And just like that, my plan to avoid him was flushed down the drain.
The class exploded into a furry of protests and complaints, and partners were already fighting over their project. Snape quieted the class with his booming voice, and I detected a hint of satisfaction in his tone. He enjoyed the chaos.
I won't be the one to break eye contact. His eyes were wide and his brows were arched in frustration. The feeling is mutual, Draco.
The bell rang and I'm still standing there with my bag slung over my shoulder and my hand braced on the desk, looking down at Draco, still sitting there like he had been all class. The class continued to chatter loudly as they exited the classroom following Snape. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Harry and Ron shooting nervous glances my way.
Draco kept his steady gaze on me as he stood up and grabbed his bag, and I had to adjust my line of sight because now he was standing and towering over me by at least eight centimeters.
A malicious grin spread across his face. "Looks like I can't get away from you, can I?"
I swallowed. "No, I guess you can't."
"What a shame. I was enjoying my time without you so much," he murmured.
I shut my eyes tightly. I don't know what to do. When I opened them again he had backed away a few steps and his grin had vanished, but his eyes were still on me, hard and unyielding. Good. Distance is good. I can focus better with distance.
I cleared my throat and stood straight, feigning confidence. "This sounds like it will be a very difficult project, so I think we should start working right away. Today."
His mouth quirked up at the corner. "I prefer to work alone."
I huffed in frustration. "Yes, I noticed. But we don't really have a choice. Professor Snape made it clear that this is a partner project."
His eyes left mine and narrowed at the floor, thinking. "We will do work individually and exchange our notes, then."
I scoffed. "That is completely insufficient. Nothing will get done."
"Like it or not, that's the way it's gonna be—"
"Like it or not, we are doing this project together, end of story. I won't have my grade suffer simply because your attitude ruins my project," I interrupted sharply.
A menacing growl emerged from his open mouth, and before he can say anything I added, "I will see you in the library tonight at six o'clock." And I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room.
___
"You're not actually gonna work with him, are you?" Ron questioned as I sat down for dinner.
"Malfoy?" His jaw clenched and he jerked his head slightly. "I don't have a choice, Ronald. He's my partner."
"Maybe you could ask Professor Snape to switch partners with someone?" Harry offered, his green eyes full of worry.
I shook my head. "No. I don't want to irritate him or anyone else, almost everyone has already started planning with their partner."
"Well you can't work with him! It's Malfoy, for Merlin's sake!" Ron hissed, leaning forward across the table.
I pursed my lips. "It's fine. It's just a project."
"And he's just a conceited arse," Ron retorted, rolling his eyes. I bit my tongue to hold back my protest. Why do I want to defend him?
My gaze drifted to the Slytherin table yet again, and I saw them. Pansy was laughing. Theo was gesturing wildly with his hands, telling a story, no doubt. Blaise was sitting still, but his stance was relaxed and his head was resting in his propped hands. Draco was nowhere to be seen, and I found myself longing to hear Theo's story.
"He's not a good person, Hermione," Harry said gently, breaking my focus. I shifted my eyes to his face. "If you're really going to work with him, you need to be careful."
Goddamn. I can't deal with them. I nodded grimly and stood up. "I'm not hungry," I muttered as a goodbye, leaving them with their mouths gaping.
___
My stomach rumbled in protest, but I ignored it as I wove through the hallways. It was already 5:50, so I started en route to the library.
I entered the library and started to head for the back shelves, where the books about magical ingredients are kept. When I got there, I sat down in the corner against the bookshelf and settled in, waiting. In the meantime, I took out To Kill A Mockingbird and reread the first chapter.
When the clock struck six o'clock Draco rounded the corner and sat gracefully across from me against the other bookshelf, sticking his legs out so his feet were beside my hips. His hair had been fixed and was swept out of his face, and his eyes were tired, as if just being here exhausted him.
"I knew I would find you here. Getting right to work, no dilly-dallying allowed," he stated mockingly.
I rolled my eyes. "What do you want to do? I mean, what type of potion should we create? It needs to be spectacular. Something that no one has ever done before."
His mouth twitched. "That is the point, Granger."
There it is again. My last name. Are we back to that? "You know what I mean."
"I don't have any ideas. Do you?"
"Well, I was thinking we could develop a tracking potion to find lost things."
"No."
I bit my lip. Okay, then. "Another idea I had was a voice-changing potion."
"There's a spell for that," he said in a bored voice. His eyes were on his hands as he twisted his ring around his finger.
"Okay, well how about a potion that heightens your adrenaline and awareness for an extended amount of time—"
"Let me stop you right there," he interrupted and looked up at me, and my words died in my throat. "Like you said, it needs to be spectacular. I'm the top student in Potions." I scoffed, and he continued. "Those ideas are good, but not good enough."
"First off, I'm right there behind you in ranking," I hissed, slamming To Kill A Mockingbird shut on my lap. "Secondly, what is your revolutionary idea if mine are not good enough, then?"
His eyes darted to my book, but I was already slipping it in my bag. He merely replied, "Hasn't hit me yet".
"Alright, genius. Let's just do some browsing and see what we find," I crooned, leaning forward to get a book beside his head.
I scanned the shelf for a particular book I know has useful information. My shoulders were level with his and my arm was outstretched, my fingers skimming over the book bindings. I kept my eyes on the books but he was looking at my face, his expression solemn. His pink lips were parted. I felt a blush coming, but I found the red spine and tugged at it, swiftly settling back across from him with the book. When I looked up at him, he had already cracked open a dark blue book.
