Chapter 6

New

Before she knew it, Hermione was in her seat at the Gryffindor table casually flipping through one of her textbooks. She only had to wait a few minutes before she felt Ron and Harry take their seats with her.

"Look Hermione, — " Harry started.

Said witch simply shook her head. "Harry, I'm sorry," she started softly, "I should not have snapped like that. It's just… it's a stretch and I don't want to make a very serious accusation without solid evidence." She finally looked up at her friends and gave them a pleading look.

"I understand it may be hard to believe. So I intend to find proof before I make any real accusations. I just needed to share that information with my best friends." Harry touched her hand and gave her a small smile.

They turned the conversation from the potential Death Eater to the fact that Hagrid would be disappointed in their lack of interest for his class.

Hermione felt extraordinarily guilty. Hagrid was their dear friend and she never wanted to hurt him, but none of them ever expressed any real interest in Care of Magical Creatures. And she herself had a hefty course load this term. She let out a sigh at the thought of disappointing the friendly half-giant.

Finally coming out of her thoughts, she realized her gaze had travelled to the Slytherin table and settled on the blonde Slytherin who had caused so much trouble over the years. Hermione didn't like the idea that Harry would be looking for proof of Malfoy's allegiance to Voldemort. If on the off chance Harry was right, he could get himself into a very dangerous situation. And if he was wrong, then he was wasting precious time on Malfoy. Harry was going to enter the most trying time of his life soon enough. Voldemort was back, whether Harry was ready or not. Hermione knew that this year would bring about drastic changes, and they would not be good. Who knew how much time they would all have left together? Even if she was wrong and the year flew by without a hitch, it would still be that much closer to Voldemort making his move.

She was met with a pair of grey eyes and only then had she remembered where her gaze had landed. She immediately tore them away and looked back at her food. She had been surprised that neither Ron nor Harry had noticed her reverie, but was grateful to see Neville had arrived and they were engaged in a conversation with him.

She glanced up once more at the Slytherin and saw his attention was elsewhere. She briefly wondered what he would think about her seemingly starting at him. She half expected him to be joking with his Slytherin pals about it, but he was sitting quietly listening to someone's conversation.

Her focus was pulled back to her own table when she heard a high-pitched giggle coming from down the table. It had come from Lavender Brown. Apparently Ron had said something hilarious, making her laugh. He flashed a smile at Lavender before turning back to Harry and Neville.

Well that's… an interesting new development. Hermione didn't recall Ron and Lavender Brown interacting much before. Funnily, she also didn't remember Ron being that hilarious either.

Before Hermione knew it, Professor McGonagall was at her side providing her schedule, and Hermione was rushing off to her first class of the day.

Severus attempted to make eye contact with Draco as students filed into the classroom, but the young Slytherin hurried into his seat. The professor had expected as much since the boy had also bolted from Severus the second he approved Draco's schedule. If this first class were any indication for the remainder of the school year, Severus had his work cut out for him.

As the last student entered, Snape closed the door and breezed to the front of the classroom. "I did not ask any of you to take your books out yet. Miss Granger, kindly be sure to keep that closed. I wish to speak to you. I want all attention on me until I am finished." When he turned around, he did not expect to see the dirty look Draco was giving him. He had expected the young Malfoy to avoid even looking in his direction.

Well, that is new… Is he angry because of Miss Granger?

He began a speech he had prepared about the students' past with the course in their educational journey. He then informed them that he didn't expect everyone to keep up with the work he would be giving them.

Draco had lost his interest in Severus and was looking down at his lap. The professor moved to make his way to the edge of the classroom. Draco made no move to look up. The boy was going to be impossible!

Though it was clear that his favorite student wouldn't be looking at Severus, he hoped that the boy would at least be listening. He lowered his voice and continued with the next part of his speech, "The Dark Arts are many varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

He saw Draco tense and knew that he had, in fact, been listening. Good. Because that was for him. Draco was more exposed to the Dark Arts than anyone else at the moment.

Severus focused once more on his speech, and began pointing out picture he had posted around the room, which portrayed victims of the spells they would be up against.

