Disclaimer: This may surprise you all so brace yourselves; I do not own Harry Potter. I know, let it sink in.

A/N- Thanks guys for your reviews on the last chapter! I love reading them and hearing what you have to say. So here is the next chapter, I hope you find it decent enough to read.

Stares

Draco tried to contain a laugh after the look Granger had given him when he winked at her. He faced front and suppressed it, making his face look troubled. He caught Snape eyeing him, which made him only want to laugh more. Bloody brilliant, he prided himself. Draco looked around the room in front of him, beginning to feel bored after a few minutes. What the hell was he going to do here every day? He couldn't possibly tease Granger every second that would even annoy him. He sighed, dramatically.

"Something troubling you, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape said from his seat.

"Yeah, sitting here."

"I'm sorry that this wasn't what you thought it would be. Maybe we could make it a little more comfortable for you?"

"That would be nice." Draco said.

"Maybe some food, a drink, possibly a foot massage?" Snape raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

"Go for it!" Draco slipped off one of his shoes and propped his leg on top of the table. "I like moisturizers." Draco put his hands behind his head and leaned into them.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable, Mr. Malfoy." Snape focused his attention to the amused Gryffindor girls' and froze when he looked at them. "Thanks to Mr. Malfoy and his behavioral issues, you will all begin to help me with some things that I need done while serving this detention."

"What kind of things?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"You don't always have to know everything, Miss Granger." Hermione looked down sheepishly. "Put your foot down, Mr. Malfoy. This isn't a day spa." Draco frowned but slumped his leg down from off of the table. "On Friday," Snape continued, "We will have detention here at nine." The girls groaned.

"But-" Hermione began to protest.

"Silence." Snape threw at her. "One more outburst, Miss Granger, and you will be sitting in the corner." Hermione frowned. Not only did she have to be careful of Malfoy, but Snape was now on her back too.

"This is totally unfair!" Parvati whined, as they all headed back to the Gryffindor common rooms, most of the other girls ahead of them. "I don't want to spend my Friday night with Snape." She crossed her arms.

Or Draco… Hermione thought, keeping that one to herself.

"This sucks," Ginny agreed as she hooked an arm with Hermione's.

"I thought it was pretty funny, with Draco and Snape. And you going to the corner." Lavender bumped hips with Hermione.

"Okay, the Malfoy and Snape thing was hilarious." Parvati agreed.

"I don't knew about you guys but I just want this detention to be over with." Hermione sighed loudly. "No matter how amusing it is for everyone."

"I agree," Ginny said.

"What do you think he's going to make us do?" Parvati asked the three of them as they rounded a corner to head up and onto the moving staircases.

"It's Snape, who knows." Ginny cringed at the thought.

"What if he wants to see a peep show for the next one!" Lavender laughed. The girls shriek giggled as Hermione just shivered at the thought.

"Bloody gross, Lavender." Lavender eyed her.

"Oh," She said as if she just had a revelation. "You just want to put on one for Draco." Hermione frowned at her.

"Leave it alone," Ginny playfully shoved at Lavender's shoulder. "She is dating my brother."

"Right," Lavender scoffed, walking in front of them. Hermione looked at Parvati, who just shrugged at Lavender's comment and caught up to her. Ginny and Hermione shared a look.

"Just ignore her," Ginny comforted Hermione with a pat on her arm. "She's just jealous because you have a great guy."

"Ron that is disgusting." Hermione frowned as Ron practically swallowed the chicken leg he was eating. They were in the Great Hall later that evening for dinner. She had wanted to barf a few times that night for Ron's infamous eating habits. Harry shared the same look as Hermione. "Don't you realize you're in public?" When Ron just frowned at her she gave up, "Whatever," She opened up one of her texts books and began to read the page.

"Don't you realize you're not in the library?" Hermione ignored him, letting Ron win this one. Sometimes you just have to pick and choose your battles and this was certainly not a win she was going to use up.

"Probably not the best thing to say." She heard Harry fake whisper. Knowing full well he did that so he could get some credit later when he got in a situation like this with her.

"Yeah well she just needs to get used to eat. This is how I eat." Ron said as he stuffed more food into his mouth as Harry made another repulsed look.

"Hi guys," Neville Longbottom took the empty seat next to Hermione. "What's up?" Everybody echoed hi back.

"Just watching Ron's amazing table manners." Hermione informed him, still reading.

"Right," Neville said, not catching on to the blunt sarcasm. Ginny came next and took the other empty seat next to Hermione.

"Reading again, Hermione?" She chuckled, knowing her friend too well.

"Hi Ginny," Ron said, mouth full of food.

