(A/N: I'd just like to take a second to say thank you so much to my lovely reviewers, but most of all to xXx xesha xXx, because "good, bad, corny, great, fantastic, corny and alright" is exactly what I think of my story too. All of my stories, in fact. On that note, who wants a sequel to Eyes On You? Yay or nay? Speak now or forever hold your peace. Enjoy chapter 9! ♥)

When Hermione surveyed herself the next morning in the mirror she looked just like she always had. There was no glow. There was no "Draco Malfoy has just kissed the living daylights out of me" grin. All she saw was her own pale, blank, lifeless face peering back at her. How dull she felt. How unimportant and useless. She tried to remember what she had done before. She cast her eyes around her dormitory. A huge pile of books sat beside her bed, mostly untouched, just waiting to be taken back to the library. The library. Of course! That was what she had done before! She felt a twinge of misery in her stomach as she met her own eyes in the mirror.

'I'm boring,' she whispered.

She looked down at her hands, and felt them clench into defiant fists. She wasn't boring! She was intellectual! That was it, she decided, this moping around was stopping here. What had she been doing with herself for the past week? It was like she had been brainwashed by those burning eyes. She stood up and turned her back on the mirror. She was just going to have to pretend that nothing had ever happened with Malfoy.

'Malfoy again, is it? Are we back to being enemies?' He said in her head.

'Stop it,' she whispered, fighting back tears, 'Leave me alone.'

Even her own mind was against her, punishing her for something that wasn't her fault.

'So…' said Ron tentatively as he sat down at breakfast, 'What kind of mood are you in today Hermione?'

'A normal mood,' she replied, peering at him over the pages The Daily Prophet, 'Not too happy, not too sad: just in the middle.'

'Glad to hear it,' Harry said as he joined them.

She smiled at him and he grinned back.

'Have I missed something?' Ron asked, looking back and forth between them.

Hermione suddenly wanted to come clean. She didn't want to have secrets from one of her best friends, even if he might react badly.

'No,' Harry said casually, but with an air of finality, 'Unless you've been falling asleep on us as well as Professor Binns.'

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry and Hermione smiled faintly. Obviously Harry didn't think telling Ron was such a good idea anymore.

'Is McGonagall definitely back then?' Dean Thomas asked, leaning across the table towards the trio.

'Yes Mr Thomas, I am definitely back,' said a familiar, stern voice, 'But surely Professor McGonagall is a far politer way to refer to your Transfiguration teacher, is it not?'

Dean turned red and seemed to shrink into his seat.

'Yes Professor,' he muttered.

'That's better,' Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly, straightening up to her full height.

'She gives me the creeps,' Dean said, hunching over in his seat as their teacher strode masterfully away out of the Great Hall, 'Can't even eat my breakfast in peace.'

'Oh, she's okay really,' said Hermione with a smile. She was beginning to feel almost light hearted again. Really, who needed Draco Malfoy? She had her friends, what more could a girl ask for?

As she stood up to brush the breakfast crumbs from her robes, Justin Finch-Fletchley swept past Hermione wordlessly with his eyes averted. She turned, confused at his coldness, and then remembered the night before.

'Justin, wait,' she said, reaching out to touch him on the arm.

He turned to her slowly and sullenly.

'What?' He asked sulkily.

'I wanted to apologise about last night,' she told him, 'I'm really sorry I didn't turn up.'

'Where were you?' Justin wanted to know.

'I had to finish my Transfiguration essay,' she lied smoothly. There were no Hufflepuffs in her Transfiguration class. He would never know.

'Great,' he said sarcastically, 'Good for you.'

He turned to leave again and Hermione took his arm again, more impatiently this time. He pulled away from her.

'Justin, please,' she tried again.

'No,' he shook his head, 'You know what Hermione? If I'm not even as important as a bloody Transfiguration essay, then you can just forget about apologising. There's no point.'

And with that he stalked off out of the Great Hall and didn't look back.

Hermione looked at the floor and bit her lip.

Draco: two, Hermione: nil.

After dinner, all of Hermione's Transfiguration class found themselves in the library, swotting up for a big test coming up next lesson and, with some irony, writing a complicated essay on the intricate laws of the subject. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together at a round table; Hermione making notes from a huge volume rested in her lap, Harry biting on the end of his quill and constantly writing and re-writing the first sentence of his essay over and over again, and Ron staring off into space, his interest having wandered from the subject hours before. Hermione wrote her notes with a smug smile on her face. She hadn't thought about Draco Malfoy even once for the whole day. Apart from when she was thinking about not thinking about him. She decided that that didn't count. She had felt no burning eyes on her for the whole day, and she was glad. It had been a totally normal day, and she planned to keep it that way. Who needed Draco Malfoy anyway? Not her.

She closed the book she had been reading with a satisfying thud, rubbed her eyes and then stood up, heaving the volume with her to swap it for another on the shelves. She crossed the room to the Transfiguration section, swapped her book for something far more manageable, turned to return to her seat and found herself face to face with Justin for the second time that day.

