Teaching Session
One shot
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat working in a fine potions' class. They were taking the Lightening Potion this lesson, and they were all working hard just to finish.
"Where is he do you think?" Harry asked, looking at Malfoy's empty chair.
"I don't know…but he might be cooking something bad as usual," Ron answered, stirring his potion slowly with his wand.
"No…I told you guys, I heard the Slytherins say that he was in the hospital wing," Hermione said, frowning at them.
"Why do you always defend him, Hermione?" Harry asked, looking over at her.
"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying what's true," she said, then she looked into her cauldron and said, "Done"
"But you didn't help any of us…it's really hard" Ron said, but Hermione sighed and took a sample-bottle to Snape's desk.
Snape was looking at her sample when Ron and Harry came up to the desk with sample-bottles in their hands.
"But you didn't finish" Hermione said, but Harry replied, "Hermione, it's so hard…we'll never do it right"
Snape took their samples and didn't say anything, "you may leave," he said, in a cold voice.
Hermione picked up her bag and waited for them to gather their stuff so they could leave the classroom.
A knock came, and Snape looked at the door.
Malfoy has just arrived to the class, and he was holding his cauldron and the rest of his things. Then, professor McGonagall came inside too.
"Professor Snape, the headmaster wants to see you" she said, and then left the classroom.
Harry and Ron finished packing and headed for the door, Hermione was just following them when a voice spook.
"Miss Granger, wait" Snape said, and she turned to look at him.
"What is it?" Harry asked, but Hermione didn't know, she shrugged.
After Snape finished talking to Malfoy, he turned to her.
"Mr. Malfoy will need to know this potion, it's important for the final exams…so I believe you could do that Miss Granger"
"Err…what do you mean sir?" she said, looking at Malfoy, but he wasn't looking at her.
"All you have to do is teach Mr. Malfoy this potion…" he said, gathering his stuff, "Because you're the only one who got the potion…almost right"
Hermione frowned.
"But sir…" Ron began, but Snape said, "I don't remember asking you two to wait"
Harry looked at Ron who looked at Hermione, who said, "alright sir, I'll just give them my stuff"
She pushed them outside and said; "here" she gave them her bag.
"Hermione, you can't stay and teach that git…we have homework to do" Ron said, as Harry nodded.
"What do you suggest I do?" Hermione asked angrily.
"Well, why didn't you say…I don't know…any excuse" Harry said.
"Because I don't have any" she said, "take my stuff upstairs…and I'll be there in no time"
"Miss Granger" Snape called from inside the classroom, and Hermione waved to them and entered.
"Yes professor" she was going to sit on a far table as usual, but she had to come back and sit next to Malfoy (or at least on the same table).
"I have to go to the headmaster…" Snape said, "So, you'll teach him the way to brew the potion"
Snape was just going to leave when Hermione said, "Professor…how long do I have to do that?"
Snape turned and said, "as long as Mr. Malfoy understand the potion, how to do it, and its uses" and then he left, closing the door behind him.
There was an awkward silence, Hermione didn't speak, and Malfoy wasn't even looking at her.
She really didn't know how to do this, but she said, "Do you have your book?"
It was such a stupid thing to say, of course he had his book, she thought.
But Draco said, "No…I forgot it in my bag in the Slytherin common room"
"Err…" Hermione didn't know what to do, but then she said, "that's ok…I'll look for an old copy there"
She headed for the store and retuned after two minutes, holding an old copy of the potions book.
"Here we are" she opened the book at the correct page and said, "the lightening potion…"
Malfoy was looking at the table in a bored way.
"This potion is…well, it gives the drinker light, err…in his eyes somehow…so this person will see in the dark" she looked at Draco, but he wasn't looking at her.
She slammed the book shut, sighed, and said, "I don't want to be here either, ok? And I know that -" but Malfoy stopped her.
"Then why are you here?" he said angrily, "why don't you just get out?"
"Because I can't" she said, surprised.
"But he's not here…you can go"
"But Sn…professor Snape said that it's important…you should know this…I believe that you do want to get a good mark,"
He looked at her, frowning. Hermione didn't take her eyes away.
"And how do we brew it?" he asked, opening the book.
Hermione was a little surprised, she thought that for a moment he was going to hex her, she sighed.
