Disclaimer: As always I own nothing and my Beta is my better half!
The rest of the holiday passed in a blur for the teens, although lessons weren't stopped, Draco found that she had often added Hermione into her and Augusta's quiet mornings or the bushy haired teen had spent time with her parents just enjoying the grounds. When it came to their Occlumency lessons, Narcissa had asked if Hermione would be interested in learning as well which had led the blonde explaining the discipline to her while also telling her about how it would benefit her. Despite the added lessons, fencing and dancing the teens still had plenty of time for themselves, visiting the others and also spending time with their families. Before they knew it they were on the Hogwarts express heading back for the rest of the year.
"Any big news?" Millicent had asked, she was the only one who hadn't been allowed to visit and a ball under the watchful eyes of her parents was not the best place for catching up on gossip or news.
Harry and Draco exchanged a look, Millicent was primarily Hermione's friend but they all found they quite liked her, "Arcturus made me his grandchild." Harry shrugged, Sirius wasn't cleared yet and she was still processing it.
"Professor Snape is taking leave for the rest of the year," Draco added before Harry could be interrogated, "Don't know who's going to be taking the lessons but I think Mum knows something."
"My money is on Aunt Andi," Neville shrugged, "She's a healer, besides she said she'd see us during the year."
Harry shook her head, "I thought she was just planning on making us dance on the weekend?" Neville frowned shrugging, he didn't know for sure but something told him that he was probably right.
"Maybe it will be the previous professor?" Pansy had suggested, before the conversation continued on who would be teaching the lessons, Harry being the heiress to house Black forgotten for the time being.
Before long, the tired and hungry students were sitting in the great hall waiting for the Headmaster to get on with his announcements. Although in the case of the group of friends, they wanted to know who was taking potions, most of them had money on the new professor. Hermione wasn't sure how the duo had managed to convince a group of third year Puffs to hand over their money and wager on the results, a few of them had Neville sniggering when they said it would be Snape. She still had no idea how he'd convinced them that it would be a suckers bet so why wouldn't they go in on it.
The headmaster standing had the hall quieting and more than a few curious looks, it was unusual for him to be doing his announcements before food after the Yuletide holidays. "If I may have your attention," He spoke softly, gently but it carried across the hall with ease, "I hope that you have all had a wonderful holiday and I will let you catch up with your friends in just a moment." He smiled around the hall as he continued, "Now I have some sad news, Professor Snape will be taking a leave of absence," A few cheers rang through the hall but not as many as all of the professors had expected, in fact the majority of the students seemed to be staring at him or searching the table to work out who was out of place. To all of their concern more than half the Hufflepuff table groaned loudly, taking even the Slytherin's by surprise, "Over the holidays he saved a life at great personal risk," Dumbledore smiled, a few gasps went around the room, "He will be perfectly alright but he's taking the rest of the year to recover." He was beginning to wonder what was going on as the students eyes were drilling into him, "As such your potion lessons will be taken by Madam Tonks, a potion mistress in her own right."
A loud cheer went up from the Gryffindor table and all of the professors found themselves scrutinising the Hufflepuff table as the majority of third years groaned loudly, it wasn't hard to spot why as the tell-tale flash of money went across tables and ended up in a pile before a rather smug looking Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and to all of the professors shock, a smirking Neville Longbottom. Hermione Granger sighed loudly and the thud of her head hitting the table made more than a couple of people jump in the silence of the room. Professor Sprout let out a sigh of relief, it was well known that many of her Hufflepuff's were terrified of Professor Snape and to see them groaning about him being gone had gotten her more than a little bit concerned.
Harry and Draco had been enjoying their little room when Hermione and Millicent had brought up what was happening to Luna, the four of them had gone straight to Flitwick to ask if she could be allowed to sleep in their dorm on days she couldn't get into Ravenclaw. Flitwick had been furious that he hadn't realised what was happening but understanding that she hadn't wanted to get anyone into trouble or cause a fuss, he'd relented promising he'd speak both with her and the Headmaster. Dumbledore had been livid about what had happened but with Luna insisting that it wasn't their fault there wasn't a lot that they could do, he refused though to allow her to sleep in with Harry and Draco. Although he had a compromise, adding a small bedroom to their common room just for Luna, which he explained to them the evening of their return after the Yuletide break. The pair were just relieved that Luna had a safe place to go if her house managed to block her out again.