"Has an Inferius been seen then?" asked one of the Patil twins. "Is it definite he is using them?"

He knew that the Dark Lord did have pockets of them in certain places. Where those places were and whether or not they would be used merely as defense or for an offensive strike had not yet been revealed.

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past, which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again… Now, you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?"

He paused only for a moment before calling on the witch who would surely have her hand high up in the air. "Miss Granger."

Draco looked up as she provided her answer which was almost verbatim from what was in their textbooks. When the professor pointed out that fact about her answer, he received another brief but dark look from the Slytherin boy who had been ignoring him.

He assigned them the task of partnering up and trying to perform nonverbal spells – one person attempting to jinx, the other attempting to repel. He enjoyed the silence as he observed his class, silently walking around. He chose not to stop at Draco's table but to observe from afar. The young Malfoy and Mister Nott were still whispering their incantations. Nott had almost failed to repel Draco's stunning jinx because Draco was quicker than his colleague.

As the black-clad professor continued to move about, he came upon Granger successfully repelling Longbottom's jinx without uttering a word.

Since Mister Malfoy isn't responding well to my reprimanding her…

"Miss Granger," he started as he approached her and her fellow Gryffindor, "well done. Five points to Gryffindor."

A collective gasp sounded across the room. He rarely gave points to anyone outside of Slytherin. Though her feat had been worth at least fifteen or twenty points, he could not be so generous. As he made his back way to his desk, he felt every pair of eyes on his back. When he settled in his seat and looked up, every student was looking at him, including Draco. This time it was not a dark or angry look, so that was an improvement. Then Draco's eyes shifted to Miss Granger as she began speaking to Longbottom, telling him they should keep practicing. Within a few moments everyone returned to their previously assigned task of casting a nonverbal spell.

By the end of the class she had still been the only one to successfully cast a nonverbal. He dismissed them after telling them what a disappointing job they had all done.

He looked up from his seat as he heard footsteps approaching. Miss Granger was standing across from him. She hesitated, then finally spoke.

"Thank you, Professor."

Merlin, what had he done?

"I can't believe that just happened!" Ron practically shouted as Hermione joined her two best friends in the corridor.

"Neither can I," she breathed. "It was certainly new."

"Why do you think he gave you points, Hermione?" Harry asked. "Not that you don't deserve them, but he's never done it before."

She simply shook her head. "I'm not sure." She was curious herself. She hadn't told the boys about the brief moment she had with their professor the previous term. Harry didn't trust him, and at the time had blamed Snape for Sirius' death. Then Harry just went on to blaming himself. "It is very curious though." She didn't believe that the thanks she had given him after the Ministry incident would cause him to alter his behavior. But that wouldn't stop her from being appreciative of her professor's actions.

Harry then changed the subject to the way Snape had spoken about the Dark Arts. He then accused Snape of being in love with them.

"Actually Harry, he reminded me of you," Hermione admitted.

"Me?" he yelped, sounding offended.

"Yes, when you were telling us what it's like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn't just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said I was just you and your brains and your guts – well wasn't that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?"

Before Harry could respond, they were interrupted by a fellow Gryffindor dropping off a note from Dumbledore. He wanted to meet with Harry Saturday night.

They spent their break speculating what Dumbledore would be teaching Harry, until Hermione had to leave for her next course.

She had spent their last break helping the boys complete their homework as well as doing her own. As they made their way through the dungeons to their Potions classroom, she couldn't help but think how strange it would be not having Snape teaching the course. She just hoped Slughorn was a good teacher.

Hermione was able to impress her new professor immediately by identifying two potions.

"Now this one here… yes, my dear?" Slughorn asked as Hermione kept her hand up to identify the third potion.

"It's Amortentia."

"It is indeed. It almost seems foolish to ask," said Slughorn, who looked even more impressed, "but I assume you know what it does?"

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world," she began. "It can be identified but its pearly sheen and the steam spirals rising from it. And it's supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us. For example, I smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and…" she trailed off, feeling a look of confusion cross her own face. There was something else. A smell that was vaguely familiar but could not be placed.

