Chapter 1
"This is positively ridiculous. I can't believe we have to work in pairs and that I am stuck with this...mud blood of all people. At least she is smart, I supposed it could be worse I could be stuck with Potter. Either way Father will hear about it." Draco thought to himself as he made his way into potions class. It would have been much more convenient if he had a fellow Slytherin as a partner. He then could have at least worked on the assignment in the Dormitory. "Professor Snape would never..." no sense in letting himself think about what wasn't He just wanted to get it over with.
He walked through the large black door to the potions room and he could see her standing over a large cauldron with her back to him. She was humming as she worked. "She would be here already" he thought trying to keep his already frayed nerves under control. "Granger?!" He called suddenly sweating. He knew it wasn't this warm in here earlier so he had to be imagining things.
"Ah, Draco. I got set up and hope you don't mind. I wanted to get the cauldron to be hot before we started. Professor Slughorn suggested it would be more potent at a higher temperature. I adjusted the temperature in the room as well. "
Funny, he didn't remember Slughorn making any such statement. She went back to humming and Draco wiped his face again and got out his books.
"I don't get why this assignment. We already have a very efficient truth serum, if you need to stoop to that." he added shaking his head in frustration thinking about the way the dark lord got information. "And besides temperature doesn't have any effect on that."
"Why should it? This is a completely different potion, in theory. If we can actually brew it, we could be the first...and get an A." she started humming again.
"Must you continue that noise? My head is already pounding?" He retrieved the book he had been given with the instructions and shook his head again. This was going to be a long evening
"MY humming? Sorry, it helps me focus. I usually have to explain what I am doing and that helps. I assume you know what you're doing. My. Never mind. Ive got the rosewater, rosemary, and sage. I need the black moss, lotus flower and uh dragon's blood.
She was definitely right about that. He came up behind her and added what he had. The potion turned bright red like the fire under it. The smell was harsh. Hermonie added a couple drops of lavender. Draco just stared.
"Lavender? I don't see that listed?"
"It will be fine. It smells nice, and this potion certainly doesn't."
Draco couldn't believe his ears. "Smells nice? That could change the whole composition of the potion. You can't just..."
"Calm down, Malfoy! It won't! It may even help. My muggle parents use it to help with odors and it has a relaxing effect when diffused. If anything, it will help with relaxation. The more relaxed someone is the more likely they will talk. It is in some truth potions, and you were so certain this was just another form of truth potion. "
"Your muggle parents...Granger, what would they know about potion making?"
"They are dentists, they know something of drugs, Draco! Certainly, something about helping people relax."
Draco decided arguing was pointless. He would write this up in the report that was due with the potion. Slughorn, Snape and his father would hear about this. "Get out of the way!" He noticed little had changed. "Fine, It still smells horrible. I can't see anyone drinking this. If you were going to force it you might as well, you might as well use other means. At least you wouldn't have to suffer too."
Hermione left and got something from her bag. "You're right, unfortunately. Use this." She set two orange candles on the counter.
"No, you are not putting candle wax in the potion." he rubbed his head again. He wasn't feeling well. The stress was getting to him or something. He felt dizzy and wanted to lie down.
"Of course not! These smell really good. It reminds me of fall and the harvest. Halloween is coming soon. I wish the whole castle would smell like these. I brought them for my dorm but we need them here. I'll show you. "she wiped the sweat off her forehead. "It is warm in here." she commented.
"Here let me help you." Draco stopped realizing what he said. The heat must be getting to me. He thought. He lit the first candle and Hermione lit the next one. She took a deep breath. "IT is nice. When the smell perminates the room it will be so much better. This one reminds me of Butterbeer. The others are pumpkin spice.
Draco took a deep breath over the flame. "It actually does. A cold butter beer would be really good now." he said relaxing a little bit for the first time that afternoon.
"It needs to brew about half an hour, then we can go get one." Hermione rubbed her head. Did she just invite Draco to have a butter beer with her? Surely not. The heat had to be getting to her.
"Sounds good. We can...I'll get one myself thanks." Draco just shook his head. He was getting dizzy again.
Hermione shrugged and went back to humming. Draco didn't mind. "What are you humming anyway."
"Just an old song I heard growing up...a muggle song."
"About what?" He had to be getting sick he wasn't sure why he cared but he did. He never would have admitted it to her though. He wasn't sure he would have admitted it to himself. What the bloody hell was going on around here.
"Christmas. This makes me ready. I feel it may be the last one I...i mean I am growing up after all." What was wrong with her. Why was she suddenly nervous about the future and why did she almost confess that to Draco Malfoy?
"Draco, are you feeling okay"?
"Sure why?" he lied.
Im not. I think it may be the potion."
"We didn't drink it."
"No, but it is more potent. Potent may not necessarily mean better. Think about it what did we notice?"
"The stench. What does that have to do with anything?"
"I don't know but we did inhale the fumes... What if it is more potent and what if potent isnt necessarily better?"
The thought occurred to him then too. "Thats impossible Granger. You clearly have to DRINK potions!"
"Maybe. We still have 20 minutes. Don't inhale the steam directly. We will see. "