Disclaimer: Neither the world or the characters are mine, I merely borrowed the to have a bit of fun. When I am finished, I will return them slightly used.

Hermione actually skipped History of Magic class to be able to copy the book Severus Snape lent her. She felt a bit guilty, it was only the third day of the new school year, and she was already in detention and skipping classes. Usually that took a little bit longer, but she simply could not allow such an opportunity to go to waste. With a bit of luck she would find a number of useful defensive spells in there that would go a long way with learning to protect herself. Also, professor Binns would never realise he had a student less in his class, and anyone else would only think she had a free period.

She made an extra copy of the relevant pages, and red the theory of the shield. The potions master was right, it was not a simple thing. The idea behind how it worked was fascinating though. The magic one would expand for creating such a shield would be channelled in an anti-clockwise circular-spherical pattern on the surface of the shield. Most spells and curses were stationary, a circling, rotating motion would deflect them easily. Some spells had an element of rotation to them, but most were clockwise, hence the direction in this case. The flow of the power would make magic solid enough to counter physical projectiles too, though she would not attempt to use it against muggle guns without some serious testing. Even then removing the gun from the wielder sounded like a better option, or stunning the gunman.

She had three free periods a week. One on Tuesday, while most of her classmates were taking flying lessons. She though she and Neville were the only ones not continuing with that particular class. One on Wednesdays, when some of the air-headed students ascended to the incense-imbued tower of Trelawney to 'broaden their minds and open their senses', and one on Friday when others would take muggle studies. She has dedicated her free period of divination to learning, or at least starting to learn the shield charm. She wanted to have something before Thursday and their defence against the dark arts lessons.

Hermione was used to getting the hang of things fast. To her frustration this spell has proven to be one of the exceptions. At the end of her free period she only managed three more-or-less acceptable attempts, though she could not keep it up for long, and the radius of her shield was smaller than what she would have wished for. She continued her study when they were finished with the afternoon lessons (double charms) rather late in the night. When she turned in she was still not happy with her reaction time, but at least she could produce a shield reliably each time she tried, even if the resistance it offered still had quite a bit of room for improvement.

Thus when Thursday morning found her standing in front of the Defence against the dark arts class, she felt she was as prepared as she could be for the time being. Most of her classmates were talking amongst themselves excitedly. Lavender and Parvati were discussing a new charm that would ensure that you did not go outside the line when painting your nails, Dean, Ron and Seamus were excited about having a 'hot' teacher for the first time since forever. She and Harry had been listening to Neville describe the exciting herbology project he hoped to do for his NEWTs, and she had to admit, it was well thought-out, challenging, useful and interesting. Actually, she was a bit jealous she did not come up with the idea herself.

Exactly at nine the door opened all by itself, and they took their usual place in the classroom. Hermione looked around with curiosity – all the previous teachers have filled the room with some of their own personality. Lockhart had his own pictures hanging on the walls, Lupin placed all kinds of intriguing dark creatures in terrariums in the room. The fake Moody had auror equipment on the shelves, and she had to supress a shudder thinking of the pink walls and collection of saucers depicting cats that Umbridge hung on the walls. She still remembered the gruesome pictures of curses and hexes professor Snape decorated with. To her surprise professor Zhuang left the walls empty and barren, revealing nothing of her plans or personality.

The professor herself was standing next to her desk wearing Mary Jean shoes and a dress she could not describe in any other way than cute, which enhanced her likeness to a doll. Her eyes though, were moving around in a calculating, observing way that made her feel like she was a bug under someone's magnifier glass.

Once everyone settled in their seat, she lifted her wand and closed the door with a casual flick and a soft thud. The sparsely furnished room had a strange echoing effect.

"Good morning, class, and welcome to your last year of defence against the dark arts study. My name is Xiaohan Zhuang, and I will be your instructor this year" she flicked her wand at the blackboard, her name appearing in a calligraphic, elegant handwriting. "Let us start the first class with getting to know each other better" Hermione could practically hear Ron grinning next to her. "Let's start with taking attendance" she added jabbing her wand towards the ceiling. Hermione was not sure what gave her a foreboding feeling, but there was something suspicious about the move. She looked up and saw a mass of some kind of green potion floating in the air, just under the ceiling. Without thinking she called up the shield she had been practicing just as the teacher's magic stopped supporting the brew and it fall on them.

