AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey all my loyal readers! Sorry I havn't posted in so long. My comp had a meltdown and we had to load all the files onto the laptop. It's hard to get used to the iBook again after using the G5 iMac for so long. It feels like an eternity to load things up! Well, I hope you guys are still with me (If you're reading I guess you are)!

Jess

PS. I hope you like this chapter! Please review! Zoe (the author) likes reading them!

Chapter 6: First Impressions

The next morning Harry and Ron woke to bright sunlight pouring in through the tower window. After changing into their uniforms they headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione was already sitting at the Gryffindor table when they arrived.

Harry stretched and yawned; "Wh-where's Alexis?" he said.

"She was still asleep when I came down," Hermione said curtly.

"Oh." Harry took a roll from the basket and started buttering it.

"McGonnagal already came around with the schedules. I got yours for you, too." Hermione handed them their folded sheets of parchment. "She gave me Alexis's and she wants me to lead her around." Hermione sighed. "That means I'll have absolutely no time to myself."

They sat in silence for several seconds.

"Do you not like her or something?" Ron looked up from his porridge all of a sudden. "I think she's really great. She seems like a really… I dunno… Like a cool person."

"I think so, too." Harry took a bite out of his roll and Hermione huffed, pretending to be extremely interested in her schedule.

"She's a bit annoying, wouldn't you think?" Hermione said after a few moments. "I mean, she's just an American, and she's obviously got no manners at all. Really, I don't know why you seem to like her that much."

"Well, if all Americans are like that girl, I think that Americans are absolutely wicked." Ron grabbed Alexis's schedule and started comparing it with his. Harry hid a smile and concentrated on his bread.

The trio ate in silence for several minutes. Suddenly, the whole Great Hall was disrupted when a girl their age strolled in. The shirt of her uniform was tied up at her waist in a knot and her tie hung, loosely draped over her shoulders. She was singing what sounded a strange rendition of the Lion King theme at a high volume and, of course, everyone stared at her.

"Good Morning!" Alexis said cheerily as she took the seat next to Hermione, her face very jovial. "Why the glum faces? C'mon! It's the first day of school! We get to learn things!" Hermione glowered at her porridge while Harry and Ron focused their eyes on Alexis, though totally speechless.

"Um, anyway," Ron broke the silence, "It looks like you three have Potions first thing this morning, and I have Prefect duty. I'd forgotten that sixth years have to patrol as part of their regular schedule."

Alexis looked torn between delight and a pout. "Oh goody! We have potions; I've never taken that before!" She grinned. It was Hermione's turn to stare. "That's really sad that you aren't with us though, Ron."

"You've never had potions, and they put you in the N.E.W.T course?" Hermione looked at her in disbelief; ready to kill, or faint. Either state would have described her situation very well. "We slaved on those tests! We studied for months!"

"Actually, Hermione, Ron and I didn't study all that much. It was just you." Harry smiled at his own joke.

"That's not funny. We worked our behinds off, and now she just gets in without any work at all. Seriously, you'd expect they'd put her in he ordinary class, not in the advanced one."

"Well, I took the test. It wasn't that hard to follow." Alexis began feeding herself scrambled eggs. "For my first time, I thought I did very well."

"How good is 'very well'?" Hermione questioned.

"I got an 'Outstanding' on my practical, but an 'Achieving Expectations' on the theory. I did study a lot though. I read through the potions books they sent me several times, and I've always been interested in the subject, even though they didn't teach it at my school."

Hermione seemed speechless.

"We all have Herbology right before lunch." Harry changed the subject as he scanned the schedules. "And- oh no, look Ron, you and I have Divination today, too."

Ron groaned. "I was hoping that I'd flunked out of that subject. Well, at least we're taking the stupid one. Think of how miserable we'd be if we'd made it into Advanced. That would mean three hours a week instead of just two."

"Hey! I'm taking Advanced!" Alexis exclaimed with her mouth full. "I actually think that the subject's really fun. You get to make stuff up."

