Term resumed as usual and the curly haired witch took advantage of it. First day of classes Hermione waited to see Professor Moody (and Barty), and gave him the picture of Martin, letting him engrave it into his mind before lighting it on fire.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor nodded at the witch as though nothing happened.

"When will we be able to resume lessons, Professor?" the witch asked.

"Same as usual, lass," he replied.

"Will it be the same times?" she inquired.

"Why wouldn't they be?" he asked sharply.

"Professor Snape is going to be giving me some private lessons…" she trailed off, not wanting to look at her professor.

"Snape, eh? And you agreed lass? Even after I told you to watch out for him?" he asked, looking at her sharply.

"Professor McGonagall was there, so she knows, but I don't know when he wants to do private lessons since our lessons are secret too," she said quietly.

"What is he going to be teachin' ye, lass?" he asked.

Hermione's face screwed up, "I can't tell you," she said looking him in the eye.

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't. For the same reason you can't talk about my personal life," she stressed, hoping the little lightbulb would go off in her professor's mind.

Sure enough, his eyes widened, "I see," he said softly, "And Minerva was there?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she said, more relaxed now that he was aware of why she couldn't divulge details.

"Stay on yer guard, lass. Don't trust him. Some nundu can't change their spots," he said.

"Professor, that's slightly hypocritical of you," she said pursing her lips.

"Enough sass from, ye!" he yelled, shooting a stinging hex at her.

The young witch cast a silent shield and laughed at him.

"I'll let you know what days I can't make it, Professor," she said with a smile.

As long as he fired random spells at her, Hermione was confident that she was forgiven. It was an unusual relationship, but she accepted it for what it was. Without him she wouldn't be as equipped as she was now, so she would take it with grace.

Potions class had gone as usual and for that the witch was glad, it was a brain teaser, so they were given a second year medical potion to make.

"I see that you are all still mentally lollygagging from your recent holiday," he said quietly, forcing the room to quiet themselves so they were able to hear him.

"There are ingredients and instructions on the board. Those of you who fail to brew such an easy potion will have to write me 18 inches of parchment. I will expect it on my desk by next class, Mister Longbottom," he said with a slight sneer, he paused until his house was done appreciating his caustic humor, "Whatever is salvageable, will be taken to the Hospital Wing. Begin."

He flicked his wand at the chalkboard, and his spidery handwriting made an appearance in chalk. The students took notice before they got up to gather the written ingredients.

A few of the smarter students took notice and recognized the potion. It was for seasonal allergies and if any of the potions were salvageable, as their esteemed potions professor said, they would be going to the Hospital Wing. It was a simple second year potion, and some of the students felt insulted at the subtle quip, but of course kept their opinions to themselves.

Hermione was seated next to Neville, so she was able to help the boy from botching up his potion. Harry and Ron were seated behind her and she could hear the younger Weasley gripe about the assignment and heard Harry softly grunting his agreement.

It would appear that Harry was smarter than to verbally acknowledge his friend, as the sound of a book hitting the back of Ron's head was clearly heard throughout the room.

'Will he ever learn?' the petite witch asked herself.

She set about cutting, dicing, and powdering the proper ingredients. It was a simple potion that she could have easily made in her first year. Her hands moved swiftly around her cauldron, almost as though she was at home.

She would make a noise in the back of her throat any time Neville almost did something wrong, which was every time the professor chose that moment to walk near the poor boy. Poor Neville was simply terrified by the dour man.

"Miss Granger, perhaps after class you would be willing to stay and test one of these potions? It might help you with whatever is wrong with your throat," he hissed, knowing exactly what the witch was doing.

The witch in question narrowed her eyes, but politely answered as was expected from yes, "Yes, sir," the answer was quiet, as she kept moving about her potion.

Neville's face was crestfallen, knowing that he was the reason Hermione had gotten in trouble. She always helped him without fail and he was so grateful for the witch. She had been helping since she met him on the Hogwarts Express, and how does he help her? By getting her in trouble all the time, the least he could do was give her notes for Herbology the few times she missed the class. He would apologize to the witch later, knowing from experience if he did so now he would only get them both into more trouble.

Harry glared at the greasy haired professor, if his sister had a medical issue of any sort wouldn't it be best if she went to the Hospital Wing?

