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Breakfast the next morning was immensely awkward for Hermione. She went to the Great Hall with Lavender and Parvati, feeling a little bit left out as they talked about their 'things'. She found Harry and Ron already sitting at the Gryffindor table, talking among themselves with Neville occasionally joining their conversation. Trying her best to ignore them, she took a seat with the girls and focused on the food. The horrible thought of house-elves injustice came to her, but she shook her head to clear her mind. She had tried everything she could to demand their equity last year, but then she gradually realized that her efforts were futile because house-elves were made for slavery. Still, she couldn't help but think about the creatures working hard to the bone to make the meals, three times a day, to feed the whole school.

Poor them, she thought, forking through her pancakes.

"Harry is looking at you, Hermione," Lavender giggled. Hermione rolled her eyes and said to change the topic, "Are you guys ready for the Astronomy quiz today?"

The effort was successful, and the three girls fell into fervent talking until the bell rang, telling them to go to Potions. Hermione walked a pace behind Parvati and Lavender, lost in her thoughts when a hand touched her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hey, Hermione." It was Ron. "Can we talk?"

She didn't look at him directly as she answered. "We have to get to class."

"It won't take long," he said, then looked down, ashamed, "And I want to apologize to you."

Hermione smiled inwardly and said, "Okay then."

He looked at her sheepishly, then led her to a corner so they could talk in private.

"And where is he?" she asked.

"He's uh..." Ron trailed off, looking for an answer, "He's busy."

Hermione almost narrowed her eyes at him, but she stopped at the last moment and instead said, "I don't care. Now, what is it?"

"Listen, I'm sorry, okay?" Ron began, "You may not believe me when I say this, but...I think it was very wrong of Harry to taunt you like that. Just because he's my best friend doesn't mean I have to support everything he does. I think he should have apologized right then and there, but Hermione, you know he's not like that. It was his anger getting the best of him."

"He lashes out, I know. But he never took it out on me that badly..." Hermione muttered.

"I know," Ron said, awkwardly running his hand through his hair, "But I'm not trying to defend him or anything. He will apologize to you on his own, which he should. But, the sole purpose I approached you was to apologize for my stupid behaviour. I'm sorry, Hermione. I felt bad for abandoning you like this."

His sincerity warmed her heart, and without warning, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a hug.

"Oh, don't worry, Ron," she said to him, "I wasn't mad at you. I know your heart is in the right place. Nevertheless, it's okay. I forgive you."

"Really?" he asked, grinning, "Thanks, Hermione! And no, it's not because I missed your help, but I genuinely felt bad!"

She laughed, "Oh, I understand. It's okay. Let's go to class, shall we?"

They went to their Potions class on perfectly friendly terms with each other again. Harry was nowhere to be seen, causing Hermione to breathe a sigh of relief. She wasn't ready to face him just yet, now that Ron had apologized and they were friends again.

"Um, I'll go and sit with them now..." Hermione awkwardly said to Ron, motioning to Lavender and Parvati.

"Why? Sit with us! Or...me?" Ron said, his ears turning pink. Hermione giggled to herself and agreed. They both took seats in the middle of the classroom and focused on Snape, who started the class.

Harry arrived 5 minutes later, causing Gryffindor to lose 5 points and sat beside Ron. Hermione tried not to look his way and put her eyes and ears on Snape, who was lecturing them about the Draught of Peace.

He finished the lecture and divided them into pairs so they could begin making the potions. And the worst thing, according to the situation, came into being.

Because Ron and Harry were continually talking, Snape sent Ron off to Crabbe and Harry got paired up with Hermione.

A tense and uncomfortable silence fell between them. Hermione avoided looking at him and focused on her notes instead. The class began making their potions. Snape slowly walked among them, inspecting their work and commenting here and there, throwing snide remarks mostly at the Gryffindors but nods of approval to the Slytherins. Neville looked flabbergasted as Snape snapped at him about something. Poor Neville.

As for Hermione, it was getting really hard to have Harry as a partner.

