"Hi, Hermione." Ginny looked almost shy as she walked into the Potions classroom. Hermione raised her brows and wondered what had made Ginny change her aggressive tone. Perhaps, Hermione thought, Ginny had come to realise that Hermione couldn't help what had happened to her. But then Ginny started setting up her Potions supplies beside Hermione, and she murmured,

"I really am sorry about Ron."

"Oh." Hermione pinched her lips and shook her head. She pulled out her silver knife and her stirring stick and said back, "I almost couldn't believe it. He and I… this summer…"

"I know." Ginny sighed and said, "I have to admit that Mum and I talked this summer about what would happen if you and Ron stayed serious. We even started imagining what would happen if you two got married. Mum wanted you as a daughter-in-law so badly, and -"

"Ginny, believe it or not, you're not actually helping," Hermione said quietly. "It hurts badly enough without the idea of having you and Mrs Weasley… well, anyway. Ron probably doesn't realise how badly he's hurt me."

"I think he only thinks about himself a lot of the time," Ginny said. Hermione chewed her lip and shook her head.

"He's a good friend. He's always been a good friend. And I'll always love him. Even with Anja Anker in his life. Or whomever is the next one."

"Would you take him back?" Ginny asked. "If he dropped that Danish girl, and he wanted you again, would you take him back?"

Hermione's lips pursed, and she brushed a cleaning cloth over her silver knife. She thought of kissing Lucius in the library, and she shivered all of a sudden. "I don't know."

"Welcome, welcome!" cried Horace Slughorn from the front of the classroom, and all the conversations among the students fell quiet. Ginny and Hermione took their seats, and Hermione watched as Slughorn used his wand to write on the chalkboard, "Burn Healing Gel."

"Gels are really difficult," Ginny moaned from beside Hermione. "I've never been able to get them right."

"Gels!" exclaimed Slughorn. "They are a tricky substance to create properly. Too thin, and the gel does not adhere to the skin for topical application. Too thick, and the purposeful ingredients of the gel won't penetrate the skin."

"Professor Slughorn, sir?" Hermione put her hand up, and Slughorn's caterpillar-like brows went up. He lowered his wand and said,

"Miss Granger?"

"How does one achieve the correct viscosity for a potion like this using a pewter cauldron?" she asked. "Doesn't the right consistency require copper?"

"Of course, you're correct, Miss Granger, that a copper cauldron would be ideal for creating a potion like this," Slughorn admitted, "but it is unreasonable to expect that everyone would possess a copper cauldron."

Hermione looked around the room. Only a few students had copper cauldrons. Hermione had a pewter one, and so did Ginny. Ginny's was banged-up, a hand-me-down through many Weasley siblings. Hermione's was in good condition, at least, but it wasn't copper. Hermione thought it was patently unfair for Slughorn to require the students to brew a potion that strongly preferred one metal over another, but she shut her mouth and folded her hands on her desk.

"Now," said Professor Slughorn, "I'd like you to work in pairs today, since this potion is difficult. One of you prepares the ingredients and the other brews. This potion is complete in thirty-three minutes, so you must work quickly once you begin adding ingredients. You will find the instructions on page 37 of your textbook. Begin now."

"What?" Ginny huffed as she flung open her textbook. "Snail mucus, ginseng water, Jujung mushrooms, crushed stag antler, purple orchid petals. Oh, these ingredients are impossible to get right."

"You do the brewing," Hermione said. "I'll fetch and prepare the ingredients."

"Right," Ginny nodded. Hermione made her way to the Potions stores with her textbook. She, like everyone else, gathered a tray full of ingredients and made her way back to the table where she was working with Ginny. She followed the preparation instructions one at a time. She measured out seven ounces of snail mucus into a glass container. She measured six ounces of ginseng water into another container. She minced the Jujung mushrooms with her silver knife, making sure to get the pieces as small as she possibly could. She used a stone mortar and pestle to grind up one prong of a stag antler until it was powdered. She chopped the orchid petals into fine little bits. By the time she'd finished, Hermione had sweat on her brow and was entirely fatigued. She slid the tray over to Ginny and muttered,

"Right, then. There are the ingredients."

"All right. Add the ginseng water and snail mucus first," Ginny read, "then bring to a rolling boil."

She poured in the liquid ingredients and turned up the heat under Hermione's pewter cauldron. Hermione watched as the liquid heated, as bubbles made their way to the surface and eventually began to roll. Ginny then slid in the mushrooms and let them soak into the boiling liquid for five minutes, with Hermione timing on a brass watch.

"Add the stag antler and orchid petals," Hermione said quickly, as soon as the five minutes were up. Ginny used her own knife to scrape in the powdered antler and the chopped petals, but then suddenly there was an awful smell and sound from their cauldron.

Hermione looked into the pewter cauldron to see that the liquid inside had gone black and tarry, as though it had burned. It had thickened into a nasty past that was gurgling from the heat and starting to stick to the cauldron.

