A/N: This chapter is written by avdubs - check out this story on ao3 too where she's posting! Enjoy!
Hermione flipped through The Daily Prophet whilst she sipped at her pumpkin juice. As her eyes scanned the business section, her mind began to wander back to what had happened in the library with Malfoy. She would never have thought it was possible that she and Malfoy had something in common. Actually, they had two things in common, as he had subconsciously pointed out. She was still a bit dumbfounded that Draco Malfoy had complimented her… Sort of. At the very least, he had acknowledged her intelligence.
"Anything in there worth knowing?" Harry asked, nodding at the newspaper propped up in front of her.
"What?" She asked, not having paid attention, and shook her head. "Erm, no. Nothing actually. Nothing new anyway."
Harry seemed to think her response was sufficient enough and he nodded then returned to his toast and sausages. Hermione happened to glance towards the Slytherin table and felt her breath catch in her throat when she saw Draco looking directly at her. As soon as he saw her looking, however, he averted his eyes. Hermione cleared her throat and returned to her breakfast.
Upon entering her Ancient Runes class, Hermione had been shocked to realize that Draco was also in attendance. How had she not noticed yesterday? She sat in the same seat she had the day before, closest to the door and right up front. Draco, however, had chosen a table at the very back, right by the windows. Interesting choice, she thought.
Every so often, Hermione would chance a glance back at him and each time, he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what was being taught. He did nothing but stare out the window or scribble something — something that she was quite sure had nothing to do with Runes — furiously on a piece of parchment. Over the years of classes shared together, Hermione knew that he normally always payed attention.
Professor Babbling called on the Hufflepuff boy sitting next to her, snapping Hermione back to reality. She shook her head and scrambled to copy the lines of notes she had missed. Now was not the time to fret over what Draco was doing. Harry was already obsessed enough for the both of them.
In Potions later that day, Hermione sat with Harry, Ron and Ernie as she had the day before. Professor Slughorn instructed them on which potion they would be brewing today and what page of Advanced Potion-Making they would find it on, then plopped himself down behind his desk. Hermione could already feel the tension settling in her shoulders and was willing to bet Harry's potion would be deemed the best once again.
For the first time, Hermione found herself wishing that she would be wrong.
When she discovered that she needed more slivers of dragon liver, she made a mental note to stop at the small Apothecary in Hogsmeade and made her way to the spare stock of ingredients. As she passed the rows of tables, her eyes fell on Draco, who was glaring at Harry. At least he's still bothered by this, she thought to herself.
Hermione read every line of the instructions three times over and murmured them out loud to herself twice before acting on it. She had to be absolutely sure she did it correctly. She didn't even bothering stealing glances at Draco to see if he was working just as diligently as she was.
Harry attempted to tell her an alternative way to chop the roots, but she brushed him off. She was not going to follow the advice of this so called Half-Blood Prince. Harry merely shrugged and said, "Suit yourself."
By the end of the lesson, her hair was a disastrous ball of frizz and her potion was only a shade darker than what it needed to be. When Slughorn had announced that Harry's potion was yet again perfect, she had wanted to smash her cauldron on the ground. Even Ron looked disgruntled. Harry was beaming as he packed up his ingredients and books and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"You go ahead," she said when she noticed Harry and Ron lingering. "I have more to clean up than you did."
The boys accepted her excuse and left, eager to get back to the common room. Hermione took her time cleaning her cauldron, tidying her table and packing her bag. It was only when she heard Draco's voice that she realized she was not the only one who had stayed behind.
"Sir, have I ever mentioned that my great-grandfather on my mother's side was—"
"Ah," Professor Slughorn interrupted, holding up a hand. "I'm sorry, Mister Malfoy. I really must be going. Lessons to prepare… You understand."
Draco looked annoyed by the dismissal but nodded. "Of course, sir."
Hermione stuffed the rest of her books into her bag and left her table at the same that Draco was walking by. He was a few paces ahead of her and didn't bother to look her way once. It was as they were slipping out the dungeon doors, she heard him mumble, "I did everything perfectly. I reread every bloody instruction."
"So did I," she said quietly.
His footsteps faltered and Hermione stopped behind him. But after a moment, he kept walking.
It took every ounce of self-control she had to not snatch that Potions book out of Harry's grasp. All evening he had been sitting by the fire, pouring over that book, whilst she had broken three quills and had to re-do her Charms essay twice.
After her third and final attempt at finishing the essay, she packed up her books and tucked her completed essay away safely. "I'm going to bed," she said to Harry and Ron.
They both nodded and bade her goodnight. Harry, however, didn't even bother looking up from the book.
Wednesday passed peacefully for Hermione. It was her only Potions free day of the week and at the end of her lessons, she knew was going to cherish every Wednesday for the rest of the school year.
She learned that Draco was in her Arithmancy class, which surprised her a bit. They hadn't ever shared this class before, but as usual, he didn't look at her or speak to her, which was fine.
The rest of her day flew by. Classes were already demanding and more intense than previous years. Even Transfiguration was a slight struggle these days; she'd never had to ask Professor McGonagall to repeat instructions before. Defence class was a nightmare thanks to Professor Snape, but nothing short of what she expected now that the sallow looking man was their teacher.
She had made the right decision in retreating to the library for the evening, so as to avoid being around Harry and his precious Half-Blood Prince. With a sufficient amount of homework done and after working on non-verbal spells, she went back to Gryffindor Tower and straight to bed.
