Potions class had never been one of Hermione's favourite things, but ever since Harry had been taking secretive lessons from inanimate objects, it had dropped drastically in her list of fun things to do.

She couldn't help but get angry at the way Ron would ignore her completely and talk as if she wasn't even at the table. His constant vacant look as both Harry and Hermione refused to help him annoyed her more than anything else.

If he would just leave Lavender for longer than two minutes, Hermione was more than willing to help him with his work, but the entire time he spent in the common room was wasted.

Ginny had actually said as they sat in the library that the fifth years had bets on how long they would be going out before they actually had a conversation.

Hermione was willing to bet the entire content of her savings that that would never happen.

So now when he looked at her over the acidic green concoction in his caldron, she had no sympathy to give him, she added the last of her ingredients to the mix it turned the indigo colour that was described in the textbooks. Ron muttered something inaudible under his breath. Harry elbowed him in the ribs.

Professor Slughorn eyed Ron's potion and shook his head. Passing on to Harry, he smiled at the perfect potion in front of him.

Harry grinned across at Hermione she didn't return the look. She busied herself packing her things. Slughorn hadn't even looked at her potion.

She pushed her way out of the room past the Slytherin's. Malfoy cast her a look as she shoved him out of the way. He looked worse than Hermione had remembered. What had happened over the Christmas holidays? A little voice in the back of her head raised the question was Harry right about him?

She shoved it to the back of her head, she wouldn't think about it. She grabbed a handful of sandwiches from the table in the great hall and headed to the common room.

She passed Neville on the way. He smiled at her, when she didn't smile back, Neville turned and followed her.

"Hermione what's wrong?" he said, his voice sounded so concerned.

"Nothing…I'm fine I just…" but just what was it that was wrong with her? She had thought long and hard about it, was it that Harry was finally beating her in a subject? Was it Ron? Well she knew that he was a vast part of the confusion that had swept her brains in the last few weeks; coming back had been so hard.

"You can talk to me you know." Neville said quietly.

Hermione paused, readjusted her bag and looked at him.

"I know Neville, thank you…but until I get my own head around it well…"

"You need company." Neville said pointing her towards the charms corridor.

Hermione didn't answer she followed him quietly.

In truth she had been spending a lot of time with Neville lately, the few lessons that they still had together, she distracted herself from Ron by talking with Neville about his newfound friendship with Luna. It was nice for Neville to have someone other than the Gryffindor to talk to. Plus Neville wasn't obsessed with the up and coming quidditch match. Harry didn't mean to ignore Hermione as much as he did, but the responsibility of quidditch captain and the extra lessons he was receiving from Dumbledore seamed to be talking up most of his spare time.

After they ate the sandwiches and discussed the essay for charms, Hermione and Neville headed down towards the greenhouses.

Ron was already there with Lavender when they reached the heat of green house five. They were standing below the Venomous tantickulas; Hermione suppressed the urge to curse the stupid thing so the talon like suckers would pierce Lavender. Neville must have guessed this from the look she was casting in Ron's general direction.

"Don't even think it." Neville said pulling her in to the empty seats on the next bench along from the targets.

Harry arrived two seconds before Professor Sprout. He eyed up his options then slid in to the empty chair beside Hermione.

"Where have you been?" she asked him quietly.

"Talking with Ginny." Harry said casually but Hermione saw the tell tale flash in his eyes, he used to get the same look when he saw Cho.

Professor Sprout called them to order and around a large green plant that looked as if it was covered in small pumpkins.

After Hermione let out a small gasp, Professor Sprout nodded in her direction. "Would you care to inform the class?"

Hermione nodded.

"That's a Felimento Increcion." Hermione said smiling.

"And Mr Longbottom what does this plant do…."

"It's the main ingredient in Amortentia, but it can be lethal if digested in the pure form."

