Summary: A ploy of the teachers' to help the houses get along causes serious troubles when certain students' potions go wonky. A DracoHermione story, with a bit of adventure and a lot of fighting. Based on the old potions class cliche. Don't hold it against me.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Written in 2002-3, between books 4 and 5, so this is rather AU. Big thanks to my beta reader, Lanna, for her help and support. This never would have been posted without her.

Ron, Harry and Hermione were hurrying through the hallways from History of Magic to the Potions classroom. It was the first day of classes for their fifth year and things had been moving along fairly well; a state which Ron attributed to the fact that they hadn't had to deal with Professor Snape until this moment.

"C'mon," said Harry. "Just treat it like swimming in really cold water. Y'know, plunge in really fast so we don't have time to dread it too much."

Ron grimaced at Harry, expressing his doubt. As they turned onto the staircase, Harry shrugged. There really was nothing he could do about Ron's pessimism, but he had been working so hard over the summer to keep his attitude positive that he didn't want to start being gloomy so early in the year. With all that had happened the previous spring, he was fairly sure that there were going to be a few events during the coming year more worthy of being upset about.

"Stop being so mopey," Hermione ordered. "Maybe this year Snape will have calmed down a little bit. I mean he's got other things on his mind, so maybe he won't be so busy being nasty to us."

"Yeah, or maybe he'll take out all that extra stress on Harry, and by extension, you and me," Ron replied.

"Well, you could at least look at it in a positive way, Ron. I mean, we've survived four years of the man having it out for us, at least there's only three more."

"Hermione, if I wanted cheering up, I'd ask for it. I just know he's going to try to make us miserable so I'm getting warmed up"

"Okay, fine," she huffed. "But I'm going to be open minded. Maybe things have changed. I mean, we know that he's not working against us really, so..."

She never got to finish whatever point she was trying to make. As they turned to enter the potions class, Draco Malfoy pushed past them with Crabbe and Goyle, his ever-present shadows, in his wake. Malfoy turned back to the threesome and sneered as they moved towards their desks.

"Ooops. Sorry Granger. Did I get in your way?"

"Don't worry Malfoy," she replied calmly. " I wouldn't expect anything less from a little snot like you."

Before Malfoy could reply, Professor Snape walked into the room calling for silence.

"All right. Sit down and get your things out. We have a lot of work to do this year, and a lot of catching up from last year to get through before we can even begin. So I expect everyone to work very hard, and I will crack down severely on anyone who impedes the class's progress. Understood?"

He glared around the room. The students looked at each other nervously before turning their full attention to their teacher.

"Now, we will be beginning this year with a fairly simple potion onto which we will be building several variations. For the effects of this potion to be truly noticeable, we will need to divide the class up into different working groups. I have already done so and will read your pairings off as follows. Please shift so that you are sharing a desk with your new partner. Crabbe and Weasley."

Harry and Hermione looked sympathetically at Ron as he grimaced and picked up his things to move to the desk the professor indicated. Snape continued listing off pairings and students shuffled to their newly assigned seats. Harry looked up when he heard his name. "Goyle and Potter." Hermione winced as Harry moved to sit beside the Neanderthal-like Slytherin. She held her breath as Snape continued through the alphabet, but nearly choked when she heard "Malfoy and Granger."

. . .

Draco felt as though he'd given himself whiplash, jerking his head around to look at Snape. He must have been hearing things. The professor would never have paired him with her. But as he looked again, he saw that Granger had collected her things and was moving towards his desk. Oh, this was too much. He put his hand up to get Snape's attention.

"What do you want, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco was speechless for a second. Snape had never spoken to him in that tone of voice before. He'd always treated Draco like a favorite.

"Mr. Malfoy, unless you have something important to say, I'm going to continue this lesson so that we can get through everything we have to cover this year."

"Um... uh... it was nothing Professor." Draco stammered.

"Good. Now class, today we are going to work on a fairly basic potion called the Amicibilitas Elixir. It is a base point for many more complex potions, as its primary effects are to create a sense of friendship or openness between the person to whom the potion is administered and the person who brews it. As you can tell, I'm sure, I've paired you in such a way that it will be fairly obvious whether the potion has its desired effect."