"It has to be a turquoise blue at the end," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore the fact that Harry was standing just inches beside her.

"Er, Hermione?" Harry said, addressing her for the first time since their fight.

For a crazy moment, Hermione thought he was going to apologize, but her hopes got crushed the next second.

"Can you pass me those quills?" he said, pointing at the porcupine quills lying on her part of the table.

"Yes," she replied brusquely and passed some to him, avoiding eye contact. After 10 minutes, Hermione's potion was a beautiful turquoise and simmering away.

"Professor, I'm done!" she called. She was the first one to declare that, to nobody's surprise. Harry was apparently still struggling with his potion, and neither did Hermione help him nor did he ask for it.

Snape came over to their table to take a look at Hermione's potion. He leaned in and observed, checking the simmers and the colour of the potion while Hermione waited breathlessly.

"Acceptable," he said in a hollow voice, making her grin involuntarily. His gaze slid from her potion to Harry's, and his mouth turned into a sneer.

"Work faster, Potter!" he snapped at him, "You're wrong if you're thinking you can spend the whole class doing this. You were already late, so don't make me take away more house points. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Harry answered through gritted teeth. Snape, not noticing his anger, turned around to yell at Seamus, whose potion was bubbling uncontrollably.

"I hate him..." Harry whispered angrily. Hermione wasn't sure if he was saying this to her or to himself. She decided to go for the latter, even though she was feeling extremely sorry for him.

Oh, I wish we were talking! she thought to herself, securing her potion in a flask for later testing and making the rest disappear from a Vanishing spell.

A second voice rang out from the class, announcing that he was done. And to everybody's surprise, it was Neville!

"Longbottom?" Snape said incredulously, despite his usual unwelcome look, "Don't lie, or you'll be serving detention for a week."

"N - no, professor!" Neville claimed, affrighted, "I am telling the truth. I - I am done."

"Really? Very well then..." Snape had a cruel sneer on his face, "Let's test it. 20 points to Gryffindor if it's absolutely perfect. But 20 points from Gryffindor and detention if it has any error."

The last part was so unfair that the Gryffindors couldn't hide their fury effectively. Dean and Seamus were gritting their teeth, Ron was shaking his fist behind Snape's back, and Harry was looking at Snape with a murderous look on his face. As for Hermione, she wanted to cry for poor Neville. Only the Slytherins were sniggering with Malfoy looming at the front, looking gleefully at Neville's nervous state.

"Class," Snape announced, "We are going to test Longbottom's potion on this newt," he conjured the animal on his hand with a flick of his wand and continued, "The newt is supposed to fall immediately in a deep sleep once the potion hits it, but if anything other than that happens to it, Longbottom must have done something wrong."

He cast a sinister glance at Neville, who was sweating buckets, causing the laughter of the Slytherins to become louder. Snape slowly reached for a dropper, sucked some of Neville's potion into it, and turned to face the class.

"I am about to test it," he declared, "Let's see if Longbottom really has it in the bag this time."

The whole class plunged into a pin drop silence as everyone watched Snape breathlessly. He poured two drops on the newt, and everyone waited.

Instantly, the newt started to sway, sprawled itself on Snape's palm, and fell into a deep sleep.

The Gryffindors burst into loud applause and cheers, making Neville's ears turn pink. Snape was looking at the sleeping newt with astonishment, and the Slytherins were throwing dirty looks at Neville. It was a relishing sight. Amid the rollicking, Hermione and Harry accidentally locked eyes with each other as if they were fine. Hermione quickly looked away, blushing furiously and focused on Neville and Snape again.

As for Snape, his mouth had turned into a scowl. He fixed Neville with an appraising look and said, "I expect this kind of performance in the future from you, Longbottom. And," his scowl deepened as he added, "20 points to Gryffindor."

They were about to cheer again, but Snape shouted before they got the chance, "And no more disruptions or I'll make you all regret it!"

That quietened them down, and the class went on without any further disturbance, but the Gryffindors were secretly in high spirits because of and for Neville.