Professor Sprout smiled at the two of them. "Well done couldn't have answered better myself, now this plant is one of the most dangerous we will look at this year, the aroma that is given off by some of the pods could induce the affects of a love potion, this is why I insist you were your masks at all times." Professor Sprout started handing out what looked like surgical masks. Hermione couldn't help but laugh as Ron was handed the bright pink mask, he glowered at her and she stopped. She hated the control that he had over her, it was as if she had no way of stopping his grip on her, there life's were running along two completely different tracks but the tracks crossed paths in so many directions it was impossible for them to stay away from each other.

Hermione tried to keep her mind on the job at hand but Ron was stood right behind her, every time he moved in the cramped confines of the green house he would touch her, it made trying to keep hold of the wriggling pods extremely difficult, Hermione had already dropped several in the process of moving them in to bigger pots.

Harry was watching her out of the corner of his eye; Hermione saw him and started writing down notes on a scrap of paper. She wasn't acting like herself and she knew it was showing.

After filling the paper full of random facts, she looked at the remaining pods that were yet to be placed in the larger pot.

Somewhere up in the castle the bell rang, around her everyone started to pack away. Where had the hour gone? She hadn't even removed half of the pods or answered the questions that had been asked at the beginning of the lesson.

"Weasley, Granger…" Professor Sprout came at the two of them, Hermione looked around at Ron's table, and his pod's too stood in their original pots almost untouched bar a few broken redundant ones around the table.

The rest of the class left.

"No point waiting for them Mr Potter…" Professor Sprout said as Harry came to a stop outside the greenhouse. Shrugging Harry followed Neville and Dean up to the castle to make the most of the free periods.

"Right you two, why haven't you done any work at all this lesson, I expect better of the both of you."

Hermione stared down at her feet; beside her Ron tried in vain to hide the now dead Pods on the floor.

"I expect better from you Hermione…after such a good start to the lesson. Well it's unacceptable. You will both stay behind and clean out the used pots, without magic before you finish your own pods. Understand me?"

"Yes Professor." said Ron quietly from beside Hermione; she never raised her head from looking at the dirt on her shoes.

Professor Sprout turned and followed the others out in to the sunlit grounds.

What had gotten in to her? Why was she being punished? She looked up and glared at the back of Ron's head, he had turned away and back to his table.

"This is all your fault." he muttered from beneath his pink mask.

Hermione glared even harder at the back of his head. "How do you figure that?"

"If you had done your work she wouldn't have noticed that I couldn't do the stupid pods." he said shaking his hair out of his eyes.

Hermione started collecting the pots from the tables and putting them in the large sink by the back of the greenhouse.

"You're impossible." Hermione said from beneath her blue mask. "It's never your fault is it?" she said looking over her shoulder at the Ron who had followed her carrying the pots from his table.

"Never." he said tipping the pot's up and sending the forgotten seeds all over the counter top. Upon hitting the old splintered wood, the pods burst showering them in liquid.

"As ever your dumbness outweighs everything else." Hermione spat as she wiped the liquid from her robes.

Ron looked down at the blue-green liquid on his own robes and copying Hermione, he wiped his robes.

"That's probably bad right? I mean isn't this stuff supposed to be dangerous?" he said wiping a large dollop of it from his cheek.

"The stuff it's self isn't it's more a case of the stupid stuff you do under the influence of the aroma." Hermione said looking away from Ron. He was looking at her as if he didn't believe a word she had said.

Hermione knew that the affects would kick in any second now; she had read up on the side affects of the 'love potion' that Slughorn had shown them in the first potion lesson of the year. What would she do if Ron suddenly started throwing himself at her declaring his undying love? She knew it would only be the potion speaking. She felt sick, she wanted nothing more than to turn around and confront Ron about everything, but she knew now would not be the best time.

"I recon it's a duff batch." said Ron poking the liquid with an index finger.

"How can it be it came straight from the plant." Hermione said quietly wiping up the mess with a cloth.

"Well then shouldn't I be feeling weird or something?" he asked her, he watched her as he leant on the sink.

"You don't feel anything?" Hermione found herself asking.

"Nah, I feel a little bit reckless but other than that…listen Hermione I…" Hermione dropped the pot she was holding. It shattered.

