A heartfelt thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. I was shocked by the quick responses to the last chapter. I've been dueling some writers block lately and it's been like pulling teeth to get even mediocre chapters out. You're positive words have been so helpful! And of course, thanks for your continued interest in my story!

Ch 14 In the Land of the Blind

Hermione ran up all seven floors to the Gryffindor common room. Her heart pounded adrenaline through her veins while her mind tried desperately to force out any thoughts concerning a certain blond Slytherin. She stopped abruptly at the portrait of the Fat Lady, but didn't say the password. Though none would know what just transpired, she didn't feel like facing all of her housemates.

She leaned against the wall next to the portrait and breathed deeply trying to catch her breath. Sprinting up seven flights of stairs can be quite exhausting. She slid down until she sat with her knees pressed up to her chest and her head resting against the cold stone of the wall. With only the sound of her heavy breaths to distract her, the images of her near-kiss with Malfoy crashed into her mind.

Malfoy tried to kiss me, she thought frantically. Even as she recited the words, their meaning was lost. She couldn't bring herself to comprehend them. Malfoy. Tried. To. Kiss. Me. Perhaps slowing the words down would help her understand. Malfoy…tried to kiss me?

And there it was.

A hot blush splashed onto her face as her slowing pulse sped up again. She let herself replay the scene in her head. She'd been about to leave when he called her back (looking completely handsome in the dimly lit front hall). He asked her a question but she couldn't recall it now. All she could remember was the look in his eyes before he leant in to kiss her. He looked curious. No, more than that. He looked…excited.

Her mind reeled at this discovery. It couldn't have been excitement, she rationalized. Malfoy hated her. He hated her and everything she stood for. But it was excitement She'd seen it. So her new question was, why?

Why did he try to kiss her? And why was he excited about it?

The more she tried to understand his actions, the more confused she felt. Upon further consideration, she realized he'd been acting out of character all week. She'd caught him staring at her multiple times over the past few days and he'd seemed almost pleasant when they'd spoken.

In the back of her mind a tiny notion of clarity struggled to free itself from a stifling blanket of denial. Every now and then, that notion would break out of it's restraints for a moment until Hermione realized she was on that dangerous path of thinking and would cover it up again with an excuse.

The most disturbing thought of all came with stabbing ferocity when she realized that her traitorous body had welcomed his pursuance. She cringed as she remembered his searching eyes blink shut and his hot breath on her cheek. She'd known all along what he was going for and what frightened her the most was that she'd almost let him.

She felt nauseous at the idea that it could be more than a morbid curiosity to sample the forbidden fruit that drove her to stand so still in the wake of Malfoy's impending kiss. She remembered her trance-like anticipation as his lips neared her own and only the shocking cold of his hands woke her enough to come to her senses and run away.

Do I like him? she wondered dazedly. She certainly liked the way he looked, but she didn't think her feelings went much further than that. Or did they?

"Hermione?" a voice interrupted from down the hall.

"Yeah?" she called back, recognizing the voice as belonging to Ron.

He came into view with an angry look on his face.

"Oh Ron, I'm sorry!" she gasped cupping her hands over her mouth. "I completely forgot that you were waiting for me!"

"You forgot?" he asked, the hurt evident on his face. "I was really worried about you. I almost went down to Slytherin when you didn't show up."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she repeated. "I thought I heard something so I ran up here because I was scared," she lied, trying to think of an excuse to spare his feelings.

"You heard something? What was it?" he asked looking around suspiciously.

Guilt avalanched upon her. She looked at his expression and saw how much she meant to him. He had waited for her, probably imagining all sorts of terrible things going on, and then she'd totally blown him off to sit and think about Malfoy "I don't know; it was probably nothing," she replied mechanically.

"You should have found me. I would've walked you back here. It isn't safe for you to be wandering the halls alone at night."

"Ron, it's only eight o'clock," she smiled accepting the hand he offered to help her up.

"I know, but I worry about you," he said meekly, his cheeks coloring slightly.

Hermione smiled and allowed him to direct her in through the portrait hole. His heavy arm rested around her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his waist. The move was automatic and felt comforting, but somehow…not intimate. It felt like a friendly embrace. Uh oh, she thought, realizing that her feelings for Ron were becoming less and less romantic.

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Draco Malfoy's life was slowly unraveling. At least that's how it felt.

I'm in love with Granger, he thought disgustedly as he lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. It was the only thing he could come up with; the only reason that would explain why she was always on his mind.

