Anmarie Island

Draco awoke early the next morning before the sun had risen. He glanced at his bright muggle alarm clock which shone 4:38 a.m. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before climbing out of his warm bed.

He had barely thought of the classes he would be taking in a few short hours. He was not taking the training program as seriously as the others since he felt he was already well prepared to handle the Dark Arts. At least I have something to thank Lucius for, he thought wearily as he drew a hot shower.

The warm water rolled generously down his body and he let his worries momentarily slip away. His mind accidentally wandered off to Hermione.

"Like to see her handle a Dark wizard one time," he mumbled to himself. Sure she's intelligent, he thought admittedly, but she wouldn't have the strength.

He sighed, vowing to not let his mind wander to her anymore. Thinking of her only made him angry. He rinsed the sweet smelling shampoo from his blonde hair and began to finally wonder about his classes.

Hermione awoke from her light sleep nearly as early as Draco; around 4:50. She awoke with the energy of a 5-year old on Christmas morning. She hopped jubilantly into the shower with a wide grin plastered on her face. Her excitement was enough to compensate for the other 11 students.

She had gone over her schedule a million times in her mind:

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.: Breakfast with the other students

8:05 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.: Potions with Snape

9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.: Break

10:20 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Divination with Seedly

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:05 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.: Curses and Charms with Bargs

She cringed again at the thought of divination, but was awaiting curses and charms with anticipation.

After finishing her short shower, Hermione reviewed her notes from their island tour and read a little in each of her textbooks. The clock was moving too slowly for her.

Over in hut three, Harry was sound asleep. He had forgotten to set his clock and woke up ten minutes prior to breakfast. He had the feeling that this was not going to be the best day for him.

"You're late," an irritated voice said blatantly to Harry as he stumbled into the eating area, still straightening his robes. His hair was messier than normal too, and he looked worn out. "What happened?" Hermione softened her tone.

Harry plopped down next to her and sighed heavily. "I woke up late," he admitted, gaining a disappointed look from his friend. "If this is an omen, then today is going to be a bad day," he said, grabbing a brown pastry from the table.

"Don't say that," Hermione demanded. "Today is going to be great."

"Hey, don't we have some social event today?" Harry asked Hermione, who was interrupted by the overly giddy Padma.

"Yes, tonight at around 7:30 we're doing something really fun!" she smiled widely. "I've been dying! I can't wait for it!"

Harry returned her smile, though with less enthusiasm. But a thought soon dawned on him and he turned to Hermione excitedly. "Maybe it'll have something to do with quidditch!" he suggested.

"Maybe," she responded. But she was really thinking, 'Let's hope not.'

A bell sounded, signaling the end of breakfast. Hermione sprang from her seat as the students herded off to the large rustic building where their classes would be held.

Hermione instinctively sought a seat close to the front of the potions classroom, but was disappointed to see that the last one available was next to Malfoy. She begrudgingly sat next to him, lifting her chin high and refused to allow herself to look in his direction.

A door opened and slammed loudly, causing every student to jump in their seat. Every student but Draco, that is. He remained solid as a rock in his seat.

Snape entered, ebony robes swishing violently behind him. He had his usual grave expression painted on his pale face. Silence filtered through the nervous room as Snape's eyes swept over all the students. He smiled inwardly at his Slytherins before dryly saying, "Potter your bag is not supposed to be on your desk. Five points from Gryffindor."

Harry groaned and removed the bag. Great, he thought, now we have negative points. He heard Malfoy snicker and mentally cursed the pompous bastard. Hermione glanced back at him and rolled her eyes. A mutual thought passed between the two: I hate Slytherins.

Snape moved the class along quickly, quizzing each student on what they had learned prior to the start of summer. Hermione and Draco each passed with flying colors, but the others faltered terribly. "I cannot believe the level of idiocy in this room," Snape declared calmly. "Your utter lack of preparation for this course shows me that you need to be worked more rigorously this summer. Be forewarned."

Aside from the quizzes and Snape's agitated declaration, potions was simple that day. They reviewed the basics and were introduced to new, fairly easy concepts. The day was not without warning, however. Before class ended Snape made sure to add, "I realize that today was not that challenging. But starting Monday, be ready to work harder than you've ever worked in potions. There is no homework tonight, but do not get used to that. I will try to assign something every single day. Remember we're dealing with the dark arts here. Such subject matter requires painstaking work. I will not go easy on any of you." He cast Draco a regretful look before the entire class left for break.

