Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter no matter how much money I offered

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing. I'd like to dedicate the first two paragraphs of this chapter to Sandyspark. I hadn't originally planned on having Harry's thoughts on "Mathieu" as the next chapter and at the last minute decided to write something quick. So enjoy!

One of The Guys

Chapter Seven

Partners (edit 2/21/09)

Apart from being a girl for the past few days, nothing exciting had really happened except for the new French, foreign, exchange student, Mathieu Mondego. He was interested, it wasn't everyday that you met someone from another country. He smiled as he looked at Lavender. He could see wheels spinning in her head and watched as she bit her lip. Poor Lavender was on the rebound and poor Mathieu was her pray.

He vaguely made plans to pop popcorn and find a nice comfy spot in the commons room to watch her make her advances and in the process probably kill all manhood within the new boy. She was quite skilled in that art. It's amazing she ever had a boyfriend at all, she was so scary.

As Professor Dumbledore made an announcement Harry studied the physique of the new student out of mild curiosity. He was skinny, but not exactly bony or wimpy; he also had curly brown hair that was cut short around his ears. All in all, Harry couldn't deny he had a nice body but quickly checked himself at the thought. Instead he attempted to hide his curiosity with a look of indifference but failed miserably.

He quickly distracted himself with conversations off on his side all the while internally cursing his damn hormones.

Sunday swept by quickly and during that Hermione had to endure furtive glances from Parvati and Lavender and angry glares from Neville, but whenever she would look up to meet his eyes he quickly looked away as if he had been doing nothing. Ginny also had been spending more time with Neville, too. They studied and ate lunch together but whenever they were apart Ginny would come and talk to Hermione and ask her how it was going (and to bitch about Neville, poor Neville).

It was now finally Monday and class was soon to start. The large group, Ginny, Neville, Hermione, Evie, Ron, and Lavender were sitting at the Gryffindor table talking casually about classes. Seamus was off eating with his girlfriend asserting his masculinity (opening jars and flexing his muscles, etc.) and Dean was somewhere being artistic, Hermione was sure.

Ginny was pounding Evie about Bulgaria but before she could even answer either Ron or Lavender would distract her. Hermione had found that suspicious, but didn't think anything of it. Ron and Lavender appeared to have adopted Evie as Harry's replacement and the two of them were quite demanding of attention in their own right, much like toddlers demanding attention from their older sibling.

Hermione felt oddly comfortable with her situation. It was nice not to be ignored, sure she didn't mind 'Hermione time' but having people to talk to who weren't Ginny was nice too. But whether the attention was because she was new or because she was 'French' didn't bother her much. She enjoyed France when she visited after second year and enjoyed talking about the country. France did have some of the oldest remnants of magic, dating back as far the prehistoric—

Hermione jumped in surprise and let out a tiny squeak. Lavender totally did not purposely just rub her foot against Hermione's knee. No, it was merely an accident.

Breakfast continued on and they were almost finished eating when Dean rushed into the Great hall with an excited expression on his face. When he saw them he walked over to their seats and sat down across from Ron.

"Guess what," He said.

"What?" Lavender asked.

"We have a project for care of magical creatures' class," He said, "It's going to count for half of our grade."

Hermione felt excitement bubble inside of her. It was a great way to distract her from Lavender's babbling, but for Harry, the announcement had the exact opposite effect. He was feeling dread for what dangerous creature Hagrid might have them study. He looked over at Ron and saw that he shared the same fear.

When they finished eating the seventh years broke away from Ginny and left towards their first class of the day which for them was now potions and where they were learned how to make veritaserum and then divination where Professor Trelawny for once did not Predict Harry's death but she did get to Ron and claimed he would die from a hex shot by a jealous ex-girlfriend. Harry did have to admit that was probably the most possible prediction she had said since Harry had first met her. Ron however was not amused.

Hermione after she had potions broke away from her friends to go to arithmancy. The other students (Mostly Ravenclaws) didn't even bother talking to her and to her disappointment the teacher, Professor Vent, actually seemed relieved that 'Hermione Granger' wasn't in the class and that just put her in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

When it was time to go to care of magical creatures class outside, which they shared with Hufflepuff, she was irritated and it didn't help that on her way to said class a bunch of Hufflepuffs flirted mercilessly with her.

In this classes the only person who really talked to her was Dean and Seamus since she was avoiding Lavender. Ron seemed nice to her (only because he didn't know her true identity) but she wasn't ready to take him on as a friend yet, and Evie, she, for some reason, couldn't seem to find a reason why she disliked her so much (Ginny told her she was just jealous), but she did. And she couldn't even turn to Neville for companionship because he would behave so stiff around her.