This wasn't exactly what she was practicing the spell for, she was more scared of her raw magic attacks, but it worked. She was not sure if she could have gotten the shield up in time if there had not been a few seconds of warning, but when the green goop fell down on them, she was sitting in a dry clean patch of her shield. Lucky for Harry, he was sitting close enough to her that most of him was also included in the dome of her protection, only his left shoulder and part of his arm was sticking out. Once she saw no more jelly hanging in the air she dropped the spell, it was very tiring to maintain it.

Suddenly the room was filled with a chorus of "ewe". Parvati was literally screaming about the green goop running her hair and Lavender seemed to be in tears trying to shake it out of her robes. To her surprise there was only one other student who managed to keep themselves safe: Draco Malfoy. He seemed to be sitting in a very similar clear area she was in, but the expression on his face was wild. She had not paid any attention to the Slytherin this year yet, overly taken by her own problems, fears and projects, but upon inspection he did not seem to be doing well. His face was pale and thin, his hair lank and brittle. He was at one of the back rows, alone, without his usual goons at his sides. He was no longer sitting, he was crouching on the top of his desk, ready to jump, fight or run. On his face there was a mixture of panic, pain and aggression mixed, and his eyes were spinning wild, taking in his surroundings. Hermione wondered what could have happened to him last summer to put that expression on his face. Their eyes met for a second and an understanding passed between them. She wondered for a second if he had learned the shielding spell from the potions mater too. If professor Snape was familiar with the family house elf, he may have been a regular guest at Malfoy manor. She broke the eye contact and looked away. So much about an ace up her sleeve, she will need some new surprise to learn for this month, and she was not even done with this shield.

"Pathetic" professor Zhuang said in an empty tone. If it had been professor Snape giving the lesson she was sure his voice would have been dripping with venom and derision. Her voice was devoid of emotion. "Only actually two of you were present in my class." The muttering died away, most students waiting for an explanation, many of them looking embarrassed. "What were the rest of you doing, thinking about? I am not sure if any of you noticed, but there is a war going on out there" she opened her arm in an arch to indicate she meant the real world. "And in a few months, this school will no longer offer its protection to you. You will have no choice but join the real world and succeed or die on your own merit. Judging by your reaction time, most likely die" she added nonchalantly. Hermione was starting to worry that the goop covering Ron might ruin her books, and drew her wand to clear away the slime.

"I am also curious why you all are just sitting around in that potion. It is poisonous, you know." There was suddenly a flurry of movement, everyone trying to get out from the slime. She could hear Lavender screaming and sobbing hysterically.

"Stop!" Hermione commanded Ron, who was pointing his wand with a trembling hand at himself. She produced two potion vials from her bag, and filled it with the gooey substance. If the potion was magical they would need a sample to develop an antidote. She helped him get rid of the rest of the stuff, not trusting his trembling hand not to vanish his shirt along with it.

She saw as Neville walked up to Hannah and helped her getting rid of the potion, restoring her papers to their original state too, patting her hand gently. She blushed a deep red, but did not protest. Slowly the room was cleaned from the brew, and people settled down again, waiting nervously for the professor to continue.

"Are we going to die?" Lavender asked with a sob. Well, not everyone was settling down.

"Of course not" professor Zhuang said calmly. Hermione would have rolled her eyes, and professor Snape would have added "you imbecile" and sneered. Professor McGonagall would have pushed her lips into and angry, thin line, and Flitwick would have tried to calm them in a kind, cheerful manner. Professor Zhuang was just emotionless. "I've been informed that causing permanent harm to students is against school policies. But again, I have to ask why only one of you is actually doing any thinking in here. How are you going to develop an antidote if you don't even know what you have been doused with?" There was a sudden silence, everyone staring at Hermione who was still holding the sample vials in her hand. She reddened under the scrunching eyes of her classmates.

