She sat absent-mindedly doodling on a spare piece of parchment in Transfiguration the next day, not even bothered to pay attention. Entirely too much information was racing through her brain. Less than 12 hours ago, Draco Malfoy had kissed her! Supposedly her sworn enemy. As confused as she was, she was seemingly unable to stop the horrid thoughts as they swam through her mind. She had enjoyed it.

It was unlike any other kiss she had ever received; it was hot and intense, yet still gentle. Somehow she couldn't get over the feelings of his experienced hands, his skilled tongue. Most of all she couldn't remove the image of his silver eyes just after... with something that almost hit her as a form of lust... but that wouldn't be possible. There was no way she could reduce him to showing such emotion.

She knew there was nothing imaginable she could ever want or get from him; it had clearly been a one time thing. But why had he done it? Hermione knew as well as anyone his reputation around the school; it was said there hadn't been such a womanizer at Hogwarts since Sirius Black, and Malfoy could definitely give a good fight for the title, even with his dark demeanor. She had always wondered why other girls were so excited at a chance with him... and couldn't help but thinking she was one of them.

She looked at the next table over, Ron and Harry were stubbornly ignoring her. She sighed, as she supposed it wasn't entirely untruthful what they had said about her and Malfoy being too close. She tried to stop a sly grin from sliding onto her lips, what would they say if they ever found that out?

Across the room, he sat, quill poised, with a bored look on his face as he listened to the Professor. His cold silver eyes were slightly unfocused, as he gazed into the board. She was discontent as she realized he wasn't paying her the slightest notice, unless of course he didn't know she was looking. She stared at his eyes, utterly transfixed. Why was he so damn perfect... and why was she behaving like Lavender would after a date with one of the many boys in the school?

It was just a simple kiss, it hadn't even meant anything. He had only done it to prove she could do something imperfect. It was probably only to his own benefit. A surge of anger at herself for thinking it was actually something flowed through her veins. The anger was closely followed by guilt. Why was she even thinking this? He was a Death Eater; she would have to fight against him in mere months, she was sure.

But the fire in his lips had felt so wonderful...

"Damn it!" She shouted, out loud on accident, before quickly putting a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. The entire class turned to look at her, and she noticed a gleam of shock in Malfoy's eyes, though it was almost as if he was laughing at her. Harry and Ron gave her suspicious looks, but glanced away quickly.

"Something you'd like to share, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked with an edge to her voice.

"No, Professor, sorry," she apologized quietly.

"Very well... ten points from Gryffindor for class disturbances," the professor said before she walked away. Most of the Slytherins laughed or smirked, but she noticed Malfoy only had a small frown. McGonagall had been rather cold towards her since she saw her at the breakfast table that morning in perfect health, and felt it was too soon to recover after a full day of illness.

Some of the Gryffindors complained and shot her dirty looks, and she blushed bright pink. McGonagall had never taken points from her before. She saw Malfoy smirking, though it was at her, and he raised an eyebrow as he saw her looking. She gave a weak grin and shook her head, as he turned back to his work.

Oh, how he confused her. Even his name. Malfoy was so hateful when she said it, it reminded her of when he was an enemy. But then of course Draco was much too friendly for the level they were on. She had to stick with his surname, though it displeased her. Somehow she didn't mind when he called her Granger; actually she quite enjoyed it in his drawl. She doubted she would have felt comfortable if he called her Hermione anyway. She would have just preferred if he were just "he", it would take the complexity out of things. Of course, everyone needs a name.

The bell finally rang, and she hurried to leave, as he walked past her table, discreetly shoving a note into her hand. Shocked, she left the class, parchment clutched tightly in her palm, before she unfolded it, and stared blankly. He continued to confuse her in everything he did, even with just two words.

Damn what?

She closed her eyes a moment, as students raced by her to dinner, and she remembered her outburst in class. With a slight grin, she put the paper into her bag, figuring maybe she'd answer him later. She ate quickly with Ginny, and hurried to the common room to get a start on her huge Arithmancy assignment. Twenty minutes later he walked in, and noticed her so he sat down at the table she was working at.

"Did you get 22 d?" He asked. She shrugged.

"No, that one's confusing me actually," she admitted, flipping the page of her workbook.

