{ 4 }

"What in the fuck is going on here?!"

I stiffened at the loud, crude voice that echoed down the hall. Hermione turned completely rigid in my arms. Her fingernails bit into my chest and a softly muttered "of fucking course" drifted to my ears.

I did not have to look to see that Ron Weasley was the source of the interruption any more than she did.

Her breaths came in short gasps. I could practically feel her willing herself to stop crying.

"I really don't think it's any of your business, Weasley." I sneered at him.

"The hell it isn't!" He growled in return.

She pulled in a deep, gasping breath, held it then released it slowly. Only then did I realize I was rubbing her back in small circles.

"Get your hands off of her, Malfoy."

I finally looked up at him. Weasley had grown into himself over the years. He was now taller than me by a few inches at least. Strong and imposing, I suppose, although I still see him as the sniveling twerp he was in first year. We've all grown up since then, though, haven't we?

Her hands slowly flexed against my chest, relaxing the grip she had on my shirt before reaching up to wipe the moisture from her eyes.

"Okay, then?" I asked her quietly, making sure Weasley could not hear me.

She took another deep breath and slowly nodded in return. My hands slipped off her waist as she took a slow step backwards. She rolled her shoulders back. I watched as she rebuilt the walls she had been hiding behind before she turned to face her fellow Gryffindor.

She nodded at him once, then without another word, she walked away.

He watched her. I figured he would chase after her like a lost puppy.

He did not. He just watched her go. Then his eyes turned to me, narrowed, and he glared.

"That's just great. She won't even talk to me, but you she'll cuddle up to in the hallway." Disgust dripped off his words. "At least now I know she really has gone completely barmy."

He shook his head and turned away.

"You know, Weasley. She could just be dealing with the after effects of living through a bloody war."

He stopped, turned back to me with a glare on his face.

"We all lived through a bloody war, Malfoy. I lost my brother thanks to your lot. What's done is done. We won. We are the bloody heroes, not you. You are the villain. She'll get over this rebellious bullshit and realize it sooner or later." He sneered at me, crowding me against the wall. "Course, by then no one will want anything to do with a Death Eater lover like her. Not that anyone's knocking down her door anyway."

It was strange. He insulted me and it rolled off my back. As soon as he insulted her, though, rage boiled up my throat, threatening to explode.

I pushed off the wall, pulling myself up to my full height. Even though he was taller than me, I still felt as though I was looking down on him when I glared back at him.

"And you wonder why she won't talk to you? You aren't the hero, Weasley. Not for her." I hit his shoulder with mine as I moved past him, headed in the same direction down the hall in which she had disappeared only moments earlier.

"You think you are, Malfoy?" He nearly snorted in disbelief.

No. No I don't. But he doesn't need to know that.

"Maybe I am." I smirked to myself as I left him behind me, scoffing to himself.

I continued down the hall, finally finding her sitting on the window ledge at the very end. She had climbed out the window and was sitting on the ledge with her feet dangling below her, smoking a cigarette. She looked up at me as I sat down next to her.

"Weasley's a piece of hippogriff shit," I told her.

Her lip tilted up in a small smirk for half a second, then turned back down again.

"He's just pissed off at me," she shrugged her shoulder and took a drag, inhaling deeply before blowing the smoke out through her lips. "He has reason to be."

I stared at her incredulously.

"You cannot possibly believe that?"

She shrugged again.

She actually did believe it. Somehow she thought he was justified in his anger towards her.

We sat in silence for several moments. She smoked her cigarette. I watched the first years below learning how to fly. It was good. Comfortable.

"Why are you here?" She asked quietly, breaking the silence.

"Ministry ordered," I answered without a thought.

She laughed.

The sound caught me off guard and I turned to face her. A genuine smile spread across her face for a heartbeat as she shook her head.

"I meant why are you sitting on a window ledge with me?"

My eyes caught hers for a moment, then I returned to watching the first years. If I looked hard enough, I could pick my little cousin out of the crowd.

