Down by the Oak

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the Harry Potter books,movie...etc, they belong to J.K Rowling.

A/N: Hey guys, one word: REVIEW! Hehe, well enjoy, and thanks for the people who did review :-)

Hermione leaned closer, her stomach churning nervously before she pitched forward and promptly fell on Draco's shoulder.

She picked herself up, silently cursing her sudden fatigue, and leaned back against the oak.

"Sorry," she moaned, cheeks flaming, "killer headache."

Hesitantly, Hermione reached up and brushed her hand across her forehead to find that it was burning up. She moaned—Parties, she thought to herself, great at the time, but shitty after effects. Draco smirked jokingly at her, reading her thoughts easily simply by the look on her face.

"It's ok," he assured her, "you'll get used to it after a while."

"Yeah, you would know," Hermione shot back dryly, but her face entertained a pleasant smile. She had heard of the legendary Slytherin parties that were thrown regularly to celebrate…well, anything really.

"I've had my fair few," Draco admitted with a guilty grin. Hermione laughed out loud, looking only slightly embarrassed to admit her own feeble track record.

"This was probably my third" she said blushing. She had thought Draco would laugh at this but he only shrugged.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing Hermione," he allowed and Hermione was almost sure she could sense some hidden meaning in this. After a moment he broke into a wide grin though, all traces of depth and meaning gone. "You certainly know how to pick them anyway—this last one was definitely in my top ten."

"Well I'll take that as a compliment seeing as I helped organize it!" Hermione announced brightly, surprised at how much the accolade had brightened her spirits.

He turned to face her appearing slightly thoughtful.

"I suppose you did, didn't you?" Draco said quietly after a moment had passed. He found himself staring towards Hermione and after a minute their eyes locked, catching both of them slightly off guard. It was vaguely unnerving—not so much the fact that he was staring into Hermione Granger's eyes, of all people, but the fact that he enjoyed it so much. Draco had never spent much time observing Hermione in the past seven years, but if he had, he was sure he would have noticed how expressive her eyes were. Well, not only her eyes either, her whole body was wracked with expressive mannerisms that Draco was strangely intrigued by. The way her hands moved when she talked, the way her mouth twisted into a little pout of concern when she was working on something particularly confusing, the way she started to blink more when she was nervous—Draco could barely take his eyes off of her.

Hermione too looked oddly transfixed by Draco but managed to pull a way, blinking rapidly.

"Anyway, about those lessons…," she began suddenly and Draco had to pause a second to figure out what she was saying.

"Yes" he replied slowly, turning away. It felt like years ago that he had asked Hermione to help him woo Pansy. Now though, it all seemed so silly. He felt as if he had matured every day and was beginning to regret all of the mistakes and stupid choices he had made in the past. He regretted making fun of Hermione so much, he regretted turning all the other Slytherins (not to mention some of the darker Ravenclaws, and the more impressionable Hufflepuffs) against her, and he regretted never having noticed her before now, their last year. The thing he found himself regretting most however was asking for those stupid lessons. Draco had asked Hermione on a spur of the moment, whirlwind decision and regretted it more and more by the moment. It was so stupid really—he had seen Pansy on the platform, wanted to get her back, seen Hermione walk out of the train

compartment, and had randomly asked her for the lessons. If there was one word to describe his actions he knew exactly what it would be—ridiculous.

"Draco?" Draco jerked back into real life at Hermione's tone. She didn't sound angry per say, but it was obvious she had called to him more than once.

"What?" Draco bit out quickly, more startled than annoyed, but immediately felt bad when Hermione looked disheartened.

"I asked if you still needed them," she repeated quietly, her voice somewhat subdued and slightly more professional than it had been only moments earlier.

"Still needed what?" Draco asked dumbly, too concerned with trying to make Hermione feel comfortable around him again to make much sense about what she was saying. Hermione raised an eyebrow but made no note of his strange behavior—vocally at least.

"The lessons," she clarified softly, watching Draco with concern. Draco rushed to say no but stopped before he voiced a sound. If he admitted that he did need the lessons then Hermione would think that he still liked Pansy and she wouldn't give him a chance but if he said he did, then things could get…interesting. It was quite the challenge.

"Well I think one lesson should do it," Draco said finally, a sneaky smirk playing across his lips. Hermione looked slightly taken aback but nodded nonetheless

"Ok, well, uh," Hermione began awkwardly, struggling to find the right articulate, for the situation. She had been pretty sure that Draco had liked her, but if he still wanted help wooing Pansy—well, Hermione couldn't very well say no now. She had already agreed earlier, if she backed out on it now, then he would think that she had a problem doing it—which I most certainly do not, Hermione assured herself but even she had a hard time believing it. Something had definitely had changed between Draco and herself in the past few days, and although she didn't know exactly what it was, she knew it was for the better.