"I am willing to help and share" she blurted it out.

"Really, and rob your classmates form the opportunity of a valuable lesson?" professor Zhuang tilted her head sideways. Hermione did not know what to say. The professor ignored her and took out a test tube holder from one of her desk drawers. It held a number of tubes filled with the slime. "Those of you that did not bottle their own sample can take one with them. And please, cease your hysterics, the poison is very slow acting. I would encourage you all to find an antidote yourself, but it is quite safe to wait until the weekend. School policies, you know. Now that we have gotten to know each other better, let's start with our agenda. This year we will be focusing on self-defence, countering hexes, breaking curses, improving reflexes. In other words, the lessons will be designed to help you learn how to keep yourselves alive, and by the look of things you all need it. You are all way too trusting as it is now. But we will have ten long months to change that." Her promise made a shiver run down on Hermione's back, and it was not the good kind. "It might be unpleasant and leave some of you with a scar or two, but I am certain you will learn to cope." Without warning she flicked her wand out and knocked Dean Thomas out of his chair. He crashed to the ground with a shriek, his chair tumbling with a loud thud. Suddenly everyone was sitting at the edge of their seats. Hermione was holding her wand, her palms sweating. Professor Zhuang continued as if nothing had happened.

"Today we will go though the most common counter-curses you need to know. It is essential that you learn to cast them non-verbal, as many hexes impend the ability to speak." Dean was getting to his feet and righting his chair, holding his head in his hands. Hermione hoped he did not get a concussion from hitting the stone floor. The professor flicked her wand at the board, and a list of counter-hexes appeared. The whole class flinched at the movement, readying themselves for another surprise attack. "Are you not going to take notes? This is rather important to know." Hermione heard a promise in her voice that said they would be all hexed within an inch of their lives just to see if they learned the counter curses. Most of her classmates were exchanging worried looks, no one wanted to let go of their wands in favour of a quill after what just happened to Dean. Hermione used the copying spell from her practical charms book. The rest of the lesson, the longest hour and a half she had to sit through went on with very few further incidents. The professor tried to send a hex in Harry's way, who dodged and sent an Expelliarmus back, but missed. Just before the bell rang Professor Zhuang unleashed a hive of wasps at them. They were large, angry and numerous, nearly impossible to hit with a spell one on one. Hermione could not keep up her shields while moving, or for any substantial duration for that matter, so she decided to follow suit of her classmates and run for it when the bell signalled the end of the lesson. In their haste to leave the room the rest of them have forgotten to collect their potion samples from the teacher's desk.

"She is insane" Harry said with a wince while Hermione treated a wasp bite on his face. Ron was cradling his hard that had several angry marks on it, and Lavender collapsed in a sobbing mess, her hair tangled and sticking out in all directions, her make-up smeared and making her look like a little panda. Parvati was doing her best to console her.

"Well, at least it was memorable and instructive" Ron said with a grin. "I mean this was really useful. Not like Lockhart or Umbridge. Maybe painful, but efficient."

"You just think she is hot" Hermione snorted derisively.

"Well, she is" Seamus agreed. "And Harry is right, but Ron has a point too."

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Harry asked setting his glasses back in place.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked back, holding an ice-pack to his eye. One of the stings had started to swell.

"Well, this was obviously meant to make us think, prepare, keep us on our toes, to act" Hermione answered. "If this was the first lesson, I shudder to think what more she may have in store for us to make us less trusting. Did anyone else manage to get a sample of that goop?"

"Not me" Dean admitted. "I could not get out fast enough. I also did not manage to take notes, did not dare to let go of my wand after being knocked around."

"Well, you can borrow my notes" Hermione offered. "I only have the two vials of potion, and I have detention with professor Snape tonight. Lucky us, we have a potions class this afternoon…"

"And you call that lucky?" Ron asked with a sneer. Hermione ignored him and continued.

"… and we should ask him to be allowed to use the potions classroom after class but before my detention to analyse the potion and come up with an anti-dote as soon as possible."