After Dumbledore had been and gone the pair retreated upstairs to their room, it wasn't until they laid in their beds that Harry said what had been on her mind, "Wonder why he did it?"
"Who did what?" was the drowsy reply from the blonde, it was a bad habit of Harry's to wait until she was almost asleep before saying what had been bothering her all day.
"Why Professor Snape saved Sirius?" She sounded honestly confused, "I mean Professor Lupin said they didn't get on, so why did he save him?"
Draco yawned, rubbing her eyes as she stared over at the pensive Raven haired girl, "You wouldn't have let me bleed out before this year? If I was dying right before your eyes?" Harry shook her head, agreeing that she wouldn't, "so why is it so hard to believe that Uncle Sev is the same?"
Harry yawned, "That makes sense, didn't think of it like that. Thank you Draco!"
A grunt from the blonde before she sleepily replied "it's no problem. G'night!"
Harry smiled sleepily over at her sister, this year had been better than she'd ever thought it would be especially when the accident had originally happened. She muttered her goodnights and let the darkness take her.
With Severus away, everyone had been looking forward to seeing what Professor Tonks would be like. Harry and Neville especially wondered how it would differ from how Narcissa taught them over the holidays and it was after an exhausting lesson that the class found themselves standing outside again in a bit of a stupor. While Andromeda wasn't rude and especially not cruel, she was strict and took anyone to task when she thought they weren't paying attention. More than one of the Slytherin students got glared at and quietly asked what they thought they were doing, it was something which some of the Gryffindor's privately thought might be worse than Snape's way of telling someone off. It did from their first lesson seem that Andromeda had the same way of keeping a class effortlessly silent without any effort, although more than a few people were taken aback when she told them off and then explained just what they were doing wrong. In more than one case, she calmly told them that if they had an issue following her instructions then they could attend detention doing just that thing until they got it right without effort.
"I never thought I'd miss Snape." Dean Thomas muttered to those surrounding him, no-one batting an eye at the grunt of agreement from the gathered students.
"…Was that what it was like to be a Gryffindor in Professor Snape's class?" Theodore asked, taken aback when he got a resounding chorus of agreement from more than one tired Gryffindor. A few of which had been hoping for an easy ride without Snape so had been subjected to what some witches and wizards called the 'Black Sister Glare'.
"Least she's better to look at." Blaise smirked, "Black blood always ages well." He yelped when a pair of hands clipped him around the head and their owners spoke together 'That's our Aunt you're talking about'. Sensing the danger and missing male company, Ron slung an arm around his shoulder pulling the confused Slytherin away, before either of the two could draw their wands. His statement could after all apply to them too and Ron knew neither had the longest fuse.
"…Did Weasley just kidnap Zabini?" Theodore muttered, his jaw slackening in surprise even as Tracy and Daphne slipped their arms through Dean and Seamus', leading them towards to the great hall. "…Well do we get a Gryffindor to escort us?" He added looking jealously in the direction the girls had just headed. He'd been attempting to get them to give him the time of day for years now, neither of them would as much look in his direction something which was the case with most of the Slytherin females.
Lavender and Pavati exchanged a look, "Nah all the attractive Slytherin's are gone." They grinned mischievously.
McGonagall had been enjoying the peace and quiet which came with the new cooperation that Slytherin and Gryffindor had found, she had never realised just how influential Harry and Draco were within their houses. So hearing the sounds of shouting coming from outside had her wondering what the twins had done this time, and she wasn't even sure if she meant the Weasley twins after Harry and Draco's little gambling fiasco. When the door burst open and rather than the expected two Gryffindor's, it was a pair of Gryffindor third years being chased by a shouting Slytherin third year. Fully expecting to have to break up a fight, she went to rise when she heard what the boy was yelling at the top of his voice. She closed her eyes instead, asking Merlin to give her patience, as Mr Nott argued loudly with Miss Patil and Miss Brown that he was in fact attractive and that Blaise wasn't the only attractive male Slytherin. To which the pair yelled that they wouldn't date him if he was the last male on the planet and it had nothing to do with his appearance but everything to do with his family's history. In all of her years Minerva hadn't experienced anything like this and wondered just a little if it hadn't been easier to deal with when the students were at each other's throats. A slight chuckle escaped her, causing Remus to give her a curious look, "I was just thinking that the Marauders would have thought this was a hilarious." She explained softly, missing his bemused expression.
