~ Draco and Hermione ~
"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.
We've all got both light and dark inside us.
What matters is the part we choose to act on.
That's who we really are."
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and settings belong to J.K Rowling.
Enjoy!
Chapter 37
After finishing the first two classes of the day, Hermione went out to the grounds to take a break from all of the inter-house fighting that had been going on between her eighth year peers. It had only been a few days and already she was getting sick of listening to Ron and the rest of the Gryffindor's complain. She was also getting sick of listening to Pansy constantly start fights over the smallest and most petty things. In the past she usually went to the library to take a break from everything and study, but even the library had been loud and distracting in the first few days due to the influx of students. So instead she had secluded herself to the grounds, where she could overlook the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's Hut, and think in peace.
"There you are!" came a voice from the courtyard behind her, and she turned to see Harry making his way over to her.
"Hey Harry," said Hermione quietly as she looked back out over the grounds.
"So, you excited to start your Transfiguration program on monday?" asked Harry, hoping to start a genuine conversation without the interference of any Slytherin's for once. He was definitely on Ron's side about hating the Slytherin's no matter how much Malfoy had helped them over the summer, and he was annoyed with the fact that Hermione defended them. Despite this though, he was tired of seeing his two best friends fight so early in the semester, and he hoped it wouldn't escalate into anything worse like the Yule Ball in their fourth year. Therefore he had to focus on calming them down and preventing arguments between them. When it comes to Ron and Hermione though, that's easier said than done.
"Of course I'm excited, but I don't know... with everything else going on, I don't really have time to think about teaching," said Hermione with a sigh.
"What do you mean? I know Ron is getting on your nerves, but he can't be that bad," began Harry uncertainly.
"No not just Ron and the Slytherin's... I've been meaning to talk to you about the Sorting Hat's song. Remember at the feast when I said I wanted to tell you something?" asked Hermione, as she decided to share her thoughts. Harry was definitely her closest friend at that moment. Ron was being a prejudiced git towards every Slytherin in school, and Hermione would never agree with him no matter how he tried to justify it. On the other hand, Harry had always been able to listen to what she had to say and help her even if he didn't fully agree.
"Yeah, I think it was just warning us about Death Eaters on the run," said Harry with a shrug.
"Maybe, but before you came over at breakfast this morning Lupin told me heaps about Hogwarts' history and what it was like when him and your dad were students, and what the warning could have meant," said Hermione, and she proceeded to tell him everything Lupin had told her. About how the song may have been warning them about Hogwarts' history, about the recurring consequences of what happens when the houses are continuously divided and taught to hate one another.
"'And never since the Founders Four Were whittled down to three, Have the Houses been united As they once were meant to be ... Listen closely to my song: Though condemned I am to divide you Still I worry that it's wrong ... Though I must fulfil my duty And must sort you every year, Still I wonder whether sorting May cause hatred, even fear. Oh, know the perils, read the signs, The warning history shows ... We must unite despite our differences, Or we'll crumble from within', Hermione recounted the most important lines from the song that she wanted to point out to Harry, before hurrying on. "Don't you see? I feel like the song was warning us about more than just Death Eaters, it was warning us about how we're divided into houses to begin with and the damage that causes. It was warning us about our own prejudices."
"Okay first of all Hermione, how on earth do you do that? You heard the song once and you can recall all of that from it by heart!" Harry said exasperatedly. She just smiled, taking it as a compliment as he went on. "And, I dunno. It does make sense, and if Dumbledore and Lupin both believed it, as well as the Sorting Hat now bringing it up, I guess you could be right. But do you honestly think anyone else will see it the way you do? Everyone's forgotten the song already," said Harry uneasily.
Hermione thought about that for a moment, and then sighed. No, nobody would see it the way she did. The Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's would be too preoccupied with fighting and arguing about the past to care, and even if they listened they wouldn't be capable of being friends with Slytherin's. The Slytherin's were too narrow-minded to listen to a muggle-born and would probably laugh at the mention of Dumbledore and Lupin, who are nothing but a dead old fool and a lowly werewolf to most of them. Ron would hate her more for bringing it up, and probably accuse her of fraternising with the enemy. Harry would acknowledge that she may be right, but do nothing about it because he is stuck between herself and Ron. Draco would tell her that while he agrees with her, there was nothing she could do to change Hogwart's tradition and how every student behaves. As she was contemplating all of this, Harry continued.
"And it would take a hell of a lot more than the Sorting Hat's song to convince a generation of students to suddenly forget thousands of years of Hogwart's tradition and befriend each other," he said with a scoff. Hermione sighed a second time before answering.
"I know, and this shouldn't even matter because like I said, I came here to finish my education in peace and not worry about fighting anymore. But with the majority of Gryffindor and Slytherin blindly hating each other, studying in peace isn't possible. Voldemort is dead, the war is over, I wish everyone would just move on," she said sadly.
