Never Look Back

Never Look Back 03

Draco left detention that night with his mind full of thoughts about Hermione. His footsteps pounded against the stone of the corridors in a rhythmic beat. He had scared himself earlier with his actions. Why did he want to kiss her? After all she was mudblood Granger. He impatiently smoothed back his hair and stood at a bare stone wall.

"Sanguis," he muttered softly. Seconds later the stone blocks that made up the wall rearranged themselves to form a doorway. Draco stepped into a dimly lit chamber and threw himself upon one of the dragon hide couches. Staring intently into the flames of the fire, he tossed back his head and rubbed his eyes. It was then that he turned to the dormitory stairs and headed up.

After changing into his black silk pajamas, that had a monogrammed D.M. on the breast pocket, he lay on his bed and stared at the emerald velvet curtains, sinking into thought. He was a Malfoy. He did not associate with Gryffindors or mudbloods. He definitely could not fancy one. He shuddered at the thought. "She was fairly good looking." he thought, a smile forming on his face. Chances are he'd end up marrying another Slytherin, most likely that hag, Pansy Parkington. His smile disappeared at this notion. His thoughts consisted of Hermione that night.

*******

"Oh great!" exclaimed Harry at breakfast the next morning, "Double Potions with Slytherins!" He threw the piece of parchment down and swore. A grimace formed on Ron's face at the memory of their most recent potion class.

"Again? I thought I'd never get all those rat spleens off my hands! I will never forget the look on Malfoy's face." he muttered darkly. "I think I'll skip Potions today. Harry, do you have any skiving snack boxes left?"

"Yeah, I have one Puking Pasti---"

"Ron! Harry! You guys can't skip! Our N.E.W.T.'s are 6 weeks away! You don't know if we'll have a potion that we'll be tested on!" shrieked Hermione. Harry and Ron groaned and followed her out the hall to Potions.

The trio entered the stony dungeons where their Potion classes were held. Snape stormed in with his usual bad mood, and he whipped out his wand and instructions appeared on the board.

"You will be doing a fear potion. It will cure the drinker of their greatest fear. If done correctly." A wave of whispers traveled throughout the room. "But only for an hour," he said icily. Multiple faces looked crestfallen at this news. "You will all be assigned with a member of the opposite sex and house. Get to work!" Snape walked amongst the rows handing out slips of paper. He told them the name of their partner would appear when all were handed out. Hermione reached for a slip and clenched it in her hand. After all the slips were handed out to every Gryffindor and Slytherin, Snape sauntered to the front of the class, eagerly waiting the trauma on the student's faces.

Hermione reached for her slip and nearly screamed at the name that appeared in the scratchy writing and emerald green ink.

Draco Malfoy.

"Why him?"

she pondered, "Of all people. Snape had to pair me with him. As if detention weren't bad enough."

"So I guess we're partners," a voice said from behind Hermione, making her jump. She turned around to find Malfoy.

"Yeah I guess so," she muttered grumpily and reached for her cauldron. She opened her potions kit and stared intently at the board, memorizing the directions. Draco sat next to her and rummaged through his potion kit too.

"You know. I'm not too thrilled about being paired with you either," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth. She simply ignored him. "Fine. Be that way." He sneered, and dipped his quill in ink.

An hour later, class was almost over when Snape barked his final instructions as the students were packing up.

"This is not where the project ends," he said, the shuffling of papers and the clanging of cauldrons ceased. "Oh no. This is just where it begins." He grinned evilly. "A poster for the project will be done outside of class with your assigned partner. All actual potion work will be done in class." Hermione groaned. She would be stuck with Malfoy more then she even wanted to! "Now that is said. LEAVE!" Snape barked and the students scurried out of the stone room.

*******

"Man! This project is not fair!" grumbled Ron, "I'm stuck with Millicent Bulstrode! Ugh!" He reached into his bag, pulled out a turkey sandwich, and took a large bite.

