A/N: Everything, except the stuff you don't recognize, belongs to JK Rowling and her utter genius.

Chapter one: With One Look

Draco Malfoy rolled his eyes as Hermione answered another question perfectly, earning another ten points for Gryffindor. With Snape teaching Defense against the Dark Arts instead of Potions, Draco's favorite subject had quickly become his worst. His only solace came with that fact that Potter was no longer the best in DADA.

"Harry, you've done it again!" yelled Slughorn from across the dungeon and Draco nearly chopped off the end of his finger in his disgust. He glanced in Potter's direction long enough to catch a glimpse of Hermione's frustrated glare at her friend. How's it feel to be outdone, Mudblood? he thought contemptuously.

The massive form that was Professor Slughorn threw a shadow over Draco's cauldron as he observed its contents. "Adequate, Mr. Malfoy," he said, clicking his tongue, "though after an Outstanding OWL I'd expect better out of you."

Draco swore under his breath as the enormous man moved to the next table. From across the room, his grey eyes locked with a brown pair belonging to Hermione Granger. Instead of her normal stares of contempt, she looked at him with a seeming understanding. For once, He didn't feel like narrowing his eyes or mouthing some sort of cruel insult, he just went back to his rapidly bubbling cauldron.

Seconds later he pounded his fist on the table in frustration. It wasn't like him to pass up a chance to make a Mudblood feel inferior, especially Granger. His fellow Slytherins looked at him questionably, but went back to their work as he growled at them. "What's wrong with me?" he asked himself inaudibly.

Not long after, Slughorn finally put Draco out of his misery. He collected his books and timed his exit so he could painfully shoulder Hermione out of the way; as if it were her fault that he'd had a moment of weakness. He glanced back down the corridor, a small smirk playing at his lips, and saw the narrow eyes he was accustomed to. "Teach you to look at me," he sneered under his breath, "with those big—"

He stopped short in his tracks. Did he really just say that? He tried, to no avail, to forget what he'd almost said and practically ran to the Slytherin common room for his free period. The last thing he needed to do was entertain thoughts of Mudblood. Especially Granger… especially now.

* * * *

"He's up to something," whispered Harry for the second time, "I know it." He had barely touched his lunch and it seemed that catching Draco was quickly becoming his obsession.

"We know, Harry," Hermione agreed, rubbing her bruised shoulder, "but that's all you've talked about since we arrived."

Ignoring her, he turned to Ron and went on talking about his theories. She tried her best to block him out while looking around the Great hall for someone sane to talk to. Ginny was with Dean, as always, and Lavender was to busy trying to attract Ron's attention, though the attempt was completely futile. Opening her bag, Hermione realized, with slight embarrassment, that she'd already completed all of the volumes that she currently carried with her. She chewed the last few bites of her lunch and left the hall without a word to her friends. The last thing she wanted to talk, or even hear about was Draco Malfoy. The pain in her shoulder was reminder enough of his useless existence.

Her solitary free period was after lunch, and since she didn't want to sit around in the common room with Harry ranting about Malfoy, she went straight to the library. After all, she really did need to do some extra reading for her Ancient Runes assignment.

Quietly putting her bag on a table, she went to the shelves containing the books that could help her. She walked along, immersed in her searching. Occasionally she pulled out a book to appraise it further, but nothing seemed to be what she needed. She was so engrossed in her hunt that she didn't notice a person beside her, slowly edging closer in their own exploration of the shelf and it wasn't long before she collided with them. "Oh, I'm sorr—" she began before she realized who it was she'd bumped. Cold stone eyes glared down at her and her eyes narrowed. "Never mind."

"Hey," Draco said in feigned offense, "you ran into me, Mudblood."

"It's not like you did anything to prevent it," she retorted. "and if you'd ask me—"

"I won't."

She ignored him. "You really need some new insults. That one just gets old, you know."

He stepped closer to her and brought his face within centimeters of hers in an effort to intimidate her. It worked. "Don't cross me, Granger," he whispered harshly and walked away.

Hermione inhaled, grabbed a random book and walked back to her table. Maybe the common room and Harry's ranting would have been preferable. She tried in vain to focus on the text but eventually gave up. Pulling out her incomplete essay, she wrote a few meaningless words but gave up on that endeavor as well.

Across the library she caught sight of Draco staring at her. When she noticed him, his eyes narrowed, but it was obvious to her that they hadn't been before.

"They mean the same thing," an unfamiliar voice behind her advised.

Hermione turned to the unknown voice and met an unknown face. "Pardon me?"

The green eyed girl pointed to the blank part of her parchment, "They mean the same thing."

"Oh," she shook her head to clear it. "thank you."

The girl gave a tentative smile and shrugged, "No problem. Could I sit here?"

"Of course," Hermione smiled quickly and moved a huge book out of the way.

The girl sat down and waited a few minutes before introducing herself, "I'm Zofia, by the way. Zofia Ruskaya." She held out a hand and Hermione shook it.

"Nice to meet you," she replied, almost distractedly. She looked back to Draco, who was still staring at her.

"Beware," Zofia said dramatically, "there's an evil presence lurking."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed wholeheartedly, "so I guess you're not in Slytherin."

She laughed, soft and short, "No, Ravenclaw."

For the next hour Hermione was too busy talking with her new friend to even think about her runes assignment. Besides, she had very few people she could count as friends and she wasn't about to pass up the chance to make a new one. Especially since her other friends seemed to want to talk about Malfoy all the time, and he was haunting her enough.

* * * *

Draco paced in front of his elegant four poster bed. Desperately he tried to think up a better plan for executing his task than his current one. Unfortunately, his mind kept wondering to places it never should. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw big brown eyes staring up at him in fear and he almost felt… guilty.

Guilt wasn't something he was used to feeling, or liked feeling. But the lingering guilt wasn't what bothered him most, and neither were her eyes. What concerned him most was slightly south of her eyes and the fact that as she'd looked up into his eyes, so obviously frightened by him, he'd actually thought of kissing her. The thought almost made him cringe…almost. But he realized that the feelings of disgust were completely fabricated because he knew that's how he should feel as both a pureblooded wizard and a Malfoy.

Then it hit him. His thoughts clearly weren't natural. "Damn, she must have done something to me!" he reasoned aloud.

"Go to bed, Malfoy!" groaned Blaise Zabini from inside his curtained bed.

Draco drew the drapes around his own bed and fell back onto his pillow, able to relax for the first time all day. It wasn't his fault that Granger kept creeping into his thoughts, she was obviously behind it.

The smallest smirk parted his lips as he fell asleep. If only Potter knew that his girlfriend was desperately after him.

A/N: Well? What do you think so far? Do you like it...? Wanna...oh, I don't know....tell me in a review? :)