Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! The lovely JK Rowling has that privilege.

A/N: I wrote this for a challenge I put to myself (10 drabbles in 24 hours). Some will find their way to gs100 and some probably won't. This was from the prompt Tainted from Lux. Not beta'd. All mistakes are mine! AU- This is set in Hermione's 7th year and she's 18.

oOo

Tainted

Tainted! How could her potion be tainted? She'd been so sure of her ingredients, so exact in her cutting, so precise in her stirring. Sighing she resigned herself to her fate – another detention with Professor Snape, the third this month.

Advanced Potions was a small class and the elite members stared at her with a mixture of pity and barely disguised glee at her misfortune. She ignored their stares, lost in her own thoughts.

As she left the classroom she glanced back at the man she would be spending her evening with and smiled, blushing as he smiled in return.