However he knew Hermione was able to get herself out of trouble if she wanted to. Not that it usually mattered when it came to the Slytherin who found reasons imagined or not to punish Gryffindors. On the plus side points weren't taken this time.

The rest of the class passed by mostly quiet. There were a few whispers from the Slytherins, but the Gryffindors knew better than to make any extra noise since Hermione used up their noise allotment. The potions were finished, most of them turned to be the right shade of pink. It was an easy potion to make.

Goyle, Crabbe, and Neville's potions however turned out to be a bit redder than what was expected. Pansy and Ron's were a tad closer to orange.

"Crabbe, Goyle, Longbottom, Parkinson, Weasley, 18 inches of parchment on my desk by next class on the properties of Seasons' Solution. The rest of you are dismissed," he said clearly, "Except for you Miss Granger, stay."

The Slytherins snickered, hoping that the know-it-all would be taken down a peg or two. Her fellow Gryffindors looked at her with pity. Harry tried to say he'd wait for her outside, but Hermione shook her head and mouthed, 'I'll find you later.' Her brother made a face, but nodded.

When all the student left, the professor cast a silent silence charm.

"Miss Granger, we did not finalize details concerning your extra lessons," he said smoothly.

He had quickly removed the idea of verbally ripping her down for helping Longbottom, again. If anything he should thank her from time to time, for preventing unnecessary explosions. That and her eyes had burned with emotion for a moment during class and he had a flashback to the Yule ball.

"We shall meet twice a week until the end of term on Wednesdays and Fridays. I would suggest you pack a change of breathable clothes in your bag. Since I feel we have wasted this week, we will meet an extra night, Saturday, for the next two weeks," he said crisply.

"Yes, Professor. Anything else?" she asked formally.

"Yes. You are not to tell Potter or Weasley," he said with his trademark sneer.

"Of course, Professor. I assumed as much considering the oath that I took," she replied evenly.

The oath she took had briefly slipped from his mind, more focused on typical Gryffindor tendency to share things with their friends.

"Indeed," he said instead, "Meet me at my office, for 7 o'clock pm, Miss Granger."

"Yes, sir," she said gathering her bag, hearing the unsaid dismissal.

"Oh and Miss Granger," he called out as her hand touched the doorknob.

"Yes, sir?" she asked, turning around to look him in the eyes.

"I would suggest you start stretching," he said, lifting his eyebrow as though he expected that she was greatly out of shape.

"Yes, sir," she said just as evenly before leaving the classroom.

The petite witch made a beeline for the owlery, she already wrote a quick missive to Professor Crouch (and Moody she supposed), to alert them to the weekdays she would be unavailable.

Once she was there she was pleasantly greeted by an affectionate owl.

"Hello, Elara. I've got two letters for you to deliver. One is for Professor Moody and the other is for Mum and Dad. No one has taken your band?" she asked softly.

The owl in question held out her leg so her mistress could see the small band she had given her. It hummed with magic and frankly she liked the way it shined. It didn't get in her way when she hunted either.

The witch smiled at her owl before attaching the letters to her leg.

"Off you go then, be safe," she spoke, her voice still soft.

As she was leaving, she was greeted with Hedwig landing on her shoulder.

"Hello, Hedwig. Have you been getting on well with Elara?" the witch asked, knowing that Hedwig was one of the most respected owls in the owlery. She had one of the higher beams as her resting area.

The snow owl ruffled her feathers and nibbled the witch affectionately to let the human know that her owl was acceptable.

"I'm glad. I'll make sure Harry comes to see you soon, okay?" she assured the owl.

The owl nuzzled her before taking flight to her resting perch.

She found Harry in the common room trying to convince Ron to write his essay.

"C'mon mate, the sooner you write it the sooner you can forget about it," he said trying to coax his friend into completing his responsibilities.

Ron simply grunted in response, upset that he had done so poorly that he had to write an essay. He felt singled out although four others had to write a paper as well. He couldn't even claim favoritism as three of the other ones were Slytherins.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his childishness.

"H-Hermione?"

The witch turned around and spotted Neville looking at his shoes.

"Yes, Neville?"

The wizard looked up at her and quirked his lips into a small gentle smile, the small witch never turned him away.

