As I stared at her - perfectly brewing her potion, as always - she suddenly became aware of my gaze and turned around, bewildered. "Ron? What?" she said quietly, so as not to be noticed by Snape. I shook myself out of my dream world and quickly whispered, "Oh. Er - nothing. Just bored." She nodded in understanding and turned back around. Hermione. Ron loved her name. Actually, he loved everything about her. The minute he met her, he had gotten butterflies in his stomach. She was such a smart-aleck back then, a teacher's pet. Although he tried to hide his crush from his friend Harry, he loved her with a passion that was getting harder and harder to hide. She always got this look on her face, like she was trying not to smile. Her smile. That was his favorite thing to see. Whenever she smiled at him, it seemed that his stomach leaped up into his throat. After realizing that there was five more minutes left of class, he quickly added the rest of the ingredients that were supposed to go in the potion and cringed when he saw that it had turned a horrid shade of pink, unlike the deep blue Hermione's was, and was supposed to be. The bell rang and Ron silently cursed himself for being so bad at Potions. He sighed and filled a flask of his pink concoction and hurried out of the classroom after Harry. As they headed to the dining hall for dinner, Harry groaned, "I think I'm going to be held back just for Potions...mine was yellow." Hermione looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You forgot the porcupine needles," she said, rolling her eyes. Harry stopped mid-step, slapped his forehead, but then winced as he hit his scar. Ron snickered, but Hermione turned to him and asked, "How'd you do on it?" "Er-" Ron said uncomfortably, "Magenta?" Hermione laughed appreciatively, then said, "And you, were so bored, that you didn't let them simmer in between – just dumped 'em all in." Ron tried very hard not to look guilty, but I'm afraid he didn't do so well. Harry and Hermione laughed as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "So – I'm guessing you two will need help with the potions essay?" Hermione said with a small smile lingering around her mouth. "Potions essay?" said Ron and Harry at the same time. "What potions essay?"