"You think Millicent Bulstrode is bad?" Retorted Harry; "I have Pansy Parkington as a partner! As if she couldn't be any more of a slut!" he grimaced, and glanced at Ron's sandwich. "Hey where did you get that turkey sandwich? I'm kind of hungry."

"Dobfy," Ron said through a mouthful of bread. Gulping it down and clearing his throat he said "Dobby." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm stuck with Malfoy. This is just great!" said Hermione.

"There, there Hermione," said Harry and Ron sympathetically, patting her shoulder. She grinned slightly.

"Granger..." drawled a cold voice from behind her, stopping her dead in her tracks. She turned around to her displeasure to see Draco Malfoy, leaning nonchalantly against a wall "I need to talk to you about the project." She nodded and told Harry and Ron to catch up with her later.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked impatiently, tapping her foot.

"Do you want to meet in the library tomorrow evening for the project? The sooner we get it over with the better." He let his gaze drift to the ceiling.

"Uh, sure. I don't want to be around you any more then I have to," said Hermione

"Ooh Granger. That hurts," he said sarcastically.

"Tootles Malfoy." And she turned on her heel and strode out of sight. A small smile appeared on Draco's face. "This will be interesting," thought Draco and he headed towards the Great Hall.

*******

Hermione lounged on an red armchair in the common room, in front of the fire that night, when the portrait hole burst open. A group of third years spilled in giggling madly. Scowling, Hermione loudly shut her book, dust expelling from it and stormed off to her dorm. She turned up the staircase and bumped headfirst into Ginny.

"Oomph. Oh hey Ginny," said Hermione

"Hey Hermy," Ginny said with a slightly evil smile, hoping to provoke her with the nickname.

"Ginny, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me Hermy? I may just have to hex you for that!" her eyes twinkling mischievously, as she gave Ginny a small shove.

"Whatever," said Ginny as she rolled her eyes, "Say, where were you yesterday evening? You came back late and were so preoccupied at breakfast I didn't have a chance to ask you," Ginny said quizzically.

"Oh that! Um, it's nothing. I just got detention in the trophy room with Malfoy," she said very fast.

"Whoa 'Mione, slow down. What was that last part about Malfoy?"

"Um, detention. Nothing happened." She started to head up the stairs.

"You, Hermione Granger. Were in detention. With Draco Malfoy. What did you do to deserve that?" Ginny asked. Hermione halted in half step and turned around.

"If you must know. I was caught out of bed. Now good night."

"But you do that all the time! How could you get caught?"

"Use common sense Ginny. Harry and I have broken up. I don't have that damn invisibility cloak anymore."

"Oh. I knew that! Just testing!" Ginny said, feeling incredibly stupid. Hermione rolled her eyes and headed to the dorm.

The next evening, Hermione stood outside the Great Hall awaiting Draco. She impatiently checked her watch and grumbled about his tardiness. Tapping her foot, she peered around the corner to try and spot him. Hermione knew she should be dreading the library time they were doing together. Yet she was strangely excited, although it was quite obvious she would be doing most of the work. Unless Draco surprised her. As though he was summoned from her thoughts, Draco Malfoy appeared right in front of her with multiple quills and inkbottles in his arms.

"Um, shall we get going?" Draco asked, a bit less bite to his tone then usual.

"Yeah. Let's go," she said, not daring to lay eyes on him. He was just so good-looking she found it impossible. They reached the library a short five minutes later.

Though it didn't seem that short, regarding the fact that Peeve's was singing 'Draco and Hermione sitting in a tree' and them threatening him with the Bloody Baron. When they reached the library they headed back to the dustiest corner which just so happened to be Hermione's favorite corner. They sat their books down and a short while later all could be heard was the scratching of their quills.

All the while, Hermione didn't notice Draco staring at her. He so badly wanted to say something. But why couldn't he? He could always come up with something witty to say. But this was different somehow.

"So, Granger. How's the weather?" That one always worked. She lifted her head.

