Twenty Seven Seconds

It took Harry Potter approximately thirty days, twenty minutes, and twenty-seven seconds to fall in love with Draco Malfoy.

Or, at least, that was what Hermione Granger figured from her observations. But she was almost positive that those numbers were correct. She prided herself on her abilities to keep track of those sorts of things after all.

It started one day in Transfiguration, when Hermione had turned to Harry to ask him if he had a spare quill she could borrow. That was when she noticed that he was giving Draco Malfoy, who was sitting two seats up and one seat to the left, a peculiar look. His eyebrows were drawn together and he was chewing on his lower lip as he studied the other boy. He had the kind of expression, Hermione realised, that she had often worn herself, whenever she had just made a breakthrough in a particularly difficult Arithmancy equation, or when she finally figured out a theorem in her Ancient Runes class.

Hermione frowned, and filed away Harry's expression for later deliberation. The bell rang seconds later, and she realised belatedly that she had completely forgotten about asking Harry for a spare quill.

Two days later, they were enduring a long afternoon of Potions class. This new potion that they were to start brewing would take a solid three weeks to complete. This Potion, the Halcyon Draught, was very useful (it does wonders to calm down any hysterical living being) but was incredibly complicated and strenuous to make. To lessen the workload somewhat, the students were partnered up. Harry had, unfortunately, been paired up with Draco as a result of Professor Snape's cruel sense of humour. Hermione was luckily sitting next to Ron for this potion, and didn't give the Harry-Malfoy pairing another thought. That is, until, she heard a yelp and a hiss of pain from across the room. Everyone looked over, and saw that Harry, who had been previously chopping up Mandrake root, was now clutching at his bleeding hand. Hermione jumped up and immediately guided Harry out of the classroom toward the hospital wing, her mind barely registering Professor Snape's assertion that Harry wouldn't have let the knife slip if his attention had been on his roots rather than his partner.

The next incident of this nature that Hermione could recall took place a couple of days after that, when she was walking by herself from her Ancient Runes lesson to Care of Magical Creatures. In one stretch of corridor, next to the statue of Bartholomew the Barmy, she witnessed Draco and Harry, who were both walking blindly around the bend, literally crash into each other. Their belongings were knocked to the ground, and both of them swore loudly and whipped out their wands. Some students passing by stopped to watch this interestedly. Were they to be indulged to another fight between the school's two greatest rivals? The two boys stared at each other for about ten seconds with murder in their eyes. But then Harry put away his wand and picked up his things from the floor, calmly stating that this wasn't worth his time. Draco seemed inclined to agree, because a second later he gracefully scooped up his own stuff from the stone floor and went on his way.

Hermione and the other students stood there, stunned, for a few seconds after Harry and Draco had departed from the scene. Hermione regained her composure soon after, realising that she was about to be late for class. She marched off briskly, holding her books tightly, but still reflecting about the strange thing that had just occurred.

Saturday arrived, and the whole of Gryffindor trooped down the grand staircase in the morning, chattering excitedly and looking forward to spending the day relaxing in Hogsmeade. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were amongst those talking happily about what they were going to spend their gold on, but Hermione couldn't help but notice the distracted look in Harry's eyes. They walked the path to Hogsmeade quickly, and arrived there a half hour later. Ron and Harry expressed interest in taking a look inside the new Quidditch supply shop that had just opened near the end of the main street, and Hermione didn't have the heart to deprive them of this treat. They were surprised, however, to find Draco Malfoy already inside, tilting his head thoughtfully as he gazed at the line of racing brooms. Ron made to turn around and walk back out the door, but Harry squared his shoulders and walked right up alongside Draco, saying something about the brooms. Draco looked startled at the initiative Harry was taking, but regained his composure quickly enough. And to Hermione and Ron's amazement, also began talking to Harry about the broom models. While Ron and Hermione watched, the two boys launched themselves into a friendly disagreement about which brooms were to be considered the best. And Hermione even thought she spied a tiny smile forming at the corner of Harry's mouth.

As soon as they returned to the Gryffindor common room that night, Hermione tried to question Harry about his recent non-hostile actions toward Draco, but Harry easily brushed her off, claiming that he had homework to finish.

During the next week in Potions, nearly every time Hermione looked over at Harry and Draco's table from her own workstation with Ron, she didn't see any antagonistic behavior between the two of them. The rest of the class had noticed this two, and some were blatantly staring at them in confusion. Even Professor Snape glanced up from his desk occasionally to watch the two boys. There was often an expression of disappointment on his face; when he had paired them up, this was clearly not what he had had in mind.