Which seemed a safe assumption, since there was pretty much no way that Draco could see himself being friends with Granger. And from the look on her face, he could tell that she felt the same way. He sneered at her look of disgust, then turned his attention back to Snape.

"We will brew the potion today and then over the next few days I will have other teachers and certain students report back to me on your behavior. Obviously, if the potion works and your partner behaves as a friend you will receive full marks. If the potion fails, you get to try one more time. And if there is any indication of someone trying to fake the results, by acting as friends or acting unaffected, the person falsifying results will not only fail but also lose fifty points from their house. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will."

Snape looked around at the class, students glaring at their partners as if daring the other to try to pretend, and permitted himself a small smile. "You are expect to work together on making the potion, but remember that you must prepare it exactly as it says in the text, or you might end up with a completely different outcome."

Draco felt, rather than saw, Granger's hand being raised beside him. Keener, he thought.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"What about an antidote? I mean, when do we get to take that? Or does this potion just wear off with time?"

Draco smirked. "I would have thought you'd have known everything about it already, Granger. Slipping up in your studies so early in the year?"

"Mr. Malfoy, if you don't mind, I'll answer Miss Granger's questions," Snape cut in. "I will give each of you a normalizing potion when I am convinced that the Amicibilitas has been effective. That shouldn't take more than a week in most cases."

Draco could see that Granger had more questions that she wanted to ask, but Snape continued before she could get her hand up.

"Now, we're wasting time. Everyone get to work. I expect these potions to be ready to drink by the end of class. If you need help with the instructions, ask your partners."

With that he turned his back and moved to his desk, leaving the unhappy students staring after him.

. . .

Hermione starting listing off the worst swear words she could think of under her breath.

"Why Granger," Malfoy said silkily, "such language. Not very classy at all."

"Don't bother talking to me until you've taken the potion, Malfoy. I won't be responsible for what happens," she snapped at him, pulling out ingredients and slamming them onto the desk. "Although I can't imagine that even a potion could make you remotely human enough to be friendly to anyone."

"Well, I'd have to agree that it would take some serious magic before I could ever be tricked into be friends with you," he replied. "I have a feeling that this is one assignment that you aren't going to get perfect marks on, Mudblood."

Hermione had to count to ten, and then fifty, before she could speak again.

"At least I won't have to worry about being bewitched into being friendly to you, since you probably can't get potions right without Snape holding your hand. And he doesn't seem to be here to help you this time. Have we fallen from grace, Malfoy? Or did Daddy forget to pay his yearly bribes? Too busy trying to suck up to someone in power to remember his son?"

"My father doesn't have to pay anyone for me to get treated well," Draco shot back. "I'm a Malfoy, one of wizardry's oldest families. We are treated with respect no matter what."

"Oh, yeah right. Respect. Sure. Blackmail and scare tactics don't make for respect, Malfoy. Real respect is something you could never understand."

Hermione could feel herself starting to get red in the face, so she took a deep breath and continued, "Well, it doesn't matter right now. I'm going to work on my potion and then I'll get a good laugh when you start acting all nicey-nicey. It'll be great for the whole school to see Draco Malfoy trying to be friends with a 'Muggle-born'."

"That'll never happen!"

"Just you watch. And remember what Snape said, if you make me mess up it could end up being some even weirder potion."

"Oh don't worry, I'll leave you alone. But no potion on the planet is going to make me be friends with you, Granger."

"Wow! There's actually something we agree on," she said sarcastically. "Someone ought to call Guinness."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Muggle reference. You'd never stoop so low as to understand."

"That's for sure."

Hermione decided that she wasn't going to bother responding to that. Man, he made her so angry. It was absolutely unbelievable that Snape would set something like this up. Maybe Ron was right and he was taking his anger at being forced back into spying on You Know Who's followers out on his students. Or he just had a really sick sense of humor. Whatever it was, she wasn't very happy at being forced to work with Malfoy. He was such a little creep. She picked up her pestle and started smashing ingredients in the mortar, imagining that she was hitting Malfoy.

. . .

