As promised a longer chapter this time- I LOVED writing this one and the next promises to be even juicer ;) not that I'm trying to emotionally blackmail you into continuing to read! I'd also love some reviews on this one- I spent a lot of time on it (and considering as I said in the last chapter I'm aiming to move over 11,000 miles in the next three weeks... yeah time is a little tight) please make it worth it!

-H

"Hey, Granger," Draco stood behind the empty chair opposite her with a sheepish look on his face, "Do you mind if I sit?"
She glanced around the busy library and gave a half-shrug, "Sit wherever you please."
"I don't want to disturb you."
She gave a heavy sigh and deliberately did not look up from her essay, he seemed to take the point and quietly dragged out the chair and began to busy himself with his own homework. After a long while of nothing but the scratching of quills and an uncomfortable silence, Hermione finished the main argument of her essay for Snape and sat back with a lament of relief. Draco glanced up at her and she caught his eye, "It's been a long week," she muttered.
He knew all too well the feeling, he had spent almost every night in the Room of Requirement, and when he had managed to get any sleep at all, it had been restless and fitful. It was clear to her that he was suffering, though she was almost afraid to ask why with Harry's suspicions at the back of her mind, but at the same time… she had missed his company just a little.
Since Ron and Lavender had become a couple she had found the Common Room almost unbearable, but she had Harry for company most days now, as even he seemed to find the two insufferable to be around which was comforting, even if it had the side-effect of Draco's prolonged absence.
But Harry was at Quiddich practice tonight, and while she was still annoyed with Malfoy, she found that now he was in front of her she wasn't as angry as she had been. In fact she was more concerned than anything else, and it must have shown on her face because he asked, "Why are you frowning at me?"
"Why are you sitting with me? I was under the impression you weren't speaking to me," she snapped back.
"I thought you were the one who wasn't talking to me," his tone remained soft, "And the other night… you looked like you wanted to be alone."
You were wrong, she thought, but said nothing. There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before Draco asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Something is clearly upsetting you, and I don't mean just my arrogant friends, or yours either for that matter," he gave her a knowing look and she blushed, was it that obvious that Ron and Lavender had upset her?
Apparently it was, and she could tell that he disapproved. However what stopped her from getting annoyed at him judging her was the fact that he'd noticed at all, "I'd rather not talk about it," she whispered. He was still watching her closely and she flicked her hair out of her eyes, "I need to finish my conclusion, Snape is being overly critical with all my essays and I need to concentrate."
"Do I distract you still?" he murmured quietly with a half-smile.
"Annoyingly, yes."
His smile developed into a full grin, and while it was nice to see it also highlighted how tired he looked, "Do you want to talk about what's going on with you, Draco?" she asked.
His smile disappeared and he looked back down at his books, "No."
She sighed inwardly, why were they even dancing around this friendship? It was so clear that it wasn't going to work, not when they couldn't trust one-another. Draco must have been thinking along the same lines because he suddenly said, "I'm not sleeping well, it's making me irritable."
"You could try a sleeping draught?"
"And endure a lecture on time-management and a bunch of questions from Madam Pomfrey? No thank you."
"I meant you could brew one yourself, you have all of the ingredients from Potions," she said.
"Yes, but who has the time," he joked, glancing up at her, the sparkle back in his eyes.
"Well if you aren't sleeping anyway you could take the time," she joked.
Draco winced imperceptivity, if only she knew, but the thought of her ever finding out gave him cold sweats. "I'd be worried I'd poison myself."
"That's why you follow the instructions," she pointed out, flicking through her textbook idly. He admired the way the breeze from the pages moved her hair back from her eyes and he got lost in them for a moment, glancing away quickly when she looked back up at him.
He smiled, "Ah, so that's where I've been going wrong in Potions. I was just throwing all of the ingredients in and hoping for the best."
She giggled, "I'll go find you a recipe." She got up and headed for the Potions section of the bookshelves.
He watched her go until she was out of sight, before making a –probably stupid- split-second decision to follow her. She was half-way up a ladder, pulling a leather-bound book off a high shelf when he reached her and when she looked down and realised he was there she missed a step and fell the last few feet to the floor, he caught her waist to keep her upright and she fell into him. "You scared me," she was a little breath-less and a slow flush was creeping up her neck.
