Neville was outlining and listing sources for his charms essay when Hermione came in from detention with Professor Snape. She looked exhausted, but he wasn't going to mention that to her.

"Rough evening?" he said as casually as he could. Professor Snape might not have been the nightmare inducing creature he had been before third year, but Neville was still frightened of the man.

"You could say that," she said slumping into one of the arm chairs in the common room.

"I'm just glad I didn't have that detention. I'm not as caught up in all my classes as you are."

"I'm not as ahead as I was last year. I know it's my fault, but still. It's impossible to do everything. I'm just glad that I didn't have detention with Umbridge. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that," Hermione said.

Neville smiled while he pulled out the book from the bottom of the stack. He knew he should keep it closer, since it seemed like it would be the one he used the most for the essay. But he couldn't seem to remind himself to stop stacking books on top of it.

"I guess that's why Padma didn't want to be a prefect," Neville said, not looking up from his work.

"Padma doesn't want to be a prefect because she doesn't like her learning to be constrained by classroom limits. And with Umbridge, I'm seriously thinking she has a point," Hermione said. "Do the Ravenclaws have a study group for defense against the dark arts?"

"Not that I know of. Some of the N.E.W.T. students have been tutoring the O.W.L. ones, but they have enough work to do to keep up on their own."

Hermione was sure that was true. The Ravenclaws were infamous for pursuing more courses than any other house. And more courses meant more work. Especially at higher levels, where students often dropped classes.

"Any chance we could get students to form a study group?" Hermione asked. "I know Umbridge won't like it, but we have O.W.L.s this year. And I don't intend to fail."

"As if you could. You're Hermione Granger. I bet you were ready to take your O.W.L.s last year."

Hermione shook her head. "Not quite. I was a little distracted last year. And unfortunately, I doubt that distraction will ever go away." Her words were a little upset, but her voice was teasing. Even though Viktor wasn't there, Neville had no doubt that he would have understood had he been.

"I guess you'll have to get used to it," he teased back.

"I guess so. How's potions going?"

Neville held up his finished essay. "Just waiting for you to proofread it. I know you haven't finished yours yet, so I'm fairly confident Snape can't say anything about it."

Hermione took the essay from him and read over it, making a few notes as she went. It looked like most of them were spelling errors, or ways to phrase his ideas.

"You've done fairly well," she said. "I'm actually impressed by the information you've managed to put into this."

Neville smiled, and started correcting his work. Hermione had a way of making things easy to understand, and fun to read. Snape couldn't fault most of her work, though he certainly tried. No one could understand why, not even the Slytherins.

Hermione pulled out her homework, and worked on it as best as she could with half her mind. She was still thinking about study groups and wanted to figure out how to make sure that everyone who wanted to could pass their O.W.L.s.

She finished her arithmancy questions, and sighed. There was someone who might be able to help her. Someone who had already finished school, and was fairly proficient at defense. A certain world famous quidditch player, who had recently graduated.

She pulled a pen out of her bag and sat down. She paused, thinking best how to phrase her question.

Viktor?

"What are you doing?" Neville asked.

"Writing Viktor."

She turned back to her arm to find Hermione, scrawled happily onto her arm. She wasn't sure exactly how she knew it was happy, but that was the impression she got from it.

"And you aren't worried about someone seeing that?"

"Seeing what?" Harry asked.

"Nothing important." Hermione tugged her sleeve down with practiced ease.

Even though Harry knew how she and Viktor could talk, she didn't like to admit how much she did. Or how much she relied on him. Hermione knew Neville understood, but he was the only one she was totally comfortable sharing that sort of information with.

Even Padma, who she was sure wouldn't judge her, wasn't informed about her eagerness to talk to Viktor. She normally waited until she was alone to write to him, unless it was a letter. Then she didn't really care.

Harry and Neville shared a look of disbelief at her comment. There was a spark of understanding between them as Neville pointed at Hermione's pen.

"Viktor?" Harry asked.

Hermione groaned, settling deeper into her chair. "I hate that you guys know me so well."

"Not as well as Viktor Krum does," Harry teased.

Hermione flushed. "I haven't known him as long as I've known you two," she protested.

"Doesn't matter," Neville said. "You put him above just about everyone else."

Hermione couldn't rebuff him. She wanted to. She knew that she cared deeply for her friends, but Viktor was sort of in a separate category. He was both her friend, and not her friend at the same time.

"I was wanting to think about what he would say about a study group for defense against the dark arts," Hermione relented. "I wasn't expecting you guys to gang up on me."

Neville and Harry laughed. Harry might have not become as close with Neville as Hermione was, but they were friends all the same. And they both found it fun, perhaps a little too fun, to get under Hermione's skin.

"You should know better by now," Harry said.

"That they boys who I think of like brothers would bug me like Fred and George bug Ron," Hermione said. "I should have known."

Both Neville and Harry looked shocked at her revelation. While they had both thought of her as a sister, neither of them had ever said anything. And they were certainly surprised to know that she felt the same way. Though, they shouldn't have been.

"But I think it's great that you want to form a group to study defense," Harry said. "We're going to need it."

"I know." Hermione pulled her sleeve and found a few questioning marks on her arm.

Sorry. I got a little sidetracked with Harry arguing with me. We were talking about forming a study group so that we can actually deal with You-know-who. And pass our O.W.L.s at the end of the year, she scribbled.

That's a good idea. But you'll need someone to lead the sessions. Do you have anyone in mind?

"What's he think?" Harry asked.

"He says that we need someone to be in charge," Hermione said. "Any ideas?"

"You," Harry said immediately.

He had moderately sound reasoning. Hermione was considered the smartest witch in their year, possibly out of the entire school. But she knew that she wasn't particularly skilled in defense against the dark arts, and adding that on top of her prefect duties would be stifling.

"No. I'm not that great. I can read, but defense is more practical. I'm not sure I'd be the best choice."

"How about you Harry?" Neville said.

"Now that's an idea. You've survived practically everything that's been thrown at you," Hermione said. "Quirrel, the basilisk, and even the tournament last year. I'm sure you'd be competent enough to get us to pass our O.W.L.s."

"Maybe."

Harry didn't like to admit how talented he was in defense against the dark arts. It was almost as if he attempted to avoid the subject as much as possible. He'd been doing that practically from the start of his first year.

"You would be a good choice," Neville said. "Hermione can help you plan out what you want to do, but she's got so much on her plate. She can't be in charge of the whole thing."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, Ron's been talking about how being a prefect has cut into his time. Not that he had much to do in the first place. But he was wanting to try out for the quidditch team."

They all agreed it was a good idea. Ron would be less miserable with something productive, other than schoolwork, to do. And quidditch was something he loved.

They settled down in their corner of the common room. Neville finished his work. Harry started his. And Hermione worked on her plethora of projects. Though she continued to write to Viktor for the evening, a small smile gracing her face every time he answered her.

A/N: So I've gotten a ton of people who think that Padma and Neville would be a good couple. Obviously, that didn't fit into this chapter, but I'm glad to know that people like the idea. I'll get around to it as soon as it feels natural.