A/N: Well, I think we know I'm a bit of an old romantic at heart and I do love Draco and Hermione, so here's yet another teen romance. It's set in the seventh year at Hogwarts and pretty much ignores the events at the end of book six and the whole canon of the seventh book.

'It's time this enmity that has been allowed to build up between the Houses came to an end,' Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, announced gravely.

He looked around at the teachers who were all watching him carefully, aware that what he was about to tell them would at the very least make them uncomfortable and probably rather unhappy. But there was nothing for it; the situation had been allowed to deteriorate badly — to which he had unfortunately contributed as he had hoped that under his steady hand things might improve of their own accord if left alone. But with Voldemort now in control of the Ministry of Magic and poised to re-emerge at any time, Dumbledore had to make an effort to change things before it was too late and he needed their help to do it.

'We are all aware of what is happening outside, but there is no reason we should allow it to affect the school or the relationships of those within its walls. It is our duty to guide the pupils and drive out this hatred and bigotry that is affecting the very foundations of our world.'

'You're not serious,' Professor Snape said incredulously.

Several other teachers mumbled, too, presumably voicing similar opinions to Snape's but less audibly.

Dumbledore fixed his bright blue eyes on Snape's cold black ones. 'I am absolutely serious about this, Severus. The only way Hogwarts will survive, that the whole wizarding world will survive, is if we stop this division between us. It should have been nipped in the bud when Salazar Slytherin first showed signs of discontent, and it most certainly shouldn't have been allowed to spiral out of control to what we see today . . . which I am aware is partially my fault as I allowed things to worsen. All our pupils must be made to realise that there is no difference between any of them. It doesn't matter where they were born, what colour they are, what House they belong in, or how strong their magical ability is: each and every one of them is a witch or wizard and they are all equally important.'

'That's all very well, but it's not what the students in my House are being taught outside of school. Nothing we tell them here will change that view when they have centuries of breeding behind them,' Snape pointed out sensibly.

Dumbledore nodded to show that he had heard Snape's opinion, ignoring the muttering going on among the assembled teachers about entitled Pure-blood Slytherins. 'You are, of course, quite correct, Severus, and I am aware that you of all the teachers here will have the hardest task. However, it is not impossible.'

Snape, his face wearing his famous scowl, snorted darkly and shook his head, clearly disagreeing with Dumbledore's assessment. 'And how exactly do you expect us to accomplish this fantastic feat, Headmaster?'

Dumbledore looked at the anxious faces for a moment, then smiled. 'Well, first of all we're not going to be all doom and gloom about it. Please, cheer up. What I aim to achieve here is a good thing.' He saw Snape roll his eyes at this. 'I am aware that we have a huge battle ahead of us, but I think we can at least make inroads into evening things up. For instance, we should have more joint recreational activities where students are encouraged to expand their horizons a little and spend time with those from other Houses.

'Of course, I'm not talking about splitting up current winning partnerships, such as in the Gobstones Club.' He smiled at Professor Flitwick, who was looking worried. 'Neither am I talking about ceasing the continued House rivalry that occurs during Quidditch matches. However, I am sure you are all perfectly capable of thinking up activities for which co-operative participation by all Houses is a requirement. You never know, we may even get some new champions out of it.'

He looked around him again, smiling, as the waiting teachers realised he expected them to do a bit more than just tell off students who were bickering or causing trouble.

'For instance, you, Severus, could reconsider the partnership arrangements for your Potions projects. It wouldn't be too difficult to ensure that no partners are from the same House and that Pure-bloods do not work exclusively with other Pure-bloods.' He ignored the withering look Snape gave him at this comment. 'I'm sure the same can be said for all of you who work on projects, otherwise perhaps a general rearrangement of the seating in lessons might be in order.

'I am aware, of course, that teaching those below N.E.W.T. level means you will only be dealing with two Houses at any one time, but I think it will be worth the effort to attempt to integrate them as much as possible, with a view to further integration with the other Houses outside of lessons. It is even more important for this integration to happen with our N.E.W.T. students as they are that much closer to entering the outside world. If they leave Hogwarts fostering a good attitude toward others it makes it that much harder for factions like those that surround Voldemort to take control.'

Dumbledore ignored the shudder that went through many of the staff as he mentioned Voldemort's name.

'Perhaps you should stop Slytherin and Gryffindor studying together, then. That would be a start to making things friendlier,' one of the teachers muttered, but Dumbledore couldn't work out who it was and they had shut up rapidly when Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, turned and glared at those around her.

