A/N - thank you for your reviews! Longer note at the end. hehe

Chapter 4 - Unexpected encounters

It had been over a week since the… incident, and the atmosphere between Ron and Hermione had reverted instantly back to the awkward and tense ambience that it had been before. In fact, the feeling now was even more awkward, because at least at the beginning, they hadn't said, or rather, done anything to create any outstanding tension.

Personally for her, Hermione was already past it. Especially past the silly way she thought she felt that night in her bed. No, she had completely dismissed it as brief gratitude for him catching her. Not that she needed to be caught, honestly. She had only lost her footing for a moment, it was hardly necessary for Ron to swoop in and man-handle her back into a standing position.

She supposed it was ultimately a good thing, however. If he already cared enough to 'save' Hermione from falling, then she knew it would hardly be a matter of time before Ron felt comfortable enough to share things with her. Alas, the pair hadn't so much as spoken since that night, excluding the brief 'hello' that they'd exchange before a patrol. Hermione knew it was no good, and had promised herself every night of the week that she'd fix it the following evening, but those empty promises had only melted into each other over the nights of the week.

Now, she was in the library. Saturdays were Hermione's favourite days to visit, because it meant that hardly any students were there. She had offered Daphne to join her, but her best friend had other plans with Theodore Nott. Hermione had knowingly rolled her eyes at her excuse.

It was no secret that Daphne wasn't a stranger to seeing a string of boys each school year. Hermione felt quite saddened for her friend, as she had learned in fourth year that Daphne really liked Draco, but feared that she'd never stand a chance.

It may have been a wonder that Hermione, who was arranged to marry Draco, could be friends with Daphne, who secretly had feelings for the blonde. But, if anyone knew of Hermione's disdain of the thought of marrying Draco, it was Daphne, so there really were no frictions because of it.

At the thought of being swooned off to Draco, Hermione remembered the letter she had received from her father, earlier in the week. She searched through her bag to pull the parchment out and re-read it.

He had hardly ever written to her during Hermione's time at Hogwarts. Hermione, as busy as she was, didn't have much time to worry about receiving trivial letters from her dad, but she couldn't lie that it did feel nice to be more acknowledged by her father than usual.

Of course, that nice feeling had dissolved as she actually read the letter. Her father had only written to congratulate Hermione for 'finally' expressing interest in where her true allegiance lay. Honestly, Hermione deemed the reaction rather dramatic. But, a small part of her couldn't deny the warmth that came from seemingly impressing her father, something that she had never been able to finesse.

As she folded the letter in order to put it back, Hermione was distracted by a hardly restrained 'bloody hell'. She was fairly sure she knew the owner of the voice. He didn't have the most striking vocabulary range, and swearing seemed to be the majority of what little range he did have.

With her mind on the letter, Hermione recalled Draco's suggestion to show Ron that her interests lay beyond their patrols. Especially after their poor week, Hermione knew that she'd be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity.

Sighing, she stood up and rounded the corner of the isle of bookshelves that she had heard the expletive from. And there, as expected, an exasperated Ron stood.

"Do you need some help?"

Ron's eyes widened with surprise slightly to find Hermione offering her help. Despite patrolling side by side for the last week, they had hardly uttered four words to each other since he caught her from falling.

"Uh, I'm just trying to find these books," Ron explained, his focus returning to the shelves beside him.

"Which books?" Hermione asked.

"It's for Snape's essay," he replied, rummaging in his pocket for the scrap of parchment that he'd written the obscure list of book names upon.

Hermione accepted the parchment, and nodded with understanding. She had already read these books over the summer, so they were still quite fresh in her mind.

"Well, you'll never find them in this section of the library," she tisked.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Why bloody not? They're books for Defence Against the Dark Arts, aren't they?" he drawled, nodding his head up towards the sign above the shelves that read the subject's name. Hermione thought that he uncannily resembled an impatient child.

"There's no need for the attitude," she admonished. "Follow me," Hermione instructed, turning quickly on her heel, leaving him no more room to act like an arse.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to snap, it's only Harry…" he trailed off, but Hermione's ears perked up, as she walked them over to the History of Magic section of the library.

"What about Harry?" she asked, trying to keep her voice neutral, as to avoid raising any suspicions.

Ron shrugged. "He's just a bit irritable at the moment."