"Oh, no!" Hermione exclaimed. "We've burned it somehow."

She looked at Ginny, whose eyes watered. "I'm so sorry," Ginny said. Hermione put her hand on Ginny's elbow and insisted,

"It's Slughorn. Assigning a potion that needs copper to students who have pewter cauldrons."

"My, my. What has happened here?" asked Professor Slughorn, walking briskly over. Hermione lost her temper then.

"It burned, sir, because we haven't got the right cauldron for this potion."

Slughorn gave Hermione a weighty look, as though he knew full well that she was reprimanding him. He coughed quietly and said,

"Well. That is an unfortunate result, ladies. I'm afraid you'll receive no marks for this lesson; that is a failure of a gel, having burned it."

"We wouldn't have burned it if we'd had the right equipment," Ginny Weasley snapped, and Slughorn let out a short breath.

"Scour the mess up, my dears, and then you're dismissed for the day."

He turned and walked away, and Hermione growled as she murmured, "I swear, he's too old and delirious for this job. First he assigns Draught of Magnes - completely irresponsible of him to do that. He assigns a potion that makes people attracted to their enemies. Then he assigns a gel that can only really be made with copper and takes away marks from people who make it in pewter. I have half a mind to go to McGonagall over this."

"Perhaps we should," Ginny said angrily. "I'm just as cross as you are; I need good marks in this class. I want a Potions NEWT, too. But, Hermione…"

Hermione Scoured up the tarry disaster in the Cauldron and began slamming her knife and other Potions materials back into their slots in her leather bag. She Banished the rest of the ingredients to the Stores, and she looked to Ginny.

"Yes?"

Ginny looked abashed. "You said that the Draught of Magnes made people attracted to their enemies. You aren't… please tell me that you aren't…"

"I just meant," Hermione chomped her lip. "I just meant that it makes enemies into friends against their will, and that seems quite immoral to me. He was wrong to assign that potion. That's what I mean."

"And you're going to tell McGonagall about it, right?" Ginny asked. Hermione shook her head.

"No. She'd sack Lucius in a heartbeat, and Kingsley wants him here to make amends."

"Sorry; did you just call him Lucius?" Ginny stared wide-eyed at Hermione, whose mouth fell open as she whispered,

"I've never called him that."

"Mmm." Ginny cleared her throat and packed up her own rucksack. "You know, I really am sorry about Ron. I think the two of you would have been a beautiful couple, and it would have been nice to have you as a sister, 'Mione."

The two of them made their way out of the Potions classroom, going separate ways as Ginny made her way to the Great Hall for lunch and Hermione decided she needed some time in the library.

He saw her coming in the library corridor and paused. Lucius hadn't spoken alone with Hermione since kissing her. He had thought long and hard about what that kiss had meant. Perhaps, he had concluded, it had meant nothing at all. It had just been lust borne of the Draught of Magnes. They should just ignore it, pretend it never happened.

But then he saw her walking towards him, staring at him as her hair blew behind her through her brisk strides. Her black robe billowed about her, and for some reason, she looked dreamy just now, moving swiftly through the corridor as though she had somewhere very important to be. She approached Lucius as other students moved by them, and she muttered,

"Hullo, Professor."

"Headed to the library, Miss Granger?"

"How'd you know?" she teased. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and Lucius had a sudden urge to bend and kiss the skin just there, the skin just below her ear. He wanted to put his lips against her skin and hear her moan a little for him. He wanted…

"May we speak in private?" he asked, and Hermione's eyes went wide. She looked afraid, as though she were very certain he was going to tell her he hated her again. But he just turned and walked towards the classroom opposite them in the corridor, and Hermione followed. Lucius opened the classroom door, realising they were in the Alchemy classroom. Alchemy was a NEWT-level elective only taught if demand was sufficient. Owing to the previous year's events, no one had been set up to take Alchemy, and this term, the classroom sat unused. There were rows of desks and a chalkboard at the front. The ceilings were arched and held iron chandeliers. There was one window at the end of the classroom, so it was relatively dark inside. Hermione walked into the classroom behind Lucius, who shut the door and pulled out his wand. He aimed it at the door and said firmly,

"Colloportus."

"Am I in trouble, sir?" Hermione asked. Lucius shook his head and stalked into the classroom. Hermione obediently followed him further inside, and when he turned to her between a row of desks, he told her,

"My wife and I no longer agree on the subject of Muggle-borns. I suspect that I'll agree with her again once I've taken the antidote, but for right now, our exchanged letters are… erm… hostile."

"Well, I don't want to disrupt any marriages," Hermione said tightly, "but I must say that if Mrs Malfoy is still holding out on Blood Supremacy, I'm not sorry to hear that you disagree with her."

"I think she knows that something's happened to me," Lucius told Hermione, who licked her lips and asked,

"You think she knows about the Draught of Magnes?"

