A/N Hey everybody! I'm sorry it took me so long to get back but I've been trying to write ahead! I finally finished another one of my stories, It's Complicated!, and I'm almost done with this one! That being said I'm ahead enough that I'm going to try to update every Sunday, once the story is finished I'll update on Thursday's as well! It's so hot outside that I'll curl up inside and write all day!

Please Review! They make us authors exceptionally happy! - Casper

A couple of weeks later Kat and Draco were back in the library in their office. They had spent their time since forming this department learning higher levels of different kinds of magic. Kat in particular focused on curse breaking, she assumed that most people with these kinds of artifacts would have everything heavily warded and she wanted to be prepared. Malfoy had been focusing on spells and potions that would allow for moving undetected. They decided that having both of them understand (and be able to perform) how to counter magic on objects was also important. Both were adept at understanding Ancient Runes already so they studied that together, but it wasn't as big a focus.

One day the two were sitting quietly in the chairs that they had conjured by the bookshelves when Malfoy suddenly spoke.

"Why aren't we practicing dueling?"

Shocked at the sudden noise, Kat took a moment to respond "Oh, I don't know to be quite honest."

"We've never spoken about what would happen if something happens and we're caught. I can't imagine that they would just let us walk out." Malfoy said so slowly it was like he was mocking Kat.

"I know that. I was just commenting on how I'm surprised that we've never thought about it. I suppose you want to practice some now?"

Malfoy nodded and they both moved towards the middle of the room. Before they got started Kat turned to Malfoy when she realized something.

"We need to set ground rules."

"Please don't tell me you're going to let your Gryffindor sensibilities get in the way?"

Despite the fact that the two of them hadn't spoken much, there hadn't been animosity between them. They both were quite intelligent, and after the first couple of days together, neither had any issue asking the other for clarification or help. After their interaction at the ball when she let down her guard while ogling him, she was determined to hate his personality in order to try and ignore her attraction to him. However, after dealing with a decidedly less antagonistic Malfoy the past few weeks, the attraction was getting harder to ignore and it was only getting stronger. In her opinion, she had behaved admirably and shown incredible restraint. Deciding to throw restraint to the wind she moved closer so that she was able to whisper in his ear.

"Trust me Malfoy, I have no such sensibilities. But I don't think it's a good idea to do some of the things to you that I would like to."

She looked at Malfoy at this point and felt a slight thrill when she watched his eyes darken into a stormy grey color. Determined to keep the upper hand she stepped back and spoke in a normal voice again.

"I'll have no qualms using any means necessary to achieve our goals; however, I don't think it wise to be using spells here that could seriously harm each other. That would be counterproductive."

Kat was surprisingly pleased when she noticed that his eyes had not lessened in their darkness, but despite his apparent inner conflict, he just nodded in agreement.

They practiced dueling and didn't stop when Padma and Ernie informed them that they were leaving. The other two kept pretty regular hours, from about 8 in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon. They barely acknowledged the other two leaving used to their hours by this point. Kat and Malfoy were both perfectionists and wanted to be fully prepared for anything that could come up. As such, the two of them were there from about 7 in the morning until 6 or 7 in the evening. At one point their current duel had been ongoing for about 40 minutes and Kat was getting tired. Dueling for over 4 hours with minimal breaks was seriously testing her endurance. The git over there doesn't even look tired. I mean his face is not red and splotchy like I'm sure mine is, and his hair! How is it still so perfect looking?! I don't even want to think about what my hair looks like. She was brought out of her musings as she was forced to dive and roll away from what looked to be a jelly legs jinx. They had both started out with solely non-verbal spells; however, as time went on, they both were forced to speak the spells out loud. Now everything was mainly verbal except for the random silent spell every once and a while. Deciding that she was either going to win off of this spell or she was going out, she threw all her concentration into a non-verbal bat bogey hex. Surprised since Kat hadn't used a non-verbal in over 20 minutes, Malfoy wasn't prepared for the spell and Kat's spell hit him dead on. Immediately after sending the spell, Kat collapsed onto the ground and stared at the ceiling. When, after a few minutes, she still hadn't be hit by a spell nor had Malfoy said anything she glanced over at him.

"Bloody Hell" was all that she said once she looked at his face. Her spell had apparently been much stronger than she had anticipated because Malfoy's face was covered in blood and his nose appeared to be broken by the bats that had been coming out of his nose.

"Malfoy, I swear I didn't mean to do that. I used the last of my energy in that spell. Here let me fix it." Ignoring his protests she grabbed his face.

"Episkey. Tergeo. There all better" She smiled satisfactorily looking at his now healed and clean face. Her smile faltered when she noticed how close that they were together. She stood up exceptionally quickly and started speaking again. "Really though, I am sorry. I didn't mean for it to be that strong."

"I gathered as much. At first I was pissed as hell. Then I saw you lying on the ground not even paying attention and I realized that that must have been a last ditch effort. Now I'm just impressed because that was a hell of a spell." Malfoy drawled out before collapsing on the ground next to Kat.

"You know. This isn't very dignified. What would your mother say?" Kat joked before realizing who she was talking to. At the silence that followed her comment she hastily said "Sorry. I forgot. I don't know anything about your life."

A moment later he responded, "No you're right. My mother would be astounded and ashamed of my lack of etiquette here."

Kat looked over and upon seeing the slight smile on his face, she relaxed and they both fell into silence once more.

About 20 minutes later Kat abruptly sat up.

"I'm hungry. I want food."

"I'm hungry as well. Do you want to go get food?"

Kat looked at him in surprise. "You won't mind being seen with me?"

He just shrugged in response "Why would I care?"

He stood up and offered his hand to Kat, slightly hesitantly she placed her hand in is. She was; however, unprepared for him pulling her up so soon after and she stumbled into him. If not for him placing both hands on her waist, they both would've fell to the ground. She glanced up to thank him but the words died in her mouth when she saw the way that he was looking at her. Yes, she found him attractive and of course she would love nothing better than to shag him senseless. But they worked together and she wasn't prepared to have to deal with the aftermath. After the war, she had learned the hard way that sleeping with someone who you weren't emotionally attached to was a bad idea. She wasn't about to make the same mistake again. She quickly moved out of his arms, called her cloak to her and gestured that she was waiting. Ignoring the way his chuckle made her feel, she walked with him to the floo and then flooed to Diagon Alley.

Upon arriving, they went to a little café near Flourish and Blotts. They sat down and began talking about some of the spells that they had come across in their research. Kat was happy that he enjoyed many of the same things that she did. They both got into an animated discussion about Quidditch, he was a fan of the Falmouth Falcons while she favored Puddlemere. However, he had no issues talking about more intelligent topics such as politics, arithmancy, ancient runes, transfiguration or potions. It was when they started talking about potions that the wheels began turning in Kat's head.

"Potions!" She exclaimed interrupting Malfoy.

"Yes. Potions, that's what we've been talking about the last few minutes. I was under the impression that you were semi intelligent."

"Prat. We should brew some healing potions! Maybe even practice some healing spells if we're going to continue to practice dueling."

Malfoy was silent as he thought about it and then nodded his head.

"You're right. It's foolish to expect that we'll never get hurt. Another thing that we should look into brewing would be polyjuice potion. It's more effective than simple glamour charms."

Kat nodded her head in agreement before checking her watch. "Oh hell, I have to go. I'm meeting up with Ginny tomorrow morning and I'd like to get some sleep. Days with her are always exhausting!" She left some money on the table and with a wave to Malfoy she apperated home.