Draco was fuming. He couldn't believe that Snape would pair him with her. She'd managed to insult him twice, and then insult his father, in less than ten minutes. He could barely concentrate on the ingredients in front of him, thanks to the anger that was flowing through his mind. He wanted to say something even more nasty to her, to let off some steam, but she'd got him so rattled that he couldn't really come up with anything. He started throwing stuff into his cauldron, not paying any attention to the order the ingredients went in. He looked over at Granger. Her cheeks were pink and her hair was flying in all directions as she added ingredients to the mortar and then attacked them with excessive force. She was glaring at the instructions as if they'd just said something rude to her.

"Hey Granger," he drawled, wanting to see if she'd rise to the bait. She finally turned to glare at him. "Think you've ground those herbs well enough?" he continued. "They're probably more than a little bruised. I wouldn't want my father to have to get you put in Azkaban for attempting to poison me."

"Oh, you just try. I'm doing everything exactly like it says. If anything goes wrong, it's going to be with your potion." She gestured towards his cauldron as she spoke. "Did you even bother to measure anything? I mean, I know you hate Muggleborns but trying to get rid of me in front of the entire class is a little obvious."

"I wouldn't do that. I'm just going to sit back and wait. My father and his friends will take care of everything soon enough."

"Ooo, you're being such a creep," she snarled. "I could smack you."

"What's stopping you? It's not like you've never done it before," he lashed back, remembering the mortification he'd felt that day.

"That was a year and a half ago, and anyway you completely deserved it, insulting Hagrid like that when it was already your fault that Buckbeak was going to be killed. Good grief, don't you have any respect for anyone's feelings?"

"Respect for that big oaf? Please, he's worse than a Mudblood, and he's part Giant and everyone knows that they're one step up from animals. Big, horrid, stupid, evil things."

"Oh, evil, are they? Why do you call them evil? Don't they fight on the same side as you want to be on? I had heard that they were allied with You Know Who. Just like your family. Which means that if they're evil, your precious father is evil too."

He stared at her in shock.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. What is going on over here? Why are you two not finished?"

Snape had wandered past their worktable while they were fighting.

"If you two hold the class behind it will be twenty points from each house." Draco started to protest. "I mean it, Mr. Malfoy. Now will you concentrate on your lesson."

Draco glared at Granger and she returned the look.

. . .

Snape smiled to himself, then moved on to stop Longbottom from adding the lacewing before the knot grass, since the last thing he wanted was Pansy Parkinson chasing the boy around under the influence of an enslavement potion. This class was certainly going to make for an interesting few weeks.

. . .

Potions were bubbling in every cauldron as the class came to a close. Snape walked through the rows and told certain students to pour theirs down the drain, as they were the wrong color or scent. Hermione watched Harry give a sigh of relief when Goyle went to dump the noxious gray-green brew he'd been preparing. Soon about two thirds of the pairs remained, sitting uneasily with goblets of purple liquid on the desks in front of them. Snape had explained that the slight variations in color simply indicated the strength of the potions. Which meant that the deep indigo draughts sitting in front of herself and Malfoy must be particularly strong. It would have to be to get through that thick skull of his, she thought. She looked over at Malfoy and was surprised to see that he looked at least as nervous as she felt.

"All right students. Those of you whose partners did not mix the potion properly will leave their labeled cauldrons in my store room. Next class your partners will be given another chance. If they still do not mix it properly, they will drink your potion regardless."

Hermione grinned at the thought of Harry being forced to have Goyle acting friendly, then shuddered at the thought that she was possibly going to be temporary friends with Draco Malfoy. Ugh.

"Those of you who have potions ready to drink, be aware, this potion acts gradually, and if all has been done properly you will not particularly notice the changes happening. You will be called into my office to receive a normalizing potion once I am convinced of the potion's effect. This should not take more than a few days. Then your lives will be back to normal.

"So, class, bottoms up!"

As Hermione reached for her goblet, she could have sworn Snape was smiling. Then she turned to Malfoy, raised her goblet in a mocking toast, and drank.

. . .

Draco sneered at Granger and gulped down the contents of his goblet. It didn't actually taste all that bad, this potion, though he was sure that the normalizing potion would taste much sweeter, if only because it would mean he was free of acting friendly with Hermione Granger. As he drained the last few drops and put down the goblet with a thud, he looked over at her. Well, he didn't feel any more friendly towards her. Maybe the reason their potions were so much darker than everyone else's meant she'd screwed up. Although it would mean that he'd screwed up as well, but even that wouldn't be so bad if he knew she'd made a mistake. It would be proof that Miss Perfect Granger couldn't be that good all the time. And that thought was sweet.

