Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me in anyway.

Chapter Six

Set You, an Angel, Straight

"This is how I show my love,

I made it in my mind,

This is how an angel dies,

I blame it on my own supply,

Maybe I should cry for help,

Maybe I should kill myself,

Maybe I'm a different breed,

Maybe I'm not listening,

Sail with me into the dark…"

Sail by AWOLNATION

September 20th, 1996

Still inside the Library- Late to the Prefects meeting

'I have tried reversing any sort of concealment charm that I know of. All of the ones that I think he could have used and still… Nothing…' Hermione thought bitterly as she eyed the blank paper that lie upon the table before her. Aside from the obvious sounds of hushed whispers and distinctive flickering pages, the library was rather quiet, just the way Hermione liked it.

With an inward huff, she glared at the paper yet again, and began to nibble upon her lip in thought. Sitting in her usual spot in the far back, near the restricted section, she sighed loudly. After a long good study for her Advanced Charms quiz next week, Hermione had decided to give another go at the blank paper Malfoy had slipped to her. Scrunching her brow, Hermione looked back at the rather blank parchment inside her petite hand for a second, for what felt like the hundredth time.

The message Malfoy was trying to send to her, or lack thereof, was confusing to her. It was obvious that the ink was invisible from her, but her question was why and what did he hide. Pushing her books away from her, she looked around to make sure she was respectively alone. No one was near that she could see so she then reached for her wand that sat upon the table in front of her.

'Alright… Trying one more time couldn't hurt?' She thought staring down at it, pointing her wand down at it.

"Finite Incantatem." She mumbled under her breath as the tip of her wand briefly glowed, and nothing happened. Hermione huffed, resting her elbow upon the table, leaning her forehead into the palm of her hand in frustration. If there had been any spells upon the parchment, they should have stopped, unless there was some sort of anti- Finite charm, which was probably the answer to why nothing changed. Tilting her head to her right just a little, she sucked in some air pointing her wand yet again. "Aparecium…" She said in a somewhat strong voice, as her wand began to glow, and yet again, nothing happened. Starting to get frustrated, Hermione set down her wand somewhat forcefully causing it to thud against the wooden table.

'I give up… It's probably some sort of joke from Malfoy. Something like, make the mudblood mess around with a bare bit of parchment. It will be quite laughable…' She huffed pocketing the paper, and looked over towards to library clock with a gasp.

"Dang it…" She hissed under her breath as she reached for all her books and her bag. Not only had she missed dinner, but also had only four minutes to get to her prefect meeting. Quickly pushing past the many lined bookshelves, she almost ran out of the library and into a rather empty hallway.

Hermione then decided as she briskly sauntered down the corridor, that the only reasonable explanation to loosing track of time was because of Malfoy. Had the git not given her a stupid slip of paper, she would not have wasted her bloody time on what was most likely nothing.

Sharply turning the corner, she raced up the stairs just outside the great hall towards the prefect's personal meeting room. Not slowing her pace, she rounded another corner just ten feet in front of the meeting room door, when she quite literally ran into someone.

Having the air knocked out of her, she dropped her books and landed on top of a rather toned yet somewhat thin body with a gasp. Her head spun with a somewhat familiar yet deliciously mouthwatering smell of leather and musky cologne. The boy cursed loudly, as she clumsily attempted to get off him, but slipped back onto him again.

"Merlin, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to… I didn't see you-" She tried to explain in a breathless voice but stopped when he harshly cut her off with his cold biting words.

"Get off of me you clumsy mud… Granger." She stared down at the Slytherin, her palms flat upon his chest, as her eyes widened. Quickly she stumbled backwards onto her legs seeing none other than Malfoy laying flat on his back sneering upwards at what she assumed was the ceiling. He then leaned forward, upon his elbows to give her an annoyed look. "Do you even try to look where you're going?" He snipped at her as she rolled her eyes, trying to collect her things for the second time today.

"Obviously I didn't do it on purpose Malfoy. I honestly didn't see you, and as you probably already know, I'm late for the prefects meeting." She quipped; angry he was going to call her a mudblood again. It was probably his sick default nickname for her or something.

"As am I, but just because you're late doesn't mean you can go around running into everyone and their friend like some clumsy bint. Really Granger, it isn't that hard to watch what you're doing…" Malfoy snapped, as she saw him standing up rather gracefully. She inhaled deeply, fuming he had the nerve to actually try to blame it all on her.

