It didn't take long for school to be in full swing. Classes were going well, we were getting plenty of homework, and Adam was beginning Quidditch. He seemed really pleased with his team this year, and they practiced three nights a week. It was a lot, but after watching them practice, it was clearly paying off. I was proud of him. I looked forward to the first Hogsmeade weekend, which was quickly approaching, and the first Quidditch game was after that.

He was in a bad mood outside of Quidditch though. He wasn't enjoying his classes very much. I knew that he was under a lot of pressure from his family to figure out what, exactly, he was doing with his life. He just didn't know. His grades were okay, but nothing spectacular. He could probably get into St. Mungo's Healer program if he wanted, but he didn't. If he worked really hard during the first term, he might be able to get himself into the Aurors. But it wasn't something that he was interested in. He didn't have a class he loved, like I had Potions. His passion was Quidditch, but he hadn't been pursued by any recruiters. The whole situation frustrated him, and I was frustrated by the fact that I couldn't help him more.

I just threw myself into school work more, to distract myself from his moodiness. I loved him and wanted him to be happy, it was just hard when he didn't want to help himself.

Potions was going well too. I liked Professor Slughorn's class, whenever he wasn't raving about Harry Potter's miraculous talents, of course. I was jealous, and I knew it. But it was odd- I had been in Potions class last year with Harry and he had never appeared to be the distinguished student that he was now. And I had looked at every potion he had made, it wasn't just Slughorn playing favorites in a huge way, he had suddenly become very talented. It seemed a little fishy to me.

The quarter was about a third of the way over when Slughorn presented us with a major project. "I have something that I think has the possibility to be quite exciting to assign to you today," he told as, as we all filed in. "I want you to create your own potion that could be used in the life of the common witch or wizard. This will incorporate many facets of your Potions education, such as your knowledge of existing potions, your knowledge of ingredients, and your knowledge of potion theory. You will work in groups of two, and you will have until the middle of December to work on this. We will work on it every Tuesday, with the rest of your Potions education taking place on Thursdays. I can't wait to see what you all come up with."

I hated when we had to do projects in pairs, because it was always awkward trying to find someone to work with. I looked over at the two other tables, and saw everyone else immediately paired up. Then I looked back at my table. I knew I didn't want to work with Ron, because I wasn't completely sure how he had managed to get in this class. He usually spent most of his time swearing into his cauldron. He seemed nice enough, but I didn't want to work with him. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to work with Harry. It would enable me to get to know him a little better and I could figure out how he had suddenly become so good with potions. I looked across the table, but the boys had already turned their backs to both Hermione and I.

I turned to her. Working with her wouldn't be bad. I had a feeling she might try to micromanage the project, but that was fine by me. She looked nervous, raking a hand through her curly hair. "Partners?" I asked her, though it was a bit rhetorical as we were the only two left.

She just nodded, and moved her chair over. She flipped open her book. "I think we should take today and brainstorm what we could make. We have plenty of time to brew a potion, even if we need to pay attention to the lunar cycle to get it right."

"Sounds like a good idea," I told her.

"I'm thinking we should go for something simple. I don't think it needs to be anything terribly elaborate, just something that has been overlooked for ages. If you could invent a potion to simplify one part of your day, what would it be?"

We each took a few moments to think about it. I wanted a potion that made my boyfriend happy, but I knew that was silly. I wished I could do a potion to help me focus on schoolwork, but I was pretty sure it already existed. "I'm really... not sure," I told her. "I don't think anything I can think of would translate into a potion."

She nodded. "What about a potion that would banish homesickness?" she asked. "I'm not terribly sure how we would go about it, but I know I would use it."

"That sounds really interesting," I told her. The idea that potions were able to mess with our brains like that, even in a beneficial way, intrigued me a lot. I knew we would have to do a great amount of research before trying it on anyone, but we had time.

We got Slughorn to dismiss us from class so that we could go to the library and begin our research. We got to go in the Restricted Section, which I had never been in before. The books back there were really fascinating.

"I know it's not my place," I said, crouched down, looking for a book on the bottom shelf, "but is everything okay between you three?"

She sighed, and I hoped I didn't offend her, or budge into something I would later regret. "It's nothing... important," she said. "Just some tension, I guess. Harry's got a lot going on right now, and Ron is just... I don't even know the words. Sometimes, it's just not fun to have two blokes for best friends."

"I know what you mean," I said, thinking of Adam. He was great, but sometimes I wanted someone else. I found a book I wanted and pulled it out of the shelf.

"Oh, you're dating Adam Goldman, right?" she asked.

"Yes, yes I am," I nodded, even though my back was to her. The book was about potions with psychological effects, and different ingredients effects on parts of the brain. This potion would require more than just knowledge of the ingredients we were working with. We would also have to know about the structure of the brain.

"That's nice. He seems like a nice bloke," she said. I wasn't sure if she was just making small talk or not.

"He is a nice bloke," I said. "But sometimes... I would like someone to talk about hair products and silly things like that."

"Someone with a bigger emotional range than that of a teaspoon?" she asked.

I couldn't help but laugh. I had no idea she was funny. "Something like that," I said. "I think this is the book that I'm looking for."

"I've got one too," she told me, holding up a dusty hardcover. "I think we should each come up with plans for a potion for next week's class, and we can reevaluate what the best course of action is then. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes, it sounds great," I told her. I was actually glad that we had ended up as partners. Maybe this would be a really good thing.

~.~

I spent some time later in the week working on the potion, and had a pretty good rough draft for the potion. I was actually really excited to get to work on it. I knew if we could figure it out, it might be really successful.

