Chapter Four: Double Dose of Slytherin-Gryfindor
The night was unsettled, with a violent storm having come, and the morning
appeared dreary, sunless. After getting dressed and grabbing her wand, Hermione climbed
down the stairs to the common room, where she found Harry waiting for her.
"Good morning, Harry. Where is everyone?"
"They're down at breakfast, they left a few minutes ago, and I thought I'd wait for
you, and maybe we could talk -- about Ron."
She sighed. "Okay, Harry."
They went down to breakfast together, and had just sat down when Seamus
Finnigan and Dean Thomas came by, schedules in hand.
"Looks like we have a double dose of Slytherin today," said Dean, a look of disgust
on his face.
"This really sucks," replied Seamus.
Harry took his schedule. "Oh no! Potions this morning!"
"Well, at least there's Transfiguration later. We have Defense Against the Dark Arts
tomorrow morning, and a Charms afterwards. That should be easy, or interesting at least"
said Hermione.
"Oi, that's right. We don't even know who the new Professor is..." replied Harry.
Then Dean said, "Well, we'll be the first to find out, because she has no classes
today."
"So we have no clue what to expect," Seamus paused. "Oh my god, look, we have
Potions with Slytherin!!"
"At any rate, it can't be worse than last year," Hermione sighed.
"That's true," said Harry. He paused. "Listen, you guys, Hermione and I need to get
our things, so we'll be seeing you later."
They had just left the Great Hall, when Hermione said, "Harry, there's no time for us
to talk now."
He looked at her, and then said, "Yeah, I know, we'll talk at lunch, alright?"
She nodded, and they headed down to the dungeons for Potions.
The bell rang, signaling the start of class, just after Hermione came through the
doorway to the dungeon. Luckily, Snape was not there just yet. She glanced around. The
only seat left was one that she certainly did not want to take –- one next to Draco Malfoy.
She took a deep breath, seeing that evidently Ron's temperament had not subsided,
as he had sat with Harry and was looking at her, muttering something under his breath
while Harry tried to calm him down. She walked up to the empty desk at the far end of the
room, and pulled out a chair. She sat down silently, not wanting to say anything to Malfoy.
It was bad enough she needed to sit next to him the entire class, the last thing she needed
was someone else mad at her. But then again, what did she care what Malfoy thought?
Draco had taken his seat in Potions not two minutes before. The class had filled up
quickly, and surprisingly Potter and Weasley were again not in the company of Granger.
That was odd. That was very odd. Then he saw her come through the door. She looked
beautiful. Her slender body glided gracefully into the classroom, her robes fluttering behind
her, and her auburn hair glistening in the torchlight.
The only seat left was next to him, and they both seemed to realize simultaneously,
but he was able to hide his emotions well. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but
she didn't seem to notice. She was too absorbed in avoiding looking at him.
When she sat down next to him, he said simply, "Morning, Granger."
She sighed. "Good morning, Malfoy."
He turned to look at her, but she was just evading his gaze. Their voices had not
been unpleasant. As a matter of fact, he had tried to sound friendly. She seemed to lack
all emotion, however...
"Look, she's a traitor. She likes to show off, telling us about her great OWLS and all,
and the homework and all the extra she's done, and then she won't let me copy her work
anymore. If that's not selfish, I don't know what is."
"Calm down, Ron."
"Look who she's sitting next to now. I'll bet she's doing it just to make me mad. It's
just like how she's always trying to make me feel bad by complimenting everything you do,
and ignoring me. Next thing she'll be talking about how great Malfoy is and..."
Harry could not believe his ears. Ron was jealous. Ron was jealous of him. Wow.
He looked at his friend in disbelief, but decided it would be best to let his anger boil over
unaided.
At that moment, Professor Snape walked into the room. He took roll quickly, then
said, "You are to follow the instructions on the board, just like last year. This time, you will
be making a more advanced potion. The goal is to have you all make Polyjuice before the
end of the year. Samples from each of your potions will be collected after class, so get
started." The students shuffled about to gather the ingredients, and Harry looked at Snape.
He too seemed to have noticed how Hermione and Malfoy had been seated together.
Hermione sighed. "Listen Malfoy, I'll get the ingredients, you start heating the
cauldrons --"
Draco interrupted. "No, I'll get the ingredients. You stay here and heat the water in
the cauldrons. I'll be back." With that, he got up and headed for the storeroom.
'That was odd,' Hermione thought. 'Draco seems to want to be helpful...'
When he got back to their station, Hermione had heated the water to a rolling boil,
so they were ready to add some of the ingredients.
As they chopped the ginger roots finely, Draco looked at her. "Listen, Granger, are
you alright?"
"I'm fine, Malfoy" she said, somewhat coolly, without returning his gaze.
They were working quite efficiently, and finished well before the rest of the class,
and before Snape could pass by.
"No wonder your marks are so good. That was the fastest I've ever finished
something," said Draco.
"Well, I like to work quickly, always careful of course..."
"Don't worry, I like to do lots of things quickly, too," he said, smirking.
She caught on immediately. "Well, Draco, listen, it's nice to know someone
fantasizes about me in that fashion, but if you think something like that is actually going to
happen your hormones clearly must be affecting your thought processes."
He chuckled at this unexpected riposte. "I'm sorry, that always happens when I'm
around—"
"Miss Granger, would you kindly save the chitchat with Mister Malfoy for lunch or
some other time?" hissed Snape. "You may have finished, but that does not mean everyone
else has."
Draco fell silent, and Hermione turned scarlet. "I'm sorry, Professor..."
Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch...
Author's Note
Hope you found that chapter interesting... I'll be adding some more tomorrow, hopefully...
Oh, and as always, please R&R... and thanks for your time : )
E. Caddy Compson (persephoneia)