Harry grinned at this, but Ron didn't seem to have any reaction. He just stared at her, his expression blank.

"So, what am I having that period?" Hermione interrupted Ron's stupor. He looked down at the schedules.

"Oh. Er, you have... um, you have Ancient Runes and Alexis- you have Arithmancy. Then we all have double charms at the end of the day."

"Wait, aren't I supposed to have Arithmancy with you, Hermione?" Alexis put down her fork and took the two of their schedules. Hermione didn't reply.

"Hermione's in N.E.W.T. level." Harry explained when Hermione refused to answer. He leafed through the papers again. "Hermione, you have that class Double first thing on Tuesdays, and the one hour at ten past ten on Thursdays."

Hermione smirked and continued to butter her bread. "I guess studying does pay off sometimes, doesn't it?" She aimed the comment at Alexis, but the girl didn't seem to hear her. Harry shot Hermione a look and the brunette concentrated on her bread again.

"Oh! And will you look at that!" Ron put his hands up in the air as if receiving applause from an audience. "Everyone else has a free period tomorrow morning! We get to sleep in while Hermione gets to take some fancy class and predict the future using math!" Ron laughed.

"Well, I can't help it if I'm smarter than you," she said snotily, though she didn't look up. Ron made a face.

"I can't help it if I'm more stupid."

"Yes, you can." Hermione's voice cracked with a mixture of anger and frustration as she hid her face from view. Ron was about to say something in defense, but he closed his mouth on the words.

"When's Defense?" Hermione said, directing the topic along a different path. Harry busied himself once more with the schedules.

"We have it on Wednesday, second period, but I guess that's free this week since the Professor won't be here. We'll have it doubles Friday, first thing in the morning."

"Oh." Ron looked slightly disappointed. "I can't wait to see the new teacher, but I guess we'll know all about him by Friday anyway..."

Breakfast continued in the same manner for several minutes, Hermione silent as Harry and Ron covered everyone's schedule aloud, with small additives and jokes from Alexis. When the bell signaled it time to report to their morning classes, McGonnagal quickly rushed over to the foursome before they could leave.

"Good morning Potter, Granger, Weasley, and, of course, Ms. Garcia." McGonagall smiled rather stiffly as she said Alexis's name, eyeing the girl's strategically arranged shirt.

"Good morning, Professor." Hermione hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and smiled at the teacher. Harry and Ron just nodded. Alexis didn't say anything, cramming a last minute roll into her mouth.

"Ms. Garcia, I need to have a word in my office before you head off to your classes. Ms. Granger, your friend will not need your assistance on her way to Professor Snape's class. Mr. Weasley, you will come with me as well, seeing that you have Prefect Duty, you will lead Ms. Garcia to her class after we are done taking." McGonnagal gave another lemon sucking grimace. "And Potter," her face softened. "It's great to see you back again." Then quickly she added, "It's wonderful to have all of the students back."

"It's great to be back Professor." Harry replied, slightly confused at being singled out.

"Good-bye." Hermione waved over her shoulder as she herded Harry out of the Great Hall, leaving the other two behind.

"I'll see you in a little bit!" Alexis called after them. Hermione ignored her, but Harry at least turned to wave.

Harry and Hermione walked quietly for several minutes, following the usual crowd of students down the side staircase to the Dungeons, where Professor Snape held his potions class.

"I think that you could be a bit more welcoming to Alexis," Harry broke the silence, shifting his bag onto the other shoulder. "I think she's really a great person." Hermione stared at her feet.

"Look," she began after a moment. "I never asked her to come here. I never asked her to try and be friends with us, alright? She should just go bug off and be friends with Luna, or something."

Harry stared at her.

"Wow, Hermione." The two of them stopped walking.

"What?"

Harry paused slightly; "I just never knew you were like that." With those words the boy walked off, leaving Hermione standing in the midst of the corridor, staring after him.

After a moment of thought, Hermione hurried after Harry, weaving her way through the packed hallway.

"Alright, I'm sorry." Hermione began when she caught up with him. When he ignored her, she tried to explain. "I'm just- I'm feeling very replaced." Hermione looked at her feet.