"We're only a few days into the year Hermione, and it's the first year we've been forced into one common room. Plus after what happened to Neville, Ginny and everyone else last year, it's no surprise they're acting like this," said Harry, attempting to change her perspective on things.
"I get that, but why is Ron acting like such a prejudiced git?" she continued stubbornly.
"Because the Slytherin's were the prejudiced gits first, and me and Ron are going to keep sticking up for you no matter what," said Harry firmly. There was a short pause as Hermione smiled somewhat at that, even though she was still angry with how everyone kept fighting. It was an inevitability, and until she found some amazing way to change all their minds, there wasn't much she could do about it.
"Thanks Harry," Hermione said reluctantly.
"No problem. Speaking of Slytherin's, we've got Potions in about five minutes with them," said Harry grumpily.
"Good!" Hermione replied cheerfully.
"Good? Slytherin's and Snape in the same room is not good," said Harry in concern.
"Well at least it'll be a small class," Hermione quickly deflected.
"We're the only two Gryffindor's in the class, and there's five Slytherin's," continued Harry, as he stood up and helped her up off the grass.
"Oh. Well, Snape is strict and he'll make sure no one argues," said Hermione, though she wasn't quite sure of it.
"Doubt it, he'll probably use this as his last opportunity to make our lives agony before we leave Hogwarts," said Harry bitterly, causing Hermione to laugh.
"He's not that bad. He was on Dumbledore's side all along, remember. Without Snape we would never have been able to beat Voldemort," said Hermione, as she was reminded of the night Voldemort died and Snape had shown his memories to Kingsley and the other Ministry officials. While most people were not allowed to see the memories, the Daily Prophet stated that his memories proved that he had been spying for Dumbledore, protecting Harry and the Order, and lying to Voldemort for seventeen years. The memories also showed that Dumbledore was already dying, and he'd asked Snape to kill him, so it wasn't murder. It'd all been orchestrated by Dumbledore so that Draco wouldn't have to kill him, and so that Voldemort would end up trusting Snape completely.
"Yeah, I guess he isn't all bad. But that doesn't change the fact that he'll be an absolute prick in Potions," said Harry, as they waded through the sea of students towards the dungeons for their first Potions lesson.
As predicted, it was a small class. There were a total of nine students: Harry, Hermione, Ernie, Padma, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Theodore and Millicent. While Slytherin clearly dominated in numbers, there was still a student from every house which made them look like an odd bunch standing outside the Potions classroom together. Being the only two Gryffindor's in the class made Hermione feel proud of herself and Harry to have made it, since Advanced Potions was possibly the most selective subject in the school, because of Snape and the difficulty of the course. Ernie Mackmillan was the only Hufflepuff and Padma Patil was the only Ravenclaw. Even though the five Slytherin's standing across the hallway from them looked intimidating, Hermione was hopeful that not much conflict would occur throughout the year in this class. Draco had nothing against them, Snape was biased but not exactly the type of professor who tolerated nonsense in his classroom, she and Ernie were Head students, and she hoped that everyone had matured at least somewhat with age.
"I wonder what you had to do to get into this class, Pothead," came Pansy's arrogant and predictable comment. Hermione rolled her eyes. So much for maturity.
"Nothing, I got an Outstanding last year. How many times do I have to remind your small little brain?" Harry retorted.
"How many times do I have to remind you that you only got an Outstanding because you were Slughorn's pet," Pansy continued.
"Gosh do you ever be quiet?" asked Hermione exasperatedly.
"Shut up mudblood," said Millicent.
"Silence!" Snape said coldly, causing a few of them to jump and turn to the open Potions doorway where he was standing. A few first and second years scurried past in terror, and some fourth year Slytherin's down the hall turned to watch curiously.
"Let me make myself absolutely clear: I don't give a damn what happens outside of my classroom, or what happened last year, or any year previously. While you're in my class, you will keep your mouths shut unless you're answering a question or discussing Potions. Do you all understand?" Snape continued venomously, glaring at each and every one of them. Everyone nodded, though the Slytherin's seemed annoyed at being treated as their peers' equals. After that, Snape turned and strode into the room and the students followed with the Slytherin's pushing and shoving their way in first. The room was organised with desks for three people, which was convenient in previous years because they had Ron with them to make the trio. This year, Harry and Hermione sat right at the front to ensure that Snape would notice if the Slytherin's tried getting to them. Ernie and Padma sat on the far left of the room together. Draco, Pansy and Blaise sat on the desk directly beside Hermione's and Harry's, which was no doubt Draco's idea just to get closer to her. And Theodore was forced to sit next to Millicent behind them, much to his apparent dismay.