'The problem rarely stems from Gryffindor,' she announced haughtily. 'They already have perfectly good relationships with those from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.'

'So this so-called "bad feeling" is purely a Slytherin problem, is it?' Snape asked icily.

'Slytherin does have the largest number of Pure-bloods,' Professor Sinistra said matter-of-factly.

'And many of them are related to those who followed You-Know-Who last time so are automatically pre-disposed to be anti-Muggle,' Professor Babbling added pointedly.

Snape's scowl deepened. 'The members of Slytherin House come from the oldest and most noble families in the wizarding world,' he stated imperiously. 'They have extremely strong views which are not likely to be swayed just by playing musical chairs in class or forcing them to be jovial with those from other Houses during their precious free time. The pressure their families inflict upon them to conform is immense and shouldn't be ignored lightly.'

'I am aware of the obstacles,' Dumbledore replied sympathetically, 'but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, Severus. If nothing else it will give the students a greater appreciation of their peers. If even one Pure-blood ends up realising that Muggle-borns aren't any different from them, or a student who would otherwise have been hostile to members of Hufflepuff House for not being as good as them was to change their view, then we will have succeeded; and from that one grain others will eventually follow.'

He was a little disappointed to see the sceptical looks on the faces of his staff. He wasn't suggesting that what he was advocating would be easy. He was well aware it would be anything but. But if they didn't believe they could make a change, they wouldn't put the kind of commitment into achieving results that were required in order for improvements to occur. He knew from experience that the smallest change could result in the biggest upheaval.

At the very least, forcing the Pure-bloods to confront the fact that the students they avoided or bullied so mercilessly weren't so different from themselves would give most of them pause should they ever be asked to do anything nasty to their fellow classmates once they left school and joined the ranks of Voldemort's followers.

He was well aware that this wasn't an exclusively Pure-blood problem. There were several Half-bloods who were just as anti-Muggle as any Pure-blood, just as some Muggle-borns were fiercely opposed to those whose families were purely magical in retaliation for the way they had been treated; and disdain for those in Hufflepuff House seemed to be pretty universally split across all the other Houses regardless of blood status.

Additionally, he knew there were plenty of Pure-bloods who had no interest in following Voldemort and were perfectly friendly to Muggle-borns. It was important that their opponents stopped thinking of them as blood-traitors and understood that they all shared the same heritage. Although these poor bigoted souls had been brainwashed from early childhood into believing what their families told them, it wasn't too late to help them to see the right path, and with the help of reassuring teachers they might even be urged to take it.

'I understand this is a huge task I am advocating, but surely you must be able to see the potential benefits.'

He looked around again as several of the teachers shrugged or looked non-committal. Minerva, Filius and Pomona were quite clearly ready to back him although he honestly hadn't expected anything different from them as the Heads of the other three Houses. Severus was his usual unreadable self but Dumbledore knew that he, too, would do what had been asked of him; grudgingly, maybe, but he would do it and, perhaps surprisingly to some, would probably have the greatest success.

He sighed. Then, looking stern, he added, 'Well, whether you see the benefit to this or not, you will do it. I expect you all to think about how you can effectively make your classes more integrated and give some thought to post-school activities that could be easily organised. We will discuss your progress, your ideas, and any particular successes or failures at the next staff meeting.'

Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master, looked at the class in front of him with a sinking heart. It was all very well that bloody old fool Albus having a bright idea to get everyone in the school on good terms, but the reality was a very different thing, especially in a class containing both Harry Potter and his friends, and Draco Malfoy and his. Snape could understand why the Headmaster wanted the closer integration of the Houses, considering the war that was surely coming.

There were certainly plenty of children in Slytherin who would benefit from the opportunity to break away from the ideas their families had instilled in them and just needed that little push to do so, which he would have been unable to provide without this initiative of Albus' allowing him the opportunity. But then you had students like Draco Malfoy who were firmly entrenched in believing the bile and hatred their family espoused and had no interest in even considering any other point of view, and the whole thing seemed like too much of a challenge.

If he was honest, he quite liked the idea of splitting up the Terrible Trio as he knew it would annoy them, especially if he paired each of them with a Slytherin. But he still had a class to teach, a difficult and demanding N.E.W.T. one at that, so the disruption that imposing new project partners upon the class would create needed to be in proportion and manageable.

For that reason neither Potter nor Weasley could be paired with Malfoy. The hatred and distrust that existed between the Gryffindor boys and the blond-haired Slytherin boy was legendary, and Snape was under no illusion that a pairing containing any two of the three would be anything but catastrophic for everyone in the school. The easiest option by far was to pair all three of them with students from other Houses and attempt to keep them as far away from each other as possible.