"Tristan seems to think you need a friend." I cleared my throat.

"Tristan?" She asked, looking down at the courtyard. "He's a sweet kid. For a Slytherin."

Her lips quirked up on the edges and she nudged my shoulder in a familiar, friendly way that said she was teasing.

I found my own lips tilting up in response.

"He's my cousin." I told her, hoping it wouldn't ruin her opinion of the kid.

She was quiet for a few more minutes. She finished her smoke and swung her legs back inside the window. She sat there for a moment, facing me, until I looked at her.

Her eyes were red and puffy. Her walls were back in place, but still she looked fragile. I could tell she was barely keeping it together.

"You are full of surprises, Draco Malfoy." She smirked at me, then slid through the window.

She left me sitting there by myself, watching a group of kids learn how to fly. I stayed there, leaned against the window sill with my legs propped up on the ledge, my knees bent and my arms resting comfortably over them. The sun was shining, warming me, lulling me into a false sense of security. A breeze caressed my skin and ruffled my hair. I closed my eyes, leaned back and just breathed.

It was serene. Cathartic. Exactly what I needed after an overly emotional morning. Slowly I collected my thoughts. When the clock chimed for lunch I took one final deep breath and stood, walking to the Great Hall as though nothing life altering had happened that day.

Hours later, I sat in the Slytherin common room. A Wizarding chess board sat directly in front of me. Blaise sat on the opposite side. Theo watched. Blaise had just made an ill advised move with his bishop when Pansy, Daphne and Greg joined us.

"Okay, Draco. Spill. What's going on with you and Granger?" Pansy pretended to inspect her fingernails, but I could tell by the lack of snark in her voice that she was serious.

"Didn't you hear," Theo asked with a snort. "They are not mortal enemies anymore."

A smirk lifted my lips as I remembered those words from her earlier in the day.

"Yes, well, there are a few people I would classify as not mortal enemies, but I don't walk into the Great Hall holding their hands either." She crossed her arms and popped her hip out.

Fuck.

Did she see us? Or hear a rumor? Rumor I could work with. Visual proof is something altogether different, though.

"Wait. What?" Theo leaned forward in his seat. "When did this happen?"

"This morning, before breakfast." Daphne interjected. "Greg and I saw them."

Fuck.

This is bad. Or, it could potentially be bad. Was it bad, though? Did it have to be?

I swallowed.

"You weren't in bed last night because you were with Granger?" Blaise's eyebrows raised almost comically high.

Fucking fuck!

Why did Blaise know I wasn't in bed last night? My heart might have stopped for a moment. Or two. This could be very, very bad.

"Merlin! Are you sleeping with her?" Pansy's eyes narrowed and she practically hissed as she leaned over the chessboard.

I swallowed again. Took a deep breath. If surviving a war with a megalomaniac living in my fucking house had taught me anything, it was how to control my emotions and my reactions to unexpected complications. Old habits die hard. I could feel myself slipping back into the mask that I lived behind for years.

My eyes flicked to Pansy, to Theo, and back to the chessboard. With a bored air, I moved my knight, took out Blaise's queen and put his king into checkmate.

He grimaced as the king fell.

In those few seconds, I decided. I don't have to hide anymore. I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair.

"No, I'm not sleeping with her. Yes, I was with her last night. And this morning. We may have now progressed beyond not mortal enemies to something closer to friends? Acquaintances? Hell, I don't know."

The group around me was stunned silent for several long moments. No one moved. I'm not sure they even breathed.

"But...why?" The question came from Greg. His eyebrows were crinkled in confusion.

Why, indeed? Curiosity, maybe. Redemption, certainly.

"Why not?" I posed back to them, daring them to give me a good reason why I should stay away.

Pansy flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Potter is going to kill you." She smirked. It was probably the closest I would get to an approval. Not that I needed her approval, of course. Still, it was nice knowing she would be somewhat supportive.

