Author's Note: Hey, everyone. It's been a while since I have written and I'm really excited to be back. If this story goes how I want it to, it should be about 23 chapters. I promise to make sure to write more frequently! As always, read and review.

-Kat

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After hearing that the new Defense Professor was Professor Lockhart, Hermione was certain she was going to have a good year. Having a pretty teacher, one that was as amazing as Professor Lockhart, meant that things were looking up. At least he wasn't Voldemort. After she had heard that Ron and Harry nearly got expelled, she was certain that that would be their big adventure of the year. After one adventure, they were done. Right?

Wrong. She had been partnered with Theo Nott for Potions. Apparently, Professor Snape was certain that Hermione was helping Neville cheat and decided that Neville needed to "Learn how to fail on his own," in the wise words of her Potions Professor. Even worse, he said that "She had some potential, but wouldn't be seen in full until she had a competent Potions partner." If Hermione wasn't so mortified to be paired up with Nott, she would be elated by the praise.

She moved as slowly as she could, without being yelled at, to go sit by Theo. She noticed that Harry and Ron shared an outraged look on her behalf but seemed too terrified to say anything. Wincing at the resigned look on Theo's face, she sat down gingerly. She was too frightened to see the reactions of her fellow classmates in green, so she kept her head down. if she looked down at her books, she couldn't see the faces of the Slytherins around her.

"At least you don't suck at Potions." Theo whispered under his breath. Hesitantly, Hermione grinned. She would be a better partner than Goyle ever was, that was true. And she was quite certain that, other than Malfoy, she was the best Potion's student in their year. Slytherins always recognized a good deal. She just hadn't thought she would be considered a good deal, especially to a Pureblood.

"I won't even blow you up." She looked over at him, surprised that he didn't look disgusted that she was acknowledging him at all. He almost looked amused at her joke. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. Before Theo could respond, Professor Snape cleared his throat and commanded,

"As I am sure, other than Ms. Granger, none of you did any reading over the summer holiday, you are all likely to have forgotten everything. And as I do not wish to be blown up today," he paused and turned to glare at Neville, "especially since I have reassigned Ms. Granger, you are going to brew a Forgetfulness Potion. As this is a First-Year Level Potion, I am sure that most of you are capable of brewing this adequately." Hermione didn't even have to look at Harry and Ron to know that they were worried out of their minds. Even though Hermione felt a pang of guilt, she was glad that she didn't have to worry about carrying her partner. She was pretty confident in both her and Theo's abilities to brew a decent Forgetfulness Potion.

"You remember all the steps?" She heard Theo ask. She took a moment to look over her notes before nodded.

"I'm sure you do as well." Theo laughed and nodded. She could totally do this, she thought, looking up at him with a small smile. He grinned and asked her to grab the ingredients while he got started. Ignoring the glares around her, she went to the storage room. Other than getting slammed into by a few Slytherin girls, she made it back without too much fanfare.

Maybe Potions would actually end up being a good class.

"How's your prep work?" Hermione asked, setting down everything on the table, grimacing at the flobberworms as they squirmed around. Theo laughed at her response, which gave her the courage to ask, "Why don't you hate me?"

"My prep work is adequate, but yours is probably better." He answered, ignoring her second question. She huffed, but nodded, moving to clean off her prep space. The one and only time she hadn't a few dandelion pedals had landed in her Pepper-Up Potion, causing it to harden.

The ten detentions it took to clean out made for a steep learning curve.

They worked in silence, only interrupted by Professor Snape coming over to snipe about her "abysmal potion preparation," before stomping off to yell at Neville. Other than feeling a bit guilty about her potions prep, which Professor Snape actually had a point, she was glad he only corrected her when she was doing something wrong.

Which was a concept that she didn't think Professor Snape had grasped.

Honestly, it was one of the most productive Potions classes she had ever had. Even though Professor Snape hated her guts for being friends with Harry, and Draco tried to trip her a few times, it seemed that Theo was too well respected by his peers and Head of House for them to do anything to her. Other than using their words, there wasn't anything they could do to hurt her.

The thought of having a class like this every time was liberating.

"Now that most of you were able to make a decent, but disappointing, Forgetfulness Potion, I am assigning four feet on how the ingredients can be used to form another Potion, one that has the opposite properties." Professor Snape glared at Ron and Harry, who had started packing up. "You may work with your partner on this, but you will be getting the same mark. No expectations." He spun around, stalking into his storage room. "Class dismissed."

