Draco awoke the next morning wishing he hadn't drunk the entire bottle of Vodka. The problem, he knew, was that once he started he just couldn't stop…And it took a lot to get him flat-out wasted now. It took a lot to make him pass out. He chucked the bottle into the fireplace and aimed his wand at it. It disappeared in a poof of smoke and he pulled the drawer next to his bed open. Rummaging around inside he pulled out a small vial of hangover cure. He let a couple of drops fall onto his tongue.

Thank god for prefect rooms, he thought basking in the silence. Even if the Slytherin dorms were loud all night, and his room walls did not block much of the partying out, he had relative privacy. He wondered why the dorms were so silent, and glancing at his clock, realized that breakfast was almost over.

"I don't know why I keep oversleeping." He changed quickly and pulled on robes which he hoped didn't smell like alcohol. He walked quickly towards the Great Hall and was almost there when he heard two people arguing.

"Harry I don't understand what your issue is."

"My issue is that you spent the entire summer with our enemy Hermione. And now, all of a sudden, you think he should be one of us?"

"Dumbledore thinks so too. He's not his father Harry."

"No. But he's a Slytherin and a Malfoy that's two black marks Hermione. Everyone knows you can't have any."

"Sirius had one. So does Lupin. Why does it matter if he's a Slytherin?"

"His father is Voldermort's right hand man Hermione." Harry said his face contorted in anger. Hermione was standing with a hand on his hip a look of complete disgust on her face.

"And Snape was once a death eater," she hissed in return.

"Don't get me started on Snape. If I had my way he would be in Azkaban," Harry stated simply. "All I'm asking is that you don't see him anymore."

"That's who you were with the other night isn't it?" Hermione ignored Harry and turned to leave. Harry grabbed her wrist and she turned on him.

"You're hurting me." She said, twisting her arm away from him and trying to pull free. He tightened his grip and her eyes showed her pain.

"Promise me you won't see him anymore." He said simply, his eyes hard.

"That's no way to treat a Lady, Potter." Draco's voice drawled as he stepped out of the shadows. Hermione's eyes flickered nervously towards him and back to Harry. Harry dropped Hermione's wrist immediately and turned to face Draco.

"You stay away from Hermione, alright Draco. Or we'll have problems."

"Problems Potter? I think you have enough without my help."

"Come on Hermione," Harry said. He grabbed her hand and forcefully steered her into the Great Hall. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw Draco turning from the doors. He was hurrying back the way he had come. Not risking a sigh she took a deep breath and turned to face her house.

Draco couldn't believe Potter, but even more, he couldn't believe Hermione.

"How can she him treat her like that? She has more class than him tenfold and he's such an arrogant asshole," he muttered to himself.

"Talking to yourself again Draco," a female voice asked softly. A red head stepped from the shadows. But it wasn't Ginny.

"Blaise."

"Draco. How have you been this year? I haven't seen much of you." Blaise said, hooking her arm through Draco's.

"Just peachy. Being disowned really made my summer wonderful."

"Sounds like so much fun. But maybe not permanent." Blaise replied cryptically.

"Why wouldn't it be permanent?" Draco asked looking at Blaise closely. He wondered why everyone was making such comments.

"Well…I heard the child's a bastard. Not your father's."
"What?" Draco demanded, looking skeptical.

"Your father's been causing an uproar. He's really concerned about the pregnancy. Narcissa hasn't been handling it well."

"Why hasn't anyone told me?" Draco demanded. He had expected at least some loyalty from his housemates…Many of whom he had consistently pulled strings for in the five years they had been at Hogwart's.

"It was forbidden. I'm breaking rules telling you. But you needed to know. Narcissa has been at my house for two days now. Lucius nearly killed her and the baby in his rage over the rumors. The Dark Lord himself is endorsing them. He's trying to stir up competition within the ranks of the Death Eaters. He's pointed the finger at every one…Including my father."

Blaise looked angered at this admission. Draco thought it was cruel that Voldermort had stooped that low since Zabini had been dead for nearly two months now. He didn't think it was good karma to make a corpse roll over in its grave but he was sure that was exactly what Zabini was doing right now.

"I'm sure it wasn't him," Draco assured Blaise with a rare smile. "Everyone knew your parents adored each other. There was no reason for him to be with my mother. And they weren't friends anyway."

"My mother's shielding the house." Blaise said, lowering her voice. "She's going to help Narcissa through the rest of her pregnancy, and she's trying to keep Lucius away. She said you can come this Saturday. At midnight, she'll be outside the Hogwart's gates to escort you."

Draco looked at Blaise in surprise but she was already wandering away looking pleased with herself. Draco shook his head. Saturday was a long way off and he needed to decide whether this was a trick or not. He was not going to be tricked by his father at this point in the game. But his mother carrying a bastard…Trying to pass it off as a Malfoy heir. That was both hard to believe and completely out of character. The very fact that it was the story being presented him almost proved it's truth. He sighed. Things kept getting more difficult.

Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and merely smiled brightly at Ginny when she received a 'what's going on look.'

"Harry was just telling me how you enjoyed modeling so much this summer Ginny," Hermione said brightly. Ginny perked up immediately.

"Oh it was wonderful. You should come to the Christmas show. I'm going to be showing the Spring line with some of the other girls."

"I saw the headlines. Their calling you the new 'It Girl'" Hermione said. Ginny nodded excitedly.

