"So read chapter seventeen and write a seven inch essay on the effects of Polyjuice Potion," Snape sneered from behind his desk, "And the ingredients effect on the brewing potion."
Ron groaned audibly and sank further down in his chair.
"Make that eight inches," Snape smirked, "You are dismissed."
The class rose and gathered their belongings before heading to the door.
Everyone was starting to hate sixth year potions.
Including Hermione.
Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way up to the Gryffindor common room where they dumped their books before heading to lunch in the Great Hall.
"Come on, Hermione," Ron groaned as Hermione stalled, making sure that all her books were in the right place for when she came back from lunch.
"Go on without me," She decided, "I need to go to the library anyway."
"Right, see you later then," Harry called as they exited the common room.
Hermione waited a few moments inside the emptying common room to make sure Neville wasn't there - He'd taken to following her about since she'd let him win in a duel during a Defence Against the Dark Arts class last September to get his grades up and now at every opportunity he bombarded her and tried to start conversation.
It was really starting to get on her nerves.
Thankfully, he wasn't there so she set off to the library without another thought about him.
Hermione started towards the library on the fourth floor but didn't get very far before she saw a figure following her out of the corner of her eye.
Neville.
She tried to ignore him and used long and awkward short cuts to get away from him but he was persistent and kept catching up with her.
Finally, she snapped.
She spun around to face him, her face set.
"Look, Neville. I don't know what you want from me but I -" She started to snarl.
"Expelliarmus," A voice drawled, cutting straight through , it wasn't Neville.
It was only her worst enemy... Voldemort aside - Draco Malfoy.
"Give me back my wand, Malfoy!" Hermione spat.
"Make me," Malfoy smirked.
"I'm a prefect! I'll report you, I-"
"I think you're forgetting that I'm a prefect too, Mudblood," Draco grinned, "So it's your word against mine."
"So what are you going to do?" Hermione demanded, "Curse me? Imperio me?"
"Something along those lines but I'm sure I'll find something much more fun to do
with you before I'm finished," Draco replied, "Goyle! Crabbe!"
Hermione turned around again to find Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe standing directly behind her, wands pointed at her face.
How they'd managed to sneak up behind her was a mystery, they weren't exactly subtle...
She decided to face Draco, no matter which way she turned there would be a wand at her back and Draco seemed the smarter of the three...
It was better to bargain with him.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione demanded.
"Not so brave now, are you Mudblood?" Draco laughed, "Not so brave when Potter and Weaslebee aren't by your sides like the faithful lap dogs they are."
"I'll show you how brave I am if you give me my wand... Then I'll show you what a proper duel is," Hermione glared.
"Ah, but a wand would be cheating..." Draco drawled.
WHAT? Hermione screeched internally to herself, THE DIRTY FERRET HAS HIS WAND AND TWO OF HIS CRONIES AS WELL!
"So three people with wands against one without isn't cheating then?" Hermione growled.
"Not in my book," Draco grinned, "Flipendo."
Hermione dodged to the side and started running. The spell that was supposed to make her fly backwards, hit Crabbe and knocked him unconscious.
Hermione quickly knelt over his limp body and grabbed his stubby 10 inch Mahogany and Runespoor fang wand and ran.
"CRUCIO!" Draco yelled.
The spell hit the floor behind Hermione who was reaching the end of the corridor.
"GOYLE!" Draco snarled, "DO SOMETHING!"
Goyle ran forward at surprising speed and came within firing range of Hermione, "INCARCEROUS!"
Ropes burst out of his wand with a bang and curled themselves around Hermione's legs and arms, binding her and causing her to fall to the floor with a strode over and wrestled Crabbe's wand from her grip before throwing at Crabbe's stirring form.
"Useless," He spat at him.
"That was a dirty little trick you played there, Mudblood," Draco snarled.
"You're one to talk," Hermione couldn't help but laugh.
"SILENCE, MUDBLOOD!" Draco shrieked, "NO ONE ASKED FOR YOU TO SPEAK!"
"Yes, but then no one asked you to be a stuck up brat either," Hermione chuckled calmly.
Draco's foot connected with her face, silencing her as the blood rushed from her broken nose.
"No more back chat from you," Draco demanded.
"Whatever you say," Hermione smiled grimly, wanting to pinch her nose and keep it in shape before it deformed into a shapeless purple lump.
"ARE YOU DEAF, MUDBLOOD?" Goyle demanded, "HE SAID NO BACK CHAT!"
"Gregory, get Crabbe up. He's been most... unhelpful today," Draco said slowly, "He'll need a bit of Crucio to waken him up... Do that while I get started on the Mudblood."
