The next morning, I didn't even attempt to wake up. Even though classes started today, I wanted to stay in bed. I was too busy dreaming about Draco to do anything else. It was blissful, it was perfect, it was--

THUD!

My body on the floor.

I groaned as I got up from the cold floor and got ready for the day. I got dressed in my robes and went into the bathroom, brushing my teeth and fixing my hair. When I went downstairs, I already saw Ron. He looked tired as well from the yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Tired, too?" I asked, standing beside him.

He nodded, "Harry woke me up. He pushed me off the bed and just left me there!"

Hermione soon came down as well and the four of us headed off for breakfast in the Great Hall.

Harry sat beside me and the other two sat across from us. I spotted Draco going to the Slytherin table and sitting between Blaise and Pansy. He had dark, baggy circles under his eyes and his face was more tired and pale than ever before. Our eyes locked and I gave him a worried look. I was hoping to run into him later today, just to see what was wrong with him.

"What are you staring at, Max?" Harry questioned. "You're not looking over at Malfoy, are you?"

"He's my friend, Harry," I replied, looking at my brother. "We went over this last night. Just look at him. He doesn't look right, bro. He's pale and tired and he's also got dark circles under his eyes. Something is wrong with him."

Harry sighed and started talking to Ron and Hermione.

As I began to eat the piece of toast that I grabbed from the big platter in front of me, I thought about what could be wrong with Draco. It wasn't me, was it? Maybe he was worried that I would find out what he was up to last night. To be honest, I wanted to know what he was doing. If he continued to look like this, I was planning to help him.

Professor McGonagall came by with our schedules for the new year. Harry, Ron, and I had a free period, which meant more time to figure out what the hell I was going to do about Draco. I needed to stop going back to thinking about him. I was a Gryffindor, he was a Slytherin. It would never work.

But I wanted it to work.

Ugh, I was desperate at this point.

"We have boring classes again!" Ron complained.

"Ron, we have boring classes every year," I pointed out.

"True," he added.

"Well, while you three have fun with your free period, I'm going to my first class." Hermione stood up from her seat and strutted out of the Great Hall.

We took the rest of our time just talking and eating the remainder of our breakfast. After that, the three of us went out into the hallway and watched as students walked by us and McGonagall was yelling at students, telling them where the classes were at. She spotted us laughing and called Harry over. Ron and I watched the two talk before Ron went back to laughing at other students as they went past us. When Harry came back over to us, he was disappointed.

"Who wants to take Potions again?" he asked.

"What?!" Ron and I said at the same time.

"How the hell did you get Potions?" I questioned my brother, raising my eyebrows.

"Don't even get me started, sis," he replied, walking past me and Ron.

We followed him and caught up so we were right beside him.

"But I don't want to take Potions!" Ron whined.

"Yeah, no Gryffindor liked that class. Even when Snape was teaching it," I added.

"Except the Slytherins," the ginger boy pointed out to me.

I sighed. "Yeah."

"But there are more important things than Potions right now. Quidditch tryouts are coming up, and I need to practice. You two are still going to be captains, right?"

"What?" I asked in shock. "I had no idea about this. What's he going on about, Harry?"

"Oh, well, everyone in Gryffindor wants us to be captains this year, along with Ginny. Would you be up for it?" Harry asked.

"But why do we need three captains?"

"Because you three are the best on the team!" Ron exclaimed.

I huffed a sigh. "Fine. I'll be a captain."

"Good," Harry said. "We need you this year if we want to beat Slytherin."

"Yeah," was all that I could say. I wondered if Draco was playing this year.

When we got to the Potions classroom, the three of us stopped in our tracks, not knowing what to do or say next. Slughorn turned around and saw us.

"Ah. Harry, Maxine. I was beginning to worry. You've brought someone with us, I see."

"Ron Weasley, sir," Ron introduced himself. "But I'm dead awful at Potions, a menace, actually. So I should just go..." He tried to leave, but Harry and I stopped him.

"Nonsense, we'll sort you out," Slughorn told him. "Any friends of Harry and Maxine are friends of mine. Get your books out."

"Um, sorry, sir, Harry and I don't have our books yet, and nor has Ron," I explained.

"No worries just get what you want from the cupboard."

We went to the cupboard and with just our luck we found three books left. Two were brand new and one was torn up. Ron immediately grabbed one of the new ones while Harry and I just looked at each other.

"I'm getting that book," he said.

"No, you're not," I replied as I went for the book the same time Harry did. I pushed him out of the way and took the new copy in my hands. I smirked as Harry reluctantly grabbed the last copy and hit me with his book.

"Worst sister ever," he commented.

"Oh, you still love me," I retorted.

He smiled a little as he stood beside me. Hermione was now explaining about something called Amortentia.

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world," she said. "It's rumored to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass, new parchment, and spearmint toothpaste." Getting flustered, she went back to standing beside Lavender Brown, another Gryffindor.

As Slughorn went back to talking, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Draco was staring at me. I didn't want to cause any attention from unwanted people by staring back at him. But it sure was tempting to do it. So I just smiled to myself and went back to paying attention to Slughorn.

