Here's chapter four, guys, I hope you like it. We're finally moving on to the next day. I'm almost done with the next chapter, too, so it'll be out by Wednesday, I think. Hope you enjoy!

Have I mentioned I don't own Harry Potter recently? No? Well, I don't - all credits to its author.

Chapter 4

The next morning Hermione woke up early as usual. When she dressed and went down to the common room she found Pansy sitting there, staring blankly through one of the windows.

"Good morning, Pansy" Hermione greeted uncertainly; she still wasn't sure whether they were friends. The Slytherin jumped and turned around to look at her.

"Merlin's pants, don't sneak up on me like that, Hermione!" she said stiffly.

"Sorry" Hermione muttered.

"It's OK, I didn't mean to be rude" Pansy said hastily. "And – er – good morning to you, too."

"Sorry again. Didn't mean to startle you. Why are you up so early?"

Pansy hesitated for just a second then said: "I had to send a letter. You?"

"I barely slept for a year" Hermione laughed. "Some things don't change."

"I guess they don't" the other girl agreed. "I was hoping to catch Draco before I went down to breakfast, but I see his sleeping habits haven't changed."

"Oh, Merlin, no!" Hermione laughed. "He's going to sleep in, I'm sure of it."

"Well, that's his problem" Pansy said. "Not that he'd care – we have Transfiguration and he'd love to piss off McGonagall."

"Typical. I needed to see him too – we have to write a letter – but I guess we're postponing it."

"Are you going down to breakfast then?" Pansy asked.

"Yes, I'm quite hungry. And I need to save something for Draco."

"Don't bother, I will."

"No worries, I did it every time we slept over at Andy's" Hermione said. "Are you going down too, then?"

Pansy nodded.

"Let's go then."

"What, together?"

"Yes."

"Um..." Pansy looked uncomfortable.

"Oh, if you don't want to-"

"No, Hermione, I do, it's just – you shouldn't be seen with us – Slytherins, I mean."

"Oh, not that" Hermione said and grabbed Pansy's hand like she'd done the previous evening. "You're coming with me and whoever has a problem can stare as much as they want. Knowing you, you don't mind."

"Not in the slightest" Pansy agreed, her Slytherin smirk coming to rest on her face at once. "Just making sure you know what you're getting into. Slytherins are dangerous."

Hermione returned the smirk.

"Oh, I know. Believe me, I can be just as dangerous."

The two of them continued down to the Great Hall, laughing all the way. Hermione discovered that when Pansy wasn't throwing insults around she was actually quite nice. She also noticed the way her hips swayed when she walked, and blushed at the thought.

In the Great Hall, Hermione hesitated, noting they were still holding hands. Pansy quickly dropped hers, then smirked at her.

"Let's see that Gryffindor bravery of yours, Granger" she said and strode to the Slytherin table. Hermione was not one to back down from a challenge though, especially one that was so blatantly proposed.

"You've got this, Hermione" she told herself and walked up to Pansy, sitting next to her. She ignored the surprised gasps of the other early risers, taking the time to enjoy the look of disbelief on Pansy's face.

"You really did it" she said. "I really didn't expect you to."

"Pass the jam, Parkinson, and take notes" Hermione gloated.

"Oh, that was just a warm-up" Pansy said, giving her the small bowl of jam.

"Consider it a challenge" Hermione retorted.

The two of them had a nice breakfast and left before the Great Hall had filled completely. Hermione was starting to quite enjoy Pansy's playful, sarcastic nature until they saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny ahead. Hoping that there would be no fights now, Hermione smiled at Harry's enthusiastic greeting.

"Good morning, Mione, Pansy."

"Morning, Harry."

Pansy looked surprised at the greeting but returned it, too.

"How's your hand, Parkinson" Ginny asked, and Hermione hoped that she wasn't the only one that had noticed the lack of bite in the redhead's words.

"It's fine, thanks to Hermione" Pansy said conversationally.

"I shouldn't have had to fix it at all" Hermione fumed, glaring at Ron. "Have anything to say, Ron?"

"Are you coming to breakfast because I'm hungry?" he asked, turning to Harry and Ginny. Harry shook his head, while his girlfriend looked ready to hit her brother.

"You complete moron!" Hermione snapped, and pushed past him roughly, continuing down the corridor without another word. She was hurt that he was behaving like a child, as always, and remembered it was one of the main reasons she didn't like him as more than a friend.

In her rage, she got to the Common room faster than she expected. She murmured the password and saw the archway materializing a few feet away. Stepping through, she was relieved to see Draco sitting on the floor, talking to Blaise.

"Good morning" she said, sitting between them.

"Morning, Hermione" Blaise said. "I'm glad you're here – I can finally go eat and not worry about this idiot falling asleep on the floor."

