Just doing it this time wouldn't have made it go away. No, it would have to be someone else, someone that he could actually scar, if not emotionally, then physically; so this time, the likes of Pansy would be useless, because they actually wanted it.

As if to answer his prayers, at that moment, door creaked open, although he did not see anything actually walk into the room. He watched in the darkness as a split second later, a silvery piece of cloth fell seemingly out of thin air, to reveal...Hermione Granger. Perfect. Just the victim he was looking for. During the day, he had tormented her incessantly, (nothing like some good old Slytherin fun.) But then, like she always said. 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me.' Sticks and stones eh? (What kind of crummy muggle cliché was that anyway?) This would be the perfect chance to change that.

***

After putting her books on the desk, she suddenly realized that she wasn't alone in the room. Draco was sleeping on the sofa again. Muttering something that most people would not have expected her to say, she began to pack up her belongings. It was the second time this week. Second! Why couldn't he have slept in his dormitory? Why in Merlin's name, would he decide to sleep here? This wasn't exactly the most comfy place to fall asleep. It was dark, musty and…maybe a Slytherin would choose to sleep here after all. She was sure that the Slytherin common room would have been in a similar condition anyway, considering the fact that it was located down in a dungeons. Maybe not as dusty, but still...

Hearing the words that Hermione had muttered nearly made him laugh out loud; instead he settled for a smirk in the darkness, quietly enjoying this little 'moment'. Who would have thought? Hermione Granger, swearing? That would be about as possible as Snape and Sirius Black being best mates. Then, to Hermione's surprise, Draco, who was supposed to be fast asleep got up, and walked to the bed behind Hermione.

He lied down on the dusty bed and placed his legs in what must have been an extremely uncomfortable position to sleep in. It was an uncomfortable position to be in even if he was awake, but it effectively blocked the door, and thus, her from leaving. By now he thought she might have realized that he wasn't sleeping, and opened his eyes to look at her.

"Hello, Granger."

She stood there, not half a foot away from him, blinking in surprise , apparently dumbfounded by his actions. This was the last thing she would have expected, being so preoccupied thinking about what to write for Snape's assignment that she hadn't realized that Malfoy had been watching her in the dark.

She turned around to pack up the rest of her books but stopped suddenly and calmly said, "Malfoy, get your hands off my bum."

Surprisingly, he complied but when she turned around to leave he suddenly reached out a hand and laid it on her chest. Now she was getting a  annoyed. She shot him a look and reached into her pocket for her wand, but stopped midway" What do you think you're doing? Get your filthy hands off my chest."

He smirked but took his hand off her chest, "Mmmm... Not bad."

She would have liked to hex him, but right now she didn't have time. She had homework to do, this could wait for another day.

Usually Malfoy stuck to taunting her verbally, why was he suddenly touching her? More importantly, why did she hesitate in hexing him? Was it really just because of homework? She could have sworn that she felt her heart skip a beat too.

Suddenly she snapped back to reality. Rubbish! Total, utter rubbish! What was she thinking? This was Malfoy she was talking about. All the dust must have gone to her head. That's it, I've inhaled too much dust... and I was just about to sneeze, that's what that feeling must have been. With that thought, she took a step towards the door, and bumped into Malfoy's legs.

"Oh... I see, do you really want to do it right now? I thought you came here to study?" drawled Malfoy.

"Malfoy..." she gritted her teeth. Somehow she may not have minded Malfoy touching her, but talking to Malfoy, was something else all together. "Get out of my way!", she hissed.

Malfoy, who had been most amused, lying on the bed studying her rather predictable reactions suddenly shifted his legs and made way for her to pass. "Oh well, some other time then."

Before she could walk out the door she heard him say, "Hmmm...What about tomorrow night? I don't think I have anything planned then. I mean of course, if you really want to..." And paused a moment.

"In your dreams Malfoy. In your dreams." Then she draped the cloak over herself and walked out the door.

***

Oh what fun, I never knew that Granger was so easy to manipulate. My, my, and what a temper she's got, it's almost comparable to Weasley. How I shall be looking forward to tomorrow.