"Well…" she began, "first, we take the cauldron and put it on the table" she raised the heavy cauldron.
"They say that we should let a fire under it" he said, frowning.
"Yeah…of course we should" she said, laughing softly.
He looked at her again, and she stopped laughing.
"It's written here…" he continued, "that it is supposed to be…middle-fire?"
He looked at her, what's with him? She thought.
"Well, middle-fire is the fire that is not high nor low" she explained, "we let a normal fire under the cauldron and then with the wand, we should conjure little puffs of smoke at it…so it'll be middle-fire" she smiled at him.
He looked away and started doing what she said, her smile faded.
Draco did what she told him, and then he wanted to conjure the smoke, but instead of puffs of smoke, a huge amount of black smoke covered Hermione, who was in front of him, and her face was full of it.
"You don't know anything about this" Malfoy said, getting angry.
He looked up and saw her black face and clothes; he chuckled slightly and then sat again.
"It's not funny" Hermione snapped, sitting down, a little far from him.
"Hey, I did everything you said" he snapped back, "I'm not the wrong one here"
"But I didn't say anything about black smoke, and I certainly didn't ask you to conjure this big amount of it" she brushed her clothes, trying to clean herself.
"It's not my fault you got stuck with me here" he spat.
"Well, it's not my fault either" she spat back.
"Then why don't you just leave" he shouted.
"But…" she stopped, "what if Snape returned…he'll see you here, brewing it alone…then, it'll be all my fault"
"So what?" he said, looking at her, as she cleaned the floor with her wand.
"I don't want to lose anymore points…and I don't want to get detention for this" she shouted at him.
"Yeah, all you care about is detention…you just want to be…perfect know-it-all…no detention"
He looked at her, expecting her to rage now, but Hermione didn't speak, she was silently cleaning the floor.
When she went to the sink to wash her face, he saw her eyes, and there were tears.
She washed her face quickly and then went back to the table, and let a middle-fire under the cauldron.
She searched for the book around her. Draco picked it up from the floor and gave it to her.
"Thank you" she said in a low voice, taking it from him.
"You're welcome" he said, sitting on his chair properly and starting to add some water to the cauldron.
The rest of the 'teaching session' went well, none of them made any mistakes, and the potion was going well.
"Now, stir the potion three times … clockwise" she said, and Draco carefully did it.
"That's it?" he said, looking at Hermione.
"Yeah" she sighed, smiling. "That's it…"
He peered inside the cauldron, "what color is it supposed to be?"
"Um…dark green" she said, peering inside it too.
"Perfect" Draco said, smiling proudly.
"Yeah" she laughed softly.
There was a knock on the door.
Hermione and Draco sat quickly in their chairs, Hermione began to read the book in her hand, and Malfoy was checking his cauldron.
The door opened, and Snape came in. he stopped when he saw them still there.
"You're still working?" he asked, frowning.
"Oh no sir" Malfoy and Hermione both said.
"Err…" Hermione began, standing up, "we were just gathering everything"
She retuned the book and the rest of the ingredients to the store, while Draco picked his bag and took a sample of his potion to the desk.
Snape entered his office.
Malfoy returned from the desk, and Hermione returned from the store.
They looked at each other, and then Malfoy said, "Thanks"
Hermione looked surprised at him, and then she said, "Welcome"
"Well…I'll remember this potion for the final exams pretty well," he said, chuckling.
"Yeah, me too" she laughed softly, then after a moment silent she said, "bye"
He looked up and nodded.
She waved at him and turned to go.
"Bye" he said.
She didn't look back, but went out of the classroom and closed the door behind her.
She was walking back to the common room, not knowing what just happened.
"Hey, Hermione, are you ok?" Ron asked her, as soon as she entered, "did he curse you…shall I tell professor McGonagall?"
"No Ron" she laughed, as Harry frowned, "I'm ok"
"What happened there?" Harry asked, as she sat down.
"Well, nothing really" she said, "I just taught him quickly and made it as fast as possible"
"Wow" Ron said, "Really?" he looked amazed.
"Yeah…he kept snapping at me," she said, "but I didn't care"
She smiled at them both.
"That's good" Harry said, smiling back.
"Are you sure?" Ron asked, looking uncertainly at her, "nothing wrong happened?"
"No" she sighed, smiling to herself, "everything went just……well"