"I wouldn't have" Draco gritted out, but Blaise was already heading out.

"Yes, you would" Hermione said, leaning against him. He murmured something about 'nagging Arithmancy nerds' but promptly shut up as Hermione's hand balled into a fist.

"Hey, I've had enough of these. But what's up? You seem troubled."

"Met Harry, Ron, and Ginny on the way back from breakfast."

"What did that red-headed idiot do?" Draco fired up at once.

"Ignored me. Completely" Hermione said bitterly.

"Don't mind him, Mia, he's just stupid. And angry at the fact he's sharing a room with me" the blonde sneered.

"He is?" Hermione looked at him wide-eyed.

"Yup. It's him, Potter, an me in the room. Goldstein and Macmillan are sharing with Blaise. Theo is with Terry Boot and Finnegan."

"Well, that's completely normal" Hermione said. "He's behaving like a child!"

"Like I said – stupid. But did you go down to breakfast alone? You could've woken me up" Draco said.

"I was with Pansy. She was up when I was so we went together" Hermione explained.

"Wow, that's great. I knew you'll like her."

"She is nice" the brunette agreed. "You better go or you'll be late for class, though. She took some toast for you, but you really shouldn't eat it in front of McGonagall."

"Of course, I have better ways to spend my free time than detention" Draco said. "I'll see you at lunch then? We have a letter to write."

"I know, silly! And if you had woken early, we would have already finished it. I'm telling your mother."

"No you're not" Draco stood up suddenly, letting her fall to the floor. "See you at lunch."

And he left the room, laughing at Hermione's threats. She shook her head as the door closed after him, and stood up. Grabbing her bag, too, she hurried out to get to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom in time for the first class.

Hermione arrived in front of the classroom just in time to see Professor Jones coming from the opposite end of the corridor. The teacher strode over quickly and opened the door for them.

"Come in, students."

They walked inside and walked to different desks. Hermione saw Ron heading to the back, but to her surprise Harry didn't follow him. Instead, the Chosen one sat at the front and waved at her.

"Come on, Mione, you know you love sitting at the front."

A little confused, Hermione walked to the desk and sat next to Harry.

"Not that I don't want to sit with you, Harry, I'm honoured, actually," he smacked her arm playfully, "but why didn't you sit with Ron?"

"He's being a prat" Harry whispered and turned to face the front because everyone else had sat down, and Professor Jones was starting the lesson. Hermione turned too, though determined to find out what this was about.

"Hello, class. As you know, I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and my name is Hestia Jones. Now, I don't like to dawdle, so let's get to work."

She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Hermione.

"Come on, Granger, get up. I know you've had enough duels to last you forever, but you'll be kind enough to help me with the demonstration. I promise not to try anything too nasty. Stupefy."

Her aim was perfect, but Hermione's instincts kicked in faster than the former Auror had anticipated. The bushy-haired girl knelt down and crawled under the desk, emerging on the other side. Now the only thing that stood between them was the teacher's desk.

"Tarantallegra" Hermione spoke. Professor Jones blocked it and said "Impedimenta."

Hermione used a Shield charm and did a very complicated movement with her wand. The teacher had to jump over her desk to avoid the nonverbal jinx and now stood with her back to the class, looking at Hermione, slightly surprised.

" Well, well, Miss Granger, looks like we can raise the bar."

The older witch started firing nonverbal spells at Hermione who danced out of the way easily. She waited for the perfect moment and when it presented itself, she whispered "Furnunculus". The jet of light missed Professor Jones by inches and flew towards the back of the room, hitting Ron squarely in the face.

"Bad luck" Professor Jones said when she saw boils emerging all over his face. "Bad aim, I should have secured the onlookers. Stay still, Mr Weasley, I'll help you."

Hermione pocketed her wand and sat down, fighting a smile. Harry, of course, didn't fail to notice that.

"Fighting skills getting a bit rusty, aren't they?" he teased.

"I can assure you, my aim is as precise as it has ever been" she flashed him a smirk. He gaped.

"Wow, spending that much time with Slytherins has gotten to you. Draco would have been proud of that smirk" Harry said in awe.

"Of course" Hermione said.

"By the way, I don't think Pansy would need to keep her promise to Ron after that."

"Promise?" the brunette asked, confused.

"She told him he'll need to book a bed in the Hospital wing next time he upsets you" her friend explained. Hermione's smirk disappeared completely, her eyes opening wide.

"She did?"

"Yeah."

"OK, class, we can proceed. Thank you for your help, Miss Granger, twenty points to Gryffindor. They would have been twenty-five, but you need to work on your aim."

With the Professor's words, their conversation ceased and they turned to the board to copy the advices for dueling techniques, Hermione smiling victoriously.