Authors note:

this yet again took longer to write than anticipated, oopsie.

I've realized that my story is taking more of a comedic route than I initially thought (hope that's okay with you readers) though it will definitely not be all comedy

anyway like always, feedback and reviews are appreciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter that right belongs to J.K Rowling~sob~

She walked into Potions early (like usual) and was met with the sight of all her fellow classmates, not at their work tables, and instead were milling around chatting quietly, a quick glance at the front of the class confirmed that Slughorn was there and seemingly aware of the situation.

She frowned, but headed over to where Harry and Ron were standing, their heads close together and based on the looks they kept sending the Slytherins' way she assumed they were talking about Malfoy. Thank goodness Ron seemed to have gotten over the incident from the morning, for now at least.

As she walked over she looked at the professor again and not looking where she was going bumped right into none other than the Slytherin prince himself, Hermione's face hit his chest and she got a strong whiff of his cologne it was different, this time it was a nice blend of cinnamon, firewood, and the ever-present Apple.

As soon as she made contact she couldn't help but note how hard and muscular it was, "watch where you're going bloody Mudblood" he said taking hold of her shoulders and righting her before pushing past and heading to where the rest of his house where Pansy was waving him over.

"Alright class," Slughorn said getting their attention "as many of you remember," there was a bit of a pause well he shuffled around his desk trying to squeeze through the gap between the wall and desk, wheezing slightly he repeated his previous sentence, "as many of you remember from last class, there will be a new seating arrangement" there were many grumbles following his words, "and I think that this is a great opportunity to promote house unity" the grumbling had evolved into outraged whispers between students, having caught on to the commotion Slughorn promptly clapped his hands loudly "now if you would all listen we can get this over with and start on the lesson" everyone quieted considerably not eager to get on the man's bad side.

Hermione watched as the man waved his wand at the blackboard and writing started to appear. It was a slow process and the students waited in anticipation for their names, it was the Gryffindors first; their names filling up one side of the board with the Slytherins coming shortly after.

Hermione didn't dare look at the board too afraid of what it might show. Instead, she closed her eyes and quickly sent a prayer to Merlin, 'not Malfoy. Not Malfoy' she continued the chant in her head.

When she opened her eyes and reluctantly looked at the bored searching for her name, and breathed a sigh of relief, there it was "Granger" situated right next to "Zabini", granted the guy was still a Slytherin prat, but at least he wasn't a ferret.

There was a loud protest of " Oh bloody hell no, there's no way I'm partnering with him!'' It was Ron, she followed his gaze to the board and saw what had caused the outburst: Weasley and Malfoy, what's worse though was that on the chart their worktable was placed directly behind her and Zabini's.

She glanced over at the blond to gauge his reaction, he looked pissed, to say the least.

"Excuse me professor, but the Weasel and I are not on the same academic level" he stated this calmly, but his jaw was clenching, it was clear he was trying to control his temper, "surely you can't do this, it will jeopardize my grades" Hermione frowned, as much as she hated to admit it, Malfoy was right. she debated whether or not to pitch in but decided not to, besides the boys certainly had it under control.

Since it wasn't her problem Hermione made her way over to her new worktable, laying her stuff down in a neat row. Zabini came over a moment later and proceeded to haphazardly throw his belongings onto the table, the textbooks made a loud bang upon contact and Hermione emitted a little squeak and flinched.

Blaise looked as though he were about to say something-probably an insult-but thankfully he never got the chance, for Slughorn had once again clapped his hands loudly; demanding their attention. "We'll be brewing the Draught of the living death" he waved his wand at the blackboard and the previous writing disappeared, to be replaced with the potion name and the page to find it on.

"You may start," he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture before waddling back to his desk. Hermione shot up like a rocket, already heading over to the cabinet to get the ingredients.

She had forgotten her wand on her desk, and instantly regretted it when she saw that the Sopophorous beans were situated on the top shelf far out of her reach. Grumbling to herself, she was just about to start attempting to grab it when someone elbowed in next to her, she watched as a pale hand reached up and encircled a container of beans.

"move it Mudblood other people need to get ingredients too" Malfoy snarled, stalking off, but not before roughly shoving a container of beans into her hand. She stood there dumbfounded and found herself glancing around wondering if anyone else had just witnessed this weird act of kindness.

She stumbled back to her workstation and started prepping the area, setting out each ingredient, and glancing at her textbook every few seconds to make sure she had everything laid out in the correct order. She heard an annoyed huff coming from behind and angled her body ever so slightly so that she could view Malfoy in her peripheral, he had already arranged all his materials correctly and was searching through his bookbag, "Blaise?" he drawled, "have you seen my Potions journal?" he acted as though it didn't bother him, but Hermione could swear she saw a flash of panic in his eyes before his cool calm collected mask fell back into place. "nope," his friend replied with a shrug, "but here borrow mine," he chucked his textbook over his shoulder, hard, without even looking, Hermione was surprised when Malfoy caught it effortlessly, must be his seeker reflexes. "Blaise Zabini," she scolded " you can't just throw textbooks across the room" he just scoffed before turning to Malfoy, and in a very girly voice sang "wow Draky, I think she cares about you" The blond just snorted in response and began pretending to dry-heave into his cauldron.

As Hermione was cutting up some roots a sudden thought struck her, "Malfoy have you done this potion before?" she asked glancing sidelong at him, he looked a little confused by her question, "no Granger I have not," he answered irritatedly before turning his attention back to cutting his own roots clearly thinking her questioning was over.

"Really?" she said, the blond looked up exasperated "yes Granger, really. Now is there a reason for your stupid questions?" Hermione fumed, Merlin he was a prat.

"Yes there is a reason" she snapped, "how else would you have lined up your ingredients in the proper order without using the book or having done it before?" she stopped cutting and placed her full attention on the Slytherin, but the boy didn't even look up just drawled, "its simple Mudblood."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ron bristle at the insult, "you see you don't need the book" he continued his eyes flicked up to see if she was paying attention, she was, "it's just a matter of knowing the potency and effects of the different ingredients."

He was about to say more when Ron groaned loudly, "Merlin shut up, you sound like Hermione."

Both turned to glare at the ginger, Hermione because she actually wanted to hear what the ferret had to say, and Malfoy because Ron had just compared him to a Mudblood.

Both their faces morphed into shock though when they realized what he was doing.

"Ron! What in Merlin's name are you eating?" Hermione exclaimed at the same time as Malfoy roared, "None of this is edible you wanker!"

Authors note:

Woah a somewhat cliff hanger lol sorry bout that I just felt the need to split the potions class into two chapters

Yay Draco and Hermione have something to bond over!

anyway don't forget to review and give me your thoughts, anything appreciated!

thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it!

love yall thanks again for reading!