THE STINGING HEX

She knew that cold voice anywhere.

It was Him.

Malfoy.

And he was breathing down into her ear. Out of reflex, she reached for her wand but Draco pressed his body further into trapping her between the shelf and his torso, making her unable to move anywhere. Damn, she couldn't even elbow him at this position and it was only making her uncomfortable with the proximity and his breath alongside her nape.

Pursuing her lips into a thin line, she exhaled to regain her sense. "Move, Malfoy" she said in a dangerously low voice but it did not frighten the boy at all. Smirking down the petty figure between his arms he leaned forward and turned to look her in the eyes, to which she moved back her head and stared up at him with a glare. Her head was now dangerously close to his shoulders and all it had was few centimeters for her to lean on him.

"What the fuck are you doing Malfoy? Move away unless you have a death wish." she gritted down her teeth, eyes burning up with anger, almost making them a deep maroon which would be noticed if not for the too close proximity.

"Being extra feisty this year Granger?" he murmured in a deep voice, never dropping the smirk, which was due to his changing hormones. Hermione did not reply, just continued to glare at him with all her might.

"Move before someone comes in here Malfoy." she replied when neither spoke for a long time, breaking the bizzare heavy silence in the air which was ironic considering how their bodies seemed to be tangled in sexual tension along with the air around them.

Malfoy just moved back his head, still keeping his position but before he could realize what was happening to him, he nuzzled her nape breathing in her scent and pressing his nose into her neck. He kissed the place where her neck and shoulder met, a soft lingering kiss. Hermione became still with her eyes growing even larger size accounting her shock.

"I have a guess about what you are hiding Princess." he again breathed into her ears while slightly squeezing her waist, before kissing near the Targus of her ears, the smooching sound echoing seemingly vulgar, making her shiver in the male's hold along with other things happening to her body. Malfoy then exiled himself from the storage room and disappeared into the classroom within a flash before the she-bomb went off.

She let out a breath that she did not know she was holding and tried to bring her erratic heart to its normal state again. She furiously wiped her skin where his lips touched her.

'That's it, he is gonna pay back for messing with me' was what her last thought before she gathered all the ingredients and exited the room with a determined face. Moving through the class, she finally reached the table that she shared with that vile little snake and dropped down the ingredients.

That was when Professor Slughorn moved to the right side of the room, precisely where them special eight were present. "Students! As you all know, the reason for pairing you all up is that this potion requires extra attention while brewing. However the choice is up to you all if you wanna split up but I need the PERFECT result without any disasters and it seems you all are very much capable to work alone. And no changing partners other than my decision announced. Got it?" he announced sternly looking at each of the special eight right in the eye. They all knew what he was saying, go by my decision or go solo.

They nodded to the professor acknowledging his words making it clear they understood the professor's words.

"Let's Split up, Malfoy." Hermione said sternly in the direction of the blonde but paid no heed whether he listened or not and rushed to move her ingredients to the next station from Malfoy.

She heard Harry say the same thing to Blaise, though Blaise was tolerable than her own partner. Thinking about it, Malfoy was behaving really weird this year. Sighing she focused on making the potion, opened her parchment where she made her notes and started the procedure.

"As you wish princess." she heard from Malfoy a few seconds later who obviously went and came back from the store room again to pick ingredients that he did not pick up last time.

She did not respond to him and continued to work for the potion, paying no heed to him. She felt a stare burning though her head for a long time from a certain someone but she ignored it and continued her work, not even bothering to check up whether Harry and Blaise split or not.

She lit the cauldron and added the basic water liquid which would be the base to this potion which was lately announced by Professor Slughorn, apologizing that he forgot to add it for their notes. She grinded the Doxy eggs and Lovage seeds finely in the mortar, her eyes straying from the notes to the mortar to the cauldron to check up on everything. She again felt his eyes on her and internally sighed. 'What's wrong with Malfoy these days, like seriously?'

She felt that she had enough and turned around to face him, to find him staring at her like he was figuring out some great grand puzzle. He wasn't smirking or anything, he was just staring with a look on his face which was kind of hard to describe for Hermione, with him having his eyebrows all furrowed down.

'What?' She mouthed to him obviously very irritated. That punk didn't even acknowledge her question and continued to stare at her, his face pulled in concentration like he was in another world but Hermione could swear that his eyes were searching for something from her. Feeling intimidated, she turned to the cauldron and resumed her work, which was in perfect stage to add the next ingredient.

This potion making was taking really long to make and it's getting on her nerves, she just wanted to go away from here. She did not get a good feeling from this place now, like something was going to happen here. Pushing aside her bad feeling, her eyes wandered around the class. The other students were listening to the lecture taken and writing notes, most likely he was re-teaching them their previous potion and obviously everyone paid their full attention this time.

Again her eyes wandered to their side of the room to look at Macmillan, Patil pairs and they were working peacefully and she couldn't see Harry or Zabini because they were straight behind her. Finally her eyes landed on the one and only Draco Malfoy but what caught her attention was the book he was holding, apparently he too was waiting for the time to be over to add the next ingredient.

It was THE BOOK, the one she saw when she bumped into him and the one Ellena wanted to get. She waited for him to resume to his potion cauldron, which wasn't long and he placed the book on top of his bag and shifted his concentration back to the potion.

