Hermione becomes somewhat obsessive over the identity of "Jack" in the coming days. It would be no surprise to anyone who knows her of course. There is nothing that eats away at her quite like not knowing an answer. Even Jack, whoever he is, had accused her of as much. Which is proof positive she knows him as far as she's concerned.

Her first step is to make a chart of potential candidates. Parchment has not derailed her love of a good college-rule notebook for straight lines. Marking perpendicular lines down the page to create columns, she writes the four Hogwarts houses at the top.

Beginning with what she thinks to be the most obvious, she assumes the student to be either an "eighth" year, school interrupted by war as hers had been, or a true seventh year. This seems a logically place to start since he is currently enrolled in final year classes. That simple deduction narrows down the list to only two classes, at an average of around thirty students each.

She struggled briefly, with her next criteria, ultimately decided to listen to her gut.

There is no definitive reason the person could not be a witch. A female. Snape's potion, an improvement on traditional polyjuice, seems to be complete and nearly flawless, all the way down to the voice. If regular polyjuice can accomplish the task, she assumes it could trade genders easily enough as well. But something about the person makes her believe he's not living that far away from his normal identity. Keeping up with this charade for months would certainly have been easier if they let him retain some aspects of his true self. It wouldn't make sense to add undue stress to his day to day.

It might be a bit of wishful thinking on her part as well. Something about him had been very appealing. What had felt strange when she thought she was with Harry, she realized later was the beginnings of a very out of character "crush". Besides her short relationship with Ron and her little infatuation with Lockhart in her second year, Hermione has had very little experience with overt interest in the opposite sex.

Oh, there were men who were fit enough of course. There had been fellow students she could admit were handsome or appealing. Viktor had definitely given her pause.

Yet, other than Ron, she'd never really cared that much; pursued anyone. This boy though, whoever he was, had flipped her upside down just a little. She had denied it to herself that first day, not wanting to confuse her already muddy relationship with Harry. As soon as she realized he was someone else, intrigue replaced hesitation. He'd been a little cruel to her at the end; temperamental... but she brushed that aside easily. She was, after all, hounding him regarding his secrets. She recognizes he has every right to keep them, but justifies her actions that he seemed to be a little troubled, a little lonely, and altogether too isolated.

It's not healthy, she has told herself.

And so, back to her deductions, male students in only two class levels makes for an already short selection. Her list is now halved in one fell swoop.

Next, and this might be presumptuous, she decides to extrapolate that he is an "eighth year". His familiarity with her, his reaction to her name leads her to that conclusion. He says they were never friends, but she still saw the reality in his eyes. She knows him and he knows her, in some capacity at least. Because she was not terribly familiar with students in lower years, logic follows he was likely in her classes.

Her process up to this point might not be completely scientific, but Hermione has tried to learn a little from the impetuous Harry Potter over the years. Sometimes, instinct has some merit after all.

She is ready, then, to break down what is left into houses.

First was the Gryffindor roster. Harry, Ron, Neville... present and accounted for. She had heard Dean and Seamus were travelling Asia together. A sort of "sewing their wild oats" adventure (though the rumour was they were sewing those oats together if you catch the meaning). She can't confirm that first hand but it seems likely as anything. She writes them in her chart but then crosses the names out to indicate they are unlikely.

Corner, Entwhistle, and Boot had returned in Ravenclaw. That leaves the possibility of Stephen Cornfoot, whom she would hardly know from Adam, and Anthony Goldstein, with whom she had a perfectly civil relationship and she can't imagine him facing her with so much animosity. Again, she writes their names but with the line crossed through. Perhaps she is being too hasty, especially in negating Stephen, but it doesn't seem to fit what she knows so far.

Ernie and Justin had returned from Hufflepuff. That leaves Wayne Hopkins and Zacharias Smith. Hermione knows very little of Wayne. He had been a relatively quiet student both before and during the war. However, she has heard he is living in the States with a great aunt. She can't know that for certain, but her source had been Ginny before the Great Weasley Break-Ups that had caused a fallout between them. Ginny was never really a gossip and so she assumed the information to have been pretty common knowledge.

