Chapter Eleven

Draco had locked himself into the tiny bathroom. It stank, but at least it gave him a bit of privacy. He was shocked at his behaviour. Since when had Draco Malfoy turned into a nervous idiot around a girl? He was the smooth talking type, the type that made girls believe every word that he said, regardless of whether or not he meant it.

Now he couldn't even put together an intelligent sounding sentence in front of her. What the hell was going on with him?

He banged his head a few times with his fists, trying to knock some sense into himself. He couldn't possibly be attracted to Hermione. She was Saint Potter's girl…and anyway it wouldn't work out between them. Once they got back to Hogwarts, everything would go back to normal between them - the taunting, the glares and the fierce competition.

He took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts. He had made up his mind - he was not going to fall for Granger. He couldn't. It didn't matter that they were all friendly now…he couldn't take advantage of her like that. They were both so vulnerable here in this foreign place and if anything did happen - they would definitely regret it later.

So with that in mind, he stepped back out of the bathroom and put a small smile on his face.

"Hey…sorry if I was acting a bit weird before." he started off.

"Don't worry about it." Hermione replied.

"So you don't think I'm an idiot for acting so immature?" he asked quietly.

"I figured you were a bit weird already anyway." she answered with a grin.

"Ah. I see." He relaxed, and got back into his 'normal' mode, "So, I was thinking that we should go and get some new clothes and book a passage to England."

"That's a good idea. Do we have any money?" Hermione asked.

"Of course. Do you actually think that I, Draco Malfoy am broke?" Draco answered indignantly.

"No I -"

"Anyway, we had better get going. We need to get to the travel office early to get a passage to England. I want to leave this place as soon as possible - I'm sure Xavier has people after us by now. We also need to get some cheap clothes…we have to blend into the crowd." Draco cut her off.

"Um…wow…you've actually given this whole thing so much thought." Hermione stammered.

"Of course. Our lives are at stake here, Hermione." Draco replied seriously.

"Don't be so melodramatic." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. You'll be thanking me later." Draco answered, and then he ushered her out of the room, trying to ignore that tingly feeling that he felt when his hands came into contact with the small of her back.

--

Now, Hermione also felt something when he touched her. Sure, it wasn't as though the touches actually meant anything…and they weren't that kind of touching but nevertheless she felt this strange sensation. It was like everywhere place he touched was burning - or that her nerves were completely tuned to his touch.

She shook her head.

What was wrong with her? Was all this time travelling and wild escapes from 18th century French chateaus really affecting her so badly that she was actually enjoying contact with Draco Malfoy?

While it was true that he wasn't exactly the asshole now that he was back at Hogwarts, Hermione doubted that he would stay that way…she figured that once he got back to his Slytherin cronies, he would turn back into the resident git of Hogwarts.

Hermione turned and glanced at him. He was walking quite fast and the wind was blowing his silver hair back, giving her a very clear view of his face. Her eyes took in his translucent skin and attractive features, before realising that he was staring back at her.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Er…no…I…" Hermione stammered in response.

"Were you staring at me, Granger?" Draco asked with a grin.

"No. Why would I want to do that?" she responded quickly.

"Because you're obviously attracted to me." Draco smirked.

For a moment, Hermione froze. Her brain was unable to formulate a comeback to that comment because Draco had hit jackpot - she was attracted to him. No matter what she had been saying to herself about him, there was undeniable chemistry between them.

"Hermione?…I was just joking" said Draco uncertainly.

"Yeah? I know." she replied slowly.

"Aren't you going to slap me or something now?" Draco asked anxiously.

This was so strange - usually if he made a comment like that, she would have at least shot back some sort of insulting remark…but she had been completely silent. Draco was worried, very worried - her silence was making him jump to conclusions that he shouldn't be and encouraging him to rethink his decision.

"No, Draco we're friends now aren't we? It would be mean of me to slap you." Hermione replied nonchalantly.

Inside, her heart was pounding - she had basically just admitted to him that she was attracted to him by her silence. What the hell was wrong with her?! It was bad enough that she liked him, now he knew and that was definitely going to make things awkward between them.

"Oh is that it? That's good, I can relax now. I never did forget when you hit me back in third year, gave me the biggest shock of my life." Draco grinned.

Hermione relaxed too and grinned back at him - apparently he hadn't noticed anything and he was none the wiser to the mixture of emotions that was swirling around in her stomach. Or he had realised that she liked him but wasn't going to let it get to him or ruin their insecure friendship. She hoped that it was the first one.

