As Hermione dropped in the last of the ingredients for her potion, it bubbled and went bright red. It was supposed to go bright red, right? She glanced into her book. It was supposed to look bright red; in fact it looked perfectly how it was supposed to. She smiled and looked over into Ron and Harry's cauldrons.
"How are you going, boys?" Hermione asked.

"How does it look?" Ron squeaked, stirring his potion rapidly which was green, as opposed to red. Harry's was fizzing and orange.

"Do you need any he—" Hermione started to ask but someone cut her off.

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary, Miss Granger," a cold voice growled. "Mr Weasley and Potter can do their own work and if they do it wrong, then it is their fault. I won't have you showing off in my classes."

Hermione blushed and Professor Snape walked off. She heard sniggering from across the room. Malfoy and his little Slytherin friends apparently found it amusing that she had just gotten into trouble. Typical. Judging from the blue smoke coming from the cauldron in front of him, Malfoy wasn't doing so crash-hot himself.

Snape walked over to Malfoy's cauldron and pursed his lips.

"Miss Granger," he snapped. Hermione looked up from her book. Snape beckoned her over with a finger.

"Help Mr Malfoy here with his potion," Snape demanded.

"But sir… you just said it'd be showing off and cheating!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape murmured maliciously. "No arguments, Miss Granger." Hermione breathed out angrily and stood next to Malfoy's cauldron, inspecting the potion.

"Did you forget the lizard eyes?" She asked. Malfoy frowned and poured them in.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "You were supposed to put it in first! First! You completely wrecked it now!" Malfoy scowled at her.

"Listen mudblood," he whispered. "You fix this up and then we can forget this ever happened, okay?"

"Excuse me, Malfoy. But I was supposed to help, not do the work for you. It's not my fault you're stupid and are incapable of doing the simplest potions! If you just re-do it, I'll guide you through the steps, okay?"

Malfoy put this to thought and nodded. Hermione felt great annoyance towards him, but most of all toward Snape.

By the end of the lesson, Draco had managed to get the potion near perfect with the help of Hermione. Snape looked down into Draco's cauldron and nodded with approval before walking off to examine the other potions. Hermione felt impatient sitting next to Draco and helping him. She had crossed her long legs tantalizingly; Draco had noticed and nearly mucked up his potion for the second time just looking at them. Hermione got easily worked up over this and snapped at him for not concentrating. Hopefully she hadn't realized what Draco had been looking at.

Draco smiled at Hermione when she looked up after they'd finished the potion. Hermione wondered why Draco was smiling and looked behind her to see if there was a Slytherin behind her, but there wasn't. She smiled slightly back at him.

Eventually Snape announced it was time to clean and pack up.

"You two work together," Snape murmured to Hermione and Draco. "If Draco has anymore problems, I will select you to help him, is that clear, Miss Granger?"

Hermione breathed out furiously and nodded.

"Yes, Professor," she growled. Harry and Ron were waiting at the door for her.

"What was that all about?" Harry wanted to know.

"Malfoy is too stupid to do his own potions, so I have to help him," Hermione explained, frowning.

"You should just give Malfoy the wrong directions and make it blow up in his face," Ron said excitedly.

"Uh, Ron, I'd love to, but I don't think that would turn out very well," Hermione mumbled. Potions was the last two periods they had, so the three went up to the dormitory.

"Flaming flamingoes," Hermione murmured once they had gotten up the stairs and to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open and the three walked into the common room which was half-crowded by chatty Gryffindors. The common room was how it always was, with roaring fires. Hermione felt full and warm as she walked to a couch where Harry and Ron had placed themselves.

"I think I might go to bed now," Hermione announced after about an hour of animated conversation, hand movements and laughter. Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"Hermione, it's only 6 o'clock, dinner will be ready soon," Ron said.

"Oh," Hermione squeaked. "I think I might go have a bath then. I'm sorry; my minding wasn't working too well just then…"

"Maybe it's the dye," Harry said, grinning up at Hermione.

"Ha, ha," Hermione said sarcastically.

