Hermione's Mistake

Only a week after the explosion the confinement had already started getting to everyone. The students were all frustrated at missing out on their summer holidays, with the exception of a few Slytherins who preferred the dark and cold. The professors were setting more and more work, hoping it would keep the students out of their sight for a while. Even Professor Sprout had snapped at a young Slytherin when he whined about being sick of seeing the professors, reportedly saying that frankly she was "sick of seeing him, too, but seeing there was nothing either of them could do about it they'd just have to put up with it, preferably in silence."

In the Gryffindor common room everyone was working hard to try and get through all the work they had been given. Hermione was scribbling furiously at a test. She'd been working harder than ever, desperately trying to make up for her disastrous work while she had been sick. She was dreading having her exams returned, especially Potions. She'd started having nightmares of Professor Snape brandishing a piece of parchment at her and telling her they'd had to invent an even lower grade just for her exam. Luckily the spectre of the exam seemed to be resting in the back of her mind for the time being, and she was able to concentrate hard on her work. Harry was sitting in an armchair by the fire poring over his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbooks. He kept fidgeting occasionally. Down the other end of the common room Ron, Neville, Dean, Seamus and Lavender were all sitting at a table to do their homework. Neville was staring in horror at the essay Professor Snape had set him. He'd been given five feet of parchment on how the phases of the moon affected the brewing of certain potions, due in the next morning. Lavender looked at him curiously.

"Why do you have to do that?" she asked quietly. "Upset Snape again?" Neville smiled wanly. He opened and shut his mouth, but didn't seem capable of brining himself to say something. Ron looked over.

"Don't mind him, he's got post-traumatic stress. Snape got snotty with him towards the end of the lesson. Said he was being 'grossly disrespectful'."

"'Grossly disrespectful'?" Lavender echoed in surprise. Ron grinned.

"Yeah. We're not completely sure, but we think it was because Neville was so busy reading that he *didn't* flinch when Snape spoke to him. Snape seemed so enraged that he might be losing his touch that he snapped and set that essay." Lavender shook her head in silent compassion, as Neville began to twitch.

Down the other end of the table Dean and Seamus were trying to stay focussed by rewarding each other with fizzing whizbees each time they properly completed a foot of their homework. Dean shoved a piece of parchment across to Seamus. Seamus looked up from his own work and scanned it quickly.

"Nice work, mate," he grinned, and tossed one of the lollies across the table to Dean. Before anyone could react Harry had launched himself out of his armchair, leapt across the room, and grabbed the lolly at full stretch. He grinned and popped it in his mouth, before sauntering back across his room and regathering his textbooks from where they had fallen on the floor. The rest of the common room was staring at him in surprise. Hermione turned to look at Parvati, who was sitting behind her. Parvati smiled at Harry indulgently.

"Quidditch withdrawal," she said nonchalantly, in answer to Hermione's unasked question. Hermione shook her head in despair, and returned to her test. Everyone settled back into their work, and quiet descended on the room. It didn't last long though. Only a few minutes later the portrait hole creaked open. Everyone looked up at Professor McGonagall standing in the entrance.

"Hermione Granger, can I please speak to you for a moment? The rest of you can get back to work." Hermione turned pale, and stood up slowly. She walked across the common room and followed Professor McGonagall outside. Ron looked at the closed portrait hole for a few moments, before reluctantly returning to his work. Professor McGonagall led Hermione towards her study, shutting the door firmly once they were both inside.

"Sit down, Miss Granger," she said. Hermione was shaking inside; she knew this was about her exams. Professor McGonagall sat down on the other side of the desk and looked sombrely at Hermione. "You may remember I was somewhat surprised by your efforts in your Transfiguration exam. I was happy to pass you, of course, but it was not exactly what I had expected of you. Even more unexpected were the results of your Potions exam. When Professor Snape showed me what you had produced, I almost told him there had been some mistake. However, as you know, there can be no mistake in such matters. I am sorry to tell you that you have failed your exam. Do you have any explanation?" Hermione simply stared at her hands folded in her lap, trying desperately to hold back tears. Professor McGonagall waited for a moment, but Hermione was unable to respond.

"Very well. Fortunately, these exams are simply preparation for you OWLs, so there will be no serious ramifications. Your work seems to have returned to its usual standard, so we will simply review the result as an unusual aberration. However, due to the fact that you are continuing Potions in your seventh year, I have arranged with Professor Snape for you to take remedial potions until the end of the term." Hermione gaped at her.

"B-but you said I'm fine now. I don't need to!"

"I would simply like to be assured that you are sound in your understanding of Potions. You must realise the hopes we have for you Miss Granger. It would be a great pity indeed if you were to ruin your chances simply because you refuse to undertake a little revisionary study." Professor McGonagall relented as she saw Hermione turn white. "Very well, Miss Granger. Shall I tell Professor Snape that you will present yourself in the dungeons at 7pm tomorrow evening." Hermione nodded almost imperceptibly. "Good. Don't look so miserable Miss Granger. I'm sure you can make the most of the time. Perhaps you can use it for seventh year study, or Professor Snape may allow you to work on a project of your own. That will be all, you may return to the common room now." Hermione turned and left the room.

~'~'~'~'~'~

The next evening Hermione promptly presented herself to Professor Snape.

"Come in, Miss Granger. Sit down. Yes, yes, by the cauldron. You don't think you are going to study Potions without a cauldron? So, I believe you are here for remedial Potions?" He seemed to be taking a great deal of pleasure in the words 'remedial Potions'. Hermione had to restrain herself from poking her tongue out or something equally childish. Professor Snape looked down at her. "I must say your exam results were truly horrific. Even Master Longbottom managed to do better than you, and he was reading his instructions upside-down! Therefore, we must start with the basics. I suppose I can only hope you won't bring the castle down on us."