Remus stared out over the hall. The mix of houses at the Gryffindor table catching his eye, a splattering of blue, green and yellow in the sea of red, "I think we would have, although I doubt anyone expected this to happen…Even them."
The study table in the girl's common room was covered in text books, parchment falling off and onto the floor as Harry frantically hunted for the notes that she was sure were somewhere in the mess. "Harry!" Hermione snapped, she didn't know why she was getting so stressed but she had more work than any of the others and she was barely managing to find her notes in the mess which the raven haired girl was making.
Pansy's eyes narrowed as she studied the bushy haired girl, with Hermione now trying to study Occlumency, she was looking more tired. Dark circles under her eyes and she was getting more absent minded forgetting what they had been talking about mere seconds after they'd said it. Vanishing more and pretending that she hadn't gone at all, not to mention her impossible schedule… The dark haired girl slapped her head with a scowl, how could she have missed it? It was glaringly obvious that there was only one way that Hermione could have been doing all of the subjects and while she had been content to leave her to her own devices, it was now bluntly obvious that she wasn't coping. "Hermione." She spoke softly, "Can I have a word?" She stood up hoping that the others wouldn't ask why. Hermione shook her head claiming that she needed to find her notes and get on with her homework. "I know." She spoke softly, "I want to talk about how you're doing with Professor McGonagall's help."
Hermione's chair scrapped across the floor as she rose in a hurry, following the shorter girl over to the corner. "How?" She snapped her volume louder than she'd intended. "I'm fine anyway! Professor McGonagall thought I could manage and I can!"
"It's quite obvious that you aren't." Pansy retorted as calmly as she could manage, she couldn't bare seeing one of her friends driving herself into the ground, not to mention she didn't like being confronted so rudely, "I worked it out easily, I was going to leave it…but Hermione, you're not coping. You need to drop a subject or at least your extra studies."
Hermione glowered at the brunette, she hated that it was coming down to her extra classes and a touch of slightly hysterical jealously rose "You don't know me." She retorted, her temper rising, "You don't need to be the best. I have to! No-one will look twice unless I am." She was starting to lose it, "You're only friends with me because of Harry and Draco otherwise you wouldn't have looked twice at me." Tears were welling up in her eyes and that just made her angrier, "I'm just a muggleborn after all!" Her eyes narrowed, "So how dare you say that I'm not coping." She was shouting now and Pansy looked as though she had been slapped.
"I…I….I'm worried…" She spoke hesitantly, "I'm worried aboutyou!" Pansy's volume was rising now, "Why do you think I didn't say anything before? Huh?! I thought you could but now you're working yourself to the ground." She was tense barely aware that the others were staring at them now, "You missed Runes on Wednesday! You're losing track." She was only just managing to stop herself shouting, "You want to fail? Because that's what is going to happen. You'll lose complete track and put yourself into the hospital wing or worse." She snapped, the older girl was full on glaring at her now.
"Well don't bother." Hermione's lip twisted, she thought they were friends, "Leave me alone." She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, "I can manage." She turned and without even saying anything to the others started to leave. Hermione was proud, she had no intention of letting Pansy see her cry over this. A hand grabbed her arm and without looking she lashed out, "I said leave me alone!" Her volume was at its peak even as her hand connected with the person's face and realising that she'd just hit one of her friends, she fled tears streaming down her face not daring to look back and see all of her friends expressions or worse…Pansy's expression.
As she stepped though the portrait she heard Pansy asking someone if they were alright and horror filled her. A broken sob escaping her as if it wasn't bad enough that she'd hit a friend it hadn't even been the one that she was fighting with. Hermione ignored everyone in Gryffindor common room as she fled to her dorm dropping onto her bed. Clutching her pillow and just crying until she fell into an exhausted doze.
