A/N: Thank you to everyone who submitted reviews, I really love reading them and hearing what you all think of my story, so please keep reviewing! : ) And now, on with chapter 7. . . . .
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Chapter 7: Something's Brewing
That Monday, Hermione was actually looking forward to potions class. She hadn't seen Malfoy at all on Sunday and she wanted to see if he was all right. She couldn't understand why she cared so much, but it seemed to her that they had formed some sort of bond in Hogsmeade, part of her wanted to see if that connection was still there. She walked into the classroom with Harry and Ron as the bell rang and they made there way to their usual seats in the back of the room. The other students were already seated; the Slytherins were in the front so there was no way Hermione could get Draco's attention. She sat in frustration as they took notes on their potion for the day, then they began to unload the ingredients they would need to brew the potion.
Hermione was ready to brew her potion, but she saw Draco over by the potions store cabinet, so pretending she had forgotten an ingredient, she returned there by herself to try to talk to him. As she approached she realized that she had no idea what to say, but she didn't have to worry about that for long because Pansy Parkinson saw her approach and spoke first.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the bushy haired Gryffindor mudblood. I can't believe professor Snape let you in this class; I suppose Dumbledore forced him to let you in. This school's going to the dogs if you ask me, don't you agree Draco?" Pansy turned to Draco, who was busying himself gathering ingredients, trying hard not to look at Hermione. He couldn't let Pansy know, but he just could not be mean to Hermione after what she had done for him in Hogsmeade. He took a deep breath and turned toward the girls. Pansy was wearing an ugly smug look on her face and Hermione was looking scandalized.
"Well we can't do anything about it now can we, so lets just get to work on our potion" Draco responded irritably while avoiding Hermione's gaze.
Hermione was outraged; she didn't know what she had expected and why she hadn't foreseen an encounter like that, but the fact that he didn't even have the nerve to look at her really hurt her. Forgetting the reason she had gone over there in the first place, she stormed back to the back of the classroom to brew her potion.
During class she would periodically glance over at Draco, but he seemed to be resolutely staring only at his cauldron. When class ended, and they turned in their potions Draco was among the first to leave, and as he was heading in the complete opposite direction as Hermione, she had no opportunity to say anything to him.
The rest of the day left Hermione in an annoyed mood, and she was not looking forward to seeing Draco again during Arithmancy when they would actually be forced to work together on their potion. Hermione made her way dispiritedly to the library where she was met by Madame Pince. "Miss Granger, professor Snape had informed me that you and Mr. Malfoy are ready to begin preparing the ingredients for your potion, so I have set up a private room for you both where you can keep the potion and it will not be disturbed, Mr. Malfoy is already there." Hermione nodded and followed Madame Pince to the back of the library to a small room that was surprisingly cozy. The walls were lined with bookshelves, a window facing the lake, and a large fireplace, that was presently empty. The room was furnished with a table, two squashy arm chairs and a comfy couch in which Malfoy was seated. He stood up when they arrived, still avoiding Hermione's eyes.
Madame Pince removed two keys from her pocket and handed one to each of the students, "these are for each of you to keep, so you can lock the door and be assured that you potion will not be tampered with." With that she strode out of the room and closed the door behind her. Draco was now looking at the floor, Hermione was about to say something, but Draco spoke first.
"Where are the ingredients you ordered?" he asked.
Hermione was caught by surprise and realized that she had accidentally left them in her dormitory. "Oh shoot! I left them in my room!"
"Well we best go get them then," with that, Draco swept out of the room, leaving Hermione with no choice but to follow.
They walked in silence for about half the way, Hermione still to incensed to speak, so again, Draco beat her too it. He was slightly ahead of her when he spoke, "I'm sorry about this morning, and the stuff Pansy said," his voice was nervous much unlike the way he normally spoke.
Hermione stopped for a second, unable to believe her ears, Draco Malfoy, apologizing to her, for something he didn't even do? She pinched herself to be sure it wasn't some crazy dream. The she realized that Draco was still moving and she ran to catch up, "umm, do you really mean that?"
