In an academic career marked with dangerous professors, ugly rumours and the loss of weeks of work due to Petrification, the days after Harry got the memory from Slughorn were some of the most stressful of Hermione's time at Hogwarts. By the time the initial joy at having Ron and Lavender finally broken up began to wane, vicious slander began circulating around the castle. Keeping with classic misogyny, Hermione had her good old "scarlet woman" moniker brought back. If the rumor mill was to be believed, Hermione had been shagging Ron behind Lavender's back for the past two months and was also responsible for poisoning him in the first place. The shagging rumor she placed squarely on Lavender's shoulders-Hermione had resorted to once more sleeping in the common room in an effort to avoid the blonde's wrath. When it came to the poison one though, she had a nagging suspicion that Zabini was behind it.

Perhaps Ron was right. Maybe she shouldn't have aggravated Blaise in the Three Broomsticks. The momentary rush of defending Ron didn't seem to be worth the fact that the Slytherins were now making exaggerated efforts to keep Hermione away from their water containers in classes or their goblets at dinner. If people weren't shaking their heads at her because she was supposed to be a slag, they were now eyeing her with suspicion.

'Think about it,' she'd heard a Hufflepuff fourth year tell a companion in the library the previous night. 'Who else in the school is smart enough to brew a poison like that?'

Never mind the fact that the poisoned mead had been given to Professor Slughorn. Or that there was no way of knowing that Ron would ingest the love potion meant for Harry and need to be taken to the Potions Master. If she really had wanted to poison someone, there were far easier ways of doing it.

In spite of all the nasty whispers that surrounded her wherever she walked through the castle, most of her concern was spent on Horcruxes. Now that they finally knew what they were, Hermione was seized with a deep fear. It was one thing to defeat You-Know-Who. It was another matter entirely to take on multiple pieces of his soul and kill them all. The daunting task set before Harry weighed heavily on Hermione's shoulders. At times, she wasn't even sure Harry was affected the same way. He seemed far more interested in the fact that Ginny and Dean were broken up than in discussing what particular valuable objects You-Know-Who might have chosen as his vessels.

Ron was little help to her either. Since the blow up in the common room, he'd become unfailingly polite towards her. When what she could really use was a sparring partner or a good banter to get the blood flowing, Ron would nod along with anything she had to say and blindly agree. It was infuriating. Nor could Hermione understand why. It didn't matter to her one-bit what Lavender had said about him. Ron had been a bit of a prick towards Lavender, certainly but the Ron that Hermione knew was anything but an idiot. He had his moments of insensitivity, sure, but was the one who always remembered her birthday, who made sure that she was eating during exam periods, who would get her to put her quill down every once in a while, and stretch. She was surprised that he knew what she'd worn to Slughorn's party, but she'd bought her dress thinking that she'd be going with Ron, so it gave her a bit of a thrill to know that he'd cared enough to remember it months later. Even this bit of comfort provided little relief against the barrage she faced from the rest of the school.

Harry and Ron were many wonderful things. Observant was not one of them.

Nearing the end of the schoolweek, Hermione threw her bookbag down beside her with a thud as she sat in Ancient Runes. This class was usually one of her favourites. She enjoyed the rigour of translation, the way that each small symbol could mean a myriad of things. It gave her a similar feeling to her adventures with the boys. Digging, trying to get to the truth of a matter, and the thrill of discovery. Ron nor Harry being there with her meant that she could properly concentrate on the lecture. The downside of their absence meant that the desks were full of the other houses. Both Patil twins glared at her from three rows down. Between them, Blaise and Draco, and one of Lavender's friends in Hufflepuff whose name Hermione could never remember, this class was stacked against her.

'Cutting it close, Granger,' Blaise cooed from the desk beside hers. 'Been brewing another poison between classes?'

A few titters went up from the surrounding desks. Hermione refused to give him the satisfaction of a response, reaching down to pull out her Syllabary instead. Last week they'd finished up a module on the fascinating differences found in Runes transported to North America by early Viking travellers. Hermione was interested to know what would come next. She grabbed her quill and parchment stack next, reaching in once more to find her inkpot. It must have been stuck at the bottom of her bag, as she reached further and further in, bending practically towards the floor in an effort to find it.

'What flexibility, Hermione,' came Lena's cold voice from beside her. 'I'm sure Weasley's been helping to keep you nimble.'

Hermione pursed her lips in an effort to keep from retorting. As often as she'd told Harry to ignore the whispers over the years, it was hard to deny the effect they could have. Having finally found the inkpot, she came back up and willed her cheeks to return to their normal colour.

Professor Babbling came striding into the room a moment later, her long hair done up in an elaborate braided bun.

'Good afternoon class,' she called out breezily, setting her briefcase up at her desk.

'Good afternoon Professor,' they intoned back.

'Now I know you've all been dying to know what we'll be working on for the next few weeks,' Babbling began. Hermione nodded along with her. 'The time has come for you to demonstrate your ability to share ideas effectively with others.'

A sick feeling rose in Hermione's throat. Babbling strode to the top of her lectern and leaned forward on it, staring at all of her students.