"What?" She spat standing to her feet whilst yanking her bag onto her shoulder. "One could argue that you are just as much to blame as I am, Malfoy. You weren't watching where you were going either, and just because I have the decency to apologize, does not mean I am the only one at fault." She seethed about to shove him backwards when the prefect's door opened. Both of them turned to see professor Snape standing there with an annoyed scowl.

"Mr. Malfoy. Miss Granger. As prefects, you should know tardiness is not, tolerable." Snape sneered down at the two as Hermione nodded nervously. "Fifteen points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin. The both of you will see to it, you're not tardy, again." He leaned backwards while holding the door open, as they both mumbled in agreement, and walked past him into the room.

Hermione made her way towards her seat next to the other Gryffindors and one empty seat, while thinking about how much she wanted to hex Malfoy. This was his entire fault after all, and he seemed to place blame on her rather quickly. She had not even gotten the chance to ask the prat about his stupid joke of a note either.

Crossing her legs in the chair, setting her things at her feet, Hermione turned to watch professor Snape welcome them all to the first prefects meeting of the year. Noticing the empty chair beside her where Ron was supposed to sit, she sighed quietly. Not only was she angry with Malfoy for being such a, well a right ferret, but she was still rather cross with Ron. A week without telling her something like this was hurtful; they were best friends, were they not? Chewing upon her lip, she mentally hoped he actually just forgot to tell her, and not because he didn't want to tell her.

Looking back at the front of the room as Snape told the new fifth year prefects the same speech she heard last year, she reached upwards to tame her hair a little. As her eyes looked over the others, they landed upon Malfoy who was currently staring down at the floor. Watching him closely, she remembered the second she had landed upon him, the feeling of him underneath her. Looking him over, wondering how muscular he was underneath his dress robes, probably from Quittage, and his scent had been so strong, that just the memory of it made her feel a little lightheaded.

Hermione felt her cheeks warm up when she realized she had just been checking Malfoy out, and thinking about him in a less then even friendly way. She wanted to rip her eyes away quickly, but didn't make a move to do so. Then she saw him shift in his seat reaching his right hand upwards towards his tie. Seeing a small contrasting flash of what seemed to be slightly inflamed skin upon his hand, she wondered what he did. Sighing softly to herself, she watched his gaze move upwards, looking forward, and then around the room, landing upon her.

Using her hand to move her hair gently over her shoulder, she froze, almost stopped breathing when she looked into his steel eyes. His face was masking an unreadable emotion, almost a sneer but not quite. To be honest, Malfoy looked s perplexed the longer she stared at him. Hermione shifted on her seat a little, chewing upon her bottom lip, she watched him raise one brow at her.

'What is he thinking about…?' She wondered, her brows frowned as she sucked lightly upon her lip, and could still feel her flushed cheeks. Switching the way she crossed her legs, seeing his eyes flash lightly turning a little darker then his normal steely irises. Then remembering whom she was staring at, she shot him a glare rolling her eyes, and saw he returned the annoyed look.

"Miss. Granger and Mr. Malfoy…" Hermione tore her eyes away to look at a somewhat peeved Snape. "Since you two, obviously, can't seem to, pay attention… You both will do tonight's patrols making sure nothing happens, as well as your, original assigned nights. Any further, problems, a reassigned perfect for both houses, might, be the answer." He drawled angrily at them causing Hermione to gulp worried, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Yes professor… Sorry." She mumbled quietly, silently praying no one else had seen her and Malfoy's exchange. Staying still with her eyes forward, Hermione noted to herself she wasn't going to let herself look in Malfoy's direction again for the rest of the meeting. Unsure of what had came over her, she exhaled slowly, and couldn't help but almost like the way he had looked at her, like the way his eyes looked over her made her feel flustered and rather warm.

'What is wrong with you? Why were you thinking of him again? Letting Malfoy, of all the people in school, see that you were staring at him like, like that…' She chastised herself. Hermione was angry with Malfoy for making her feel flustered, and being such a right arse. She was also mad at herself, for allowing herself to think about him. 'Just get through tonight, and try to be somewhat civil…' She told herself as she felt her stomach growl slightly. With a frown, she remembered she had missed dinner and hoped she could get something to eat soon.

