Draco

            "You said that to her?"

            "Yeah," I grinned, leaning back in the library's chair and looking over at Eve as she stared at me in shock. "What was I supposed to say? Pansy wouldn't leave me alone, so I told her to go—"

            "Don't say it again!" Eve exclaimed, shoving my shoulder. But she wasn't doing a very good job of holding back a smile as she said, "I can't believe you. Pansy isn't that bad..."

            "Yes she is," I said, "and you know it. Who was the one who snapped at her during the feast at the beginning of the year?"

            Eve flushed as she remembered, mumbling, "How do you even remember that?"

            I grinned and put my elbows up on the Potions textbook we were supposed to be studying out of, leaning closer to Eve. "I remember everything, what can I say?"

            "You're so arrogant," Eve complained, but she was still smiling.

            We'd gone to the library early this morning to prepare for the exam that was tomorrow, but somewhere along the line we forgot all about Potions and just started joking around. We'd picked a table near the back so we'd be able to talk without the librarian coming over to tell us off.

           It had been nearly a week since I'd first kissed her, and she was finally starting to look less unsure around me. We were slowly beginning to be less awkward around each other, and we usually stayed out late to talk in the common room together after the rest of our House was asleep. I was doing my best to be good to her—just like I'd promised.

            "We should be studying," Eve groaned. When she reached for her textbook, I leaned forward and grabbed it before she could get to it. She glared at me and tried to reach for it, saying, "What are you doing—?"

            "I don't want to study," I told her, holding the book just out of her reach as she tried to grab it. "We can study later, come on."

            "But we've already wasted so much time..." she trailed off at the look I gave her, rolling her eyes and giving up. She crossed her arms as I finally set her book down, sticking her tongue out at me and saying, "I think you're trying to sabotage my Potions' grade."

            "Damn, you got me," I grinned. "How'd you know?"

            Eve raised one eyebrow at me, clearly unable to keep the smile off of her face. Then a comfortable silence ensued, and we both looked around at the rest of the library for a little while. The librarian was suspiciously glancing over at us once in a while, but I didn't care enough to make an attempt at being quieter.

            Before the silence could turn awkward, I leaned forward and said to Eve, "Have you heard about how much Umbridge is cracking down? I heard she's trying to take over the school."

            "Yeah right," Eve scoffed. "She's a terrible person, but there's no way."

            "That's why Trelawney got sacked," I insisted. "Didn't you see it happen?"

            Eve thought for a second, then gave a grin as she said, "No, and neither did you. We were in the common room during our free period, remember?"

            My expression turned into an arrogant smirk. "Oh yeah."

            Eve rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she glanced over at me. The Hufflepuff sitting at the table next to us got up then and left the library, leaving the two of us alone at the back. I caught her gaze before she could look away, and we both looked at each other from across the table for a long moment.

            Her blue eyes were still fixed on mine as she asked in a small voice, "Kiss me?"

            The corner of my mouth curved upwards at this, but I was already leaning forward. I kissed her across the table at the back of the library, the smell of parchment around us and her hair tickling my cheeks. When I pulled away, Eve smiled up at me shyly and said softly, "Thanks."

            I grinned as I told her, "No, believe me; thank you."

~*~

            Nearly two weeks later in Potions, Snape set us off to work on the problems from the textbook in the groups at our table. I was sitting across from Goyle with Eve on my right and Zabini—unfortunately—on my left. The only reason I was sitting next to him was so that Eve could stay as far away from him as possible by sitting across from him.

            Our textbooks were all out beside our pieces of parchment, but we'd only gotten through the first question. I was talking with Eve and occasionally joking around with Goyle from across the table, while I did my best to ignore Zabini. It hadn't been as hard as I'd originally thought; all I had to do was rarely look at him so I wouldn't get angry again.

            "Face it, Eve," I said smugly, looking over her essay she'd gotten back from Snape at the start of class. "I did better than you on this one."

            "Yeah right," Eve retorted, trying to reach past me to take a peek at my own essay. "You won't even let me see yours."

            "That's because I don't want you to feel bad," I smirked, tucking my essay under the edge of my textbook so she wouldn't be able to see that she'd actually gotten a few points higher than me. "We get so many essays in this class; just this once, I'll spare you the embarrassment of seeing my grade."

            "You're full of it," Eve grinned. She tried to look annoyed with me but failed miserably, snatching her essay back as Goyle and Zabini talked on the other side of the table. "Admit it, Draco. I'm better at Potions than you."

            "You just keep telling yourself that," I said, leaning back in my chair and stretching my arms with my hands against the back of my head. "I'm brilliant at Potions."

            Eve shook her head and reminded me easily, "That's what all the conceited people say."

            "I'm not conceited—"

            I was about to reach over and grab her essay for the second time to tease her again when Zabini interrupted me.

            "Hey, Hawkings," he said, grinning across the table at her. My chest burned; was he actually doing this? How many times had he tried this in the past month?

            I looked over at Eve and watched as the smile melted off of her face, seeing her gaze turn cold as she looked over at Zabini. She didn't say anything as she glared at him for half a second before turning back to me. I glanced over at Zabini, attempting to calm myself down and hoping for his sake that he wouldn't try again.

            But he started to open his mouth for the second time, so I cut him off before he could get another word out. "Shut up, Zabini. Leave her alone."

            He turned to me and smirked, and I knew he was just doing it to piss me off. "Why should I? I just wanted to ask her—"

            "Yeah, well, you can't."

            "What do you mean, 'I can't'?" he asked arrogantly as Eve stared down at her textbook.

            "I mean," I said nastily, "you aren't allowed to talk to her."

            Zabini grinned hugely at this, jeering, "What, you've got a crush?"

            "I haven't got a crush," I snapped, managing to keep my voice steady despite how angry he was making me. "Fuck off, would you?"

            He looked over at Eve again, and then he smirked before telling me, "Alright, don't get your panties in a twist."

            As he turned to continue talking with Goyle, I exhaled angrily and turned away from him. Why did he always do that? It was like he was trying to get me to kill him—

            When I looked down at Eve, I realized she had her head turned slightly away from me with a frown on her face. I leaned closer to her with concern and asked, "You okay? Just ignore him, alright?"

            "That's not it," she said, and then I realized why she was upset.

            "Is it because I said—?" I broke off, almost unable to comprehend that she didn't already know. I leaned even closer and told her quietly, "You know this is more than just a stupid crush, right?"

            Then Eve turned her head and looked me dead in the eye for a long minute, almost like she was trying to decide if I was telling the truth. I looked right back at her, keeping my gaze steady—because I knew I was telling the truth. Eve finally blinked and looked up at me again through her dark lashes, saying softly, "I know."

            So I reached under the table and grasped her hand in mine, holding it tightly.

            I didn't let it go until after the bell had rung and class was finished.