Draco furrowed his brow and tried to study. It was the night before exams were to begin, and all he could think about was her. She haunted his mind, preventing him from reading so much as a sentence without his thoughts drifting to Her soft hair, Her vanilla scent, everything that make Her the girl he had fallen in love with. He smiled, thinking about her studying in her common room at this very moment as he was sure that she was doing. Something fluttered in front of his eyes and he snapped back to reality as he picked up the piece of parchment.

"Silver,

Good luck this week with your exams. You'll do great, I'm sure.

-Hermione"

Hermione grinned after sending the owl. She couldn't set her mind to studying if she was constantly thinking about Draco. She decided to send him a quick note encouraging him: she wanted him to be Head Boy too.

The next day was Draco's most dreaded exam: Transfigurations. If he didn't ace this exam, he might not make Head Boy. He knew he was alright with transfiguring things thanks to Hermione, but he wasn't sure if he could make the grade that he needed. He put all of his being into transfiguring the boulder in front of him. If it meant he could be with Hermione twenty-four hours in a day, he'd transfigure a mountain!

Hermione finished her exam much earlier than necessary, but she was sure that she'd passed with over one hundred percent. She sat and wondered how Draco was doing on his Transfiguration exam. She wished she could be there to see how he was doing, to cheer him on, to do anything but just sit here in her anxiety trying to ignore Ron's pleas for help.

They were both walking into Potions when Hermione asked how he did. He barely had time to mutter "Alright," before Snape walked in, cloak fluttering, and began the exam. Everyone pulled off their potion with the exception of Pansy Parkinson, who somehow managed to spill her potion on Snape. Neville had managed to pull his act together for once, making his first decent mark in potions ever.

The following weekend was not relaxing for many students, who were concerned about their grades. Many fifth years wanted to be prefect, and of course those who were in the running for Head Boy and Girl were more nervous than anyone. Still, the students did their best to kick back and have some fun before their grades were returned.

Draco was in hell. The fates seemed against him on this one, constantly parading Ron and Hermione past his sad eyes. No matter where he went, there they were, laughing or holding hands. Many times he saw Ron getting upset with Hermione for being so uptight, refusing to understand her nerves. He used times like these to make eye contact with Hermione, sending her the message to dump Ron. But it was a message that was lost between them, as Ron got even more furious if Hermione didn't pay her attention to him and only him.

He rarely saw her alone. He watched her, watched the way her lips slid against the fork while she ate or the way her face scrunched up when she was reading a book. It was nothing short of torture for him to be so close that he could touch her but to have a barrier like Ron standing between them. He wasn't much, but to Draco, Ron was like an ocean separating him from Hermione. She refused to listen to reason as far as Ron went, and Draco saw it as useless to continue arguing with her.

It was under these conditions that Draco waited for his grades Monday morning. He wanted to be next to Hermione, holding her, comforting her, telling her it was silly to worry because she had always been top of her class. She looked over at him. He gave her an encouraging smile, and she smiled weakly back when the professors began to hand out grades.

Hermione gulped and turned over the parchment that had been placed in front of her. A wild grin spread across her face as she saw that she'd received top marks in all of her classes.

"Top marks," she chirped.

"Oh don't rub it in Hermione. Some of us aren't quite the book nuts that you are," grumbled Ron. Hermione frowned slightly, and then looked over to Draco.

Draco closed his eyes for a moment before looking at his parchment. He slowly opened his eyes, dreading what he would find there. It took a moment for it to register that he'd received top marks in all of his classes. He grinned and looked up to find that Hermione was staring intently at him. He gave her the thumbs up and her grin got very toothy. Butterflies shot through his stomach. He wished he was the only recipient of that grin, the smile that made Hermione's eyes light up and sparkle.

Hermione sighed. She knew now that Draco had made the marks he needed, but now they had to wait with baited anticipation to see if they had made Head Boy and Head Girl.