As the class read through a chapter in Advanced Potion Making that he had set to keep them occupied while he finished debating what to do, Snape's eyes darted around the room, mentally pairing up students, attempting to match them both in the way suggested by Albus and also in a way which wouldn't cause educational strife for any of them.

Whilst the students in his class were undoubtedly the best in the school as he never took anyone who hadn't achieved Outstanding in their O.W.L.s, there were many differing levels of ability in the class. The last thing he needed was for one of the bottom-scrapers, Potter and Weasley amongst them, to be paired with and hold back one of the high-achievers.

Talking of high-achievers, there was the problem of Hermione Granger, the admittedly brilliant but dreadfully annoying Gryffindor witch who was a close friend of Potter and Weasley. The obvious choice was to put Malfoy and her together as they were so closely matched in ability; it would be fascinating to see what the couple could achieve between them given the opportunity. But Granger was Muggle-born and Malfoy the most outspoken detractor of those not Pure-blood, and the two of them had already had several unpleasant encounters over the years. Snape couldn't believe that when Albus was thinking about harmony between the Houses he expected Granger and Malfoy to have to overcome their differences and work together. Although. . . .

He realised that some of the class were beginning to get restless, having finished the reading he had set them. Malfoy and his friends were larking around, threatening to disturb those who were still working, confident that as Slytherins they wouldn't get into trouble in his class, which was generally true. He scanned the assembled students one final time before standing up, the scowl visible on his face as he prepared to unleash his bombshell.

'I take it from the noise you're all making that you have finished reading,' he said coldly. 'Hopefully, if you bothered to ingest the information you will have a greater understanding of the complexity of the project upon which you are about to embark.'

He walked out from behind his desk to stand in front of the workbench shared by Potter and Weasley.

'This project will not only be the most challenging you have yet undertaken but will also represent something of a departure for most of you. Since joining the course, and in some cases since joining the school, you have tended to stay partnered with the same people.' He stared blatantly at the two boys in front of him. 'However, the time has come to prepare you for the outside world. Whilst it is possible that you may eventually gain a job where you will work exclusively with the same people, in general this is unlikely to be the case and you will be required to interact with all manner of people without it causing a problem. Therefore, for this project you will not be working with your usual cohorts.'

He waited as the majority of the class reacted somewhat negatively to this announcement, with a considerable amount of hurried whispering.

Waspishly he continued, 'Quiet, please, I haven't finished. Additionally, the Headmaster is somewhat concerned that the four Houses aren't mixing quite as freely as the Founders intended. Therefore, in the spirit of cordial endeavour and with the hope that this will be rectified, there will be substantial rearrangements in partnering. What this means to you personally is that no one in this room will be partnered with someone from his or her own House. Whilst you may not like the situation, you will bear it with good grace and attempt to do your best within the project, co-operating and working with your new partner.'

The whispering had grown louder and sounded angrier, especially amongst the Slytherins and Gryffindors.

'You never know, the new arrangement might even improve your performance,' he added smugly, his eyes fastened once more on Potter.

Harry glared at him. Snape ignored the look, and that of Draco Malfoy who looked just as angry as Potter and turned towards the blackboard. He tapped it with his wand and a table of names appeared.

'As you can see, this is a list of partnering arrangements for the project. With the minimum amount of fuss, please change places as appropriate.' He looked to the left-hand side of the class. 'Miss Bones, please move to the workbench next to you, and your new partner, Mr Zabini, can join you there.'

There was general quiet grumbling amongst the students as they worked out who they were partnered with and whether or not they needed to move. Draco, who hadn't made any effort to pack away but had been carefully studying the blackboard with an ever-growing scowl, raised his hand. Snape looked at him interestedly.

'Yes, Mr Malfoy, you have a question?'

'Sir, there seems to have been some mistake with the pairings,' Draco said, his voice imperious.

Several of the Slytherins who had been packing up around him stopped what they were doing to listen to the conversation. Snape glanced at the blackboard for a moment, then gazed back at Draco with a slightly questioning look.

'I don't think there is any error, Mr Malfoy. I think it's all perfectly clear, isn't it?'

'But sir, you've paired me with the Mudblood,' Draco retorted.