"Replaced?" Harry voiced.

"Well, we've all known each other since first year right? And now, well, she's getting a lot of attention… and..."

"We aren't REPLACING you! No one could ever replace you, Hermione. You're just like… like those trousers that Kreacher would never let Sirius throw away."

"Harry!" Hermione tried to look appalled, but she smiled through her mask. "I can't believe- well, thank you."

Harry grinned. "But I still think that you should give Alexis a chance."

"Alright. I'll be partners with her in Potions for a bit, okay?"

Harry clapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, that's great." They jogged the last few yards into Snape's Dungeon, making it in right before the bell sounded, marking when they were to be at their classes.

Harry and Hermione took seats next to each other in the very back of the room. Harry gladly accepted the invitation from Seamus, who asked him to sit in Dean Thomas's usual spot. Dean would not be joining them in Advanced Potions that year, since he, like Ron, had not passed the test with exceptionally good marks. Harry himself was surprised that he himself had made the cut.

Just as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil walked over to the threesome, Snape swept into the dungeon. The two girls quickly scurried back to their table. Even with their haste, they still received a mirror-shattering glare from the Professor. Draco Malfoy, Harry's arch nemesis, smirked and flicked a note to Blaze Zabini, who sat across the isle at another first-row table. Snape ignored this.

"The people in this room are a select few chosen for my N.E.W.T. class," Snape began his usual beginning-of-the-year 'expectations' speech. "I expect you to keep up the score you were given in your O.W.L. and to perform at that level, or greater, at all times. If your average falls below that level you will leave this class and never return." Snape jabbed his wand at the blackboard behind him and directions to a long and complicated potion appeared on its surface. At that moment Alexis walked into the classroom, carrying her backpack and a small, yellow slip of parchment.

"Hi!" She looked around the room, grinning madly. "This is my first year here." She shot another smile at the class. "Where do I sit?" At this, Harry, who was sitting in front of her, grabbed the girl's wrist and pointed to the seat next to Hermione.

"Oh!" She took a seat as Professor Snape scowled.

"Ms. Garcia, you are several minutes late. I do not-"

"But," Alexis sprung to her feet to address the teacher. "Professor McGonnagal had to keep me, to talk to me about my schedule. See- she gave me a pass." Alexis waved the yellow paper at Snape and Harry realized suddenly, that Professor McGonnagal must have given her a lecture on dress conduct as well, since her tie was neatly done up and her shirt was untied and tucked into her skirt. He grinned into his hand, but still kept his eyes on Professor Snape.

Snape glowered even harder at Alexis. "Sit down," he said.

"But the pass, McGonnagal said you need to read it- just to make it official."

"Ms. Garcia, since I am part of the staff, you will refer to me as 'Sir' or 'Professor' whenever you want to say something. Now, must I remind you one more time to sit down!" He turned back to the backboard, ignoring Alexis's yellow slip. The girl stuck out her tongue at Snape's back, and as the rest of the class stifled their laughter, flung herself at the stool Harry had directed her towards. Snape, oblivious to her rudeness, continued the lesson. With a jab of his wand he pasted a long procedure onto the blackboard.

"Today we will be starting our Polyjuice Potion Unit." He turned back around and glared at each of the students in turn.

Harry and Hermione exchanged surprised looks. Having brewed the complicated potion illegally in their second year, they both knew the procedure very well. Harry turned back to Snape as the teacher continued to bark out commands and instructions.

"This unit will last one month, for that is how long it takes the potion to brew. There was one question about this potion on your O.W.L. so each of you hopefully already know something about it. I want you to partner up and begin this recipe. There are several rare ingredients that you have not been asked to buy and you may come get them from my private stores. At the end of this unit you will be drinking a sample of your potion and we will study the effects. I hereby demand that you and your partner must be of the same sex, for you will be transforming yourself into that person. You may begin."

Seamus immediately asked Harry if he wanted to partner up. Next to them, Hermione glanced at Harry and then a bit hesitantly asked Alexis if she wanted to work together.