"I can already tell this is going to be the worst class ever," Harry muttered under his breath, after glancing around at the Slytherin's.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor. Don't seem to change much, do you Potter?" Snape sneered, reminding Harry of his very first Potions lesson. He went red with anger and silently fumed at how unfair the situation was already. He felt like snapping back, Neither do you, you old git but he held his tongue instead and focused on ignoring Hermione's crestfallen expression at losing precious house points. There were a few snickers from beside them, Pansy's the most noticeable, but Snape just happened to not notice them.
"Now, what potions did Professor Slughorn teach you last year?" asked Snape, as he turned to face the class. Hermione's hand had shot in the air before he even finished the sentence.
"Potter, how about you?" continued Snape, ignoring the bushy-haired girl who looked crestfallen yet again.
"Uh, the Draught of Living Death, and we studied Everlasting Elixirs but didn't get to make any," Harry began to recall.
"So not much. Slughorn has a very safe approach to teaching, which is appropriate for earlier years but impractical for teaching Advanced Potions. None of you have seen nor experienced a proper Advanced Potions class. These classes will require your full attention at all times. We have a double period today, so you will be making two potions, and at the end of the lesson we will be testing them on a volunteer," said Snape. Hermione was bubbling with excitement.
"What potions sir? Are they dangerous?" asked Draco, who was leaning forward in his seat.
"Your potions will be the same Draught of Living Death that Slughorn taught, but also the Wiggenweld Potion. As you should already know, the Draught of Living Death will put the drinker into a death-like magical sleep, and the only cure for such sleep is the Wiggenweld Potion. Unlike in Slughorn's class, in my class you will have to decide amongst yourselves who the volunteer will be, whose Living Death potion will be used, and whose Wiggenweld potion will be used," Snape announced, with the hint of a smile. Harry guessed that this was some sort of test he performed every year to see who was worthy of being in his Advanced Potions class.
"Sir, are you sure that this is safe? What if our potions are made incorrectly?" asked Hermione, sounding nervous.
"If your potions are incorrect by even the tiniest margin it could be disastrous, hence the point of having a volunteer. When you emulate the real world with real consequences, I find that students focus, adapt, and learn better. For example, compare Professor Lupin's approach to teaching the Defence Against the Dark Arts to Professor Umbridge's," said Snape casually. "Who taught you how to defend yourselves better?"
"Remus. Professor Lupin, I meant, sir," said Harry immediately.
"Why?" Snape asked.
"Because he actually let us face dark magical creatures, and practice defensive spells on each other, whereas Umbridge just made us copy lines from the textbook," Harry answered, remembering Umbridge with intense hatred. He wasn't sure where Snape was going with this... didn't Snape still hate Lupin?
"Precisely. Students learn better when they are given the opportunity to apply themselves in real world scenarios. Also, don't worry miss Granger, I am legally allowed to have student volunteers drink potentially dangerous potions, however I choose to only do this with seventh years. You'll find that Durmstrang students drink almost all of their potions from their very first year on wards," Snape explained, causing them all to gasp in shocked surprise. "However, I obviously have my own Wiggenweld Potions and other healing potions in case of any emergencies, and Madam Pomfrey is very well prepared after helping out in previous years."
"There'll be an emergency if Potter's potions are used," said Pansy, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"In case you've forgotten Parkinson, my Draught was the best in the class last year," Harry replied.
"Twenty points from Slytherin and Gryffindor," said Snape, sounding bored.
"This is bullshit," Harry snapped in anger, causing Pansy to laugh derisively. The sudden, surprising respect he'd gained for Snape for indirectly commending Lupin's teaching approach seemed to vanish as quickly as he'd felt it.
"And another twenty from Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall has asked me not to hand out detentions in the first week of term, but ruining a Houses chances of winning the House Cup is just as satisfying, so please continue," said Snape sarcastically. Hermione looked about ready to burst, so she stomped on Harry's foot under the desk and glared at him to make him be quiet. When everyone was quiet, Snape continued talking.
"Now for bit of rare Potions history. It is said that a princess was given the Draught of Living Death and put into the deep sleep by a Hag named Leticia Somnolens. Afterwards, a prince who smeared Wiggenweld Potion on his lips kissed the princess, curing her and awakening her out of the sleep. You'll find that the muggle fairy-tale, Sleeping Beauty was based upon this wizarding event. You will be testing the authenticity of the tale, with the potions you brew. And then you will write a report on the experience, and the ingredients and effects of both Potions. Any questions?" asked Snape.
"Will we have to do the kissing part?" asked Draco, with a smirk as he glanced at Hermione, who blushed.
"Why are you going red Granger, nobody would want to kiss you anyway," said Pansy, laughing hysterically when she noticed Hermione's blush. The situation was so ironic, and Hermione was incredibly tempted to reply with, 'Your ex already has', but she instead just sighed and rolled her eyes like she normally would.
