The Potions Essay

The Potions Essay

Hermione was sitting primly in her seat as Draco entered the Potions classroom. She barely spared him a glance when the blonde haired Slytherin threw himself unceremoniously onto his stool beside her.

"Mudblood," he greeted with a nod.

"Ferret," she replied curtly.

When they had been first paired together earlier that week, the result had been explosive. But by their third day working together, the boiling rage had lessened to a simmer and they had taken on the tactic of ignoring each other instead. Both were committed to their studies and so a silent, mutual agreement was put into place to ensure that everything would go smoothly. Hermione couldn't help but be grateful for their shared perfectionist tendencies, for she could relax slightly with the knowledge that Draco wasn't likely to botch the potion.

Now, they sat ignoring the other's presence. Draco was absentmindedly fiddling with a quill, as Hermione nervously chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for class to begin.

She looked over at him in annoyance. Wordlessly, Hermione reached over and snatched the quill from Draco's fingers and slammed it onto the desk. Her annoyed glare was met with one of his own.

As the door to the dungeon banged open, everyone straightened in their seats and the quill incident was forgotten. As Professor Snape swept past the desks, he gave his wand a sharp wave. Essays soared off of the front desk and began to plop themselves down on the students' tables.

Their essay landed in front of Draco. Quickly, Hermione reached over and grabbed it away from him. Scanning the top of the parchment, her jaw dropped.

"What did you do, you incompetent prat?" she screeched, waving the parchment in front of his face.

Draco gasped as he saw the sickly red 'A' scrawled across the top. "What did I do, Granger? You're the one who hacked our original copy to shreds with your editing!"

"Oh this is bad, very bad," Hermione muttered under her breath wringing her hands anxiously.

"Of course it's bad!" Draco cried. "I'm a Malfoy, I don't get 'A's; I get 'O's for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh Gods," Hermione said, her eyes flashing in anger as she looked over at him. "I knew I couldn't trust you with the potion!"

"Excuse me?" Draco said, taken aback. "I've been brewing this since before I can remember. Of course I should have known better than to think an inexperienced Mudblood like you could actually make it right on the first try."

Hermione's left hand balled into a fist of rage. Taking her right hand, she poked him soundly in the chest. "For your information, Malfoy," she started.

"Is there a problem here?" cut in Professor Snape.

"As a matter of fact," Hermione said cuttingly, whirling around to face the teacher, "there is."

"Professor Snape," Draco whined. "How could we have gotten an 'A'?"

Picking up the parchment from the table, the Professor lazily glanced over it. He cocked an eyebrow as he looked back up at the flustered pair. "You do realise that this paper belongs to Gregory Goyle and Ron Weasley, or can you not read?"

"Oi, Harry!" came Ron's excited voice from across the room. "You've got to see this; I've scored an 'O'!"

-End-