As she packed up, Hermione hesitantly turned to Theo, not knowing if his kindness expired after class ended. "Do you want to meet up at eight to get started?"

"Itching to spend more time with a real man after being stuck with vermin, Granger?" She heard a familiar voice sneer behind her. Rolling her eyes, she turned around, face to face with Malfoy.

"Oh, Draco, of course." She started sweetly, causing his smirk to fade into confusion. "Staring at your ratty face every day does get quite tiresome. And don't get me started on what your squeaking does to my concentration." She laughed at his outraged look. Theo rolled his eyes, but cut Draco off before he could say something he regretted,

"Yea, eight should work." He turned to leave but paused to turn back around and look at her. "Library?"

"See you then."

Harry and Ron rushed up to her after the rest of the Slytherins left as she packed up the rest of her things, looking at her like she had just returned from the front lines.

"Are you okay?" Ron whisper yelled. Harry interrupted her before she could get a word out as they drug her back to the common room.

"Of course, she's not okay." He said. "She was stuck in the snake pit." Hermione rolled her eyes. They were always overly dramatic when it came to Draco and his friends. Sure, Draco could be the absolute worst, but Theo wasn't bad at all.

"Honestly the two of you." She stopped walking, making them stop and look at her. Eyeing her in confusion, they shifted uncomfortably, waiting for her to explain. "Theo really wasn't that bad." She glared at them, before continuing. "And honestly I much prefer working with him over you lot." Looking momentarily enraged, Harry and Ron made eye contact before smiling sheepishly when they turned back to look at her.

"Yeah." Harry said, scratching the back of his neck. "I could understand that."

"But we still have to watch out for those snakes messing with our Hermione!" Ron said, making Hermione smile as she rolled her eyes. She was lucky to have such great best friends, even when they got a little crazy when they were protecting her.

"Race you back to the common room?" Harry asked, a gleam creeping into his eyes. Hermione shook her head but took off before Ron could answer. She needed the head start.

"Hey!" She heard the boys yell, not far behind her.

-00000-

By the time dinner rolled around, Hermione was exhausted. She had enjoyed Herbology and was surprised by how well Neville had done.

Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Defense against the Dark Arts was going to be odd; no matter how pretty their new Professor was, they were still woefully unprepared to face the Dark Lord. If last year proved anything, the Dark Arts were still very much a threat. Hermione hadn't forgotten how difficult life could be for a Muggle-born.

"Hey, Hermione." Ginny said shyly, settling down next to her. Hermione grinned tiredly, glad to have another girl around.

"Hey, Gin." She turned slightly, looking over at the youngest Weasley. Her grin slipped slightly at how exhausted Ginny looked. Hermione didn't remember the first week of First Year being difficult enough for her to look like that. "How are you doing? Are classes picking up?" Ginny nodded, serving herself a concerningly small amount of food.

"They are, but I think I'll be alright." Ginny responded, noticing Hermione's concerned look. "It's just a little different from the Burrow, you know?" Hermione nodded sympathetically; it was hard for her to leave home too. "But I'm on top of my homework, so I should be okay." Hermione nodded, satisfied, turning back to the rest of the table.

"There's no way I'm going to pass Potions." Neville exclaimed miserably, laying his head down on the table. Hermione shook her head sympathetically but was secretly glad that she would be able to focus on her own progress. Now that she was working with one of Snape's favorites, maybe she would actually be able to focus on learning new techniques rather than worrying about Neville blowing her up.

"That's really tough, mate." Seamus said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Hermione grimaced at the lack of table manners, turning back to talk to Harry, who was looking rather thoughtful.

"Harry?" Hermione asked gently. 'What's wrong?" Ron's head shot up at Hermione's question. Harry shook his head quickly.

"Just a headache." Harry looked between the two, meaningfully. She furrowed her brows slightly but changed the topic quickly. Ron and her both knew that was code for: 'Can't talk about it here but will fill the two of them in later."

"Are you excited to get back onto the Pitch?" Hermione asked, inwardly wincing at her question. Harry perked up immediately and talked her and Ron's ears off until the end of dinner about obscure Quidditch facts and moves that he was excited to try.

-00000-

"So, what was your headache all about?" Ron asked as the Common Room cleared out. Hermione had an extra hour after dinner ended before she needed to meet with Theo, so Ron and she settled next to Harry by the fire, a bit anxious to hear what Harry was so worried about.

"A house-elf visited me at the Dursley's." Ron and Hermione shared a confused glance. What in Merlin's name was a house-el doing in a muggle neighborhood?

