Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. Sad, but true. JKR is a genius.

Hermione woke up the next morning with the sun streaming through her window. She was the head girl and so she had her own bedroom. The room was decorated elaborately in red and gold: Gryffindor colors.

Hermione smiled and leisurely wandered into her private bathroom. She took a long, hot shower and then dried herself with a towel. She dressed herself in jeans and a fitted blue t-shirt. Her long, curly brown hair was held back in a loose ponytail. She inspected her appearance in the mirror before hurrying out of her room.

A drawling voice met her ears as she walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione turned to see Draco Malfoy, the new head boy, walking in her direction. He was followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle who were glaring at her menacingly.

"Granger," Malfoy spat her Hermione. She scowled. "Why they ever allowed a filthy mudblood like you to be head girl, I'll never understand," he said with a sneer.

"Life is a mystery Malfoy," she replied coldly. "I've always been amazed that those twits behind you apparently manage to dress themselves every morning." She smirked and turned around to go into the Great Hall.

Before she had even taken a step she heard Draco mutter the beginning of some spell. She then heard another voice hissing "Expelliarmus!" cutting Malfoy off just before he managed to curse Hermione.

Hermione whirled around just in time to see Malfoy's wand fly out of his hand and land on the floor several feet away. Professor Snape was standing there pointing his wand at a startled Malfoy. He looked furious.

"Attacking an unarmed student with her back turned," Snape said angrily. "And in the hall for all to see. Move along now, and keep your wand to yourself," he said lowering his own wand. "Unless you want detention every night this month," he added glaring. Malfoy hurriedly grabbed his fallen wand and stalked into the Great Hall, sneering at Hermione when he passed her. Crabbe and Goyle followed quickly when Snape glared pointedly at them.

"Th-Thank you," Hermione stammered when Snape turned his gaze to her.

"Miss Granger, it's not wise to provoke Mr. Malfoy," he said stiffly. When she started to protest he cut her off. "He may have initiated the confrontation but running your mouth, as you have a tendency to do, makes it worse. If I had not been close by, he would have easily hit you with a spell before your wand was drawn."

Hermione frowned at him, but nodded. Soundlessly they both walked into the Great Hall. Before going to the staff table, Snape turned to her again. "I had forgotten last night that today is Saturday. You may pass on potion making tonight since you undoubtedly will want to spend that time with your friends," he said with a sneer in the direction of Harry and Ron. "We can resume on Monday evening."

"Oh, I wouldn't mind working tonight," she replied with a small smile. "We don't want to have all the needed potions to pile up on us," she said reasonably. "The sooner we finish with all of Madam Pomfrey's potions, the sooner we can move on to other things."

Snape considered her for a moment with a thoughtful frown on his face. "Seven o'clock then," he said curtly before turning away from her and going to the staff table.

Hermione sat down across from Harry and Ron with a sigh of relief. Ron was eating his eggs with such enjoyment that it was almost indecent. Harry was eating toast and glancing sideways at Ron with a look that was both amused and disgusted. "How did it go with Snape last night?" Harry asked turning away from Ron's rapturous eating.

"Not bad, actually," Hermione replied watching Rong eat with mild interest. "He had me do the potion by myself so that he could observe me. He was a bit stiff, but he wasn't cruel. He was almost polite."

"Wow," Harry said, surprised. "That's good. I wasn't aware that he knew how to be nice."

"That's not the only thing," Hermione said lowering her voice. She then related to them what had happened in the hallway with Snape and Malfoy. Both boys looked positively furious.

"The stupid prat," Ron said furiously. "Trying to curse you when your back was turned. I have a mind to walk right over there and shove my fork up at that git's nose." He fiercely thrust his fork in a upward motion to demonstrate. Hermione bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling and started eating some toast.

"The coward," Harry said scowling at the arrogant Slytherin across the room. "I just hope he doesn't try that again. We'll have to keep an eye on him," he said casting a worried look at Hermione.

"Oh, Harry, I'll be fine," she assured him. Harry and Ron looked doubtful. "Relax guys. Let's just go outside and enjoy the ourselves for a little while. I'm working with Snape again tonight."

"But, it's Saturday!" Ron protested. "You should be spending time with us and getting a break from work. Snape's such a git," he added glaring at the dark man at the staff table.

"He was going to give me the day off," Hermione said soothingly. "I volunteered to work with him tonight." At Harry and Ron's looks of disbelief, she said "Madam Pomfrey needs a lot of potion and we'll have to work on them so it doesn't pile up. But, I'm free until seven," she added with a smile.

This seemed to pacify Harry and Ron somewhat. "Well, let's go then," Harry said with a smile. "We can go see Hagrid."

The three Gryffindor's rushed out of the Great Hall in a hurry to get outside. They didn't pay any attention to Malfoy, who was glaring at them from the Slytherin table. They also failed to notice Snape, who was discretely keeping an eye on Malfoy.