'It's clear that most of you are adept at the basic runic translations, which is to be expected at this level. What I want to focus on are the lesser-known runes. If you look in the back of your Syllabary, there are many off-shoots of the runes that we normally study. I would like everyone to partner up, and work together on a project that explores one of these hidden languages.'

Inwardly, Hermione groaned. Partners never worked in her favour. As much as she loved Neville, being partnered with him in most classes when the boys stuck to each other was never ideal. The only time she'd actually enjoyed matching with someone had been when she and Ron were partners back in the D.A. She couldn't even be sure that wasn't because she got to spend more time looking at Ron rather than working together.

As Babbling continued to talk about certain runic language bases, Hermione chanced a glance around the room. There wasn't a single face that she would consider on her side at the moment. Best she could hope for was a partner who wanted to ignore her and let Hermione do all the work. At least then she'd be guaranteed a good grade. While the Professor kept talking, Hermione continued to take notes. Her mind wandered to Horcruxes. Perhaps one of these languages might have some evil connotation? It would be nice to kill two birds with one stone, after all.

'Alright, I will let you all divide into pairs. I expect a brilliant idea by the end of the lesson. Hop to it!'

Babbling clapped her hands and motioned at all of them. Lots of students sprang up at once. Hermione stayed down in her seat, desperately trying to count heads and remember if there was an uneven number of students.

'That's right,' Zabini sneered at her. 'Just wait for everyone to come to you. Merlin knows how you get off on being in control.'

Hermione bit her lip again, trying her best to ignore him. She stared down at the Syllabary once more, rifling through the pages at the back to see what sort of project she might like to work on.

'Shame your only friends aren't here,' Padma laughed as she walked by Hermione's desk. 'Let's just hope whoever you end up with doesn't have another boyfriend for you to steal.'

Hermione exhaled through her nose, trying to remain calm. There was quite a bit of chatter throughout the room now as people began to explore their new partnerships. The noise did nothing to dampen the frustration growing in Hermione's head.

'Hey Hermione,' a voice called out from behind her. Hermione slammed her syllabary shut, exhausted from trying to keep calm under the constant sniping.

'What do you want?' she began as she whipped her head around towards the sound. 'Poison tips? How to steal a boyfriend? Apparently I'm just-' The rest of her sentence died on her lips. Terry was striding towards her, holding out his own Syllabary. His mop of dark curls bounced atop his head with each step. Lips curled into a small smile. One raised eyebrow told her that he'd heard her outburst. He slid into Lena's now free seat and put his book down on the table between them.

'Well I wanted to see if you want to be partners,' Terry told her, still smiling. 'But if you want to berate me some more, I'm sure we can work something out.'

Hermione blushed.

'Sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you. It's been-'

'Hard having most of the school turned against you? Yeah, I bet. Sorry for all the nastiness.' With a wave of his hand, Terry gestured to the rest of the room. Hermione frowned as she looked at him.

'You've noticed?'

Terry laughed and leaned in towards Hermione. 'Hasn't everybody?'

'You'd think,' Hermione said darkly, thinking of her two best mates. At that moment, Terry's earlier words came back to her. 'Wait, you want to be partners with me?'

'Yes, that is why I came over.' He had a little smirk on his face now, apparently surprised at how long it took her to catch on to his words.

'But why aren't you going with Antony?'

Terry rolled his eyes. 'Tired of pulling my more than my weight. Antony wants to discuss the philosophy behind the runes, which always puts us behind. Either that, or he's mooning after Nicola.'

Hermione had heard Antony discuss Nicola plenty during their prefect rounds. She was surprised that his ardor extended into homework time as well.

'Then why not Padma?'

'We split up.' Terry shrugged, as if this was a simple matter. Hermione gawked at him.

'You split up? Since when?'

'Oh a couple of days ago,' Terry evaded. 'Irreconcilable differences.' He reached behind him and interlocked his hands on the back of his head.

Hermione went silent, trying to think of what those might be. It was less than a week ago that she'd seen Padma put her hand on Terry's thigh.

'Do you want to run through the rest of the class, or would you like to skip to the part where you agree to be my partner?' Terry's teeth were rather straight as he smiled, Hermione noticed. It looked as though he'd had some dental work done. Her parents would be impressed.

'Sure,' Hermione agreed, although part of her felt some reluctance. 'If you can stand to be seen with a pariah such as myself.'

Terry laughed, his soft voice growing deeper with his chuckles. He leaned forward towards her. She noticed a slightly spicy smell emanating from him. It wasn't unpleasant.

'Reckon I can manage that.' He smiled at her, and Hermione returned it gratefully.

'So,' Terry added, removing his hands and turning to the Syllabary. 'Got any ideas?'

For the first time in a while, Hermione found herself wholly engrossed at one moment. Terry threw out various ideas, and together they discussed the possibilities each provided. Egyptian wizarding Hiroglypics? Too overdone.