"Look at it this way. It would not be the first time that he tried," Theo said with a grin.

I smirked in response. That made two.

"What about your father?" Greg still had that same look of confusion on his face. He never was the sharpest quill in the pack. He did, however, raise a valid point.

Lucius had managed to convince the Wizengamot that he had been a prisoner in his own home, forced and coerced to do the Dark Lord's bidding under threat of death to his family. Honestly, it wasn't a stretch. That did not mean that his views on blood status had changed, though.

"In all fairness," Blaise answered. "It would not be the first time Lucius tried to kill you either."

I released a deep breath. That was three, and really the only three that mattered.

"Does this mean we have to start being nice to her?" Daphne crinkled her nose and shuddered before she winked at me and smiled.

I relaxed further into my seat. With Daphne behind me as well, that only left Greg.

"Maybe you could start with not mortal enemies, yes?" I rose my brow and smirked back at her.

Greg looked at each of us, shook his head, and turned away. He stalked across the room and disappeared down the dorm hallway.

"He'll come around," Blaise assured me. I wasn't so sure, but I wasn't worried about it either. He either would or he wouldn't.

"Okay, I need details." Pansy pulled up a chair and sat next to Theo, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward, resting her arm on her knee. "Did you at least kiss her?"

I sighed. It was hard to explain, and I wasn't sure I wanted to give away that much information anyway. It was between Hermione and I.

"It's not like that, Pans."

She leaned back in her chair. Her head tilted to one side as she appraised me.

"Yet." She smirked. Her hair was tossed over her shoulder, then she stood and walked away before I could respond.

Thursday morning Theo, Blaise and I were already eating breakfast before Granger entered the Great Hall. I probably would not have even noticed her entrance at all if not for Theo nudging me with his elbow.

I looked up from my plate of pancakes just in time to see her sit down at the end of the Gryffindor table, facing away from me. Her hair was pulled back on the sides and braided in streaks of red against black.

Potter, Weasley and the girl Weasley came in behind her. The two Weasley's continued on to their regular seats. Potter hesitated, then sat down next to her.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it did not seem to be an argument. Granger looked relaxed, so I returned to my breakfast and kept eating. It wasn't any of my business what she chose to talk to Potter about anyway.

I couldn't help but wonder, though. Was she finally forgiving him for whatever he had said on the train weeks earlier?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her rise suddenly. She grabbed her bag and left her breakfast sitting on the table.

Potter ran his hand through his hair as he watched her leave. Then he turned around. His eyes met mine. His nose wrinkled up as though he had smelled something fowl as he glared at me.

Irritating Potter had always been one of my favorite pastimes. This was no exception. It turns out being friends with Granger pushed his buttons better than anything I had ever tried before.

I let my lip curl up in a smirk as I lifted one eyebrow. Silently, I dared him to say something. Anything.

He was thinking about it. I could see it in his eyes. His hand curled into a fist, flexed, twitched towards his wand, then curled into a fist again.

Deliberately I pushed my plate away and stood. I could feel his eyes on me as I left the Hall. For what was possibly the first time in my life, I felt like I had the upper hand over him. Which was ridiculous because we hadn't even spoken. No hexes were exchanged. Still, I felt like I had won.

It felt damn good, too.

"Is there a particular reason why you look like the cat that ate the canary?"

Granger dropped her bag on the table next to me and slid onto the stool beside me.

"Because whatever you said to Potter this morning at breakfast made him want to hex me."

She laughed. A tinkling sound filled my heart with light and hope. And yes, I know how girly that sounds.

"To be fair, Harry always wants to hex you." She smirked as she pulled a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag.

"Taking notes today?" I asked as I opened my book.

"Nah. But if I pretend, maybe people will think I'm acting normal, whatever that means." She rolled her eyes.

"For future reference, sitting next to me is not acting normal." I nudged her shoulder and motioned to the other students in the room. Weasley and Potter were sitting two tables down, glaring in our direction.

