"Partner up! Make groups of 4."
Harry's eyes darted through the room, searching for a mess of a ginger and a brunette birds nest. He spotted Ron and made his way to him. Naturally, they were going to partner up. They both frowned when they realized the third part of their trio was absent from class. That wasn't like Hermione. While Harry grew a bit worried about the girl, Ron grew worried about what Hermione's absence would mean for their grade. After all, she was the one who did most of the work and checked theirs when they were done. The pair ended up forming a group with Neville and Seamus.
Hermione burst into the room. Her hair was a mess, her face looked tired and clothes looked slept in. She slept right through her alarm and breakfast after another late night spent studying. Hurriedly, she rushed to her friends. She knew they would be working on a group project today and naturally figured they would work together.
"Hermione! Where were you?" Harry asked when he noticed her presence.
"I overslept." She quickly explained and brushed it off. "So for the project we need to-"
"'Mione, we already made a group." Ron said awkwardly. "You weren't here so we kind of had to…"
"Seriously?" Hermione exclaimed. "Oh, the betrayal." She mocked sarcastically. A very small part of her was angry, but she pushed it down. The rational part understood they had to pair up with someone else.
Her eyes analyzed the rest of the room. Her other friends had also already paired up. There was only one trio left in the room, and it was a bunch of Slytherins. Hermione groaned at the thought of having to work with them the whole semester, knowing that somehow she'd have to do all the work, simply because they were too incompetant to do anything correctly. Her need for perfection would force her to rewrite anything they had to say.
Reluctantly, she approached the group. It consisted of Slytherins finest: Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and the one and only, Draco Malfoy. Hermione plopped her books down on the table. Instantly, a frown appeared on Pansy's face.
"Aren't you supposed to be with dumb and dumber?" Pansy said, crossing her arms against her chest.
"They already have a group and yours is the only one left. Believe me, I don't want to be here either." Hermione retorted.
Pansy scoffed. "They got tired of you already?"
"I was late. Now can we start working?" Hermione brushed Pansy's remarks straight off, knowing she only wanted a reaction out of her.
"Hermione Granger? Later? My my, must be the end of the world." Pansy taunted further. Hermione silently thanked god when Blaise stepped in.
"Pansy, knock it off. I need a good grade so can you stop acting like a child?"
"Whatever." Pansy sighed in response.
"Okay, so, since I'm guessing no one is keen on working together, I suggest we split up the workload-" Hermione continued, but was cut off.
"Who died and made you boss?" Draco, who had been silent up until this point, said.
"Malfoy, this is a very rare occasion that you get to work with me, Hogwarts' best and brightest student. I suggest you stop being so juvenile and just listen to me, because I know I'm your only shot at a good grade. Shut up and take advantage. I mean unless you're top of your class and think you can do better than me?" Hermione wasn't exactly the most confident person alive, but when it came to her grades she could be very cocky and controlling. Harry and Ron had gotten used to it. After all that Hermione had done for them, they really couldn't complain.
"Granger, get off your high horse-" Draco started angrily.
"Draco, enough. She's right. She's the smartest and we should do whatever she says." Blaise came to her rescue once more. Sometimes Hermione wondered how Blaise ended up a Slytherin. He was always kind and well-mannered. When his friends would drop Hermione's books, he would always scold them and help her pick up her books. He was never prejudiced against her for her blood type and didn't approve of others doing so either.
"Thank you. So as I was saying, we should split the workload into 2: the research from books and the research from going out and searching for rare ingredients for real-life analysis-"
"Going out? And risk my manicure? No thanks. Blaise and I can do the library shit, you and Draco can go out into the wild."
"Excuse me? I'm not doing anything with Granger. Blaise is my friend, so-" Draco started. Hermione was slightly hurt that the idea of having to spend time with her was so awful that Draco physically cringed.
"Well I've known him longer so I win." Pansy retorted back. It was true. The Parkinson and Zabini families were very close and even had neighbouring manors. Pansy and Blaise grew up together, although they've never really seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things so there was never a strong friendship outside of mandatory family events.
"Do I have a say in this?" Blaise asked as he snickered, seeing the humor in the situation.
"No!" Draco and Pansy said in unison.
"Stop fighting! If you hate me that much, I'll go with Blaise and you two children can pair up together." Hermione half-yelled. This only sparked more debate between Draco and Pansy about not wanting to work together either.
