Disclaimer:We still don't own the Harry potter world. *sigh* :(

The next morning Harry sat between Ron and Hermione; sensing some tension between them he didn't want to escalate.

"Hey 'Mione, any reason why Malfoy would be staring at you?"

Hermione looked up from the book she reading. "No idea. Maybe he hit his head yesterday."

Harry nodded and continued eating, finishing chewing before asking her a question.

"How was patrolling last night?"

"Interesting."

Harry and Ron both looked at her expectantly, waiting for more details.

"I ran into Malfoy, quite literally."

Harry looked relieved. "Good, I thought that interesting meant something else, knowing our luck. Like, 'Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die'. I mean, running into Malfoy isn't good, but it's better than some of the adventures we've had. What'd he say?"

"Nothing much. Snape said a lot though; yelled at me for not looking where I walked."

Harry glared at the Professor in question. "That git."

"He was right to; I was reading."

Harry shook his head fondly at her. "Shouldn't you have mastered the art of reading and walking at the same time with all the practice you've had?"

"Yes, but I wasn't doing my job."

Harry nodded. "To be fair, there's generally not alot of people out of bed at 2 AM, but you're right."

Ron chose this moment to speak, directing his question to Hermione.

"What class do we have first?"

"How should I know, Ronald? We have different schedules, and I didn't remember yours."

Ron looked like he was about to retort, so Harry spoke.

"We have Divination first, then double period Herbology with Hufflepuff."

"And I happen to have a free period. So I'll be in the-" she was cut off as Harry and Ron finished her sentence for her.

"Library." said Harry and Ron simultaneously, grinning.

Harry smiled at her as he and Ron got up to go to Divination.

"See ya in Herbology." he said as Ron followed him out of the Great Hall.

Hermione glared at Ron until she could no longer see him.

Draco left the Slytherin table and walked to the library to start his Ancient Runes essay since he had a free period.

Hermione made her way to the library, using shortcuts she had learned long ago. A passage right behind the Ravenclaw hourglass lead straight to the library corridor. Once there, she made her way to her usual table in the back of the library.

Draco entered the library and made for his favourite table, only to find someone already sitting there.

Hermione was flipping through her favorite book: Hogwarts, A History, when Draco approached her.

Draco cleared his throat. "Granger. May I sit here?" He indicated the chair across from her on the other side of the table.

Hermione glanced up, sighing. "If there are no other options, since you asked oh so politely."

Draco sat down and took out his essay and textbook without speaking and started working.

Hermione tried to go back to reading, but kept looking up because the sound of the quill against the parchment was distracting, yet wonderful.

Draco caught her eye the fifth time she looked up. "Something you need, Granger?"

Hermione hadn't even realized she had been looking up until now.

"..."

Draco smirked and went back to writing.

"Darn." She thought. "I had been staring, hadn't I?" Thinking of an excuse as to why she had been looking at him, she suddenly blurted out, "You're tall."

Draco looked at her with an eyebrow raised, but said nothing.

"T-there's a book on the top shelf that I can't reach." "Wonderful job, 'Mione."

"We we aren't allowed to use magic in the library, and no one else is around."

Draco stood up after marking his place in his book.

"Fine. Which book and where?"

Hermione hadn't thought that far, now she had to think quick.

"Useful Everyday Charms...it's on the 6th shelf in the 3rd row."

Draco plucked the book off of the shelf with ease and handed to her.

"Thank you."

Hermione quickly buried her face in this new book trying to avoid further embarrassment.

Draco nodded at her as he turned a page in his textbook.

Hermione propped the book up, hoping to hide his face, but it only gave her more of an excuse to look at him. Unlike usual, his hair wasn't slicked back today; it just fell into his face, slightly covering his eyes.

Draco finished his essay and put his supplies back in his bag. He got up, went to the bookshelf directly in front of him and picked out Practical Potions and Their Ingredients. He sat back down and started reading.

"Slytherin's best Potions student needs to study?" she thought.

Draco noticed her questioning look and explained.

"I'm trying to improve a potion. To do so, I need to research it's ingredient's properties."

"Which potion?"

"The anti-nausea potion. I'm trying to make it taste better."

Hermione laughed. "It's taste is enough to make one nauseous."

Draco smiled at her. "Exactly. That's why I'm trying to improve it. But not by just adding a flavour; I want to make it so it tastes like what ever the person drinking it thinks will help their nausea the most. So for me it would taste like spearmint. For you, it might taste different."

Hermione stared at him shocked. "Actually it would taste the same."

"Interesting. Anyway, it's going to be difficult to pull off. I'm definitely going to need to Severus' help. And hopefully I can find someone with a better understanding of charms and arithmancy."

"I've always been pretty good with charms."

Draco regarded her critically. "Are you offering to help me, the Slytherin Prince and your sworn enemy, create a potion?"

Hermione laughed at his name. "Well maybe the Gryffindor Princess has been getting a little bored."

Draco smirked. The bell rang and as he got up and packed his stuff up to go to Charms, he answered her.

"Alright. Meet me tonight in the Potions classroom at 8:00."

With that said, he left.

Hermione smiled at the challenge, then mentally slapped herself. Had she just made a date with Draco Malfoy?