"Yes, Draco," Goyle nodded, going over to Crabbe and lifting him up by the shoulders of his robes, "Get up, Crabbe!"
"Well, well, Mudblood... What should I do with you now?" Draco pondered aloud.
"Get UP, Crabbe!" Goyle snarled, propping Crabbe up against a suit of armour.
"Meh!" Crabbe groaned drowsily, " 'Eave me 'lone."
"You know," Hermione smiled weakly, "You're sleeping crony is really quite threatening..."
"Shut up, Mudblood!" Draco ordered.
He cast a silencing charm around the corridor before turning back to her, "It's time someone taught you your place... Crucio!"
Hermione screamed.
Her body felt like it was burning and there was nothing she could do about it.
It felt like Draco had started ripping her skin off, layer by layer.
She would have done anything for it to stop...
Anything.
Suddenly, the burning stopped and Hermione felt freezing in comparison.
She shivered where she lay on the ground, looking like a stunned walrus because of the ropes that bound her legs and arms.
"I am sick of you two!" Draco snarled at Crabbe and Goyle, "You ruin all my plans! I won't have any more of it! Imperio!"
Suddenly Crabbe and Goyle straightened themselves up and advanced towards Hermione.
"Now, that's more like it!" Draco commented.
Crabbe walked forward and pointed his wand at Hermione, "Diffindo!"
The skin on Hermione's hip sprang open like it had been ripped apart.
She screamed again even though the spell hadn't nearly been as painful as Draco's Crucio.
Goyle came forward, his wand raised, "Excelsio Sempra!"He laughed cruelly as Hermione rose into the air by her bound blood rushed to her head, making it pound painfully.
Would the torture ever stop?
If I could only get my wand... Hermione thought miserably to herself.
"Accio wan-"
"Flagrate!" That was Goyle again, cutting her off before she could summon her wand.
A trail of fire ran up her back, leaving a black trail before extinguishing itself once again.
"Langlock!"
"Sectumsempra!"
The curses kept coming until Hermione could no longer scream, could no longer speak, could no longer see the point of living.
Suddenly, the curses stopped and Draco Malfoy's voice rang out, "Not so brave now, are you Mudblood?"
Hermione didn't reply.
Draco's laughter rang out again, "You know what, Mudblood? I may just do this again tomorrow, it's been that much fun... But it's almost time for class and I have better things to do... Accio Mudblood."
Hermione's body slowly drifted down to land at Draco's feet with a thud.
He removed the ropes and leant down to whisper in her ear, "Consider this a parting gift... Cruci-"
"STUPEFY!" A voice roared.
Goyle hit the floor and his wand went flying down the corridor.
"CRABBE? WHAT WAS THAT?" Draco yelled, jumping back as Goyle hit the floor.
"I dunno -"
"Well, go and find out!" Draco hissed, "It sounded like it came from down there..."
Crabbe slowly disappeared around the corner at the end of the corridor, watched by Draco who had taken refuge behind a suit of armour.
A girlish scream sounded around the corridor as Crabbe fell backwards into the corridor, hitting the floor and knocking himself out as his wand rolled away.
Draco got up from behind the suit of armour, suddenly a bit more confident.
"Who's there?" He demanded, "You may have stunned those two idiots but you'll never get me."
Slowly, Draco edged his way up the corridor, hugging the wall and pointing his wand in front of him while Hermione's wand lay abandoned at the other end of the however was coming to her senses.
Without drawing attention to herself, she stiffly propped herself up on an elbow and whispered a spell, "Accio wand."
Her wand came to her without a sound so she did some minor healing spells before hobbling behind the suit of armour that Draco had been hiding behind previously.
"Accio Goyle's wand. Accio Crabbe's wand," Hermione whispered.
The wand's rolled over to her and she stuffed them into the pocket of her robes.
Suddenly, a figure appeared beside her and she would have screamed if they hadn't put their hand over her mouth.
"Ssshhh," The boy whispered, "Stay here."
Hermione nodded and the boy rose before creeping up behind Draco with his wand at his back.
"Guess who," He muttered.
Draco spun round to face the boy, his eyes wide and -
"STUPEFY!" The boy roared.
Draco hit the ground, crushing his nose on the hard stone as the boy walked back to Hermione.
"Will you stop ignoring me now?" He asked.
"Of course," Hermione whispered.
"And can I ask one more favour?" The boy smiled.
"What?"
"Let me kiss you."
"Well... if you must," Hermione blushed.
And that is how Neville Longbottom got his first kiss.