AN: I am posting this chapter early in honor of the passing of Dame Maggie Smith today. What an unbelievable career and an unbelievable woman, may she rest in peace.

Chapter 4

Hermione POV

Hermione could not believe she was on her way to detention. Harry, Ron, and even Ginny had assured her over and over again that it wasn't that big of a deal, but it certainly felt like it. Hermione, with her aspiration to become Head Girl and eventually a high-ranking employee at the Ministry of Magic, could not possibly afford to be in detention. She had a path and needed to stick to it. If it wasn't for Pansy Parkinson, she wouldn't be here…

Hermione entered the Transfiguration class and walked straight to Professor McGonagall's desk.

"Again, Professor McGonagall, I am so sorry about this… I'm deeply ashamed of my actions, and I promise you'll never hear anything of the sort come out of my mouth again… I don't use language like that, you know me…"

"Yes, yes, I know Miss Granger. You've apologized over and over again. I do believe that it was a one-time occurrence, and if that holds true, then this detention will also be a single occasion. Please, go sit," Professor McGonagall said as she motioned to the rows of tables and chairs behind Hermione.

"Um, Professor? I'm not sure of what is and isn't allowed in detention, but would it be possible for me to borrow your latest copy of Transfiguration Today, the one you referenced in class this week, so I can continue to better myself while in detention?"

A small smile appeared on Professor McGonagall's stern, tight lips, "I admire your relentless ambition, Miss Granger, and I would say yes, but unfortunately, Miss Parkinson has beat you to it…"

"What?"

Hermione spun around and saw that Pansy was already seated behind her a few rows from the front of the classroom, and she was indeed reading Professor McGonagall's copy of Transfiguration Today. Hermione had been so focused on apologizing to Professor McGonagall when she walked in that she hadn't noticed Pansy was already in the room.

"Perhaps Miss Parkinson will let you borrow it once she's finished reading? In the meantime, I will allow you to work on any classwork that you may have. Now please, take a seat."

The seat across the aisle from Pansy slid back, and Hermione's stomach lurched knowing that it would be unwise of her to not take the seat Professor McGonagall slid out for her. She walked slowly to the seat and sat down, scraping its wooden legs along the stone floor as she scooched in towards the table. She chanced a glance at Pansy and saw the faintest hint of a smirk on her lips, which immediately caused a wave of anger to surge through Hermione. Obviously, Pansy had arrived early just so she could take the magazine and ensure that Hermione couldn't read it. She was so predictable, and so irritating. Hermione rolled her eyes and pivoted her body just enough so she couldn't see Pansy before beginning to dig through her bag for something to work on. Of course, once she was in her bag, she remembered she'd already finished all of her classwork in order to be free to help Ron and Harry with their work this weekend, so she didn't have anything to do. With a huff of annoyance at Pansy, as it was clearly her fault that she was bored in detention or even in detention at all, she resigned to staring at the wall, counting the stone bricks.

After a bit of time, Professor McGonagall rose from her desk.

"I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore in his office for a moment. It will be brief. Stay in your seats, and remain silent as you have been," she said before sweeping from the classroom.

"234… 235… 236…"

Hermione spun in her seat to shoot a nasty look at Pansy, "Professor McGonagall said to remain silent!"

Pansy lifted one dark arched eyebrow and smirked, "I was just trying to help you keep your place… Isn't that what you're doing? Counting the bricks on the wall? Can't come up with anything better to do when you're without your precious books or educational magazines? My, what an imagination you have…"

Hermione huffed and turned her back to Pansy once again. She wasn't going to engage and risk getting yet another detention with the girl. Suddenly, something landed on her table. Hermione looked down and found the copy of Transfiguration Today that Pansy was reading sitting in front of her. She looked over at Pansy, who was still looking at her. The raised eyebrow and smirk were now gone from her face, her expression unreadable.

"I, on the other hand, have a fantastic imagination. I'm sure I could entertain myself for hours, if I needed to."

Hermione continued to stare at her, unsure of what to do. It must be a trick, or a trap of some sort. Had Pansy done something to the magazine?

Pansy chuckled lightly, "Granger, it won't bite you…"

Pansy was smiling now, but it wasn't the cruel smirk or sneer she usually had on her face. It looked mildly amused with the smallest, faintest hint of… Warmth? No, no, it must be a trap… Hermione looked from Pansy, to the magazine, then back to Pansy, not sure what to do.

