Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 45

Hermione stared down at the book in front of her, sighing in frustration as the information didn't register. She put her head in her hands and silently wished to be back on Pansy's island for probably the thousandth time since they had come back nearly a month ago.

She couldn't believe it was already the beginning of February. Time was moving too fast for her, and she was not happy about it. Especially since exams were coming up, and the stress was starting to get to her.

Someone sat down next to her and she barely had time to look up before she felt a kiss on her forehead.

"Sorry I'm late," Draco said quietly as he smiled at her. But when he saw the frustrated look on her face, his smile immediately turned to a frown. "Are you okay?"

"I'm so stressed out, Draco," She said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I've been trying to study for exams and my brain just doesn't want to cooperate."

He scratched her back lightly as he said, "Maybe you need to take a small break from it; why don't you help me find some books that I need?"

She nodded and they both stood up, making their way to the shelves. Hermione smiled as she looked at the back of his head, thankful that he somehow knew how to help calm her down. Mindless tasks like finding or putting away books always helped ground her and get her mind back on track to focus.

He gave her a few books to find before sending her off with a quick kiss and she happily walked through the small aisles. After a few minutes spent easily locating the books, she met Draco back at the table where he had just set down the small stack he had pulled from the shelves.

"Thank you, love." He smiled as he took the books from her.

She smiled happily and returned to her seat, refusing to look at the books in front of her and instead focusing on Draco moving to sit across from her so that they would both have more room. As he got situated she thought over how he was the one to suggest studying in the library together when they returned from the holiday break. She eagerly accepted, of course; Ron and Harry almost never suggested it even when they knew she was stressing about her grades. Draco was just as diligent about keeping his marks high as she was, and she was very thankful for that.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked quietly, breaking her out of her train of thought.

"Just how nice it is to finally have someone who wants to study with me," She said with a slight shrug. "Harry and Ron hardly did, and while Ginny was better, I knew she would rather have been playing quidditch."

Draco laughed at that. "Well you'll always have a study partner with me."

They smiled warmly at each other and got to work studying together, the world around them disappearing.

Pansy and Theo were the ones to find Draco and Hermione hours later, surrounded by books and papers. Both were still focused hard on their work, but Pansy couldn't help but smile at the fact that under the table, their legs were neatly intertwined.

They didn't even look up at the two newcomers until Pansy sat down next to Hermione and nudged her. "It's almost time for dinner."

Hermione looked down at her watch with a surprised look. "Merlin, we've been here all afternoon."

"We all had a feeling that would happen," Theo grinned. "We weren't too worried."

Pansy was already helping Hermione with her papers and books while Draco sorted his own. Theo helped put away a few books and soon the four of them were walking out of the library together. Blaise and Ginny were waiting for the other four just outside the Great Hall and the group entered together for dinner.