Who Would've Thought?

Chapter 1

It was two weeks before Christmas. Every person attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could feel the Christmas magic in the air and was looking forward their nice long vacation. However, the only thing that was preventing the students from complete bliss was the two weeks of classes they still had to attend.

"I still can't believe we still have two whole weeks! I don't know if I can make it..." Ron moaned that afternoon at lunch.

"I know," Harry sighed as he drank more pumpkin juice.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Guys, it's not that bad."

"Yeah, not to YOU, Miss Straight - A - Student." Harry said, smirking at her.

"I'll choose not to reply to that," Hermione said, calmly wiping her mouth and standing up. "Let's go. We have Potions next."

"Aw man..." Ron moaned some more, covering his face with his hands.

"Well at least we don't have it with the Slytherins this year," Harry said, sympathizing with Ron.

"Yeah, it's.....ALMOST.... tolerable this year," Hermione laughed as she pulled Ron's arm, hauling him up out of his chair. "C'mon, Ron. We don't - "

"Want to be late, we know, we know." Harry interrupted her, hearing this speech a million times before.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and glared at Harry, who smiled back sheepishly. "Sorry, Herm, but you say that everyday."

"Well it's true! If we're late for anybody's class, especially Snape's, we'll get house points taken off. Or, even worse, detention."

"We know, Hermione," Ron said, smiling at her. Then he turned resignedly and walked out of the Great Hall. "C'mon...let's get this over with."

"It'll be okay, Ron," Hermione said as she followed him out the tall doors, just in time to crash into Draco Malfoy.

He jumped back. "What the - oh it's you, Mudblood," he said, seeing who it was.

Hermione smiled mockingly. "Pleasure to see you too, Malfoy."

"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry said, brushing past him. "We have to get to Potions."

"Oh, I am soooooo sorry. We wouldn't want perfect Potter to be late," Draco said as he smirked at him. "We all know how much Snape adores all you Gryffindors."

Harry turned back with his fists clenched. "Listen, Malfoy - "

"Harry, just let it go," Hermione said as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "He's not worth it."

Harry nodded slowly, although an angry glare was directed at the Slytherin. "Okay, you're being let off easy this time, Malfoy. Let's go," he said, mainly to Ron who was looking like he was about to tear Malfoy's head off.

Ron nodded and he and Harry started walking towards the dungeons. Hermione was about to follow, but stopped when she heard Malfoy's voice behind her.

"Hey Granger, wait a minute."

"What do you want?" she asked, irritated.

Malfoy smiled evilly and looked up towards the ceiling. Hermione followed his gaze, and saw a piece of mistletoe hanging in between them.

"Well, Granger? You know you want to."

Hermione sneered at him. "Yeah, right, Malfoy," she said before turning back towards the dungeons. Malfoy smirked at her back as she hurried down the corridor to catch up with Harry and Ron before sauntering the opposite direction to his Transfiguration class.

* * * * *

That day, the sixth years were brewing a particularly nasty potion that was guaranteed to give the drinker boils for a month. Hermione and Neville were making the potion together, right next to where Harry and Ron were brewing theirs. The students were allowed to pick their partners today, and as usual, Harry chose Ron over Hermione. By the time Snape had asked Hermione who she wanted to work with, Neville was the only one left. Hermione glared over at Harry and Ron, who seemed to be making the best out of this class by debating the different ways of administering the potion to Malfoy.

She sighed as she added the last ingredients and looked over at Neville, noticing that he was looking more morose than usual. "What's wrong, Neville?"

Neville stared gloomily at the floor. "It's nothing."

"Neville, what's bothering you?"

"It's nothing, really.... Well, no, actually it's something." Neville heaved a deep breath. "It's just that if I get one more detention this year, my gran will go ballistic on me. She'll probably sent me a couple dozen Howlers, and I wouldn't be surprised if she came down herself, to give me a scolding in front of the entire school."

"Aww... Neville, I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems."

"Hermione, I've already had 10 detentions...this month!"

Hermione winced. "Ouch. Okay, that's pretty bad."

Neville smiled wryly. "Yeah, I know. But most of them are from Snape, and for no good reason at all."

"Guess you'll have to be extra careful in Potions, then. Oh, it's time to move the cauldron over to the fire." She moved over to pick up the heavy cauldron.

"Here, let me help," Neville volunteered as he walked to the other side of the cauldron.