"We can let a mudblood tell us what to do!" Pansy screamed out in the heat of the moment. It shut everyone up. Ron overheard and started making his way to their table, anger all over his face. Hermione appreciated his protectiveness, but she didn't need it.
"You're a bloody bitch, Parkinson. Do you even-" Ron started defending her but Hermione stopped him. She put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him back.
"Ron, it's okay."
"The fuck it is! 'Mione she can't speak to you-"
"Ron, truly, it's okay. It's just a word. It doesn't have to mean anything. It sure doesn't to me. It's just Pansy trying to get a rise out of you. Leave it, I'll be fine." Hermione reasoned with him.
"We can switch groups if you'd like." Ron offered. Hermione smiled at him and was thankful she had such caring friends.
"Don't be silly. We've already started working. It's just one assignment. I'm fine." Hermione assured him. After sending the Slytherins a glare that could kill, he walked back to his group.
"You shouldn't have said that, Pansy." Blaise said disapprovingly after an uncomfortably long silence. Pansy rolled her eyes. Draco didn't say a thing, which Hermione took note of. She'd expected him to at least tell her she was 'too sensitive'. "I'll work with Hermione. You and Draco can work together. There's no debate."
Pansy had expected her fate. She and Draco made their way to the library, while Blaise and Hermione were going to go to the outskirts of the Hogwarts gardens. They stopped by her room first, since it was quite chilly outside. Blaise didn't mind. Hermione wasn't actually supposed to let anyone from a different house into the Gryffindor dorms, but she figured she could trust Blaise.
As they entered the room she shared with Ginny, Blaise analyzed their room. Ginny's side wasn't really decorated much. A few family pictures, but that was it. Hermione's side was the complete opposite. She had installed extra bookshelves on every inch of spare wall. Blaise took a closer look at the titles. He barely recognized any of them. The one's he did were all school-related and he was pretty well educated. His mother made sure to make him read every classic. He figured the books were muggle one's.
"Did you bring all your muggle books here?" He asked, wondering why she would bring so many with her to school. Surely she didn't have enough time to read all of them.
"Just my favorite one's." Hermione replied.
"How do you have the time? Or are they just for decor?"
"Why on earth would I use books as a decoration? I re-read every single one of those books each semester." As Hermione said this she realized it's what she used to do. She hasn't read a single book this semester. She started to feel a familiar pit in her stomach.
"That's admirable. My mother would certainly think so." Blaise mentioned carefully. Hermione shifted awkwardly, desperately wanting the topic to shift away from her.
"Why do you do that?" She asked him.
"Do what?" Blaise said with genuine confusion.
"Treat me like a human being." Hermione's curiosity got the better of her. She avoided asking, fearing that it would make him realize he should be meaner to her.
"My mother raised me right. I'm sorry to say my friends haven't had the same privilege." Blaise stated. "People will judge you for things you have absolutely no control over. It's pathetic. It's not your fault you were born to muggles. I think the whole idea of prejudice is preposterous. There's no reason for it."
It dawned upon Hermione that Blaise was probably no stranger to prejudice himself. Although racism was less apparent in the wizarding world, it was still present in subtle ways.
Almost as if he was reading her mind, Blaise continued. "You think we're the same because I'm black and you're muggleborn? We're not. We're the same because I'm gay and you're muggleborn."
Blaise and Hermione made eye contact. "Thank you, Blaise. For trusting me." Hermione was truly touched. She had no idea what possessed Blaise to come out to her, but she was glad he did. "And just so you know, I support you and I will pull an Avada Kedavra if anyone ever gives you grief about it."
Blaise cracked a small, soft smile. "Thanks 'Mia. It's not a secret, though. I've just never outright said it before I guess. You're the first, apart from my mom, of course."
"Your mom, how did she react?"
"I was 8 when I told her. She was an angel. She told me not to ever be ashamed and that she just wanted me to be happy. Her fourth husband had different thoughts about it. She killed- allegedly killed him for it." Blaise and Hermione both chuckled. She knew murder wasn't a joking matter, but she couldn't help it. "She's the angel of death, but angel no less."
After that moment, Hermione and Blaise grew closer. Combined with the time they had to spend together for their project, a beautiful friendship blossomed. They greeted each other in the hallways, talked on their way to meals, and even started studying together in the library. Blaise started getting even more defensive against his friends when they teased her. Harry and Ron started to notice their friendship. Ron, as always, was wary of the Slytherin, but Harry always knew Blaise was a good person. He was glad the two were slowly breaking the rivalry between the houses, setting an example for others.