Hermione had been in a good mood until she glanced at her schedule and remembered they had Potions that morning. Fantastic, she thought to herself, Slughorn will be all over Harry again.
She hardly spoke to Harry and Ron on the way to breakfast and during Herbology, even Ron seemed to be on the quieter side. Neither one of them felt like arguing with Harry, it seemed.
When they arrived in Potions, Hermione made a bold move and sat at an empty table closer to the front of the classroom. She saw Harry's jaw tense and his hands curl into fists and she knew they would probably argue about it later. For now though, she didn't care. She needed to concentrate and that stupid book was proving to be too much of a distraction. Maybe if she couldn't see Harry using it, she wouldn't think about it as much…
While there was still a tiny voice in the back of her mind reminding her about that book, it was much easier to concentration without her best friend practically cheating his way to the top of their class. Well, Potions class at least, but cheating nonetheless.
Her attempts remained futile. Professor Slughorn didn't even make it around to every cauldron before announcing Harry's potion as perfect. Hermione was seething now. She bottled some of her potion and vanished the rest, hastily cleaned up her station, packed her bag and practically bolted out of the dungeon.
Later that day, in Ancient Runes, she happened to glance behind her and noticed Draco looking at her. When their eyes locked, he shook his head and scrunched his features. She nodded subtly and rolled her eyes. "It's ridiculous," she mouthed.
He nodded in agreement.
"Mr. Malfoy, is there something you would like to share with the rest of us?" Professor Babbling snapped sternly.
Hermione returned her gaze to her open textbook. Draco apologized and reassured their Professor it wouldn't happen again. An hour and a half later, class was dismissed, and with four more chapters of reading and two pages of translations added to her mountain of homework, she made her way out of the classroom.
"Angry today, Granger?" Draco asked from behind.
She jumped. Why did he have to do that?
"Aren't you?" She hissed.
"Of course I am," he said seriously. "Difference is, I don't put on a big show about it."
Hermione snorted. "You would have two years ago. Even last year, actually."
"Yeah, well, people change." His tone was flat when he spoke.
When Hermione turned around to retort, she saw that he was gone. She frowned in confusion as students passed by her. Always so quick to disappear, she thought.
Friday's would fast become another favorite day of hers, she just knew it. Even though she had potions, it was her last class of the day, and right after breakfast she could spend her free period in the library and get some work done.
And that was exactly what she did. The library was empty and quiet, exactly how she liked it. She managed to get a chapter of her Runes reading done, started her translations and finished the last few inches of her essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
By the time Potions class rolled around, she felt thoroughly accomplished. Though she still had several chapters of reading to do this weekend and planned on practicing non-verbal spells, she had gotten most of her written homework done.
She sat next to Harry again and even smiled at him, but her good mood quickly faded when Professor Slughorn completely ignored her raised hand to call on Harry instead — whose hand wasn't even raised by the way. When she accidentally stirred counter-clockwise eight times instead of seven, she slammed her fist on the table and cursed quietly under breath.
The moment class was over and her bag was packed, she mumbled to Harry and Ron that she would be in the library. Ron nodded while Harry looked as if he were about to retort, but thought better of it.
She mumbled under her breath the whole way to the library. Nothing about this was fair! She had always been the best. She'd worked her arse off to be the best, and suddenly, this book comes along and changes all of that? Harry didn't seem to see the problem with the situation, which only angered her more.
Hermione set her things down at her usual table and decided a stroll through the stacks was a good idea. That always seemed to calm her down. She started in the Charms section, made her way through Ancient Runes and paused in the Defence Against the Dark Arts section when she remembered she needed to check out a book anyway.
She had just begun to browse the shelves when she heard shuffling on the other side. Assuming it was just another student, Hermione continued going about her business. She withdrew a book from the shelf and started to head back to her table.
With her nose buried in the book, Hermione rounded the corner and felt her shoulder slam into something hard.
"Watch where you're— Oh, Granger," Draco said in surprise and steadied her and frowned. "Walk much?"
"Shut it, Malfoy," she snapped.
"Don't be cranky with me when its Potter you're angry with," he shot back.
Hermione sighed heavily, snapping the book shut and clutching it under her arm. "Professor Slughorn completely ignored me today!" She told him furiously.
"I noticed," he said quietly, then, "I want to know how he's doing it."
Hermione bit her lip and hoped Draco didn't notice. Even though she was angry with Harry, she wasn't willing to expose his secret. Not to Malfoy anyway. It just...didn't seem like a good idea. There was no telling what Draco might do with such information. Malfoy was the farthest thing from their friend, and telling him would feel like a betrayal to Harry.
"Listen," she said. "I'm as angry as you are about this, but I've got a lot of work to do, so I should go."
He shrugged. "Like I care, Granger. I've got things to do too, you know."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Malfoy."
"It could belong to a woman, for all you know," Hermione retorted coolly.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Prince, Hermione. Why would they use that title if they were a woman?"
She couldn't think of a logical response, which irritated her, so instead she returned to her essay (which she had to keep out of Ron's grasp) and frowned at the parchment as though it were to blame.
Harry told her and Ron that he had to go to his meeting with Dumbledore and she wished him good luck.
"We'll wait up for you, mate," Ron said firmly. "Right, Hermione?"
Hermione glanced up from her essay. "Yes, of course."
When Harry was gone, Hermione forced herself to push all thoughts of the Prince's Potions book to the back of her mind. Even if she had wanted to do anything with the textbook she wouldn't have been able to, she realised, as Harry had left everything behind on the table except for his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Really, she huffed in annoyance.