"True," she at least acknowledged that much. "I'm okay with that, though."

She turned towards her friends, smiled and waved at them before turning back to her parchment.

Potter shook his head, mumbled something to Weasley and turned towards the front of the room. The red haired prat snickered at whatever he had said and turned away as well.

Giles started class with an extraordinarily boring lecture about the theory of displacement. I dutifully took notes. Hermione doodled an impressive sketch of the classroom on her parchment.

As soon as he asked the first question, her arm was in the air. Every question, her arm went up. He never called on her to answer. Even when she was the only one with her hand up. It was eerily similar to Professor Snape's behavior.

The bell rang and we stood up.

"Miss Granger." Giles' voice cut through the noise. "A word."

She sighed, but I could see her shoulders tense. I took my time packing up, waiting for her.

"Your detention tonight will be served in the library, in the restricted section." He handed her a scroll of parchment. "You will find your research topic and an assortment of titles to get you started. I will expect an essay on your discoveries by Monday morning."

She took the scroll from him tentatively. Her head tilted to the side.

"You want me to do research for the remainder of my detention?" She asked carefully.

He sighed and crossed his arms.

"Is that a problem?" He asked in challenge, daring her to complain about it.

"No, sir." She shook her head. I could hear the small laugh in her voice. Even though she faced away from me, I could tell she was smiling. Or trying not to.

I rolled my eyes as she turned to face me, a large grin slowly spreading across her face. Some things never change.

"Mr. Malfoy. Did you need something?" Giles asked when he realized I was still in the room.

"Just waiting on Granger." I told him. I picked both of our bags up off the table, tossed mine over my shoulder and handed the other one to her as she walked past.

Giles watched. His wide eyes darted back and forth between Granger and myself. His jaw locked until we left the classroom.

We walked side by side down the corridor, headed downstairs to the potions lab in the dungeon.

"Giles has no clue that he just made your entire fucking week, does he?" I asked her as soon as we were far enough away that he would not be able to hear us.

"Nope." She laughed. "He must not have been happy with my work in the trophy room last night?"

"He had you polishing trophies?" I shook my head. "How many did you get done?"

Blaise and I had spent an entire week in that room in fourth year detention, and we barely made it through one shelf.

"All of them." She pushed a loose curl behind her ear and bit her lip to hide a smile. "It's a simple enough charm. It took me about five minutes, give or take."

I stopped walking and stared at her for several seconds. Of course she would know the charm to polish various metals.

"You were supposed to do that without magic," I laughed.

"He didn't specify." She shrugged her shoulder before continuing down the stairs to the dungeon.

As I followed, I couldn't help but wonder how many students she had saved from that monotonous detention task. Then there were the professors that would now have to come up with a new task for them to complete.

Like a random research project that would be punishment to literally any student at Hogwarts except for Hermione Granger.

After potions, I somehow managed to be the last person out of the classroom. Everyone else was in the Great Hall eating dinner by the time I packed up and walked into the deserted hallway.

Unfortunately, when I got to the stairs I realized the hallway was not nearly as deserted as it should have been. Potter and Weasley were standing there waiting for me.

"Malfoy," Potter crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "We need to talk."

"Really, Potter?" I mirrored his stance. "I can't imagine anything I would need to talk to you about."

"We know what you're doing with Hermione." Weasley tapped his wand against his leg.

I raised my brow and smirked at the pair. Whatever they had come up with, this should be good.

"And that would be?"

The two of them shared a look.

"You are using her." Potter pushed himself off the wall to stand next to Weasley. They blocked the stairway so I couldn't leave if I wanted to. "Being seen with Hermione will not make people forget what you did."

Of course they would think I'm only being friendly with her to improve my own reputation. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Barely. They could have at least come up with something original.

"For once, I agree with you, Potter." I'll give him that one. Lucky for me, I could give a shite what anyone else thinks of me.

