Chapter 12

"Morning Mione." Ginny greeted as Hermione plopped down across the table from her red headed friend. "You look quite cheerful this morning."

"Well you know, just a new day I guess. The start of classes is always very exciting, don't you think?" Hermione said rather quickly with a big smile plastered to her face,

"Did you take your potion?" Harry leaned over and asked her quietly as she buttered a piece of toast. Hermione just nodded her head vigorously in response. "That clears some things up then." Harry chuckled to himself. 'She'll be back to normal within the hour I suppose.'

Harry looked around and noticed that few people already had their schedules. He looked up his row to find McGonagall walking around with a small stack of paper in her hand.

"Miss. Granger, Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Potter, good morning. Here are your schedules." Professor McGonagall greeted the three of them with a thin smile. "Please let me know if you would like more classes Miss. Granger. I did not place you in many of the seventh or eighth year classes because it would have been a waste of your time, given your score on your placement test; but I can always make room in a few if you would like."

Hermione looked down at her schedule and noticed she only had five classes for the whole week.

Mondays she had Advanced Transfiguration, then she was an assistant for 1st year transfiguration, followed by healing after lunch. Tuesdays were Technology in the muggle world and Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. Wednesday was the same as Monday and Thursday was the same as Tuesday, leaving her with no classes on Friday.

"Now I may only award you house points for three of the classes, as there is a three extra class maximum for almost all students, but I saw that you had put down technology in the muggle world as a fourth option so I assumed you would want another class to preoccupy yourself with." McGonagall said with a hint of a proud smile.

"That's perfect, thank you." Hermione nodded her thanks and looked back over her schedule.

"I will see you in class tomorrow, Miss. Granger." She then looked at Harry, "Excellent job on your placement test as well, Mr. Potter. I was pleasantly surprised. Please do let me know if you are not satisfied with your schedule."

"Oh its great, Professor. Thank you." He said lifting up his parchment awkwardly as some sort of reassurance.

McGonagall turned to Ron and gave him an uneasy smile. "Enjoy your breakfast, Mr. Weasley." She then turned on her heel and walked to the next set of eighth years.

Ron, in response, turned a slight pink color.

(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)

"Good morning students, welcome to Technology in the Muggle world! Now by a show of hands, how many muggle-borns or half-bloods do we have in here?" Professor Howell asked.

Hermione raised her hand along with about ten or so other students. She took in her new professors appearance. She was a skinny, average height woman who looked to be in her mid thirties. She had light brown hair in a twisted knot held by a feathered quill. Her eyes were light green and framed by small rectangular glasses. Over all, she was fairly pretty.

"I will depend on you students to help those who are struggling." She gave a firm nod and turned to write on the board the muggle way: without using her wand.

"Looks like I'll be turning to you for help then, Miss. Granger." Hermione turned and smiled at Seth who was leaning towards her.

"I'm sure you can manage." She joked.

"Now if you will pair off into threes or fours. Make sure to have someone who is a muggle born or half blood in your group and send them up here to grab a laptop."

"A what?" Draco asked as he plopped down in the chair on the other side of Hermione.

"Hence why she told us muggle-borns to get them." Hermione smirked as she stood up.

"Where did you come from?" Seth gave Draco a stony look, his sandy blonde eyebrows rising a smidge.

"Originally? France. You?" Draco retorted with a serious expression. A few students nearby chuckled.

Seth just turned his head and looked up at Hermione who was a few paces away from their set of desks, holding the laptop with both hands.

"So I take it this is our group?" She asked. She sat down between the two and opened the laptop, following the instructions on the chalkboard.

Open Laptop

Familiarize yourself with the mouse pad and keyboard

Open a word document

Start button All programs Microsoft Word Document

Type group members names using all capital letters

Save Document as "Day 1"

File (top left) Save as Type "Day 1" into high lighted part Click Save

Those with experience will only assist those who are inexperienced, Good Luck!

"Have at it boys." She smirked at the two who looked absolutely clueless.

"Hermione, you only taught me about the phone…" Seth whined.

Draco rolled his eyes and muttered, "And it was so painful that it caused her a trip to the hospital wing."

Seth narrowed his eyes, "At least I don't insult-"

"Boys! Both of you stop, right now! I will leave both of you to fend for yourselves if you cannot behave. Now Draco, you sit here and open the word document, Seth you sit and watch then switch off for the next step." Hermione scolded, she put her hands on her hips while she stared the two guilty guys down.

Seth sneered at Draco and turned towards to laptop. Draco, on the other hand, was proudly grinning up at her. She wasn't sure what to do next so she just sat in the seat next to Draco as he turned and started to click random buttons.

