The clock on the wall chimed eight times, echoing through the otherwise silent library like a cannon blast. Hermione jumped violently at the noise, nearly spilling her ink bottle over the stacks of books and rolls of parchment that littered the table before her. She sighed, and had only just decided she should be getting back to the Gryffindor common room when a large figure loomed before her and sat heavily in the chair opposite.

"Evening, Granger,"

Hermione tried (only for the sake of politeness) not to look too disgusted as Cormac McLaggen lounged casually before her, a sickeningly smug smile stuck on his face like Stinksap. "Hello," she replied curtly, keeping her eyes on her books.

McLaggen didn't seem to be able to take a hint. Or, if he did take the hint, he didn't act upon his suspicions. He ploughed on like a freight train, "You're quite pretty, you know," Hermione's face grew hot. Was there some reason why the kid's eyes were stuck on her? Maybe someone had cursed him so he could only stare at one thing at a time. This seemed unlikely, but Hermione preferred the idea to its alternative: that he was staring at her because he wanted to. She suppressed a shudder as McLaggen continued mercilessly, "I'd bet that you're pretty on the inside, too. If you'd let me, I'd love to find out some time…" He winked. Hermione glared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to get to know you better, Granger. Maybe over a butterbeer ? Or…" he leaned in and whispered deviously, "I'm pretty well known at the Hog's Head. The barkeep there is convinced that I'm an employee at the Ministry, Department of Magical Games and Sports, and that I come up to Hogsmeade on weekends to scout for potential Quidditch players for England. He'd sell me firewisky any day, and then we could…you know…" He winked again.

"Absolutely not," Hermione replied coldly. "I'm a prefect, in case you didn't realize. I can't go gallivanting around with you drinking firewisky!"

"So if you weren't a prefect, you'd do it?"

"No!" she hissed. "And if you'll excuse me, I need to put these books back," Hermione gathered a large pile of encyclopedias and marched away to a different section of the library. Unfortunately, McLaggen followed her.

"Here, let me get those for you."

"No, I can manage it, thank you."

"Hang on for two seconds, will you?" McLaggen jumped in front of her, hindering her path to the shelf she'd been heading for. Hermione rolled her eyes, but waited for him to finish his sentence. Maybe if she tolerated him long enough, he'd get bored and go away. "Right. I was actually wondering if… You know Slughorn's Christmas party is coming up, and we're meant to bring a date—"

"No." Hermione interrupted. There was no way in hell she'd ever go to that party with him.

He looked disappointed. "Why not? Are you going with someone else?"

"Yes," she said, without thinking.

"Who?"

"Er—" Hermione hesitated, wracking her brain. "Harry Potter."

"Oh." McLaggen looked really put out now. Apparently he realized that Harry would be a better date than he would be. Suddenly he looked suspicious. "Wait. I thought you two were just friends?"

"Yes, we are. We're going together for convenience's sake."

"Well, now you can have an actual date! With me."

"Haven't I just told you no?"

"I'm giving you another chance."

"Look," Hermione slammed the encyclopedias down on the nearest table. They were starting to make her arms hurt, and McLaggen was starting to make her brain hurt. "I'm not looking for a relationship right now, got it horklump head? Now go away."

"What about Weasley?"

Hermione, who had been in the process of marching away with haughty dignity, stopped in her tracks. Turning around quickly, she was infuriated to see McLaggen standing there looking smug again. Someone needed to tell the kid that adopting that stupid look made everyone want to punch him in the face. Or maybe it was just him in general that made people want to punch him in the face. Either way, she wished she could curse him into oblivion. "What about him?"

"Well," McLaggen said with mock casualness. He forced his hands into his pockets and strolled leisurely back toward Hermione. "I heard that you two fancied each other, but of course that could have been just a rumor…"

"That's none of your business," Hermione huffed, regaining her composure.

"So you do fancy him?"

"I never said that!"

"You never not said that."

"Would you shut up and go away?"

"As you wish," McLaggen bowed ridiculously low and started backing away slowly. Hermione rolled her eyes. "But first, would you accept this gift from me?" Hermione turned back around to find that he was holding a box of Chocolate Frogs out to her.

"No, thank you."

"More for me, I suppose," he said with a shrug. Without further ado McLaggen opened the box and started stuffing frogs into his mouth two or three at a time. Hermione tried not to look loo disgusted as he attempted to talk to her through a mouthful of chocolate, "'oo are miffing out, 'ranger! 'Fese ur so gud!"

At that moment, Hermione seriously considered saying something extremely rude to him without caring about his feelings. Before she could tell him exactly how repulsive he was being, however, Madam Pince was bearing down on him like a vulture.

"Out! Out! How many times do I have to tell you children not to bring food into my library?" she shouted, disturbing the calm silence that she fought so hard to maintain. McLaggen winked at Hermione one last time (she really wished he'd stop doing that) and ran from the library.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. He was gone. Finally, he was gone. She could put away the rest of her books in peace and make her way back to the common room. Harry and Ron were probably still awake, and they'd most likely want help doing their potions essays… She smiled to herself. Hermione would never admit it to anyone, but anything (even correcting potions essays) that gave her an excuse to talk to Ron, to be close to him, she looked at as an opportunity. An opportunity she wouldn't miss for anything.

Hermione was still thinking about her favorite ginger when she walked out of the library ten minutes later, and was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice McLaggen until he jumped in front of her suddenly, at which point she shrieked in surprise and nearly dropped her bag.

"Want to ride my broomstick, Granger?" he said cheekily.

Hermione, affronted beyond coherent speech, sputtered unintelligibly, "Wha—how—you stup—NO!" At this, she turned around and walked the other way down the corridor. Even though she knew it would take her a lot longer to get to the common room this way, it was worth it to escape McLaggen's company. Unfortunately, he decided to chase after her.

"Wait! Granger, I was only messing with you! Look, I really—"

"Go away!" she yelled back at him.

But he was faster than he looked. In a matter of seconds he'd caught up to her.

"C'mon Granger. I know you feel something for me! After all, who wouldn't want a piece of THIS!" To Hermione's horror, the revolting boy started trying to rip his shirt off his chest, apparently trying to impress her. All he managed to do was frighten her so much she literally ran down the corridor, more eager than ever to get to the safety of the common room, where there were witnesses. Witnesses were always good when it came to creepy people trying to take their clothes off around you.

Cormac was still trying to take his shirt off, and as it was over his head he couldn't see anything in front of him. Which meant he didn't know Hermione wasn't even in the same part of the castle as he was anymore. He heard footsteps approaching, and (assuming that Hermione had finally come to her senses and realized how attractive he was) he tried disentangling himself with a newfound vigor. By the time he'd finally ripped it over his head, he was so elated with himself that he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Come and get some!"

The problem was, the person standing before him wasn't Hermione.

The person standing before him wasn't even a girl.

It was Snape.

A/N: I know this was a really short chapter, guys and I'm sorry! Hopefully the next chapter will make up for it though… It's already written, and I have to say that it's probably my favorite. It's also the LAST of the story, so I'd definitely love some reviews if you haven't already! Thanks for reading!