Hermione nodded, wishing he'd expand. Instead of probing further, she quickly found the books that Ron was looking for. His face lit up as he received them. "Even though it's for Professor Snape's essay, you'll only find the information in a history book," she explained.

"Bet the bloody arse did that on purpose; knowing we'd all be confused," Ron sighed as he wandered over to a nearby table.

"Really, it's not like you searched far and wide for them," Hermione tisked again. She sat, uninvitedly, down beside him. "Why didn't you just ask Madam Pince for help?"

"I did! She just looked me up and down before going back to sorting out books or something," Ron huffed.

"Well, I suppose she does have more important things to do," Hermione reasoned.

Ron only rolled his eyes at this. "Well, thanks for the help, but I can manage from here," he said, retrieving a piece of parchment from his bag, in the hopes that Hermione would realise he was busy, and go and be rude to someone else. He was appreciative for her help with the books, but he didn't really fancy any more of her... Slytheriness… he supposed.

He was already in a rubbish mood. It was a lovely day, and one of the last warmer days of September, so Harry, Ginny and the rest of the team were out playing Quidditch. But, due to his wrist, Ron had been quite slow with writing up his homework. Other teachers had shown more leniency, and extended deadlines for him due to his condition. Of course, the one teacher who hadn't shown any compassion, was bloody Snape.

Hermione scoffed. "Really? Because, until I came along, you weren't even looking in the right place for the books you need for the essay, let alone begin writing it," she helpfully reminded him.

"Yeah, well, once again, thanks." Hermione knew that Ron was attempting to get her to leave, but she was rather stubborn when determined.

"Come on, I'll help you," she urged, taking one of the books and opening it to the right page. It took Hermione a moment to realise that Ron was looking at her as if she had three heads. "What?" she huffed.

"Nothing. Just never thought I'd see the day where Hermione Granger was actually being nice," he teased.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, believe it," she snapped, but Ron did catch her smirking slightly.

She began to help Ron by essentially telling him what to write word-for-word. But, he was writing so slowly because of his wrist, that Hermione ended up losing all patience and literally writing the whole thing for him, in the best impression of his awful handwriting that she could manage.

Ron watched with a smug smile on his face. He noticed that she bit her lip in concentration as she quickly wrote out the essay, and soon found he was becoming transfixed on the sight. He shook his head. Merlin, he was certainly going stir crazy by being inside on a Saturday, with such nice weather.

Hermione soon finished, dropping the quill onto the parchment with finality. "Brilliant," Ron said as she looked to him. "Fancy writing all my essays from now on?" he joked.

"Depends. How long are you going to be absolutely useless without your wrist for?" she smirked.

"It's not that bad," he chuckled. "Actually, I need to redress it before I leave," he announced, pulling his bag to his lap and pulling out the small kit that Madam Pomfrey had given him.

Hermione bit her lip in contemplation. She knew that this was her last chance, but her plan was hardly appropriate.

"I-I could do it for you," she offered, in a small voice, before she could change her mind.

Ron looked at her oddly again.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ron, had it ever crossed your mind that Slytherins can actually be quite decent people," she huffed.

"Sorry!" he said hastily. "You can't blame me for being a bit surprised. The lot of you have hated us for years," he reasoned, referring to their different houses.

"Yes, well, you also hated us," she reminded him.

"That's true," he conceded. "Alright, you can give it a go. It's a bit complicated, mind you." Ron propped his wrist up on the table.

"Hardly. It's just a basic dressing," she mumbled, carefully undoing the bandage that was currently wrapped around his wrist. Hermione took the time to wonder if she had seen anyone with such large and… calloused hands.

"Sorry," she winced as Ron hissed in pain, after she had accidentally knocked his wrist.

Apart from that, she really was quite gentle, and Ron found himself hopelessly watching her again as she tended to his wrist.

"You really are quite idiotic for doing this," she said quietly, although her tone wasn't as unkind or as cruel as it may have been.

"Thought it was quite heroic, myself," Ron said, just as quietly.

Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes, but Ron was satisfied to watch her mouth curl into a smile.

"Is that where all your friends are? Playing Quidditch?" she asked as she made the finishing touches to his new dressing.

"Yeah. I knew I had to do this sodding essay before I went out."

"Hmm. I dare say that that's quite-"

"Responsible?" He finished for her. "It's been known to happen. Just like you being nice, I guess," he smirked, and Hermione found herself smiling slightly back at him. "Also, I'm shit-scared of Snape." She chuckled at this, but the sound of her own laughter snapped her back to reality. She had a task to fulfill.

