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bleedingangel84“Hermione, that blonde ferret is staring at you again.” Ron hissed. He glared over at Malfoy with years of hatred in his gaze. “Oh, Ronald, he is not. He’s just taking notes, which is what you should be doing. You could actually learn something from Malfoy.” she retorted. Ron snorted indignantly at that, muttering something about traitors with no loyalty to their own houses.
“I am just as much a Gryffindor as you are, Ronald Weasley,” she shot back, “at least I don’t cower in fear at the slightest sign of a spider.” Her comment caused Ron to blush furiously, and continue muttering under his breath, turning to appeal to Harry for his opinion. Just as Harry was about to open his mouth to reply, he caught Malfoy staring fixedly at Hermione as she and Ron fought. The expression on his face was a strange mixture of hope and nervousness. He seemed to reach a sudden decision and nodded decisively to himself, hurriedly folding up the paper he had been writing on so that it took the form of a bird. Directing it toward Hermione with a gentle breath, he seemed to tense as it hovered in midair.
Sensing movement near her head, she turned and scooped the note from the air with a gentle hand. Opening it carefully, she looked down at the missive with disbelieving eyes. Glancing over her shoulder at Malfoy, she saw him smile slightly and incline his head questioningly. Her eyes wide, she sat as if in a daze, trying to fathom why Malfoy would have written her such a letter. This has to be his idea of a joke, she thought, there is no way he could fancy me. He is Draco Malfoy, pureblood extraordinaire. True, he does watch me sometimes, but that is only because he looks for ways to insult me.
Turning to scrutinize Malfoy, she saw that he was no longer staring at her, but was gazing determinedly at his desk, as if it could tell him why he had been so foolish as to reveal his feelings to her. Seeing this, she knew that his feelings were real, and knew that she had to find out exactly how he felt about her. The naked longing in his eyes stunned her, her knowledge-hungry brain curious as to how and why and when he had started to care for her. She could hardly believe that this was real. Hermione knew she had to talk with him. Scribbling a quick reply to his note, she sent the neatly folded paper bird back to its creator, waiting for him to look up and catch her eye once again.
Seeing his liquid silver eyes dart upward, she gave a small nod. “After class.” she mouthed. Turning around to face the front again, she focused her whole attention on Professor Snape, staring so single-mindedly that it was apparent she was distracted by the blond-haired Slytherin behind her. Anyone looking closely would have seen the slight blush that tinged cheeks of the two students who made up the unlikeliest couple at Hogwarts. Both of them felt as if the world had suddenly turned upside dowm.
