Blaise Zabini was sitting at the Slytherin table the next morning with Kaliban. They were waiting for the letters from their mothers and to get their class schedule from Professor Snape.
Blaise was anxious to find out what his mom had to say about Hermione Granger.
Screeches were suddenly heard throughout the Great Hall as hundreds of owls flew in to the room and dropped letters to their owners.
Violet came to Blaise and dropped him his mother's letter while Smoky gave Kaliban his letter.
Blaise knew his mother was never secretive towards him and so he really questioned who Hermione really was. But he decided to head his mother's advice and befriend the girl and maybe her other friends.
Kaliban read his friends letter and he nodded at the fact that his mother was probably right.
"We should hurry and get to Potions. Mum told me that Snape can be mean to anyone who is late, especially members of his own house" Kaliban said and Blaise nodded as the 2 took off and made their way down to the dungeons for their class.
Blaise and Kaliban sat in the Potions classroom and saw that Hermione was looking at them. The boys she was with were not appreciating that but they said nothing.
Hermione was about to open her mouth to speak to them, but before she could Professor Snape entered the room and told everyone to sit down.
"Since many of you do not work when I let you work with your friends I will be assigning partners for the rest of the year" he said coldly and many groaned.
"The partners will be: Weasley-Potter, Longbottom-Finnigan, Parkinson-Greengrass, LeFebvre-Malfoy, Crabbe-Goyle, Patil-Brown, and Zabini-Granger" he said and many Slytherins stared at the fact that a Slytherin and a Gryffindor would be paired together.
Then the class began to shift around and pair up with their partners. Among the attitudes were: Pansy was happy to be working with Daphne, everyone was happy that Crabbe and Goyle would be working together. Ron and Harry were happy to be working together but they feared for Hermione's well-being, Lavender was happy to be working with her best friend Parvati. Seamus worried about working with the most inept person at potions; Neville. Malfoy hoped to turn Kaliban and Hermione and Blaise smiled and nodded at each other.
The groups began to work on their potion 'Draught of happiness' and Hermione decided to make small talk with Blaise as they worked.
"My name's Hermione" she said extending her hand and Blaise took it eagerly.
"My name's Blaise, it's a pleasure to meet you" he said friendly and they kept working.
"I was wondering, since we're going to be working together, that maybe we can study together at the library during our spare. Professor Snape always gives an essay the first day and it would be good to get working on it early" Hermione said in one breath, she was visibly nervous asking a Slytherin to study with her, but she trusted him.
"I would love to; I was wondering if my best friend Kaliban could join us. We are not interested in pureblood supremacy and would love to get to know you and you're friends" Blaise said truthfully.
"I would be grateful to talk to Slytherins that don't hate me because I'm a Muggleborn" Hermione ended the conversation and they quickly finished their work.
After Potions was let out, Hermione talked to Harry and Ron about becoming friends with Blaise and Kaliban.
"Are you crazy? They are just trying to get on your good side so that they can spy on us" Ron said and Hermione looked taken aback.
"No, they are not pureblood supremacists and Blaise is very nice to me. He accepted my offer to study with me after Herbology and I think he will prove to be an excellent friend to us" Hermione said and Harry looked intrigued.
"I think I'll join you and the Slytherins. The one; Blaise didn't insult you nor anything that I could see and he doesn't look like he wants to fight" Harry said, Hermione nodded and Ron eventually sighed.
"Alright, I'll come too, but if they begin to insult anything about any other houses or blood statuses I will leave" Ron said and the others could accept that.
Elsewhere, Blaise and Kaliban were talking outside the dungeons.
"Hermione invited us to study with her and her friends tonight. I said I would come only if you came too" Blaise told his best friend.
"I'll be most happy to come; Malfoy would not leave me alone about my status in the war. I don't want to hang out with him except in Potions so I'll be happy to get away from the other Slytherins" Kaliban said truthfully and they prepared to make their way to Charms; which was with the Gryffindors and would be followed by Herbology, which would then be followed by their spare where the 2 Slytherins and 3 Gryffindors would study together as friends and not enemies.
The classes passed fairly fast and soon enough the Slytherins and Gryffindors were sitting at a table together in the library.
'It's a pleasure to me you all. My mum told me stories about you' Blaise said to Harry.
'Hermione seems to want to befriend you, but I need your promise that you won't hurt her' Ron said and Hermione turned to glare at him.
'No problems, Ron, I will never hurt Hermione. She is a good Potions partner and we see each other as friends' Blaise said and Kaliban nodded; meaning that he agreed with his friend.
1 hour later, they left the library and went to Charms. Malfoy had seen them in the library and was not happy that they were friendly with 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', the Blood-Traitor and the Mudblood.
That night, Hermione, Harry, and Ron talked about the friendly Slytherins.
'I still think they might be evil' Ron said and Hermione glared again at him.
'Blaise was very nice to me and did not say anything supremacist about purebloods and Kaliban also seems to be against pureblood ideology. I have made friends in Slytherin, no matter how weird and against House Rivalries that is' Hermione ranted and Harry knew he needed to break up the disagreement before Ron and Hermione would terminate their friendship.
'Ron, Hermione chill. They don't seem evil, but we need to tread carefully. They are in the same house as Malfoy and he could easily shape their ideologies. But until that time we should remain acquaintances with them and not judge them too quickly' harry said and his 2 friends nodded before they all went to their own dormitories to sleep.
Elsewhere, Blaise and Kaliban were talking about the Gryffindors.
'Hermione will prove to be an excellent friend, but I'm not sure that Harry and Ron trust us' Kaliban said to Blaise.
'I agree, but we can't let them stop us from befriending Hermione. My mom knows Hermione and I want to be friends with her so that when my mom tells me at Christmas then mine and Hermione's friendship won't be affected' Blaise affirmed to Kaliban and the 2 boys finally turned in for the night.
