*Disclaimer: I, being the poor college student I am, own nothing and I especially do not own the characters of harry potter, the locations etc. I am merely borrowing them and playing with them on my own time for my own enjoyment and hopefully for yours as well. While I would love to own Draco I do not, but if JK Rowling feels like giving him to me I would not say no… I would also not say no to Tom Felton showing up at my door but until that happens I will just have to bide my time and write some fic for you all so enjoy!

And thanks again to all my lovely followers/readers/and especially to my reviewers. It means so much to me to see that you all are enjoying this. I never realized that it would be this popular so thank you so much!

Back in the safety of her dark room she pressed her back against the wood of the door, the sensation of Draco's innocent touch still burning a line of fire from her cheek all the way to the pit of her stomach where thousands of butterflies seemed to be in the middle of an ecstatic happy dance. All from one touch. How was that even possible? Closing her eyes she thought of Ron, she had liked him forever but he had never been able to draw such a reaction from her. Not like Draco, not like every touch every smile since this new thing that had come over him, not like that simple touch which made every bit of her tingle in anticipation. Why had he stopped.

Closing her eyes she imagined it all, let the entire scene replay before her closed eyes as she sought answers. Her looking up at him, him placing his hand on her cheek as the butterflies in her stomach fluttered like they never had before. She had nothing. Her memory like this was too flawed. With a sigh she pulled out her wand, carefully extracting the memory from her forehead before letting it fall in the make shift pensieve she had charmed from a decorative bowl she found at a muggle flea market once, letting herself fall fully into the memory.

Standing on the sidelines she was able to be much less biased and was able to understand more of what had happened. She watched as they spoke, and he apologized, sincerity showing in bright blue eyes, eyes that seemed so much brighter than they ever had before. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it when she had looked up at him, though their close proximity and the butterflies in her stomach as Draco got closer to her helped to explain away some of that distraction – even now she was finding it hard to notice much more than how good he looked and how much more alive he did than only a short time before. Even with the dark bags under his eyes and the wrinkled appearance of his clothes he seemed so much better. Especially with that blush coloring his cheeks as he touched her, his eyes darkening a shade or too with the intense expression on his face she had missed while in the moment. An expression she couldn't quite place. It was not one that promised her any ill will, it was more like he was in awe of her, a look of adoration as he looked at her which she could not understand what she had done to deserve. And… and there was something else too, like he wanted more. His face tilting down almost as though he was going to kiss her right before he seemed to snap out of it, his face coloring even more than it was already and a touch of embarrassment in his now shy smile and a shy Draco was not something she would ever have expected to see in her life. But what she couldn't understand, watching it now, was why he had stopped. Her face turned into the palm of his hand, curving into his touch while continuing to stare up at him gave him no indication that she wanted him to stop.

The dream ended, ricocheting her back into reality where she sat on her scarlet and gold rug with a new question burned into her mind. Did she actually want Draco to kiss her?

…

Draco ran back to his room , showering quick, regretting the need as the hot water washed her scent from his skin and the feeling of touching her, really touching her and not just the illusion of that from the mirror, from his hand before grabbing a change of clothes and booking it back to his usual night time haunt in the room of requirement.

"Hermione!" He cried as soon as he entered the room and secured the door with the desire of not being found he knelt before the mirror again. "I… I actually spoke to you today, I held your face in my hands and just looked into your eyes. Your real eyes. And you didn't pull away." He lost himself in that for a moment, reliving it all as he spoke to his dream Hermione who seemed to be getting closer and closer to reality. He just wished it was this easy to talk to her in real life, but that weight of those six years of merciless torment she had endured at his hand placed whole oceans between them even if you did ignore the brutal rivalry of their houses and the dark mark scored on his arm. He just hoped he hadn't scared her away.

Laying down next to the mirror, hand pressed against the glass Draco drifted off to sleep wondering if some day he would fall asleep to Hermione's breathing, his fingers wrapped around her slender hand instead of just pressed against the glass and a weak semblance of her in a mirror. For he first time he had really gotten to see the real her, to be beside her and now that and only that would be enough for him. Nothing else would do.

*Sorry, I know this is a shorter chap than the last two but it flows better, here you get to kind of see the first reactions to that more romantic connection and it just flowed better to separate this from the scene that comes next and this was necessary to set up some of what comes next. That should be coming shortly so take this as a little fluffy teaser to keep you going 'till you can read the next part which should be longer and more conflict driven. Thanks again to all my readers

Xoxo

a-stranger-angel