Disclaimer: I dont own harry potter or anything JKRowling related. Sighs

Chapter 1

One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. ~Kung-Fu Panda

Arithmancy was a bitch.

Hermione couldn't understand why she even took the damned subject. It was one of the most retarded subjects in the wizarding world. Even before Hogwarts, Hermione hated Math, and Arithmancy...yeah well it was a heck lot like Math.

She pushed her books back into her bag as the class was dismissed. Not a lot of students took Arithmancy, but the ones that did, well, Hermione didn't want to acknowledge the fact.

The truth was, they were doing better than she was. That was something that had surprised the teachers greatly. Bets in the staff room soared all the way to a thousand galleons. Professor Sinistra had bet that Hermione would probably give the subject up, whereas, Snape had bet 500 galleons that Granger would use her "foolish Gryffindor perseverance" to "unravel the mysteries of the grand subject of Arithmancy ", even though Potions was by far the best.

But apart from all that, it wasn't the fact that Hermione was sucking at Arithmancy that bothered her. No, it was something else, and the fact made her very self-conscious.

It was something she would never have believed, if she hadn't seen it for herself.

Draco Malfoy was taking Arithmancy, and by golly he was freaking good at it. But it didn't stop there, oh no, not only was he good, he was sharing the Head dormitory with her and he knew what happened when Hermione did her Arithmancy homework.

Chaos.

That was the best way to describe it.

But that wasn't what was on Hermione's mind as she walked on to the Great Hall for lunch. It was what the Professor had said to her after class.

Hermione sat down at the table and stared dismally at her food. Ron and Harry came bounding, and sat down either side of her and piled their plates up. It wasn't until they had started devouring their meal like carnivorous beings, did they notice the quiet Hermione sitting between them.

They looked at each other as Harry spoke up.

"Err, 'Mione? You alright, you haven't even touched your food yet?"

"Yeah Hermione, What's wrong? Is it that git Malfoy, he's staring at you again. Want me to punch him in the..."

"...Because we like totally have your best interests at heart..."

"...duh, I mean what type of friends we would be if you suffered through things alone..."

"...Crappy ones I tell you"

"Hear, hear."

"Cheers."

And the two boys drained their goblets of pumpkin juice. Hermione stared at the boys with an incredulous smile on her lips. They were probably the weirdest people she had ever had the fortune to meet. But they were good at heart and always made her feel happy.

Hermione's brain was working double time though. Did they just say that Malfoy was staring at her? Why would he do that?

She passed a casual glance around the hall until it landed on the Slytherin table, and directly into the gaze of a pale haired, heart shaped face. Hermione blushed and looked away. Ron was right, Malfoy was looking at her.

Hermione pushed the thought from her mind and focused on what Professor Vector had said to her.

Flashback

"Hermione, would you please stay back for a minute?"

Hermione looked curiously at Professor Vector. She walked over to her table and waited for her to begin.

"Hermione, I know you might be a bit puzzled as to why I called you here after class. But I think you know how you're doing in my class and it won't be a surprise to you."

Hermione was looking perplexed up till now started to realize where this was going, and she didn't like it one bit.

The Professor continued, "What I'm trying to say is, Hermione, why don't I set you up with one of the students in class and you can have regular study sessions with them? That way you'll get double the time for Arithmancy and it might help and improve your performance. I know without a doubt that you'll be able to catch up, but you just need a little push in the right direction."

She ended her long speech with a small smile, hoping the bushy haired girl in front of her didn't pounce with hexes flying here and there.

To her surprise Hermione gave a small nod and said, her voice filled with determination, "I'll do my best .Would you please tell me who you will be pairing me up with beforehand? I would really appreciate that."

Professor Vector smiled and told her she would owl her as soon as she had everything set up.

By this time, everybody had finished up their meals and were getting ready to go back to their common rooms. The trio trudged up the stairs and parted on the fourth floor. The head dormitory was a bit far off from the Gryffindor common room. Hermione walked through the hallways alone, until she finally came up in front of the portrait that concealed the Head rooms and entered.