"What is the rush? Professor Zhuang said it is ok to wait till the weekend" Seamus asked.

"She also said we are too trusting and she has a few months to fix that. At this point I do not trust what she is asking" she answered.

"It did look a lot like cackling tree sap to me" Neville volunteered. "Madam Pomfrey probably has an antidote on hand, it is a rather common poison."

"I agree" Hermione nodded seriously. "I just do not trust that she has not spiked it with something else for the fun of it. I want to make sure we know of all the dangers. I will need some volunteers though, I do not think I will be able to make enough antidote for everyone before detention."

"Not me" Neville said with something close to panic. "Dropping potions was the happiest moment of my life." To her surprise Lavender and Parvati signed up for the work. They could not take the risk of sprouting pimples or something like that as the effect of the potion.

"Ok, so who is going to ask him to use the classroom?" she asked. Her friends were looking at her confused. "I am happy to help with identifying the poison and brewing the antidote, but I am not talking to him, not after the last class."

"I can understand that" Parvati admitted. "The last lesson was… brutal." Suddenly no one seemed to want to look at Hermione.

"Will you do it then?"

"Heavens, no" she seemed genuinely scared. "I do not want to be on the receiving end on his attention" she answered with a shudder.

"Come on" Hermione cajoled. "many of you have faced death eater in the Ministry."

"Yeah, but death eaters only want to kill you or maybe torture you" Neville explained. "But professor Snape will, you know… snape at you."

"I think Harry should do it" Dean volunteered.

"Why me? Everyone knows he hates my guts, he made sure I knew that from the first day on."

"He hates everyone. But you were the leader of DA. You are the bravest of us all" Dean explained. His words were met with a chorus of approval from the others, and in the end Harry agreed with gritted teeth.

As they were walking down to potions class she felt that lately she had been spending most of her life in the dungeons. This time she sat in the last row, alone, apart from Harry and Ron like instructed in the last lesson. She was still somewhat nervous, though it could not even be compared to the last time she descended the stairs to the underbelly of the castle. She knew that Severus Snape thought she was smart, she would just have to suck up what professor Snape decided to dish out. Her fire-breathing potion, still under stasis was waiting for her. She saw that Draco also had a cauldron on his table, and so did Lisa Turpin. She wondered what the others were going to be doing.

She was jolted from her musings by the dungeon door bursting open with a bang. Professor Snape strode in, his cloak billowing after him. He tapped his wand against the blackboard, a new set of instructions appearing. "Those few of you who managed not to mess up their potions may proceed with the preparations. The rest of you imbeciles will be pickling and bottling winged toads to be used in potions for the hospital wing." Hermione recognised that the Prison of magic potion required a large number of pickled winged toads, and unlike most ingredients, it did not have to be fresh. This would help them immensely. "I expect two bottles filled from everyone by the end of the lesson. Anyone who fails to deliver that much will receive a Troll and a detention when they can catch up to the required amount and more." He flicked his wand and bucket appeared on the floor, probably full of toads. "Begin."

Hermione started her work by warding her table – there were only two other potions left in the run, but she still did not want any exploding potion droplets or toad eyes thrown into her potion. She copied the instructions onto a piece of parchment, and red and re-red them all trying to find what was missing, what was not mentioned explicitly. She concentrated on her own work, trying to ignore everything else going on in the classroom. She chopped, skinned, prepared and watched with pride as her potion kept turning the correct colour at the right steps.

"Your potion is supposed to be orange by now, Miss Turpin. Care to explain why it is pink?" an acerbic voice brought her out of her concentration. Professor Snape was leaning over Lisa's cauldron. He used a ladle to lift some of the brew high and let it trickle back down so everyone could see the colour.

"I do not know, professor" Lisa admitted turning pink. "I have followed the instructions precisely."

"You followed the instructions" he mocked. "Does anyone know what is wrong with this brew?" Hermione resisted the urge to raise her hand as the eyes of the potions master scanned the room. "No one? Not even our resident know-it-all?" he sneered at her. "Care to make a guess, Miss Granger, or is this simple task beyond your overpraised, mediocre abilities?"