Snape's scowl reappeared immediately. 'I have told you before not to use that word, Mr Malfoy. If you insist on doing so you will very shortly find yourself in detention.' Draco looked surprised at the teacher's comment. Snape never punished Slytherins. Ignoring the look, Snape continued, 'You have been paired with the person I felt most suitable to partner you for this project, and I expect to not hear any complaints on the subject. The two of you are almost equal in ability, although you don't always show it, and it is hoped that Miss Granger's calm hand will raise your game — which, with the final exams only months away, you most assuredly need. I expect some fine work to be achieved by both of you working as a team.'

'I'm not working with her,' Draco said belligerently. 'Put me with a Half-blood from one of the other Houses if you must, but I refuse to work with a Mudblood, especially with Granger.'

Snape moved rapidly to stand in front of Draco's workbench. He fixed his cold, dark eyes on the boy and said just as icily, 'I have decided that for this project you will be partnering Miss Granger, and I have no intention of changing my mind regardless of your feelings on the matter, Mr Malfoy. I have no doubt your new partner has little desire to be stuck with you either, especially given your propensity to muck around during class and your tendency to not bother with your work, but she has the forbearance not to complain about the situation. Your attitude is typical of the problems the Headmaster wishes to fix and is, therefore, ripe to be looked at as a test case, so I would suggest you be aware of that in your future dealings with your new partner.'

'My father will hear of this,' Draco warned, his voice petulant.

Snape looked at him for a moment, then sighed loudly. 'I'm sure he will, Mr Malfoy. And if he queries it he will be told exactly the same as you. The remit of who works with whom within my lessons is entirely my decision and one by which you will abide. If you wish to continue complaining about the partnership I shall have you removed from the class which, I am sure I have no need to remind you, would severely impact your ability to complete the N.E.W.T. course and take the examination.'

Draco looked as if he had been slapped in the face, unable to comprehend why, suddenly, his Head of House had turned on him.

Looking stern, Snape added, 'Now, if you've quite finished with your objections I suggest you pack up your books and move to the workbench over there where I can keep an eye on you.' He pointed to a currently empty workbench directly in front of his desk, then turned to look at Hermione, who was sitting quietly, clutching her bag and looking no happier about the decision than Draco. 'You too, Miss Granger, chop chop. We haven't got all day, you know.'

Hermione stood up and slowly walked towards the workbench, looking resigned but unhappy. Harry gave her a sympathetic look as she passed him. With very bad grace Draco flung his belongings into his bag before storming across the room to the new seat he had been allocated. He glared at Harry, who was now paired with a Ravenclaw and hadn't had to move seats, wishing as he passed that he could wipe the smug look off the Gryffindor's face.

Harry couldn't help but look pleased that the Slytherin had been castigated by Snape, who was well known for never punishing students from his own House, although he did feel sorry for Hermione for her poor choice of partner and sent her another sympathetic look. Finally, Draco threw himself into his seat, turning slightly away from Hermione to make it clear he had no intention of working with her.

A few minutes later, once the class had completely settled and Snape had checked to make sure everyone was where they should be sitting, he looked down at a pile of parchments on his desk. He really hoped Malfoy wasn't going to continue to be so stubborn otherwise Granger was going to find their project extremely hard going, although knowing the sort of girl she was he had no doubt she would do her best to try to complete it even without Malfoy's help.

He just hoped that once the boy saw the complexity of the work involved, his desire to achieve a good mark would override his hatred of Muggle-borns and they would be able to work together, finding, as Snape was sure they would, that they actually made excellent partners when given the chance. He waved his wand and the stack of parchments flew into the air and moved out across the room, dropping onto the appropriate desks.

'On the parchment you are just receiving are the instructions for your individual projects, which will be conducted throughout most of this school year. As you will soon see, they are both complex and time-consuming. A great deal of your spare time will be spent working on them, giving you all ample opportunity to get to know your new partners considerably better,' Snape told them.

At the news that the project was going to last the whole year and would contain enough work to keep them busy during their free time as well as during working hours, a slowly growing rumble of complaint ran through the room. Everyone was thinking the same thing: surely they had enough work from all their other N.E.W.T. subjects to get through without adding a stupid Potions project to it?

Snape ignored the complainers and gave a cold smile before continuing, 'All of you have different projects with different objectives, so you will not be able to slide back into your usual partnerships to do the work with a view to passing it off later. These projects are designed to be extremely challenging as they will make up a considerable part of the mark towards your final exams, and will, therefore, need complete co-operation and commitment from each party to ensure the work is completed both accurately and in a timely manner. I will expect each pair to document the entire project, chronicling your procedures, explaining your decisions, and highlighting any areas of concern or particular achievement as the project progresses.

