When Hermione woke up the next day she could barely remember the events of the night before, her memories were hazy but soon enough she found her mind drifting back to the meal she and Draco had shared the night before. She got out of bed and grabbed her towel before heading to the bathroom. She walked in to find Draco just about to leave.
"Thanks for last night." She said.
"It was nothing." Draco said blushing slightly.
"No it wasn't. So thank you." Hermione answered.
"Well, I'll leave you to it. Need to get dressed." Draco said as he walked to the door.
"Okay, see you soon." she said.
Hermione had a quick shower before brushing her teeth and walking back to her room where she dried her hair and got dressed.
"Ready?" He asked her as she walked into the living area.
"Yep, come on." she said as they began to walk towards the door.
"So any ideas what happened last night?" he asked as they walked out of the dorm.
"None. Not a clue." she answered.
"Has it happened before now?" He asked.
"No never. Why all the questions? You a doctor?" She responded.
"No but….hang on what's a doctor?" he questioned.
Hermione looked at him for a minute puzzled and the she suddenly she realised her mistake.
"A healer." She said laughing to herself, for a minute she had forgotten herself and was back in the muggle world that she left behind every time she came to Hogwarts.
"Oh okay", Draco said, "I'm not by the way, not yet anyway." he added.
"Not yet?" Hermione questioned
"I wanna be a healer." He said simply.
"You want to be a Healer?" Hermione said with a look of surprise on her face.
"More than anything else in the world. Of course father would never have agreed but he's not important anymore." he said.
"Healer Malfoy. Sounds good." Hermione said.
"You think?" Draco asked.
"Let me see your hands." Hermione said,
Draco looked at her wondering what she was going to do, eventually he tentatively put out one of his hands. Hermione took it in both of hers and gently held it as she looked into Draco's eyes.
"Well they feel like healer's hands." She said as she smiled at him.
Draco moved his hands away as he blushed slightly, the colour looking almost out of place on his normally pale skin.
"Sorry." Hermione said unsure whether she should be apologising.
"You don't have to apologise." Draco said.
Hermione smiled and then spoke,
"Well, I'm feeling a lot better now, but if it happens again, I'll go and see Madame Pomfrey." She said.
"Promise me." Draco said.
"I promise." she replied.
The walk to the Great Hall took about 10 minutes and once there Hermione and Draco went their separate ways and walked to their tables. Hermione walked over to the table to find Ron, Harry and Ginny sat talking.
"Morning." She said as she sat down.
"Hey." Ginny said, "And how is the best Head Girl Hogwarts has ever had today?" she asked.
"I don't know." Hermione answered as she took a piece of toast and started buttering it.
"What's up?" Ginny asked.
Hermione took a bite of her toast and then relayed the events of the night before to a wide-eyed Ginny. Once Hermione finished there was a short silence, neither Ginny or Hermione wanted to speak. Eventually Ginny spoke,
"Are you okay now?" She asked.
"I'm fine. I don't know if I would have been had Draco not been there." Hermione said.
"You calling him Draco these days then Hermione." Ron asked having heard the Slytherin's name.
"Yes Ronald I am." Hermione answered as she took another bite of her toast.
"So what do you think caused it?" Ginny questioned.
"Could have been anything. Tiredness, stress, anything. All I know is that it happened and I feel fine now." she said.
"Well that's ok then." Ginny answered.
Hermione finished eating the piece of toast that she and taken and then she reached for another one. Once she had eaten that Harry, Ron and Hermione began the walk to the Potions dungeon.
"So what were you saying to Ginny earlier?" Ron asked her.
"Oh I was just telling her about my dorm and stuff." Hermione said trying to come up with something plausible although she knew Ginny was supportive of her building a friendship with Draco she wasn't sure how Harry and Ron might react.
"And you mentioned Malfoy because?" Ron asked
"Because Ginny was asking how it was living with him." Hermione answered getting slightly frustrated with Ron, " Now if you want to know anything else tough, you should have been listening earlier." she added.
Ron had the sense to stop questioning Hermione, instead he turned to Harry and began to talk about what Harry was planning to do with the Quidditch team in the year ahead. Once they got to the dungeons they took their seats and waited for Professor McDonald, their new potions teacher to arrive. They had not yet seen their new Professor, they only thing Dumbledore had told them was that he was male and that his name was Professor Gregor McDonald, he had been absent at the start of term feast and for the last couple of days and so all the students were keen to meet him. Hermione was stood listening to the boys talking more about Quidditch when suddenly she saw him. He was tall, had brown floppy hair that matched the colour of his eyes perfectly. As he got closer Hermione felt her heart rate quicken, and her eyes following this beautiful stranger.
"Well come on in then everyone." he said in a thick Scottish accent as he held the door open.
"Professor McDonald?" Hermione asked.
"That's me." he answered.
Hermione's mouth opened slightly as though she was about to speak again but she didn't, Professor McDonald had already begun to make his way to the front of the classroom.
"Come on then." A voice behind Hermione said.
Hermione turned to see Harry stood, Ron next to him, everyone else had already walked in. Harry and Ron exchanged a quick glance at each other, both wondering why Hermione hadn't been the first one into the classroom. Hermione flashed them both a smile and then the three of them walked in to find that the only spaces now available were on the front row. They took their places and then waited for the new Professor to speak.
"Welcome to Potions. I am sure this year will be interesting and I hope that I can get to know all of you very well. As you know I'm Professor McDonald." he said.
There were a few giggles from the back of the room, Hermione turned to see Lavender and Pavarti whispering to each other. Hermione grinned, knowing exactly how they felt, potions this year was going to be fun, even more so now Professor McDonald was around. Hermione turned back and as she did she caught sight of Draco giving her a puzzled look, she cringed a little she had obviously been smiling too much. As a silence once again fell across the room the professor spoke.
"Okay, so let's get started. Turn to Page 54 of your books. I would like you all to make me the Draught of Peace" He said
Hermione smiled, this was going to be easy she thought to herself as she gathered together her ingredients and got to work.
"Sir, I know this is probably a silly question, but I think my potion is going wrong, can you come and check it for me."
Professor McDonald came over quickly, he took one look at the cauldron and he smiled slightly.
"Did you put in the Powdered moonstone first or second?" he asked.
Hermione put on her embarrased look and spoke,
"Oops." She said.
"You've got time. Start again." He said as he began to walk away.
Hermione smiled as she emptied her cauldron out.
"What?" She asked a dumbstruck Harry and Ron.
"You went wrong." Ron said.
"Yes I suppose I did. It was worth it though." She replied.
Ron looked at her mouth open, his eyes full of surprise. Hermione said nothing else, she just got her ingredients and began to make the potion once more. By the end of the class most of the students had managed to successfully concoct the potion. Even if half the girls in the class had had to ask the professor for some help.
"10 points to all those that managed to make the potion. And anyone who wasn't successful, take a look over what you did. We learn more by our mistakes than doing things right first time. Off you go then." He said.
Everyone began packing up and slowly the crowd of students walked out of the room.
"Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy, a quick word please." Professor McDonald said suddenly.
"Go on, I'll see you later." Hermione said to Harry and Ron.
They left the room along with the others and then Hermione and Draco walked over to Professor McDonalds desk.
"Professor Dumbledore would like to speak to you both immediately." Professor McDonald said.
"Did he say what it was about?" Draco asked.
"I'm sure he will tell you when you get there." He answered.
"Well thank you for letting us know. We should go." Draco replied.
Hermione managed a shy smile at the new professor before the three of them said their good-byes and Hermione and Draco began the walk to Dumbledore's office.