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Beta love, hugs, and kisses to niffizzle for making this better. A LOT better 3

She arrived in the dungeons in a pretty grumpy mood after dinner. Malfoy was already there, cutting valerian roots for his potion. He acknowledged her presence with a curt nod.

"Where is Snape?" she asked without greeting.

"Left a few minutes ago. Said he trusted our abilities enough to leave us alone here. Had to oversee Detention for some fourth years tonight. He will check on our results." Malfoy resumed his cutting.

Hermione chose a workspace far away from him, hoping she could ignore him when her back was turned. To add to that, she pulled her MP3 player and her headphones from her bag. It had taken some messing with the technology and use of experimental charms, but Hermione had gotten the music player to work on Hogwarts grounds. She turned the volume on high and started on her potion.

By the third song, she was in her own world, concentrated and focused. Music, while a distraction for many, had always helped her learning. Just when she was transferring the St. John's Wort powder into her cauldron, a hand touched her shoulder.

Reflexively, she spun around, hand raised in defense or attack if need be. Though, the motion took an unexpected direction: after registering it was Malfoy, she felt a pull, like a magnetic force, that catapulted her into him — the same second he made a mirroring movement. They collided into each other front to front.

"Granger, for fuck's sake! What the hell?"

"Me? Why are you pulling at me?" She tried to wriggle herself free, but the hold he had on her was too strong. "Let me go!" Her voice was shrill, but she hated being confined.

"I am not doing anything!" he yelled, and through her almost panic, Hermione saw his arm waving in front of her eyes. A quick turn of the head told her that the other also was not holding her.

Hermione's mind worked to understand the situation. "What is happening?"

"How should I know?" came Malfoy's clipped response. "I simply wanted to ask you to stop your distracting humming, but with those things in your ears—"

"Headphones."

"—Things in your ears you didn't hear me."

Hermione blinked. "I hummed?"

"Yes, you did. Loudly."

She had the impulse to apologise. Hermione knew she was very good in many things, but holding a tune wasn't one of them.

Malfoy's futile try to push her away brought her back to their present situation..

"Ouch, you brute!" She wanted to rub her shoulder where Malfoy had shoved her, but she couldn't reach it. Instead, she poked him in the ribs. Malfoy made a surprised noise, almost a squeal.

"What did you do before you interrupted me so rudely?" Hermione asked.

Malfoy sneered. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She suppressed the urge to stomp on his foot. With them being plastered to one another, that could very well mean he would lose his balance, pulling her down with him.

"Obviously," she hissed, growing irritated by his lack of help. "Something caused this, and chances are that it is something one or both of us did."

Malfoy glanced at his workspace, frowned, then glared back at Hermione. "I was calculating the relation of valerian and yarrow for my potion."

She pondered his words. . "That can't be it. While that's an unusual combination for a potion, in that early stage, it's about as dangerous as a cup of tea. I just transferred powder into my cauldron."

"I saw that," Malfoy said, craning his neck to peer at her unfinished potion. "St. John's Wort?"

"Mhm." she hummed.

"Nothing potent yet, either."

Hermione shook her head forcefully, resulting in a half-sneeze from her 'lab partner.'

"What?" She lifted her gaze to look him in the eye, almost a full head higher than her.

Malfoy's sneer was back. "Your hair is tickling my nose."

She shook her head again, and Malfoy growled. The sound was so indignant, she started laughing.

"You are not helping," he muttered, even more indignant, and Hermione could feel the rumble of his words in his chest against her cheek. She hadn't noticed the height difference between them this afternoon when they had crashed into him.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Malfoy inquired.

"Very much so," Hermione said, the puzzle pieces starting to fit together in her brain. "Remember our little run-in this afternoon?"

Malfoy lifted an eyebrow. "You mean the one that brought us here?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, that one. When I came back to my room, I had to change my uniform because the potions had seeped through the fabric."

"Mine too. But that means—" Malfoy groaned. "Fuck."

"Don't swear," she chastised.

"I will swear as much as I want to, Granger. And this is definitely swear-worthy. Basically, we combined two potions."

She nodded. "Something Snape continually warns us not to do, even with well-known ones. And ours were experimental and probably unstable."

Someone behind them clapped. Somehow, Hermione and Malfoy both turned to the source of the sound.

"An interesting outcome. Not entirely surprising, but definitely exciting to observe." Snape glanced his two pupils up and down, sending a shiver down Hermione's spine. She did not like the intrigue in Snape's voice. "I will help you. This time."

He muttered something under his breath and set them free. Hermione stumbled backwards, as did Malfoy.

"What kind of spell was that?" Malfoy asked.

"None you are going to find in any book."

"Tell us." Hermione all but stomped on the floor.

"No." Snape grinned almost diabolically. "You are pushing and pulling against and towards each other, acting stubborn and irresponsible when ít concerns the other person. I guess it is time to finally teach you two a lesson."

Snape left the dungeon classroom with a flurry of his robe.

Hermione stepped away from her fellow Head Boy, too conscious of the sudden lack of warmth that his body had provided.

"Why did Snape choose this moment to become a thoughtful teacher?" she remarked, annoyed.

"That's all you have to say on the matter?" Malfoy shot back. "Don't you realise that he suspects this incident to repeat itself? He wanted to teach us a lesson by not telling us what incantation he used. That's only going to teach us a lesson if..."

"If he expects this to be a recurring curse. And we have to find the resolution on our own." Hermione groaned. "Arsehole."

"Don't swear, Granger." He smirked. "You're insulting a Hogwarts Professor. Since when do you do that?"

"When I think about it, I have a history of that." With a very satisfying feeling, Hermione saw Malfoy's face adapt to a curious expression. "But none of them owed me their lives, quite the opposite really."

It was immediately apparent how much he wanted to know the meaning behind her comment but didn't want to admit it.

"That isn't how a life debt works, and you know that."

She shrugged. Of course he was right. And he knew that she knew. Maybe that was why her words sounded like cutting glass. "What I know is that we need to work on a solution to our problem. Are you going to help me or am I doing this alone?"

"Are you even capable of actually working with someone?" came his flippant answer. "I am my own person and not one of your compliant minions."

That struck a nerve. In all her years in the magical world, she had always taken the reigns when it came to her academic career or personal affairs. If the situation called for it, she dedicated herself to the cause, mostly Harry's in the past. But only rarely, she had allowed someone else to take the lead or work on an adjacent level with her.

Knowing Malfoy itched for an answer, she winked at him and smirked grimly, hoping it was as challenging as intended. "I am going to start the research tomorrow. With or without you."