Draco stopped and turned, for the first time all day he looked her in the eye, his gaze was soft and deep, "Yeah, I didn't know what to say, and I knew you were mad." Draco hung his head slightly and continued walking. They walked the rest of the way to the Gryffindor common room in silence, and Draco waited a few feet away while Hermione gave the Fat Lady the password. He felt much better now that he had apologized to Hermione, although he couldn't quite understand why he had felt the need to in the first place. He hadn't said anything to offend her, yet he had felt slightly offended himself when Pansy had addressed Hermione in potions class. An uneasy sensation developed in the pit of his stomach, 'what is wrong with me?' he wondered. He was not used to these feelings, and he deeply wished they would just disappear, although he doubted that they would.
Hermione returned laden with potions ingredients, while Draco was lost in thought, and she nearly had to shout at him to get his attention, "Malfoy!"
Draco snapped back into reality and looked at her, for once he didn't feel a surge of hatred and prejudice at the sight of her. He quickly regained his usual Malfoy composure, yet he did offer to carry the ingredients himself. Hermione thankfully unloaded them into his arms, and they headed off back to the library.
They entered their private room in the library and Draco emptied all of the ingredients onto the table. "Why don't we go through the ingredient list to make sure we have everything, since it's too late to start the potion today," Draco suggested.
"Alright" agreed Hermione. She and Draco both rummaged through their bags and pulled out sheets of parchment with the ingredient list and potion instructions. Hermione read the first ingredient, "hellbore." They both looked at the pile of ingredients searching for the hellbore.
"Got it!" announced Draco as he placed the hellbore to the side of the table. "Next is dittany."
"Here it is," Hermione lifted a small plant from the table and placed it next to the hellbore. "Now we need the essence of gryffin."
They both searched through the ingredients, and saw it at the same time. "Got it!!" they both cried as they reached for the box containing the essence of gryffin, they grabbed for the box at the same time and their hands touched. Immediately they both pulled away. Draco's face was expressionless, but Hermione blushed slightly. She receded into her chair, and Draco placed the box next to the other ingredients. The room seemed suddenly tense, and neither student looked at the other. They continued to organize the ingredients, but they made sure to avoid each other as they searched for them.
When they finally finished, they paused to examine their work. Hermione spoke first, "I suppose next time we can start to prepare the ingredients, since some need to be cut up and crushed."
"Yeah okay," Draco agreed. The room then turned to an uncomfortable silence. Draco determinedly looked anywhere except Hermione. He didn't know why, but he was feeling the strangest desire to look at her, but he refused to allow himself to.
Hermione meanwhile tried unsuccessfully not to look at Draco, her eyes kept darting back to his face, and the question she had been burning to ask him all weekend burned yet again until she could not contain it any longer. "Malfoy, what happened to you in Hogsmeade? And who did it to you?"
Draco viewed Hermione sternly; he was not at all surprised by her question, yet now that he had had the opportunity to write down what had happened in his journal over the weekend, he no longer had the urge to tell her what had happened. "Like I told you before it's none of your business," he replied irritably, he resented the memories that the question brought back into his mind.
Hermione sighed, she had not expected Draco to tell her, but she couldn't help but feel relieved that he hadn't yelled at her. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're alright now anyway."
This response did take Draco by surprise and he couldn't hide it, "Really?"
"Of course!" Hermione couldn't believe he was surprised, "you really looked absolutely dreadful when I found you in that alley!"
Draco paused to consider this, looking at Hermione as he did so. The concern in her face was something he had never seen anyone express towards him. Her eyes seemed to weaken the defenses he had spent his entire life building to block out frivolous emotions such as this. Before he was aware of what he was doing he touched her hand, she flinched, but did not move away. Her skin was warm and soft and Draco's insides quivered when he touched her, "I'm fine, really, it's over."
Hermione was too entranced by Draco's eyes and words to move when he touched her hand. His hand felt rough and strong, and Hermione couldn't shake the desire to be held by hands like that, to feel protected. She opened her mouth to respond when the bell rang thrusting them both back to the reality of Hogwarts. "Umm, I'll see you later then I guess," Hermione muttered lamely as she fumbled around gathering her stuff, still unable to tear her eyes away from Draco's.
"Bye" Draco commented as Hermione moved about the room. He stared into the empty fireplace as she gathered her things, yet he seemed unable to move until she had left. Once the room was empty, he slowly gathered his things, and meandered out of the room locking the door behind him. His heart was beating uncharacteristically fast, and there was a strange feeling in his chest. He unconsciously smiled to himself as he made his way to the Slytherin Common Room.
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