He had been watched her from a far for the past couple months know. Not in a creepy way, but in a more 'curious' manner. He noticed her at breakfast, half invested in conversation with Potter and Weasley, and half invested in a volume of a larger size. She always seemed so engaged in her book that she would barely notice when it ended for the day's classes to begin.

He would see her every now and again in the hallways, constantly in a hurry. She most often alone. In the court yard, in the library, in classrooms. The more he watched, the curiouser and curiouser she became. He had wanted to approach her on a handful of occasions, but he wasn't sure he should. Was she intimidating? She most definitely was. One thing for sure was that Ian wanted desperately to at least be in Hermione Granger's line of vision, like she was in his.

"Miss Granger, put your hand down." Snape scolded the girl, for the umpteenth time that year. Ian hated when this would happen. Just let her answer the question. Honestly, she was probably the only one in the room who knew it anyway.

Nearly 40 some minutes later the lesson let out. As always, Hermione was one of the last one's sitting there, collecting her things. Ian wasn't going to let this ridiculous fear stop him anymore. Today he was going to talk to her. After 6 years of being in the same vicinity, but never gaining the courage to do anything, he was going to say something.

"Snape's a real toad." Were the words the popped from his mouth. Ian could have slapped himself, but he remained still.

She turned her head to look at him. "I'm sorry?" She questioned, brows furrowed – eyes sparkling.

"He just never seems to give you the time of day." He responded, rubbing the back of his neck.

Why hadn't she noticed him before? He wasn't unattractive by any means, quite the opposite. With his dark-chestnut hair and whiskey colored eyes… yet, she couldn't place him. She looked at his robes. Slytherin. Might be a possible explanation… still.

"Well… yes. But is suppose I can be quite tiring." She gave him a small smile. "And besides, it doesn't affect my grades any."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "You deserve better, regardless of how well your marks are." Glancing down at the ground, he continued, "I'm Ian by the way. Ian Rosewell."

"Nice to meet you. Hermione Granger." She tossed her bag over her shoulder.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure you would have to be an idiot to not know who you are." He responded walking out of the classroom by her side. It didn't take a genius mind to know precisely what he was talking about.

Hermione huffed. "You know, just because I'm Harry's friend doesn't mean we're attached at the hip."

"I've noticed." Was all he said.

"Good for you." She was now avoiding eye contact.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Hermione. All I meant was that… well you're not invisible." Ian yammered off when he noticed her distaste.

She stopped in her tracks, not entirely sure of what to say. "Thank you? I'm not really sure if that was a complement or not."

"Trust me, it is." He smiled wide, grateful this wasn't going as bad as he thought.

She reciprocated the gesture. "I'm headed to the library… would you like to join me?"

"You have no idea."

Hermione kept wondering to herself why she hadn't noticed Ian before. Even if he is a Slytherin, they would have been paired in so many classes together, both being 6th years. She studied him silently doing course work. From the way he chewed his bottom lip while writing, the moles dotting his neck, to the way he mouthed the words he was reading.

"Do we have Potions together?" She asked while trying to seem disinterested.

He looked up from his parchment, mid-scribble. "Yeah, I sit in the back with Draco."

So he's friends with Malfoy. "Funny, I haven't noticed you."

"I try not to talk much. No point if I understand the material." He lifted his thumb nail to his lips and started absentmindedly chewing. She wasn't sure if his nervous menstruations were because of her, or some sort of personality trait. Whatever it was, it made her curious.

"I see, and are you friends with Malfoy… Draco?" Hermione didn't want to assume things, but when it came to Malfoy, she was normally right to think the worst.

"Not really, he's just the only other Slytherin in that class." Ian responded.

She had to think. The Advanced potion's class was rather small, only 13 students or so. From her house, there was only herself, Harry, Lavender, and Ron. One Hufflepuff and the rest were Ravenclaw. She had only noticed Malfoy as a Slytherin.

"I'm sorry I haven't noticed you before." She stated as they both stood up to exit the library. The two of them had been there for a few hours and it was almost time for supper.

His eyes brightened, "Not a problem, I'm glad I said something."

"Me too."

They walked side by side to the Great Hall, saying nothing to each other, they split to sit at their respected table. Half way through the meal, Hermione glanced away from her conversation with Neville to look over at the Slytherin table. Whisky Amber eyes matched with hers.

Whatever this was going to be, Hermione was ok with it.