(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)

"Good work class. We will pick up on Thursday with the Internet." Professor Howell waved her students off.

Hermione, Draco, and Seth all filed out one behind the other. They started to head towards Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere…else?" Draco asked Seth in an annoyed tone.

"I have a break between classes. What about you Hermione?" He ignored Draco.

"Advanced DADA, I thought seventh years don't have a break until after lunch?" Hermione asked perplexed

"I placed high on the test apparently." He grinned down at her. Draco rolled his eyes. "I was able to test out of potions."

"Wow that's pretty impressive." She raised her eyebrows and continued to walk.

"So Malfoy, what are your parents doing now that they are Lord-free?" Seth asked out of the blue.

Draco stopped in his tracks and looked at Seth with a vicious look. "What's it to you?" Seth had a funny look on his face, one of concentration.

"Seth, I think that is a little too personal…" Hermione tried to reason.

Seth held his concentrated face for a brief second longer before having a look of confusion. "My apologies. I'll see you later Hermione." He turned on his heel and walked away briskly.

"That was odd." Hermione turned to Draco.

"Yes." He still seemed a little perturbed by Seth's question. "Lets go, or we'll be late."

The pair continued on their way, not saying anything more about Seth's odd behavior.

They walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room and noticed that everything was relatively the same as it was before the war. The Dragon's skeleton and the iron chandelier still hung in their respective places from the ceiling, the jars of who knows what still remained on the shelves next to the skulls and shrunken heads of numerous beings. The only difference was the lack of desks and the presence of large tables that could seat about six or so students.

"Who do you suppose is the new professor?" Hermione asked Draco as they walked up to a table near the only window in the room.

"Dunno. Probably some sorry bloke who will only be here for the year, then they'll die off or be sent to St. Mungos, or have to be expelled from the grounds." Draco mused. Just as the two sat down in adjourning seats Harry and Ron walked up behind the two.

"Hermione, Malfoy." Harry gave Draco a nod before smiling at Hermione.

"What's he doing in my seat?" Ron mumbled to Harry.

"He is sitting Ronald, that is what one does when they are in a seat. Honestly, if you have not grown up by this point, I have no high hopes that you ever will." Hermione huffed out.

"I'll move. Blaise is probably lost without me." Draco began to stand up when Hermione protested.

"You can stay…or invite Blaise over here. Don't let Ron's immaturity effect you." Hermione then placed her hand on Draco's arm and noticed a slight comforting feeling that suddenly overcame her. Draco apparently felt something too, based off of the hesitant look he gave her hand.

"Everything alright here?" Blaise inspected the scene after he sauntered over.

"Just fine." Draco said never taking his eyes off of the petite hand that still rested on his bicep. When he finally did look away, he looked up at Blaise, "You're ears must be burning. I was just saying-"

"That he was going to ask you to join our table." Hermione intercepted. She then looked around unsure of why she said that and wondered why she was suddenly so keen on Draco's presence.

"Hermione…" Ron started saying but Harry mumbled something along the lines of 'maturity' into his ear.

"Sure, why not?" Blaise smiled at Hermione and sat on Draco's opposite side. "So who is the professor? McGonagall didn't mention them at the sorting."

"That's because he got in yesterday evening." A voice behind Blaise said.

The five students looked over Blaise's shoulder and saw a tall, good looking, young man, probably late twenties, who had the shadow of a goatee and very light brown eyes that matched the color of his hair. He was wearing a light green button up long sleeved shirt, but had the sleeves rolled up just below his elbows, and a dark green and brown sweater vest resting over his shirt. His long pants were a light kaki color and his shoes, which seemed out of place with the rest of his attire, were plain brown flip-flops.

"Good afternoon class. Dr. Eron Kustov, your new Defense professor. You may call me Dr. Eron. That is pronounced 'ear-on'." A few laughs emitted through the students. He walked over to the podium at the front of class and turned with a very handsome smile. "I am from Bulgaria, attended Durmstrang and then went on and received my doctorate from the University of Cambridge. Any questions?" He looked around. "No? Good, now lets begin."

"What has Dr. Pretty-boy got to teach us from Cambridge?" Blaise mumbled into Draco's ear as Dr. Eron started his lecture.

"Mr. Zabini, why don't you come and demonstrate." Dr. Eron stood with an expectant expression on his face.

"Me?" Dr. Eron nodded with a grin, "How do you know my name?" Blaise asked slowly rising from his chair.

