GRYFFINDOR'S PRINCESS

Disclaimer: Only one can own Harry Potter, and it isn't me.

CHAPTER 8: The secrets a Potion's master can cause

The next morning after breakfast, the golden trio walked to the dungeons for Potions with Professor Snape. After six full years with the greasy haired and crooked nose Professor, the trio along with the rest of the Gryffindors in the class had learned to just get in class and sit down. Hermione had decided in their sixth year to sit with Neville so that she could help him out and so that no more House points could be taken away on the account of him, while Harry and Ron always sat at the table behind her so that they could keep an eye on her at all times. Not only to protect her from Malfoy and his crew who would try to sabotage anything that she did to help out her fellow Gryffindors, but to also keep a watch on their growing beauty who was attracting far too much attention for them to be at ease. Once Snape barged into the classroom, he began to bark orders at the class about the confusing potion they were to make. He flicked his wand to the board, the directions appearing. Once they had copied the ingredients for the potion off the board, each student began to work on their own potion. Neville, who was never good at potion's had taken to watching Hermione's movements very carefully and mimicked her steps one by one. By the end of the class, Neville had managed to not melt his cauldron and did the potion perfectly. The class sat in a state of awe as he was rewarded ten points by Snape for a correct potion and for not making his classroom a huge mess. After the bell had rang, and the entire class was packing up, Snape told the boys to stay and demanded that Hermione went to her next class without them. Hermione groaned.

Malfoy and his group of followers stood there waiting for her to join them, many not looking to happy at their Head of House. Snape gave Malfoy only one warning glare before Hermione was escorted from the class and away from her friends. All that Hermione could do was walk silently with the large group of Slytherins to Care for Magical Creatures, internally praying that her friends would hurry away from Snape and catch up with her so that she wouldn't have to be around this group of egotisical teenagers. Pansy Parkinson, who was shooting her dirty looks the entire walk, even went as far as to say that Hermione was trying to seduce her boyfriend and threatened to curse her when out of the corner of Malfoys eye he saw Hermione's looks weaken. But then again, he didn't care if she was suffering! He was suffering too, but he didn't see any of the Professors pampering him. He knew that if it came to a showdown between the two girls, Hermione would win, in either a wizarding duel or in muggle combat. He chuckled as he thought of the girls engaged in a fight. Thoughts of bras and panties danced around his head for a moment before he realized that he was imagining the two girls that he hated and feared in their undergarments. But the thought of the two of them fighting still amused him. Pansy would probably fight like a child, a vicious child. Hermione, he thought remembering her punch him in the third year, could lay Pansy out with one punch. Damn Dumbledore for making me be around her.

Then it happened. While the group was walking and making fun of the fragile girl, the Slytherin Prince saw the most beautiful girl alive standing about seventy five paces away from him and he came to a complete stop. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at her. The sun was shining behind her, as if it was the sun's way of making her even more beautiful than before. She stood in the grass, no trees around her except for in the background, making the scene look like a picture. He looked abit harder at her face, which was almost neutral but carried a sad smile, her wavy hair blowing across her face, but her gaze never left him. She stood there watching the scene play before her and a single crystal tear trickled down her creamy cheek. That one tear made Draco feel awful for letting the other Slytherins pick on Granger, but their taunts were unheard to him as he stood and stared at the Gryffindor goddess. Pansy was still going on about how Hermione could never have her Draco, not noticing that he had stopped several feet behind them until she turned to hang herself on the most sought after guy in school. However, the most sought after guy in school was standing alone, staring off in another direction, not paying Pansy any attention. She called his name, but he never noticed. Pansy huffed and stomped over to Malfoy, as she tried to get his attention, Hermione smiled. She had seen where his gaze rested.

"You'll never have his attention Parkinson. I can't see why you would want it, but you just aren't good enough to look at not while SHE is in his sight." she chuckled. "You see Pansy, I am not the one who has captivated your darling 'boyfriend'" Hermione began to feel abit harder, building her courage as she came toe to toe with Pansy Parkinson. Pansy was not much taller than her, still sporting the short hair style that she had back in the third year, only she looked meaner. But Hermione knew that Pansy wasn't as tough as she put on to be.