Hermione took the chance and cloned the book using Geminio spell and quickly accioed the second book non-verbally and stuffed it quickly into her bag. Her heart was thudding from adrenaline and she checked around to confirm no one saw her doing that. It was too good to be true but thankfully no one saw her and she released a small sigh in relief.

She kept glancing at Malfoy to be extra sure but he was still doing the potion and she herself still had 5 minutes to add the final ingredient- Ashpodel. That was when she received a crumpled note. Opening it she saw 'I know I'm handsome but stop staring Granger' it read. The note flashed the memories from the store room not too long ago and she was feeling pissed again. She drew out her wand and sent a hex in his direction, a very simple one at that.

A low 'Ow' indicated the hex reaching its destination and she finally added the Ashpodel and flicked her wand in the specified manner before she cast a quick glance to Malfoy. She was a second too late to see the return hex coming her way to block and thankfully it only grazed her hand making the skin slice, leaving a long gash. She quickly put up her guard and sent another hex his way but he already had his guard up.

What she didn't notice was the way her blood dripped into the portion when she sent a hex, her hand movement causing it to drop precisely in the middle. She barely noticed the passing and she quickly turned to her potion to see it turn to the pale pink color indicating the correct preparation. Giving a final flick to the cauldron, she started to move, to pack her things but that's when she heard the sound from the potion. It gave a huge boil with the liquid popping out bubbles and splattering it all out.

Draco was nearing her, obviously to hex her or something as she could see from her peripheral vision but her concentration was snatched by the cauldron in her station. She moved to look into the station and unconsciously took a sniff which automatically made her freeze. She couldn't move her hand or her body or anything else and she tried to remember if the professor said anything about not to smell the potion, although having said the potion is poisonous. She was too preoccupied to see Draco send two stinging hexes, one hitting the guard and another finding way to hit Hermione.

The stinging hex hit her and that's when she snapped out of the hallucination and she was finally able to move. The stinging hex did its work, making her skin all over sting with pain followed by excruciating numbness but she was surprisingly taking it well. That was when something switched inside her, she turned to see Malfoy right in the eye, her eyes a vibrant red and she was scowling at him.

Draco was startled and Hermione was in too much rage to notice the changes happening inside the cauldron, the reactions happening inside the closed space, and even happening to herself. Hermione practically growled at him a second later, showing her fangs to him which was slowly growing out in front of him in warning. But the fangs disappeared as soon as they came, along with her red eyes, when she turned around and saw the cauldron giving a dangerously loud sound.

The whole classroom was silent by hearing the sound, Professor Slughorn's eyes widening in alarm. Not even a second later, the cauldron blasted with a loud sound, the potion splattering on Hermione, fully drenching her and some of it flew to Draco's shirt along with some sprayed on the floor. Her eyes went full wide, the smell engulfing her senses fully once again before she fainted with a thud.

Malfoy wasn't too fortunate even though he wasn't soaked with the semi-liquid like Hermione. The smell started to engulf him too, his throat constricting and lungs wailed for something, his esophagus felt like it was burning from molten lava, his eyes started getting unfocused, his mind dizzy and his pupils were getting dilated and undilated rapidly. His face turned red from the things happening inside him for a few seconds before he too collapsed, clutching a side of his head.

"EVERYONE! OUT!" Professor Slughorn bellowed in panic and precaution, ushering the students out who were staring at the scene with shock and confusion of what happened. They were snapped out of it by the professor's voice, and quickly started to go out of the classroom while some proceed to go to their house towers since there wasn't much space outside the classroom. Harry and Zabini stood at their stations not sure if they could go forward to check on their fellow mates but they knew it was too dangerous, which effectively stilled them. When they both moved forward pushing aside the possibility of themselves fainting, they heard another huge shout across the room. It was Professor Slughorn.

"Get away from here right now unless you want to end up like them! I've informed the Head Master already." he strained out from his mouth, his silvery white patronus exiting the classroom, obviously carrying the situation to Professor Dumbledore. Pushing the two remaining boys outside the class, he moved to the place where two unconscious figures were splayed on the floor. Carefully, he cast a white silvery shield around them both and levitated them from a safe distance, careful not to smell the potion which unmistakably had a defect and caused the commotion.

The shields were so opaque that they couldn't see who was in which one. Slughorn hadn't crossed half the classroom when Dumbledore apparated right at the entrance of the class, scaring the shit out of some students, who were peering into the class from the entrance. Just when they thought the scare was over, a dark figure covered in black cloak apparated to the same spot again, scaring the students again, who were currently clutching their hearts.

"Severus." the Headmaster bellowed and Snape went past the Headmaster and the potion's professor to go to the site where the blast took place, understanding the silent command. He was quick on his heels, conjuring a small vial and filling it with the defective potion and tucked it safely in his coat before quickly cleaning the mess in the classroom, but peculiarly was not bothered by the smell of the potion at all.

Meanwhile, Slughorn was facing the Headmaster with the two bodies hovering above them.

"I'll take it from here Horace." spoke Dumbledore in a calm and collected voice, his spectacles perched delicately on top of his nose while his mouth formed a barely there smile. "I can assure you nothing irreparable has happened here Horace. They will be in perfect health soon." he promised.

Dumbledore took the levitating bodies to the tip of his wand and turned to exit the room when Severus Snape joined and casually commented "The cauldron has to be replaced soon " like nothing dangerous has happened and there weren't any unconscious bodies floating above them. The two cloaks swished past the entrance and soon the sound of apparition was heard leaving Professor Slughorn in bewilderment.