"I'm sorry, I-" he didn't know what to say, why had he followed her into the stacks? "I didn't mean to sneak up on you, but at least I was here to catch you."
She pressed the book into his chest, "This is the one you're looking for."
He stared down at her, "Thanks." He had one hand clutching the textbook, the other was still holding her waist. His throat suddenly went so dry he didn't think he could speak, and she seemed to have been inflicted by the same because her lips were parted just a fraction, like there were words on the tip of her tongue, but she was just looking up at him with a confused expression. There was a heartbeat of a possibility, before the moment broke and Hermione leant back enough that there was breathing room between them again.
"I meant to ask," she began, "what were you doing in the library on Saturday night?"
He grimaced, "Not sleeping. I was picking up a book for this- project I was working on… for a class… what about you? I would have thought that there was a big party happening in Gryffindor Tower?"
His eyes were sparkling with something unreadable, he knows, she thought but out loud all she said was, "I wasn't in the party spirit. Ron and I… had an argument."
"Was it you that left those claws marks all over him? I didn't peg you for the kind of girl who cat fights," he sounded amused.
"It was hardly a fight, we just had a falling out."
"And haven't reconciled?"
Why does he care, she thought, and shook her head as an answer.
Draco had never been more grateful for the stupidity of Ronald Weasley, "Well I know advice from a Slytherin might not be your first choice, but in my experience there's little point in getting mad when you can get even." He cocked an eyebrow and was surprised when she smirked.
"I'm worried you're going to end up a bad influence on me, Malfoy."
"I'm just looking out for you," he told her and was rewarded when she smiled.
A seventh year Ravenclaw student suddenly appeared at the end of the aisle and saw them standing so close, immediately backing off with a confused frown. Draco coughed to hide his discomfort and Hermione said, "We should probably go back and finish our homework."
"We probably should."
"I mean, that's why we're in the library right?" she checked.
He glanced down and the book he was holding and then back at her, "Yes, that's why."
They re-emerged from the stacks and Hermione's stomach fell to her feet, Harry was waiting at her table and was watching the two of them with a dumbstruck expression, "Everything alright Hermione?"
"I thought you were at practice," she squeaked.
"It finished early- the rain made it so impossible to see," he gestured at the window and she saw smears of water on the glass. She hadn't realised a storm had begun.
Harry was looking between her and Draco, "Was he bothering you?"
Hermione opened her mouth, but before she could utter a word Draco snapped, "Typical Potter- bumbling in to a situation and running his mouth before he understands it."
"We were studying," Hermione exclaimed, frustrated that a fight was apparently inevitable.
Draco snorted, "But why would you want to study with me Granger? That'll be his next question."
"It's not a ridiculous question," Harry said hotly, "Considering how you usually treat her."
"And how do you treat her any better? You use her to stay ahead in class and then dismiss her whenever something more exciting than homework is going on!"
Harry took a threatening step closer, "Hermione is one of my best friends, you have no idea what our friendship means. Who do you think you are to even question it? She despises you, we all do."
"You use her!" Draco was fuming.
"And you are never anything but awful to her, so stay the hell away from her!"
"EXCUSE ME!" Hermione shouted, mortified that so many people had stopped studying to watch them, "But do you think I might be allowed to speak for myself?" They both turned to look at her and she said, "Harry I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, and Draco wasn't being his usual self, we were studying Potions."
"His usual self," Draco muttered and Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. He had admitted to her that he was normally less than pleasant, it was hardly meant as an insult. "You know what," he continued, "I'm out. I'll leave you two alone so Potter can copy your answers to whatever essay he hasn't bothered to do yet."
He threw the potions book she had just fetched for him down on the table, grabbed his bag and stormed out of the library leaving Harry and Hermione standing in an awkward silence while the rest of the library instantly broke out in whispers. Hermione began to gather her things to head back to the Common Room, and when Harry wasn't looking she tucked the book Draco had discarded into her bag.