Sumarian Runic interpretation? Too esoteric. Antipodean Aborginal Pictorgraphs? Too politically fraught at the moment. What surprised Hermione the most as they went through various options was that Terry could hold his own in the conversation. Whatever point she brought up, Terry was able to counter. Indeed, in a few cases he managed to bring in facts she had been unaware of. Back in primary, this would have devastated her. The idea that a boy could know more about a subject, be more well-read was incomprehensible. Now…

She couldn't pretend it wasn't a welcome change. An equal. She didn't have to feel one step ahead. No need to try and catch up.

The blaring of the alarm to change classes caught the pair by surprise.

'Please have your partner proposals on my desk at the beginning of next class!' Professor Babbling called out as the students began to gather their things.

'Looks like we still need to choose a topic,' Terry pointed out.

'Yes,' Hermione frowned as she repacked her bag. 'When might you be free?'

'Library?' Terry asked. 'Tonight?'

'Sure,' Hermione agreed. 'Although it will need to be before 9. I have-'

'-Prefect rounds with Antony,' Terry finished for her. 'I know.'

Hermione pursed her lips. She wasn't sure she liked that Terry knew her schedule so well. He must have seen the uncomfortable look on her face, as he laughed lightly.

'Antony keeps griping about how you take longer than Padma. Says you need to look around all the corners.'

Hermione blushed.

'Well someone should be keeping the castle safe,' she sniffed. Terry smiled again, showing his pearly teeth.

'Glad it's you, then. See you after dinner?' He swept up his Syllabary without waiting for an answer. Hermione watched his retreating figure. A slight jolt of excitement pulsed through her core. She was looking forward to meeting with him after dinner.

...

'I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure it's because Katie is a girl.' Ron gesticulated with his fork towards Harry a few hours later. Hermione met them in Charms and the trio had made their way down to dinner afterwards. 'It's a much better bond.'

'Women's intuition?' Harry replied sarcastically. 'You really think we're flying better because the girls have some sort of connection?'

'What do you think it is then?'

'Katie's brilliant.'

'So are Ginny and Demelza.'

'Sure, but Katie's been playing on the team for a lot longer than either of them. She's sharper after being in St. Mungo's for so long.'

Ron shook his head and took another forkful of mashed potatoes.

'I'm telling you, they're all connected.'

'That's not a thing, right Hermione?'

Hermione looked up from her plate, slightly bewildered. She'd been thinking more about possibilities to bring to Terry than paying attention to yet more Quidditch talk.

'What?'

'Girls. There's no weird mind spell that happens between you all, right?' Harry asked.

'I didn't say it was a spell-' Ron tried to butt in.

'You didn't need to,' Harry pointed out. 'What you said was basically the same thing.'

'No,' Hermione told the pair, slightly bemused. 'Not that I've ever heard of.'

'Sure, but it's not like you have a ton of friends to feel that with anyway,' Ron pointed out.

Hermione felt stung. Forming meaningful relationships with people had never been her strong suit. Once she'd found Harry and Ron, and by extension the rest of the Weasley clan, she never really felt the need to add others. This didn't mean she enjoyed having it pointed out to her.

Ron seemed to realize he'd said something hurtful as he swallowed another mouthful and looked at her remorsefully.

'I didn't mean-' he started to say.

'Doesn't matter,' Hermione snapped. 'Even if I was friends with every girl at Hogwarts, there still wouldn't be some sort of spell that made us all think as one!'

Harry looked between them. Ron froze with his utensils on his plate.

Hermione no longer felt hungry. She pushed her plate away and prepared to leave the table.

'Where are you going?' Harry asked her.

'Come on, Hermione, at least finish your sprouts.'

'I don't need you to coddle me,' she snapped once more at Ron. 'I'll see you around.'

She left in a huff. Sometimes she got so tired of the boys' chatter. If they'd just picked up a book, or thought about basic human psychology, they'd realize that the team was flying better because they had a better player back and had finally formed their previous cohesive unit. Nothing about gender or connections or whatever other nonsense they thought.

Really, if they put half the effort into their classwork as they did towards that stupid game, they'd be much better off. She marched off towards the library, only half surprised to see Terry standing at the doors. He grinned when he saw her.

'What do you know about Westphalian Runes?' He asked, holding the door open for her.

'Some,' she replied, heading into the library. 'But I have a feeling you want to tell me more.'

'It's like you're the top of the class for a reason,' he complimented her. Hermione felt her cheeks flush. Terry grinned and led her towards the stacks. He'd already grabbed them a table, littered with different books about Runes. The thought he'd put into this surprised her. It was something she would have done.

The tension in her shoulders began to melt away.

A/N- Here is the start of where I go into non canon territory! It's definitely canon that Terry Boot admires Hermione- we see him complimenting her in Book 5. I've always thought it would be something more. For Hermione to have been so invested in who was looking at Harry differently, she never seemed to turn the lens on herself. Things are certainly about to get more complicated in the story, but don't forget that Romione has my heart! I'm more than happy to explain my Terry choices if you have any questions, and/or vehementently disagree with me! Thank you all for sticking with me during a brief hiatus. Lots of love and good wishes for the New Year

-Ashy