She knew something was amiss the second she woke up, and after rubbing away the sleepiness from her weary brown eyes, she felt sick to the pit of her stomach when she realised what it was that was wrong. For the first time in her life, sixth year student Hermione Granger had overslept for her classes and her Muggle-invented alarm clock had failed her. She didn't know if it was due to the intriguing dream she had that made her sleep through it, but no matter what the source of her problems were, there was no denying the trouble she'd be in when she eventually reached her designated classroom. She mentally kicked herself as she threw on her robes and gathered her books, and she wondered why she had failed to wake up on the one morning that started with double potions. As the House she belonged to was Griffindor, and not Severus Snape's own house, Slytherin, she knew that he would be eager to punish her even if she arrived early with a week's worth of homework completed in advance. Her thoughts were so diluted with worry that she forgot to jump the disappearing step and she felt as if her day couldn't get any worse when she saw her belongings flying out of her arms ahead of her, and she shut her eyes as she knew the pain would come when she landed at the foot of the stone steps. Except the strange thing was, she never did.
"Impedimenta!"
When she opened her eyes, she realised was that she was still suspended in the air, and the objects that had been falling out of her arms were still a few inches in front of her. It took her a few moments to realise that she should be on the ground at this point, and when she blinked the shock away she noticed that someone was straightening her body before chanting the counter curse to remove the paralysis that they had momentarily delivered to prevent her from falling. She staggered back against the banister and closed her eyes to regain her equilibrium as her saviour picked up her belongings, and she was just about to thank the stranger when she realised that she didn't know who it was. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see that it was none other than Draco Malfoy giving her the objects back. Her words of gratitude became stuck in her throat and once the initial shock had disappeared, she snatched her belongings from him and demanded to know what he thought he was playing at. Her tone caught him off his guard, and he replied that he had only tried to stop her to save her from a trip to Madame Pomfrey before she had even gone to her first class of the day.
"I'd rather be in the hospital wing than having to accept help from someone like you"
"So it is true then. Mudbloods have no manners"
"Take it back"
"Why should you be so worried with what I think of you? How often have I heard you degrade me in front of Potter and his fan club?"
"You deserve it"
"So I was given the right to be insulted above everyone else. It'll be a long time until I do anything to help you again"
And with those last few words, his eyes seemed to pierce her very soul, and she seemed in a trance as she watched his robes flowing behind him as he walked briskly down the steps to the dungeon. She shook the feeling away and entered the dungeon behind him, apologising to Snape for her late entrance, even though Malfoy didn't bother with an apology or with a reason. Draco quickly regretted not saying anything as he sat in his place, as to humiliate Hermione, the sallow-faced professor said:
"Twenty points will be taken from you Miss Granger, for loitering around with your boyfriend on my class time. I suggest you sit down before you make it fifty, and both of you will be serving detention tonight. The rest of the class should now add five hundred grams of crushed werewolf fang to the cauldron"
Hermione felt ill as she worked with Ron as she had never been late for a class before, and now she had to serve a detention because of it. She glanced across towards Draco and noticed that he seemed to be attempting to work alone whilst Crabbe and Goyle laughed in a troll-like manner to themselves. She felt angry that he had held her up—she would have made it inside the dungeon faster if she had fallen freely down the steps—but there was something about the attitude he had used when he had helped her that surprised her; his reaction when he had called her a Mudblood was almost apologetic, and she got the impression that it wasn't what he had intended saying to her. She sighed as she took out her pestle and mortar and ground the fangs until she was ready to add them. Maybe it was just her imagination, but perhaps Snape was using werewolf fang in this lesson to exact the revenge he could never have when he found out about Professor Lupin's secret. By the end of the class, she was in a positively bad humour.
She was just about to leave the class when she heard the professor calling both her and Malfoy back for a moment, and after the humiliation that he had put them through during the double class, neither of them were willing to speak out of turn. They were told to meet him at the library at ten o' clock that night, and once they knew their time and location, they both hurried to their common rooms, but they walked noticeably apart when they were walking alongside the same stretch of corridor. She sighed to herself once she was left to walk back alone, wishing that she could have woken up at the normal time, if only to avoid being insulted before being given detention. At least she had pleasant professors for the remaining subjects throughout the day, and she even found Care For Magical Creatures class enjoyable when they were feeding and walking large worm-like creatures called Gretches, and they had tough skin and very sharp teeth. One thing she sensed was that whenever she had her back to him, Malfoy's two eyes were following her. Whenever she did turn around, she saw that he was talking to his friends again, which left her wondering whether or not she had imagined the whole thing.
With all of her assignments completed, Hermione was at ease when she began to walk towards the library at a quarter to ten, to ensure that she wasn't late for Snape again. She saw Malfoy's silhouette by the entrance to the library, indicating that the professor hadn't arrived yet, and she felt awkward when the youth refused to make eye contact with her. She could tell that something was troubling him, but she was almost afraid to ask him if she could help, not only because of their argument that morning, but he probably didn't think that she was close enough to even consider telling her anything to do with is personal life anyway. They both acted attentively when they heard Snape's robes swoosh along the corridor in their direction, and he silently opened the library door for them to enter first. He nodded at Madam Pince for her to leave them alone for the duration of the detention and she wandered back to the Restricted Section to put the books back in their correct places. He handed both of them a large book each as he explained their punishment: to transcribe three hundred pages before they were allowed to leave without taking any shortcuts, and he smiled vindictively upon seeing the look of genuine horror on their faces. He also took the pleasure of reminding them that it was a Friday night, and that they could stay there for the whole weekend it was necessary. Draco deliberately sat at the opposite end of the library to Hermione in case she struck up another argument with him—something he didn't want right now due to his troubled mind.
It was nearing three o' clock by the time they were finished as they had been fortunate enough to get books with a number of large pictures dappling the dusty pages. Snape seemed almost impressed that they had it done, but it didn't stop him from burning the pages in front of the aghast students, telling them to get to their dormitories before he found another reason to give them detention. The pair left silently as they heard the key turning in the lock, and when they were on the corridor where they needed to go in separate directions, Draco turned to Hermione and said something to her for the first time since double Potions that morning. He extended his hand, similar in manner to how he had done to Harry on the train to Hogwarts for the first time in first year, and he whispered:
"You're no Mudblood Granger, and I apologise for calling you one earlier. I've had some…problems…recently that's been clouding my thoughts, and I want you to know that I didn't mean it"
"Thanks Draco, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that either. I'm grateful that you were there this morning, even if it meant you had to serve a boring detention for five hours"
"Any time. Besides, it wasn't a total loss"
He leaned down slightly and kissed her on her cheek before whispering goodnight and turning to go down the corridor to the Slytherin tower. Although it was belated, he heard her calling goodnight to him, and it was only when he was out of her vision that Hermione realised something: Draco had left something in her hand when she had shaken it, and it turned out to be a page from the book he had been transliterating earlier, and it caused her eyes to widen in shock when she read what it said. The page looked as though someone had written the book a few centuries ago, and there was no evidence that he had tampered with it with his wand. She gasped whilst she re-read it, knowing that it must be true, but the question remained: why had he been decent enough to give it to her? It was only when she heard Argus Filch shuffling about in the distance that she remembered she was still a student out of bed without permission. She turned on her heel and sped towards Griffindor and called out the password before Mrs Norris could catch her, still in disbelief at what the parchment had said…