The next morning Hermione jumped out of bed as soon as she opened her eyes. She wanted to leave for breakfast before Malfoy did. She definitely didn't feel like seeing him this morning. She took a super-quick shower, got dressed at top speed. She didn't bother with her hair, though she glanced at it quickly in the mirror. The mirror kept quiet out of fear that Hermione would smash it, but it hummed softly while Hermione touched her hair.

She gave up and grabbed her books and rushed out of the room. She saw the door and ran for it-but was stopped a familiar and extremely unwanted face. Hermione skidded to a halt to avoid bumping into Malfoy, who was calmly blocking the door and looking at her with a satisfied smile on his face. Hermione yelled in frustration and smacked Malfoy with her books that she was holding.

"Ouch! How dare you hit me?" said Malfoy, rubbing the spot on his shoulder where she had hit him. Hermione looked at the spot. He'd have a bruise. Good. At least it wiped that stupid smile off his face.

"Serves you right, Malfoy, get out of my way!" She tried to push past him to get to the door but he was stronger than her. "Serves me right? What did I ever do to you? No, change that…what did I do to you recently?" He laughed. "What the hell was that last night?" she asked as she stopped trying to push him aside. He stopped laughing. "Well Granger, it's pretty obvious what I did last night." He rolled his eyes and laughed some more.

"Shut it Malfoy! It's not obvious; I don't know what you're thinking!" Malfoy looked at her, exasperated. "Granger, I was practicing the levitation charm! You have to admit, levitating you means that I really understand it. It's not like a pillow or something."

'Oh, that makes sense…but still…' "So what was with the whole 'catching me' thing?" Hermione asked slowly. "Well, Granger, I think we discussed this last night. You fell on me, and I had no choice but to catch you," He said casually. "I suppose I could have let you fall…maybe I should have, it would've been funny. But you know, I kind of like where my nose is right now, I don't want "The Weasel" to rearrange it for me." "Malfoy that was your fault! You levitated me!" said Hermione with annoyance. Malfoy shrugged. "A minor detail I'm willing to ignore. Besides," Malfoy said leaning in, "You liked it, Granger. You liked being held by me." She scoffed.

"Malfoy, there is no way in hell that-". Malfoy leaned in closer. She could see his blue eyes even closer, and noticed that they also had a bit of black in them, and if you looked closely, the colors seemed to swirl. 'His eyes look like the ocean' Hermione thought, and then gasped. What was she thinking? This was Draco Malfoy! She didn't pine over him like some love-sick teenage girl! No, these thoughts were reserved for Pansy, and Pansy alone. But he was so close…maybe if she moved back, the thoughts would go away. She had to get away, but he had her trapped, with nowhere to look but his face. "Malfoy," Hermione whispered. "You're too close." Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "Am I Granger? I hadn't noticed. Just hold on a second." Malfoy reached for her hand. She opened her mouth to say something, to protest, but she couldn't. Her voice seemed to stick in her throat the moment touched her hand. Her own hand was very warm, and his, she noticed as their palms touched, was warm also. She had always thought his hands would be like ice, but she was wrong. She looked at his hand and then at his face. His eyes were had grown darker, and she realized whose hand she was almost holding.

Hermione pulled away in horror, her face very pink. "What were you thinking Malfoy?" She shouted, and then ran around him and out the door.

Malfoy watched her go, and then ran his hand through his hair. "What was I thinking?" he said aloud, and then walked through Hermione's open door and sat on her bed, as it was closest.

He truly hated her. She was always so smart, but it wasn't just that. It was how she flaunted her intelligence, how she always had to be right, and how she always thought she was superior to everyone when it should be him who was superior to everyone. He was a Malfoy, was he not? But with her grades always higher than his, she humiliated him every summer when he got his grades and had to show his father. He had to explain why a stupid mudblood always beat him at everything. It was her fault he got punished every summer. Because he knew that he would never best Hermione Granger, he had already reluctantly admitted that she was smarter than him, and that's the way it always was going to be. She hung around with the two losers, Potter and Weasley, which was enough of a reason to hate her guts. She was viewed as such a goody-goody, but really she had broken so many rules that she should have been expelled by now, but NO, she was friends with Potter, and Potter was exempt from the rules. So he hated her. He really did.

So what was he thinking? What was wrong with him? He knew that he had done it to make her uncomfortable, he had seen the look she had given him the night before, and knew it would only make her more uncomfortable if he touched her again. It was a look of anger, mixed with disgust, discomfort, uncertainty, and disappointment. Malfoy wanted to make her look that way again. An uncomfortable and uncertain look was rare on Hermione Granger's face, where most of the time she sent looks of knowledge and perfection to everyone, so filled with information that it was almost impossible to think that there was anything she didn't know. Malfoy enjoyed the feeling that he could bring a look like that to her face with just a simple touch-it made him feel even more superior than. But when he caught her last night, and when he touched her hand this morning, he gained the feeling of superiority and power, but he also got another feeling from her touch. A feeling very different from the feeling of power

She confused him. He didn't know how she did it, but she confused him. And Draco Malfoy did not like being confused, not at all. She was making him feel strange, and he didn't like the feeling. 'Just ignore it, pretend it's not there. I'm probably just hungry or something, just imagining these feelings, stupid mudblood bitch. Yeah, that's right. Okay, time to go.' He turned to leave, but a voice called out to him.

"You need to fix your hair, it's messed up!" said the mirror in Hermione's room.

"Shut up!" yelled Malfoy. "I'll break you in a second!" The mirror laughed. "That's exactly what your Hermione Granger said before!" "SHE'S NOT 'MINE'!" Malfoy shouted angrily. "Then I bet you wish she was yours," said the mirror slyly. "THAT'S IT!" Malfoy said. He grabbed a book from the floor and threw it as hard as he could at the mirror. It shattered into a million pieces. He smiled.

"Never doubt a Malfoy; they always go through on their threats." Then he left for breakfast.

The room was silent after Malfoy left, but the peaceful silence was soon pierced by the sound of laughter from the founders' portraits. "Ha Ha Ha," laughed the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. "Oh man, that was great. 'Never doubt a Malfoy', oh yeah, he showed that mirror!" Godric Gryffindor frowned.

"But that was Ms. Granger's mirror; he had no right-"Salazar waved him off. "Oh please, she can always repair it, she didn't like it anyway." Godric nodded. "That's true…" "And," Salazar continued, "It was insulting him! I mean, come on, Mr. Malfoy having feelings for Granger? When's that ever going to happen? She's from a different house, it's just not right!"

Godric rolled his eyes. "Need I remind you of your love for Helga Hufflepuff?" Salazar paled. "That-That was only for a week!" Godric shook his head. "Oh no, Salazar, that lasted for years, you pined for her." "Okay, okay!" he said. "It's true! But she's beautiful, so kind…" he sighed. Godric snorted. "She's fat." "No she's not!" he snapped. "She's…big boned" he said lamely. Godric snickered. "Oh, shut up already!" said Salazar angrily.

"Don't be embarrassed…it helps the House Unity Project, doesn't it?" Godric said, trying to cheer him up. Salazar just snarled. Giving up, Godric shrugged and went back to sleep. Salazar went back to sleep too.

And then the common room was truly silent.