An hour later the potions were bubbling beautifully in their cauldrons. At this point Harry, Hermione and their partners were the only four in the whole class who had done everything flawlessly. They sat smugly in their seats as the rest of the class tried to figure out what they had done wrong. Malfoy chose that moment to walk over to the quartet as they chatted over their bubbling liquids.

"You think you're so great just because you have Granger as a friend, Potter." Malfoy sneered at Harry. "I, however, do not make friends with nerds and mudbloods just so I can pass classes I'd obviously flunk if I tried them on my own." Harry jumped up at these words, looking like he could punch the other boy.

"You keep your mouth shut Malfoy," he hissed, clenching his fists at his sides. Malfoy however, continued to speak in a louder volume so that the whole class could hear.

"You'll die for what you did to my father, Potter."

"You're father got what he deserved." This time it was Hermione who spoke up, her voice harsh and unforgiving.

Harry and his friends had been directly involved in the capture of Lucius Malfoy the June before, and the man was now a permanent resident of Azkaban wizarding prison.

Malfoy glared at Hermione for several seconds then continued.

"Where's the Weasel King? Is he too poor to buy his textbook? Did he flunk on purpose?"

At this Harry gave a snarl and pulled his arm back to hit the blonde boy, but Hermione grabbed the offending limb around the wrist and held him back. "Not here," she hissed, "Not now." Reluctantly Harry sat back down as Malfoy walked away smirking.

"Why did you have to do that?" Harry asked Hermione. "I could have taken him, you know I could have."

Hermione looked at him with concern written all over her face.

"You know it would have been stupid in front of all these other people. Especially Snape. You'd be doing detention from now until Christmas!"

Harry knew she was right, but he didn't admit it. From Hermione's left Alexis made her own comments about Malfoy.

"He is such a jerk." She said to the others. "I can't believe he said stuff like that about you and Ron, Hermione."

Seamus nodded. "He's been a pain in the ass since the beginning of first year. What makes it worse is how Snape favors-" But Harry interrupted him.

"What happened to our potion?" All four of them turned towards the one cauldron, where Harry and Seamus' potion was hissing and spitting, now purple instead of olive green. Hermione jumped up and craned her neck so that she could see Malfoy's cauldron. His potion was a deep mauve.

"He's got to have taken some of his potion and dumped it in yours!" Hermione hissed.

"That-" Seamus shot Malfoy the finger under the table, but thankfully he, Harry, Alexis and Hermione were the only ones who saw. Alexis lurched to her feet and walked up to Professor Snape, who was criticizing the potion of Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, two Hufflepuffs near the middle of the classroom.

"Mr.- Sir- Professor Snape." Alexis stuttered but caught her breath.

"Yes." Snape seemed to already dislike her.

"Him- that one- just over there-" she pointed, "wrecked, I mean completely wrecked Harry and Seamus' potion. He poured stuff into it, and now it's purple! It was going really great before, and since Malfoy- contaminated their potion, then I think that he should have a detention or something, because that just isn't fair." Alexis stood on her spot, defiantly staring up at Professor Snape, who must have been about one and one half feet taller than her. At least, that's what it looked like from Harry's point of view.

"Malfoy!" Snape turned to the blonde boy.

"Yes Sir?"

"Come here."

Malfoy came, smirking as usual.

"Mr. Malfoy, this girl is saying that you deliberately fouled another student's potion. Is that true?" Snape smiled. "Tell me that this isn't true."

"It isn't true professor." Malfoy smirked innocently.

"He's lying!" Alexis stood on her tippie-toes, glaring at the teacher. "He did it! He totally did it!" She jabbed Malfoy in the chest, even though he towered over her.

"You," Malfoy sneered, but Snape put a hand on the Slytherin's shoulder and he stopped in mid sentence.

"Mr. Malfoy, you will return to you seat," Snape hissed, and the boy did as told. "However, Ms. Garcia," Shape continued, "you have detention for libel and for physical assault on a fellow student. My room. Friday. Three o'clock. I know that you do not have any classes then. As you were."