"Very attractive Ron, close your mouth." Ginny said and sat down. Hermione smiled into her book at her friend.

"Why is everyone ganging up on me today?" Ron tossed his food down as her friend's began to chat amongst themselves. She tried to listen in on some of their conversations, but she really didn't care. Nor did she care about what she was reading either. Leaving her head facing down at her book, she let her eyes travel up to the Slytherin table. Ever since that night she could never look at it in the same way again. She watched the Slytherin students talk and eat; she noticed a lot of them all seemed to have the same look planted on their face as if they were all planning something.

Hermione settled on a blonde's head, allowing herself to study his features. He was chiseled and hard looking in that beautiful, mysterious sort of way. She latched on to a pair of gray cold eyes, and she slowly lifted her head up, to stare at him dead on. She wasn't going to break loose. It was his time to squirm.

As if sensing what Granger was doing, Draco stared into her eyes, letting her see through him, not quite sure if he was willing to do that or if it was just happening. Draco cocked an eyebrow at her in a challenging yet amused way. And they just stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

The only thing that finally broke the stare was most of her friend's standing up to leave. Damn Potter, Weasel, and his bloody sister! Who yet again ruined another moment. Draco could not help but wonder how long they would have stared at each other like that if none of her friends had gotten up. He watched as she looked up at them, nodded her head and getting up without hesitation to leave too. And she didn't look back.

Hermione Granger had challenged him; in a way he thought she wouldn't have the balls to do. It almost impressed him. Almost. He technically won considering she broke off from the distraction. So it wasn't really a fair win but a win was still a win to him, and he was going to take it. Draco knew that Granger knew that he was up to something. He was beginning to think that the Weasley girl might know something was up too. But he shook her off.

He quite enjoyed that stare. Normally a stare like that would have been awkwardly broken off in a matter of seconds, but no- not Granger and that Gryffindor courage. As Draco thought back to it he realized something. The stare didn't make him uncomfortable. It was almost relaxing. Almost. There was that bloody word again. What was nice about it was he felt like he was reading into her, and she was letting him. He saw that Gryffindor side in her, braveness and yet he also caught a bit of uneasiness from her. Draco felt like he was beginning to enter dangerous territory.

It's just a bloody plan, for amusement. He reminded himself as he sprawled out onto his bed, tired from the day. He felt drained from that stare with Granger. Like she took something out of him. Curious. He thought as he unbuckled his pants and tore them out of the loops. He groaned in pleasure as the pressure from the buckle on his abdomen slipped away and he tossed it onto the floor. He was back in the dorm room first, he wanted some alone time before he noisy roommates, friends, came and disturbed him.

Maybe it was time to step it up with Granger. To make sure she never challenged him again, even though he kind of enjoyed it. Maybe even reach out and touch her, that would make her freak. He frowned hard at himself. The last time he even touched Granger it was her fist coming into contact with his face. Stupid Mudblood… Then why did he feel the need to touch her? Simply for the plan. He told himself, letting his surprisingly already heavy eyelids begin to close. Maybe if he just touched her, in a soothing way it might bring her to the edge…

Hermione stared up at the ceiling, playing back dinner in the Great Hall for the hundredth time. She tried to search her mind for something… but what exactly was she searching for? There were no clues to anything. It just simply was what it was. Two people staring at each other for an unhealthy amount of time. It almost made her feel guilty for Ron. But why? Simply staring at someone wasn't cheating the last time she checked. And the fact that this was Draco Malfoy made it in no way possible a cheating situation. It was just a stupid stare. She scolded herself.

Then it hit her. Why she felt so guilty. Because she and Ron had never stared at each other like that. The way Draco had just let her. It wasn't like they were staring dreamily at each other; it was more like they were both reading into one another.

She felt like she was going crazy over this dumb incident. Hermione groaned and grabbed the pillow out from under her head, putting it down onto her face. She just needed to forget about it. It was nothing. This was just Draco Malfoy being… mysterious. Like he always has been. Nothing more than a mysterious boy who leads a dark and secretive life. But… she caught something in his eyes today. Something different. Something comforting. Something entirely not like Draco Malfoy. And that terrified her.

She relaxed a little more into her bed coming to the conclusion that she was just being a girl, simply looking into something she shouldn't even be thinking about. With that satisfied thought, Hermione drifted into a heavy sleep.

The next day at breakfast, in the Great Hall, Hermione stayed out of her friend's conversation again, her eyes wandering around instead as Harry rambled on something about Quidditch, this not being her first subject choice to converse about anyways.

