The Harry Potter Universe and its characters are the sole property of J. K. Rowling. By using them below, I am in no way claiming ownership.

Hermione picked up the copy of 'Cursed Artefacts and Where to Find Them' with a look of distaste. Draco noticed and smirked back at her. 'I can't believe it actually came in handy.'

'We don't know if it will yet,' she replied, flipping through the pages. 'Have you found anything?' Draco shook his head, still skimming the pages of 'Black Magic for Dummies'. It had been at least two hours since the witch showed up in his chamber and forced him into the impromptu study session. Admittedly, he'd been searching through his stack of books half-heartedly, his eyes often drifting over to the stretched-out figure on his bed. Hermione was certainly more interesting than trying to figure out the identity of imposter-Malfoy. Once again his eyes began to trail up her form, starting from her ankle-socks and slowly working their way upwards. Hermione sighed and flung the book back down onto the bed, interrupting his gaze around waist-level. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and faced him. 'Ok,' she ran her fingers through her hair, causing the curls to stand out more around her face. 'We can figure this out. This all started after the ball, right?'

'Right.' Draco replied, abandoning any pretence of looking through his book.

'And the first time I saw him, he was wearing the costume from the ball as well. So...' she bit her lip, thinking. Draco felt the excitement twisting around his abdomen - it was one of his favourite expressions on her. 'Whoever set this thing on you, must have done it whilst you were still in costume as well. I'm guessing it must mimic you completely, at least at the start.'

'So he's not wearing my costume anymore?'

'Um...' Hermione blushed, remembering the encounter in her dormitory. 'No. He isn't wearing the Yule ball costume anymore.' Draco picked up on her embarrassment.

'He's wearing something worse?' He asked, horrified. 'What's he wearing?'

'Nothing, Draco.'

'No, I need to know. What's he wearing?' Hermione blushed harder.

'He wasn't wearing anything, Draco.' He paled.

'You mean...' Hermione nodded. He suddenly found it difficult to make eye-contact with the witch and glanced back at the textbook. 'Did you see...'

'No,' Hermione quickly insisted. It was a lie, but it was what Draco needed to hear. He let out a sigh of relief.

'Ok, good.'

'If a magical artefact was going to copy you, it would need to either see you or get some of your DNA at the time you were wearing the outfit.' She continued, quickly changing the subject away from Malfoy's body.

'I think I would have noticed being accosted by a dark wizard after you left me,' Draco replied, narrowing his eyes. Hermione threw up her hands.

'I don't know then. Are you sure you didn't meet anyone?'

'No, after you left nothing happ... oh.' Draco fell silent.

'Oh? Oh, what?' He grimaced.

'I may have smashed that mirror in the room of requirement. You don't think it was a dark artefact, do you?' Hermione uncrossed her legs and scooted up the bed to lean against the wall, needing the cool stone against her back to keep her focus. Draco could be awfully distracting sometimes. She frowned.

'It wasn't a dark artefact, per se...'

'How do you know?' Draco interrupted. Hermione sighed,

'It was the Mirror of Erised.' He looked back at her blankly. 'It shows you what you want most.' Still nothing. 'You looked into it, remember, and you said you saw me?' She felt silly for pointing it out but Draco didn't seem uncomfortable by the accusation that she was his heart's desire.

'Oh,' he grimaced again, but this time the expression was tinged with embarrassment. 'I didn't actually look in it.' Hermione's face fell. 'I thought it was just a mirror,' he quickly explained, 'I didn't think it meant anything.'

Hermione seemed genuinely hurt and pulled her legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees.

'Hermione?' Draco asked, tentatively. He got up from the desk and went to sit on the edge of the bed. 'What did you see?'

She looked on the verge of tears.

'I saw you,' she admitted. 'I saw myself with a boy who wanted to be with me.'

Any enjoyment about her proximity was crushed, all the fuzzy feelings in his abdomen shattered by her admission. Had he ever really considered Hermione's feelings, in his games with her?