so.

"I think I love you, Hermione."

That was all he said, yet that was all it took to make the know-it-all Hermione Granger, who always had a retort ready to be used, positively speechless. Before she could even attempt to say something to him, Draco leaned forward and captured her lips with his own. Hermione, still in shock from what he had said, nearly fainted from the recent change of events, but she kissed him back.

Unknown to both of them, Professors McGonagall and Snape stood outside the classroom, McGonagall smiling, and Snape only managing a smirk. Their plan for "inter-house unity" was starting to take shape. Now their next task was getting Ron and Pansy together. Things were definitely going to get interesting in Hogwarts.