Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Alrighty, this is going to be a mulit-chap fic but I don' know how long it's going to be.

Hope you like it!

"Si…? Prego?" Hermione stared at the boy sitting in front of her and held back a sigh. Of all the people she could have been partnered with it had to be him.

"Huh?" She felt her cheeks heat and looked down at the desk that separated the two. 'Way to go, Granger. Why didn't you just take a third language course like your parent's told you to?' she silently berated herself as she tried to follow up on her less than stellar opening statement. "I'm sorry, what?" she tried again, glancing up from beneath her lashes to see the Italian born wizard watching her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize my slip of the tongue. Yes, can I help you?" He apologized when her language skills continued to fail her.

"Umm…" she cringed at the tone of her voice but continued, "We're partners." She finished when she felt her voice was steady again.

"Are we?" he asked before his indigo eyes flickered up to the black board, where their names were listed together in Snape's slashing handwriting.

"Yes." She answered unnecessarily when his gaze returned to hers.

She cleared her throat when he leaned back languidly in his chair, a Slytherin trait that seemed to be engrained in all of them at an early age. He smiled lazily up at her before motioning for her to sit in the empty seat next to him. She nodded and sat down, unpacking her cauldron and the ingredients she'd collected before approaching him.

"You have everything for the potion?" surprise in his voice.

"I believe in being prepared." She stated simply, her gaze wandering around the classroom to find Harry and Ron both looking at her mouthing questions. "Honestly." She huffed as she looked back at her table and opened her book to the correct page to begin to prep for the ingredients.

"I can see that."

She gave him a sharp look before slicing the newt tongue into paper thin slices on the bias.

"You know, most girls would be cringing at the mere thought of slicing the tongue of a newt." Blaise informed her as he opened a jar of Demiguise hair and added three while stirring clockwise three times. "I would have done that." He continued when she didn't answer, her attention focus completely on the task at hand.

"Mmm." She hummed in agreement as she looked up at the clock to see the exact time before she added three slivers of the tongue and stirred the caldron counter clockwise five times in fifteen seconds before adding three more slivers and continuing the process until the tongue was completely incorporated.

They worked in silence for a quarter of an hour before the boy beside her cleared his throat to get her attention. He continued the action until she looked up with annoyance etched in her face.

"What? This is a critical point in the potion." She said crossly as she continued to stir the caldron in a slow steady rhythm.

"I am capable of stirring, Granger." Blaise chuckled when she seemed to start ignoring him again.

"Mmm." She commented again before gasping when the rod was taken from her hand as he began the motions. "What are you doing? A change in pace could completely ruin the potion." She hissed when he threw a smile at her, taking his eyes off of the bubbling potion in progress that was currently on a pedestal directly in front of them.

"You're Gryffindor friends have been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes. It was beginning to grate on my nerves, Bella." He answered with a put upon sigh.

Hermione looked away from the young wizard sitting next to her and focused on her friends, who looked relieved that she'd finally looked up. Harry began mouthing a question to her when they were interrupted.

"Mr. Potter, I do believe I said no speaking in class." Professor Snape's oily voice penetrated the otherwise silent classroom.

"I didn't say anything, sir." The formal address dripped with sarcasm and Hermione held her breath as she glanced up to the front of the room, where the 'bat of the dungeons' stood behind his desk, an eyebrow raised and his lips curling to revile yellow teeth.

"Are you saying I'm hearing things, Mr. Potter?" She cringed at the unsaid challenge that had just been issued and closed her eyes when she heard whispering begin.

"Just don't say anything." She chanted under her breath, praying that Harry would some how hear and take heed of her advice.

"I'm saying that I wasn't speaking." Harry answered with stubbornness in his voice.

Hermione silently groaned and opened her eyes to see Professor Snape smile, a sight that made her shutter with uneasiness.

"It seems that your friends aren't the brightest." The boy beside her said with a sneer.

Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes before giving her full attention back to the scene that was unfolding in the potions room.

"What was that Potter?" the tone of his voice didn't bode well with Hermione and she began to gather her thing, not putting them away but getting them ready for quick shelving if the need arose. She hoped that Harry wouldn't answer but it seemed nothing was to go her way.

"I said that I wasn't speaking." He repeated stressing each word.

"Everyone bottle your potions as they are and put the flasks on my desk then clean your work stations and leave. No, Mr. Potter, do not move." The order was given in a calm voice and Hermione was already standing with half of the potions ingredients in her hands.