The weird part was that he didn't even like her that much. She was always studying and answering questions in class (word for word form the text book, no less), hanging out with Potter and Weasley and of course, a mudblood. Sure, she had some redeeming qualities. She was confidant, attractive, and if she was anything like the girl in his fantasies, great in bed…but was this love?

He'd never been in love before. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, but he thought he would at least know the girl a little better than he knew Granger.

He huffed loudly and tried to think of what he really knew about her. Hmm, Gryffindor, likes to study, friends with Potter and Weasley, hates me… and that was about it. Maybe it's not love after all. He concluded. He couldn't possibly love someone that he didn't know. Maybe I'm just obsessed with her. That was just as unappealing as the love scenario. I'm not obsessed, he thought, but then he realized that he had been laying on his bed thinking about her for over an hour.

Why did I try to kiss her? He wondered angrily. He already knew why, but was just mad about the way it turned out. She wasn't supposed to run away. She was supposed to kiss him back and like it so much that she tore his clothes off and jumped him right there. Okay, so that was probably never going to happen, but he had a hard time believing that the attraction was so one-sided. She really didn't want me to kiss her? He didn't know the answer to that question. She had looked so perfect, so willing. He'd heard her breathing speed up and saw her eyelids flutter charmingly and then she'd flinched at his touch. Actually flinched? Who was this girl?

He stayed like that for a few hours, going over every detail of their meeting. He wondered what would happen tomorrow in class. He had potions and herbology with her. He assumed that she would avoid him and act completely awkward. That's what most girls would do. He wondered if she would even give him the speech that she'd promised to write. Well, there was only one way to find out, and on that note he closed his eyes and slipped into a deep and dreamless slumber.

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"So what's going on with you and Hermione?" Harry asked closing his Transfiguration book and turning to Ron. "Are you together, or not?"

Ron looked up from his parchment and gave Harry a defeated shrug. "I don't know, mate. I want to ask her to…you know…make it if official, but I'm just waiting for the right time." He looked at Harry and laughed at the skepticism he saw in the green-eyed boy's face. "What?" he asked embarrassed.

"The right time?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows and grinning. "Are you sure you're not just scared she might say 'No'?"

"No! Honestly, that's not it!" Ron defended, "I'm going to do it soon. I'm just not sure when. I wanted to do it right away, over the holidays, but then I didn't because of the whole memory loss thing. I wasn't sure if she remembered the last time that we tried dating, so I dropped hints about it until I figured out that she doesn't remember. Then I wanted to do it when we got back to school, but it had already been a while, so I felt like it was awkward or something."

"It won't be awkward," Harry said smiling. "I mean, it will be if you keep putting it off…"

"Well, there's another thing too that's stopping me," Ron interrupted setting down his quill and beginning to roll up his essay. "I never told you this, but last time, when we "dated" for that one day…it didn't work out because…I tried to rush her," he said looking down at his hands and turning the paper over and over.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused. How could anyone be rushed when they'd only been dating for a day?

"I don't know, Harry!" Ron sighed. "We were in the common room kissing, and things just…got a little intense and she ended up yelling at me for trying to move too fast and then she avoided me for an entire weekend. I just don't want anything like that to happen again. I'm actually glad that she doesn't remember it. I want to make sure I don't do anything to piss her off this time."

Harry laughed, but wondered if Ron's side of the story was 100 accurate. He was surprised to hear that Ron had tried to go so fast with Hermione. Ron had never been very confidant with the ladies. "Well, you better ask her before she goes on that trip with Malfoy," he advised. "I know she doesn't remember what happened with them, but I am not so sure about him. I've seen him looking at her a lot lately."

Ron's face turned red at that idea. Harry could tell that his words had upset him. "Yeah, I should, shouldn't I?"

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The following morning, Draco left breakfast early to head down to potions. He wanted to use the time to write the lab report he'd neglected. When he got to the room, he went to his seat in the last row and pulled out his parchment. He still had 15 minutes before class. That seemed like enough time.

Question 1: Explain the physical properties of your potion. Include descriptions of color, odor, thickness, temperature, etc.

Draco groaned and got to work. He should have done this last night. There was no way he would get all twenty questions answered in time.

Just as he was finishing his answer to the first question, the door creaked open and someone walked in. He would have looked up to see who it was had he not been in such a rush to finish his assignment.

