Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Thanks again to all of my wonderful reviewers! I love hearing from you all and hearing what you think of my story. I hope I updated fast enough for you all. Today was the earliest I could since school started this week. But don't worry the updates will still come at least every few days (as long as I keep getting reviews (wink)). So I won't keep you any longer, on with the story!

Chapter 10: Study Sessions

The next week Hermione did not see much of Draco. She found herself making extra trips to the library to go to the private room to see if he was there so she could talk to him. She knew he must spend time there because the ingredients he was supposed to be dealing with were being prepared. Yet Hermione never saw him there once. She began to feel a pang of anger every time she went to the room and found that he wasn't there, he was avoiding it, she was sure of it. She tried to catch his attention during class to talk to him, but he seemed totally indifferent to her, which only made her even more livid.

On Friday night, Hermione sat with Harry, Ron and Ginny doing homework, they each had a ton of homework for the weekend, and Harry and Ron had a quidditch game versus Ravenclaw on Saturday. For once Hermione was the only one not working, she was staring dreamily out the window, looking surprisingly like Luna Lovegood. Her quill was positioned just over a piece of parchment, there were droplets of ink falling from it, and her Transfiguration book was opened, but she was not working at all. Eventually the others noticed that she wasn't making any progress at all, and they all looked curiously at each other. Harry was the first to speak "Hermione, what's wrong with you tonight?"

"What?" Hermione asked in an exasperated voice, "Nothing's wrong with me don't be silly." Hermione said as easily as she could, trying not to show that she resented having her thoughts interrupted.

"Oh come on Hermione, you've been acting weird all week! What's going on?" Ginny asked concernedly.

"There's nothing going on!" Hermione said, blushing slightly.

"Yeah right Hermione," argued Ron, "you've been in a daze all week, and you haven't written a word of your Transfiguration essay!"

Hermione jumped out of her seat, and threw her books into her bag, "I don't have to take this, I'm going to the library where I can concentrate without being interrogated with questions every five seconds!" She zoomed to the portrait hole and stormed through the halls.

Back in the common room the three friends stared at each other in shock. "She's probably just stressed or something," suggested Ginny, although she didn't sound convinced, "maybe we should give her a while to cool off, then go talk to her."

"Sounds like a good idea to me, let's go after we finish these essays," agreed Ron.

Hermione raced all the way to the library, and was completely wrapped up in her thoughts when she opened the door to the private room. She turned to close and relock the door, and from behind her she heard movement. She turned around in fright and saw Malfoy looking equally shocked to see her, standing awkwardly next to the couch. All the anger and frustration that had been brewing inside Hermione over the past week began to boil. She longed to slap him, and at the same time, she had an overwhelming desire to kiss him, she couldn't understand how she could feel so much so intensely all at once, and she didn't know where to begin. Little did she know that Draco was experiencing a similar mixture of unfamiliar emotions inside as well.

"Hey," Draco whispered, his voice was slightly uneasy, as if he was nervous, or at least as nervous as a Malfoy was allowed to be.

Suddenly, Hermione found herself able to speak again, and a flood of words spilled from her mouth. "Hi? Is that all you have to say to me? I know you've been avoiding me all week. What? Did you think it would be funny to torture me or something?"

Draco viewed her calmly, letting her vent. In all honesty, he wasn't surprised that she was upset with him, because he had been avoiding her. But it wasn't that he hadn't wanted to see her or talk to her, it was that he had no idea what to say to her. Now that he saw her, he found it nearly impossible to suppress the urge to touch her.

Hermione was even more enraged by Draco's silence, and unreadable expression, she charged over to him. For a split second he thought she was going to slap him, but she didn't. She stopped inches away from him, "well, are you going to say anything?"

"I, I can't" Draco stammered. He was completely at a loss for words, which he didn't know how to deal with since it had never happened to him before.

"Fine," Hermione turned, but Draco was too quick for her. Using his seeker reflexes, he grabbed her arm, turned her towards him leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She was tense at shocked at first, and was paralyzed by the sensations running through her body. She seemed to melt at his touch, and before long, she found herself kissing him back just as passionately. Slowly he ended the kiss, releasing her arm, and gazing at her with his deep stormy gray eyes.