"Can you believe him?" Harry said angrily as he and Hermione walked from Snape's room. "Giving me minus five points for a dumb bag! He wouldn't do that to Malfoy or any of his other precious Slytherins."

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "Why do you still get mad over him? It's been obvious that he hates Gryffindors and loves Slytherins since the first day we stepped foot in Hogwarts."

"I know, but it still pisses me off," Harry admitted, gritting his teeth.

Suddenly Hermione gasped in sheer panic. "Oh no!"

"What?" Harry responded quickly, assuming something drastic had occurred.

"I left one of my potions books in Snape's room," she said, turning around abruptly. "I'll see you during divination."

Harry smiled and waved as she scampered off in a state of alarm.

The potions door creaked loudly as Hermione inched it open. "Professor Snape?" she called softly. "Hello?"

She pushed the door open all the way, still not seeing Snape. However, one disturbing thing did catch her eye. She walked hurriedly over to Malfoy, who was perched on top of her desk, flipping through her forgotten book. "Give me my book," she demanded sternly as she neared him.

He turned to look at her with his signature smirk. "Calm down Granger, I was only looking to see whose it was."

"You knew it was mine because it was on my desk. Now give it here," she held out her hand.

A loud echo startled Hermione as Draco slammed the book shut. "My, my...so demanding. You can calm down, you know. It's not like I hexed it or anything." He plopped the book nonchalantly into her outstretched hand and stood to leave. Before he strolled out, he leaned down to Hermione and put his lips uncomfortably close to her ear. He felt her warmth upon his cheek and heard her nervous breathing. He smiled against her. "Or did I?" he whispered mysteriously before leaving the room without ever glancing back.

Hermione considered his comment for only a moment before throwing the book into her bag. He's a liar, she thought. I'm not afraid of him.

She walked to her hut for break and read a book about magical creatures. Harry walked around the safe parts of the island with Seamus, gabbing about quidditch the entire time. Draco practiced spells in his cabin, preparing for curses and charms later that day.

Break ended quickly and the students headed for Seedly's room. Few were looking forward to divination, but they looked forward to their new teacher. Maybe he could make the class slightly interesting.

The first thing they noticed when the students walked into their new Divination classroom was that it was very different from Professor Trelawney's room. Light poured in from every side through the many windows, and the students had long bench seats in two rows instead of sissy poufs and round tables. There were many books lining one wall, and a large closed cabinet against another.

Hermione surprisingly headed for a seat in the back, making Harry snicker as he joined her. When the students were assembled, Seedly walked in from a side door. He stood behind a podium, and rubbed his hands together, saying "Excellent! You're all here!" He paused, looking around at all the students, winking at a few. "Well, I'm not sure if you all know each other, and I certainly don't know as much about you as I'd like, so we're going to play a little game to start things off," he said, grinning broadly.

Hermione smiled in spite of herself. At least he's likable, she thought.

Professor Seedly was looking around the room once again, and his gaze landed on Hermione. "Ms. Granger? Could you come to the front please?" Hermione, although a bit puzzled, joined Seedly in the front of the room. "And Mr. Malfoy, please. Thank you." Hermione unconsciously moved away from Malfoy as he took his place next to her.

Seedly looked at the rest of the class, and then explained, "I want everyone else to take out parchment and quills. Hermione and Malfoy are going to tell us about each other, and then I'll allow the rest of the class to give us more details. When you are finished, I will throw in a surprising revelation or two of my own. Hermione, would you like to begin?"

Hermione looked intently at Malfoy, trying to remember anything she could say about him that wouldn't involve extreme nastiness. There wasn't much.

"Malfoy... Draco Malfoy, the pureblood, that is... He's a Slytherin, and he's a seeker on his House Quidditch team," she began, and Seedly nodded as he wrote. Hermione fought to keep her voice neutral as she continued "I think that his favorite class is Potions, to the best of my knowledge. He's quite good at it, anyway. He's also good as a Seeker-for a Slytherin anyway." Malfoy was looking quite amused at the compliments she so obviously didn't want to give him. "He knows more than most people give him credit for, and I don't think he's quite as evil as he tries to let people think. He does like to degrade people to elevate himself, though, which I don't think is an attractive quality in a person. His father has basically spoiled him since birth, and he thinks that Lucius can get him out of any bad situation."

Malfoy looked curiously at her, and Seedly said brightly "Well then! Everyone ready to learn about Ms. Granger? Alright then, Mr. Malfoy, you can begin!"