Morning dawned, dark and grey, suiting Pansy's mood perfectly. She had no intention of going to breakfast but the mistake of not returning to her own dorm meant that she didn't really have much choice. The stony expression of her oldest friend told her point blank that the blonde had no issue with storming into her dorm to fetch her if she had to. Pansy wasn't sure how she ended up going down to breakfast with Draco and Harry flanking her, especially as she'd expected the Raven haired girl to take Hermione's side. When by habit they started to head to Gryffindor's table the brunette pulled back shaking her head, and without talking about it, Harry and Draco gently steered her towards the Slytherin table. Flint raised an eyebrow, there were more than a few hostile faces but Harry just glared right back as they approached. To Pansy's surprise, Flint took one look at them and nodded, barking at Montague to move along so that the girls had room to sit. Looking up she didn't see Hermione or Millicent anywhere, she wasn't surprised that it seemed as though Millie had taken Hermione's side.
"Oi Potter." Pucey's voice cut thought her musing, "What happened to your face?"
Harry tensed, fingers gingerly touching the bruise on her cheek. While logically she knew that Hermione hadn't meant to slap her, she wondered what her friend's reaction would be when she realised. Harry didn't know how to respond, she'd never had much to do with Pucey especially outside of Quidditch, "..." She thought quickly, before wryly smiling, "Wrong place. Wrong time." She decided that it was best if people didn't know what happened.
The burly fifth year looked over at Flint questioningly, the seeming leader of the elder Slytherin's nodded, "Well if you change your mind…" he trailed off before smirking, "Can't let our only competition throw the cup because someone is picking on their seeker."
Harry still couldn't read easily between the lines but Draco and Pansy stiffening slightly told her that something was going on. Draco could feel her confusion and leaned over, thinking that she desperately needed to speak to Harry without the other's realising what she was saying. Weakness in the snake pit was never a good idea, "-Harry. He's offering to fight whoever it was.-" Draco missed the shocked expressions of those around her when she spoke softly in Parseltounge, all she had known was that no-one would know what she'd said other than Harry. "-Flint agreed it. They probably also want everyone knowing that they aren't allowed to mess with you especially as we're sitting here.-"
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "-Flint started it when he made people move right?-" A tiny nod was her reply from Draco, figuring that she understood enough for the time being, Harry turned back to Pucey, "Thank you. I'm sure that it won't come to that." On either front, at least she hoped it wouldn't.
The fifth year nodded, deciding that the revelation that Draco had given them could wait until it was just him and Flint, "Very well, just remember that the offer is there." Steely eyes scanned the table, glaring at the more bothered students silently daring them to comment on the Gryffindor sitting at their table.
Unnoticed by most of the students in the hall, a student at the Gryffindor table was watching and understanding the significance of what Flint had done at the Slytherin table. Gryffindor's politics were silent and unspoken about unlike Slytherin's, but they still had a leader and he was watching the statement Slytherin's leader was making. Flint had ensured that Harry was bracketed by Flint's own group, while Flint had always sat at the end of the table, now within the middle of his court was a single splash of red. His eyes narrowed when the Raven haired girl moved her head and he caught sight of the bruise. "Fred. George." The pair looked up instantly, as did the trio of chasers, "Did Harry get injured by a prank?" Watching the boiling rage on the face of the three girls had them quickly shaking their heads, explaining that they hadn't done it apparently they hadn't even done any pranks let alone any which could hurt someone. "Hmmm..." He scowled, "Find out what happened. No-one hurts one of my team, especially this close to a match." The twins nodded, the team stuck together, all of Gryffindor should respect that.
Hermione was initially furious when she had seen Harry walking with Pansy and had been going to confront her friend. Feeling betrayed that Harry was seeming to take the Slytherins side, but when the girls turned to head toward the Slytherin table. She caught sight of Harry's face, she gasped losing her appetite. With a heavy heart, she left the great hall not noticing Millicent entering as she walked out. The bigger girl however turned following and keeping up with her easily, "How are you feeling?" She spoke for the first time as they neared the library. Hermione shrugged not really feeling like talking, she'd hit her best friend there was nowhere to go from there. "It was an accident, I'm sure that they understand it." Millie spoke softly, ignoring the silence coming from beside her. She was trying to think of a way to cheer up her friend when a cough interrupted them.
"Miss Granger a word." Professor McGonagall's expression was stern as she stared at the pair. Hermione's heart sank and she hung her head, although she found herself wondering which of her friends had betrayed her to the Professor.