"I make it a point to get to know all my students. And lets face it; this is certainly not your ordinary group of students." Harry ducked his head a bit out of habit as Dr. Eron glanced around at the rather small class, letting his eyes linger over Hermione. "And, no offense, but I'm not specifically talking about you Mr. Potter, but everyone in here."

Harry's head perked up as his mouth lifted at the corners in a relieved smile. He was tired of always being recognized and being the center of attention.

"Now as I was saying, would you be so kind as to demonstrate what I was talking about?" Dr. Eron looked at Blaise with an amused smile.

"And run it by me what that was again?" He asked with a sarcastic smile.

"I would like you to disarm me…" Blaise started to smirk at the simplicity of this task. "Nonverbally." Dr. Eron finished. Blaise's smirk turned to a dubious look.

"Well you see…I-" Blaise was then interrupted by Dr. Eron.

"Go sit back down Mr. Zabini. You will find it beneficial to pay more attention in my class. Yes?" He asked with raised eyebrows and a genuine smile.

"Sorry Professor." He sauntered back over to his desk.

"Now would anyone like to give it a try? I know nonverbal magic was part of your 6th year curriculum." Eron looked around. "No takers? Miss. Granger, how about the brightest witch of her age?"

"Sure…" She said hesitantly before walking up to the room.

"Great. Now I'm going to throw a simple jinx your way and I would like you to disarm me nonverbally." He nodded to ask if she was ready and she shook her head once then raised her wand, as did he.

"Stup-" Eron started his jinx but was thrown against the opposite wall.

Hermione looked stunned. Her spell was only supposed to disarm him, not send him flying. She heard the door to the classroom slam shut only a few seconds later so she looked up to survey the room. Everyone was in awe either staring at her, the door, or the professor who was currently massaging his back as he sat on the floor. One thing that she did notice was that Draco was nowhere to be seen. She finally came to once her gaze lingered on Dr. Eron.

"Professor! Are you all right? I'm so sorry! I swear my spell was only to disarm you…I-I don't know what happened!" She spewed out as she tried to help him up.

"I'm fine Miss. Granger, thank you." He said as he stood and wiped the dirt off his shirt. He did glance over and take note of Draco's absence briefly. "Just an accident." He reassured her. She blushed a furious red as she briskly walked back to her seat. Harry patted her shoulder.

"It wasn't you." Harry whispered. When she turned to correct him he just motioned towards Draco's empty seat with a tilt of his head.

She gave him a confused look before he turned back to Dr. Eron who was now going into further detail about how to correctly defend ones self through nonverbal magic.

(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)

"So you're saying that Draco Malfoy is the one who sent Dr. Eron flying? I seriously doubt that." Hermione said as her, Harry, and Ron made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Why else would he get up and leave so abruptly then Mione? I doubt it was an upset stomach." Ron said logically.

"Why would he do that though? And who's to say his stomach wasn't upset?" She looked at the to boys expectantly. Harry just shrugged and Ron looked just as clueless. "That just doesn't make any sense. I guess I was just distracted or something and my spell went AWOL."

"I don't think so Hermione." Harry said when he pointed to the Slytherin table where Draco was once again absent.

"So what? He is probably late. Or better yet, his stomach is upset. Hence why he wouldn't want to eat lunch." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm telling you Hermione, it was Malfoy. I saw his wand in his hand when it happened. He's quick; I'll give him that. But I know I saw it." Harry said as he grabbed a roll and put some cranberry jam on it. He looked back up to the Slytherin table and noticed Blaise was absent as well. 'Pretty sure Blaise doesn't have an upset stomach too.' He thought to himself.

(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)

Draco was sitting at the desk in his room, trying to avoid Blaise and his questions as to why he left so fast, when a tapping sounded at his window. He looked up and noticed a school own sitting on the window ledge. He stood up and as he got closer to the window he noticed that the note attached to his foot was addressed to him in all capital letters.

He untied the note and sent the owl away with a treat then gave one to Eros who was perched on his bedpost. He liked to indulge the animals equally, so when one got a treat, so did the other. He sat and began to read:

Draco,

If you could please come to my office this evening after dinner, I would like to discuss some things with you. And to ease your worry, you are not in trouble for what you did in class today. We will discuss it more in detail later. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

Best,

Dr. Eron

Draco placed the letter on the bed next to him.

'So he figured out that I sent him flying into the wall…fantastic.' Draco thought sarcastically as he ran a hand through his hair.

(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)

Draco managed to go the whole day without running into Hermoine…until he was walking down to Dr. Eron's office.

"Oh hey, where are you going? You didn't show up at the Great Hall for lunch nor dinner. Everything ok?" Hermione stopped in the hall and questioned him.