Pansy sighed, "Alright Granger, if you're not going to read it, then give it back," she said, leaning in her chair and extending an arm out to reach over to Hermione's table.

"No!" Hermione said suddenly, pulling the magazine out of Pansy's reach. "Sorry, I – I do want to read it… Thank – " she stopped herself, not wanting to thank Pansy for anything. It was her fault she was in detention, after all.

"Thank…" Pansy prompted, "I believe the next word you're looking for is 'you'… Come on Granger, you can do it…"

Hermione glared at Pansy, "Piss off, Parkinson…"

Pansy's eyebrows raised, "Well, isn't that nice… I thought you just told Professor McGonagall that 'nothing of the sort' would ever come out of your mouth again…" Pansy mimicked Hermione's high posh voice that she used to talk to professors with when she quoted Hermione.

"No, I said that she wouldn't hear anything of the sort come out of my mouth again, and she's not here, is she?" Hermione snapped at Pansy, roughly opening the magazine and beginning to read.

"Fair point…" Pansy conceded with a nod.

They were quiet for a bit, before Hermione couldn't stand Pansy's eyes on her for one more moment while she read.

"Do you mind? Do you have to look at me while I read? Can you not allow me a moment of peace?"

Pansy's light green eyes flickered as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have, before hardening into their usual mocking gaze.

"I wasn't looking at you, I was counting the stone bricks on the wall… Wouldn't want all that hard work you did to go to waste…"

"Can you even count…?" Hermione muttered angrily under her breath.

Pansy raised her eyebrows and her smirk was amused again, "You know Granger, as a matter of fact I can count. High enough to six, at least, which is all I need to count to in order to know all of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration…"

"There are five exceptions…"Hermione corrected incredulously.

"That's not what I just read…"

"What?" Hermione quickly flipped through the magazine in search of the article about Gamp's Law, and of course, found nothing. She glared up at Pansy, who looked far too pleased with herself.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her body away from Pansy again, trying to focus on the magazine. At least now she'd be able to make some actual use of the time spent in here. Professor McGonagall returned to the classroom as Hermione turned, and the rest of the detention was served in complete silence.

"I am pleased to see that the two of you were at least able to share with one another," Professor McGonagall said, indicating towards the magazine as Hermione returned it to her. "Hopefully this will lead to better relations between you two from here on out. You are Prefects, after all, and should be setting proper examples for those around you. I urge you both to remember that so as to avoid the situation you found yourselves in earlier this week. Now, go on, enjoy your weekends."

Once they were dismissed by Professor McGonagall, both Hermione and Pansy exited the classroom at the same time, and to Hermione's dismay, began walking in the same direction. They walked side by side, silently, until for some reason, Hermione was moved to break the silence.

"How do you know about Gamp's Law?"

Pansy glanced over at Hermione, her brow slightly furrowed in what appeared to be confusion as to why Hermione was asking her the question. Or maybe she was confused by Hermione speaking to her at all.

"What do you mean how do I know about it? You know about it, don't you?"

"Well, yes, I do, but we haven't learned anything about it in class yet, so how – "

Pansy nodded with another amused smirk, "Ah, I see… How is it possible that someone as thick as myself has knowledge of something that hasn't been spoon-fed to me in class? Well Granger, this may come as a shock to you, but you're not the only one who reads outside of class…"

Hermione didn't know how to respond. She was shocked at the answer, although she knew that must be the only way Pansy knew about Gamp's Law. She must've done extra reading for Transfiguration and learned it, just as Hermione had.

"What are you still confused about? Oh, that's right, you've been under the assumption that I can't read… No wait, excuse me, it was that I couldn't count…"

"No! I – "

"I'm just kidding, Granger…" Pansy said with light chuckle and a smile.

A smile.

Pansy Parkinson was smiling.

Near her. At her? And it wasn't mean or sarcastic it was… Genuine? Hermione was unsure with the first smile back in the Transfiguration classroom, but she knew now that it was genuine and warm and very real…

Hermione had half a mind to walk straight to the Hospital Wing, because clearly, she was hallucinating or something had happened to warp her brain into seeing things that couldn't ever possibly happen. Maybe Pansy had done something to the copy of Transfiguration Today…

They continued walking in silence before Pansy broke off and headed towards the dungeons.

"Night, Granger."

"Night…? Parkinson…?" Hermione responded hesitantly.