What is that?

She was pulled away from her thoughts as Slughorn asked her name. She went on to explain that she was a Muggle-born and couldn't be related to any witch or wizard he knew.

She heard Nott's voice and she looked over to see him whispering something to Malfoy. She couldn't make out what was being said, but she had no doubt it was insulting. She was a bit surprised to see Nott continued to snicker but Malfoy wore an unamused face. Nott was much more intelligent than Crabbe or Goyle, so she was sure whatever Nott said should have made Malfoy snicker in amusement as well.

Slughorn awarded Hermione twenty points, then went on to explain their task. They were to brew Draught of the Living Death. The first person to concoct it would win a small vial of Felix Felicis. Hermione wanted to win the vial of Liquid Luck for Harry. Merlin knew he'd need it at some point. She would win it and give it to him.

Brewing the potion started off well enough, but Hermione hit a snag once it came to cutting up her sopophorus bean. Cutting it was quite the challenge as it kept sliding away from her. Harry asked to borrow her knife and she watched as he crushed his bean instead of cutting it.

"What gave you the idea to do that, Harry?"

"The book," Harry said pointing down at the page he was on. "The previous owner wrote in new instructions. And it did give me a lot of juice…"

Hermione stared for a moment, looking perplexed. The idea didn't seem so outrageous. Hermione recalled a time her mother did something similar to pomegranate seeds. She had been trying to make some sort of drink that needed pomegranate flavoring and crushing the juice out of the small seed had been very effective.

"Do you mind if I have my knife back for a moment?" She decided to follow the book's instruction and added the bean's juice to her potion. It immediately turned the shade of lilac she had been working to get. "Wow."

Harry simply smiled brightly at her. "Would you like me to share anything else that the book says to change?"

Hermione struggled with herself for a moment. She had spent her whole academic career relying on her faithful books, but now a helpful hint helped her progress forward.

Should she trust something new instead of something she had relied on for so long?

Finally she nodded. "Yes, please. If the previous owner wrote in any other tips, I'd love to hear them."

She and Harry continued working and occasionally consulted the book.

She looked up when she heard Malfoy's voice. "Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?"

"Yes," Slughorn confirmed without looking at Malfoy. "I was sorry to hear he had died, although of course it wasn't unexpected, dragon pox at his age…" And then Slughorn walked away.

Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for Malfoy. She knew his was hunting for the wrong kind of attention – trying to use his family to get ahead, but she had been used to that from him. He had been a spoiled brat the whole time they grew up. Seeing this… it was something new. She was reminded once more how deeply he and his mother had been affected by his father's actions.

By the end of the hour, she and Harry were the only ones who had successfully brewed the Draught of Living Death correctly.

"Oh-ho! It looks like I have two outstanding potion-makers this year! Congratulations to you both, Miss Granger and Mister Potter!" Slughorn beamed. "You know, I've only had one other student brew it as successfully as the two of you! Now regarding the vial of Liquid Luck —"

"Harry can have it, Professor," Hermione interrupted. "I insist."

"That's very generous of you, Miss Granger! Are you sure you don't want to split the potion? I can get another vial to pour half of it into."

"No. thank you," Hermione reassured. She placed a hand on Harry's should and smiled at him. "Harry needs it more than I."

"Very well, then. In addition to your prize, take fifty points for Gryffindor! Twenty-five for each of you!"

Slughorn dismissed the class, and she walked out with Harry and Ron. Harry explained to Ron what they had found in the old textbook, and while Ron was slightly annoyed that they hadn't helped him, he was happy they won the Liquid Luck.

As the trio continued walking down the dungeon halls, Hermione felt something brush her side.

Malfoy turned around and muttered a quiet "sorry".

Hermione stopped for a moment and she saw a look of confusion cross his face before he quickly turned away.

Harry and Ron stopped, looking just as bewildered as Malfoy had.

"Well," Ron started sounding put-off, "that's new."

A/N: Updated just past the week mark! Just a bit off my goal, but at least it's not nine months later, right? And we got a bit of our Professor Snape!

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'm going to try to update sometime next week. I love you all!