The next morning was the students' first day of classes, but Hermione was alone in being excited to be back to work. At breakfast the 5th year Gryffindors were all speaking with bent heads to compare schedules. Most of their lessons were the same because the Gryffindors all had core classes together, but Hermione had a few different classes from the rest. While she had Arithmancy, the rest had either a different lesson, or a free block like Harry and Ron did. She also had Ancient Runes rather than Divination, like the rest of her friends. She was excited to be going to these classes because she found them simply fascinating, but she was worried that she would have no one to sit with or partner with because she shared this class with none of the rest of her house.

After sitting through their first lesson of the day, History of Magic, which all of them slept through excluding Hermione, of course, the Gryffindors made their way to the dungeons, dragging their feet because their schedules stated that this was one of three classes they would be sharing with the Slytherins. When they reached the dungeon which held the Potions classroom, they saw that the Slytherins were already there. Hermione's eyes were drawn almost automatically to Malfoy's tall, lanky body. She felt a strange sensation (she almost thought was jealousy before she realized how absurd she was being) when she saw that Malfoy's usual slut, Parkinson, was hanging on his arm and speaking animatedly to him. She felt... She wasn't really sure what, but she thought it felt a bit like relief when she noticed that he looked extremely bored with Parkinson. When he looked her way, she quickly averted her eyes before he could see her looking at him. At least she thought he hadn't seen, but in reality, he knew she was staring his way. If he was being honest with himself, though, he liked it a little. He didn't hate knowing that he drew her attention.

Before the class started, Snape set up their partnerships. Harry was with Blaise Zabini,while Ron was with Theodore Nott. As for her, she was, unfortunately, stuck with Malfoy. This being Snape, it was certain that he would give them an extremely difficult task for their first lesson back to school, and he didn't disappoint. Their lesson for the day was to create the potion, Draught of Peace. It was one of the most difficult potions she had ever attempted to make before, and it didn't help that Malfoy kept distracting her both by his looks and his attitude. Though he was more attractive than he was last year, he was still the same annoying, bullying prat that he had been the year before.

"No Granger! You're supposed to add syrup of hellebore after stirring the potion, not before. Honestly, do you know nothing? No wonder I'm better than you at Potions, you're simply not smart enough. Either that, or you don't know how to read.

This certainly got a rise out of Hermione, which is what Malfoy secretly wanted. He loved seeing her get angry. He loved seeing the gentle flush in her cheeks, which got more and more pronounced every time he said something that made her angrier, and the way her curly hair practically crackled with energy when she got angry. The look in her eyes when she glared at him, however, wasn't how he wanted her to look at him, but if it got her to look at him, then he was willing to make the sacrifice. Of course, he would never admit any of this to anyone but himself. If anyone else asked him why he loved getting her so angry, he simply told them it was his hatred for her because she was a filthy Mudblood and and that he loved getting under her skin.

"Shut up, Malfoy, you are not better than me in Potions. And I'm more than smart enough to create this potion! I also definitely know how to read, considering I read more in a day than you read in an entire month. I made a simple mistake is all."

"I am certainly better than you at Potions, Granger, denial isn't going to change that. And obviously you read more in a day than I do in a month because I have a life and people who actually want to hang around me, and you don't."

"Whatever, Malfoy. Let's just finish this potion so that I can get out of your company as soon as I possibly can."

"Agreed, Mudblood."

Hermione hated when he called her mudblood because that meant that no matter how smart she was, or how hard she worked, he would be better than her. She never thought that he was better than her, in fact, she knew for a fact that he wasn't better than her, but he and others would always think he was better than she was simply because he was a pureblood, and she hated that. But today, hearing that name made her twice as angry as it usually did, and further more, it didn't just make her angry, it actually hurt her to hear him call her that. She didn't even know why. "I mean why should I care? He's called me that since second year! It hasn't bothered me since the first time he called me that. I've gotten used to it, so why is it bothering me?" she thought to herself. God, she hated that name so much, in fact, she was seeing red. What she hated more, though, was that there was nothing she could call him or say in return that would hurt him as much as he could hurt her.

So instead, she slapped him.

A/n

Well, this was the second chapter. There wasn't really a lot of plot, but its only the beginning. Hope you enjoyed, and if you have anything you want to see in upcoming chapters, review. If I like it, I'll try to add it to the plot. Thanks for reading!