"Damn. I would ask someone else but no one else in our class is worth talking to," he said thoughtfully. She was worth talking to? And the puzzlement continues...

"It would probably help if there were more than seven people in the class," she replied jokingly. It was a large piece of humour at the small number of students attempting NEWT arithmancy that year. He let out a slight laugh, before skimming the work she had done.

"No, that one's 27 and an eighth," he said frowning. "There's the mistake," he said, pointing to one line of work.

"Thanks," she said quietly, as she changed her answer. "Did you get this one?" She asked, pointing at 34 c.

"Mm... yup, you've just got to worry about the eight in the fourth line of the question, you've got a nine," he pointed out as she blushed to a dull pink, again fixing her answer.

"Are you done the entire thing?" She asked in disbelief.

"I wasn't hungry at lunch," he said with a shrug. He pulled out his book, as she glanced at another question.

"I got 43 for that one," she said, frowning. He skimmed it, and noticed his error.

"Thank you," he said, grinning.

"You should do that more often," she said, staring at him.

"Get questions wrong and look like a total dumbass, you mean?" He asked seriously. She laughed and he couldn't hold back a smirk.

"No... smile," she said, looking away slightly. He frowned.

"Happiness is overrated," he stated shortly, his voice losing its joking manner, falling cold and harsh within an instant. She felt bad to have said anything; he seemed to have closed himself back up.

"Sorry," she muttered, getting back to her problems. He said nothing, just stared into the blazing fire, but didn't move away. She stumbled upon a difficult question, and he watched her work at it. Finally he sighed and took the quill out of her hand, filling in the correct number. She gave him a grateful smile, but he didn't seem to have seen her. There was a long silence.

"You never replied to my letter," he said, not looking away from the fire. She reached into her bag, and pulled out the crumpled parchment. He shook his head when he saw that she hadn't even written anything on it. "It's impolite to ignore someone's question, you know," he turned to her.

She set her workbook aside, and posed her quill over the letter.

Damn...

"I honestly don't know," she said, conceding defeat. He looked disappointed.

"Obviously it was something, if it both threw off your concentration, and made you lose points from Gryffindork," he joked. She sighed, setting down the quill, careful not to drip ink.

"I guess... it was you, you're just so... confusing," she finished lamely. He raised an eyebrow, but waited for her to continue. "I mean... why did you kiss me?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, but it passed.

"I felt like it, not to mention you needed something to break you away from perfection evidently," he said, shrugging. "Didn't exactly seem like you hated it," his eyes glowed evilly, and he smirked at the bright shade of pink she had turned. He had felt like it? That wasn't much of a reason at all, considering who she was speaking with.

"Malfoy, I'm not going to be one of your little whores you can turn to every time you want a shag," she stated angrily. He looked shocked. "I'm not quite that stupid," she finished.

"Of course you aren't," he agreed. "Is that what you thought it was?" She shrugged nervously. "I know you're way too intelligent for that, Granger."

There it was again, Granger. Inside she was actually quite happy that it was no longer "Mudblood" or anything of the sort. But she couldn't help but let out a hidden sigh, as if she were missing something, that perhaps was just out of sight, beyond surnames.

She truly didn't know how to react to his comment, so she lifted her quill once more and turned back to her work.

"You're angry," he stated simply, watching her carefully.

"I'm not," she replied sniffily.

"You are, you're spilling ink all over the page," he concluded, as she hastily wiped it up and redid the question. "What did you expect it was, Granger?"

"I don't know, apparently not that you 'felt like it.' Honestly, Malfoy after the last six years, what would you have expected?" He smirked.

"I woulda slapped myself in the face and stormed away, to tell the truth. I happen to know that I'm an ass," he said simply.

"Yes that's true," she said, frowning, something else was still bothering her. "Why do you desire redemption?" His parting words had been annoying her more than she had thought. He sighed heavily.

"I'll save that one for another day," he said softly, and she knew not to challenge it further. There was a knock on the portrait and he got up to open it. Hermione saw Mandy Brocklehurst standing in the door, who waved, and Hermione smiled back. He talked to her for a few minutes, and she left silently.

"What'd she want?" Hermione asked, not looking up from her math.