"Is Harry outside?" Ron nodded at her question. "I'm surprised you'd want to go out with him, if, you know, he's as irritable as you said." Hermione hoped that she sounded casual enough.

Ron dismissively shook his head. "He's not that bad, especially when playing Quidditch. He's just got a rough life, you know?" Ron chuckled at his own understatement.

"Seems to be doing well enough in Potions," Hermione couldn't help but mumble.

Due to their proximity, however, Ron heard her clear enough, and couldn't help but smirk. "Does that bother you?" he asked, rather knowingly, even though he barely knew her.

"Hardly," she lied. "I just find it quite suspicious. Harry's never been anything but average at Potions, yet all of a sudden he's top of the class." Hermione's curiosity was building as she anticipated Ron's answer.

"Don't worry, he's not cheating. Not really, anyway," Ron shrugged. Hermione used her expression to implore him to continue. "Me and Harry weren't really expecting-"

"Harry and I," Hermione couldn't help but correct him.

Instead of appearing annoyed, Ron just teasingly rolled his eyes. "Harry and I," he began again, placing dramatic emphasis on the 'I'. "We weren't really expecting to do Potions this year, so when McGonagall said that Slughorn would accept us with the OWLs we had, we didn't have any of the Potions books or anything, so had to use the ones in the cupboard. And the one Harry had is covered in notes made by another student, but they actually help him quite a bit," Ron explained.

"For one, I think you'll find that is cheating. And, for two, how is that even possible? The book provides plenty of information, there's no need for extra notes. Unless he's that slow," she mused, not completely ruling out the possibility that Potter couldn't follow a simple set of instructions, he definitely couldn't follow a simple set of rules.

"He's not slow," Ron said defensively. "They are extra notes, but they're not the same as what's written in the book. They're… adjustments, if you like," he supposed, not nearly as concerned by the topic as Hermione was.

"That's ridiculous. The book was written by the best Potioneers to date, and you're saying that a random past student knew better?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Ron sighed, before repacking his bag. "I dunno. You asked. Thanks again for the essay, and for my wrist. You did quite a good job," he commented, carefully rotating his wrist.

"I suppose I should be flattered by that observation, should I?" Hermione snapped, quickly getting up from her chair. She couldn't believe Potter was cheating! Oh, how she could only imagine how Slughorn would react…

That thought brought a cunning smile to her face, until she realised that she was still in the library with Ron. He looked immensely perplexed, but Hermione couldn't care less. She needed to return to the common room immediately and calculate an effective plan that would dethrone Harry Potter… in Potions class.

"I'll see you at rounds," she said before walking towards the doors. Her tone was far cooler than it was compared to how she had been for the last forty minutes, but she highly doubted Ron was that perceptive to even notice.

The common room was rather quiet, but still had far too many voices for Hermione to be able to concentrate. Potter was nothing but a prize in Slughorn's eyes, so her outing of him would have to be well thought out, in order to work.

However, as Hermione made her way to the girls dormitory, she was interrupted. "Hermione?" She recognised the voice's owner as Blaise Zabini, and turned around to greet him.

Hermione had certainly never really minded Blaise. He was quiet, although it wasn't due to shyness. He wasn't as mindnumbingly stupid as Crabbe and Goyle, but he also wasn't as invested in his studies as Hermione. In fact, although the thought caused her to faintly blush, Hermione had always admired Blaise's reservedness, amongst other things. Unfortunately, however, she had never been able to talk to him much.

It wasn't that she couldn't get on with him, but he wasn't as outspoken as the other Slytherins. One of Draco's favourite subjects to talk about, for example, was Potter and his disdain for him. Blaise, whilst still maintaining the same views and opinions, hardly ever joined in when the group were laughing about Potter's latest idiocy. Hermione had always suppressed her small feelings for him, however. In fact, she had managed to master the act quite well, although the sound of him calling her name still made her shiver, ever so slightly.

"Blaise," she said, coming to sit beside him on one of the leather sofas.

"So, I was walking past the library earlier, and saw that you and Weasley were quite close," he commented. Hermione fought the urge to cringe. "For a moment I was beginning to wonder if you had started to enjoy this arrangement you've gotten yourself into."

