Draco tapped his quill absentmindedly on the desk, staring at the accursed problem number one.

"Damn this," he muttered to his paper.

He heard Granger let out a little shy giggle, and he turned to her.

"Think something's funny, do you?" he questioned harshly, yet not able to keep the smile from his face.

"They're actually talking!"

Draco heard a voice from behind him, a badly disguised whisper, and wheeled about in his chair to find Weasel staring incredulously at Hermione and him. Harry glanced up from his half- completed sheet, sensed trouble, and buried himself in it once again.

"Yeah, that's right, Weasel. Jealous?"

Weaselbee gritted his teeth and said dumbly, "No."

"Well you should be," Draco continued, flashing his white ones. "I just might steal your girlfriend."

The ginger turned the shade of a beet. Draco knew he and Hermione weren't together, which was a good thing for him-

WHOA, WAIT. What the bloody hell did he mean by that? What was he thinking? He didn't… he couldn't… Draco decided to perform a test. He looked at his desk for a good ten seconds, getting every feeling inside him to calm down, then turned to glance at the brunette seated beside him, her perfectly curled lashes and winding locks of hair. Her cheeks were bright red, probably at his last comment to Weasely. Wait- did she… fancy… him? His heart suddenly flipped in his chest and he took a big gulp of air.

Hermione's chocolate eyes travelled to his stony ones, and his heart skipped another beat.

He was such a disgrace to his family… he, a pureblood, and her… a filthy mudblood, nothing more. But he could feel color rising to his pale cheeks.

Damn…

"'Mione doesn't like you," Weasely suddenly spat, his dull mind finally able to conceive a comeback, though not a very good one.

"She would never go for a nasty git like you."

He was jealous; it was so obvious, and Draco knew that was where the words came from, but at the same time he felt a pang of… desperation? Sadness? Realization of the truth?

"Ron…" Hermione said coldly, putting her quill down.

"Wh- oh, Hermione… you're going to back him up? This is... Malfoy! C'mon, have some sense-"

"I said… stop…" she said, but Draco could sense her uneasiness, and he knew… they all knew Weasley was right.

The redhead ignored his friend and persisted. It felt strange to be on the other side of the insults for once. It… hurt.

"If you think for one second that she likes you… well, you're just being an arrogant idiot as usual… she's-"

Suddenly, out of anger, out of need to prove himself, and out of care, Draco turned around, grabbed Hermione fiercely but gently on either side of her angelic face, and brought her to him, halting right before their lips collided, and smiled smugly to Weasely, even though he knew he may be rejected at any moment.

"Let's see, then , Weaselbee."

And he closed the distance between them, locking his skilled and practiced lips with her virgin ones. Hermione gave a start, but she soon adapted to the rhythm of the kiss, and moved with Draco as they gently swayed in their seats. Draco released her, letting his hands slide down to caress her back, but she didn't pull away as he half expected her to, once she had her freedom to move. Draco had thought she would probably reject him, but for some reason needed to share one kiss with the mudblood. Where had this rush of affection come from? Certainly before this class period today he had never even considered her as a crush, let alone a girlfriend. He pictured Harry and Ron's wide eyes and gaping mouths. He also became aware that the classroom had gone deadly silent, save a few dog whistles. They didn't break apart for what seemed like hours, and strangely Draco, for the first time, was content with the kiss as it was, and didn't seek to explore her mouth any further beyond her perfect pink lips.

Suddenly there was an exclamation from the professor, who had apparently re- emerged at a splendid time. The couple broke apart with a jump, Hermione with a red face, frizzy hair, and saucer eyes, Draco with a huge smirk and a raised eyebrow. He leaned back in his chair victoriously.

"Back… er… back in your seats!"

Hermione hurriedly gathered her things and shakily ran back to her seat a row behind amid laughter and cat calls. Draco gave an actual, audible chuckle for the first time in a long time, looking up at the flustered Flitwick.

"Well, uhm… moving on…" As the lesson continued and the buzz of conversation behind the teacher's back resumed (although probably all about Granger and him this time), a crumpled piece of paper whacked Draco in the back of the head. He retrieved it from the floor and un- crumpled it, already smiling, thinking of who he knew the author of the note was.

Thank you.