Malfoy began in his normal drawl "Hermione Granger, muggle-born know-it-all extraordinaire. Her favorite hobby is doing her homework. She would live in the library if Madame Pince had let her. She was petrified for three months in her second year, and was the thing that Viktor Krum would miss most during the Triwizard Tournament," At this, Hermione blushed, and Malfoy smirked at her. "She's part of the infamous Dream Team, Gryffindor's trio of do-gooders, and is the top in every class she's ever taken. Except Divination, of course. If I remember correctly, she threw a tantrum halfway through her first year of it and quit. And by the way, I don't ask anything of Lucius anymore," he finished with an icy stare at Hermione.

Seedly, looking a bit disappointed at the Divination statement, nevertheless put on his usual smile, and asked "Can anyone add to what they've told us?"

Harry raised his hand "Hermione always takes time to help everyone else with their assignments, no matter how busy she is, and stands up for her friends whenever she can."

Blaise shot a disgusted look Harry's way and interjected "And do you think Draco doesn't? If it weren't for him, no one would ever have passed Potions, even with Snape as our Head of House."

Hermione looked questioningly at the boy next to her, but his face revealed nothing.

Seedly looked carefully around the room, and seeing no more hands, he clapped his hands. "Well! That was certainly informative. But if I may, I would like to add a few things...

"In time, Draco is going to make a decision that will go against everything he has ever been taught. He will show bravery characteristic of the Gryffindor House, and will not be ashamed of it. Hermione is going to develop a Slytherin trait: Suspicion. And for good reason. I see much danger in her path," Seedly paused, looking in turn at each of the students in front of him. Hermione looked at him, puzzled. What the heck was he talking about? Harry was the one who was always in danger, not her. Draco was also giving his new teacher an odd look.

"Well! How about the next two students?" Seedly asked brightly, and the rest of the class was spent learning about each other, and most students were given a prediction by Seedly.

"He's loony," Seamus said as they walked outside.

"Anyone who teaches Divination is loony, Seamus. It's a requirement of the job position," Harry joked. "It's nice that he didn't tell me I was going to die at any given moment. That got old quick with Trelawney."

"Yeah, I wonder what he meant about your new home being better than even you had imagined it would be?" Seamus asked.

Harry gave Hermione a knowing look, but she was a bit distracted. "Hermione? You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Umm, I'm going to go get my books. I'll see you next class," she replied, and walked slowly to her cabin.

Harry and Seamus shook their heads, and watched her go.

Hermione arrived to Charms and Curses with only a minute to spare. She'd been thinking about what she'd heard in her last class, and some of it made no sense to her at all. She'd eventually just decided to ignore it all, and looked at her clock to find she was about to be late.

When she walked into the class, she found quite a different setting from the Divination class. Mme. Bargs' class was very... dark, and not only in the lighting. There was only one window, and it was shaded. A candle was on each of the desks, but the light did not go very far. It was hard to remember that she was on a tropical island as Hermione looked around at the bookshelves that looked as foreboding as the Restricted Section at the library, and the cobwebs in one corner. The room was extremely quiet, even though students were talking. Not wanting to disturb the silence, she carefully closed the door behind her. Mme. Bargs looked at her with a look Hermione couldn't interpret, and pointed at an empty seat in the front. As she walked over to it, she discovered she was between Draco and Blaise.

"Great. Just great," she muttered as she put her books on the table and sat down.

"Now that we're all here..." Mme. Bargs paused, looking pointedly at Justin, who was still talking to Hannah. He immediately fell silent, and she continued. "If you remember my speech at our first meeting, you'll recall that I said we would be taking this class seriously. I will tolerate absolutely no horseplay of any kind, and talking without permission is prohibited," she said sternly. The students were taken aback, and Hermione was reminded of her earlier prediction that she would be strict. Then she smiled, and all of the boys grinned back. I swear, she has the qualities of a veela, Hermione thought. Gorgeous and charms the boys, but she's not so sweet under the pretty layer. They spent the class listening to Mme. Bargs plan out their curriculum for the next weeks. Harry noticed that a lot of the curses reminded him of things Moody taught them, and the charms weren't exactly reminiscent of Fliwick's usual levitating or banishing charms. They actually more closely resembled hexes in their descriptions, but Harry brushed it off, trusting that she knew what she was doing.

After all of the classes, the students swung by their rooms to drop off their things, and found notices pinned on their doors telling them to meet in the clearing in 30 minutes.

When they arrived, talking excitedly, they found their teachers waiting for them. Seedly looked as excited as the students, Snape looked bored, and Bargs had her grin plastered on her face again.