"You definitely don't have to worry now Draco. I've decided that you're trustworthy enough, and not as much of an asshole as I thought. So I'll treat you like I would treat Ron or Harry." Hermione announced. Draco raised his eyebrow in response.

"And do the privileges of being treated like Potty and the Weasel include…err…favours?" he smirked.

This time Hermione did slap him, just out of instinct.

"Hey! I thought you were going to be nice to me now!" He exclaimed, cradling his arm where she had slapped him.

"Who said anything about being nice? I said I'd treat you like I'd treat Ron or Harry and that means getting slapped when you make stupid comments like that." Hermione replied smoothly, and kept walking towards the travel office.

After a few moments of standing still of out shock on the footpath, Draco rolled his eyes and followed her.

--

Potions was just ending for the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins when Snape ordered three of his students to stay.

"Potter, Weasley and Zabini - you are to remain here. There is a matter I wish to discuss with you."

The three students packed their bags quietly and waited until the rest of the class had left before they walked to the front of the room where Snape sat. They had a pretty good idea what Snape was going to talk them about - it had to be something to do with Hermione and Malfoy.

"As you all know, its been close to a month since Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy have disappeared." Snape started off, the three nodded in unison, "Well thanks to your research in the library and the Grangers' family tree, the Headmaster believes that he knows where exactly in time your friends are stuck. Tomorrow I am preparing to go back to that time to bring them back to Hogwarts."

"Wow…good luck Professor." said Blaise as Harry and Ron cheered and gave each other high fives.

"Thank you Blaise." replied Snape pointedly glaring at the two Gryffindors, "If all goes well, your friends should be back by tomorrow evening."

This time all three students let out cheers, causing Snape to roll his eyes and order them to settle down.

"I don't want you three to get your hopes up just yet. There are a million things that could go wrong." Snape said sternly, then he dismissed them.

As the three of them walked out of the dungeon, Ron asked sceptically,

"What could possibly go wrong?"

--

"Bonjour monsieur, when does the earliest ship sail for England?" asked Draco when they finally reached the counter at the travel office.

The elderly man looked down his nose at Draco as though he was trying to figure out what he was doing there.

"Monsieur?" Draco asked again.

"The earliest ship to sail for England will leave today at three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm afraid there are only five seats available, and they are all first class." replied the man disdainfully, "I might suggest that you wait for the next ship which sails in two days."

Draco felt like slapping him for his haughtiness, because he obviously had no idea about his family's wealth.

"I'll take two first class tickets on the earliest ship then." Draco said smugly, placing the correct money on top of the desk. The man glanced at the money and then back at the seventeen old boy sitting in front of him.

"As you wish, monsieur." he answered in a placating voice.

"I knew he would come around." Draco muttered under his breath to Hermione, who smiled.

The man passed the tickets to Draco and then they left the travel office quietly. But once they had left the vicinity of the travel office, Draco couldn't contain his relief that they were going to be out of France in less than 4 hours. So it was a surprised and slightly embarrassed Hermione that felt two arms pull her to his body.

"What are you doing Draco?!" she asked quickly, trying to hide her blush.

"Expressing my delight that we're finally on our way back to Hogwarts." he replied with a grin. Then he pulled away, leaving Hermione feeling embarrassed and flushed.

"Is there anything wrong, Hermione?" he asked upon seeing her flushed face.

She shook her head, and turned away a little hoping to hide her burning cheeks.

"Are you embarrassed that I hugged you?" he asked quietly.

"I…no…I was just startled by it. It was very…spontaneous of you." she stammered.

"It was just a hug, Hermione, nothing more. Don't worry, I don't mean anything by it. I'm just really relieved that we're finally leaving France." Draco explained seriously, gripping her shoulders so that she couldn't look away.

"I know." replied Hermione firmly.

There was an awkward silence after this, where Draco and Hermione just looked into each others' eyes, trying to figure out exactly what the other was thinking. But then Draco broke the silence.

"We should get going. We only have 3 hours left before the ship sails and we still need new clothes and other supplies for the trip back to Hogwarts."

He took his hands away from Hermione's shoulders and began to walk. Hermione stared at his back for a few long moments before following him, trying to ignore the tingly feeling in her shoulders where Draco's hands had been.

--

A/N: I'm so sorry everyone! I knew that I said I would update by Christmas, but then my computer crashed and I've only just gotten it back…so I'm extremely sorry! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please read and review and forgive me…