He heard a sharp intake of breath followed by hurried steps back out of the door. Draco was confused. Who would come in to class early just to leave again? He glanced toward the door and saw the very end of some bushy brown hair. Granger. So she was going to act awkward and avoid him. He shrugged. He'd expected as much.

When class finally began, Draco noticed that Granger didn't look at him at all. She'd come back just seconds before class began and sat at the very front of the room. She was putting a lot of effort into looking relaxed, but it wasn't working. Anyone who was paying attention would notice that she kept fidgeting with her quill and repositioning herself in her seat.

When class was over, she spent an unnecessarily long time packing up her things and Draco could tell that she was hoping he would leave before her. He let her off the hook and walked out promptly, leaving her to reorganize the books in her bag for a third time before she headed out as well.

Herbology went much the same way. Hermione arrived just as class was starting and sat in the very front of the room. Draco tried not to think about her, but couldn't. The class was so damned boring and her ignoring him only made him more interested. Every time she turned her head in his direction he checked to see if she was looking at him, but she never was.

Draco was glad when class ended. Keeping constant tabs on a person for an hour can be quite draining. He gathered his few belongings and slid out the door hoping to fit in a short nap before dinner.

"Malfoy…" his name caught his attention. He turned to find Granger jogging up to meet him. This was a surprise, especially since she'd given him the cold shoulder all day.

"Yes?" he asked grinning slyly.

"Here's your part of the presentation," she said thrusting a parchment into his hands. "Sprout said we could do it whenever we're ready."

"Okay." Draco took the paper from her and pretended to read it. Granger was so cute, trying to act all businesslike. He glanced up at her and saw that she had her head turned away from him. So shy. He cleared his throat to draw her attention. "When do you want to do it, then?"

"As soon as possible…Monday…would be best," she answered quickly.

"Sounds good," he replied, folding up the paper and putting it in his pocket. "I'll see you then".

He didn't know why he was being so nice to her. Just because he couldn't get her out of his thoughts didn't mean she deserved special treatment. If anything, he should be terrible to her, as punishment for invading is mind.

"Er…yeah, see you" she blushed, losing the battle over her embarrassment, and turned away to head into the castle.

Draco stayed back a few moments allowing her to get a head start. Her red face and awkward stammering was almost painful to watch. Almost.

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When Draco reached his common room, he found the place crawling with students. He headed straight up to his bed and cast a silencing charm before lying down to take a nap.

Sleep wouldn't come to him. Instead, he slipped into the most vivid of his fantasies to date. This time, he saw himself throwing Hermione up against a trophy case and ripping her clothes off. He felt a painful anticipation to take her and could sense her arousal as well.

Being suspended in this fantasy was a strange sensation. Draco was awake and knew that he was lying in bed, but he also felt like he was in the trophy room with Granger. He saw himself kissing her and on his lips, he could taste her cherry lip gloss.

His first instinct was to try and stop the fantasy; to pull himself out of it, but her soft panting breaths and hot tight skin convinced him otherwise. He was growing hard in his restrictive trousers, so he slipped them off and threw them aside. With his last ounce of self control, before embracing the fantasy wholeheartedly, Draco cast a locking spell on the door and closed his eyes.

Ten minutes later, he found himself sweaty, out of breath, and confused. He looked down at his boxer shorts and grimaced at the sticky mess beginning to soak through the material. He got up and cleaned himself off while wondering how it was possible to have one of the best orgasms of his life without being touched. The situation was entirely weird.

And why were the fantasies always with Granger? Why couldn't he have fantasies about a girl who he could actually get into his bed? This was so unfair. He needed to find something to take his mind off of her.

Heading down to the common room, Draco ran into Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott.

"Hey Drake," Nott greeted him. "You playing poker tonight?"

Draco smiled realizing this was just what he needed. "Will there be beer?"

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That night Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room hanging out and playing games with her housemates. A group sat in a circle each with the name of a famous witch or wizard stuck to their foreheads. Each took turns asking questions to help them guess who they were. Hermione smiled as she looked around the room. Ron was Bertie Bott, Harry was Helga Hufflepuff, Ginny was Rita Skeeter and Seamus was Merlin himself.

"Am I a ghost?" Hermione asked her fifth question in the round. After receiving nods and yeses from the group she wagered a guess. "Am I the Fat Friar?"

Everyone laughed and it turned out she was, in fact, the Fat Friar. She smiled and watched as the rest of the group slowly guessed who they were.

When the game ended the group dispersed and Hermione stood up to stretch her legs.