Hermione had never been this confused before. What had just happened?

Pansy POV

Pansy entered the Slytherin common room and found Daphne waiting for her, doing her nails on the leather sofa. There were a few younger students lingering in the common room as well, but they scattered once they saw Pansy approaching – masquerading as a raving bitch, even to her own housemates, really did have its perks sometimes.

"So? How was detention with our favorite Muggle-born?" Daphne asked nonchalantly as she continued working on her nails.

"Well, I took your advice, kind of… And I think it worked? Or at least confused her…" Pansy said slowly as she sat down beside Daphne.

Daphne looked up, "What do you mean? What did you do?"

"Well, at first, I made sure to get to detention early to snag McGonagall's latest copy of Transfiguration Today… I figured Granger would be clambering to read it to suck up to McGonagall, and I was right. Got right under her skin first thing, that did."

"And how is that being kind to her?"

"I'm not there yet. She pouted for a bit, and once ol' McGonagall left us alone, I gave her the magazine. She clearly thought I'd done something to it, but eventually gave in and read it," Pansy said with a smile.

"So… You went out of your way to annoy her by taking something you knew she'd want… Then were 'nice' to her by giving it to her later…?" Daphne asked, an incredulous look on her face.

"Yep."

"God Pans, you're going to make this so much harder than it needs to be, aren't you?" Daphne asked.

"Who's going to make what harder? What now?" Draco appeared, leaning over the back of the sofa and looking at both of them with a stupid smile on his face.

"What the hell is wrong with your sister that she fancies this idiot?" Pansy asked Daphne, completely ignoring Draco.

"She's young… She doesn't know any better, obviously…" Daphne said, turning back to her nails.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Draco said defensively.

"Stop being so gross and we'll address you as a proper human being, how about that?" Pansy shot at him, raising her eyebrows.

"Fine, fine… How'd detention go?" he asked.

"Oh, it went great! Pansy took something she knew Granger would want, and then gave it to her after making her wait for it, like any decent and kind person would do to someone they fancy," Daphne said sarcastically.

"I believe that could be referred to as teasing…" Draco started.

Daphne and Pansy exchanged a look, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"I bet Granger would love to be teased... Sexually…"

"Out!" Pansy instructed, shooting Draco an unimpressed look. He laughed as he strolled out of the common room towards the dormitories.

"You know, he's probably not wrong…" Daphne muttered casually.

"Daphne!"

"Well, think about it! Someone so annoyingly ambitious and driven has to get off on delayed gratification…"

"Oh my god… Stop talking…"

"Hey, you're the one who fancies her…"

"I know…" Pansy sighed, smiling a bit.

Daphne rolled her eyes, "Go on, what did she do that was so amazing this time?"

Pansy grinned a little, "She counted the stone bricks on the wall aloud…"

Daphne furrowed her brow, "What? Why?"

"Well, she apparently didn't have anything else to do after I'd taken McGonagall's magazine, so that's how she opted to pass the time. She counted the bricks of the wall."

"And she did it out loud? It's detention, weren't you supposed to be silent?"

"I mean she was quiet about it, like when she reads? You know how she mouths the words sometimes, but other times she gets carried away and very lightly whispers them as she reads them? It was like that."

Daphne was staring at her, completely perplexed.

"What?" Pansy asked defensively.

"You love her, Pans."

"What? No, I don't! I just fancy her and fancy winding her up, that's all."

"No… Pans, you love her. You just told me something about her that I'm sure no one else has ever noticed… And it's the most mundane thing I've ever heard, but you spoke as if she were inventing a cure to Dragon Pox or something … You love her, Pans…"

Pansy froze for a moment, considering what Daphne had just said, before shaking her head.

"You're wrong. I just fancy her, that's all, and – " Pansy made to get up, but Daphne pulled her back down.

"Hey… It's okay, you know? You can't help who you love…" Daphne said seriously.

"It's not okay, though. I can't be in love with someone I can't ever possibly be with. That's far too dramatic, even for me…"

"Look, just stop for a second… Why can't you just be nice to her? Actually, truly nice to her?"

"You already know why. If it gets back to my parents that I've been nice to a Muggle-born, I'll never hear the end of it. That's why I have to cover it with bullying and teasing and what have you. I can't just be openly nice to her, my parents will hear about it, I know they will..."

"When are you going to stop letting your fear of your parents rule your life?"

