Disclaimer: Once more I don't own anything but the plot.


You Would Think It's Funny

Hermione had not expected Blaise Zabini's outburst to bother her one bit. If anything it would make him want to stay farther away from her, thus reducing the risk of anything bad happening to her. However, she could not shake the feeling that she had made a small mistake on that note.

She had slept better after her encounter with Blaise, more than likely as a result of her worrying over him being so angry over something he knew nothing about. She could not help but ponder over why he would even care enough to ask. Hermione tried not to give it any thought as she dressed for the day ahead of her. She had double potions. Of course that had to be her very first class. She knew that it would be polite to wait for Blaise, but she didn't want to speak to him, or be around him for that matter, after his anger the night before. What if he was still angry?

As Hermione left her room with her book bag on her shoulder she saw Blaise sitting on the couch. He lifted his eyes to her and stood up slowly, "Morning. I figured I would wait and walk to the Great Hall with you."

Hermione stared at him in shock and then nodded her head and began walking towards the portrait hole, not waiting on him to walk beside her. Blaise rolled his eyes and followed her out of the portrait hole.

The couple in the portrait were eyeing Hermione warily. The woman spoke up gently, "Hermione, my dear, did you sleep alright?"

"Yes I did, thank you," Hermione smiled at the woman and acted as if nothing were wrong at all. Blaise looked at the couple who had turned to him as if to ask what had happened and he simply shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes to show them he had no idea what her deal was and continued walking so that he wasn't simply trailing after Hermione. That would look lovely for the first day of school.

He caught up to Hermione and was walking silently beside her when she finally spoke to him, "I'm sorry I woke you up last night. I will put silencing charms on my room from now on."

He was watching her facial expression and he could discern no real remorse in her voice. She seemed completely devoid of emotion, "It's alright." Blaise knew he shouldn't let his temper get the best of him, but he stalked past Hermione and into the Great Hall. He was at a loss as far as Hermione went. She was so closed off, and frankly he didn't need the extra distractions.

Hermione watched him stalk off and sighed. Hopefully now that she had apologized he would leave her alone. Hermione walked straight to the Gryffindor table to sit with her friends. She was not surprised to find that Ginny was the only one who had made it to breakfast. Ginny grinned at Hermione and began asking about Hermione's summer.

Hermione didn't give much detail to her summer, she simply said it was nice to relax with her family this summer. Of course, this was only a partial truth. How could Hermione enjoy anything? How could she forget that night? She was sure that this feat would prove to be an impossible one, even for her.

She politely asked Ginny how her summer went. It seemed much the same as it was every year for Ginny. She stayed at the Burrow. It was nicer now that Fred and George had moved out, but she still had to put up with Ron, who despite being only slightly older than her seemed to act like her father. Hermione nodded her head in all the right spots and made sympathetic noises when she knew Ginny wanted them.

Hermione was mentally slapping herself for not being a better friend to Ginny. She hated that she could not think of Ginny's problems and set her preoccupations aside. She was sure that Ginny would try harder for her.

Hermione set her mind to pay more attention to Ginny, and to become less self involved. Ginny was now talking about her latest infatuation with a Ravenclaw boy who was in her year. His name was Trey. Hermione smiled at Ginny when she asked Hermione what she thought she should do, "Well talk to him of course, Gin. Just be careful if you don't know him very well."

"Really?" Ginny smoothed a hand over her hair and looked at Hermione with a bit of a self conscious look in her eyes. "Do you think I stand a chance?"

"Ginny, you are beautiful. Of course you stand a chance," Hermione smiled reassuringly at Ginny.

"He just got up from his table. I'll try to go catch him in the hall!" Ginny stood up and hugged Hermione. "Thank you so much!"

Hermione mumbled under her breath, "Your welcome."

Harry sat down beside Hermione as Ginny was rushing out of the Great Hall, "Where was she going in such a hurry?"

Hermione grabbed a piece of toast and poured herself some orange juice, "She was going to try to talk to a boy named Trey from Ravenclaw."

Harry watched Ginny rushing out of the hall and nodded his head slowly, "Oh."

Hermione nearly laughed at the look of longing that passed over Harry's face, "Harry, if you like her you need to talk to her."

"Talk to who?" Ron sat down on Hermione's other side. Harry was shaking his head at Hermione.

"Oh no one Ronald," Hermione smiled slightly at him.

"Bullocks," Ron groaned. "No one ever tells me anything. It's not bloody fair."

Harry laughed, "It'll be alright, Ron. I'll tell you all about it later."

"Alright," Ron was loading his plate with food from the table.

Hermione smiled at Harry and took another drink of her juice. She could feel eyes boring into the back of her head. She was positive she knew who it was and she was doing her best not to acknowledge him. Although he made her feel slightly uneasy she didn't want to tell Harry or Ron about it, and have them overreact and perhaps get into trouble. Blaise Zabini had done nothing to hurt her.

Hermione stood up and grabbed her book bag, "I'm going to go to the library. I will see you two in Potions, okay?"

Harry was watching Hermione closely, "Alright, 'Mione."

Hermione walked out of the Great Hall still feeling his eyes following her the whole way. She felt nearly relieved when she walked into the hallway. She made her way to the library. She really only had about thirty minutes to waste, but she didn't want to be caught alone in the dungeons early.

The librarian smiled tightly at Hermione before going back to whatever she was working on. Hermione had always wondered what the librarian did all day.

Hermione didn't truly have anything to do. She was already reading a muggle book for pleasure so she really didn't need anything to do. Seeing as she had not had any classes yet she had no homework today. She simply would have to wait it out. She was currently reading 'The Odyssey.'

So for the next fifteen minutes Hermione sat in a chair and read her book. When Hermione looked up again she found she would have just enough time to make it to the dungeons on time. She hurriedly put her book in her bag and hurried on her way.

When she walked out of the library she was nearly scared witless by none other than Blaise Zabini. Blaise was leaning against the wall outside of the library seemingly waiting for Hermione. "Hello, again," Hermione jumped and turned towards him.

"Hello," Hermione replied shortly and she began her walk towards the dungeons. Blaise vaguely wondered if she always walked so bloody fast.

"Granger, I didn't know we were in a race here. Why are you walking so fast?" he asked innocently enough.

She rounded on him, "It's the first day of school, Zabini. And I have Potions. Unlike you Snape would take house points away from me for being even one second late. You are a precious Slytherin and therefore he would not care a wit if you run a bit late."

"But you are walking with me," Blaise countered smoothly while slyly moving them towards the dungeons.

"Do you honestly believe that matters to the man?" Hermione asked. "No, I didn't think so."

Blaise chuckled. Now that he had his anger under control he was able to find the humor in her ramblings.

"Yes, I suppose you would think it's funny wouldn't you?" Hermione snidely commented once again picking up her pace considerably.

Hermione and Blaise made it into the classroom with only a minute to spare. Snape glided into the room and sneered at the faces before him, "Welcome back to school. Get out your textbooks. We won't be making a potion today. Instead there will be a three foot paper due by the end of the class today on a potion of your choice. I don't suggest you write about a potion any less complex than we've done since your fourth year. That could result in a very bad grade. Not that I have high hopes for the majority of you anyways. That is all for today."

Hermione immediately grabbed her parchment and quill. She flipped open her book and picked out a potion they had made at the end of last year. The most complex one she could find. She needed something intricate to get her mind off of one Blaise Zabini."