Hey there! New chapter today, hope you guys enjoy it! Please remember to r&r - I'm always looking to improve my work and any and all feedback is appreciated :)
It took three circuits of the library before Draco found Hermione. She had tucked herself away in a little corner table, shielding herself from view with mountains of books, and it had only been her frantic whispering that had alerted him to her hiding place.
He sauntered over, his heavy schoolbag slamming repeatedly into the small of his back. He'd crammed it full with all the Potions books he'd been able to get his hands on and – although he'd never admit it – his last essay, on which Slughorn had scrawled an enormous letter 'P'.
He sat down next to her, glancing over his shoulder.
"Hiding, are we?"
She glared at him. "Let's just get started. What are you having the most trouble with?"
Draco pulled out his textbook and glanced down the index. "Mainly the principles, I'm much better at the practical."
"Right," said Hermione, flipping through pages of meticulously neat notes, "we'll start with Golpalott's Laws, then."
At once, she launched into an explanation of Golpalott's First, Second and Third Laws, and it was all Draco could do to keep up. He scribbled down everything she said at top speed, but he was still at least two sentences behind her and his handwriting was slowly degenerating into one long, horizontal line.
"…and so the combination of all the elements will never be enough to produce an effective antidote – some kind of binding agent is required to link them all together. Do you see?"
He scribbled down her last few sentences and glanced back over his notes.
He could barely read them.
"Err…"
She glanced over at his notes and raised her eyebrows. He snatched them away from her.
"I can read them!" he lied, "that's all that matters!"
"Clearly," she muttered.
"Watch your tone, Granger, or I won't pay you for these lessons!"
"You aren't paying me anyway!"
"Exactly!"
They glared at each other. Madam Pince materialised from behind a bookshelf and fixed them with a furious, beady eye, and they both fell silent. She stalked away through the bookshelves, and Draco dropped his voice to a whisper.
"Old hag," he muttered, glaring after the librarian, "why'd you have to pick the library, anyway? We can't exactly talk in here."
She flushed a little. "It's not the best place, I know, but where else could we meet? We couldn't get into each other's common rooms and the Great Hall would be far too noisy."
"There's always your office."
Hermione went scarlet. "Don't be ridiculous! The library's the best place, where else could we get hold of so many books?"
"We could borrow them from here. Come on, Granger, you must see that meeting here's a stupid idea! We'll never get anything done if we're always whispering like this, and besides, it'd be much more private up there!"
Colour exploded in Hermione's cheeks.
"And why would you want these sessions to be more private, Draco Malfoy?"
He could feel the heat crawling up his neck.
"Not like that! You were the one hiding in the corner, I just thought you wanted these sessions to be more private! Don't be such a prude, Granger!"
She glared at him, so fiercely that he actually shifted his chair away from her.
"Excuse me?"
She was going to hex him, he knew it. He could already see her fingers straying towards her wand and fury was etched all over her face. He'd be left with boils sprouting all across his face, or tentacles growing out of his ears, or mushrooms sprouting up on his –
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
"What are you –"
"Don't hex me," he muttered, "we're in the library!"
He could feel her soft skin underneath his fingertips, and her racing pulse fluttering against the palm of his hand. Her brown eyes were bright, flushed with anger, and for some reason it was taking all the effort in the world not to slide his hand down her wrist and slip his hand in hers…
"Look," he hissed, clearing his throat, "I'm sorry, all right? You can have these lessons wherever you want. I just…I just really need this to work. I've got a lot to catch up on and not much time to do it in."
He felt her wrist shift underneath his hand, but she did not pull away.
"We'll…we'll try again on Friday," she muttered, "for now, I want you to read these."
She slid a list of books across the desk.
"I won't see you again until Friday?"
Colour crept into her cheeks again. "Well, I expect you'll see me around every day, what with all the classes we have together."
"Not like that," he snapped, "you know how much I need these lessons!"
She stood up, tearing her hand from his grasp and glaring down at him.
"Well, you'd better get on with the reading, hadn't you?"
She scooped up her books and flounced out. Draco sighed and glowered down at the sheet of scribbled notes, his hand still warm from Hermione's skin.
Draco stalked back to the Slytherin common room, fuming. Some lesson that had been – she'd explained everything well enough, but she'd run off at the slightest hint of criticism. Typical Granger, he thought, always so superior…
He stumped up the stairs to the seventh-year boys' dorm and threw himself face first onto his bed, groaning loudly.
A letter fluttered to the floor.
He scooped it up and ripped it open, and at once, a swarm of tiny, needle-like bugs sprung out. They launched themselves at him, stabbing at his hands and face, sending tiny flashes of pain right through him.
"Impedimenta!"
The swarm froze in mid-air. Draco sat back on his haunches, panting, and stared at it. What he'd thought were needle-like bugs were, in fact, needles, balanced in the air as though suspended on invisible strings.
"Evanesco!"
They vanished. Draco frowned down at the letter. Who would want to bewitch an envelope full of needles and send them to him?
Cautiously, he peered inside the little envelope. There was nothing else left in there, and so he reached inside and pulled out the letter – keeping his wand clutched tightly, just in case.
It was a blank sheet of parchment, but for a series of letters that someone – he wasn't sure who – had cut out of the Daily Prophet and stuck onto the page, spelling out the message:
STAY AWAY FROM HERMIONE GRANGER