"Um, yeah. Just feeling a little under the weather. Going to get some fresh air." He said walking backwards as he motioned behind him with his thumb.

"Oh, alright. See you Draco." She said before turning the next corner, most likely heading up to the Heads dorm.

He paused at hearing his name come from her lips for the second time that day. Although in Technology in the Muggle World, it was more of a slip he had told himself, when she was scolding him and the Anderson kid. But now it was completely…natural sounding, he thought.

He gave his head a little shake before walking down the last hallway before his destination.

He knocked twice on Dr. Eron's door before he heard a muffled "come in". He turned the handle then made his way into the rather large office. There were maps on all of the walls from all over the world. He saw a bronze globe sitting on Eron's desk with a cup holder next to it that said "Travailler", which he knew, in French, translated to 'work'.

"It just seemed a little fitting in an ironic way. As I know from your French roots, you know what that says. I find that it looks like the word 'traveller', which is what I would consider myself; However I do not find traveling to be work, even though work is what brings me to travel. It is just an enigma, wouldn't you say?" Dr. Eron said rising from his chair.

"I find that life itself is an enigma if you think about it long enough, Dr. Eron." Draco said glancing around at his maps.

"In private, I'm just simply Eron." He smiled at Draco. "Please have a seat."

They both sat and it was silent for a few seconds. Draco was about to apologize for earlier when Eron spoke up.

"So word gets around." He started off.

'Oh God, someone saw me jinx him and now its out for the whole school to know …' Draco started to think to himself. He looked back up at Eron waiting for him to confirm it.

"You helped save Hermione last night." Draco let out a breath he had been holding. Then he took in another sharp one.

"The whole school knows about that?" Draco asked bewildered.

"No, no. Pomfrey told McGonagall then she told a few other people. Your reputation is still safe, Mr. Malfoy."

"Draco, is fine in private." Draco corrected. "And I don't care about my reputation anymore really."

"Fair enough. What I wanted to talk to you about pertains to why you helped Hermione, a Mudblood?" Draco swallowed as Eron said that word. "And why you are getting so defensive about it now." Eron looked down at Draco's balled up fist.

Draco looked down. "I-I don't know…" He unclenched them and laid them flat on his legs.

"And why did you jinx me into a wall today?" He pointedly asked.

"I'm sor-" Draco began. But was cut off.

"I'm not looking for an apology, Draco, I'm looking for an answer as to why you suddenly feel so protective over a girl that meant nothing to you a couple of weeks ago." Eron leaned back with a slim smile on his face. "You felt the need to rush her to the hospital wing last night. But how did you know she was in pain?"

"I'm not sure what you're getting at." Draco stated trying to think back to last night before he ran into Hermione and Seth. He was in the Slytherin common room and was talking to Blaise and Pansey, then he left…he left because of a headache. "I had a headache…" He was trying to figure out what Eron was trying to make him piece together.

"Why did you jinx me today in class?" Eron questioned further. He leaned in closer over his desk. He was getting anxious at trying to make Draco figure out what he was trying to say to him.

"Because you said you were only going to give her a simple jinx, but you were about to stupefy her! That's not a simple jinx. Last time I checked it knocks out your challenger." Draco said through clenched teeth. Eron just grinned at his reaction. "Why the bloody hell are you smiling like that?"

"Think about it Draco, your sudden protectiveness, you feeling-literally feeling her pain…. Have you touched her yet? Did you notice something? A good feeling perhaps?" Eron talked louder, more excitedly, like a scientist on the brink of a discovery.

"Are you saying were soul mates?" Draco asked incredulously

"No." Eron let out an exasperated sigh. "You're not part of some fairy tale, Draco." He said blatantly. "Lets take another approach. Your mother is connected to the Delacour family, correct?"

"Well her mother was the half sister of Colette Delacour: Fleur's grandmother." Draco said logically.

"And what is the most famous trait of the Delacour lineage?" Eron asked.

Draco sat pondering this one for a second. Then it dawned on him.

"I'm part Veela?!" Draco exploded.

A/N:

Hope you guys still like it! I promise there will be more Dramione soon, I'm just trying to get the set up without jumping into things too quickly (its only the first week back to school for them, remember). And yes, I pulled the Veela card! Which I'm pretty excited to write for, but I promise the story will not be Veela based, it is just a small part of the story to make things interesting. Please let me know if you have any thoughts, opinions or ideas.

A picture of what I imagine Dr. Eron to look like is in my profile along with the other pictures I have mentioned in previous authors notes.

Happy Reading!