"Oh, absolutely not!" she hastily refuted. "He's a blood-traitor, after all, we could never truly get along. It's only for the purpose of Draco's plan." Hermione hoped that her helpless justifications were pulling her somewhere.

Blaise subtly nodded, studying Hermione like she could never recall him doing. And, if he had done it before, she would have definitely remembered.

"I'm actually quite surprised that you took on such a pointless task," he mused.

"Pointless?" asked Hermione.

"Pointless," Blaise confirmed. "As you said at breakfast the other day, Weasley won't know anything worth being told about." Hermione was stunned that Blaise had been listening to her during a conversation he hadn't been part of. "It just seems a waste of time."

"Well," Hermione sighed, "Draco seems to think there's something there… and it really doesn't require that much effort. It only seems to take the oaf a little nudge before he runs his mouth to any sorry soul who'll listen," she commented dryly. But, much to her surprise, Blaise laughed. A satisfied smile crept onto Hermione's face.

"I don't know… if you say so. I just thought that you, of all people, wouldn't be so naive to be led by Draco," said Blaise before he stood up and left, leaving a slightly-embarrassed, frowning Hermione to ponder his comment.

Hermione spent the rest of the day trying to brush off Blaise's comment. If she hadn't embarked on this plan, she wouldn't have found out about Potter's helping hand, would she? But then again, that information would probably be next to useless in Draco's eyes. Maybe she was silly to be doing this, but it was surely too late to go back now? Her father had even written to her! Merlin, she was conflicted.

But it was nothing, surely. Hermione already had to endure hours with Ron Weasley, it couldn't hurt to use that time to her advantage. Perhaps, however, the hour in the library was rather unnecessary…

Another week had begun, and Hermione was commencing the new week in a dampened mood. After possibly hours of lying in bed on Saturday night, trying to plot the best way to sabotage Potter, Hermione realised that if she intended on extracting further information from Ron, that she'd have to prove to him she was trustworthy. And that definitely wouldn't be the case if she blabbed the first thing that he had somewhat confided in her.

It was infuriating, because that whole time spent in the library, helping Ron, was essentially for nothing. At least she had written it down on that bloody piece of Prying Parchment. Hermione had become sick of the empty scroll mocking her with its blank spaces.

The effect of Blaise's comment was short-lived, Hermione actually found his opinion rather rude. He had never spoken more than two words to her, so when he did speak to her, only to basically tell Hermione she was weak to comply with Draco, it was imaginable that Hermione wasn't too pleased by the encounter.

And now, her first lesson of Potions this Monday morning only worsened her mood. Watching Potter smugly impress their dumbfounded teacher, knowing that he didn't deserve an ounce of the praise he was given.

As the class had finally finished, Hermione was meticulously repacking her bag. Out of the corner of her eye, however, she noticed someone walking towards her.

"Hey."

Hermione was quite bewildered to find Ron standing at her table, one hand holding the strap of his bag, the other wedged into his pocket. Where it seemed to live, Hermione mused.

"Hi?" Hermione responded, unsure of why he had approached her so casually, as if they did this all the time.

"I-uh- just wanted to ask you if you were alright after Saturday. You were acting a bit weirdly before you left," Ron explained, ignoring the rest of the Slytherins, solely focusing on Hermione.

"Oh." I guess he's more perceptive than I thought, Hermione wondered. "I'm fine," she dismissed, mostly wondering why Ron even cared.

He nodded, before turning back around. Hermione watched him as he walked away, both she and Ron oblivious to the devilish smirk on Draco's face as he witnessed the exchange.

"Nice work, Granger. You seem to have the fool wrapped around your finger already," Draco praised. Hermione offered a fake smirk of her own, catching Blaise's unimpressed expression. The sight frustrated Hermione. Since when did he have an interest in what she was doing?

A/N - this is funny because in the last chapter's notes I was reiterating that this story is quite slow-burn. And now, in this note, I'm maintaining that it is a Romione story.

I'm finding it quite interesting to write Slytherin Hermione, and I particularly enjoyed one review that said it would be nice to read a Hermione who was more critical of Voldemort and her father's ways. I'm definitely trying to write a more conflicted Hermione, who's feelings only become more confused by dear old Ron. In chapters to come.

Once again, thank you so much for all of your reviews. I read and appreciate every one of them. I hope this chapter isn't too boring, but I think it's necessary to the plot of a more conflicted Hermione. xxx