It had always been this way, Draco thought. He would take the long way back to the Slytherin common room after practice every day, always with a new excuse as to why he would be late. Taking the long way around the castle, past the Astronomy tower, up the spiraling staircases till he reached his destination. Every day he performed this exhausting ritual, hiding from the occasional questioning eyes of his fellow classmates as he darted through the quiet castle. Most of the students were dining in the Great Hall, yet a few stragglers were always about, perhaps even performing their own secret rituals. Draco often thought of this, the connections between students alike. How very often he was surprised that they were just like him, yet so very different.
So on this early September evening, as the setting sun shone valiantly through the castle's high windows, Draco walked with a fervor, having been so long denied this secret guilty pleasure over the course of a summer. How he had missed the anticipation of seeing her, neck craned at such a delightfully elegant angle, over a book larger than her own head. Fingers passionately gliding over leather-bound books, hair cascading down her petite frame as she greedily absorbed new knowledge. On this peculiar ritual, Draco often thought, "this will be the time I appear to her. This will be the day I show myself." Yet day after day, Draco silently paced the library's floors, glancing at her every few moments, until, exhausted and full of longing, he escaped to his more public routines. It was always a different girl, so deliriously excited to be chosen by the Slytherin prince, willing to do anything for him. They didn't realize they would never be good enough for him. They would never be Hermione.