"No, Neville, it's okay."

"No, I got it," he said, just as he slipped on some beetle's eyes that had spilled onto the floor and crashed into the cauldron, spilling it's contents to the floor. He slowly looked up towards Hermione who was staring despondently at the spilt potion. "I guess I don't got it..."

"LONGBOTTOM!" Snape bellowed from across the room, his voice echoing throughout the entire dungeon.

The entire class went silent, staring at Neville as he slowly stood up. His eyes went wide when he saw Snape stalking towards him, looking like he was in a worse mood than usual. "Hermione! Snape is sure to give me detention!" he whispered wildly. "What am I going to do?"

Hermione bit her lip, looking back and forth between Neville and Snape.

"Longbottom," Snape said, a little more calmly but still staring piercingly at Neville. "Look what you've done...DON'T but in, Granger," he said to Hermione, who had opened her mouth to speak.

"Please, Professor, it was my fault."

Snape slowly turned his head to face her. "Really..." he said, his voice dripping with distaste. "Do tell."

"Well, Professor, I... um... accidentally slipped on some beetle's eyes that I had spilt earlier, and I crashed into Neville who fell into the cauldron," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes. Harry and Ron, who had seen that it was Neville's fault, were staring at her incredulously.

Snape smiled slowly at her. "Very well, Ms. Granger. 10 points from Gryffindor and detention for you. Tonight at ten o'clock in the staff room. And clean this mess up."

"Yes, Professor," she said, still staring at the ground.

Snape walked slowly back to his desk, looking at the rest of the class. "Well? What is everyone staring at? Get back to work!"

Hermione and Neville started to clean up the spilt potion as the rest of the class went back to their assignment, with Harry and Ron still throwing her weird looks.

"Hermione," Neville whispered softly. "Why did you do that?"

She smiled weakly. "I haven't gotten any detentions so far this year, Neville. I can afford one."

Neville smiled at her. "Thanks."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in Double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, Draco Malfoy was having a bit of trouble with his assignment.

"Stupid, stupid, beetle! Why don't you turn into a damn turtle! Aarrrghhh!!" he groaned loudly, banging his wand off the table. "Bugger!" he cried as the wand began emitting blue sparks and singing the national anthem.

"MISTER Malfoy!" came the annoyed voice of Professor McGonagall.

"What?" he cried as he turned around, his wand hitting a blond Ravenclaw, who promptly turned into a turtle. Malfoy stared down at the turtle and sighed. "Oh, NOW it works!"

"MR. MALFOY!" McGonagall snapped again as she came running forward and turned the turtle back into a student with a wave of her wand. "I will NOT tolerate this mockery of my class!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Malfoy replied between his clenched teeth.

"Detention! Staff room, tonight at ten." McGonagall went on, ignoring him. "And see that this does not happen again!"

* * * * *

That night, Hermione arrived at the staff room promptly at ten o'clock, and was greeted by Professor McGonagall.

"Professor?" Hermione asked in surprise. "But my detention was for Professor Snape."

"Yes, well Ms. Granger, Professor Dumbledore ordered all the detentions tonight to take place in this room, as Peeves has left a little...present...for us. Your job is to clean it up. You know the rules, no magic, and there's a bucket of water and some sponges in there. Another student has already started," she said, glancing at her watch. "You'd better get to work."

"Yes, Professor." Hermione said, hesitating as she opened the door, not knowing what exactly was in there. As she looked inside, she gasped as she saw potions ingredients strewn all about the room. Some sort of slimy goo was clinging to the walls, and there were mandrake roots, beetle's eyes, bicorn horns, and Lord knows what else covering the floor. Hermione turned back to McGonagall incredulously. "How did Peeves get a hold of all this?"

McGonagall grimaced. "Apparently, last night, he raided Professor Snape's potion stores. Professor Snape was in even more of a bad mood than he usually is, as you've probably noticed. You'd better start cleaning now. You are not to leave until the entire room is spotless."

Hermione nodded and walked into the staff room, seeing a boy busy scrubbing the floor, unaware of the exchange between her and McGonagall. "Hello," she said to him.

The boy looked up, and Hermione found herself staring into the face of Draco Malfoy. "Oh no, not you," she moaned, closing her eyes.

Malfoy scowled at her. "Pleasure to see you, too, Granger."

Hermione glared back at him. "Very funny." She turned desperately back to McGonagall. "Do I really have to work with HIM?"