Half-an-hour later Hermione was again fighting the urge to poke her tongue out at Snape. It wasn't in her nature at all, but she felt she was entitled to a little imbecility after successfully completing every task he had set her. She could have sworn he looked disappointed, despite the fact that he was looking at her with his usual inscrutable gaze.

"Very well, Miss Granger. It appears there is no point whatsoever in my instructing you in remedial Potions. I have other projects far more worthy of my time, so I hope you have some assignment you can work on for the rest of the sessions." Hermione smiled, although not too broadly - she didn't want to upset him.

"Yes, Professor." He looked at her with a faint glimmer of suspicion in his eyes. Not that that was anything new; he was always ready to suspect the worst of students.

"Hmmm. The storeroom is available for your use. I trust you not to make anything dangerous, of course if you do I will be forced to test it on Potter. I will be in my study if you require me." Hermione could barely wait for him to leave the room before she pulled a parchment out of her robes. It was soft and ragged, like it had been unfolded and read, then hurriedly shoved out of sight many times. She ran over to the storeroom and carefully started pulling ingredients down...

~'~'~'~'~'~

It took only a week of nightly sessions for Hermione to complete her potion. She was exceedingly excited. It had taken months of saving for her to accumulate the galleons she needed for the potion recipe, and the parchment had arrived in a small black, velvet package only the morning before she had started remedial Potions. But finally, after all her angst and worrying, she had created a potion that would win the heart of the one she loved. It was foolproof. All she had to do was slip it into his pumpkin juice the next morning. She decanted it into a small glass vial, stoppered it carefully and sealed it with some wax. She then slipped it into the deepest pocket of her robes, and slipped out of the dungeons.

~'~'~'~'~'~

She was the first student up in the Gryffindor tower the next morning. She hurriedly pulled on her robes and dashed down the stairs. She pushed the Great Hall doors open with a crash, expecting the room to be empty. To her surprise Professor Dumbledore was sitting in his place at the head of the room. He smiled down at her.

'Hungry, Miss Granger?' he said in his soft voice that somehow managed to fill the entire room. She stopped, confused.

'Um, yes, sir. Ravenous. Being studying all night.' He raised an eyebrow.

'Oh dear. I do hope you're not working yourself too hard. We wouldn't like to see a repeat of the last exams, you know.' Hermione blushed.

'Well, when I say I worked all night, I mean, I didn't work all night.'

'Ah, I understand. You studied all night, but not all night.' Hermione stared at her feet. 'You must be eager to start your breakfast, Miss Granger. I won't keep you any longer.' Hermione sat down gratefully and served herself a bowl of porridge.

Gradually the other students began to trickle in to the room. Some, like Colin Creavey, were bright and cheery and looked like they'd been on holidays for a week. Most of the students, though, looked like they'd slept on the flagstone floor and been dragged down to the Great Hall headfirst. Ron was among the last to enter, much to Hermione's agitation, as she was worried someone would take the place next to her where she needed him to sit for her plan to work. He looked bleary-eyed around the room, and started to head towards a spot next to Seamus. Luckily, just as his gaze passed over Hermione she was able to produce a smile, and he changed his course. He sat down next to her with a groan.

"I hate Friday mornings," he muttered.

"Ron, you hate every morning."

"I like Saturday."

"Only when you get to sleep in. You hate it when you're at home and your mum gets you up at seven o'clock to de-gnome the garden."

"I was trying to forget that." Hermione smiled at him again.

"Would you like some pumpkin juice?"

"Oh, thanks Hermione. That'd be great." Hermione poured him a generous goblet of pumpkin juice. Hopefully the flavour of the juice would conceal the potion. She fiddled with it where it was concealed in its vial in the sleeve of her robe, nervously watching for a moment to slip it into his juice unobserved.

Just then Malfoy and his henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle, came sauntering over to the Gryffindor table. Everyone at the table tensed; Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin in the last Quidditch match of the term, and although it had been over three weeks ago Malfoy was still holding a grudge. He stood behind Ron and Harry, who were sitting next to each other, and stared down at them.

"Morning Potty, Weasel. Sitting next to one another again, I see. You know you really should stop doing absolutely everything together. People are starting to talk." Harry glared and began to stand up. After a few seconds Crabbe and Goyle began to snigger.

"Just what do you think you're implying?" Harry snapped. Draco smiled calmly.

"Oh, I'm not implying anything. Just making an observation."

"Well here's an observation for you. Why don't you shut your fat mouth, or I'll shut it for you. Permanently." Harry pulled his wand out from his robes.

"What on earth is going on here, gentlemen?" Everyone jumped as Professor McGonagall appeared beside the table. Hermione took advantage of the distraction to whip the vial out of her sleeve and pour the contents in to Ron's goblet. "Well? I'm waiting for an explanation." Draco grinned.

"Nothing, Professor. We were just having a little disagreement about a homework question." She glanced at him witheringly, then at Harry.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Mr Potter?"

"No, Professor," he muttered.

"Very well. If you two ever make such a disgraceful display in the Great Hall again you will be on detention for a month. Now, go and finish your breakfast." She turned away and walked back to the teachers' table. Harry sat down and started cutting up some bacon savagely. Ron glared up at Draco.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be over with all your inbred little friends?" Draco just raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I wouldn't want to spend any more time with you." He reached over and grabbed Ron's goblet of pumpkin juice. Hermione watched in horror as he downed the contents before sauntering back to the Slytherin table with Crabbe and Goyle in tow.