"Way to go Hermione…get us detention as well why don't you?" barked Ron as he pulled out his wand and repaired the broken shards.

Hermione looked around at him. He had taken hold of her hand and was looking at it.

"You didn't hurt yourself did you?" he said turning her hand in his. Hermione looked at him, was it him or the side affects talking?

"No I'm fine ." she pulled her hand away from him.

"Do you really hate me that much?" Ron asked looking her in the eye.

"Don't go pretending you're my friend Ron." she said looking down at her hand. The liquid was covering it but there was no opening or cuts for it to penetrate.

She looked back up at him, well the bit of him she could see between the mask and the hair that fell in to his face. Her insides were turning; it hurt to think of the friendship they used to have. The pain wanted more; she knew this wasn't the plants venom that made her feel this way.

She had been feeling like this for so long now it was a permanent fixture in her daily routine the pain she felt whenever she saw Ron.

"What happened to us Hermione?" Ron asked her, she continued to look at him.

"What happened to us? We've had this conversation Ron." she said filling the sink with water.

Ron reached up and took off his mask. He put it on the desk behind him.

Hermione looked at him curiously.

"If that stuff was going to kick in, it would have done by now right? And it's only you and me here…what's the worst that could happen?"

Hermione looked down at the water, she could think of many things that she would like to happen, but not like this, not here.

"Hermione…come on I hate us not talking. Please just say something."

Hermione looked at him as he joined her at the sink again.

"Something."

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Oh very funny."

Hermione relaxed a little as Ron helped her wash the pots. The two of them said nothing to each other, Hermione was aware that this was the most comfortable she had been in Ron's presence in a long time.

She reached up and took her mask off.

"Brave….now don't go throwing yourself at me… I mean that's what this stuff supposed to do right?" he said quietly to her.

Hermione cast a side ways glance at him. His blue eyes met hers for a split second. Her stomach lurched again.

Hermione smiled to herself and placed the last of the pots on the draining board.

"Ronald Weasley not every woman in this world wants to throw themselves at you." Hermione said drying her hands on a towel and handing it to Ron.

"I'm joking Hermione….you remember how jokes work right?"

Hermione walked across to her desk and made to finish her potting; Ron picked up his trays and moved them to the desk beside her.

Outside night had begun creping across the grounds before Ron and Hermione had finished their re-planting.

Hermione felt the most content that she had in a long time, she had missed Ron, and even though she was sure that, the niceness he was showing her was just the side affects of the potion. She was secretly a little upset that even under the spell of a powerful hallucinogen like that had sprayed the two of them he still didn't find her desirable.

Ron's hand brushed hers as they put the newly potted plants on the table with the rest of the classes.

They both looked at each other, Ron smiled at her.

"Thanks for the Christmas present by the way." he said quietly.

Hermione looked away. "I don't know what you mean."

"Hermione I recognised your handwriting, well eventually…." she looked up Ron had gone red in the cheeks.

"Ron, come on Quidditch practice in ten…" the two of them turned around Dean and Ginny stood in the doorway.

"What? How late is it?" Ron looked down at his watch.

Hermione sighed, again just as things looked like they were going her way.

She watched at Ron left with the other two. He cast her one look over his shoulder as he went.

Hermione walked quietly back up to the castle passing Lavender on the way, her mind was too disconnected to register the comments that her classmate threw at her. It was probably for the best.

As she sank down in to the chair next to the fire in the common room, Neville came to join her books in hand. Hermione smiled at him and took the top book off him.

They sat there in silence as they red the books on the plant that they had studied only this afternoon.

Neville was almost finished his, however Hermione was having trouble getting past page twelve. Side effects.

In particular the very last line.

"The afore mentioned affects are made redundant if the subject/ or subjects that the venom touches are already in the predisposition of love or are blood relatives."

Hermione was having great trouble with that sentence; she had read it over seventy two times, trying it on for size.

She couldn't help smiling.

Ron was most certainly not a blood relative