"I'd kiss Hermione over you any day Parkinson," said Harry, deciding that some banter was allowed since she just started more unnecessary drama.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Pansy snorted, in obvious disbelief.
"I think our photos of the Yule Ball speak for themselves," said Hermione next with a careless shrug, following Harry's lead. Blaise and Draco roared with laughter as it was Pansy's turn to go red with anger.
"Quiet!" shouted Snape, looking beside himself with rage because he couldn't hand out any detentions.
"I can't give you detentions and if I take away anymore points you'll all be on negative scores for the entire year. Instead, you're now going to split into three groups, and yes, you will be doing the kissing part. And you can't kiss anyone in your own house," said Snape, thinking on the spot to make the situation as uncomfortable for the students as punishment.
"That's not fair, we haven't done anything wrong!" said Ernie from the window with Padma.
"The groups will be as follows: Macmillan, Patil and Millicent are group one. Draco, Blaise and Granger are group two. Potter, Theodore and Pansy are group three. All of you have to brew both potions, your time starts now, no more questions unless they're urgent, begin," said Snape, as he sat back down in his chair and smirked at all of the devastated students glaring at their assigned partners.
It was clear that some groups were going to have a harder time than others brewing the potions. When Hermione, Harry and Ron were a group they always had a system where one person would go and get three sets of the required ingredients, another person would begin setting up the cauldrons and equipment, and the third person would speed read the textbook to figure out how to do it. This made everything much faster, although in their sixth year Harry usually just did things his own way thanks to the Half-Blood Prince book which gave him better instructions. When Hermione suggested this idea to Blaise and Draco, she wasn't surprised by the response.
"Hey um, Malfoy, would you be able to get all our ingredients while we start setting up?" began Hermione hesitantly when everyone began rushing around.
"I'm not about teamwork Granger, I'm about getting the job done, alright? Step your game up," was his immediate reply as he walked to the ingredients cabinet. She rolled her eyes and turned to Blaise, who was trying not to laugh at the way Draco had just shut her down.
"Hey um, Granger, would you be able to get me my ingredients while you're there? I'll read the textbook and set up your cauldron," Blaise went on to say. It was obvious that he was mimicking her, but he also wasn't moving to get his own ingredients, so Hermione sighed and went to get both of their ingredients. When she returned after waiting in line behind Harry and Ernie, she saw that Draco and Blaise were already both starting their potions without her. Plus her cauldron wasn't set up or ready, and they were using her textbook.
"Why'd you get two sets of ingredients?" asked Draco curiously.
"Ugh, very funny. You guys are jerks," said Hermione as she dumped the wasted ingredients on another bench.
"Oh sorry, I forgot! Draco and I usually have a system where we work together," said Blaise with a sly grin.
"Can I please have my textbook?" demanded Hermione as she began setting her cauldron up as fast as possible.
"Can't you just set up your potion on this side of the bench? We have to share the textbook, we lost ours," said Draco.
"How could you lose your textbooks, we haven't even finished one week of school!"
"Please, please miss Granger! I haven't done anything wrong!" said Blaise in a terrified first year imitation, making reference to the fact that she was becoming a professor.
"You two are unbelievable," Hermione hissed, suddenly realising how sarcastic and infuriating Blaise really was. In the corridors he wasn't a very confrontational person, and usually made side jokes about herself, Harry and Ron while Draco was the more confident and forward of the Slytherin's. It was also obvious from the Hogwarts train that he and Theodore Nott were like-minded and believed that they hadn't done anything wrong last year. Despite what'd happened so far, Hermione reminded herself of something she'd said to Draco when they were on the run in the tent. That she would try to get along with the Slytherin's, no matter what. Maybe by doing so she could somehow set a good example for others to follow, but she doubted it. Refusing to lower herself to Blaise's pettiness, Hermione moved her cauldron and ingredients over and stood beside him in silence as she began working on her potion.
"So Granger, are you excited? I mean, one of us gets to kiss you. I would kiss Draco, but we can't kiss our own housemates, Snape's rules unfortunately," Blaise began casually.
"I'm trying to concentrate," said Hermione bluntly, having no desire to talk to the bizarre Slytherin boy standing beside her. She glanced over at Draco to see what he thought of what Blaise was saying, and saw him struggling not to laugh.
"Oh okay, that's fine. Do you usually need quiet to read? I noticed that Theo is the same..." Blaise went on, as though it was completely normal to talk nonstop to her whilst making a potentially dangerous potion. It was going to be a long and irritating lesson, and she couldn't take her mind off of the fact that she would be kissing one of them before they left.
Thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, please feel free to review and add to alerts/favourites! :)
Check out my other stories!
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The Time-Turner Division - s/12337018/1/The-Time-Turner-Division