Late one evening following those odd occurrences, Hermione was in the library studying hard for a Charms exam the next morning. She was sitting at a table facing the window, and in the dim glow of the setting sun, she could see a lone figure flying lazily around the Quidditch pitch, with what was left of the sunlight glinting off his platinum blond head. When she took another quick glance out the window after an additional half hour of studying, she saw that a second figure was standing near the bleachers, silhouetted in the darkness. But Hermione instantly knew who it was, for only one person in the school had that signature tousled hair. She watched curiously as Harry stared up at Draco soaring overhead, his head moving back and forth to follow every delicate movement. Hermione watched for a while, until it was well past ten o'clock. Eventually, Harry turned and walked away from the pitch. Hermione doubted if Draco had seen his silent spectator, and if he did, he didn't acknowledge him.

That evening marked the first time Hermione began to have suspicions.

One afternoon the next week, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins were outside, collecting ingredients for their Halcyon Draught. Hermione was searching for some asphodel root near the edge of the Forbidden Forest when she heard Harry's distinctive laugh carry across the expansive grounds. She halted her search for a moment and looked up, looking around for the source. She spotted Harry not too far away from her position. He was sitting on the ground with Draco, their search obviously abandoned in favour of doing something more enjoyable. Harry laughed again. Hermione squinted against the bright sunlight, and saw a wide smile on Draco's face.

Over the course of the next week, Hermione attempted to confront her friend several times about his newfound companionship with Draco Malfoy. However, like the evening after the Hogsmeade visit, Harry shrugged her off, saying only that perhaps it was time for he and Draco to end this petty rivalry.

The biggest clue for Hermione came one Saturday morning at a Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and the excitement over the game had been building up for days. Usually in these circumstances, Harry would be on pins and needles along with Ron, but in the days leading up to the game, he simply looked uneasy. Ron was confused at this new attitude Harry had, but didn't question it.

The match was high-speed and exciting. Ron made many spectacular saves. The most thrilling moment for the audience came when the two Seekers plummeted in amazing dives, both after the tiny shine of gold near the ground. Hermione stood up in order to get a better look at what was going on, with the viewers surrounding her stampeding and shouting eagerly. The two players neared the Golden Snitch. They both reached their arms out, each praying to be the one to catch the elusive ball. Hermione watched as Draco's arm knocked into Harry's. Harry jerked away, startled, and veered slightly off course. It was only slightly, but that was enough for Draco, whose broom hurdled forward, hand closing around the Snitch triumphantly. The Slytherins roared with delight while the disappointed Gryffindor team sank slowly down to the ground on their brooms, wondering what could have possibly happened to Harry to make him lose his focus.

The Slytherins gloated for the next week. But Draco, amazingly enough, continued to talk amicably with Harry, and hardly took part in the gloating at all. Perhaps, like Hermione, he thought he knew what had caused Harry to lose that match?

One morning at breakfast, Hermione was chewing on some toast, her nose buried in the Daily Prophet. When she had finished reading an article highlighting the new addition of a fwooper at a local zoo, she looked up to find that Harry, who had a glazed expression on his face, was absently pouring orange juice onto his cereal. When Hermione pointed this out to him, he lifted the jug in surprise but hastily said that he liked his cereal this way, and put a spoonful of the unusual combination in his mouth, immediately making a less than contented face.

Hermione soon began to suspect that the teachers had started to notice Draco and Harry's new manner toward each other. More than once she spied Professors Flitwick and McGonagall whispering together in the hallways, their eyes subtly following Harry and Draco who were passing by, talking amicably. Whenever Professor Dumbledore passed her, Ron, and Harry walking in the corridors, she could have sworn she saw the Headmaster give a tiny wink to Harry, who seemed not to have noticed.

Then the day came. Hermione had stayed behind after a Transfiguration class to discuss that day's topic with Professor McGonagall. When they had finished, twenty minutes after class ended, Hermione stepped out of the classroom intending to head to lunch. Instead, she was diverted by the sight of Harry and Draco kissing on the opposite side of the hallway. Despite the fact that she had seen this leading up for weeks, she still couldn't stop a small gasp of astonishment from escaping her lips. The kiss the two boys were sharing was tentative, as if they didn't quite know if this was how they felt yet. Hands moved up slowly to tangle in fair blond hair. One pale hand was leisurely caressing the other boy's back. When Harry finally pulled away, and Hermione saw that lovestruck expression on his face as he stared up at Draco, she knew for sure that one of her best friends had just fallen in love.

She turned away at last, feeling like an intruder on this tender moment. She thought back to that fateful day during Transfiguration class, when Harry had that inexplicable expression on his face. It had been exactly a month... thirty days since that had come to pass. It had taken thirty days, twenty minutes, and - Hermione glanced at her watch - twenty-seven seconds for Harry Potter to fall in love.