"Wanted to know if I was busy tonight," he said, sitting back down with a sigh. "But I told her I was already doing something," he shrugged.

"You didn't have to..." she trailed off, looking at him sideways.

"Please, what kind of cold-hearted son-of-a-Malfoy would I be if I left you to do this assignment on you own?" He stated. "And besides... she whimpers," he added as an afterthought, wrinkling his nose in slight distaste.

"Definitely didn't need to know, thanks," she said, looking away.

"No problem."

The both fell silent, though he occasionally helped her out with a question, in between working on a potions essay due the next week. She finished and pulled out a herbology assignment, and didn't finish until well past midnight. Surprisingly he didn't even move, just waited patiently for her to finish. He yawned widely, and put his essay back into his bag.

"You could have gone to sleep, you know," she told him.

"I'm not tired," he said defensively, as he yawned again. "Alright, so I am. But I couldn't leave you down here alone, imagine how many more questions you would have gotten wrong," he smirked. She stiffened as he reached out a hand, but he merely brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, though she shivered at the contact. It wasn't as if she had expected him to kiss her again or anything.

"Goodnight," he whispered, as he went up the staircase and into his own room, Hermione following closely behind. She yawned, as she turned to her own room instead, and fell asleep almost instantaneously.

Her eyes fluttered open sleepily, and she tried to crawl further under the sheets, until she saw him standing over her. Her eyes shot open, and she gave him a curious look.

"It's past ten, we missed Herbology," he said calmly, as she jumped up, quickly turning hysterical. She frantically checked every clock she could see, but without any evidence to prove it was just a cruel joke.

"Shit," she said simply, as she shoved him out of the room, closing the door. She quickly dressed and reopened it moments later, and he was still standing there, staring into the door. "How long were you watching me?" She asked suspiciously.

"Only a minute or so," he replied nonchalantly. "I couldn't bring myself to wake you up."

She gave a weak grin, before hurrying out of the common room. "We can still make potions on time," she said nervously. A detention with Sprout was nothing, but with Snape...

She began walking quickly, resisting the urge to break into a run, though he walked on leisurely behind her. She sent him a short glare, and he gave her an amused glance. She kept sending him irritated looks until eventually he grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him.

"You realize the classroom is one hallway away, and we've still got ten minutes?" He asked calmly, staring into her eyes, confused at her urgency. She looked behind her, realizing his words were true, and she relaxed visibly. She sighed and slowed down dramatically, walking in pace with him. Occasionally he would look over under the pretense of ensuring she was still fine, although he took it as a chance to watch her outside of the common room.

They walked into the room, and the class quieted deliberately. Malfoy scowled at everyone, and sat down at a table, and she looked around for a spot. Harry and Ron were glaring at her, purposely taking up the entire table, and she saw Draco's eyes light up temporarily. She followed his gaze, and saw him looking at her friends. She sent him a warning look, though he brushed it off, with a serious look.

"You want them back?" He asked in a whisper, so no one else would notice. She nodded her head, biting her lower lip to hold back from saying anything. He gave a slight grin, before his eyes turned cold towards her. She knew what he was about to do a second before he did it, and her eyes widened in horror, and she stepped toward him.

"Get away, Mudblood, how many times do I need to tell you," he spat coldly, as the class fell silent once more. They turned to stare at him, and await a reaction from her. Just like so many times before, she thought sadly, unwilling to reply.

"I don't listen to ferrets, sorry Malfoy," she said after a pause, attempting coldness. She knew her eyes reflected the sadness she felt, and she noticed Harry stand up beside her, apparently deciding he cared more about Hermione than Malfoy.

"Yeah, leave her alone, git," he said, eyes blazing, before he pulled Hermione over to their table. He gave an unconcerned shrug, though he shot her a quick smirk. He saw how close she was to tears, and his eyes softened slightly. He closed his eyes shortly, and opened them again to her, showing regret for his harsh words. She was shocked; how could he let out only a portion of the emotion he was feeling? She jerked her eyes away as she heard Ron muttering darkly about Malfoy to her. It wasn't all bad, at least Ron and Harry were considerably warmer to her, his plan had worked.

She shot Malfoy one more confused glance, as Snape walked in, and began the lesson, and nothing more was to be said among hasty copying and precise measurements.