"Who's got you now,

Who's going to save you from yourself,

Come find you,

Rewind you,

Who's got you now,

Who's got the master plan,

Come for you,

Restore you,

I'll change the game before you can,

When every back is turned,

Cuz you refuse to learn,

Whose side you're really on…"

Set You Straight by Digital Daggers

In the meeting

Running late earlier because he had been in the Owlery sending a reply to his aunt about her note just before the meeting, Draco couldn't believe Granger had actually knocked into him, and landed literally on top of him. Then getting points deducted from his house because of her, and it was all her fault.

Sitting there besides the annoying Pansy and all of the other Slytherin's, he looked at the ground at his feet thinking about what happened. Remembering the accident in the hallway, he sharply inhaled. The memory of her warm small body pressing into him, while the palms of her hands pushed against his chest, made him feel lightheaded. The air seemed thinner and somewhat warm at those thoughts, as he shifted his weight in his seat.

With yet another sharp intake of air, he reached to fix his suddenly suffocating tie, and pushed the memories away, as he always did. He wasn't about to let her get to him, let her walk over him like the inferior mudblood she was. Yet for some reason, the damned mudblood was starting to have a small, tiny, effect upon him.

'It was probably that, that damned scent of cinnamon… A witch wonder product that had some of that love potion in it or something…' He thought to himself, looking upwards at Snape, then around the room. Turning his gaze towards her, he was surprised to find she was already looking at him with a somewhat confused deep in thought, and slightly dazed look.

Raising an eyebrow at her, he watched Ganger shift in her seat, changing to cross the other leg. Looking her over confused by her facial expression, he blinked twice and leaned forwards a little. If he wasn't so far away, he could almost have sworn her cheeks were somewhat flushed, and the way she was softly nibbling upon her lip, made him feel warm. Swallowing all thoughts of her before they could start, he examined her expression change to a glare of probably annoyance.

"Miss. Granger and Mr. Malfoy…" Draco looked away to see a somewhat peeved professor Snape. "Since you two, obviously, can't seem to, pay attention… You both will do tonight's patrols making sure nothing happens, as well as your, original assigned nights. Any further, problems, a reassigned perfect for both houses, might, be the answer." He drawled angrily at them causing Malfoy to roll his eyes, frustrated that she had gotten him in trouble, yet again.

After getting that rather pointless lecture by Snape, Malfoy sneered refusing to look at the annoying witch. It had confused him that she was staring at him so intently, but then again everything she was doing lately confused him.

When he had seen her flushed cheeks while he returned the little stare, he remembered he couldn't help but feel, warm. Sure, he was pissed off at her by what happened on the train, and only slightly annoyed by the fact she had grabbed him in front of the class. Yes, he was angry by what she had said, but he knew that what she had said was somewhat true. That he was a rather foul, slightly narrow-minded pureblooded partisan, but he hated when compared to his father.

With that thought, he recalled that she had seemed a little dazed, out of it when she was staring at him and it had amused him, and made him wonder why that was. What was confusing was why she wouldn't stop fidgeting in her seat, and that annoying biting her bottom lip thing, which Draco couldn't help but like.

'Any girl biting their lip with flushed cheeks is attractive as hell, to a degree. Has nothing to do with her…' He thought to himself in attempts to justify why he liked Granger doing that. Turning his attention back to the front as Snape dismissed the meeting with a slight wave of his hand and a flutter of his black dress robe. Draco immediately wanted to leave; enduring Pansy Parkinson cling to him while talking about the future seemed more ideal then having to spend the next two hours with, Granger.

Standing up quickly, Malfoy looked at her stay still while the rest of the prefects left the room quickly. Snape gave one final look towards the two before leaving also as she glanced towards Draco briefly, then looked down as she pointed her wand at her bag. He listened to her mumble what he assumed was an extension charm; she then slipped her things into her bag, and sighed loudly.

"Right. Patrols…" She said aloud clicking her tongue as she finally broke the thick silence surround them while they both walked towards the door. "Even though this is quite obviously your fault and not like anything will actually happen on patrols… I still have to endure the next two hours with you, and I think it would be best if we were to do it without talking. Yes?" She stated to him, as she walked quickly to turn a corner. Following close behind, Draco rolled his eyes, annoyed she was blaming him for having to do patrols.

