Chapter 3 : Charms

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Chapter 3 : Charms

It was a Saturday afternoon in October. A month had passed since their arrival back at Hogwarts. Hermione sat at a table in the library, referring to a book for her potions homework. This being their N.E.W.T year, all of their professors bombarded them with homework, and Professor Slughorn, mellow though he was, cut them no slack either.

Some of the potions they were learning were extremely complicated and difficult to make. Even Hermione couldn't follow the recipe sometimes, and that was saying something. The only person in their class who never went wrong was Draco. Hermione had to admit that Draco was exceedingly brilliant at Potions. Despite his pleasing results, Slughorn rarely acknowledged him, though his work deserved some sort of acknowledgement. He was, after all, the student with the second highest scores, coming up after Hermione herself. But, most of the teachers simply ignored him, even though he tried hard to gain their respect through his schoolwork. They only teacher whom Hermione had seen talking to Draco was McGonagall.

Hermione felt bad for him. The circumstances had changed him a lot. He seemed like a completely different person. He rarely spoke, he had lost his usual snobbish and arrogant manner, and his famous smirk rarely made an appearance now a days. He was always seen doing his own work in a corner, trying to ignore the snide comments others threw at him.

Just as Hermione turned a page of her book, she heard a thud and looked up. She saw Draco standing behind the seat across her, placing his pile of books down on the table.

"What are you doing here?", she asked a little surprised.

"I'm here to study", he replied staring at her with his cool grey eyes.

"Well, can't you sit somewhere else?", Hermione asked, trying to mask her irritation.

"No, because as far as I know, a person may sit wherever he or she wishes to, in this particular library", he said softly. He might have changed, thought Hermione, but his snottiness was still the same. Though she did sense some civility in his tone.

She stared at him, confused. Before she could speak, Draco continued, "Don't worry, I won't disturb you. Carry on", he said, pulling up the chair in front of him and sitting down in it.

Hermione turned to her homework. There was no point arguing, she thought, besides, it's not like they were chatting with each other or anything.

Five minutes into writing down the recipe for the Draught of Eternal Glory, Hermione heard Draco cough. It was the kind anyone does to catch someone's attention. She ignored him and continued her work. Draco coughed again.

"What?", Hermione hissed at him, not trying to hide her annoyance anymore.

"You might want to change the amount of beetle shells in the recipe to two ounces", he said, gesturing towards the parchment in front of her.

"But it says half an ounce in the recipe in this book", she snapped, jabbing a finger at the book.

"That's the old edition", said Draco, eyeing the copy of 'High Quality Potions and How To Make Them'. "The new edition, established in 1904, says that two ounces of beetle shells should be added as it helps the potion mature better", he said, looking down at the words he was scribbling on the parchment.

"Why should I believe you?", Hermione snapped at him. She knew it was a stupid thing to do. She didn't want to sound mean, seeing as everyone else was, but she couldn't help it, especially after he had promised he wouldn't disturb and yet had broken it.

Draco paused. He kept his quill down and looked up at her. "You shouldn't", he said coldly, but his tone was a bit hurt. Hermione noticed the bags under his eyes. His hair was dishevelled, and his eyes had lost their sparkle. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept for days and his pale face had lost it's charm. Yet, he still looked incredibly and undeniably handsome. "But, you can believe the book", he said, his expression softening a bit.

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