She was the first to arrive to the store room and placed the bottles in there proper place before making her way back to her desk and packing up her belongings. She gave a warning look to Harry as she walked out into the dank hallway and began to walk to the common room.

"It seems you're without an escort." She heard from beside her when she began walking up the stairs that would bring her to ground level.

"What are you talking about?" she asked with a huff. She was silently fuming at Harry and his actions. If he hadn't gotten in trouble he would be walking with her instead of…him.

"Well Weasel-Bee isn't here and Potter is most likely being given a tongue lashing." He clarified.

"Ron is waiting for Harry"

"So the trio is growing apart?" He asked with curiosity, earning a snort from Hermione. "Not very ladylike."

"What do you want?" she asked when they were at the foot of the stairs outside the Great Hall that would lead her to the many stairways it took to reach the tower.

"What makes you think I want something?" he asked with a wounded expression on his face, a look she didn't trust one bit.

"If you don't want something than why are you talking to me?" she ground out when he stared at her with curiosity.

"Who say's I don't find you incredibly intriguing?" he asked with a raised brow, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Then why do you find me incredibly intriguing?" she asked with a sigh.

"Who say's I find you incredibly intriguing? I was simply asking a hypothetical question." He shrugged off her with his indifference.

"I think I've wasted enough of my time." She practical snarled before she turned away from him and practically flew up the steps.

Damn him. He'd made a leading comment and then waited for her to step into the twisted trap he'd set. It was infuriating to think that he'd bested her. She thought of stopping off at the library but then remembered that he usually frequented the usually deserted place and could just imagine getting comfortable then having the chair across from her dragged out from under the table before someone sat heavily in it, something he did more frequently than not when they were in the library together.

"You aren't the least bit curious anymore?"

With a groan she Hermione turned around and found herself face to face with Blaise. "I'm very good and controlling my curiosity." She informed him with a lift of her chin.

"Really? I seem to remember hearing about you being petrified because of your curiosity. You've almost been bitten by a werewolf because of your curiosity. You've been linked to many break-ins in the restricted section of the library, I'm assuming because of your curiosity. You've…"

"What are you, a detective?" she snapped as she picked up speed.

"This isn't a large school, Granger. Things do get around." He informed her with a smirk on his face. She stayed silent when he expected an answer from her and simply looked at him with an expressionless face. "You're not denying your involvement with the library break-ins."

"I didn't break in." she finally said when he simply raised an eyebrow at her and his smile grew.

"Are you sure? When you were there, it was after hours and against the wished of Madam Pince. Now correct me if I'm wrong but a break-in is basically trespassing and trespassing is an unlawful act committed on the property of another, especially a wrongful entry. Or there is another, an unwarranted or uninvited incursion."

"What are you," she snapped, her already thin patience snapping in to little bits "a walking dictionary?"

"No, that is your title." He corrected her.

"Well I never." She said indignantly, sticking her chin out and turning away from him.

"Yes you have. Don't go pretending like you've never been called that before, I've heard your 'friends' say worse to you." Hermione heard the stress on the word friends and stiffened instantly. "Ah, hit a nerve?"

"They say that in a friendly way, not that you would understand." She spat at him, swinging back around to face him.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" he asked with a scoff.

"You're second running in the walking dictionary category. Read between the lines and figure it out."

With that being said Hermione quickly walked away from the stunned Slytherin and made her way to the Gryffindor common room in record time. Walking in she spotted Ron sitting on the couch and made her way over to him.

"Where is Harry?" she asked when she took a seat on the cushion next to him.

"He's still with Snape." He answered in a tone that was somewhere between disgust and sympathy.

"I would have thought you'd still be waiting there."

"No. I would have been but Snape walked into the hallway and said he'd give anyone who stayed a detention with Filch." Ron explained with an upset look.

"I'm surprised you didn't risk it or…" she looked around the common room to make sure no one was near them and was dismayed to find Seamus sitting on the arm of the couch "forget it." She sighed before leaning back into the couch.

"Forget what?" Ron asked, as usual not following her completely.

"Nothing, I'll tell you later." She waved off his question with a pointed look to their fellow Gryffindor perched on the couch.

"Oh, hey Seamus. Why later?" He asked her when Seamus answered back with a 'hey' of his own.

