Hermione sighed loudly and tried her best to concentrate on her book. Concentrating on books was never normally a problem for her but as was usual lately, her mind was somewhere else. After a few minutes she slammed the book shut and sighed loudly. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her forehead. Why was she feeling like this? It was beyond ridiculous!

For a start, she never longed after a boy, it wasn't her style. She had an appreciation for good looking boys, of course but she her love life had never been her priority and she had always found it easy to look, admire and then totally forget and concentrate on her studies. So why had that changed? Things were different in lots of ways this year, especially for the twenty or so pupils who had returned to re-take their 7th year but her choice to return to school made her studies even more important.

And then there was the whole, horrific problem of who she was constantly thinking about! How the hell had that happened? Well, she supposed she did have half an answer to that. A few weeks ago she had been called to Professor McGonagall's office to be told she had been chosen as a member of a committee to improve the relationship between the houses. Given how things had changed since Voldemort's death, the Headmistress and other senior staff had decided that the rivalry between the houses was out of proportion. The job of the newly formed committee was to establish better relationships between the houses.

Hermione was glad to be chosen and was honoured to be the representative from Gryffindor. She was also pleased to see that Anthony Goldstein was on the committee for Ravenclaw and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff. And then there was the representative from Slytherin! Not surprisingly, Hermione hadn't exactly looked forward to working with someone from that house. She tried her best to hide this though because to continue the intense dislike between Gryffindor and Slytherin would be totally defeating the point of the Committee in the first place.

As she walked to her first Committee meeting she hoped desperately that the Slytherin representative wasn't a certain tall, blonde and recently increasingly handsome wizard. That would be sheer hell and would almost definitely end in disaster. So, Hermione was half relieved to see Blaise Zabini sitting at the table when she entered the room. She was only half relieved because Blaise was the certain tall, blonde and recently increasingly handsome wizard's best friend so his presence wasn't something to be happy about. However, Blaise had grinned cheekily at her and made a show of getting up to pull her chair out for her.

The meeting had gone well. They all had great ideas and they had managed to discuss them in a civilized manner. To Hermione's surprise, Blaise was agreeable, easy to talk with and incredibly cheerful and upbeat. Not at all like she had imagined he'd be.

The next few meetings had proceeded the same way and Hermione felt herself being drawn to Blaise rather than Anthony or Hannah as she had expected. He was quick witted, obviously intelligent and he had a charming way about him that she really liked. It was a very strange to feel like this about such a prominent member of her rival house and it shocked Hermione how easily he had won her over.

After a few meetings had taken place the two of them had really hit it off and if she saw Blaise around the school, he would come over to speak to her, usually only for a few minutes but nevertheless this involved him leaving his bunch of cronies standing a few feet away, waiting for him. His bunch of cronies always included a certain tall, blonde and recently increasing handsome wizard who stood a few feet away, his snooty nose in the air, looking thoroughly put out that he was being made to wait while his best friend chatted to her. His presence made Hermione feel uncomfortable but she couldn't help but notice his lack of direct hostility towards her. He was far from being friendly or even civil but he never looked directly at her and he said nothing.

About three weeks after the Committee had been formed, Hermione had needed to speak to Blaise about something and she had gone to seek him out. Inconveniently, he was out in the grounds with his usual gang and Hermione had to approach him whilst they all watched her walking towards them. She remained calm and didn't meet anyone's eyes but it was nerve racking. She was about twenty feet away when Blaise noticed her and he immediately jumped to his feet and hurried over to meet her.

All unremarkable up to this point until Hermione found herself staring over Blaise's shoulder at his blonde friend who was staring straight back. Again, his eyes, although not in the least bit friendly, held no hostility. Hermione, who had never had the chance or inclination to stare into this certain pair of eyes, couldn't drag her own eyes away from him. Blaise was talking away to her but she wasn't hearing a single word because she was totally transfixed. To gaze at their smouldering, grey depths when they weren't filled with hate was a totally new experience for her and she found herself acting the same way as half the population of the school did around him.

She went to bed that night still thinking about him and that had been the start of the downward spiral that had lead to Hermione's current, strange and worrying state of mind. Her blossoming friendship with Blaise meant crossing paths with his friend on a regular basis and she found herself growing more and more attracted to him. His former haughtiness had gone and he now had an ease and grace that made him fascinating to watch. He was almost beautiful if that word could be applied to a man. He oozed confidence but without the arrogance that had always accompanied it beforehand. Hermione found herself turning into a dithering wreck whenever he was within fifty feet of her and she was mortified when the reality of this finally sunk in.

She fancied Draco Malfoy! She - Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter – fancied Draco Malfoy! She felt a chill run through her. This could lead to nothing but disaster and she had decided that she needed to stop how she was feeling immediately.

That had been almost four weeks ago and today she was feeling exactly the same way, if not more so. It was time she faced the fact she was in trouble. Deep trouble.