Zacharias, on the other hand, she has plenty enough frame of reference. It's certainly not that she doubts he could have been so mean in their last confrontation, it's more that she doubts he could have been such divine company during their day. She leaves his name open but knows she will cross it out if she finds a better candidate.

That leaves, of course, Slytherin house. To Hermione, this is already a likely choice. Who else would have something to gain by hiding their identity from the school? Those with questionable ties would have a difficult time in this post-war era. Snape's involvement seems to support this as all the more likely.

Obviously, it's not Vincent Crabbe, she thinks to herself with very little remorse. It was terrifying to watch as he was engulfed by flames, but time has healed her and the war hardened her. She has very few tears to shed for the cruel boy who crucio'd Neville with relish and tried to turn her over to certain death during the battle.

Draco Malfoy, as she understands, stood trial in front of the Wizengamot and was lucky to escape the kiss. It is common knowledge amongst the Order of the Phoenix that Kingsley himself had to step in to ask the Wizengamot to show mercy. Word on the street is he is serving a house-arrest sentence with his father, and good riddance to them both.

Blaise Zabini is finishing his year in Italy near his mother's family. Much like Dean and Seamus, she can't absolutely prove it, but she did see a letter he had written to Daphne Greengrass so it seems a pretty sound truth. Not to mention, as a student who had remained untouched by direct contact to Death Eaters in his family, she doesn't imagine coming back to school would have been an impossibility for the likeable boy, regardless of his House.

Theo Nott left to take over as head of the Nott house, his father landing in Azkaban for the rest of his natural life. Having stayed mostly out of the war himself, Hermione doesn't doubt he can turn around his family name. As she had seen in the Daily Prophet, he has already started doing so with a self-imposed betrothal to Slytherin's notorious halfblood Tracey Davis, breaking the pureblood tradition of his lineage and creating a softer reputation around his name.

That leaves, what is to Hermione's mind the most likely candidate, as Gregory Goyle. She has heard next to nothing about his fate after the war.

It's not so far-fetched, she ponders thoroughly. He had seemed a bit thick of course, but relegated as he was to Malfoy's thug, perhaps he was underestimated? Misunderstood. Truthfully, he had glowered a lot but it was more Malfoy and the imposing Crabbe that had really troubled her. Malfoy was a nuisance and a bigot, Crabbe was actually almost frightening, but Goyle was the silent type. Maybe he is not at all what she thought. Maybe Greg Goyle is a swan amongst ducklings if she would only do herself the favor and take a second look…

After another three days of considering, she has all but settled on her theory and needs only test it to be certain. The opportunity arises in Ancient Runes when they are called upon to divide into pairs. It's such a small class, that's certainly not difficult. Hermione drops herself into the chair next to "Jack", all the while imagining Goyle's pudgy features.

She smiles a little to herself, remembering the kiss they shared, and wonders if it was his first. She never noticed Greg with any female companionship to speak of. She recalls the yule ball he had attended with Crabbe "as friends". The pair had stood, almost back to back, with their arms folded, scowling at the room. This little self-serving part of herself, personally used to being the wallflower and the "less than" amongst the witches of Hogwarts, feels a little thrill she might have been something special for someone. That she might have been someone's first.

"What are you doing?" He hisses the question at her and she raises an eyebrow.

"Pairing up. That was the assignment."

He grumbles and crosses his arms petulantly and she thinks again of the yule ball. Hermione Granger doesn't mind a challenge. Breaking through to Greg Goyle, obviously looking to better himself by coming back from the war, will be difficult, but Hermione is certain he will be worth it. If their day together is any indication, there is so much more to him. Someone Hermione would like to know very much. She grins to herself as the assignment is laid out and starts to schedule study sessions in her head.

A/N

Oops... almost had it, Hermione. So close

Big thanks for all of you reading this little story and as always, internet love for the faves, follows, and reviews!

Special thanks to LightofEvolution for the shout out on her lovely time trope Do it with some style? It's just starting to heat up so hurry and jump onboard!

And also to Phinoa, who I recently discovered is working on a very different take of a polyjuiced Draco. Phinoa made me a lovely manip, now the image attached to my recent one shot A Good Start

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