She stared at him.

'Um… hi,' he said after a pause.

'Hi,' she grudgingly replied.

'Thought I might find you here,' he grinned.

'Mmm,' she murmured.

Justin's smile turned to a grimace.

'Look,' he said, 'I can understand why you don't want to talk to me, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for snapping at you.'

'That's okay,' she said, making to edge past him back to her seat.

'No,' he said, barring her way, 'It's not okay. I didn't mean to be so hard on you.'

'Really Justin,' she assured him, 'That's okay.'

'I was just disappointed,' he continued, as though he hadn't heard her, 'I had been really looking forward to meeting up with you.'

'Uh-huh…'

'It was the first time I had managed to get up the nerve to ask you actually,' he admitted with a sheepish smile.

Hermione didn't like the way this conversation was going.

'Look, Justin?' She said, 'I think you're really great, but-'

'You do?' He asked, 'Because I think you're really great too Hermione.'

She suddenly realised that he had somehow trapped her between himself and the bookcase behind her. There was no way out.

'In fact,' he continued, his voice lowering, 'I was wondering if maybe you wanted to… y'know… go out with me?'

For some reason, Hermione's brain immediately flashed on the warning lights. It told her very firmly to get out of this conversation before she did something stupid. She tried to reason with herself: he was a nice guy really.

'Oh,' she managed eventually, 'Well I don't really think-'

'You don't have to answer straight away,' he interrupted, 'I mean, if you need time to think about it, then take all the time you need.'

Sure he was nice, her brain continued, but he was no… well, he was no Draco Malfoy. Crap, she thought to herself. Maybe she wasn't as over him as she had thought. She felt her heart begin to pound and that familiar knot tighten in her stomach. She looked up to find that Justin was still talking away at her. Suddenly she felt stronger.

'Look Justin,' she said again, but more firmly this time, 'I like you, but as a friend. I don't think it could ever be anything more than that.'

He looked at her silently for a moment.

'Is there someone else?' He asked gravely.

Hermione had a horrible urge to giggle, but fought it back down.

'No,' she said, 'Well… yes. Well no, but there was.'

Justin still stared at her. Hermione let out a sigh.

'I was kind of with someone… and I've kind of just realised that… well… I wish I was still with him.'

Justin put one hand to her face.

'Maybe I could help you get over him,' he suggested softly.

His face was now inches from Hermione's and she began to feel trapped. She pulled as far away from him as she could.

'Really Justin,' she said quickly, 'I don't think you could.'

'Who is this guy anyway?' Justin demanded.

Just then Hermione saw someone tap Justin on the shoulder. He whirled round to face the person, obscured to Hermione by Justin's frame.

'Me,' said a voice, 'Actually.'

And before Hermione could see what was happening, Justin was lying out cold on the floor with a broken nose, and Draco was standing before her with bloody knuckles. Hermione heard the library gasp as one.

'At least, I hope I'm that guy,' Draco added thoughtfully as he looked steadily at Hermione.

'You shouldn't've done that,' she said quietly, looking slightly shell shocked.

'Yeah, I know,' he agreed. He held out his hand to her and she took it instinctively. She stepped over Justin's crumpled form and stood, looking up at Draco.

'I shouldn't do this either,' he said, 'But I'm going to do it anyway.'

'What-?' Hermione began, but Draco put a finger to her lips to silence her, and then replaced it with his mouth.

When she came back down to earth again, Hermione didn't hear the uproar she had expected from the rest of the library, but she could sense a certain suspense in the air. She felt it in her heart too. She didn't let him hold her to him like he had done so many times before. Instead, she stepped away and watched him tense.

'I pushed you away before,' she said.

'I know,' he agreed.

'Why don't you hate me?'

'Because I don't want you to be a secret anymore: I want you to be my girlfriend, and I want everyone to know.'

'I think they do already,' she whispered, and a smile stole its way onto her face.

'Smart bunch, aren't they?' He grinned back.

They looked at each other for a moment more until their smiles faded.

'This is going to take work,' he told her.

'I'm good at work,' she replied.

'I know,' he said, his grin returning, 'And thankfully, this work is far more enjoyable than Transfiguration.'

And with that, he plucked the book from her grasp, flung it down, took her hand and led her out from the bookshelves, through the room and out into the corridor beyond. Behind them, the library exploded with noise. Hermione and Draco didn't care.

The End

(A/N: All together now: awwwwwwww! Tho thweet! Seriously though, did you like it? I would have liked a nice even 10 chapters, but that's just not the way it worked out. It wasn't meant to be a long story anyway (sorry stuck in the wilderness!).

Think about the sequel. Fancy one? I am, of course, your sparkly writing fairy, and will produce soppiness wherever it is most wished for.

Anyway guys, thanks a lot for all the reviews and making me feel so special. I think all of you are amazing and deserve at least a bazillion gold stars each.

Lots of Love, ♥Rockstarlet♥)