"I know –"

"Aw come on Mione don't get her started again. We just got her to shut up!" Ron said sitting down with a loud plop. Faye slid gracefully into the seat next to Hermione and slung her arm around her shoulders.

"Hey Mione I was wondering. How bout next weekend you, me, and Gin go riding for the weekend. Like a campout. It would be a nice break before we have to started studying for mid-terms."

"That's a great idea. I'll have to check with my stable manager though…The mare's will be pretty far along."

"Don't worry about it. I'll have my mom ship out two geldings for me and Ginny. That way I can get Ginny a quiet one…You do want to come Ginny right?" Faye asked turning to face Ginny.

"I'd love it," Ginny said with a small smile.

"What about us?" Ron demanded.

"Girls only." The three girls said at the same time, before cracking up laughing. Hermione smiled her first real smile that day at Faye and stood.

"Well we do have classes," She said, causing the others to stand as well. The Great Hall was emptying out rapidly now.

As they walked to class Hermione had to wonder when her and Ron's relationship had become miraculously fixed. It was like, Harry and Ron needed to play guard dog thus they were all good friends again. And suddenly it was just easy to be friends. It just didn't make sense at this point and the more Hermione though about it the more it really irked her. Perhaps she didn't want to just be friends again.

Maybe she didn't want to be guarded. They sat in their usual Potions seats and Hermione had to keep her eyes from wandering to find Draco's bright blonde hair. She had to try to keep her feelings at bay. No one would understand their relationship and everyone would try to break them up anyway. Everything was getting far too complicated. Suddenly she was rich and influential. Suddenly her complexion had cleared, her hair straightened and she was fairly sure she was going growing again.

She fell to her thoughts then, tuning out Harry who was mumbling something derogatory about Snape. Snape seemed to be in an extra sweet mood that morning, but Hermione tuned him out too. She went through the motions of mixing her potion and cutting ingredients in complete silence. Without realizing it she slipped into a trance.

"Callista are you mixing that potion right?"

"I think so Professor. I've been following the instructions to the letter."

"It looks a little…odd. Let me help," the young Professor leaned over Callista brushing his hand down her back. She shivered and moved slightly away.

"Please don't," she said softly. She stood up and moved away. "I'll just make this up in class tomorrow."

"Sit, finish it now. Otherwise you fail." Callista's bottom lip trembled against her will and she drew in a deep breath. Sitting back down she continued to slice her ingredients, trying to ignore the piercing gaze that followed her every movement.

"Miss Ravenclaw. Miss Ravenclaw," Snape drawled again, this time right next to her ear. Hermione blinked and tried to focus on him her thoughts floating every direction.

"Yes Professor?" she asked unevenly. Snape eyed her suspiciously and gestured to her hand which was bleeding.

"You sliced your finger Miss Ravenclaw. If you would go and wash it. Mr. Potter, please discard Miss Ravenclaw's ingredients, they've been tainted. Miss Ravenclaw, follow me." Snape led her into his back office, warding the door as they passed through. Hermione looked around with interest. Both Harry and Dobby had stolen ingredients from Snape's private stores but Hermione had never seen the inner workings of the man's life.

Two of the walls were lined with various beakers and vials neatly labeled and ordered by color, and she suspected, potency. It was truly a sight to see. Against one wall was a locked cupboard and against the opposite a long table, which spanned the length of the wall, covered in instruments and measuring implements.

"I'm going to send you to the Headmaster Miss Ravenclaw. How can one possibly cut oneself without realizing it?"

"I was in a trance Professor," Hermione said honestly. There was, after all, a significant chance that it would happen again.

"A trance?" Snape asked incredulously.

"My inheritance," Hermione said simply.

"Ah, following in Lucia's footsteps I see. Let me see your hand," Snape waved his wand over Hermione's finger and offered a rare smile. "Lucia was one of few who I possess fond memories of. She was fantastic at potion making, but then…She excelled at everything. Take care next time you fall into a trance Miss Ravenclaw."

"I'll try Professor…I haven't exactly learned to control them."

"Obviously. You're excused from the rest of class today. I expect an essay on the use of sleeping draughts at varying potencies and a vial of the most common sleeping draught for next class."

"How many feet for the essay?"

"Two I think," Snape said waving his hand at the door to discard the wards. He stepped out before Hermione. "I do believe there is class work to be done…" He drawled to the students, most of who were trying to look busy when moments before they had been trying to catch a glimpse of what Snape was doing.

Hermione grabbed her bag and without a word to Harry, Faye, and Ron, walked out. As she didn't look back, she didn't see Draco's blatant stare at her retreating back.

Draco watched Hermione walk out with a look of…Well, a look. Blaise laughed at something one of the Slytherins across the aisle said and Draco snapped his attention back.

"Draco, what's gotten into you?" Blaise muttered, busily crushing her mandrake root.

"I'm just…Distracted. Hung-over…Take your pick. By the way, do you have any hangover relief you might be willing to part with. I'm out." Blaise nodded.

"Yeah. It'll cost you though. It's grade A. My house elves brew it for my mom and sneak me a couple of vials but I can't guarantee a refill until Christmas."

"Figures. How much?"

"Whatever you can pay," Blaise said, looking up at him from under her long lashes. "Maybe you could visit my bed again," She said in a soft voice. Immediately after she turned back to her potion.