Thursday evening, I got an invitation from Slughorn to attend dinner in his quarters the following night. I wondered how many other people got the invitation, but responded I would be delighted to attend regardless. I wanted to be in Slughorn's favor, which apparently meant joining his 'Slug Club'.

I turned up to dinner the next day, wearing one of the nice robes I had purchased before coming to Hogwarts. I was glad to see Hermione was there as well, and took my seat next to her. "Hello," I said.

"Hi," she said back. "I'm glad you're here." Her eyes darted to the boy who was sitting two seats down from her. Cormac McLaggen was definitely trying to get her attention. He was making a fool out of himself.

I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at him, but then looked back to Hermione with what I hoped was an expression of sympathy. It seemed we were becoming fast friends, and I was glad.

"I think I found a good recipe for that potion," I told her. "It makes complete sense to me, at least."

"Oh, good!" she said, "because I'm rather stuck. I mean, I found a good basis for potions that are trying to do something to the brain, but it's definitely missing something."

Slughorn sat down, and dinner was served. "No Harry?" I whispered to Hermione.

She shook her head. "He's in detention with Snape."

I nodded. That was a good explanation, definitely. Slughorn was definitely a bit sad to have his favorite student missing, though. Ginny Weasley came in late, and took the seat on the other side of Cormac. Cormac was obnoxious throughout the whole dinner. He just didn't know how to take the hint that Hermione was seeing him, but ignoring him anyways. It was humorous to me but not so much to her.

After dinner was over, we got out of there pretty quickly. It had been a long week. "What did Harry do to deserve detention?" I asked.

"He was rude to Professor Snape in class," she told me. "It... he was being stupid. He's... got a lot going on at the moment, I think, and he's being a bit reckless."

"Too much Felix Felicis?" I asked, curious. Maybe he took a bit of that before each Potions class, which would certainly explain his luck.

She laughed. "I don't think so. Just "Chosen One" stuff and other things..." she trailed off. I knew she knew more than she was leading me on to, but she wasn't going to betray his trust in her.

"And Ron... isn't invited?" I asked. It was curious, because Ginny was there.

She shook her head. "No, thank Godric. The git can stay in the Common Room and mope my himself," she said. She sounded bitter about something, and I wanted to know what.

"Hermione!" I said, surprised that she could sound so bitter. "I thought you two were friends."

"We are," she told me. "It's... just how our friendship is, at the moment. He's being stupid."

I nodded, not sure exactly what I should say in response. "I'm sorry," I told her.

She shrugged. "Anyways, here's where I go up the stairs and you go down. Have a nice night, Kat."

"Thanks, Hermione," I said, turning the corner. It seemed like I might be gaining a new best friend, and I was actually very excited.

~.~

We spent the next Tuesday trying to piece together our potion recipes. She had a great idea for a base, and I knew how to tweak it so that it would relieve a person of homesickness. We started brewing it almost right away, and were the first people in our class to start the actual work of a potion. It would only take one class to brew, as the brewing time was about an hour and a half. It was a quick and relatively easy potion to make. If this was a successful endeavor, I knew this potion would find success in a market.

An hour and a half after we began, right on time, the potion turned the light yellow I had expected. I knew it was done, and removed it from the flames. Just a few minutes of excess heat would botch the trial, I knew.

"Are you homesick?" I asked her, having a feeling she was. She had come up with the idea, so it was a pretty obvious need in her life.

She nodded. "Yes," she said, quietly. "Do you think the potion is safe?"

I looked at our ingredients list again. It looked like it would be. There was nothing harmful in there, of course, as it was meant for consumption. "I think so... are you okay with taking it?"

"Yes," she told me, ladelling some out of the cauldron and into a vial. She tipped it into her mouth and swallowed. She grimmaced. "Tastes terrible."

That wasn't a good sign. All of the ingredients were pretty sweet tasting, some were even used in cooking. Terrible tasting wasn't what I had predicted, and that was a big warning sign to me.

I informed Slughorn, and he wanted me to watch Hermione for any reaction. When she began to break out in hives, it was a trip to the Hospital Wing for us. I accompanied her, because I felt terrible.

"I'm so sorry," I told her.

"Don't worry about it," she told me. "I feel fine. I think it has helped my homesickness."

That didn't stop her from scratching her neck, where large red welts had began to form. There was obviously a reaction here, meaning our potion wasn't going to be able to be used. I tried to analyze what had gone in the cauldron and figure out why she was breaking out. The only thing I could think of was that the fluxweed had broken down too long, and compromised the potion. I sighed, a bit frustrated that our project hadn't been as easy as it looked like it would be.

Madame Pomfrey was very concerned when she saw Hermione, and whisked her to a bed for an examination. I remained outside for awhile, wanting to make sure she was all right. I did feel awful that something I had overlooked had turned out like this.

Madame Pomfrey let me in to see her about ten minutes later, so I joined her as the effects of an Allergy Potion set in. My friend was going to be fine.

"I guess we're back to square one, eh?" she asked.

I nodded. Time to come up with something else.

Author's Note: Well, here's chapter three! I'm so pleased with the amount of feedback you guys are giving me on this story, it's really awesome! Keep it up, please! I need to ask you all a favor, though. Most of you have been around for awhile, and are all familiar with my FANTASTIC beta, potter-reading-coastie. Well, a few stories ago, he was writing the mini-story "The Adventures of Emily and the Coastie". We both would like the story to return, however, he's stuck. So we're looking for a few people to guest write a chapter or two! If you're interested, (PLEASE be interested) let me know in a review or a PM and I'll be in touch with details. It would be a one or two 'episode' guest writing position, writing a 200 to 500 word short story. If you're interested and not familiar with the story, let me know and I can email it to you. We really appreciate it! Thanks everyone!