"Should we do it now, just get it out of the way?" Draco suggested and Hermione had to fight to keep the smile on her face. There were a hundred things Hermione would rather do at the moment but on the other hand, Hermione wanted to get it out of the way.

"Yeah!" Hermione squeaked brightly—too brightly she realized, because now Draco was staring at her funny. Silently berating herself for her unintentional perkiness, Hermione took a steadying breath and tried to rectify her intonation. "I mean, sure, if you want to," she managed coolly, leaning back against the tree and hoping that she didn't appear too ruffled by his suggestion. Draco, for his part, merely smiled at her and watched her trying to remain cool. After a second though she peeked at him and he realized she was waiting for some confirmation from him.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Right now is fine," he coughed and Hermione nodded, realizing to her dismay that she had leaned in a bit of tree sap. Frowning to herself, Hermione pulled away from the tree and turned her whole body to face him. His face looked so handsome against the background of the sun in the sky, and the Forbidden Forest trees—like the prince in all the fairytales she had read with her parents when she was younger.

"So um, where should I start…?" Hermione asked suddenly, shaking the image of Draco riding to her rescue out of her head. She had expected Draco to have to think about this for a moment at least, but he jumped right in with a question as if he had been waiting to ask her forever.

"What do girls want guys to do? I don't mean what they want us to say, but—well, what makes a girl happy?" Hermione paused, momentarily losing her breath. Awww, he wants to make girls happy! That's so sweet—wait Hermione, you can't do this! You have to approach this lesson maturely. You can't apply everything to you! She shrugged easily, staring at Draco suddenly.

"Well it's different for everyone—,"

"No, I understand that," Draco cut in suddenly.

"—I'm just doing this for what I like, so it isn't necessarily what Pansy will like," Hermione finished quietly. Draco nodded for her to continue, but when she tried she found it wasn't as easy as she had originally thought.

"Well, maybe its not for Pansy for anymore…" he replied sweetly.

It was awkward, but almost funny at the same time—one of those moments you didn't really want to share with anyone, but one that would inevitably bring you closer. It was like telling a crush you liked them—embarrassing, but necessary if you wanted anything to progress. For Hermione though, it was even more than that. It was a moment that they could share and remember, that didn't involve fighting. It was a nice change.

"Ok, um," Hermione began with a giggle; "Well girls like it when you don't act like a complete jerk to them in front of your friends."

"Oh, well that's deep," Draco smirked, rolling his eyes.

"Hey!" Hermione scolded, smacking his arm playfully. He looked shocked.

"What?"

"Do you want my help or not?" Hermione demanded, although her tone lacked all traces of ire. Draco smiled, pleased that she seemed to have relaxed slightly.

"I'm just saying, are you going to tell me something I can use or just tell me the basics?"

"Well anyway," she began again, ignoring his last comment "What else? Oh, I wouldn't go about complaining to a girl that's supposed to be helping you, that's a big one," Hermione teased, smiling as Draco pretended to be put out. "Oh yes," Hermione said, coming up with another point, "presents and surprises are always appreciated, as long as they're nice."

"What kind of presents?" Draco asked in what appeared to be genuine interest. Hermione paused.

"Something sweet, like a bouquet of roses, or…something that resembles how much you love them, but in a gift," she relayed thoughtfully. Draco nodded.

"Ok, got that."

"And, well, I mean, there's always when," Hermione paused, blushing furiously until Draco raised his eyebrows.

"Come on, spit it out," he coaxed and Hermione turned a startling shade of red.

"Well, girls like it, well when you know—they like the little things, like the odd kiss, and holding hands, and you being slightly protective and stuff…the little things that show that they are wanted," she finished and looked at him imploringly, as if she wanted him to understand something. She had just outlined exactly what she had always wanted in a guy and he couldn't seem to manage anything more than a perplexed look.

Finally, Draco stood up.

"Hermione—I, I think I need to think some things through," he stuttered out, turning to race back towards the castle. For a minute, Hermione was perplexed.

What the heck was that all about?

Shit, shit, shit, Draco thought to himself, racing up the stairs in record speed. He was used to girls liking him but this was too much for him. It wasn't so much how he knew she liked him—it was what he had seen in her eyes. Lust.

The poor girl didn't know what she was getting herself into. And neither, Draco thought to himself, did he.

Well, I better go and see Pansy; might as well get this over and done with.

Hermione stood up and, with a flick of her wand, got her books and the remains her picnic basket to disappear to her dorm. It wasn't that she was lazy or anything—she just wasn't too keen on prolonging the Pansy-interaction-plan. So with one final glance around to make sure she had cleared up everything, Hermione smoothed out her clothes and went about locating the loathed girl. Fortunately, it didn't take long.

Hermione knew exactly where to find her.

It took Hermione less than five minutes to get to the room of requirement and even less time to get in, since Pansy and her partner had conveniently forgotten any attempts at privacy—the door was practically wide open. When Hermione walked in she found Pansy on top of Blaise. Nice, Hermione thought sarcastically.