"How would a house elf know where you were?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowed slightly. House elves didn't just wander around the muggle world, especially without orders from their family or Master.

"Nevermind that, why was this elf visiting you?" Hermione asked hesitantly, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"Dobby warned me that there would be a great danger at Hogwarts and that I mustn't return." Harry said quietly, looking at the door, making sure they weren't overheard. "What do you make of that?"

"Well," Hermione started, keeping eye contact with Ron, who looked more and more worried as the time passed. "We should take the warning to heart, but not stop our daily routines here. We can do a little investigating." Hermione added quickly, seeing the worry creeping onto Harry's face.

"That's a good plan." Ron said finally. "Who would send a house elf to warn you?" Harry's face took on a stricken look.

"That's the thing, Ron. The house elf said he was warning me against the wishes of his Master." He turned suddenly, looking at them. "Dobby almost killed himself trying to warn me." Hermione put her face into her hands for a minute, mourning the loss of her quiet year, before looking back up and nodding.

"We will figure this out." Ron and Harry nodded, but stayed silent. They sat there, together, for a while, before Hermione had to leave for the library.

"Make sure you guys finish your assignments while I'm gone." Hermione ordered. They grimaced, but nodded, knowing not to cross her.

So much for the adventures being over.

-00000-

After their discussion, Hermione felt oddly exposed as she walked down the corridors to the library. The torches were well lit, but it still felt that the darkness was closing in.

"Hermione." Theo greeted once she reached the door of the library, startling her slightly.

"Theo." Hermione greeted back, bowing her head slightly in thanks as he held the door for her. They settled into one of the corners, avoiding everyone else as much as possible. Hermione was still slightly apprehensive working with Theo despite all her posturing to the boys earlier.

"Do you have the ingredients list?" Hermione nodded at Theo's question, grabbing it out of her bag, along with a quill and parchment. "Great. I have the Potion's Ingredient Dictionary and an extra Intermediate's Guide to Potioneering, if you would like to borrow it." Hermione grinned and nodded.

"Would you like me to write?" Theo thought for a moment before nodding, grinning slightly.

"Draco always had to write ours." He laughed, his voice echoing in the quiet library. "Mine's terrible." Hermione tensed at the mention of Malfoy, but if he noticed, Theo didn't say anything. Hermione was grateful. She figured that staying away from the topic of their friends would make their partnership a lot more pleasureable.

"I always had to write mine too." Hermione commiserated with Malfoy, purposefully not thinking about how horrific it was to have something in common with that horrific git. "Neville didn't know one side of his quill from the other." Theo laughed, causing Hermione to regret her words. "That was rude of me, I'm sorry."

"I won't tell if you won't." Hermione grinned cautiously. Maybe this really could work. She smiled before looking back down at the books, flipping through the ingredient lists for different Potions.

"Do you have any idea as to what the potion is?" Hermione asked, continuing to flip through the different types of ingredients.

"I have a few ideas, but I can't figure out what the Belladonna would be used for." Theo responded, looking a little frustrated. "Did he say we had to use all the ingredients?" Hermione stopped flipping through her book, turning her chair to look at him. Biting on her quill, she shook her head slowly.

"Without the Belladonna, it could be the Shrinking Solution." Hermione frowned, rechecking the ingredient's list from their class. "But it would require double the Caterpillars. And it's not a Memory Potion." Theo deflated slightly but nodded.

"Well, we could write our essay on the different Potions it could make if you removed one ingredient. I'm sure as long as we mention at least one Memory Potion, he won't be mad." He grinned at his own brilliance, causing Hermione to beam back at him. "There's Cowbane and Cinnamon, which are definitely in the Shrinking Solution. If you take out the Cowbane and keep in the Belladonna, you can make a Sleeping Draught." Hermione nodded, feeling excitement bubble up in her chest. Ron and Harry were never interested in how complex and innovative Potions could truly be.

"If you cut the amount of Cowbane in the Sleeping Draught in half, and take out the flobberworm base completely, you can make a Pompion Potion and a Memory Potion, if you add a few Jobberknoll feathers." Theo frowned, before flipping to the Pompion Potion list, looking slightly confused.

"Does the flobberworm base just make the Potion less volatile?" He asked slowly, flicking his eyes up to look at Hermione. Hermione shook her head.

"Flobberworms are important when you're using Horned slugs, when you want to neutralize the poison in the slugs, but Foxglove is in the Potion as well, which is already more poisonous, so it doesn't matter." Theo's brows slowly softened as he flipped back and forth between the two potions. He ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair, before turning to look at Hermione with a huge grin.