"Class time is finished," Snape's voice interrupted his thoughts "Your homework is to research and write three rolls of parchment on the history of the usage of this potion in times of unrest. This is a joint project to be done by each of the assigned pairs who have taken the potion, due the fifth of October."

Draco shot a horrified look at Granger, a look which he could see mirrored in her face. Not only did he have to worry about possibly feeling friendly to the girl, he had to work with her too. It was too much. He barely heard Snape outlining what the people who had failed to mix the potion properly had to do. His mind was completely wrapped up with the thought that he was going to have to spend time, quite a lot of time in fact, with Granger. He heard her voice and turned to her as the class started to break up.

"Why don't we divide up the essay topic so that we can each write a section and then just combine them. That way we don't have to work together all that much." She was pointedly not looking at him as she spoke.

"That sounds fine by me. What parts do you want?"

"I really don't know the topic, so why don't we meet after we've read the overview in the text book. Then we can divide it up really quickly. Next Monday, maybe, to give us a few days."

"Okay, let say seven, at the doors of the library. Neutral territory, right?"

"Right. See you then"

And then she pushed right past him and left him staring, before he could get his brain together to start packing his books. For some reason he couldn't figure out, it bothered him that she ran away from him so quickly. Guess the potion worked faster than Snape had implied. Oh boy, was this ever going to be a bad week.

. . .

As he watched Malfoy stare after Granger, Severus Snape couldn't help smiling. He quickly assumed his usual grumpy expression and shouted at the straggling students to scare them out of the room. Eventually the last few headed out the door for their commons rooms, and Severus began to clean and prepare the room for his first lesson the next morning.

As he worked, putting bottles, jars and tubs into various cupboards, his mind was on the experiment he had just set in motion. Although he had every faith in the Amicibilitas potion, and a strong belief in the motives behind his actions, there were certain circumstances which were worrisome. He was still tidying the room, lost in thought, when Minerva McGonagall poked her head around the door.

"So," she asked, "are they all set?"

She stepped inside the room and closed the door tightly behind her. Severus set down the cloth he had been using the wipe the front counter and leaned against the front row of tables. As she crossed to him, he considered his answer.

"Most of them," he said finally. "Certainly the important ones. I must admit that I feel a little underhanded trying to encourage harmony between the houses by drugging them. But I understand the importance. Really, I do. The only ones which worry me are Malfoy and Granger."

Minerva looked at him quizzically. "Really? I would have thought there would be no problem with that pair. Granger is certainly capable enough, and she wouldn't let Malfoy poison her."

"Yes, well," he hesitated. "I'm afraid that the two of them fought the entire time they were working, and as a result their potions went a little awry. But I had to let them drink. There wouldn't be enough time, otherwise."

"Awry? How awry? Are they about to become the best of friends? That could cause problems with Potter and Weasley."

"Oh no, not best of friends. I'm afraid that they both managed to concoct potions that were nearly blue."

"Blue! No, Severus, you didn't let them drink Fidelitas potions, did you?"

"Only very mild ones, Minerva, very mild. And I think that considering the mindset we are dealing with in Malfoy, that may have been the best solution in the long run."

"But we can't have the Granger girl fancying herself inseparable friends with Malfoy. It will cause very serious problems with her existing friendships."

"Perhaps they will have the sense to not let it cause problems. If Malfoy starts to care for Granger, it could change any number of his attitudes. You know what effect caring for someone can have on a person's beliefs, don't you?"

"Severus!" she smiled up at him.

"And I'm sure that Granger has enough sense to not let her relationship become common knowledge if it might damage her friendships. Any sensible female would."

"Are you calling me sensible? Not terribly romantic, Severus."

"No, Minerva, very much so. If it's such a large part of why I care for you, of course it's romantic."

She sighed deeply and shook her head.

"What on earth am I supposed to say to that?" she asked.

"Well, if we're still on the topic of romance, how about sighing and saying 'Oh Severus'?" He smiled mischievously.

"I don't think so." But she smiled slightly even as she tried to look stern.

"Fine, just glare at me, then. If I didn't have to prepare for my next lesson, I'd prove just how much I liked sensible."

"Mmmm..."