His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer.

"Then leave her alone. She doesn't need you messing with her mind right now."

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"You know what, Potter? Maybe you should tell her to leave me alone. Maybe she's trying to disassociate herself from the two of you, and she figures hanging out with me is the best way to do it."

That was entirely possible. It would explain why she was ignoring them but perfectly comfortable with me.

"We already told her to stay the hell away from you." He clenched his fists together, then ran one hand through his hair and sighed.

Ah. So that's what he had said to her at breakfast, then.

"Yeah? And how did that work for you?" These two had to be the biggest idiots in the world. I might even put them lower on the intelligence scale than Crabbe and Goyle.

"She doesn't seem to think she needs protection from you." Weasley chimed in.

I have to admit, I was surprised by his tone. He did not sound angry as I would have expected. He seemed more resigned.

"She is a brilliant witch. She might be on to something."

He shook his head and scoffed.

"What is going on here?" We all turned to the staircase where Hermione was standing on the third step, leaning against the wall with one hip and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Granger. These two were just giving us their blessing." I watched as Potter's face turned red and Weasley rolled his eyes.

"What is it that we need their blessing for?" Her eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"Not a thing, actually." I shouldered my way past the dimwitted duo. "Here. You forgot your bag in the potions lab."

"Thanks!" Her face lit up with a smile. "That's actually where I was headed. I didn't expect to see the three of you getting all chummy."

She turned her back on them and started back up the stairs.

"Oh yeah. We're well on our way to being best mates, aren't we Potter?" I smirked at him before following her.

"Yeah, right." Her laugh echoed off the stone. "Let me guess, they were telling you to stay away from me."

I had no doubt they could still hear us. We weren't even halfway up the stairs.

"You know they are just worried about you, right?" I wasn't saying it just to get under Potter's skin. I knew it was true. Anyone could see they were trying to help her the only way they knew how.

The problem with Gryffindors is that they jump in without regard for the consequences. They couldn't even see that the more they reached for her, the further they were pushing her away.

Her steps faltered. She turned to face me, then she looked over her shoulder at the two friends she had left behind.

"I don't need them to worry about me," she said with a sigh. She looked back at me before going on. "I just need them to support me."

Her eyes held mine for a heartbeat, then she turned and walked away. I stayed there at the top of the stairs for a long moment, then I looked back down the stairs.

To me, it was obvious. She had said it as clear as possible. Stop telling me what to do. Start supporting my decisions. Simple.

Time would only tell if they got the message or not.

Dinner was already in full swing by the time I sat down and filled my plate.

"I see you walked in with Granger again," Theo said with a raised eyebrow.

"What about it?" Honestly, he already knew we were spending time together. It shouldn't be surprising that we got to dinner at the same time.

"Just an observation." He shrugged his shoulder and continued eating his chicken and mashed potatoes. "Have you reached friend status yet?"

I watched her across the Hall. She picked at her food, pushed it around on her plate, and barely ate any of it.

"Not quite yet," I told him. We were getting there, but I imagine it will take some time.

Potter and Weasley came in and sat down on either side of her. She tensed, frozen in trepidation as Potter spoke to her first, then Weasley.

Slowly she relaxed and nodded at whatever they were saying. Then she returned to pushing her food around and taking a small bite here and there. Her eyes darted up to meet mine. She gave me a half smile and returned to her food.

I would guess that meant they took her advice after all. If they had half a brain between them, they were over there apologizing profusely for their behavior and begging for forgiveness. I have serious doubts that they have the mental capacity for such, but miracles do happen I suppose.

If she forgave them, would she stop sitting next to me in classes? Or talking to me in the halls?

Logically, the answer would be yes. If she had her best friends back, she wouldn't need companionship with me. Perhaps she had been using me all along, to manipulate those two into apologizing and give her the upper hand. That would be a very Slytherin thing to do.

Regardless, I hoped her friendship with Potter and Weasley would not affect the relationship between her and I.