I began to read, considering how each ingredient would work together. Some of the pictures of the magical fruit ingredients looked quite appetizing, consisting of bright colors and textures described as smooth and plump, and I couldn't stop my mouth from watering.
"You didn't eat dinner."
I blinked and glanced up at him, and he was still reading.
"What?"
"Your hunger is written all over your face, and I can hear your grumbling stomach from all the way over here," He said simply, still not looking at me. My cheeks started to burn.
When I didn't say anything, he sighed and set his open book aside, reaching into his bag and pulling out a carton. He doesn't look at me when he places the container onto my lap and starts reading again.
It's full of strawberries.
"You... you like strawberries?" I asked carefully. I had never seen him eat them before.
He glimpsed up at me through his heavy eyelids, then looked back down at his book. "I guess they're pretty good. Pansy gave them to me." He rolled his eyes.
I blushed again. Pansy. His... girlfriend, of sorts. Is that what you call someone you snog? "Thanks." He didn't respond, just flipped a page. I plopped a strawberry in my mouth, and when the delightful flavor spread across my tongue I couldn't stop the moan of pleasure that seeped out of me. His jaw twitched, but he said nothing. Then I remembered that he wasn't even at dinner tonight.
I swallowed the fruit and decided to try my luck. "I... I didn't see you at dinner. Did you eat?"
"No."
Oh. Crap, he brought these strawberries for himself, didn't he? "Then here, have some," I suggested, picking up a strawberry with two fingers and holding it out to him.
He looked at me sideways. "I'm fine, Granger. I don't want to eat."
"Come on, you brought these fruits for yourself, anyways," I protested, feeling guilty for taking his food from him.
"Just eat it."
I shook my head, still holding out the fruit. "Surely you must be hungry—"
"I'm not going to eat. Leave it," Draco seethed, his eyes burning again. My mouth had fallen open, taken aback. Why did he always get so angry? He turned back to his book, a scowl stretched across his features.
"You can't talk to me like that," I said, my voice soft yet firm.
His gaze snapped to mine again, his eyes still hot. "Like what, exactly?"
"Like I'm someone you can boss around," I clarified, my fingers beginning to pull at each other with nerves.
Draco grinned, but there was no joy in it. "Aren't you?"
I sighed, not knowing how much more of him I could deal with. "No, I'm not. I only listen to myself."
Draco shook his head slowly, his grin replaced with a thin line. "It doesn't seem like that."
Here we go again. I groaned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
His eyes were hard as they bore into mine. "It just seems like you're always taking care of everyone," Draco said slowly, putting an emphasis on the last word.
I leaned forward slightly, curious. "Is that such a bad thing?"
"Well, no. But you are so worried about everyone that you forget about yourself," Draco said easily. I tilted my head in question, but he tore his gaze from mine and was reading again.
"Like forgetting to eat dinner," Draco added, raising his eyebrow at me before narrowing his gaze at the uneaten strawberries on my lap.
"You didn't eat, either," I argued, but I bit another strawberry anyways.
"That's different."
He turned another page roughly. His tone was firm, so I decided not to push it. "Why do you care?" I asked abruptly, my words muffled by the food in my mouth.
Draco looked up at me, clearly not understanding what I had said. "What?"
Am I really going to ask him this? I gulped down my food and tried again. "Why do you care if I eat dinner or not?"
His jaw clenched, but all that Draco said was, "It's unhealthy, and makes you grumpy and a pain to work with."
"I thought I'm always a pain to work with," I quipped suspiciously.
"Even moreso when you're operating on an empty stomach."
I bit my lip and looked down at my lap, at the food he had given me. That doesn't really make sense. It's so... not like him. "But you don't even care about me."
Silence. Then: "That's not true."
My eyes locked onto his, and his grey eyes were shielded, masking emotion. What did he just say? I loosed a heavy breath, wondering why he felt the need to lie to me. "Why lie, Malfoy? We both know it's true."
Draco slammed his book shut, and I jumped in my seat. His eyes darted to the floor and he ran a hand through his hair, messing up the careful placement. When his eyes returned to mine, the mask was cracked. His pupils were dilated and the corners of his eyes were crinkled. "It's not that I don't care about you, Granger." My breath hitched, and his eyes shot to my lips. "It's that I do care," Draco continued quietly. "And I don't want to care." Draco's eyes came back to mine, and they were open, telling me something.
He... he cares about me?
I didn't know what to say to that. I just said, "Oh."
Something flashed across his features. Hurt? But the statue was back before I could think about it more. He broke eye contact and shoved the book into his bag and said stiffly, "Alright, we've found enough for today. Let's go."
"Go where?"
"The Slytherin common room. I have some rare ingredients we can use to experiment."
I winced. Last time I was there I don't even remember getting there. And, as Ron would put it, it's 'enemy territory'. "I don't think I should go there..."
"You're coming," Draco stated, standing up and leaving. Reluctantly, I followed him.
I trailed a few feet behind Draco, not sure what to say or do after what just happened. Soon, he was muttering the password in front of a blank wall, and a hidden door swung open. He stepped in and looked back at me, jerking his head at me to follow.
I took a shuddering breath, stepping into the snake pit.