Hermione stood staring at him, completely shocked. The kiss was over before her mind had time to fully process what had happened. She licked her lips subconsciously, remembering how sweet and wonderful the kiss had felt. For a moment Hermione merely stared at his expectant gaze, her mouth hanging open, yet not uttering a sound. Her heart was hammering so loud she was sure everyone in the school could hear it, and a small smile formed on her lips as she gazed at him. She found herself barely able to stand while she gazed into his eyes. She felt as though his kiss had cast a jelly-legs jinx on her and she did her best not to collapse at his feet. "What's going on?" she whispered calmly in a voice that sounded almost afraid.

"I don't know," Draco whispered just as calmly. His hand slid over to hers, and she quivered at his touch, but did not let go.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak when Draco put his finger up to her mouth "Shhh," he cautioned, his eyes suddenly wide and alert, watching the door. "Do you hear that?"

She listened intently, and sure enough she heard movement in the library, then she heard voices. She listened as hard as she could to hear who they were, 'who would be in the library this late on a Friday night?' she wondered, then she heard what the voices were saying, they were calling her name. Hermione gasped, "Harry, Ron, and Ginny!" she whispered urgently, "shit!"

She looked to Draco, who was staring at the door looking thoroughly pissed, "Do they know where this room is?" he asked.

"No, I haven't told them about it," Hermione answered her cheeks reddening slightly.

Draco mildly wondered why she had not told her best friends about the room, but at the same time was thankful that she hadn't. "Well, you should probably go see them," he suggested, returning his attention to her.

"Yeah," she agreed with disappointment in her voice. "I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah," said Draco hopefully. Hermione picked up her bag and moved to the door, listening to hear if anyone would be able to see her emerging from the room. "Goodnight Hermione," Draco whispered sweetly.

"Goodnight . . . Draco" smiled Hermione, her face was growing hot and gradually turning the color of a ripe tomato. Draco watched her exit, and he smiled to himself, he felt lighter than air, as if all his problems and worries had vanished the moment his lips touched hers. He sank into the couch closed his eyes and reveled in the emotions that were sweeping over him. He never would have thought that a muggle-born, let alone Hermione would make him feel this way, but now he found that he didn't care. All he wanted was to see her again.

Hermione slid out the door and crept around the perimeter of the library to the other side, so that none of her friends would be able to suspect where she was in case they found the door to the private room. Once she felt she was far enough away, she moved into the center of the library pretending to be heading for the exit. When she heard their calls, she responded. She met up with them in the front of the library, "Where have you been?" asked Harry, "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

"I've just been studying in the back," she said innocently.

"Why were you in the back? asked Ron suspiciously.

"Because I didn't want to be disturbed," Hermione answered matter-of-factly.

Her friends looked at her disbelievingly, but she pretended not to notice as she led them out of the library.

On Monday morning, Hermione felt her heart racing as she walked down to the potions classroom, she knew that she wouldn't be able to talk to Malfoy but just the sight of him would be nice. Snape entered the classroom, waved his wand at the bored, causing the instructions for the day's potion to magically appear on it. Hermione offered to get the ingredients for her Harry and Ron, so she set off the store cabinet. Draco was already there gathering ingredients as well. She stood next to him, and their eyes met for a second. Hermione quickly turned away and reached for an ingredient. Draco took the opportunity to reach for the same ingredient, though he already had it in his other hand, and pass Hermione a slip of parchment. She glanced at him, a questioning look in her eyes, but Draco had already turned around and begun making his way to his desk, which was in the very front of the class. Hermione did not read the parchment, but rather slipped it inconspicuously in her pocket, and gathered the ingredients.

Throughout the period she continually shot glances in Malfoy's direction, but his back was always to her. She only managed to stop and turn her attention fully onto her potion when she nearly added the crushed up beetle eyes rather than the cockroach wings.

