A/N: Slightly shorter chapter this time, so I apologise for that. You'll also notice the story now has an image to go with it, which I'm proud to say I made myself, I hope you all like it :)

I'm still pleased with the response, thankyou to everyone who reads and reviews!

Chapter Three

15th October, 1998. Monday.

Hermione had to steady herself against the wall as she made her way to Potions the following Monday. She breathed deeply, trying to stop her vision from swimming in front of her eyes and willing herself to stay conscious. She rested her forehead against the wall and closed her eyes, the cool stone helping to clear her head. She wondered vaguely if she was coming down with the flu or something similar that would explain her nausea.

"Hope you don't pass out, Granger," came a drawling voice from beside her. "I won't catch you if you fall."

She turned her head to face him, keeping the side of her face pressed against the stone wall. She caught a glimpse of his wide smirk before her vision blurred and turned blinding white. She groaned and pressed her eyes shut, willing the awful sensation to stop. Draco looked on, faintly amused at her predicament, while she breathed heavily.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

She opened her eyes; her vision had returned to normal and she was presented, once again, with Draco's infuriating grin. "Why are you just standing there?" she snapped at him, earning her a raised eyebrow.

"Fine, if you don't want my help, I'll just go to class," he shrugged, although he still didn't move away.

Her head clear now, Hermione pushed herself away from the wall with her hands, her bag swinging slightly from her shoulder. "I don't want your help. I'm fine now."

She turned and walked away, hoping fruitlessly that he didn't notice her stumble slightly as she started moving. He followed her in silence the rest of the way down the corridor until they came to the Potions classroom. Professor Slughorn didn't even look up as they entered; he was busy helping Victoria and the Hufflepuff boy as their shared cauldron was apparently smoking without explanation. Hermione turned to Draco, suddenly relieved that as much as he was a pain, at least he was a competent potion-maker.

"Why don't you set up the cauldron at the desk and I'll go and get the ingredients," she suggested, politely enough.

He nodded and reached out his hand. Hermione glanced at it, confused. "I'll take your bag to the desk," he explained. Hermione stared at him, bewildered. She wondered if he was making fun of her, or perhaps planning some sort of practical joke. Nevertheless, she dug her copy of Advanced Potion Making out of her bag before wordlessly handing it over to him.

She stopped halfway to the store cupboard as Professor Slughorn addressed the class, "You will find most of the required ingredients in the store cupboard, including those which must be harvested during specific lunar conditions. However, two of the ingredients normally belong in my private stores; these are powdered Bicorn horn and shredded Boomslang skin. You should not need these yet, as this potion will take approximately four weeks to complete. For today, I expect you to brew up to the end of line twelve of the instructions. You may continue."

Hermione returned with her hands full ten minutes later to find Draco sitting idly beside a bubbling cauldron. "You know," she said, catching his attention, "there was nothing to say you couldn't come and help once the cauldron was set up."

Draco scowled at her, and then his eyes travelled to the book tucked under her arm. "That won't be any use to us – it only tells us the ingredients, not the method. Slughorn had copies of some weird book on his desk, so while you were at the cupboard, I went and got one."

"Oh," Hermione blushed as Draco pointed to the thick book lying in front of him. Hermione suppressed a smile as she recognised it as Most Potente Potions, the book she had used to brew the potion in her second year. "Well, thanks, I suppose."

Draco ignored her, flipping the book open to the page detailing the Polyjuice Potion's method. As Draco read out the list of complicated instructions, the potion on the opposite page caught Hermione's eye: Laxative Potion. She wondered briefly why that was in a book kept in the restricted section of the library, and who would even consider brewing it?

Tearing her eyes away from that potion, Hermione read the first twelve instructions of the potion they were supposed to be focusing on, having been too distracted to listen to Draco reading them out.

1. Allow a cauldron of water to reach 100 degrees, then cool to 70 degrees.

2. Add 5 lacewing flies that have been stewed for 21 days.

3. Stir clockwise three times.

4. Raise the temperature to 85 degrees.

5. Stir anti-clockwise five times.

6. Add a further 3 lacewing flies.

7. Allow to simmer for four minutes.

8. Stir clockwise twice.

9. Add the remaining 4 lacewing flies.

10. Stir anti-clockwise once.

11. Add one ounce of crude Antimony.

12. Stir clockwise four times, and leave to simmer for seven days.

At this stage, the potion should emit a light grey vapour.

A glance at her watch told Hermione that they had forty-five minutes to complete the first twelve instructions, and, despite the large pile of ingredients on the desk, only two of them were required this lesson.

"Why don't you start heating the cauldron while I take back the ingredients we won't need today?" Hermione suggested, gathering the unnecessary pile into her arms. Draco nodded, already prodding the flames beneath the cauldron with the tip of his wand.

Forty-five minutes later, their potion was emitting the vapour as stated in the book. They had worked surprisingly well together, having divided up the instructions equally; Hermione was responsible for stirring and timing the potion's periods of simmering while Draco added the ingredients, controlled the temperature and double-checked Hermione's number of stirs.

Slughorn glanced into their cauldron before they left, and gave a satisfied smile. "Well done."

Hermione ran into Ginny for the first time in weeks as she made her way through the common room that night. Ginny, as usual, was alive with energy, her flaming hair bouncing around her, in stark contrast to how drained Hermione felt.

"I haven't seen you around in ages, Hermione, how are you?" Ginny asked kindly.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just getting stressed at the workload this year," Hermione replied, smiling faintly.

"You should take it easy, you look a bit pale," Ginny frowned, clearly concerned. "And you look like you've lost weight."

"I think I'm coming down with the flu or something, don't worry about me," Hermione said, trying to smile wider. Had she really lost so much weight it was easily noticeable? Ginny offered a sympathetic smile.

"Well, do you want to come down to dinner with me? My friends won't mind if I sit with you," Ginny offered, already starting to head towards the portrait hole.

"No no," Hermione said quickly, still smiling. Ginny raised her eyebrows. "That's okay, I think I'm going to lie down for a while, I don't feel very well right now. I might try and have a nap."

She smiled wider, wanting Ginny to leave so that she could curl up under her duvet and sleep. Ginny seemed a bit reluctant to leave as she bid Hermione an awkward goodbye and departed through the portrait hole. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Even though the common room was close to empty, she walked straight through it and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

As she undressed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror she had on her bedside cabinet. She really was very pale. She touched her collarbones, thinking that she'd never seen them that clearly before. She angled herself so she could see her hips, cupping the bone in the palm of her hand. She didn't think there was much difference there, although she couldn't be entirely sure. She pulled on her fluffy pyjama bottoms, thinking that perhaps she should start attending dinner again, as her flu – or whatever it was – was obviously causing her to lose a bit too much weight.

She resolved to start going to dinner the next day.

Just not tonight.

A/N: I made up the instructions for the potion, in case anyone was wondering, but all the ingredients used - and that will be used - are real. The laxative potion is also canon, and was also actually on the opposite page apparently.

I hope you liked this chapter, please review and tell me what you think!

WD,
xo.