'This project will take most of the year to complete. I therefore intend to meet fortnightly with each pair to discuss how you are progressing and cover any concerns you may have. I shall produce a timetable for the meetings which will be placed on the noticeboard in your common rooms at the start of each month. It will be your responsibility to check when your appointments are scheduled and to ensure that you attend, bringing with you all the work you have done up until that point. Please also note that unless one of you is seriously ill in the Hospital Wing or is in detention with another teacher and can provide a note to that effect, I expect both partners to attend all update meetings.'

Hermione reached out for the parchment that was floating towards their workbench, but before she could take hold of it Draco snatched it away from her and turned his back on her completely as he began to read. Hermione sighed and settled back in her chair with a worried look as she waited for Draco to finish reading. She hoped he would eventually let her look at what they were going to be required to do.

Snape, having caught Draco's action, looked around the room at the rest of the students. It appeared that most of the Slytherins had acted like Malfoy; certainly all his close friends had copied his behaviour. Snape was aware they were the ones who would have the most work cut out for them to adapt as they all came from Death Eater backgrounds, and those from Slytherin House tended to be naturally secretive and didn't share very well, even with each other. But whether they liked it or not they had to co-operate with their new partners, and they might as well start sooner rather than later.

'Please remember that there are two of you working on each project,' Snape told the class, his voice a lush drawl. 'I expect you will be eager to brainstorm your ideas of how to proceed, and that can only be done once both of you have read the document. If it makes it easier, imagine the two of you share an invisible bond that ties you together. Everything you do in tandem will aid you in successfully completing the project, whereas trying to go it alone will do nothing but hinder. This will become especially clear in the later stages. I therefore suggest you read the document together and for the rest of the lesson begin to take notes on your first impressions.'

There was more grumbling from various members of the class, but eventually everyone except Draco was facing forward and sharing the parchment. Some of them, he was pleased to see — although admittedly not the Slytherins — had even begun to discuss and take notes.

Snape looked at Hermione, who was now drumming her fingers on the desk. He could understand her frustration and also her reluctance to engage with the boy with whom she'd had so many run-ins in the past. Malfoy was clearly not going to submit to the new partnership easily, and the boy having control of the project notes wouldn't help the situation. Snape knew he was going to have to intervene, even though he didn't want to. He stood up again and made his way over to the workbench Hermione and Draco were sharing. Hermione looked up at him nervously. Draco ignored the teacher, apparently completely engrossed in what was written on the parchment.

'Mr Malfoy, did you not hear me?' Snape asked quietly, his voice like steel. He waited for a moment as Draco, still looking bullish, lowered the parchment to look at him. 'I said you need to share the project notes with your partner. Please put them on the table where Miss Granger can look at them as well.'

Draco gazed at Snape eye-to-eye for a moment as if trying to outstare him but after a few seconds lowered his gaze. 'I'm not working with a Mudblood,' he said staunchly.

Snape's eyes hardened. 'I told you not to use that word,' he hissed. 'Give the parchment to Miss Granger immediately. I will see you at the end of the lesson.'

'I haven't finished reading it yet,' Draco said defiantly. He looked at Snape again as if daring him to do something.

'You have now,' Snape told him icily, without missing a beat. 'Give Miss Granger the parchment, pack up your belongings, and go and wait for me in my office. Do not touch anything in there or you will be expelled. Do you understand?'

Draco stared at Snape with apparent loathing for a moment, then turned to sneer at Hermione and threw the parchment at her before leaning down to pick up his bag. Hermione caught hold of it and began to read, trying to ignore what was happening beside her. Draco stood up, and with another scowling look at both Hermione and Snape he turned and made his way towards the door of the Potion Master's study.

Snape waved his wand and the door to the room opened. He watched as Draco entered, then used his wand to close the door behind him. He glanced once more at Hermione but she was already busy making notes about what she was reading, so he left her to it and went back to his desk to watch the last few minutes of the lesson slowly tick away. His heart sank as he thought of the upcoming confrontation with Draco.

The Potions Master would win — he always did. Even Lucius' certain objection at the choice of partner for his son would hold no sway, especially since it was due to Dumbledore's edict. But that didn't make the task any easier or the argument he was about to have with the boy any more pleasant. Perhaps the couple working together without killing each other would be considered a success, although he still thought they could be the perfect partnership if they could just put aside their differences.

They certainly both had the potential. But to ensure that he had to stamp out all this Mudblood nonsense. If he could, at least, stop Malfoy calling Granger by that foul name they might just have the faintest hope of a chance of succeeding at the project, and perhaps the boy would finally understand that, clever as she was, Hermione Granger was no different than him.