"Tonight will be the first of many social events. There's an interesting twist. You will be going on a sort of scavenger hunt to find your surprise. You will be grouped in teams by who you are bunking with in your cabins," Hermione looked a bit distressed, and Seedly continued "Hermione and Draco will be on the same team, as they each have a cabin to themselves. Your first clues are posted on the backs of your cabins. Have fun and good luck!"

Draco smiled unpleasantly as he advanced on Hermione. "Shall we?" he said icily, stepping closer and making her aware of the fact that he was a good 6 inches taller than her.

"I get the feeling we're going to be paired together for just about everything, so I think we need to get over the fact that we despise each other and learn to work together. We're easily the two smartest students here, and I for one think we could win every contest," Hermione told Malfoy, her hands on her hips.

Malfoy eyed her suspiciously before giving in with, "All right, all right. Temporary truce. As long as I don't have to do any of that touchy-feely Gryffindor stuff."

Hermione glared at him before re-reading their first clue: Where do the gnomes roam?

"Of course! Remember that flat rock all the gnomes were congregating at yesterday?" Hermione turned excitedly to Malfoy, who yawned and said disinterestedly, "Oh yes. Right."

"Come on!" she called over her shoulder, jogging down the beach towards the field. Malfoy followed at a considerably slower pace. Reaching the rock five minutes later, Hermione stopped, holding a stitch in her side and breathing heavily. Malfoy joined her a minute later, much less winded.

How did he catch up that quickly without even being tired? Hermione wondered. Malfoy spotted a piece of paper, but as he reached for it, a gnome picked it up and started chewing on it. Malfoy shot red sparks at the creature who yelped and scampered off, leaving the paper behind. Hermione shot a glare at Malfoy, saying, "You didn't have to be that mean, you know."

Shrugging, Malfoy replied, "Gnomes and I don't exactly get along, okay?" He picked up the piece of paper and studied it. It showed a Venn diagram with a monkey in one circle, a frog in the other, and a question mark in the place where the two circles overlapped. He felt warm air on his neck, and smelled a sweet flower he couldn't quite place. He relaxed a bit, enjoying it, before realizing Hermione was breathing on him as she studied the paper over his shoulder, and that he smelled her shampoo.

Irritated, he moved quickly away, and then said, "I don't get it. What is it supposed to mean?"

Hermione paused before answering confidently "It's a clabbert, Malfoy. Part monkey, part frog. There's a colony of them near my cabin."

"Ugh. All the way back there?" he stopped at a glare from Hermione that clearly said she was getting fed up with him. "Ok, well, let's get going then."

Hermione silently followed Malfoy back to the cabins, and as they reached hers, he stopped abruptly. She bumped into him and nearly lost her balance. "Watch it, Granger," he spat at the girl.

She glared in response, then led him into the forest, picking a path to the place where she had seen the clabberts earlier. "Stay here," she whispered to Malfoy, stopping him with her hand. He looked at her questioningly, but stayed put. She walked slowly towards a large tree, crooning softly. Many scarlet lights flashed in her direction, but they were extinguished quickly. A strange creature crept down the tree, and jumped onto Hermione's shoulder, chittering at her and dropping a crumbled piece of paper into her hand. She briefly scratched behind its short horns before lifting it up to a branch.

She walked back to Malfoy, who looked at her, awestruck. "That was one of the most disturbing-looking creatures I have ever seen. How could you let it touch you?" he asked disbelievingly.

Hermione replied scathingly "I could say the same thing about Pansy Parkinson. How could you let her touch you?"

They looked at each other a moment before laughing loudly, causing the scarlet lights to blink again.

"Come on, last clue," Hermione said, trying to ignore the odd fluttering she had felt when Malfoy had laughed.

The last piece of paper showed a ladder. Hermione and Malfoy looked at it, puzzled, and racked their brains for where a ladder would be on the island. Hermione was just about to suggest they look for a tool shed when Malfoy suddenly exclaimed "Oh!" and grabbed Hermione's arm, pulling her deeper into the forest. He stopped in front of an enormous tree, which was covered in thick vines and branches that were wrapped around the trunk. Hermione stared uncomprehendingly at the tree, then it dawned on her and she laughed. Following Malfoy, she climbed the tree, and found herself on a large circular platform with a table in the middle. A curtain of vines hid the platform from view, and brightly colored faeries were darting around. Tiki lamps were burning, and the table was set for twelve.