It wasn't until she was on her way to Arithmancy that Hermione finally managed to read the note Draco had passed her. It was written in his neat calligraphic handwriting, and merely said:

7 o'clock library?

Hermione's heart skipped a beat, he wanted to see her again, and it wasn't just her imagination that they were both feeling things. She immediately scanned the room for him when she entered Arithmancy, and sure enough, he was sitting in his usual seat. He turned and gazed at her when she entered; she met his eyes and nodded slightly. She almost couldn't tell if he had understood her to be answering his note, but then he nodded curtly at her as well, and then returned his attention to the front of the classroom.

At dinner that night Hermione seemed to have lost the ability to eat, she was so anxious about getting to the library. Ginny noticed that she was again glancing repeatedly towards the Slytherin table. A couple of times her eyes seemed to linger on Malfoy and a dreamy expression would fall over her face until her attention was pulled back to the Gryffindor table and the conversation her friends were having. Ginny looked at Malfoy to see if he was looking at Hermione at all, however he seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with remarkably good impressions of professor Flitwick giving his class instructions. The Slytherins guffawed and howled with laughter, and Malfoy didn't even so much as glance at the Gryffindor table.

After dinner, Hermione excused herself from the group by saying that she had to go to the library to do research for Arithmancy and that she would be back later. When she entered the private room, Malfoy was already there, his feet up on the couch, reading a large book. The room was being lit by only the fire, which sent mysterious shadow dancing all across Draco's face. He didn't look up immediately when she entered, so Hermione cautiously made her way over next to him. He looked so amazing Hermione wanted to kiss him again right then and there.

Draco looked up at her, his expression unreadable, "I thought we should get together to work some more on our potion since we both seem to have finished preparing our ingredients, plus we still haven't discovered the missing ingredient." He smiled slightly at the look of disappointment on her face. He knew she had come here thinking nothing about the potions project, and it relieved him to know that she had wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her. But being a Malfoy, he had been taught never to let people know what you are thinking, and a part of him really did enjoy teasing Hermione like this.

"Oh, right," she said shakily. She moved away from him, over to one of the chairs, "well then, what should we do?"

"Well," Draco responded closing the book, "the first set of ingredients needs to stew for about at least week, until the mixture turns pale purple," he read off his instructions page.

"And how are we to brew it?" Hermione asked tersely, she hadn't even considered how they were going to actually make the potion.

"Simple," Draco responded. Rather than explain, he got up, carried a cauldron from behind the table over to the fireplace. He then carefully hung it on a bar until it was centered over the flames. He then conjured water to shoot out of his wand until the cauldron was half full. "There you go, now we can add the first ingredient, which needs to simmer overnight before the next one is added."

Hermione was impressed that Draco had planned everything so smoothly, and she picked up the first ingredient and emptied it into the cauldron. The water hissed, and steam emitted from the pot, even though the water was not yet boiling. Hermione stood back and brushed a loose lock of hair from her face, her eyes were glistening as she looked thoughtfully into the flames.

"Draco," she whispered, still staring into the flames, "what's happening to us?"

A look of annoyance, unseen by Hermione, passed over Draco's face, talking was not what he wanted to do right now. He resisted the urge to retort, and instead got up and moved next to her. He sensed her tense up and hold her breath as he drew closer, and he found that he liked provoking these kinds of reactions in her. The fact that he could make her so nervous with so little effort made him feel powerful and in control, two feelings that he lacked in his home life. Teasing her was in some ways more fun than kissing her had been. He moved next to her so that their arms just barely brushed each other, "I don't know, what do you think is happening?" he asked, staring into the fire instead of at her.

Hermione turned to look at him, his expression was hard to read, and she had no clue what he was thinking. 'Did he want to kiss her again? Or was it just her who wanted to kiss him.' Just as she opened her mouth to speak again and reprimand him for making her crazy, he turned. Looking into her eyes, he kissed her again. The kiss was over before Hermione's brain had time to figure out what she should do, and once again she found herself staring into his eyes, 'so he did want to kiss me again' she mused. She smiled shyly at him, having never been in this position before; she had no idea what to do. However, feeling that it was her turn to make a move, she carefully laced her fingers in his.