"The potion has been contaminated, sir. Most likely with a feather from the wings of a toad, sir" she answered not daring to meet his eyes.

"That is correct" he vanished Lisa's potion with a flick of his wrist. "That will be a Troll for you, Miss Turpin, and two scrolls on preventing cross-contamination techniques. Pray tell, Miss Granger, is raising your hand and answering questions in my class beneath you now? Five points from Gryffindor." When she did not rise to his baiting, he continued. "Cat got your tong, Miss Granger, or do you deem responding to direct questions from me unworthy of your effort?"

"I apologise, Professor Snape" she said timidly, finally looking him in the eye. "Last lesson you gave me the impression that you did not wish to be exposed to any of my textbook answers, that I had to give others a chance to respond too and I was trying to respect your wishes."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for cheek. Now continue with your work before I make it twenty." She muttered a yes sir under her breath, and returned her attention to her potion. She kept telling herself that Professor Snape had to play a role, and he did not mean it. Severus Snape thought much better of her. She had to admit it was much easier to complete her work without having to guard Harry's and Ron's potions too. If she did not have to keep an eye out for the foul mood of Professor Snape, the work could have been downright relaxed.

The class continued without a further incident. Both her and Malfoy were able to complete their tasks, though she noted, her potion had a more vivid crimson colour than his. None the less, the professor ordered both of them to bottle all of their work. She had a hunch that he intended to use them for something. At the end of the lesson while everyone was busy packing their things and leaving the dungeon, Ron, Lavender and Parvati were waiting for Harry to approach the potions professor. He seemed to be again in a foul mood.

"Excuse me, professor" Harry started.

"What do you want Potter?"

"I would like to request the use of the potions classroom, sir. This defence against the dark arts class most of us were dosed by a poisonous brew by professor Zhuang, and we wish to make a counter-potion." He explained.

"And how is that any of my problem?" he asked looking up from his papers.

"If we cannot brew it ourselves, we will have to go to the hospital wing, sir" he explained. He left the part unsaid where Madam Pomfrey would request him to do the brewing.

"Fine" he agreed with a long-suffering sigh. "You have time until dinner. Do not make me regret my decision." He stayed in the room, grading papers while Hermione got down to work. She poured one of the potion samples into a cauldron, and used a nonverbal charm that helped separating some of the ingredients. She brewed some analytic potions, used a couple of tests kits, distilled some of the potion, and after two hours of analysing it, she came up with a list of four different kinds of active ingredients in it.

"The largest part of the goop was made up by cackling tree sap, as we suspected" Hermione shared her results with her friends. "There is also Cornish pixie dust, which will likely cause skin redness and itching, and develop angry blisters when scratched. There is also thestral urine…"

"ewe…" Parvati remarked.

"… which, if taken up through the skin can cause severe nightmares. The last one is fireweed milk, likely to cause muscle cramps and pain. Most of these will get worse in time. Luckily Madam Pomfrey should have an antidote for the cackling tree sap, and the thestral urine can be purified with the decontamination shower. Cornish pixie dust can be treated by a calming balm, which is a second year level potion, and fireweed milk can be countered by a very simple antidote we can make in twenty minutes."

"That is good news" Harry beamed.

"Oh my god, we have urine on our skins" Parvati really got the most important thing.

"However" Hermione bit her lip thinking.

"That sounds less good."

"Well, Golpalott's Third Law says antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components. If this was something to be digested, well, I could come up with a solution, but, I do not know what to do for a topical treatment."

"Do my ears deceive me?" professor Snape sneered, and her friends jumped. Apparently they have forgotten that their teacher was still in the room. Ever since they have done tandem brewing Hermione has been more aware of his presence. "Is there something that Miss Granger does not know?" He strode over to their table, picked up her parchment and started reading through her notes.

"Of course, sir."

"You will need to create the base for the calming balm, add extra camomile at stage four. You should blend in the antidote for the crackling tree sap at step seven, add decontamination potion before mixing in the bark of a whomping willow, the fireweed milk antidote should be added when the potion turns green. The binding component for these poisons is three drops of blood, a lock of hair and ashwinder eggs, to be added before the stirring sequence." Hermione quickly jotted the recipe down. She was about to look up from her notes and say 'thank you sir', but he has already billowed away.