Once Pansy saw Hermione, she jumped up from her rather compromising position, buttoned her top and shooed Blaise away, but not before giving him a farewell kiss that left Hermione feeling slightly dirty. Then, as if nothing had been amiss, she turned to Hermione, a cool expression on her face.

"Hey" she drawled calmly, looking as nonchalant as ever. Hermione fought the desire to roll her eyes.

"We need to talk about this," Hermione replied curtly, trying to restrain from yelling at the girl right then and there.

"Look, I made a mistake, I judged you wrongly. And now I told you the truth, and I apologize," Pansy spouted out quickly, her voice sounding strangled and strange. It had probably been the first time that she had ever said sorry to anyone, Hermione realized with some level of surprise, but it wasn't quite enough to put Hermione's heart at ease. How did she know if Pansy was genuinely sorry or just trying to avoid a confrontation?

Pansy, for her part, tried to look as sincere as possible. She loathed apologizing to Hermione, but she knew that without Hermione, the clique would split up, and she didn't want that to happen. The clique had made this year—her last year—so much more exciting and worthwhile. Without it, she would just go back to plain old Pansy, notorious for her impressive lineage, dark tactics, and for being caught a few too many times in dark corridors. So really, apologizing to Hermione wasn't a big sacrifice in the long run. At least that's what Pansy told herself to keep from adding some slur to her apology.

Stunned, Hermione looked at her. She hadn't been expecting this.

"Um, okay…," Hermione proceeded slowly, unsure of how to continue. "Uh, so what was that with Blaise?" Pansy smiled broadly—now this was more like it—and shrugged carelessly.

"Oh, well, it's kind of a long story, but I'm trying to make Drakie jealous, because it turns out I'm not really over the fact he cheated on me, so now I'm using Blaise to get back at him since he's his best friend." Pansy explained in one long breath. Hermione faltered, she was trying to control her laughter because of the idiotic nickname Pansy had given Draco.

"Oh, so—so you still like Draco?" She wondered, trying not to reveal anything about her newfound interest in the blond-haired boy. Her efforts were thwarted however when she felt a heated blush rise on her cheeks.

"Of course—why do you ask?" Pansy asked, starring over at Hermione expectantly.

"I was uh, just wondering, I guess," Hermione covered lamely, turning away from Pansy. She didn't give up so easily though.

"Why? Do you like him?" Pansy demanded teasingly, laughing at the thought.

"No!" Hermione cried out, a little too quickly. Pansy squinted her eyes questioningly at Hermione but turned away after a minute, shrugging this off.

"Well whatever, let's go now. I hope Blaise is giving Draco the details…it will kill him!"

Blaise was running towards Malfoy.

And when he reached him, proceeded to nearly tackle the boy with his energetic greeting.

"Hey, you never guess what, Pansy and I were just doing in the room of requirement and…" Blaise began in excitement but Malfoy wasn't listening. He had other things on his mind. Things like Hermione.

He had to tell Blaise.

"Blaise, wait—no, Blaise, stop talking for a second, okay? I have something important to ask you." Draco began suddenly, cutting Blaise off mid-sentence. The boy didn't seem to mind though, having noticed that Draco hadn't been listening to him since the near-tackle. Instead, he looked at Draco expectantly, waiting for elaboration. Draco paused. "But if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay? I mean, I will honestly kill you if you do," he warned. Blaise shrugged.

"You know you can always tell me anything," Blaise assured him, his voice taking on a distinct note of seriousness.

It was really one of those male-bonding moments.

"You know Hermione?" Draco paused to give Blaise time to nod, which he did after a moment of awkward silence. Draco sighed. "Well, recently I've been thinking, she's not terrible to look at, and I mean, she's really smart and stuff—and would it be so insane if I, well, you know…?"

For a minute, Blaise just looked at him. Malfoy would have added that he could then get Pansy back by dating her friend, but because Blaise was obviously involved he couldn't—and even if he wasn't—he wouldn't really tell him anyway….

"Well, she is a pretty little thing and all, but how much do you like her?" Blaise wondered skeptically. Draco sighed, his head falling to his hands. He had thought admitting it to himself was hard, but actually admitting it to someone else was pure torture.

"Enough to ask her out," he admitted, waiting for Blaise's backlash, but it never came. Instead, he heard what sounded like laughter. Glancing up, he was surprised to find Blaise's face screwed up with amusement.

"Hey, you would definitely piss off all of Gryffindor and Slytherin, so it works for me! And besides, I wouldn't pass her up either—that girl has definitely got everything going for her!" He said smiling, and punching Draco lightly on the shoulder. Draco sighed, relieved to at least have the support of his friend.

"Thanks Blaise," he said lightly, starting to walk away and trying to act as if it were nothing really. Slytherins, and perhaps more accurately, boys, didn't share 'close moments', but they both knew that Draco really did appreciate it.

He had made his mind up.

Now he just needed to find Hermione.

R&R!