Merlin, when did I become such a sap?

I averted my eyes from the Gryffindor table and finished my dinner while I half listened to Daphne and Pansy drone on about some article they had read in Witch Weekly. When I couldn't take any more, I pushed my plate away and left the Hall.

I considered getting my broom and flying for a while. It had been a strange couple of days and flying helps me process. I only made it a few steps past the doorway to the Great Hall when I heard my name behind me.

"Malfoy. Wait up."

I paused without even thinking about it. My body turned on it's own accord to face her as she joined me in the hallway.

"Granger. Did you and Potter and Weasley kiss and make up then?" I was mostly teasing. Mostly. I was also curious, of course.

She rolled her eyes and gave me a half smile.

"They apologized for cornering you and telling you to stay away from me."

I raised my brow. If that was all they had apologized for, then as predicted, they missed the mark.

"You don't really think I'm using you, right?" She looked up at me through those thick lashes of hers.

My heart stuttered in my chest as I stared into her eyes that were swimming with sorrow.

Wait. What was the question?

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"Harry said that you said that I should leave you alone and that I'm just using you." She shuffled her feet and pushed her hair behind her ears before looking back up at me.

"I just said that to get under Potter's skin."

She smiled at my assurance.

"Okay. Good." She visibly relaxed. "I have to go to the library for my detention."

She didn't move to leave though.

"Have fun with that." I waited, sensing she had more to say.

"If you really want me to leave you alone, I will." She bit her lip and looked down at her feet. Her cheeks were tinged pink and she pushed her hair back. "I mean, I didn't ask if you wanted me sitting near you in classes and you did tell me to move in arithmancy and I just thought you were being stubborn, but if you really want me to piss off, I will."

I stared at her for a long moment. I wasn't sure which surprised me more, the fact that she thought I didn't want her around, or the visceral reaction I felt to the mere thought of her not sitting next to me anymore.

I should be worried about that, right?

"Granger." I waited two heartbeats for her to look back up at me. "If I want you to piss off, I'll tell you so, alright?"

She released a deep breath and smiled at me, nodding her head once in agreement.

"Alright then. Let's go see what kind of punishment Giles tasked you with. He probably has you writing his lesson plans for the next month."

She laughed and visibly relaxed for the first time since we had left the Great Hall.

"I do hope he at least came up with something interesting for me to research."

All thoughts of flying vanished as we walked to the library together.

"If he wanted to punish you, he would have assigned something on quidditch statistics for the last hundred years or so." I laughed at the look of distaste that crossed her face.

"Oh Merlin. That would be a punishment, for sure."

I opened the door to the library and held it for her to walk through. She thanked me as she walked past, then I followed her in. There were several students there already, spread out amongst different tables and wandering through the stacks trying to find information that they needed for their homework.

"Madam Pince. Professor Giles was supposed to leave something here for me?" Hermione asked the librarian as she handed her the scroll from our transfiguration teacher.

"Miss Granger. Of course." She rummaged around under her desk and pulled a small envelope out and handed it to her. "You'll be in the restricted section for this assignment."

She handed a large metal skeleton key over along with the envelope.

"You'll need to turn that key back in before Monday morning." Her eyes darted to me quickly before returning to Granger. "I trust you will not admit anyone else without taking full responsibility for their actions."

I had to fight to keep the smirk off my face. Madam Pince had always had a soft spot for me. It was misplaced, I'm sure, but still nice to know I have at least one ally in the faculty at Hogwarts.

"Absolutely," Granger told her with a sweet smile that would fool anyone that didn't know her. That was her 'trust me, I am completely innocent' smile. Which is utter shite, of course.

Granger took the proffered envelope and key. I followed her to the back of the library where she slid the key into the metal gate, twisted it until the lock clicked open, and swung it open with a metallic creak.

We stepped through the gate together. It clicked back into place and locked behind us.

