She tilted her head up as their lips met and a shiver ran down her spine. A strand of his blonde hair tickled her face, and laughing, she drew back and pushed it out of his eyes. She stared into their unfathomable depths and was consumed entirely by the look of longing in his eyes. He was the only one for her. She could love no other.

-

Hermione jolted awake in shock and horror. What on earth? What was that? She had been having a dream about-

Malfoy!! After hyperventilating in panic a thought struck her. Just because she had a dream about er, kissing Malfoy, it didn't mean that she ah, felt anything towards him. No, it was most likely due to the cheese sandwich she had eaten before she went to sleep. It was well known that cheese stimulated the mind and caused wild dreams; this was certainly wild! How could such a thing be civilised?

She kicked back her blankets and threw open the curtains around her bed. She was the first one up, as usual, but something was amiss. What was it? She glanced over at each girl in turn… yes; they were all there but- What on earth? An unidentified figure lay sprawled on the floor; their cloak spread out and their head covered by the conveniently placed hood. Hermione marched across the room and yanked it down to reveal a rather familiar head of white-blonde hair; this was turning out to be a wonderful morning.

'What the hell are you doing in here Malfoy?' She hissed through clenched teeth as she smacked him in the head. 'Wake up!' One of the girls stirred and in fright, Hermione fell over the sprawled body of her enemy. He, well, he wasn't dead, but he sure as hell would be if she didn't get him out of the girls' dormitory! Giving up, Hermione snuck to the door and down the staircase a few steps to peer into the common room. No one was up yet so in relief, she grabbed Malfoy by the robe, and started to drag him down the steps unceremoniously. It was a mistake; almost immediately the stairs collapsed and gave way to a slippery slide which forced her to bite down hard on her tongue to prevent her from screaming in fright. Malfoy was going to pay for this! After being dumped on the ground at the bottom, she pulled him over to the portrait hole, opened it, and shoved him out. Ignoring the Fat Ladies cries of, 'what on earth?! What is a Slytheri-' Hermione turned around and trudged up the staircase, which had reverted back to stairs, to her bed which was looking incredibly inviting.

The next time she woke up, the other girls were awake and getting ready for breakfast.

'It's not like you to sleep in Hermione.' Lavender said with a raised eyebrow. 'What did you get up to last night?' The girls snickered; such a thing wasn't even fathomable with Bookworm Granger. It's not like she would ever get up to anything like that. Hermione sighed and wished for the umpteenth time that she lived with girls like her; girls who cared about getting somewhere in life and not simply who was dating whom, or what was currently fashionable. She just didn't care about any of that stuff!

After a quick wash she changed into her school robes and tied her hair back. It was getting long, and with length, it got even more out of control. She was the only person she knew who had hair this untameable! Ron and Harry met her in the common room and they headed off to the Great Hall. Hermione remembered at the last minute where she had dumped Draco but was relieved when she saw no trace of him. Perhaps that had been a dream too? She didn't dare to hope it; she had a bruise from her slide down the staircase.

'…saw him sneaking back through the halls. Woke me up he did; what with crashing into a suit of armour…' The portrait stopped talking as she walked past; it was an unfamiliar one… a woman dressed in a muggle business suit but wearing a bucket as a hat? The plaque down the bottom read: Andrea Sportenhoff; Muggle Researcher. Ha! Some researcher!

As they entered the Great Hall Hermione stared in disbelief at the Slytherin table where Malfoy was sitting, attempting to shovel a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. He caught her looking at him and fixed her with a steely glare. Ungrateful git! She sat down huffily next to Harry and snatched a box of cereal just as he was about to grab it. He shot her a baffled look but shrugged, and got some toast instead. She mused about the mornings events as she tipped cereal into her bowl and became aware of an annoying prodding in her side.

'Ah, Hermione?' She blinked at the person interrupting her thinking and followed their gesture to see she was pouring cereal onto the table next to her bowl. Damn.

'Scourgify.' She muttered absentmindedly with a flick of her wand. The mess vanished and she reached for the platter of eggs, once again snatching them as Harry was about to grab some.

'Hermione!' He cried in exasperation. I mean really? Taking food out of his mouth?! She paid no attention to him but spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate. She looked up to see Malfoy holding up his hand to Blaise and drinking his orange juice fervently. Have you noticed when you spy on people, you are always disgusted by what you see?

'Harry,' she said suddenly, causing him to choke on his toast, 'how would a boy get into a girls' dormitory?'

'Wha-what?! Hermione I didn't know you had a boyfriend!' He gasped for breath and finally regained it, and fixed her with a look of horror. 'Why are you asking me?!'

'No not that Harry! Just, if you wanted to get into the girls' dormitory without falling down the slide, how would you do it?' She stared at him expectantly and a strange expression came over his face.

'I-I'm really flattered Hermione, but-'

'Harry, shut up. This is theoretically speaking.'

'What?'

'In theory; how would you sneak into my room?'

'Well, erm, if the staircase collapses, I'd use my broom?' She stared at him until it sunk in.

'Harry you're brilliant!!' She hugged him, causing Ron to choke on his bacon, and stood up so suddenly her chair fell over. 'I have to go to the library!' And with that, she bolted.

No she wasn't obsessed with books, contrary to what some people in Hogwarts, well possibly everyone, thought. She did have an entirely plausible reason, and she only had twenty minutes until the first class began for the day. She hunted through the shelves until she found Hogwarts A History, and sitting down at a table, flicked through the pages until she found the one she was looking for.

The staircases leading to the female students' dormitories are enchanted so that if a male student walks on them, they collapse into a slide, therefore making it impossible to climb up them. They only revert back when a female student at the bottom needs to ascend. If somehow a male student reaches the top of the stairs, there are additional enchantments that will render him unconscious until he is out of their range.

Hermione closed the book and thought well, thoughtfully for a moment. She hadn't seen a broom when she found Malfoy, and she was sure one of the other girls would have commented if they had found one. Also, she still didn't know why Malfoy had been in her dormitory. How did he know the password to the common room? Why did the Fat Lady seem so surprised to see him when she dumped him out? Wouldn't she have known that he was in there to begin with?

Hermione glanced at the Grandfather clock against the wall and sighed. She had ten minutes to get to her first class, so she'd better leave now. It was Double Potions, with the Slytherins as always. At this thought she brightened up; she might be able to get some answers out of Draco!

Disclaimer: Alas, no it is not I who is J. K. Rowling.

A/N: I'll do these at the end because I always skip them. If you review, please make it constructive