"No, no," Ron disagreed. "She isn't blonde." He winked at Hermione and she felt herself blushing. Hermione finally left the common room and dawdled to the Prefects bathroom. There wasn't too much time left before dinner, so she decided on the way there she'd just have a quick shower. Hermione thought about Ron whilst she walked to the bathroom. She thought about how handsome he was getting. His eyes lit up when he smiled at her and his hair was growing, framing his face and making him look adorable. He was incredibly tall; Hermione could barely reach half way up his neck on her tippy toes. Despite how lanky he was, there was something about him that made Hermione want just jump into his arms and cuddle him. Then she thought of Malfoy and the way she felt when she crashed into his chest. The heavenly feel of him, the way his warmth radiated off him…

Oh golly. She hadn't thought again, had she? She approached the entrance to the bathroom and murmured "pine fresh" and strode into the bathroom. Grabbing a fluffy towel on the way, she went over to the showers. She sighed, rather tired, and started to undress. When Pansy said Hermione had suddenly gotten skinny, it was only half-true. Hermione had never been more than chubby. She did get slimmer gradually throughout the holidays, yet curvier in the right places. She slowly slipped out of her robes and turned the handle of the shower so it was on.

Draco couldn't believe what had happened earlier on in Potions. He couldn't believe Snape had demanded Granger to help Draco again if he was slipping his grades. Draco being a normally very bright student, rarely ever needed help in classes. Let alone in Potions, where the head of Slytherin was teaching. He approached the entrance of the Prefect bathroom and muttered "pine fresh", with the intentions of having a bath to help him forget about everything, even if he missed dinner. It didn't matter though, because he wasn't that hungry. He walked in and saw a naked girl. Wow, she was beautiful. Perfectly curved and with long black, curly hair. He stared for a moment and she looked up, just when she was about get in. She screamed when she noticed who was staring at her, and Draco turned around suddenly when he realized who he was staring at. No way could Granger be that hot! No freaking way…

"Get OUT!" Shrieked Hermione.
"Ah crap, I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" Draco yelled, covering his eyes as he walked out as quickly as he could. Had he really walked in on what he thought he walked in on? Had he really seen the suddenly hot, naked Hermione Granger about to step into a shower? Draco pinched himself. Holy crap! He really had. As he walked back to the Slytherin common room, he debated whether he should tell someone or not. He decided not to. Hermione was gorgeous. He didn't want any of his Slytherin buddies making moves on her, knowing that she was as hot as he described her to be.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Hermione murmured, shampooing her hair as quickly as possible to get out of the bathroom. She felt extremely paranoid, but somewhat flattered. Malfoy of all people had just seen her NAKED! It would have been bad enough if it was anyone else, but MALFOY. She shuddered. She then remembered the look on his face as he watched her. The way he stood there, completely mesmerized by the way she looked. Surely she must have been attractive for Malfoy to stare at her that way. Malfoy was known to only go for the most gorgeous girls at Hogwarts. Never would he allow to be seen with an ugly girl. Unless it was Pansy Parkinson. She began to chuckle as the picture of Malfoy's blank face came into her mind, the way his fringe flopped over his eye and the way he flicked it way when she looked at him.

Hermione finished her shower, got dressed and ran to the Great Hall to have dinner. She decided not to tell Harry and Ron about what had happened. Hermione knew they would explode with anger and end up cursing Malfoy. Nothing she wouldn't mind happening, but she didn't feel he really needed it. It was a mistake he had walked in on her, wasn't it?

Draco watched the entrance of the Great Hall to see if Hermione had walked through. When she finally did, his heart jumped. The mistake he had made walking in on her didn't seem so bad, after he had really thought about it. Sure, he had walked in on Hermione Granger, the mudblood. But boy was she good looking now. Draco assumed he was the only one in Hogwarts, besides Hermione herself, to have seen her naked like that. He felt smug about it. Draco had thought of a master plan to get in Hermione's good books. Once he was, he decided, he would make the swipe on her. It was such a pleasure to see her naked, Draco couldn't even imagine how good it'd be to actually touch it.

Hermione looked at the Slytherin table after she had walked through the doors of the Great Hall. She saw Malfoy watching her. He smiled at her. His smile was so handsome. Hermione gave herself a mental slap. No! It was not handsome. It was malicious and hideous. She knew what Malfoy must have been thinking about when he smiled. She blushed, gave him a dirty look and looked away. All night at dinner, all she could think about was how embarrassing it was to know that Malfoy knew what she looked like naked.