"You're right!" Hermione grinned right back. "Hermione, you're brilliant." Hermione ducked her head, feeling a blush crept onto his face. No guy has complemented her in a long time.

"You're pretty brilliant yourself, Theo." Hermione finally responded, once she had found her voice again. Once they figured out what Potion they wanted to start their essay on, they were able to write their essay rather quickly. Hermione hadn't had that much fun working on a project with someone else in ages. Everyone had always expected her to want to do the project on her own or were uninterested in her out of the box thinking.

Hermione's luck was finally turning around. She just couldn't believe she would be working with a Slytherin for the rest of the year and might actually enjoy it. Of course, she reminded herself, she would have to be on guard when talking about Harry or Ron, but she couldn't see the harm in having another friend.

It wasn't like she had that many to begin with.

"Do you think he'll be okay we changed the assignment a little bit?" Hermione asked Theo as she passed the parchment over to him so he could mark his name. Once he had put a drying spell on the essay and rolled it up, Theo turned in his chair to look at her.

"He won't mind at all." He grinned. "Especially since you're working with me. He knows your smart, he just hates you because of Potter. He can't say anything now that you're working with me and we are getting the same grade. Professor Snape wouldn't give me a bad grade just so he could give you one." The last of Hermione's reservations slipped away after Theo's explanation.

Snape was all about the Slytherins and wouldn't risk his students just to get back at her. She figured he might for Harry, which wasn't fair at all. It made her angry that the professors played favorites all the time, but she figured she would take advantage of it for now.

It was nearly impossible for a Muggle-born to get ahead anyways.

"You ready to head out?" Theo's question cleared her head of any misgivings she had about being considered lesser than in the Wizarding World. She would be incredible, and no bigots would be able to stop her.

Hermione shrugged on her outer robe and packed her bag quickly, the long day finally catching up with her. "Yeah, I'm ready to go."

"Would you like me to walk you back?" Hermione shook her head but thanked him. It was too close to curfew and the Dungeons were a far walk from the library as it was.

"I appreciate it, Theo, but I'll be alright." Theo nodded, putting his bag on his shoulder as well.

"While I wasn't sure if this would work. I'm glad we're partners, Granger." Hermione grinned and shook his outstretched hand.

"It's Hermione." Theo grinned back.

"Then it's Theo for you." Hermione nodded, before leaving the library, feeling like her luck had finally turned. She was lucky the halls were decently lit, otherwise she would've regretted not taking Theo's offer.

She was nearly back at her Common Room, when a hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her into a dark corner. Before she could scream, the person's other hand covered her mouth. Heart pounding, Hermione tried reaching for her wand, but couldn't reach it. Once the person had pushed her up against the cold stone wall, she could finally make out a face.

"Parkinson," She sneered, trying to feel brave, despite having no way to defend herself. "What do you want?" Parkinson rolled her eyes, glaring right back at Hermione.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing." Hermione felt her anger melt in confusion.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Pansy rolled her eyes, pressing Hermione a little farther into the wall.

"With Theo."

"What about Theo?"

"Don't play dumb, Granger." Pansy sneered. "It's not a convincing look on you."

"Parkinson, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're trying to warm up to Theo so you can snag a Pureblood for yourself. Draco and I know exactly what you're doing." Hermione felt white hot anger rise in her. Who did Draco, and for that matter, Pansy, think they were? The blood purity police?

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Professor Snape assigned us to be partners. So, we worked on a project. Because we are partners and neither of us wanted to fail Potions. Is that too much for your little brain to understand?" Hermione surprised herself by sneering back. "Do you have all you need to report back to Draco?" Parkinson didn't respond to the rise but looked at her with an assessing glare. Hermione refused to back down and glared right back.

Eventually, Pansy must have seen whatever she was looking for and let Hermione go.

"Whatever, Granger. I'll be keeping an eye on you." Hermione rolled her eyes and Pansy stomped out of the darkness and down the hall. As Hermione grabbed her bag that Pansy had knocked down, she hoped that Pansy would get caught for being out pass curfew.

Walking back into her Common Room, Hermione didn't know why she didn't tell Harry and Ron about what happened. They were waiting for her by the fire, half expecting her to never come back and been killed by Theo.

She sat her stuff down by Ron and sat down between the two of them and sighed. She was just glad to be home.

-00000-

Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for reading my new story. I am very excited about it! And I promise it won't be as sad as my last Dramione.

Love,

Kat