Butterflies

Hermione could help the way her heart started racing and she was filled with a combination of butterflies and the urge to throw up but as much as she told herself this was wrong and that she should turn back now her legs kept moving forwards, carrying her towards him.

She knew that she had to be breaking about a hundred school rules. Not only was she out after hours but she was abusing her power as a prefect and using it for selfish reasons. She knew that if anyone came along they would believe she was simply performing her nightly patrols. Plus she was condoning, even aiding, another student in sneaking around the school after hours.

Still as the big, smooth wooden doors to the library came in to view Hermione felt her heart speed up even faster. This was her sacred place and she really couldn't tell if she was desecrating the peace and sanctity of her special refuge from the rest of the world or if she was simply adding to the happy memories she would have there.

It had started accidentally. It was no secret that they despised each other but when she had found him in the back corner of the library crying over a transfiguration essay that he just couldn't do, she took pity on him.

It was really difficult at first, he certainly didn't make it any easier throwing around the m-word like it was no tomorrow, but slowly and reluctantly he began to warm up to her. First the names stop but by the end their secret little study sessions had become warm and friendly, something that Hermione always looked forward to and quite often they were the highlight of her day.

She supposed that her fondness for Draco Malfoy was starting to become more and more apparent but really when Harry kept going on and on about his theory that the youngest Malfoy was involved in some nefarious plot she couldn't help but snap.

It was completely ridiculous, she was sure that anytime Draco spent outside of class, his common room or the great hall he spent with her and really the only times he could be sneaking off were the ridiculously early hours of the morning.

Hermione placed her hands on the worn wood and pushed gently. She half expected the door to still be locked, as it was supposed to be, but it swung slowly and soundlessly inward.

The library looked so different in the dark and Hermione couldn't help the pang of fear that she felt as she crept amongst the dark shelves. It was remarkably cold for a castle where every single inhabitant could cast a warming charm and Hermione felt herself shivering. She half expected some horrific monster to come crashing out of the darkness of every shadow and she felt the grip on her wand tighten painfully.

Something creaked suddenly on her right and Hermione jumped pressing her back against the shelves and pointing a shaking wand in the direction of the noise.

"Hermione?" a familiar voice whispered and Hermione felt her whole body relax. Her wand fell and she slumped like a rag doll against the side of the books.

"Draco," she breathed looking up as a blonde head popped around the side of the bookcase, "you scared me."

The Slytherin boy smirked at her but it was not the same smirk as it had once been. It was no longer filled with a smug self-arrogance or disgust for the person he was smirking at. This smirk was filled with amusement as he looked at the dishevelled sixth year Gryffindor in front of him. "Sorry."

Hermione looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren't really even sorry and you just nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Draco couldn't help it, she looked so offended and so damn adorable that he laughed. Maybe a little too loudly but it was a sound that Hermione had never heard him make before, one filled with genuine happiness. "Oh don't look at me like that," he scolded playfully, "come on."

Hermione allowed him to lead her by the hand through the towering stacks to the darkest corner of the library where he had transfigured a few big comfy chairs and a large table and candle light bathed the corner in such a warm glow that it made it look almost homely, almost romantic.

"Draco, this is lovely. You didn't have to go to so much trouble! We're only studying."

She couldn't tell in the half-light but it almost seemed like a pink flush tinged his pale cheeks and he quickly dropped her hand as if it had burnt her.

"Sorry I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. I mean you're going so far out of your way Hermione just to help me and I made the first five years of our acquaintance hell for you so I was trying to do something nice. Sorry."

Hermione couldn't help but smile fondly and she felt her heart warm as he looked so completely devastated. She hadn't meant to upset him of course but the fact that he could easily display this level of emotional care towards her just confirmed everything she had thought or hoped over the last few months.

She knew now that Harry was wrong about Draco and that he wasn't doing anything he shouldn't be, and more importantly Hermione knew she could finally act upon those butterflies.