That no good insufferable prat. Gods he brought the worse out in people.
She had had to chase down her belongings through the corridor the rest of the morning as people kicked, accidentally and on purpose, her strayed books. Standing in front of doorways as if he owned the damned place, knowing him he probably thought he did, that rich pompous..
She practically ran down the last hallways to make it to the Potions classroom and down to the front rows. Professor Slughorn smiled and nodded at her as she made her way to the front of the room where some of her fellow students were already standing over a cauldron. A clear, odorless potion was swirling in the cauldron on the table holding the appearance of a pot of water, she knew better of course. Veritaserum. Professor Slughorn had begun the lesson already, she scolded herself internally as she had missed the beginning, however if what Harry had told her last year was correct the potion in front of them was next to impossible to brew at their level. Oh how she loved a challenge.
"Ahh Mr. Malfoy, I'm pleased you decided to join us, please hurry now" Slughorn said waving the blond down to the table in front of her. He took one look at the potion in front of them and smirked. Turning his hand around and paying more attention to his nails than to anything Slughorn was saying. She turned her focus away from him and back to the Professor feeling the anger over come her. The desire to dump the potion on his head and be done with him was a strong one. How dare he think he can wing this class. They were quickly dismissed to their tables, hers next to his, to prepare the potion.
It took no time at all for her to realize what she was against.
She was not sure which had angered her more, being beaten at potions by Malfoy or being beaten at potions by a Malfoy who, to anyone with a brain, was not even close to paying attention or listening to Slughorn at all. She had stolen a glance at him a few times in the past thirty or, so minutes and the same look of insufferable boredom stayed on his features as he effortlessly and quickly produced a potion that many had not even been able to get started on without confusion.
"Powerful bit of Potion work, well done Draco" Slughorn practically drooled over him, his eyes alight at the prospect of one of his students finishing. Something that he had even challenged them all with being an impossible task, and all Malfoy could do was nod and leave the room without a single word.
Pompous prat she thought staring between the two cauldrons at her table. His was a clear and odorless potion that she knew would do the trick without even needing any testing, hers was a cloudy version that would never pass as being undetectable, even in the darkest of teas. Get it together Hermione. She said rolling her shoulders and setting off to fix the nightmare she had created.
An hour had passed, and her potion was now perfect as Slughorn walked cauldron to cauldron to look amongst her peers. No one had created even close to the same potions as the Vertiaserum, except for herself… and Malfoy. "Well done Miss. Granger, I knew you could do it. I did think you would be the quickest though, pity Mr. Malfoy couldn't stay to help." She bristled at the remark, as if she would ever need his help, she would make it her mission to have him begging her to help him by the end of the term. Clinching her fist to her side she simply smiled and took the offhand compliment and gathered her things to leave the class. She walked straight to the Common Room and plopped down amongst the cushions next to Ron.
"Hey 'Mione, what's wrong with you?" He asked staring at her warily. She only huffed and rolled her eyes, allowing herself to fall victim to the small fit she wanted to throw over the situation of this whole morning.
"You know he can brew Veritaserum? Perfectly in less time than it takes most to comprehend the ingredients" she stated looking amongst her friends.
"Malfoy?" Harry said shaking his head "That's not a normal potion to be cooking up in your spare time" He said sitting back on the chair tapping his chin with his hand. "What secrets could he be trying to get."
"He didn't exactly stay around for question and answers Harry, just brewed it and walked away" she was bristled. Being beat was not the problem, being beat on something that had taken her longer than she would've cared to admit was.
"Aren't we missing the point here, why does he need it." Harry said looking between the two of them. "Everyone we've ever run into that needed it was using it to gain leverage on someone."
She couldn't disagree with him.