They unleashed their happiness just after class ended, as they all rushed out of the classroom and surrounded Neville.

"That was awesome, man!" Dean exclaimed.

"You showed Snape!" Ron put in.

"Congratulations, Neville. I am so happy for you," Hermione tried to say, but her voice got drowned under the hoots from the boys and the squeals from the girls.

Drawbacks of being a quiet person. She sighed and left them celebrating Neville's achievement.

Hermione entered the greenhouse for Herbology alone, to find out that she was the first student to arrive. Professor Sprout was tending to a hideous looking plant, which kept advancing to bite her hands. Thankfully, she had gloves on.

"Good morning, Professor," Hermione said, taking a seat on the long table.

"Good morning to you too, Miss Granger!" Professor Sprout replied, without looking at her, "Fancy seeing you here so early."

"I came straight here from my previous class," Hermione explained, "Everyone else was celebrating Neville's milestone. They must be on their way now."

Professor Sprout let out a 'hm' of understanding and focused back on the biting plant. Hermione sighed, feeling extremely lonely and sad. Why am I isolating myself so much? she thought, not really reading the words talking about self-healing plants before her. What's gotten into me?

As she dwelled in her thoughts, the Hufflepuffs started to arrive, chatting merrily among themselves. Hannah Abbott, a friend of Hermione, waved at her. Hermione feebly waved back. A few moments later, her fellow Gryffindors entered the greenhouse, being unusually loud and in lifted spirits. Seeing them so happy and yet herself so miserable made her chin start wobbling. But she took a deep breath, composing herself. She couldn't cry in front of the whole class!

"Hey, Hermione!" Ron called, sitting beside her, "Why did you run off?"

"I didn't run off," she replied, not looking at him, "I didn't want to be late."

"Well, did we get late?" asked Harry, taking a seat on her other side. Hermione's mouth dropped open. What was he doing?! They were not supposed to be talking!

Hermione chose not to answer and dug her eyes deep into the Herbology textbook forcefully, although she already knew the words.

Miraculously, Professor Sprout started the class before either of the boys could get another word in. They had started to study the Chinese Chomping Cabbage, a fascinating vegetable with a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. All the students were enthralled by the 'thing', so the rest of the class went well - and undisturbed for everyone.

After the class ended, Hermione quickly got up and rushed outside. She really wanted some time alone with herself.

"Hermione? Do you have a moment?" someone called from behind her. She turned around - to find Neville approaching her with a sheepish look on his face.

"Oh, hello Neville," said Hermione, "Congratulations."

He smiled, "Thanks,"

"I tried to congratulate you before, too," she added, "But I couldn't be heard..."

"It's okay, Hermione," he said, then lowered his eyes, "I wanted to say...thank you."

Her eyebrow went up in confusion, "Why?"

"Because I don't deserve all the credit for what I did today," he answered, giving her a shy smile, "I couldn't have done it without your help, Hermione."

"But Neville," she countered, her confusion rising, "I didn't help you today."

"But you help me generally!" he said, "You know Potions is my weakest subject, so you try to help me with it as much as you can. I've never appreciated it fully, and that made me guilty. So, I'm sorry and thank you. So much."

His words caused a smile to come on her face, "Oh, Neville. It's all right. You don't have to thank me."

"But I do. You helped me show Professor Snape up. I wish I could do something for you in return."

"Just keep improving yourself," she told him, beaming, "That'd be the best reward."

He beamed back, "Gee, thanks! I should let you get to class now."

"See you later!" she replied, her mood a bit happier now. But she was stopped again.

"Er, Hermione...one last thing," said Neville, coming up beside her, "Uh...is everything okay? You seem a bit...upset."

She looked at him and sighed, "It's nothing."

"Is it because of Harry?" he asked, "I heard you scuffling with him yesterday at breakfast, and now you guys seem distant."

"Yes, he said some...hurtful things," she told him, sadly, "Thanks for asking, Neville, but I'll be fine. I have to go to class now."

"Okay, see you later."

"See you."

They departed ways - Hermione to Ancient Runes and Neville to the common room.