Draco shouldered his bag, took a deep breath, and entered the quiet library. Hermione had told him to be at the twenty-third row from the left at nine-o'clock sharp. He was a few minutes early, but it never hurt to be early.

Hermione was waiting there for him, a stack of books piled three deep in front of her on a table. He sat down opposite her, checking quickly around to make sure no one he knew was around first. She took a book from midway through the pile and flipped it to the page she wanted.

"Here, read this. Knowing the theory of the spell in question usually helps to perform it."

She handed Draco the book. As he took it, their fingers touched momentarily. A sudden electric tingle raced up his spine at the contact. Hermione blushed slightly and quickly pulled her hand away.

Draco skimmed quickly through the theory while Hermione took an orange out of her bag. Setting it on the table between them, she pulled out her wand.

"Watch," she ordered, and Draco shut the book. Hermione gave her wand a neat flick at the orange, producing a puff of pale green smoke. When it cleared, a rosy red apple sat on the table where the orange had been a moment ago.

"Nice," Draco approved lazily. He took the apple, turning it over in his hand, and then crunched into it.

"No hint of orange whatsoever," he noted, putting his middle finger and thumb together as if savoring an elegant wine. Hermione rolled her eyes. She looked so beautiful doing that.

"Now try and turn it back to an orange," she told him. "You do know the incantation, I hope?"

"Oh, yes," Draco smirked. "But I like this the way it is."

Hermione closed her eyes as if praying for patience. She was looking better by the minute, he thought.

"Just try it, all right?"

Draco put the half-eaten apple back down on the table and pulled out his wand. He flicked it at the apple, as he had seen Hermione do, and said the incantation. A wisp of mist wafted from the wand tip, encircling the apple. When it cleared, the apple was still there. It was, however, no longer rosy red but cobalt blue.

"Well," Hermione sighed. "It's a start, I guess."

From across the room, a dark face peered out from behind a bookshelf. The owner of the face, a tall, handsome boy with dark skin and crafty eyes, rubbed his hands together slightly, an evil grin breaking over his face.

A few shelves over, a second, smaller boy pulled out a camera and snapped a photo of the tutoring session, an awestruck look on his pale, slight face.

﴾ ﴿

Draco came back into the common room, flopped into a high-backed armchair, and closed his eyes. He felt drained and exhausted, but elated. He had finally mastered the Switching Spell, and better yet, he had spent an entire hour in the library with Hermione Granger without doing or saying anything stupid. Sure, he knew she didn't want to be there, but it was a start. Draco smiled hazily. Yes. It was definitely a start.

He checked his watch. It was getting late. He hadn't realized quite how tired he was. The Slytherin common room was still noisy and full - the Slytherins generally went to bed at about one o'clock in the morning. Not tonight, though, Draco thought sleepily. He would take an early night. He had Transfiguration tomorrow with the Gryffindors, after all.

"I'm going to bed," Draco announced to no one in particular. Blaise Zabini looked up from his Potions homework, then back down again. No one else paid him any attention. That was fine with him. He climbed the steps toward his dormitory, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.

He changed quickly and got into bed, drawing the hangings shut around him. He didn't want any disturbances now, of all times. He needed his sleep.