Hi Guys!

A big shout out to all the people who have followed! I hope you enjoy it till the end!

Sorry but i've had to post and delete this chapter a couple of times, my document manager was giving me some trouble.

However, in fun news, my birthday is on Monday so this weekend i will be gifint all my wonderful readers 3 chapters!

2 of them might be a little small but keep heart, longer ones are coming!

As always, keep reading and I hope you enjoy yourself

Over the next couple of weeks Hermione Granger saw a lot more of Draco Malfoy than she would have liked to. She was partnered up with him much to the chagrin of both of them in Potions and they had to research antidotes as Snape had hinted he might poison one of them for Christmas to see if it their potions worked. This meant she was stuck not only with him during class but also after hours in the Library

However, surprisingly they made great study partners. They debated the several uses of every ingredient a zillion times but that's what made their potions work. They both wouldn't simply follow a recipe, they would create one of their own. However these study sessions had strict rules. No Harry or Ron from her end and no Pansy from his. The only side effect of this arrangement was that Pansy had moved on from Malfoy. This had left Draco to take care of himself after a particularly spirited debate with Hermione.

Hermione was very pleased with the way her potions work was progressing. She however didn't know what to make to Malfoy himself. He was smart, there was no doubt about it. He was passionate about the subject and even a blind person could see he was handsome. However, he had suddenly gone from being a child, to a young adult but he still stood firm to those bigoted beliefs. She was realising however that it was not that he was evil, it was just his upbringing. He wouldn't admit it of course, but it would come out in random ways like the other day he had said

"Bezor's are a staple part of a first aid kit Granger, honestly! I'm sure even the weaslebee and family could afford them! Oh right, I forgot, you're a muggle"

Or his statement a couple of days back

"An antidote doesn't have to smell foul Granger! We can add something to make it more palatable! I know muggles eat all kinds of foul stuff but this is ridiculous! "

He made these random assumptions that all muggles were poor or unrefined or dirty.

Hermione was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them, however… that wouldn't stop her from making a very stupid mistake.

—

It was 8:00pm on Friday and Hermione was sitting on her arithmancy homework in her corner of the library when Draco walked in and sat down from across her.

"What are you doing?" She asked

"It's Friday Granger or did you forget we have to finish the antidote's paper tonight, I have better things to do than spend the weekend with you" he snapped back

"But I did finish it and I put a copy in your bag so that you could look it over…"

"I did and I have an issue with the closing… also your answer is wrong… the equation ends with 42…"

"What? no… it can't" she quickly reviewed her problem

He came around to stand behind her and pointed at her parchment "right here…this is 16 over pi not 18… "

"Oh! right… Thanks…" she said quickly correcting it while he stood over her

Suddenly they both realised how close they were. Draco quickly cleared his throat and went back to sit across her.

"So… I.. um found the copy and here, this is my set of points that I think we should add in…"

For the next hour they worked with minimal conversation then exchanged papers to look over each other's work. Hermione silently noted how excellent his penmanship was. It looked like pearls on paper. He in turn silently sniffed her stationary, it smelt like patchouli from the baths. This revelation had Draco's pants getting uncomfortably tight. When Hermione extended his sheets back to him he snatched it out of her hand so that he could get out of there. What happened next, would change his world…

"Ow…" Hermione exclaimed as she pulled her hand away

Draco had given her a paper cut and cherry red blood was oozing from her fingertip.

Draco Malfoy stood there stunned.

Inadvertently his hand reached for her's as he held it. He seemed fascinated by the red blood tossing from the thin cut

Hermione looked at him unsure of what to make of it. He looked like a confused child, "Seeing dirty blood for the first time Malfoy?" She asked almost playfully

His eyes slowly rose to meet hers as if searching for answers. The moment however was shot lived. He quickly dropped her hand, picked up his books and stormed out of there.

'Stupid stupid stupid, of all the stupid things you could say' Hermione chastised herself as she saw the look on Malfoy's face

Later that night a handsome Eagle owl knocked on her Dorm window. As soon as Hermione untied the letter form it, it flew off. It was an unsigned note that read

I'm sorry

—

That day a notice went up that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving in a week. The castle was undergoing a through cleaning and the teachers were on edge too. On the 30th they found that the great hall had been decorated overnight and beautiful banners hung all around. Draco and Hermione hadn't spoke to each other since the night of the incident and neither would admit that they missed it.

But there was still the weekend.

Draco knew her schedule. A part of him wanted to barge in on her while the other found a voyeuristic pleasure in simply watching her. He decided he'd wait a while.

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