Draco could sense uncertainty in Hermione's action, the vulnerability and innocence intrigued him. He had never been around a girl who was not constantly all over him, he found that he liked this much better. He rewarded her efforts by holding her hands firmly and staring warmly into her eyes.

Hermione felt more amazing than she ever had in her life, as if she were flying. She knew didn't ever want him to let go, because if he did they would both have to face the world. A world in which their feelings for each other were enough to get them both killed. She rushed these thoughts through her brain. No one would ever have to know, they were perfectly safe as long as their feelings remained locked in this room.

He gently kissed her forehead. It was incredibly comforting to look into his soft eyes. She felt as though nothing could go wrong as long as his eyes looked at her like that. She smiled at him, and he returned her smile. Her chocolate brown eyes were so sweet and loving; they made him feel a happiness that he had never known.

"Well, that's about all we can do tonight I suppose," she suggested, breaking the overwhelming silence and looking toward the fire.

"Yeah, I guess so," Draco agreed reluctantly. He stepped back to the couch, but instead of picking up his bag, he pulled a book and some parchment out of it.

"What are you doing then?" Hermione asked as she saddled herself with her own bag.

"Draco looked up, "It's much easier to get my work done in here away from the distractions of the common room. Plus it gets me away from my housemates."

"You mean you don't like your house?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"You're kidding me!" Draco laughed, "Have you seen who's in my house? Crabbe and Goyle are dumber than mud, as is most everyone else, and Pansy Parkinson is all over me all the time, she makes me want to hurl." The last part came out of his mouth before he could stop it. It felt awkward talking to Hermione, who he couldn't wait to kiss again, about Pansy, a girl who he had kissed and indeed done much more with, but had never felt anything for. His cheeks turned slightly pink and he turned his attention back to his work.

Hermione let out a slight laugh. As much as she hated Draco's housemates, judging from the way he was always in the center of attention, she assumed he liked the others in his house. The news that Pansy made him sick definitely came as a surprise, albeit a welcomed surprise. Yet, at that moment, she couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy toward Pansy, she was in Draco's house, and Hermione knew that Draco had done things with Pansy, although she didn't know what exactly. She tried to shake the feeling from her, after all he had just told her that Pansy made him sick, she had nothing to be jealous of, right?

"Won't your friends notice that you're never around if you keep coming here?" Hermione asked.

"No," Draco laughed. "They couldn't care less about where I go or what I do, and they'll never step foot in the library, nope I'm safe here."

Hermione smiled, "Good," she then walked over to him and kissed his forehead. When she moved away she smiled, and wordlessly headed out the door.

After she left, Draco tried to concentrate on his homework, but found that to be impossible. Instead he whipped out his journal and wrote everything he was feeling. It was one of the only times he had ever written about being happy, but he hoped it wouldn't be the last.

Hermione was walking through the halls as if she were on a cloud. She was reflecting about the nights events, and felt positively giddy. When she entered the common room, she was greeted by her friends, "How'd the Arithmancy essay go?" asked Harry.

"What?" Hermione answered distractedly, "arithmancy essay? Oh! Yes, it went fine, got loads done." Hermione's face turned slightly pink.

Ginny was examining Hermione suspiciously again. She noticed the change in color of Hermione's face, she knew that that was a tell-tale sign that a person was lying. Like the rest of the Weasley's Ginny's ears turned red whenever she lied, she just wondered what Hermione had really been doing when she said that she was studying. Ginny vowed to find out.

So there you have it. I must say, this chapter is the one I am most unsure about so far, I've never written any romance stories, so I don't know if it came out good or not. So I would really appreciate lots of reviews commenting on how I did so I can make sure to fix anything you all didn't like in the upcoming chapters. Thank you all very much in advance for your reviews, and I hope that I haven't dissapointed any of you!
slythertin-kittycat (me) sits nervously at her computer, anxiously waiting to hear what everyone thought of this chapter . . .