Charms

Hermione rolled over and the fragrance of 25 roses hit her full force. *~Mmm, flowers...~* She slowly opened her eyes, to see not only the vase of roses *~Still as perfect as when I got them~*, but a stack of four individually wrapped parcels. Checking hat Ginny, Lavender and Parvati were still asleep, she sat up quietly, and pulled the parcels onto her lap. *~Ginny's bed hasn't even been slept in...~*.

Pulling her curtains closed, she muttered a quick silencing charm to ward off any adventurous roommates. She noticed an envelope ontop, and that the gifts themselves were labeled *~1...2...3...4...~*. As she slit the elegant silver envelope open with her fingernail, she couldn't help but feel her heart skip in anticipation.

'Three French Hens...no, sorry, once again I believe they'd die in this horrible weather we've been having. And I don't like chickens. How about 3 English books instead?'

As she opened the parcel labeled "1", she began to laugh. "The Fellowship of the Ring. I should have guessed!" "2" and "3" held the other two books from the series, and she saw that there was another note attached to the fourth parcel.

'All good books have a prologue...'

**********

She was truly and utterly sick of it. *~It's been 3 days...even I don't know who it is...and even if I did, why should I tell them?~*

Parvati and Lavender had been hounding her to find out who her secret admirer was. Even Ginny had caught up on the gossip, and was joining in the interrogation. They just would not leave her alone. As she struggled through the biting cold and pounding rain to the Quidditch pitch, she couldn't help but feel relieved that at least now she would have some time to herself, without the annoyance of gossip-mad roommates.

*~Ron will be too busy watching Cho, and Ginny and Harry will either be too busy snogging, or watching the game, to annoy me.~* Ron had made Keeper this year, and Ginny was an advisor to strategy for the Gryffindors. Living with 6 older brothers had helped on this account.

*~To think I'd see the day I was glad they would ignore me...~*. Settling herself on the rather empty benches a few rows behind 'Harry & Co', she cast a quick Impervius on the area around her, and pulled out her brand new copy of The Hobbit (which had an extra-strong Impervius, of course). Happily, she settled in to spend a few quiet hours while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff battled it out.

**********

"Bloody hell, this is worse than the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game of third year," muttered Draco as he scanned the game through his Omnioculars. "At least then I didn't have to worry about enemy strategy." It had been 3 hours, and the Snitch still hadn't been caught. The natural light was beginning to fade, but the pitch was still illuminated by a golden glow. **Nice touch. I knew that the World Cup being in England was good for something.**

He was getting bored, having seen every move the opposing teams had. **Nothing to worry about, no new tricks. Seems like Cho has spent too much time snogging, and not enough flying lately though. Silly girl** he mused as he gave up on the match and began to scan the crowd. **Hermione...** she was sitting in the stands, with wild, wind-swept hair. Remaining remarkably dry.

"That little..." Draco growled. He stood up and smoothed his soaking wet fringe back from his face. "She knows far too many charms..."

**********

"Your own wisdom must decide your course; but thirteen is small remnant of the great folk - what on earth are you reading?" Hermione spun around in her seat to see a very wet Draco (AN: *drool*) standing right behind her, apparently reading over her shoulder.

"Wha...what are you doing here?" she spluttered.

"Hoping to learn the secret of the amazingly dry Gryffindor." He smoothly replied, stepping elegantly over the bench and sitting down beside her. Flashing her the kind of grin that made pictures fall off the walls and offer sexual favours (AN: Sorry! I couldn't resist! Maya rules), he asked **Malfoys never beg** in his most polite tone:"Please?"

She rolled her eyes at him, and pulling out her wand, said "Impervius" in very articulate tones.

"So...you never answered my question. What ARE you reading?"
"The Hobbit."

"I thought that it was supposed to be a children's book."
"I thought that it was supposed to be a Muggle book - how come you know of it?" Draco began to look uncomfortable, so Hermione apologized.

"No, don't be sorry...let's just say that I suffered from a life-changing incident or two this summer, and leave it at that."

She looked long and hard at him, and finally settled for the question that was one of the foremost on her mind. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, watching Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw strategy. You?" She gave him a glare that clearly told him to stop being stupid. "Okay, fine. I'm here because I'm bored. There aren't any other Slytherins," this was true, "and the others, including the Weasel, are just here to cheer on their significant other. Except for Potty and the Weaselette...you were simply the most approachable person here. And the driest..." **...and the most intelligent...** It was rather sexy really, the way that she seemed to know everything, and her love of knowledge and sharing it. That, and she was still wearing the two turtledove shaped earrings from the day before.

"So I was the last resort?"
"No, you were the only resort."

"Why didn't you just go back to the Slytherin common room?"
Draco sighed. "I'm Quidditch Captain. It's my duty to be here, and to not leave until the game is over. If I go back now, and I can't report back on the exact score, well, it'll look bad, and I could lose my Captaincy. I need to know the strategy, although this lot haven't got much..."

She just rolled her eyes. "So why come over at all? Why not just take shelter somewhere dry, and sleep until the game is over?"

He snickered. "I'd sleep through the end of the game, it's not like there is a huge crowd here to make a lot of noise for the victorious team, and wake me up. Besides, I think I should get to know my Potions and Arithmancy partner better, don't you?"

Hermione looked puzzled. *~Potions, yes, but...~* "...Arithmancy?"
He rolled his eyes, "I think you've been reading to many children's books, Ms. Granger. Would you kindly tell me who is in our Arithmancy class?"
"Well, there's Su Li and Kevin Entwhistle from Ravenclaw, and the two Hufflepuffs, Anthony Goldstein and Megan Jones, and there's me, and...you. Ah."
"Exactly. Give the girl a chocolate frog. She's got it!"

"That doesn't mean I have to work with you..."
"Well, Professor Vector usually lets us pick our own partners. And do you see any of them splitting up?"

"Good point. So you want to know me better?"

At this Malfoy leaned in closer, whispering "As well as possible, my Hermione..." into her ear. The way that Malfoy said her name made shivers like cold fire run down her back. She pulled herself away and gave him a haughty look. *~Oh, what the hell. He'll figure it out eventually, if we are working together on two of the most assigned subjects~*.

"My parents are Muggle teeth-doctors which are called Dentists; I have a cat, Crookshanks, who at this moment is living in retirement with my parents; My hobbies seem to be studying, being left by the common-room fire, studying, doing everyone else's homework, and studying; My numbers are 4, 4, and 9; I don't really get Wizard music, give me something from the Muggle world any day; Yes, I do wear Muggle clothes under my robes so don't get any ideas; And for some bizarre reason, someone has taking to calling themselves my 'true love', and sending me gifts of the twelve days of Christmas, with some variations."

Draco just blinked at her. "You must be good at swimming."
"Huh?" Conversations with Draco seem to be made up of non-sequiturs.

"You got all of that out in one breath. You must be able to hold your breath along time." *~Oh. That makes sense.~*

"Anyway," Draco continued, "My numbers are 5,5, and 9..."

At that moment, Owen Cauldwell, the Hufflepuff seeker, went into a half-decent dive (though nowhere near as spectacular as either Harry or Draco's) straight past Cho Chang, and caught the snitch. By the time Hermione had realised that the game was over (200-120 to Hufflepuff), Draco was gone.