"Hey…Hermione, can I talk to you for a second?" Ron asked reaching out for her hand and directing her away from the others.

"Sure, what is it?" she wondered, following him into the corner of the room.

"Well, I was hoping that tonight we could…" but he was interrupted by the small pop of an elf appearing in the room

"Hold that thought," Hermione smiled as she knelt down and addressed the house elf. "Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Miss Granger's presence is requested by Professor Sprout in her office as soon as possible," it stated before bowing slightly and disappearing.

Hermione furrowed her brow in confusion and glanced at the clock. 9:30? What would Sprout need with me at this hour?

"Well, it looks like I have to go," she stated circling around to face a fidgeting Ron. "Oh, right," she said remembering that he'd pulled her aside for a reason. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, it wasn't important," Ron said shaking his head. "I can tell you later."

Hermione smiled again and gave the tall boy a small hug before grabbing her cloak and heading out the door.

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Hermione stood outside the intricately carved door to Professor Sprout's office. She noticed a soft orangey light outlining its edges and raised her hand to knock quietly.

"Come in!" came Professor Sprout's voice from somewhere within.

Hermione pushed the door aside to reveal a humble little room containing a cluttered desk and glowing fireplace.

"Oh, Miss Granger, I'm glad you could make it. I hope I didn't interrupt any big Friday-night plans," the older woman greeted as she shuffled a large stack of papers into a drawer.

"Oh, no Professor," Hermione said smiling cordially, "I was just hanging out in my common room."

She examined her surroundings as she lingered uncomfortably in the doorway. She'd never been in this office before and found it to be perfectly fitting for the teacher in question. One wall boasted shelves filled with potted plants and plant-related books while another sported a giant painting of a badger burrowing in a sea of tall grass.

"Well, do come in," Sprout said motioning to a chair. "Have a seat while we wait for Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione cocked an eyebrow at the mention of Malfoy but moved to sit down nonetheless. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Professor Sprout retrieved her reading glasses from the cord hanging around her neck and settled them into place. "Well, it's about the wand convention, dear, but I only want to go over this once, so I will tell you all the details once Mr. Malfoy arrives."

Hermione nodded and folded her hands in her lap. She hoped Malfoy showed up soon. As much as she enjoyed school, this was not how she wanted to spend her Friday night.

Five minutes passes before another knock was heard on the door. Both Sprout and Hermione startled at the sharp break of the silence.

"Come on in," Sprout called, as she'd done before.

Hermione turned around and watched as the door opened and Malfoy slinked in. He looked paler than usual and his eyes were certainly redder.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. Thank you for coming," Sprout chirped.

"No sweat," he nodded as he headed for the only available chair in the room and collapsed into it.

The pungent smell of alcohol swept across the room. Hermione wrinkled up her nose and glared sideways at the Slytherin. He is going to be in so much trouble, she thought as she turned to witness Sprout's reaction.

"Well, let's get down to business, shall we?" Sprout began, handing each of them a piece of paper. She either didn't notice that Draco was completely pissed or didn't care. "I have just been informed that the amateur wand competition has been moved from next Thursday to tomorrow night. I would have told you sooner, but I only just received the owl. That means that you will need to be ready to leave tomorrow morning at 6 AM. I know this is extremely sudden, but I am hoping you will still want to attend."

"Of course, Professor," Hermione answered quickly. She didn't really care if the convention was right now, she just wanted to go.

Draco mumbled an affirmation as well and Sprout continued to explain all of the details of the trip.

Ten minutes later Draco and Hermione were ushered out of the room by an exhausted Professor Sprout. "Now don't lose those itineraries I gave you and I'll see you two in the morning," she said as she closed the door behind them.

Haunted by the memory of the last time she and Malfoy were alone in the halls at night, Hermione cleared her throat and hurried off in the direction of her dorm. She didn't even turn around at the loud argument that Malfoy was having with a nearby suit of armor.

"What are you looking at?" he said to the 14th century armor before kicking it hard in the breastplate. The metal suit didn't budge and this only served to anger him further. "Cunt!" he yelled at the helmet and punched it hard between the eyes. The skin on his knuckles tore open and he called out in pain. The loud clang of the helmet hitting the ground echoed through the quiet halls and seemed to satisfy Draco enough to leave it alone.

Turning away from his victim, Draco tucked his bleeding hand into his cloak sleeve and headed toward the stairway. He saw Hermione standing there waiting for the stairs to switch into place. She had her back turned to him and seemed to be working very hard to ignore him.