"I'm sorry about what happened in Potions. Would… would you please help me with my essay? I know I added something extra, but I'm not sure what," he said.

"Sure thing Neville, let me just drop some things off in my dorm and we can head to the library," she said with a smile.

She didn't mind helping Neville with homework, he always asked and he had always treated her kind. In the beginning, before they were anything one would call friends, he was the only one who would talk to her. He always spoke to her kindly and explained things nicely too, unlike Ron. It was something the muggleborn witch appreciated more than she would let others know.

As she disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dorm Ron took the moment to blow his top at the other wizard.

"Why is she helping you, instead of me?!" he asked incredulously.

"What?" Neville asked, confused.

He looked over to Harry to see if he knew what his friend was going on about. Sadly Harry looked just as confused as he did, and threw the other boy an apologetic look.

"Hermione! Why is she helping you with your essay? She should be helping me!" Ronald said, his face starting to clash with his hair.

"I asked her and she said yes," he said simply, his voice gentle.

Neville was firm in his belief that he didn't do anything to warrant the Weasley's temper. He acted the same way when he found out that the petite witch had a date to the Yule ball.

"Hermione is allowed to have other friends, Ron. You need to stop treating her like property. She's not yours, you're not even dating," Neville said softly yet firmly, so his voice wouldn't drift up to the girls' dorm.

"What's that got to do with anything!? She's been our friend first!" the redhead belted, ignorant of his volume, "Tell him, Harry!"

"He's right, Ron. Hermione's allowed to have other friends. Besides, Neville was Hermione's first friend. They weren't best friends like we are, but Neville has always been one of Hermione's friends," the green eyed wizard said, standing up for the other wizard.

The redhead looked flabbergasted that his best friend didn't side with him. How was he supposed to handle the knowledge that the third member of their trio actually had other friends? She had a friend before them?

"Some friend. Where were you, when there was a troll in the girls' lav?" the redhead argued.

"With the rest of the first years, where he belonged," Hermione said clearly.

"While I am forever grateful you two did come save me from the troll, you can't call someone a bad friend for not risking their life against a troll. How would you feel if someone called Ginny a bad friend because she didn't go tackling a mountain troll her first year for them?" she asked sarcastically.

"No! That's – It's different 'mione!" he yelled at her, embarrassed at her logic.

"No it's not, Ron. Now if you'll excuse me, Neville and I were going to the library," she said coolly, "See you at dinner, Harry."

"Okay, see ya, Hermione," he said, glad that it was over.

As soon as the two left Harry turned around and punched his friend in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Really, Ron! Why do you keep picking fights over Hermione?" he asked.

"I don't know! It's just not right is all! She's our friend!"

"She's allowed to have other friends, Ron," he said patiently to his friend.

"Why can't she have girl friends?" he whined.

"Why does that matter, mate?" he asked.

"I – She – I don't know! She kisses them both anyways!" he huffed angrily, "I don't want her to be a scarlet witch, Harry."

"She's not a scarlet witch, Ron. She's Hermione. Do you really think Hermione could be a 'scarlet witch'?" he asked his friend gently with a small laugh.

He was glad when his friend started to laugh with him, "Nah, mate. That thought is mental. I'm just concerned, that's all."

"Ron, Hermione is more interested in books than romance. Education will always come first for her," he explained, "Remember, 'Or worse, expelled'," he said mimicking his sister.

They both laughed.

"You're right. Witch's priorities aren't straight. She'll be fine," he said reassured by his best mate.

Neville opened the door gallantly for the small witch, who smiled up in thanks at the taller wizard.

The taller wizard followed the witch as she sat at her normal table. Two tables away was Viktor and Goyle. Hermione was surprised, but didn't say anything since the Durmstrang students seemed to get on better with the Slytherins than the rest of the houses in Hogwarts.

Viktor smiled when Hermione came in, he had missed her over the break. He got up and convinced his friend to follow him.

"Herm-own-nee, I haff missed you," he said as he picked up her hand and kissed it.

Hermione blushed and smiled, tucking a random piece of hair behind her ear, "I missed you too, Viktor."

"I see you are here vith friend?" he asked, his accent thick.

"Yes, I'm helping Neville here with his potions essay," she explained to her boyfriend.