Hermione blew out a frustrated breath and stood up to go up to her room. "boys." She muttered under her breath as she stomped up the stairs. She was head girl this year and had her own bedroom in the tower and was grateful for it in times like these.

"Honestly. 'Oh, hey Seamus'." She mocked with a glare at her closed door.

"Talking to yourself again, deary?" Hermione cringed at the voice and blew out a long breath before turning to face the voices owner. "Really, the way you walk around talking to yourself, it's not wonder there is never a boy in here."

"Could you please be quite for a second, I am trying to think." She said polity to the woman who was looking back at her from the mirror.

"Think? It's all you ever do." She made the accusation before she rolled her eyes and disappeared, leaving Hermione with a clear view of herself. She turned away and went to her bed.

She flung herself onto her bed and closed her eyes with a groan. She needed sleep but had a Head's meeting with the Head Boy Theodore Nott, a Slytherin. She had been nervous before she met him, he was a Slytherin after all, but it soon vanished after they'd both pulled all nighters in their common room for the same class but hadn't spoken to each other about it. The next day, after the test and many yawns on both parts, they decided to study together, no matter if they weren't in the same classes at the same time, to help eliminate missing information. It was now usual to meet every Tuesday and Thursday regardless if there was a test the next day, something Harry and Ron weren't too overjoyed with.

"Hermione." she heard a muffled voice call before someone began pounding on her door.

"What?" she called back, not hiding the annoyance in her voice, although its venom was probably lost on whoever was on the other side.

"Hermione!" the voice and pounded returned.

"Wait a minute." She yelled back, contemplating if she should let whoever it was in or just crack the door open. She had her decision made for her when she opened the door slightly and had it pushed open.

"What is my brother ranting about down there?" Ginny Weasley, who looked rather annoyed at said brother, asked as she nudged Hermione out of the way and taking the Head Girls place on the bed, pulling a pillow from beside her to shove under her head.

"I wouldn't know Ginny. I have to get ready for a meeting with Theodore soon, could you leave so I could get ready. Please." She added when the ginger haired girl simply stared at her.

"Your meeting isn't for a half an hour."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Everyone knows that you leave at the same time for the same thing every Tuesday and Thursday." Ginny said with a shrug, although Hermione didn't see how she could shrug with so many pillows behind her.

"What do you mean everyone knows?"

"Well…everyone knows." The younger girl said slowly, giving Hermione and odd look.

"Who's everyone?"

"I don't know everyone."

"Will you stop being so vague, Ginny?" Hermione demanded more than asked when the other girl looked at her blankly.

"I am not being vague. I am just answering your questions."

"I'm leaving now." Hermione stated before she gathered her rucksack and headed for the door. "Don't touch anything and let yourself out…soon" She threw over her shoulder before she shut the door and walked down the stairs, through the common room and down the steps.

"Well look who's finally shown up." She heard as she rounded the corner of the hallway that held the tapestry that concealed the opening for the common room.

She moaned and turned around, her hand automatically going to her hip.

"That's not a very nice way to greet someone." Blaise admonished her with a tsk.

"What do you want?" she asked the sigh implied afterwards.

"Maybe I just want to talk to you." He shrugged.

She remained silent, remembering the recent question and answer session they held not even half an hour ago.

"Well you're taking the fun out of it." He said with a huff, a smile forming on his face.

"Sorry for your disappointment." She said sweetly as she let her hand drop from her side and straightened. "I'll just be going now so you can plan your next attack."

"I am not attacking you."

"You are annoying me I consider it the same thing."

She was surprised when he laughed, his head flying back in his amusement. She narrowed her eyes after the initial shock wore off and prepared for whatever he would say back to her.

"You are a sharp one, Hermione Granger. I'll give you that." He said with a shake of his head before he turned and walked away. "See you next potions class." he called over his shoulder after he'd rounded the corner.

She stared at the corner he'd disappeared behind for a few seconds before she turned around and walked the two dozen or so steps that had her draw even with the tapestry.

"Proxie Doxie." She said clearly after a glance down the hallway to ensure Zabini had actually left.

The tapestry began to unravel from the right side and along the bottom. She watched as the rectangular wall hanging turned into an ever shrinking square and walked through the opening in the wall that materialized when the tapestry had disappeared completely.

"I thought you'd never show up." A voice said from the couch as she walked out of the small hallway that led to the common room.