"Sir? You haven't told us what's in that one," some girl from Gryffindor piped up.

Slughorn took the tiny vial and held it up for everyone to see. "Oh, yes. What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as--"

"Liquid Luck," Hermione finished.

"Yes, Miss Granger. Liquid Luck." He went on about how everything you wanted to succeed will succeed until the effects wore off. "So this is what I offer each of you today. One tiny vial of Liquid Luck to the student who, in the hour that remains, manages to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death. That's found on page ten of your books.

"I should tell you this, however, only once did a student manage to brew a potion of sufficient quality to claim this prize. Nevertheless, good luck to you all. Let the brewing commence!"

With that, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I went to a table of four and got started.

On the way to my table, I walked past Draco and felt him give something to me. I looked at my hand and saw that it was a note. I placed my stuff beside Harry and opened the note.

What would you smell?

It took me a minute to figure out that he was talking about the love potion. I grabbed a quill and wrote something back.

Mint, cherries, and green apples.

I folded the paper into a bird and quickly blew it over to Draco. He opened the note and smiled to himself. He looked up and smiled at me, making me smile back and giggle a little.

"What are you smiling about, Max?" Hermione asked, opening her book.

"Nothing," I replied, doing the same as her. While I was reading over the instructions, Harry tapped me on the shoulder.

"Look. Someone's written all over this book." He pointed at all the scribbles and notes that were in the book. "We both have to win that potion."

"Why both of us?" I questioned.

"Trust me. Dumbledore would've wanted us to do this. Just follow the instructions in my book."

I sighed and read the first direction and did as the book said. We crushed up one Sopophorous bean with the blade and released the juices into the cauldron.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"You crush it. Don't cut it," Harry replied.

"No. The instructions specifically say to cut," she snapped.

"No, really, Hermione. Crush it. Don't cut it," I repeated.

She looked at her book and then into her cauldron. Harry and I couldn't help but grin to ourselves. We finally outsmarted Hermione. The best part about it was that it was in a classroom.

By the end of the class, everyone's potions went down the drain and Hermione's hair turned into a frizzy state. Slughorn came by and tested out our potions, which was perfect. He gave us the vial of the potion and everyone clapped for us. We couldn't help but smile at our success.

When class was over, I walked to my next class with Hermione.

"I still can't believe you two won that potion. The instructions said--"

"Hermione, you don't have to follow directions just because a book told you to do it that way. If it doesn't work, then just try another way."

She scoffed. "Right. Because somehow, you and Harry managed to come up with a way to beat me in class. Isn't that what you want?" She stormed away from me, leaving me to walk by myself, upset and alone.

I huffed a sigh in frustration and took another route to History of Magic. On the way there, I ran into Draco.

"Why didn't I think of cherries as one of your answers?" He smirked at me.

"I thought it was obvious," I chuckled. "Where are you going next?"

"History of Magic. Where else? Gryffindors and Slytherins have the same classes together."

"Right. Forgot. Do you want to walk with me?"

"Sure." We smiled at each other and headed to our class. "I saw you walking with Granger just now. What happened?"

I sighed and shook my head. "She just pissed me off."

"What did she say?"

"It was about Harry and I winning that stupid potion. We did it a different way than she did and it made her mad."

Draco gave me a confused look. "How did you do it another way?"

"Harry's book had scribbles and notes all over it. The person who had it last must've thought it was useful for the next student who got it. Anyway, Hermione thinks that all we want to do is beat her in class."

The blond laughed. "Her life is just structured in the way she wants it. She thinks that there's no other way to do things."

"Can you give me an example?"

Draco pondered for a moment, then spoke up again. "Okay. Say I wanted to ask you to the first trip to Hogsmeade. The only way Granger thinks I could do that would be to ask you in person."

I thought that I knew where this was going. "Continue."

"So if I asked you, and you said no, then that's it. There's no other way that I could ask you. That's why she's always so uptight and no one wants to ask her out."

I laughed out loud and looked at Draco. "Were you trying to ask me out?"

"Maybe." He smirked. "So, will you go on the first Hogsmeade trip with me? As friends, of course."

I nodded in response. "Yes. Yes, I would love to, Draco."

He smiled. "Good. It's a date."

"It's a date," I repeated.

He waved goodbye and caught up with Blaise and his other friends. If anyone saw us together, people would talk, and neither of us wanted that. When I got to History of Magic, I spotted Harry and sat beside him, smiling like an idiot.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked, looking amused.

"Harry, I really don't know," I replied before doodling all over a piece of parchment, making me realize how hard it was going to be for Draco and I to stay friends.

~~~~~~~

A/N: OMG. Did I update?

Yeah, I did.

First off, I would like to say that I'm sooooo sorry for not updating this story since January. I've been busy and stuff and I have a life outside of Wattpad. I'll try and update, but next weekend and the weekend after that I'm going to a party and I have cousins coming over as well. Please give me a break and know that I love you all.

So, what do you think of Draco asking Max out? What's with Hermione? How do you think the others will react to their date?

COMMENT, vote, love me. And Drax. And Tom Felton AND Nina Dobrev.

-A