In the Library

Hermione had been distant all week, specifically not talking to Ron at all. Harry was pretty sure that she was jealous of Lavender Brown, Ron's current girlfriend, but hadn't managed to get a confession from either of them(he was pretty sure Ron liked Hermione too) and therefore had to endure their silent fight.

Then there was the problem with Harry being the top student in Potions, meaning Hermione spoke coldly now to him as well. It seemed that there was something she was jealous of with both of her best friends now.

Harry never would have guessed what was actually going through her mind throughout these events, however, as she was hiding her true thoughts very well.

She was, in fact, remembering what had happened between Draco Malfoy and herself every time she saw Ron and Lavender together. Her meetings with the Slytherin had caused her to grow much closer to him than she could have imagined possible and seeing Ron with Lavender reminded her of exactly what she had lost in speaking her mind.

Her coldness towards Harry was first and foremost because he would not shut up about his beliefs that Draco was up to something, and as Harry was beating her at Potions at the same time she had the urge to slap some sense into him as she had done to Draco back in third year. Load of good that did.

Wanting to protect Draco, she fought to stop Harry worrying about what he was up to. Yet at the same time she really wanted to find out exactly the same thing Harry wanted to know.

What was Draco up to?

Walking back to the common room after their first lesson in apparating, Hermione was once again in a foul mood. Harry had gone to stand near Draco while practising and she was almost positive that before long Harry would go find either Ron or herself to tell them what he had discovered.

Noticing Harry and Ron walking ahead of her, she narrowed her eyes. She heard Ron speaking and moved forward slightly to listen. He was talking about how he'd gone with the apparating.

"...kind of tingling in my feet." Ron was saying.

Hermione quickened her pace and stuck her nose in the air, quickly saying, "I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won." before continuing forward with a smirk on her face. That would teach him.

She rounded a corner and continued towards the common room for a while, passing various different Gryffindors also heading that way or coming from there to go somewhere else. Her thoughts had already travelled far beyond what she had just said to Ron, and she was now once again thinking about what had happened between herself and Draco.

Glancing around nervously, she turned down a different corridor which led her away from the Gryffindor common room. She didn't quite know why, but she felt as though she needed to just get away and shove her head into a book for a few hours. That way she could forget about all her problems and might even be able to concentrate on her homework again.

Eventually reaching the library, she wandered around the different sections in search for something to capture her attention. Nothing seemed to be jumping out at her, however, so with great reluctance she walked towards the Dark Arts section.

She heard his voice before she saw him and her heart skipped a beat. She paused and listened to what was being said whilst half of her begged for her to just turn and walk out right then.

"I said to leave me alone!" Draco was saying in annoyance.

"Look, I just want to hel-"

"I don't want your help, Zabini! And I'm not allowed to tell anyone! Get lost!" Draco snapped angrily.

"Fine."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat and before she could move Blaise Zabini had walked out from the aisle and headed towards her.

"Move, mudblood." he spat without pause, continuing past her as she leapt to the side in fright. She bit her lip nervously and slowly looked back over towards where Blaise had come from, seeing Draco standing there now with a look of disbelief on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked quietly.

"Um..." Hermione searched desperately for an excuse. Then she remembered all she had to do was tell the truth. "I was looking for a book to read."

"Right."

Draco nodded slowly and his dull eyes looked around for something else to focus on. He was holding a book by his side and Hermione tried to inconspicuously read the title. She hadn't known Draco to be someone who read many books.

"Here." Draco said coldly and suddenly, holding the book out to her. Obviously she hadn't been very successful in her inconspicuousness. She tentatively reached a hand out to take it, looking at the title and reading it. A Wizard's Guide to Disappearing Acts.

"You want to disappear?" Hermione questioned, looking up at him.

"No. In fact it really didn't help me at all, that book." Draco said, folding his arms. "I was looking for something else."

"Do you need help?" Hermione asked quietly.

"In case you hadn't noticed it's not the middle of the night, nor are we alone." Draco snapped. "So get out of my way or I'll move you myself." In a flash his wand was in his hand and his eyes were narrowed in anger. Hermione took a step back in shock, feeling as if an ice-cold knife had just sliced her insides.

"Draco I-"

"Don't call me that!" he yelled, now gaining the attention of everyone who was in the library, despite how far away some of them were. Hermione raised a hand slowly to cover her mouth as tears began sliding down her face. She dropped the book Draco had given to her and then fled, pushing past people in her attempt to escape.

Draco watched her leave. He watched with the feeling of pain that had filled him that night when he had left her just because she had been curious. She had even come back to talk to him, making it obvious that she still wanted to be friend. Had he ruined all chances of that by saying what he had?

I had to, Draco thought to himself angrily, bending down to pick up the book she had dropped and returning to the Dark Arts aisle to put it back. People were watching.

However, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling in his gut that told him to go after her and apologise. He did his best to ignore it, submerging himself in more books to put his mind on other things, but in the end all that happened was he was left feeling even more exhausted than before and still hadn't found what he had been looking for.

He had thought his mind was made up, but as he recalled the image of tears streaming down Hermione's face, he was no longer certain.