AN1: I am so sorry for the wait! I barely made it under my one month time limit! Again: I am so sorry—but my life has been so hectic. And whenever I've had the time to write, I haven't had the patience or the energy.

Disclaimer: I only own the massive amounts of homework that I am assigned. I shall never own Harry Potter.

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Hermione was having a brilliant day thus far. She had gotten all her homework done, had gone to sleep at a decent hour the night before, and for once, had been up before Lavender and Parvati and didn't have to wake up to their idle chatter. She took a nice warm shower, carefully dressed and put on some makeup and walked lazily down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

On the other side of the castle, Draco Malfoy was not having a good day—not at all. He didn't have any of his homework done because he fell asleep in the midst of doing it all. He didn't have time to take a shower or eat breakfast. The night before he forgot to set his alarm and woke up five minutes before his first class was to start. Cleaning spells worked—but he never felt clean when he used them. Showers were what he preferred.

In a hurry, he stuffed his parchment, books, and quills haphazardly into his bag, threw on a mildly clean set of clothes that he'd picked up off the floor, and ran out the door. He'd be lucky if he made it to Transfiguration on time.

For Malfoy, the rest of the day was as bad as the beginning. He was falling asleep in class, getting less than great marks on previous assignments and just not feeling good in general. To top that off, he had been getting the strange feeling that people were laughing at him behind his back all day. He mentally ran through his attire and appearance but could not think of anything to laugh at. He shrugged it off and proceeded to go through his miserable day.

By the time dinner was over, Draco was completely ready to crash. He retired to his room and collapsed on the bed. He was half asleep when Blaise walked in.

"Don't you have a prefect meeting in the head dorms?"

Draco let out several colorful expletives and ran to the dorms. "Unity," he gasped, completely out of breath. The portrait swung open to reveal...nobody. "Blaise," he muttered angrily, "prepare to die."

Hermione, who was sitting on one of the armchairs by the fire, chuckled from behind a book. "Running a little late, aren't we, Malfoy?"

He didn't answer.

"Someone needed to tell you what we discussed tonight and I, being the great friend I am, volunteered to stay and wait for you to show up." Hermione put down her book. She took one look at her exhausted classmate and laughed. Draco glared at her coldly. Above most everything, he loathed being laughed at, especially when he didn't know why. It didn't help that he had been feeling paranoid about that all day.

"Yes?" His voice was emotionless. Hermione ceased her laughs at his tone.

"Are you okay, Draco? You seem off."

He scoffed. "Well, excuse me if I don't like having others laugh at me for no apparent reason."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, I wasn't laughing at you. It's just...your tie looks ridiculous!" He looked down and sighed heavily.

"Today has just not been my day." He reached down to straighten it. When finished, he looked up only to see the Gryffindor giggling silently at him.

"What now?"

"Is that seriously how you fix your ties? That's so wrong."

"What?" Draco looked down in confusion.

"Here, let me fix it." Hermione walked up to him and took his tie in her hands. "Honestly, Malfoy, even you should know how to correctly tie a tie."

She grinned and when he frowned at her and rolled her eyes and fixed his tie. His hands hovered awkwardly over hers as she untied and retied his tie. The action only took a minute, but to both, it seemed like ages. They were both hypersensitive to the other's presence. It was an atmosphere that they had never had before: the kind that appears between two good friends that have just crossed an invisible threshold into unknown territory. They weren't just friends, and they weren't anything more. They were in the middle and neither was sure what to make of it.

Draco looked at the small, graceful hands that worked to fix his tie. He wondered how he had never noticed how slim and beautiful her hands were. He moved his gaze and stared directly at her.

Hermione kept her eyes resolutely focused on his tie. She could feel his penetrating stare and wanted nothing to do with it. She didn't allow her mind to wander into the dangerous more-than-friends-zone. That would complicate everything. She loved the playful friendship that they currently had. Yes, she wanted more, but not enough to completely risk their friendship; yet even in her head that argument wasn't very convincing.

Hermione felt his gaze slide off of her and her body loosened. It was safe to look at him now. She was sure that they wouldn't make eye contact. If they did, that would be the catalyst into something new. She looked up at him and took a sharp intake of breath when she met his alluring blue eyes.

A blush rose to her cheeks and she slowly moved her hands back to her sides, all the while not breaking their eye contact.

"I'm going to go," she said softly. "I have loads of homework that I want to get a head start on." But before she could even think to turn and go, Draco put a hand on her cheek. Hermione froze. A huge silence befell them—it seemed as large as the Hogwarts castle itself. His eyes scanned her face before resting on her lips, just for a second. A second was all it took for Hermione to process what was happening. His face inched nearer and nearer to hers, and though her head screamed ill consequences and curses at her, she stood slightly on her toes, closed her eyes and met him halfway.

Their lips touched and the voices in her head were instantly silenced. So this was what it was like, to kiss someone and not only to see fireworks, but to feel them as well.

They pulled away and Hermione's eyes opened. On instinct, she ran her tongue lightly over her lips. It was all she could to keep from throwing herself at him and kissing him until the sun rose. The analytical and logical part of her mind was telling her to stop and ask him what this changed their relationship to, but the other part was telling her to shut up. For once, she listened to the other part and succumbed to the sudden desire that had bloomed in her chest. She grabbed him by his newly tied tie and pulled his lips onto hers.

Suddenly, Draco's day got a whole lot better.

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AN2: The amount of reviews from the last chapter was kind of disappointing. Please, review! ALL OF YOU!

More reviews = faster updates.

Plus, I am having surgery soon, so I'll have nothing else to do but sleep, eat and write. ((Because I'll be on a one-week break from school. YAY!))