A Reason To Be

“Mr. Longbottom, why do you come to class?” Snape asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Neville had, just as he did almost every Potions class, spilled something which had insured his failure of the assignment that day.

“I…I am sorry Pro…Professor Snape.” Neville stuttered as he struggled to mop up the potion he had spilled. Hermione look sympathetically in his direction and shook her head.

‘The poor thing, he’ll never pass this class.’ Hermione thought. Snape heaved a heavy sigh and uttered a cleaning spell. Neville’s mess instantly vanished. He got up, meekly smiled and sat back in his seat.

“Now, before Mr. Longbottom interrupted me, I was saying that over the next few months we will brewing a very complex healing potion. Since the procedures are very intense and our ingredients are limited, you will be grouped into pairs. As always, in efforts to encourage inter-house relations, you will be paired with someone not of your own house. I have prepared a list and I’ll read the names off now. Try not to kill one another.” Snape stated and then proceeded to list off the pairs.

“Ronald Weasley and Millicent Bulstrode.”

“Pansy Parkinson and Padma Patil.”

“Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.”

“Gregory Goyle and Parvati Patil.”

“Harry Potter and Vincent Crabbe.”

“Blaise Zabini and Neville Longbottom.”

As Professor Snape continued reading off the list, the students tried to come to grips with what they had just heard. It seemed that Snape had chosen the worse possible pairings imaginable. Hermione’s mouth was gaped open like a fish. Ron pleaded to be killed. Draco wondered kind of nightmare he had slipped into, which was exactly the thought that was running through Harry’s mind as well. The expression on Blaise Zabini’s was one of utter terror. Everyone was snapped out of their inner musings when Snape instructed them to arrange themselves so that they shared a table with their new partner. Then with a flick of his wand, instructions appeared on the board and he said that they were to copy them down. They all grumbled as they picked up their belongings and moved to their new places. Blaise sat down next to Neville and immediately turned to speak to him.

“Alright Longbottom. We both know you couldn’t brew of cup of tea without incident and I happen to have one of the highest grades in the class. Never mind the fact I don’t wish for you to spill something on me and have my arm turned into a giant turnip. So here is the deal. I will read instructions, gather ingredients, brew the potions and bottle them. You will touch nothing and pretend to be busy. Agreed?” Blaise said desperately. He was not about to place his Potions grade into the slippery hands of Neville Longbottom. Neville said nothing, but only nodded.

Draco picked up his pile of books and moved to Hermione’s desk. He sat down in the chair next to her and sighed. Since she saw him coming over she had been pouting, wishing she could have any other partner besides him. She moved all her things to the other side of the table, away from him and moved her chair in that direction too.

‘Snape…what a miserable slim ball. He must have known this is the last person I wanted to be paired with. And he did it anyway!!’ Hermione fumed to herself. Draco watched her scoot her chair and all her things away from and became annoyed.

“Afraid I’ll bite?” Draco asked. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

“Stranger things have been known to happen, Malfoy.” Hermione countered, her jaw tightening. She got out a piece of parchment and a quill and began copying the long and detailed instructions for their assignment. After watching her a moment with a sour look on his face, Draco did the same.

“You do realize that I do have a name other than Malfoy?” Draco asked, never looking up from his parchment. His voice had not exactly been pleasant. Hermione snorted and put down her quill.

“You are one to talk. I am sorry to inform you that my first name is not mudblood.” Hermione huffed. Then she whipped her head back around and continued copying. Draco hadn’t expected that little outburst from her. He kept looking at her with an amused smile.

“No need to get your knickers in a knot. Perhaps if you could use my first name, I could recall yours.” Draco teased. Hermione did not find it amusing. She scowled at him but did not go back to her writing. She looked him dead in the eye and he returned her gaze.

‘His eyes are the color of rain clouds.’ The observation darted through her mind before she knew what she was thinking. She berated herself but Hermione found his eyes quite attractive.

‘To bad they are attached to the rest of him.’ She thought as she rolled her eyes.
‘Her eyes look like the color of warm chocolate.’ Draco found himself thinking as he looked at her. Just as quickly as she has he snapped out of it and wondered where the hell that thought had come from. Then he sighed impatiently, waiting to see if she was going to say anything.

“Draco…” Hermione said softly, she kept looking at him for a moment longer and then returned to her parchment. Draco again smiled a small, amused smile.

“Hermione…” Draco let her name roll off his tongue. Then he turned and finished copying down the words on the board. They spent the rest of the class in silence. Pansy had seen the whole exchange. Though she didn’t know what they were talking about she could see that a few times Draco had smiled and that he had teased her. The fact that he was paying attention to Hermione instead of her enraged Pansy. She was from a pure-blood family, she was in Slytherin house. She could not figure out why Draco wanted nothing to do with her.

‘Perhaps if the mudblood was not around to catch his eye, he’d come to his senses.’ Pansy thought angrily, returning to her homework.