"My fault?" He scoffed and stopped walking, making her pause, turning to look at him with her damned doe like brown eyes. "See, that's not what happened, now is it? As I see it Granger, which is actually how it happened, you were not only the one to run into me, but you also were the one staring at me during the meeting. So, if anyone is to blame, it would be you, now wouldn't it?"

Draco couldn't believe this witch, blaming him, and getting him in trouble twice when he was trying so hard to stay out of it. Taking two strides towards her causing her to back up into a stone column just before a flight of stairs, looking down at her. Standing no more than two feet away from her, he huffed; his head was beginning to feel somewhat dizzy from the damn smell of cinnamon and Granger.

"I-I did no such thing… I was thinking of something, lost in thought is all… I was not staring at you. As for what happened in the hallway, I already told you, it was an accident. Now please, we have patrols to do…" She spoke harshly, yet barely above a whisper while not making eye contact with him. With an eye roll, he took a step backwards, and fixed his dress robes. It was obvious she was lying to him, but he was too tired to get it out of her, at least not after tonight when he had read the letter from his aunt.

"Whatever you say, Granger, but know this… I can read you, like an open book…" He mumbled still annoyed by her but sighed, starting to walk down the hallway as he listened to the small patting of her shoes closely behind him.

Awkwardly shooing younger years to their common rooms, Draco silently walked along side Granger, wishing the next hour would end soon. It also annoyed him that every time he looked at her, she would attempt to say something but didn't. Finding it rather obnoxious,

"It's obvious you want to say something, so go on…" he huffed loudly, annoyed by her. Taking out his wand a mumbling lumos, he sped up his walking about to round the corner as she finally spoke.

"What does the note you slipped in my pocket earlier say?" She asked, as she walked quickly to his right side. Knowing she was only changing the subject from what he had said earlier, and he found her somewhat amusing. "I spent a considerable amount of time this afternoon in the Library reading. Trying to see what it said, but unfortunately had no luck." She added as they started to climb a set of stairs slowly. Draco almost laughed; he should have known she would spend so much time trying to understand his note.

"Aren't you supposed to be the brightest witch of our age?" He wondered giving her a pointed look, while she rolled her eyes, then pulled out her wand muttering lumos just as he had. "I charmed it, obviously. Couldn't have you showing Potter and Weasley, now could I?" He drawled with a lazy flick of his tongue, and stopped in his tracks at a small scuffled sound.

"Why are we stopping?" She whispered harshly taking a step closer to him raising her wand. Draco paused, listening to the quiet, narrowing his eyes looking down at Granger. "Malfoy, honestly, will you-" she started talking, but Draco shushed her, waving a hand dismissively at her. Then the small scuffling sound happened again, coming from behind him in Granger's direction, as he turned to look at her.

Then out of nowhere, a bright light started to glow from the other end of the corridor, as Hermione turned, hearing a spell suddenly shouted, by what sounded as a girl. Draco threw up his wand, shoving her out of the way. The ball of light that went flying towards the two of them, as he waved his wand blocking the spell. He then looked towards Granger, pressing into the wall, and lost her wand in the process.

"Damn it Granger… Stupefy!" Draco snapped aloud, as he threw the spell at the shadowy figure that then blocked it, and threw a second curse that went flying through the air at him. Blocking the other curse, Draco stepped towards Granger and pulled her to her feet.

"Malfoy- look out!" She shouted yanking him towards her and around the corner with her. In slow motion he fell on top of her with a grunt losing his wand too as a spell hit the wall, just missing them. Rolling to his left side off her, grabbing his wand, he stood up with a huff. "My wand… I- need my wand…" She whispered to him faintly, her voice was breathless.

Peeking around the corner, in attempts to see the attacker, he growled looking down at Granger clumsily attempting to get up at his feet. Draco bent down to help her as she gave him a dazed expression, trying to say something while she grabbed the wall to stand.

"We need, to tell, Professor- that-" she took a step forward towards him, stumbling into him. With an annoyed sneer, he held her up right looking around the corner again. "Something is- going… On…." she whispered hotly against his neck, going limp in his arms. Sighing loudly, he reached under her, with one of his arms at the bend of her knees and the other along her back.

"Lumos Maxima…" He huffed a little out of breath, watching the light fly into the hallway, lighting it up, as the surrounding paintings complained. Other than Draco and her, they stood there in the corridor, alone.