"I am also helping friend vith potions essay. But my English, is not so good. Could you maybe also help my friend?" he asked her kindly.

Hermione looked shrewdly at Goyle. He had laughed and threw curses are her more than a few times. He even laughed with Malfoy when he called her a mudblood.

"I'm not sure, Viktor…" she started, obviously uncomfortable with the thought.

"Haff you bad blood vith Gregory?" he asked gently.

She was surprised at the use his Goyle's first name, but furrowed her brow a bit, "Not really… but I'm not partial to people who have called me a… a mudblood," she whispered the last part, looking down.

Viktor heard her clearly though and understood her reluctance immediately.

He grabbed his friend by the collar of his shirt, "You vill apologize to Herm-own-nee," he said menacingly.

Everyone was surprised at the swift change in Viktor and his quick course of action. Hermione however also felt her face flush with embarrassment and attraction, having never had someone defend her in such a way besides her father.

"I-I'm sorry, Granger. I'm sorry. Please forgive me?" he said softly.

Viktor looked over at the petite witch who held his affections, "Herm-own-nee?"

Her face was still flushed but she was able to answer clearly, "I accept your apology, Goyle."

Viktor dropped his friend and smiled at the curly haired witch.

"You don't haff to help my friend, Herm-own-nee. I haff missed you though," the Bulgarian said.

The witch smiled shyly, "I missed you, too. I'm helping Neville anyways, there's not that much difference helping two people at once. But you know my rules, as long as you don't interfere with my studying, that includes helping, Viktor."

The older wizard smiled at her and seated himself, "Da, Herm-own-nee. I know."

He looked over expectantly at his friend, who quickly grabbed his belongings and seated himself across from Longbottom awkwardly.

"You both practically made the same mistakes since your potions came out looking about the same," the witch stated, trying not to let it be awkward.

Both wizards were quiet though and nodded in deference to the witch.

"It was a simple second year potion meant as warm up, so I'm sure the professor will chalk it up to fuzziness or some other from the recent holiday," she said, "I mean it didn't explode, you just added something extra. It was still a working potion, just not perfect."

Both wizards blushed, but were also assured by the witch's explanation. They spent the next two hours writing their essay with the petite witch helping and explaining some things to them when they asked.

When they were both done, they rolled up their parchments, glad that it was done and feeling better that the young witch took her time to help them with it.

"Thanks, Hermione. You're a lifesaver," Neville said with a smile, "I'll see you at dinner?"

Hermione nodded at her fellow Gryffindor.

"Hey, Granger?"

Hermione looked over at the Slytherin carefully. He was well behaved the past two hours and was a lot like Neville when he wasn't being a mean spirited bigot.

"Yes?"

"Thanks for your help… with the essay. Would… would you please help me again in the future?"

"Like a study buddy?" she asked, surprised by the request.

"Is that someone who studies together?" he asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Yes," she answered.

"Then, yes. I would like that. I-I'm sorry about Draco too. You're not so bad for a m-muggleborn. I'll do my best to keep from fighting you in the future," he said carefully.

Hermione smiled, "I'd appreciate that. Thank you, Goyle."

With that the Slytherin left, his mind working hard. The wizard had a lot to re-evaluate. He was sorted into Slytherin for a reason and he could see the advantages of being on speaking terms with Granger. Yet was he prepared for the consequences that came with it? After the other schools left, it would be different. Was it worth it?

Hermione turned her smile onto her boyfriend, unaware of the mental turmoil the Slytherin was going through.

"Thank you, Viktor. That turned out a lot better than I hoped it would."

"You are velcome, Herm-own-nee," he replied with a smile, "You never answered about Bulgaria."

"I still have to talk about it with my parents. Can I owl you when summer break starts with the answer?" she asked, hopefully.

"Da. I vill respect your parents' answer no matter vich they choose," he said.

Hermione smiled brightly at the older wizard. She leaned over the table and kissed him softly.

She was unaware of her potions professor lurking behind a bookshelf nearby.

The potions master was unsure why seeing Miss Granger kiss the Bulgarian infuriated him so much. It wasn't even really a kiss, she wasn't even snogging him, so he couldn't attack her for impropriety! It was a peck, short and simple. Now why did it bother him?

The potions master left the library before he did something he knew he would regret. He needed time to think about it and get himself together.