Chapter 1: Trying shouldn't be a one person effort

He always did put himself in destructive situations. For exactly 2 years straight, Draco had been in love. He was completely entranced and to be honest, time was cruel to him. He saw her every day, almost as if she's waiting at every meeting place for him, never allowing him to escape. His heart would race at just the thought of seeing her. For real. The Gryffindork. Granger. Her.

Scowling, he stopped staring at the back of her delicate chestnut waves and looked down at his parchment and noticed he had spelt 'cauldron' wrong...twice. It was an uncomfortably hot afternoon and unfortunately, the Slytherins and Gryffindors had been forced to go to a Charms classroom for their Potions lesson as a stupid second year had managed to melt all the desks with her catastrophic brew. The sunlight was pouring through the glass next to him, burning the side of his neck. Rubbing it, Draco glanced up, to see Hermione turn round slightly to bend down gracefully towards her bag. For the millionth time, he reminded himself about how beautiful she was. She had large chocolate eyes, full of wonder and ambition. Her skin was always clear and she had high cheeks and pouting full lips. She was perfect and distinctly out of place among such normal looking people. Hermione then looked up at her dense friends and smiled at something unimpressively sarcastic Weasel-bug said to get her attention. Snorting with repulsion, Draco stooped his head down again, avoiding her questioning glare that he felt blazing into his face.

He shot his eyes up, grey meeting brown. He sneered then pouted his lips and tilted his head, illustrating her expression, allowing his white blonde hair to graze over his strong gorgeous face. She just widened her eyes slightly and turned back round, ignoring the insinuating grin that he flashed at her. He used to like making her uncomfortable; a sultry implying smile was all that was needed. But he didn't like it being this way anymore. She just clings to his conscience; everywhere and all the time. It was worse when he saw her gliding towards him in the corridors. He'd hold his breath and watch her. His face would heat up as her hair would bounce effortlessly as his hands would ball into fists. Someone could jinx him and he wouldn't notice. It was almost a trance. He was powerless around her.

When the bell went, Potter and Weasley left to go towards their own lesson. Before he could stop himself his eyes trailed after Granger longingly as she strolled towards Professor Snape. Draco mentally slapped himself for being so pathetic.

He felt a murmur in his left ear, and turned to see Pansy's pointy wondering face beaming at him. He murmured, telling her to go and she obliged, as usual.

Suddenly, when he heard the door slam as Snape left, he realised; they were alone in the room. The stuffy air was more noticeable, the walls seemed a lot closer and the disturbance of other people's breath was missing. The atmosphere was different…and they both felt it. Hermione kept glancing up to see why Malfoy was still in the room, and when she found no explanation, she hurriedly struggled to pack her bag that was already too full. Draco chuckled slightly, loving how cute this small imperfection was. Granger was slightly red in the face, either from the heat…or from Draco's presence…She was biting her lip for some reason, and Draco mirrored this small action. He was just watching her. The way she posed and could not quite keep still so kept swaying slightly on the spot. He repeatedly opened his mouth, like Weasley, trying to think of something clever to say; Draco was close to the edge.

Granger began to sway past, pretending to disregard his presence. And suddenly a new wave of strange alien inspiration came over Draco. He grasped her elbow gently whilst looking over her head, and only looked at her when he had spun her round to look at him. Grey met brown.

He stuttered "It's difficult." He began to lean towards her face. She didn't move. "You're all…" He paused to take in how close they were. Her eyes didn't show terror or anything; just confusion and a breath of curiosity. They were almost nose to nose and she was blinking widely. Then he continued. "…you're all I think of, all of the time. And not having you has messed me up."

Her eyes widened at the words. She still didn't say anything. A split second later she began to pull away but Draco grabbed both of her wrists, then pressed his forehead against hers whilst closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. She smelt not only like the apple Draco had watched her eat at breakfast but also a faint rosy perfume. It intoxicated him, making him sway a little but he still held her close.

"Don't" he breathed as she fidgeted again. He held her in place; their bodies were so close and perfectly in line with each other. They were both breathing deeply, dizzy from the heat streaming through the windows. He opened his eyes again to see her looking directly at him. It was killing him, burning, that she had tried to pull away. "Don't" he repeated quietly. She just shook her head, looking at him through unearthly blank eyes. She pulled away, so much that now the only thing linking their bodies now were his hands grasping her wrists, never wanting to let go. He let go. He let her go.