Chapter 4: Blaise

Draco POV

Draco felt relatively safe walking through the corridors whilst everyone was at dinner. There was no one about, dead or alive, and Draco was at peace for the first time that day. It was so hard to relax when it felt like everybody was watching him.

At first, Draco thought he imagined the echoing footsteps that were out of sync with his own. He blamed the off-rhythm on the walls of the castle, though Draco really had no idea how vibrations and sounds and echoes worked. It wasn't until he saw Hermione's bushy head of hair that he realised he wasn't imagining anything and was just being an idiot.

Hermione hadn't seen him, yet. He could turn around and duck out of sight. There was a broom cupboard he could hide in down the corridor to his right. Draco wasn't above acting like a coward to avoid confrontation.

It was too late now. Hermione had seen him, and he watched painfully as her whole face lit up at the sight of him. Draco clamped his jaw shut so he didn't say anything inappropriate, instead opting to continue down the stairs as normal. But ignorance wasn't enough; Draco had to prove to Hermione that he meant his words, that she truly meant nothing to him and he felt nothing. He had to prove it.

When they reached the same stair, Draco bumped his shoulder against Hermione's. He did, perhaps, overcompensate; Hermione's books fell to the ground, which was not his intention. Nevertheless, the deed was done. Draco hesitated on the next step, waiting anxiously for Hermione to say something. When he received nothing but silence, he looked over to see Hermione standing with her eyes closed tightly. Draco took a brief moment to study her facial features before turning and practically running out of sight.

Despite having his peace interrupted by Hermione's presence, Draco was not yet ready to face the masses of the school again, so he skipped the end of dinner and took refuge in the library. To avoid suspicion by the librarian, Draco randomly grabbed a book off a shelf and hid himself at a table. An hour later, he was found by Blaise Zabini.

Draco slunk lower in his seat when he saw Blaise strutting his way, but his platinum blonde hair was a dead giveaway at the best of times, and Draco didn't stand a chance today no matter how hard he prayed. Blaise reached him in seconds and, by way of greeting, tossed a lightly buttered piece of toast on the table. Draco took it and munched into it greedily, not bothered by the fact that it was cold now, for he was too hungry to care.

"Thanks," Draco said around his last mouthful, making Blaise cringe in disgust.
"As part of an infamous pureblood family, Draco, you should know better manners than to talk whilst eating," Blaise said snootily, fixing his posture and puffing out his chest in a fabulous impression of Percy Weasley. Draco rolled his eyes and Blaise gave up the facade, slouching onto the table. He rested his head on his hands. "So who are you hiding from, then?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled.
"Nobody," Draco replied, and it wasn't a big lie. Hiding from everybody wasn't the same as hiding from an individual, was it?
"It can't be Pansy, because she was sitting with Millicent today," Blaise contemplated, ignoring Draco's feeble lies. "It couldn't be Crabbe or Goyle, because they had detention and didn't show up to dinner. And it can't be me, because you like me too much. So who is it?"

Draco returned his attention to his book. "I'm not hiding from anybody," he reiterated, effectively ending the conversation. Blaise wasn't pleased, and he snatched the book out of Draco's hands petulantly. He was very clearly bored.

"One Hundred Important Moments In Wizarding History That Shaped Our Society, by Wally Berrings," Blaise read aloud. He looked at Draco accusingly. "You don't take History of Magic."

Annoyed, Draco yanked the book back out of Blaise's hands. Blaise was fine company and all, but couldn't he see that Draco was in no mood to be entertained? "Is it such a sin to read for pleasure, Zabini?" Draco growled.

"Absolutely not. But I know you, Malfoy, and people like you don't read books for pleasure. Especially not text books."

Blaise, as expected, took the book from Draco's grip, meeting little resistance. Dumping the book on a shelf, he motioned for Draco to pack the little stuff he had. "Come on, Draco. We're going to go somewhere. Preferably outside."

Draco bristled - he didn't want to go outside, it was too bloody cold - but stood to follow Blaise out of the library nonetheless. When they had almost reached the doors, they paused as they watched a tiny commotion. The youngest Weasley, Ginny, was pulling Hermione out of the library by the arm. Draco watched curiously, wondering what on earth Hermione had done to earn such a reaction from the girl, and as he pondered, his gaze met Hermione's. A second later, she was yanked outside.

"How interesting," Blaise said with an air of cool detachment. "I wonder what they're talking about."

Draco knew this tone of voice. It was the one he used when he was about to go eavesdrop, or better yet, interrupt other people's conversations.