"But-" Alexis was struck speechless.

"My room, Friday, at three. Do you not comprehend? I said, as you were!" He stalked off to comment on another group of Hufflepuffs.

It was obvious that Alexis had wanted to say more after Snape dismissed her, but she despondently went back to her seat, where Hermione was waiting with a brutal scolding. Halfway through the girl's lecture on self-discipline, Alexis broke through and mentioned something about loyalty of friends, and how that was what Gryffindor was all about. After they had both made their arguments clear, Harry intervened and made them apologize for publicly humiliating each other, and all was well once more, except for the fact that Harry and Seamus' potion was ruined, and Alexis' detention still remained as bold as ever, but one could say that everyone was calm mentally.

Hermione promised to help Harry and Seamus that she would help them re-brew their potion sometime during the week, so that they could smuggle it in to their next potions class and vanish the potion that Malfoy had ruined.

…………………………

Sitting in the common room that Monday night Harry, Hermione and Alexis were bent over the pile of homework they had received from their day's worth of classes. The energy and eagerness of the morning had been stripped from their bodies, like small particles of dust, having fallen into a swiftly moving stream. Alexis was stretched out on the carpet in front of the fire taking notes from 'Advanced Magical Theory' for Charms. Above her, Harry and Hermione were curled up at opposite ends of the couch with lapboards while Ron sat in an armchair inspecting his fingernails. Hermione kept throwing angry glances at the redhead over her work till she finally put down her quill with a huff.

"Ron! Can't you do anything productive? You're just sitting there while the rest of us are getting loads done!" On the other side of the couch Harry looked down at his blank Potions essay and decided that this would not be a good time to ask Hermione for help.

Ron looked up from his nails bearing a shocked expression. "No! That isn't true," he protested, holding up his nails to the light of the fire. "I've made loads of progress! Look: they're all clean. After repotting Carnivorous Lemon grass in Herbology, I think this is a pretty good job!"

Hermione made a face as the others laughed at Ron's lame excuse. He continued to clean the nails on his other hand for the next few minutes but reluctantly stopped when he realized that Hermione had not changed her expression.

"Thank you," she smiled sarcastically as he pulled out his Charms homework.

Hermione then turned her attention to Harry, who had said, "I have no clue what to write next. Will you help?" She took the essay from him and read what he had scrawled across the top.

'The Polyjuice Potion and Its Effects on the Drinker

By Harry Potter'

"Harry!" She threw the clipboard back at him with a grin. "You're almost as bad as Ron." Harry gasped in mock shock as he rubbed his shoulder where the board had hit.

"You'll pay for that!" He laughed, and threw his empty bag at her. Hermione caught it right after it skidded over her still-wet potions essay, smearing her neat writing. She gasped, staring at her ruined work and then at Harry. Her surprised face quickly splitting into a grin, Hermione pounced on Harry, tickling him until his sides ached with laughter.

"Stop!" Harry shouted, laughing and gasping for air. Hermione relaxed and looked down at him. By now half the people in the common room had stopped talking and were staring at them, their faces split into grins, greatful for a quick distraction form their homework.

Hermione looked around to room at everyone else watching the two of them, and her expression morphed from laughter to horror in a matter of seconds. She looked back at Harry and their eyes locked. He was still smiling. They stared at each other for several seconds, Harry breathing hard and Hermione still straddling Harry's stomach, her hair half in- half out of the bun she had gracefully fixed it in that morning. Then Harry broke their gaze by gabbing Hermione around the waste and tackling her, tickling her back as she curled into a ball with fits of giggling. They rolled off the couch as Hermione screamed with mirth, upsetting Alexis' bottle of ink. ("Hey!") But the mess was quickly forgotten as Ron jumped into the group and began hitting all three of them with pillows from the couch. The tussle ended abruptly however, when a pillow caught fire and Alexis had to put it out with water from her wand.

They all when up to bed with lifted spirits, though none of them had made much of a dent in their large piles of homework.