"Well" she said to her friends. "The good news is, we know how to make the antidote. The bad news is, everyone needs to brew it themselves to be able to add their own hair and blood" she explained, checking the time. "We have twenty minutes left till dinner, it is still enough time for me to write out detailed instructions, but we won't be able to start on the antidote." She chewed on her lip.

"Tomorrow is another day" Harry commented.

"It should be safe to wait one more day with the antidote, but it will be very unpleasant" she commented. "This brew is nasty. First, you will get nightmares, thus you will be tired like hell tomorrow, less able to concentrate. The pixie dust will kick in, and as you cannot go through the day without touching stuff, it will have the effect of scratching on your hands, and you will most likely develop painful boils on your hands, which would make potion brewing difficult. Add some muscle cramps to it that would need massaging, which would cause more boils, and you will have a fun day."

"Ok I vote we make the antidote today" Ron piqued up.

"You will have to do it without me" Hermione commented as she grabbed a fresh sheet of parchment to write out detailed, very detailed instructions. "I have detention after dinner. And you need a place to do the brewing."

"The room of requirement would do" Harry offered.

"Yes, it probably would. Whomever gets there first, ask for a room where you can brew safely and help Neville do his own brewing safely" she added with a worried look. His friend would probably do much better without professor Snape breathing down his neck, but likely not by much.

When she was ready with the instructions, she grabbed a few more pieces of parchment and used the copying spell to create a few more recipes.

"Here" she handed most of them to Harry, keeping two. She intended one for herself, she wanted to go over the method when she had the time to understand the reasoning of the potions master. "I will give the other to one of the Slytherins, they need to know about this too."

Harry pulled a face. "Why, Hermione? You know they would never warn you." She shot him a dirty look.

"First of all, because you are a head boy, and responsible for all students, even Slytherins. Second, because that is the decent thing to do. And third, because even if we do not like each other no one deserves the effects of this potion."

"But… they are Slytherins" Ron said confused. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"They are fellow students, not your enemies, Ron. And being Slytherin does not mean they are automatically evil either! It means most of them are motivated, have great leadership skills, are good strategists, are good at networking and value knowledge."

"That sounds like Crab and Goyle all right" Ron said and Harry sniggered.

"They are also individuals and should be treated as such. Gryffindor's are not the same either. I am terrified of flying, Neville is scared to death from Professor Snape. Also, there is Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed Harry's parents and the Salem witch trials were put on the map by a Gryffindor witch running from the law here and terrorising muggles in the states. While Merlin, whose balls you regularly reference, was a Slytherin. Pansy and Theodore may not have been nice to us, but they have done nothing to deserve the pain this goop would cause."

"They would love to watch us in that pain, they would never even think of sharing the antidote." Harry folded his arms.

"And why would they? We are supposed be the good guys here, we are supposed to be responsible and you are seriously considering harming them. I thought after you talked to Kreacher you would understand that if someone is being treated like garbage all the time they will likely pick the other side regardless of political views. I wonder how many Slytherins have been pushed over to start using dark magic just because everyone expected them to and treated them like dirt." She slammed her books shut, stuffing her things back into her schoolbag angrily. "And do I need to remind you that it was a Slytherin who just gave us the recipe too? If professor Snape had not helped, I would not have figured out the antidote on my own." She did not have to add that the rest would not have had a chance to even identify the ingredients.

"That is different, he is a teacher, he is responsible for us" Harry countered.

"This potion may be nasty, but the effects would have faded in a week or so without permanent harm. He did not have to give us the answers. And you are a head boy, Harry, and responsible for every other student" Hermione retorted. "Also, did you forget that this was a third year in a row that the Sorting Hat urged us to have unity instead of division? We need more ally's, not make more enemies" she fumed, turning her back on her friends and stormed out of the classroom. She did not see the confused looks they exchanged behind her back.