"Blaise…" Draco warned, but Blaise paid him no mind, stepping away.
"It can't be about Witch Weekly's article on love potions, they could discuss that in here," Blaise said, slowly making his way to the doors. Draco followed him. "It has to be pretty private, to have to talk about it outside."
"Seriously, Blaise, why does this matter?" Draco asked, but his question fell on deaf ears. Blaise was smirking.
"Let's find out, shall we?" He pushed open the doors.

Draco peered around Blaise in time to see Ginny spin around and Hermione clamp her mouth shut and blush furiously.

"What do you want?" Ginny demanded, flipping her trademark hair over her shoulder defiantly.
"Five points from Gryffindor," Blaise snapped, glaring. Reluctantly, Draco respected Ginny for not flinching away. Blaise's glare was intimidating and at times, downright scary.

"On what grounds?" Ginny huffed.
"For being rude to your superiors, Weasel."

Only for a second did Hermione glance at Draco reproachfully, before catching herself and avoiding his eyes. Draco pretended not to notice.

"Come on, Ginny," Hermione said scathingly. "They aren't worth it. Let's go."

Ginny sent daggers at Blaise, then Draco, as she and Hermione stalked past them back into the Library. Draco wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or relieved that Hermione had kept her eyes on her feet.

"Well that didn't answer any of my questions," Blaise sighed, looking at Draco in amusement. Draco shook his head.
"You need to find a better outlet for your boredom," he said. "Let's go, maybe there's still some food left in the kitchen. I'm starving."

An hour later, the two Slytherins left the kitchens with their stomachs bulging and made it back to their common room without any trouble. Well, besides a run-in with Mrs Norris, but Blaise kicked her aside before she could do so much as blink, and then they evacuated the scene as quickly as possible. So really, no trouble at all.

Blaise yawned and slumped onto a couch, kicking off his shoes and lying down with an arm behind his head. He was muttering curses to the Astronomy professor and the essay that was due in two days.

"Shut up," Draco groaned, tired of Blaise's incessant voice. He had insisted on chatting in the library, on their way to the kitchen, inside the kitchen, on their way back from the kitchen, and now he wanted to continue talking in the common room? Couldn't he see Draco just needed some time alone?

"No, I won't shut up. Go daydream about that bushy-haired know-it-all you're in love with and leave the rest of us in peace."
Draco blanched. "Who?"
"Me, idiot, now leave me alone!"

Draco was worried about what Blaise had said - did he really have affection for that girl, and did it really run so deep? - but Draco knew an exit cue when he saw one and he decided to take it. After all, he didn't want to stick around if Blaise was going to go shouting about Hermione and Draco's supposed feelings towards her.

Bushy-haired know-it-all you're in love with, Draco repeated to himself. He sneered. Yeah, right, and Filch is having a romance with the librarian.

Draco snorted at the ludicrousness of it all. He finished his homework and went to bed, already dreading the upcoming double Potions with the Gryffindors the next morning.

Hermione POV

Hermione sat in the middle of Ron and Harry at their usual table at the back of the Potions classroom. They were silent, with nobody feeling like making conversation during such a horrid start to the day. Snape burst through the door with Draco a few feet behind him. He walked to his seat, precisely four tables to the left and one forward away from the trio. Harry rubbed his scar absently as Snape started lecturing the class on the potion they'd be brewing.

"… Because of the complexity of the potion, and the precise amount of ingredients needed, etcetera, you will be working in pairs -" Ron looked at Hermione hopefully, but she didn't return the gaze because Snape would never allow that to happen - "That I will choose."

As expected. The trio sighed in unison, Hermione's stomach twisting in knots.

Snape was smirking. "Potter and Parkinson. Set up on that table there."

Harry gathered his belongings as slow as he dared before moving to the empty table with Pansy. He didn't look back at his friends, and Hermione couldn't blame him.

"Bulstrode, Patil. Thomas, Brown. Zabini, Vane."

One by one the class was paired off and directed to new tables. As Snape reached the last nine people, Hermione quickly realised there would have to be a group of three. If she was paired off with…

"Which leaves us with the lucky three," Snape said maliciously. "Weasley, Granger, and Malfoy."

Ron was clearly unhappy, but Hermione was even more so. It was as if the devil was giving her extra special attention today. What did she do to deserve this? Hermione led the way over to Draco's table bravely.

"The method for Veritaserum can be found on page eighty-four of your books. You have two hours."

Two Gryffindors, their most hated Slytherin enemy, a truth-telling potion, and being locked in a crowded classroom for two hours? What could possibly go wrong?

Hermione glowered at Snape. She'd never hated him more.