"You two are the only ones that have detention, tonight. So, apparently, yes," McGonagall said, somewhat sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Ms. Granger. But if you will excuse me, I have to grade the first year's switching spell tests." She turned and started to walk up a staircase to her office.

"Yes, Professor." Hermione said, turning back to stare gloomily at Malfoy.

Malfoy looked up at her. "Well, are you gonna stand there all night, Mudblood? This room isn't cleaning itself."

Hermione sighed angrily. "Oh really, Malfoy? I didn't know that, thanks for telling me."

Malfoy stood up crossly. "Listen, Granger. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I like my beauty sleep, thank you very much. And with every word we exchange, I'm getting less and less of it."

Hermione smiled sweetly as she grabbed a sponge and dipped it into the bucket of water. "So sorry, Malfoy, I'll stop talking. Lord knows you need as much beauty sleep as possible."

"Funny. Very funny. I'll have you know that there are plenty of girls in this school who are pining after me," he said irately.

Hermione walked over to a wall and started scrubbing it. "I'll work on the walls," she said, ignoring what he just stated. "And, hey, aren't we supposed to not be talking?"

Malfoy growled under his breath in irritation and didn't reply.

After about an hour of cleaning their respective parts of the room in silence, they were almost finished. However, Malfoy broke the silence. He was crossing the room to a different part of the floor, carrying the heavy water bucket, when the handle of it slipped out of his fingers and fell onto his foot.

"Ow!" he yelled, jumping up and down, holding his foot.

Hermione looked up from her work, pushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "Aww...did widdle Malfoy hurt his poor widdle foot?" she asked in a babyish voice.

Malfoy glared at her. "You know, Granger, you could show a little sympathy every now and then."

"Now why would I want to do that? I have to save my sympathy for my friends."

Malfoy smirked and raised one eyebrow. "And why is that? Are they so clumsy that they need your care every other minute? Yeah, I know Potter needs you by his side after he falls off his broom during every Quidditch game he plays, but that shouldn't take up TOO much of your sympathy."

Hermione crossed her arms and stared icily at him. "That's not what I meant, Malfoy, and you know it."

"So?" he asked dispassionately as he sat down to take off his shoe and rub his foot. Hermione felt her heart give a jolt as a stray piece of silvery hair fell down across his eyes. She frowned at herself. *Now what was THAT about?* She asked herself. She shook her head once, as if to clear it and moved to sit down across from Malfoy.

"Alright, seriously, are you okay?"

Malfoy looked up and stared curiously at her. "What do you care?" he snapped.

She shrugged. "When another human being is in pain, it's natural for someone to try to help him. And whether I like it or not, Malfoy, you are a human being," she said wryly.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes, thinking that she was up to something. "The foot is fine."

"Well, that's good, I guess."

"Alright, Granger, what are you up to?"

She stared at him disbelievingly. "Why is it that when I didn't show any sympathy for you, you bit my head off, but now that I AM showing you some consideration, you are suspicious of me?"

He shrugged. "I'm naturally suspicious of everyone."

"That's horrible."

"No," he said, glaring at her. "That's my life."

He started to get up but stopped when he heard her voice.

"Why?"

"Why, what, Granger?" he asked irritably. "I'm getting sick of the conversation."

"Why are you naturally suspicious of everybody?" she asked, unfazed by his harsh glare.

"Because I am, that's why! Why do you care, anyway?!" He put on his shoe and stood up, beginning to pace back and forth. "Why are we even talking?! Hurry up, Granger, we're wasting time, here!" He picked up his sponged and started cleaning the last small area of the floor.

Hermione's eyes flashed. "Fine then! I try to be nice to you for a change, and this is how you react! No more of that from me!" she said angrily, furiously scrubbing the last part of the wall. After a moment she put threw her sponge down and turned to face Malfoy with her arms crossed. "Done!"

Malfoy tossed down his sponge a second later, and stood up to face her, his hands on his hips. "Me too!"

They glared at each other for a long moment, their faces only a foot apart. Because of their anger towards each other, they could actually feel the electricity in the air between them.

Malfoy turned abruptly on his heel and started stalking towards the dungeon. "Bye, Mudblood! Hopefully I won't ever have to go through this infuriating experience again!"

"That makes TWO of us!" she shouted after him, as she stomped towards Gryffindor Tower.