"When they turn into your parents. You don't get it, Daph. It would be the most insulting thing to them to have their only daughter showing any form of kindness to a Muggle-born. They'd berate me for even using the term Muggle-born when I should obviously be tossing around Mudblood like it's nothing… Like it doesn't hurt people… I'm not exactly exaggerating when I say I do believe that they'd kill me if they ever found out how I feel about her…" Pansy looked down, rubbing her neck. "I'm stuck here, Daph…"

Daphne put an arm around her and pulled her close, "I know… I'm sorry…"

Hermione POV

Hermione finally made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, and entered the common room still in a slight daze. Pansy had smiled at her, and shown her some sort of… Was it kindness? Warmth? Whatever it was, it didn't make Hermione loathe Pansy like she usually did. That in itself was extremely unsettling. In fact, that's probably what it was. It was trap. Pansy was lulling her into something… She just wasn't sure what yet.

"Hey Hermione," Ginny said with a smile from the sofa in front of the lit fireplace. Hermione plopped down in one of the overstuffed armchairs beside the fireplace. "So, tell me, has detention changed you?" Ginny asked dramatically.

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, "Yes. In fact, I'll be seeing just how many detentions I can manage this term," she joked.

"So it wasn't that bad, right?"

"No, it wasn't."

"How was Parkinson? Did she even show up?"

"She did, and she was fine."

Ginny furrowed her brow, "She was fine? Since when do you describe her as fine?"

"I mean, she was a pain at the beginning, purposefully showing up early and taking the magazine I'm sure she knew I planned to borrow from Professor McGonagall…"

"How would she… You know what, never mind. Continue," Ginny said, urging Hermione on.

"She eventually let me read it, and…" Hermione broke off.

"And… What?"

"Ginny, do you know about Gamp's Law?" Hermione asked suddenly.

Ginny furrowed her brow again, "No… What is it?"

Hermione shook her head, "Doesn't matter. Where's Ron?"

"He's off practicing with Harry. He's getting really jacked up and nervous about the upcoming match against Slytherin… I told them both I'm more than happy to step in for him, seeing as I am the only reserve on the team this year, but Harry figured he just needed a few extra practices to get him sorted," Ginny shrugged.

"I see. Well, what are you doing with the rest of your evening?"

"Uh, I – I'm going to go meet up with Neville, he wanted to show me a few things with the new plant he's keeping in Greenhouse Seven."

Hermione wrinkled her nose, "The Mimbulus mimbletonia?"

Ginny nodded quickly, "Yep, that's the one!"

"Mmmm… Be careful with that. It can squirt Stinksap at you if you touch it the wrong way…"

Ginny laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, I'll keep an eye out. See you later, Hermione."

Ginny left through the portrait hole and Hermione settled into the armchair, thinking about how she wanted to spend the rest of her Friday night, then Neville appeared descending the staircase to the boys' dormitory.

"Hi Neville! Off to meet Ginny?" Hermione asked with a warm smile.

Neville gave her a confused look, but quickly turned it into a smile, "Oh yeah, I am!"

"Have fun with the Mimbulus mimbletonia!"

Neville chuckled, "We will…" before leaving through the portrait hole as well.

Suddenly, Hermione remembered how awkward Ginny had been about her suggestion to sit with Luna and Neville on the train. She's forgotten all about asking her what that was about, and now Ginny was meeting Neville in Greenhouse Seven? Hermione smiled, clearly, the two of them were dating. They actually made quite a cute couple, at least Hermione thought so. They'd been cute at the Yule Ball the year prior, had they been dating since then?

Hermione waited a few more minutes to see if Ron and Harry would show up before heading up to bed. As she settled into her bed, Crookshanks purring at her feet, she thought about her interactions with Pansy. Had the girl been kind? Not entirely, obviously, but had there been moments of genuine kindness woven in? Hermione tried to push the thoughts away and go to sleep, but she couldn't. She was anxious. She had absolutely no reason to trust that the actions of the girl who had spent the past four years torturing her to be anything but a set up for some big elaborate ruse of some sort, and yet, she wondered if maybe the actions had been genuine… Beyond that, Hermione couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Pansy Parkinson, of all people, was as knowledgeable as she was when it came to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration… Perhaps she'd wake up tomorrow morning and this will all have been a dream. Yes, that's it. There's no way any of this had been real. It couldn't have been, it didn't make sense.