"So you were just going to run off and leave me like this?" he asked Hermione's back. She didn't respond. "Hmm, wouldn't be the first time…I s'pose it means fuck all to you if I bleed to death." He laughed and acted like the two were in a conversation. "You'd probably like it, if I died. Then you wouldn't have to worry about the big bad pureblood always trying to…"

"Malfoy!" Hermione interrupted spinning around to face him. "Can you please stop talking?"

Draco didn't answer. He smiled, an actual real smile, and leaned on the wall next to her. "Oh Granger," he sighed, "you act like you're mad, but you like it."

Hermione paled. She turned her back to him once more. How was she supposed to respond to that? She looked up at the stair case that still sat at the wrong landing. Why, of all nights, is it taking so long to move?

"I know what this is all about," Draco huffed, sliding down the wall until he sat on the ground. "This frigid-bitch act."

Hermione cocked her head a little in his direction whilst trying to remain unaffected.

"It's about the other night, right?"

The hairs stood up on the back of her neck, and Hermione felt especially uncomfortable. Why is he bringing that up?

"It didn't mean…" his sentence fell off as he rubbed his forehead with his good hand. "I was just trying to…get you out of my head." He looked up at the Gryffindor and watched as she slowly turned to face him.

Hermione looked into the eyes of the confused boy below her. "What did you say?"

Malfoy pushed off the ground and stood up. He kept her gaze as he positioned himself directly in front of her. "I can't get you out of my head."

Hermione felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. What is he saying?

"Just let me try it," he whispered, moving his cut hand to rest on her waist. "I just need to see."

"You're drunk," Hermione answered pulling back from his touch.

He wouldn't give up so easily. "So?" he smiled pulling her back into him. "It doesn't change anything."

Hermione turned her head away from him. What was she supposed to do? She felt his other hand touch her face.

"Look at me," he told her as he turned her face towards his.

Suddenly the loud gravely rumble of the moving stairway sounded in the hall.

Hermione jumped out of Draco's hold and turned in time to see the bottom steps align with the ground. "I need to get back," she whispered, facing away from him. She glanced over her shoulder quickly before running up the stairs.

Malfoy stood at the bottom and watched as she disappeared from the top step. He rolled his eyes impatiently and grumbled something about her 'doing it again' before yawning loudly and heading back towards his own house.

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I can't believe he did it again! Hermione thought as she neared the portrait of the Fat Lady. Her heart raced in her chest and she noted that it'd been doing that since Malfoy first uttered those ludicrous words. I can't get you out of my head? What did he mean by that? Was that the same thing as "I think about you a lot"? Did he fancy her?

She suddenly felt extremely unsure about spending the weekend with only him and Sprout for company.

Once inside the common room, she headed straight for her dorm. She felt like she'd been electricuted and she really needed to do some thinking.

"Hermione!" came the familiar voice of Ron Weasley. "I've been waiting for you," he said, standing up from a nearby chair.

"Oh, hi Ron," she said distracted. She gave him a small smile as she started up the stairs to her room. "I'm really tired. I'm just going to go to bed."

"Wait," he said coming to stand by the stairs. "What did Sprout want?"

Hermione realized she was being extremely rude, so she leaned over the banister to give Ron her full attention. "Apparently the wand convention got moved up and she needed to let me and Malfoy know. I have to leave tomorrow at six in the morning."

"Oh, wow that's early," he smiled reaching up to play with her hand. "I'm going to miss you," he said blushing slightly.

Hermione felt guilty once again. She knew Ron liked her and she used to think that she felt the same, but lately her feelings were changing. She glanced around the room when she couldn't think of anything to say. How could she tell him without ruining their friendship?

"I have something I've been meaning to ask you," Ron said suddenly as he threaded his fingers through hers. "Can you come down here?"

She nodded and felt all of the blood leave her face as she walked back down the stairs. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.

As soon as she reached the ground Ron captured her other hand and looked directly into her eyes. "Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked with more confidence than she would have expected.

"Er…" she hesitated looking around again for a way out. "…sure," she said awkwardly bringing her eyes back up to his. No, not "sure" Hermione! What have you done?

Ron laughed happily and pulled her in for a celebratory kiss.

"I'm glad that's settled," he said after the two separated. "Well, I guess I'll let you get off to bed. You've got an early morning."

"Yeah, thanks," Hermione smiled as she pulled away and went up the stairs. "I'll see you when I get back," she said when she reached her room. What a disaster.