She caught a sliver of blond hair in her peripheral vision. She quickly tore her eyes away and fixated on Ron who sat across from her. Yesterday's events flooding back into her mind, I wonder… She nervously bit her lip and tried to get Ron's attention with the use of her eyes, but he was too into his food. She cleared her throat, no reaction. Hermione silently yelled his name in her head, Ron look at me! When sanity finally settled in, and she realized she wouldn't get his attention with out any physical contact, she reached over and patted his hand. He looked up at her. "What?" He asked as he swallowed a pancake. She smiled at him and tried to muster a dreamy look as she bore into his eyes and soul.

Ron gave her a funny look and leaned his head back a bit. "You feeling okay, 'Mione?" Ron inquired. "You're looking a bit… flustered." He whispered to her. Hermione's face fell and she pulled her hand back quickly.

"No Ronald, everything's fine." She shook her head and looked down at the table, how could she have been so stupid? Ron wasn't that type of guy to stare into one's eyes and make you feel acknowledged. Or understood. Or… Stop. She told herself. Where was this coming from? She quickly gathered up her books and stood up.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, watching her.

"I'm going," She informed the table without any words of goodbye and turned on her heel to leave, feeling very disappointed and shameful. How could she think that Draco Malfoy, Mudblood hater, really understood her? You're just being stupid. She told herself. He's just messing with your head and it's- well it's working!

Hermione couldn't help but be frustrated with Ron for the remainder of the day. If only he just wasn't so stupid and stared into her eyes everything would have been fine. That's what she kept telling herself. When it was time for Potions class she simply ignored everyone excluding Harry. Ron barely tried to talk to her, sensing she was mad at him, Lavender tried to tease her but just ended up conversing with Ron in the end, and Draco flashed a few smiles her way, in that which she just rolled her eyes at him. The day was just not turning out the way she wanted it to. Screw the day! It was the whole week that was screwed up. Getting caught on Sunday night in the Great Hall was an omen; she just knew it. Only one more day of school after this and she was free for the weekend. She just had to get past two detentions first…

Typical Granger, Draco thought to himself as he headed into Snape's room for detention and stopped in the doorway, watching her looming over her desk as she put her bag down on the seat next to her. He knew if he could just get there early, she would already be there without anybody else around and he could have some fun.

He meandered his way over to her before she could sit down. "Granger," He soothed behind her. She gasped and turned around, clearly startled. "Is this seat taken?" He pointed at the one her bag was occupied in.

"Yes," She said through clenched teeth.

"No need to get feisty with me, Hermione." He smiled. Her face was priceless when he used her name. "Cat got your tongue?" He teased and then pretended to see something in her hair. "You've got a fuzz in your…" He slowly reached over to her head and she braced herself, he grabbed one of her cocoa curls. Draco laughed and pulled his hand back, releasing her hair. "It was just your hair!" Hermione made a face at him and crossed her arms.

"Feel free to get out of my face anytime, Malfoy." He frowned at her and put his hands on the table, trapping her between his arms. He leaned in closer to her face and she felt his hot breath on her and her nostrils flared from his fresh mint breath.

"Is this close enough?" He asked, staring dead into her eyes, but this time it was harsh compared to the Great Hall. She leaned back as far as she could before the edge of the table rubbed into her enough where it would make a mark on her back.

Two Gryffindor girls entered the room, chatting amongst themselves and Draco quickly drew back and turned his head around to look at them. He cleared his throat and looked back at Hermione before he took a few steps away from her. Giving her a once over, he cocked an eyebrow at her, and returned to his seat from yesterday.

Hermione breathed heavily, still positioned as he left her, and put a hand to her chest. What the hell was that? Was all she could think. When Ginny entered the room, she dropped her hand and turned around to sit down. "Hey," Ginny said, taking the seat next to her. Hermione breathed in, and she could still smell the fresh mint from his breath. "You okay?" Ginny asked, staring at her. "You're looking kind of pale… are you sick?" Her friend asked, worriedly.

"Maybe," Hermione answered her, staring at the back of Malfoy's head. "Maybe that's it, I'm so sick I'm going delusional." Ginny raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" Hermione averted her eyes, a look of uneasiness settling on her face, as nausea took over her body. Things were beginning to get weirder. That was the closest she had ever been to Malfoy. And she had no idea how she felt about that.

A/N- Hmm any thoughts on what might happen next? It gets a bit steamy! I, once again and will continue to say, thank you for reading and tell me your thoughts and predictions!

Did anyone see Tom Felton in USA Today (yesterday)? My friend told me the guy next to her on the plane was reading it so I went out and bought a copy for myself, haha. He's so charming, oh my, tomorrow I'm meeting him! I could seriously cry, how are they going to get me away from him? I'll be waiting hours (even though I would wait days for him!) Okay sorry about that rant but I needed to get that out!

Brittany