"She thinks I have been Imperiused, actually," Lucius said. "She went yesterday to the Ministry of Magic and insisted on seeing Kingsley Shacklebolt. When he assured her that nothing had happened to me at Hogwarts, that the Headmistress had assured him of my safety, Narcissa lost her temper and shouted that the Minister, as a Shacklebolt, was a Blood Traitor."

"I don't suppose Kingsley reacted kindly to that," Hermione said, looking angry and crossing her arms.

"No. He told her that if she remained so steadfast in her prejudice and hatred, that he would have no choice but to put her before the Wizengamot like all the other Death Eaters who had served The Dark Lord. He reminded Narcissa that our family is being granted extreme clemency."

"So what did you say to Mrs Malfoy, then?" Hermione asked. Lucius sighed and gulped.

"I wrote to her this morning and told her that I didn't want to hear from her for the time being. That we would speak again in a few months. Perhaps at Christmastime. I told her any letters she sent me would go unread, and that I wouldn't be writing. I also wrote to Draco and told him that he and Astoria are right. And, yet, Miss Granger, I know that I have done all of this to my family because of a potion. I know, intellectually, that I am a prejudiced bastard, as prejudiced as my wife."

"It doesn't need to be that way," Hermione hissed, hurrying toward him. "You don't have to hate me, even after the antidote. You don't have to hate my parents. You know, you could take the antidote and be in control of yourself again and choose not to hate."

"I don't know if I can," Lucius said quietly, "and that is why I am not certain I want the antidote."

Hermione stared up at him and shook her head wildly. "No, we can't… we can't live under the influence of a potion forever."

"I do not wish to hate you," Lucius insisted. "I wish to continue feeling… erm… positively. About you."

Hermione sighed. "There are months to go until the antidote is ready. Let's just wait until then to decide."

"Very well," Lucius agreed. "We'll wait until then to decide."

"You kissed me," Hermione reminded him suddenly, and Lucius gulped again. This time, a knot in his throat made it difficult.

"I did," he said. "I did kiss you. I apologise."

"No," Hermione whispered. She stepped closer to him. "Please don't be sorry. I am not sorry."

She'd said that when they'd kissed. She must have meant it, Lucius realised. He took her face in his hands and murmured gently,

"I'd do it again. Kiss you."

"Then do it," Hermione said up to him, and he crushed her mouth with his before he knew what was happening. Suddenly his hands were all over her; he was dragging fingers around her waist and cupping a breast through her jumper and shirt. Her own hands snaked into his silky hair, and she moaned against his mouth as his tongue reached between her teeth. She gasped when he suckled her bottom lip and squeezed at her breast, and her own fingers cinched on his scalp. Her nails scratched him a little there, feeling so good that Lucius flushed hard in his trousers almost at once. He was forty-five years old; getting this aroused shouldn't be this easy. But after another few moments of kissing and touching her, he was so rigid that it hurt, and he was panting against her lips. He broke free from the kiss and bent lower, pushing her hair back and planting his mouth beneath her ear.

This, this, was what he'd wanted to do when he'd seen her in the corridor. He licked up and down there, holding fast to her waist with both hands. Then his teeth went to work, first on the lobe of her ear and then on the delicate skin beneath. He started to suck mouthfuls of her flesh between his teeth, knowing he would leave a mark. She groaned and held onto his head as he kissed her, and when at last he let her go with a little pop and stood up, she reached for him. Her hand brushed over the lump in his trousers, and she whispered,

"We can't do this. We can't… you're a teacher. I'm a student."

Lucius shut his eyes and nodded. "Right. Erm… I'm sorry."
"No." Hermione whined the word, sounding awfully conflicted. "It's… I want it. So badly. I do."

"You should go to the library now," Lucius told Hermione, and she whispered,

"I'd rather stay and touch you."

"I know. That's why you should go to the library now." He shut his eyes and felt arousal coursing through his veins like fire. He was throbbing for her, pulsating from the inside out. Hermione took his face in his hands and must have leaned up onto her toes, because he felt her lips on his swollen ones for a moment before she whispered,

"Goodbye, Professor."

"Lucius," he murmured down onto her mouth.

"Lucius," she hummed back, and he kissed her again before she pulled back. She started to walk away. He almost stopped her, almost grabbed her wrist and flung her back and pushed over over a desk. He could easily get that skirt up and push her knickers aside and -

"Good day, Miss Granger," he huffed. She turned around and smirked.

"Hermione."

He bit his lip and nodded. "Hermione."

She pulled out her wand to unlock the door, and then she was gone.

Notes: Well, things are really heating up between Lucius and Hermione, things are taking a turn for the worse between Lucius and Narcissa, and it looks like maybe Hermione wants to pursue Slughorn's frankly terrible teaching with the higher-ups. But at least Ginny and Hermione are on better terms right now, right?

Thank you so much for reading. Please do review.