The atmosphere in the restricted section felt different than it did in the rest of the library. The musky scent was stronger. The air felt thicker. The magic felt almost oppressive.

"Have you ever been in this section before?" She asked as she took tentative steps towards the table.

I swallowed the bile that was trying to rise in my throat. Yes, I had spent quite a lot of time in the restricted section. Sixth year, when I was researching vanishing cabinets. A cold chill slithered down my spine.

She turned to look at me expectantly and I realized I answered in my head instead of out loud. I cleared my throat.

"Yes. Have you?"

She lifted one eyebrow and her lip twitched up on one side.

"Of course. I'm Hermione Granger, remember?" She shook her head to herself and sat down at the table in the middle of the room.

"How could I possibly forget?" I teased as I sat down across from her.

She opened the envelope Pince had given her and pulled out a single piece of parchment. Her eyes darted across the page. The color in her face drained as she read the assignment.

Her eyes darted to mine, then back down to the parchment. She dropped it like it had burnt her.

"No." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"What is it?" Her reaction filled me with trepidation. What kind of research assignment would make her pale like that? I slid the parchment over and picked it up.

"Research the trace of Magical aptitude as it is passed from generation to generation and hypothesize how muggle born witches and wizards spontaneously develop magical abilities."

I read the words through twice before I looked at her again. Her initial shock had faded and was replaced with anger the likes of which I would not want to be on the receiving end. I couldn't blame her. Rage boiled in my own blood on her behalf.

He wanted her to justify her own existence. Who the fuck did he think he was?

Better question - did he have any fucking clue who he was messing with?

I lay the parchment back on the table between us and waited for her to make her move. She tapped her fingernails on the table slowly, one after the other. Over and over again. After a full minute of silence, I couldn't take it any more. I needed to know what she was thinking.

"Granger?"

Her eyes snapped up and locked on mine. Storms rolled behind her irises. Her jaw locked. Magic crackled in the air around her.

"Giles wants to play, I'll play." Her voice was cold and calculating. "I can promise you one thing, Malfoy. He's going to lose."

I smirked at her. This is the Hermione Granger that I remember. Her hair is different, but that fire in her eyes, that conviction in her soul, it is what has always made her magnificent.

Of course, my younger self never would have admitted that.

I leaned forward across the table and covered her hand with my own, squeezing gently.

"I can't wait to see it happen. Don't hold back, Granger. Let this fucker know he's messing with the wrong witch."

She squeezed my hand and a grim smile settled on her lips. Then she stood and started skimming the titles on the closest bookcase. I watched her for a few moments. I needed to make a decision. I could leave her to it, or I could stay and help.

She does not need my help, of that I am one hundred percent sure. The next question that begged to be answered, though, was why had I come to the library with her in the first place?

You like being with her.

Right. There was that. I'm not sure when it happened. It seemed like ever since I saw her on that train platform, I had been drawn to her.

I released a sigh and ran my hand through my hair.

"You don't have to stay, you know." Her voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I looked up and saw her leaning against the bookcase with one hip, her arms crossed over her chest and her head tilted to one side.

"I know you were curious about what the assignment would be, but this is my detention, not yours. I've got this. Go. Do whatever it is that Slytherin boys do on Thursday nights." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the bookcase.

Well okay then. I guess that answers the question of whether I should stay or go. She wants me to go. I should definitely stay.

"Are you kidding?" I told her with a laugh. "This is going to be so fun to watch. I want a front row seat."

She shook her head but did not turn back to face me.

"In that case, make yourself useful, would you?" She motioned towards the bookcase behind her.

With a brief chuckle I joined her in the stacks.

"Are you always this bossy?" I asked as I nudged her shoulder.

I could actually hear the smirk in her voice when she responded with a "So I've been told. Just remember, you volunteered for this."

And so I did.

AN: I was blown away by the response to the last chapter. This story is different than what I have written before. I am challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone, so I truly appreciate your feedback.

Until next time.

-mezy