The message was posted on the wall in all four common rooms. It read:

To the students of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry:

It has come to my attention that a dangerous divide lies between Hogwarts' houses. While this was true even in my day, we lie on the brink of war, and we cannot afford to harbor such hostility. Therefore, and with much thought, I have decided the best course of action is thus:

All students will be paired with a partner of the same year from a different house. These partners will be your academic companions as well as social ones, and you will be required to meet with your partner at least once a week, although I daresay more is preferable.

These partners are to collaborate with you on schoolwork as well. Some teachers may elect to give you joint projects. Because of this, your partners will be assigned based on academic standing.

You will receive your assignments later this week. Any further questions should be directed at your heads of house.

I realize that this is an unorthodox strategy, but I urge you to give it a try. If, after a minimum of five meetings, you wish to end your partnership, so be it.

Albus Dumbledore

A crowd had begun to form around the message board, but Hermione stayed in place, reading the message once, twice, three times. Where had this come from?

She considered Dumbledore's plan. It was, like he'd said, unorthodox, and she pitied the poor fool stuck with Malfoy, but it could work.

She wondered who she'd get. There was no one else who was quite on her level, she thought, but she could think of several Ravenclaws that might come close.

Hermione felt a tap on her right shoulder, then her left. She knew who it was without looking. God, the pranksters. They had some nerve, bothering her this way. She turned to say something to that effect, but was yanked away at the last second by none other than Lavender Brown.

"'Mione!" Lavender squealed. Great. Just great. "You're just the person I'm looking for!"

Hermione frowned. She didn't like nicknames. She refrained from telling Lavender this, though, since it hadn't done much good the countless other times she'd tried. "What is it?"

Lavender looked unpreturbed by Hermione's mood. "Well, I wanted to talk about Ron and how-"

Hermione's mood darkened even further, and she tried desperately to keep off her face. "Sorry, Lavender. I've got to go. Later?"

Lavender nodded, and Hermione ducked through the crowd to reach Ron, who was looking, along with the rest of the crowd, at the message. She pulled at his arm.

"Come on. Let's go. I've Duplicated the thing anyway." This was true. The paper scroll weighed down her robe pocket.

But Ron pushed her away. He was staring, she realized, not at the message but at the rather buxom seventh year in front of him. Hermione couldn't find it in her heart to be disgusted. After all, she wouldn't complain if he'd looked at her like that.

Like she was a potential object of desire. Was that too much to ask for? Just because she wore shapeless cardigans any time she wasn't wearing the even more shapeless school robes. That was why she'd gone out with Viktor Krum, actually. He'd asked her out, and not as a last resort.

But whatever. She could find other boys, right?

A/N:

Harry Potter isn't mine (fun fact) and I'm not making any profit off of this.

I'll include pairings later on, but I decided not to list the ones I'm going to include in the tags, since my plan gets pretty messy (and some pairings may be platonic, actually).

If you liked this, please review, favorite, or bookmark so I know to keep writing more. Otherwise, I may get sidetracked.