"See that girl?" Pansy looked to where Hermione pointed and nodded. "She's the one who your so called 'boyfriend' has an eye on. You don't see him staring at me and you definately don't see me holding his attention. Maybe," Hermione drew her hand to her mouth for dramatic effect. "this would be a good time to realize that you will never be number one in anything. Someone will always best you." And with that she turned on her heel, making her way to class alone, listening in the background as Pansy screamed like a banshee at Draco, waving her arms around wildly in front of him, to draw him out of his daze. Malfoy could only watch as the girl who held his thoughts smirked at Hermione's smug display before walking away.

Harry and Ron finally appeared towards the end of Hagrid's class. The two boys were both an ugly shade of red that had almost turned purple, a sure sign that they had been arguing fiercely and were both extremely pissed off. Neither boy threw a glance at Hermione as they made their way over to Hagrid. After alot of whispering and several violent hand movements, Hagrid called Malfoy over to the little group. The bell rang, dismissing the class, and not one of the four had made any sort of effort to make eye contact with Hermione. She, Crabbe, and Goyle all stood in silence, waiting to be noticed. Malfoy broke away from the group, as Harry and Ron quickly fled, to talk to Crabbe and Goyle, quietly giving them harsh orders before approaching Hermione. His normal sneer was gone from his face, which was now flushed and his lack of attitude made her nervous.

"Crabbe and Goyle are going to walk you to your next class. They won't mess with you," he said quietly, his eyes never meeting hers. "They barely talk, so you'll be okay with them. Don't give them a hard time. They are just doing what they are told." Malfoy smirked to himself, a sure sign that his attitude wouldn't last much longer. "Well, give them a hard time if you want, but then they'll just drag you. I have to go talk to Professor Snape about something."

Hermione made her way back to the Castle in peace. Crabbe and Goyle stayed close to her, but never crowding her. The two of them didn't speak much so she didn't have to listen to any slander about her bloodline. They dropped her off at her class and requested that she wait for them to pick up after class, before they headed off in another direction. True to their word, and they never let her wait long, they walked her to the rest of her classes and her Common Room. They even hung out in the Common Room, waiting to be asked to escort her to any destination. The rest of the day she never saw Draco in classes they had together and in the Great Hall. The same with Harry and Ron. At dinner the three boys finally reappeared. Malfoy went to his side of the Hall as Harry and Ron walked the isle of doom straight towards Hermione. They sat quietly and hardly made a plate for themselves as Hermione carefully observed the two of them. Ron had barely been able to make eye contact with her without losing his appetite at meals and Harry couldn't even make eye contact at all. Neither one of them spoke to her. This gave Hermione a creepy feeling, but what was worse was the way Harry looked when his gaze came to her general direction. She couldn't tell what the message behind the look said, but she had a feeling it wasn't good. Not being able to stand the silence, she got up and walked to the staff table to talk to Dumbledore and asked if she could throw an emergency prefect meeting in the Room of Requirement, hoping that the prefects could finish their dinner in there. She left the Hall leading the prefects that was followed by a Head Boy that choose to keep his distance from her.

Why did Snape have to involve me?, Draco whined to himself as he followed the Head Girl and prefects out of the Great Hall. I just know that some how, she's gonna think that I know something about this! Merlin, if you can hear me up there, man. Please help me,I don't think I can handle this girl's wrath!

A/N: Ha ha! How was that? I know that what Snape has spoken to Harry, Ron, and Draco about was not revealed this time. But it won't be long, I promise! Review me, tell me what you think. This is a good secret that I might tell you. I don't know.........But I promise that it will be good.

Another A/N: Ok, so far I've been added onto 25 peoples author alert lists. I'm glad that all of you are liking my stuff enough that you keep a look out for me! I'll try to update One More Tragedy and Fly With Me very soon. Just to make a correction, I think that I said that there would be a confrontation between Hermione and Draco in the next chapter of Fly. There will be a small amount, but the next chapter will be mostly about how Hermione became a killer. The one after that will deal directly with Hermione and Draco.

Hugs from a fruit,

Cherry