But even Dean and Seamus weren't that great. As his normal self, Seamus seamed so calm cool and collect but now when Hermione hung out with him he seemed jumpy and strange. He started hanging out with his girlfriend more and from what Ginny told her the girl was thinking of dumping him because he was acting too clingy. Dean was nice and all but he was sports freak and would always talk about Football.

When she reached the class Hermione met the two boys and took a seat on the grass. She saw Lavender, Ron, and Evie come in. They nodded at them as a way of greeting before sitting a little bit in front of them.

Harry and his friends sat down in front Seamus, Dean, and Mathieu. And as soon as Harry sat down he felt extreme discomfort and a fear his underwear was showing. He began to fidget. Lavender kept hissing at him to stop moving and Harry kept glaring at her. Finally she had to help him adjust his skirt so it wouldn't ride up her thighs but when they finished to Harry's horror he noticed half the boys in the class, including Ron, were staring at him. He blushed and stopped moving.

A few minutes later Hagrid came out and with a crate. Because they were sitting they couldn't see what was inside of it. He set it down in front of his cabin and dusted his hands off.

"Now, Class," He said. "I will be pairin' ya' off for about a month. Each group will be given an egg to take of as a parent."

A few people started to get excited and few guys winked over at Harry. He glared at them before turning his attention over at Hagrid who began to call names out.

"Lavender Brown and Neville Longbottom, Parvati and Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbot and Ron Weasley, Evie Evans and … Mathieu Mondego…"

Hermione blinked. She turned to stare at Evie who at the moment turned to stare at her their eyes met when at that moment Hagrid gathered their attention.

"Now, why don't ya' get wit' ya'r partner and come up her' to pick yar egg."

Hermione got up and walked over to Evie who was dusting off her bottom. The Bulgarian gave her a slight smile before turning over to the crate Hagird had brought out. The two of them walked over to it along with the rest of the class. Inside were about 10 or 12 hard-boiled eggs. They were large about the size of each student's head. Hermione looked at each one carefully before pointing out one closer to Evie who reached into and gently pulled out the egg. They walked back to their spots, Evie still holding the egg.

"Ok," Hagrid said, "Now that every 'un got their eggs every Monday ya'll gat a task and must complete it by Friday. This week's task it to name ya' egg, give it a gender and write an essay on its personality all the while not breakin' it."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Hermione said casually. She looked over at Evie who shrugged.

"What do you want? A girl or a boy?" She asked casually.

Hermione looked thoughtful. If she were to be a parent in real life what would she want? "I guess a girl…"

"Ok," Evie shrugged. "I don't really care."

"So it's a girl we need a name," Hermione said. What was her favorite name?

"Jenna? No, Otylia," Evie joked.

"What kind of name is Otylia?" Hermione asked clearly annoyed. "I've never heard it before."

"Its Polish," Evie answered.

"No," Hermione said. She glared at Evie. She was pretty sure that was the name of the number one Female Quidditch player. She only knew this because Ginny was a fan.

"How about Karen?" Evie asked.

"Ok," Hermione agreed. Evie began to look at the egg. She raised it to her face and stared at it closely. "What are you looking for," he asked.

"There's a mark on the egg," she said absently. She lowered it and looked over Hermione who moved under her gaze and shifted for a moment. "You look familiar."

Hermione raised her eyes and looked at Evie in shock. "I-I do?"

Evie scrutinized her for a longer moment than shook her head. "Never mind, do you want me to do the essay or-"

"I'll do it," Hermione jumped in.

Evie nodded. For the rest of the class they talked casually about what they expected to come of the year and for the first time having an actual conversation with each other.

Ron and Hannah were chatting casually. They decided to have a girl as well. They named her Stephanie. At the moment Ron was flirting mercilessly away with his partner whose face had turned beet red and was giggling.

She was laughing so loud that people had turned to stare at them raising eyebrows at them.

"I just love your hair," He commented.

She blushed. "Thank you," she said.

"It smells like strawberries," he said. She began giggling again and a lot people started to give them more than just raised eyebrows but the two ignored them. "So, Hannah, Would you like to go out sometime?"

She opened her mouth; her face was still red, and nodded. "S-sure. I'd love that."

After she answered Ron felt a pair of angry eyes on his back. He turned around to see Parvati glaring at him murderously. He gulped quietly before turning to Hannah again. Sometimes it was difficult being sexy; someone was always going to get hurt. Maybe if he caught Parvati alone, he could pencil her in for next week.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND! What is going on with Microsoft word's word count vs. Fanfiction's word count. They are always two different numbers!