"What? The weather? Um, nice I guess." She shot him a bewildered glance. Why was he asking her about weather when he could easily look out the window. Then it hit her, Draco Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy fortune, was flirting with her.

"Malfoy, would you please stop staring at me," she bluntly said, causing him to stop staring at her.

"I was not!" he retorted back.

"Yes you were!"

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Just shut up Granger. I'm not too happy to be doing this project with you."

"Well I'm not too happy about it either," she shot back. He chose not to respond to it and tried to change the subject.

"Damn it that Snape! I can't believe he assigned us the hardest project yet!" Draco shouted angrily.

"Well, we need it to pass our N.E.W.T.'s so we might as well do our best," she calmly said, laying down her quill.

"Yeah you're right," said Draco. Hermione just smiled.

"Aren't I always?" she said innocently enough. But not quite. Draco's face turned a bright red as it always did before he began to start yelling but he bit his tongue. not wanting another detention. Madame Pince's detentions were brutal.

"You know Hermione, besides from the fact that you're a know it all and a Gryffindor, you're not that half bad," he said smiling into her eyes.

"You're not that bad either Draco," she said, staring into his gray eyes. She turned down and faced her work, murmuring softly to herself, "You're not that bad."

******

Harry Potter sat in the dingy potion's classroom, adding ingredients to a simmering cauldron. He added a powdered lionfish spine while his partner, Pansy Parkington filed her nails. He angrily jabbed the flames with his wand to make them heat up. He gazed across the room until his gaze rested on Hermione Granger and her partner Draco Malfoy. They were both sitting alarmingly close. Even though Harry and Hermione had broken up, he still had feelings for her. He was scared. That was the only reason he broke up with her. He scowled at the sight of Malfoy leaning even closer to Hermione. He hated Malfoy. Ever since that first day on the Hogwarts Express. Hermione was so secretive lately. It was very strange. She wasn't even telling Ginny anything. There was something-fishy going on and it involved Draco Malfoy.

Pansy, looking up from her nails, and spotted Harry staring at Hermione and Draco. She knew Harry and Hermione had broken up, but he still loved her. Of course he didn't tell her. She just knew. As for her, she was in love with Draco Malfoy, whom she would most likely marry if it were their parents will. She sneered at Potter and returned to her nails.

*******

Two weeks later, Draco and Hermione had still been having their study sessions. The poster was almost done, but the potion had another week to be completed. Draco and Hermione had become close. Almost too close.

One evening in the library, as the candles were burning low, casting a mellow glow throughout the room, Hermione and Draco were researching their project. Hermione had her hand placed on the table between their books. Draco glanced over, looked up to the candle that was slowly diminishing and returned to his book. Suddenly without thinking, he laid his hand upon Hermione's. She let it stay there for a moment before swiftly drawing it back. He smiled to himself. She was getting uncomfortable. Maybe he would catch her off her guard.

Minutes passed in painful silence as the moon began to rise. Hermione sensed Draco staring at her and she slowly turned her head to face him. Their eyes met. His cold gray eyes that were normally full of hate, we now full of respect as they met her warm brown eyes that were full of confusion. Hermione slowly leaned forward, her eyes on Draco. He placed his hand the side of her face, savoring the soft feels of her skin and he placed his lips upon hers in a kiss.

It was nothing either of them had ever experienced. Their lips pressed against each other as if they needed it to go on. He kissed her hard, taking in all of her. Fireworks went off in each other's heads. Draco drew Hermione in closer deepening the kiss. She felt her heart roll over in her chest with ecstasy, then settle down in time to beat to his. She ran her fingers through his hair, mussing it up. He placed his hand on the back of her head as if steadying her. They broke apart and stared at each other. Confused.

"Well..." Draco interrupted the silence, leaning back in his chair, not taking his eyes off Hermione. Hermione just stared at him. Suddenly, she grabbed her books and made a mad dash for the door, leaving a speechless Draco behind.