"I'm fifteen minutes early." She informed him while she took a seat in a comfortable chair that stood next to the fire.

"oh." She looked at him oddly before turning her attention to the fire. "What happened to Potter?"

"I don't know. Ron was going to find out but Professor Snape threatened everyone with detention if they stayed outside of the classroom." She explained with a shrug, her attention landing on him.

"mmm." He answered with a nod, his sandy blond hair falling into his eyes at his action. "How is it working with Zabini?" he asked after a small silence.

"He's an odd one." She answered after some thought, unsure of how to approach it. They didn't really talk about Slytherins so she wasn't sure were Theodore stood on the subject of Blaise.

"At least I'm not the only one." He answered with a laugh. Hermione relaxed instantly and joined his laughter.

"Has he always been like that?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"No, not always. He was rather normal up until fifth year. He came back from summer break and just shut up, kept to himself." He explained with a shrug.

"What was he like before that?" she asked, bracing her hands on the arms of the chairs, lifting herself up and drawing her legs beneath herself.

Theodore looked at her with a raised eyebrow and smirked before answering her. "I don't know he was quiet but not as much as he is now."

"Could have fooled me." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." She answered quickly, looking down at the carpet to hide her blush, something she had for some unknown reason.

"Anyways, I never really hung out with his crowd so I don't know how much he's changed. I just know what I've seen and how I remember him being from the little contact I had with him."

She tried to think back to something that had happened during the summer after fifth year or during fifth year that would have affected him like that. She ruled out the occurrence at the Ministry immediately, there had been no Zabinis there. There was nothing that jumped out at her but then that was two years ago, she could have forgotten about something small that she might have just glanced over in the Daily Prophet.

"Alright, enough about Zabini. Have you heard anything about the Charms exam coming up?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

"I don't know the specifics but I think we're going to be asked to turn a white tea cup into mouse then back into a tea cup with roses a turtle around the base."

"For someone who doesn't know the specifics you've given me a very good description."

She turned pink and gave a sheepish smile. "I've talked to people that have graduated."

"And they all say the same thing?" he asked, surprise in his voice.

"No, not exactly, but I have found a pattern. There are really seven only advanced charms exams for midterm, there each given once every seven years."

"How do you know this?" Theodore asked as he tilted his head.

"I've done some research."

"You are the nosiest person I think I've ever met." He said with a smirk.

"I am not nosy." She defended herself indignantly, her mind racing back to the conversation she'd had with Zabini in the hallway and scoffed. "I am not nosy." She repeated with conviction.

"If you say so." He said sarcastically as he put his hands up in front of him as if to ward off a verbal attack from her as well as a physical, which made her snort in amusement. "I've never known you to repeat yourself." He then pointed out with a grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes but gave him a strained smile. Sometimes he knew her better than Harry and Ron; it was nice being able to have a conversation with someone that didn't revolve around Quidditch. In the beginning of the year she had thought that she'd fancied him but had quickly gotten over that when she'd sat down and talked to him about the 'welcome back' ball that Headmistress McGonagall had given permission for. He was a nice boy and she liked talking to him but he was more a brother to her, like Harry and Ron.

"What time is it?" she asked slightly irritated at his grin.

He glanced at his watch and looked back up at her. "I'm not telling you, you'll just say 'oh I have to go to the library before dinner.'"

She pursed her lips and was tempted to send a glare to him but didn't, knowing he'd just laugh her off.

"So what is your back up about?" he asked when she turned away from him and looked at the mantel above the fireplace.

"My back isn't up." She denied instantly, grimacing as soon as the words left her mouth.

"You're snappish, you've repeated yourself… I'd say there was something wrong."

"You'd also say that Macbeth and Hamlet are the same thing with different names." She threw.

"Touché."

They sat and talked about midterms until he stood and stretched and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" she asked at his sudden movements.

"dinner." He called over his shoulder as he walked through the hallway. "You have a visitor."

"What do you mean I have a visitor?" she asked more to herself than Theodore and whoever else was there. She got up and made her way to the 'door'.

"Hello Hermione." she heard as she walked up to the open archway.

"Oh, it's you." She said flatly before walking into the hallway. "I'll see you later, Theodore." She smiled at the slightly shorter Slytherin before walking away, hesitating only slightly at the sound of a deep chuckle behind her.

Soooo...what do ya think, how can I make it better? Do ya like it or love it, let me know please :)