((A/N * Comes up with J.K. Rowling with a gun to my head * Uh.would like to make it clear that I do not own Harry Potter * J.K. Rowling jabs me in the back with the gun * or any of the characters that you recognize from the books))

Ron turned the corner to go to Defense against the Dark Arts when he heard a faint laugh. Damon was whispering something into Hermione's ear and put his arm around her. Ron scowled as he passed them. Damon glared at Ron and turned back toward Hermione and picked up her hand and kissed it. "I shall see you after class" Damon said as Hermione blushed and nodded. Damon smiled dreamily at Hermione and walked away. Hermione walked quickly and caught up with Ron and sighed in a daze.

"Isn't Damon the greatest?" she said, completely mesmerized. "He told me that he spent the whole week writing that letter" she looked light headed as if she was a school girl. Ron sneered, realizing that he should have known that Damon would lie about the letter.

"Hey Ron, Hermione" Hannah said as she bounced towards them with her hair flailing behind here. "Looks like we have Defense against the Dark Arts together" she smiled.

"Hey Hannah" Ron said, returning the smile. Hermione wasn't paying attention. She was completely in her own world. Ron glanced over at Hermione and sighed. He quickly turned back towards Hannah. "Hannah, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything" she nodded.

"I was wondering if you would like to go to the ball with me" he said rather confident. That woke Hermione up. She looked at Ron with her eyes enlarged and her mouth slightly hanging open.

Hannah also looked slightly confused and looked over at Hermione, then back at Ron. "Uh sure, I'd love to" Hannah said slowly, still in the state of shock. Hermione shook her head rapidly as if she was trying to wake herself up. Ron smiled and Hannah smiled back. Hannah, being the rather outgoing grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him slowly to class, leaving Hermione standing there, rather speechless.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Good evening class. Ze Professor Figgs 'as taken ill, so I 'vill be teaching ze class" Fleur Delecour said as she tapped her wand against the desk to make everyone quiet. Or should I say to make all the girls quiet, all the guys were staring aimlessly at Fleur. "Now, today you vill be learning 'ow to protect yourself against a Varax. Can anyone tell me vhat a Varax is?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Everyone in the room looked over at Hermione, waiting for her hand to shoot up in the air. But Hermione just sat there, with her head resting on her arms on the table, not saying a single word. A hand shot up in the back of the room.

"A Varax is a small, silver creature with a large white tail and is usually found in the cold climates of Finland. The Varax is very rare in cold climates and have a very strong bite that can knock someone out of hours." The girl said very quickly as if it was a single sentence. Everyone turned their head except Hermione to see who it was.

"Very good." Fleur looked at a piece of paper with names of the students. "Miss Abbott"

Hermione's head shot up and she turned around towards the back of the room where Hannah was sitting. She looked rather pleased with herself and Ron (Who was sitting next to her) looked at her rather bewildered and enchanted. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to the front of the room.

"Now, I vould like you all to pair up" Fleur stopped when a rather scrawny little boy walked in, shaking nervously. He walked up to Fleur and handed her a crumpled piece of paper. She opened it up and read it quickly. Her eyes wandered over in Harry's direction. " 'Arry, Professor Dumbledore vould like a vord with you" she said as she folded the note back up and laid it on her desk. The little boy stared at Fleur in a large daze. "Uh.zank you. You may go back to your class now" she said as the boy's face went beet red as he scurried out of the room as fast as his little legs could carry him. Harry stood up from his chair next to Hermione and walked towards Fleur.

Fleur lowered her voice to a whisper. "Zey say it is urgent" Harry nodded and walked out of the classroom. "As I vas saying, pair up into partners so ve can begin." A loud noise erupted the room as students began to scurry around to find their friends. Hermione looked around for Ron since Harry had left and spotted him sitting next to Hannah in the back of the room and scurried towards him.

"Partners?" She asked hopefully. Ron turned around towards her.

"Oh. sorry Hermione, I already have a partner" He said, pointing to Hannah.

Hermione's heart sank. "Oh. okay, I'll just find someone else" Hermione bit her lip as Ron turned back to Hannah who just whispered something in his ear. Hermione sighed and looked around the room for anyone without a partner. Neville Longbottom sat in the corner of the room, twitching rather abruptly. Hermione walked up to him, rather paranoid with Ron.

"Hey Neville, do you want to be my partner?" He stopped twitching and nervously looked up at her and nodded.

"Now zat you are all paired up. ve shall begin" Fleur said. "Now, zey Varax have a very strong bite like Miss Abbott said, so zat is vhy I vill teach you a simple spell zat vill freeze it so it cannot move" Neville beamed with delight, knowing it would be a lot easier with Hermione as a partner. "Now. zey incantation is petra iccio. Each of your groups vill have one Varax and you vill take turns until it stops moving. don't vorry, it is not dead, just frozen."

Hermione scowled when Ron and Hannah walked over to the spot next to them. Fleur dragged out a large crate that showed no signs of movement.

"Now, put on zey gloves in front of you and one person from each group come up and grab one. Be gentle, ve don't vant ze Varax's to vake up."

Hermione looked at Neville's horrified face and rolled her eyes. She grabbed for the gloves and walked over to the box. She looked down into it and saw all these furry balls of puff.

"They look really cute now, don't they" A boy's voice said from above her. She turned around and saw Ron peering into the box. "But when their awake, their not that pretty." He chuckled.

Hermione looked up at him with a puzzled expression. She felt that there was something different about him, something she hadn't noticed before. She gazed at him rather dazed expression. He looked a lot different then the little red-haired eleven year old boy with his torn, raggy, too small clothes. This boy was different. He was tall and more muscular looking with the same piercing red hair as before. His face was just as kind and his sharp blue eyes stood out more than ever, full of devious plans to get in trouble. Hermione was speechless. She bent down and picked one of the soft animals gently and walked back towards Neville.

"What was that all about?" she asked herself.

((A/N: I know.kind of bad chapter, but next one will be cooler! I promise! Thank you to all my reviewers. A few things, please don't laugh at my impersonation of Fleur, I'm not good at that. It meant nothing when I said Prof. Figgs was sick, that's not a plan or anything. And. Read and Review!!!))