Strange magic. (Dramione)

Chapter Eight-Potions Partner.

Chapter Eight.

Hermione dawdled on her way back to the dungeons, not in quite the rush she was in before. After all, there was another half an hour before anybody else would get there.

She only hoped that she would not miss any important notices that Professor McGonagall would have given out on the first day back at the school. For a while, she debated going back to the hall and just trying to ignore the wretched pair that she would undoubtedly have to face at some point.

"That would never work," she thought.

"And worse still, I may end up slapping the two of them, in front of the whole school this time."

Upon reaching the main doors to Professor Slughorn's classroom, a simple 'Alohamora' charm allowed her to enter the room almost half an hour before everybody else would finish their breakfast. That man never remembered to cast an impenetrable securing charm whilst the students weren't meant to be in lessons. She took her seat in the rear left corner of the room, got out her books and sighed.

Hermione had sat at the very front of the class for the entire seven years of going there so far, as it enabled we to focus solely on the lesson and the teacher, rather than the several other rows of tedious chatter occurring in the room. This did often mean that she was on the receiving end of several jokes in her direction, but she didn't mind. Everybody knew that the front seat was her seat. However, she had been approached by certain teachers asking her to move to the back so they could focus on teaching other students who (at this moment in time) were less likely to pass their N.E.W.T.S than her. She had reluctantly agreed, and was now very much contented with that decision. At first, she had been rather put out at the fact that she would be moved away from Harry and Ron, but now she wanted as much time away from them as possible. She really needed to think.

Since Harry and Ron were sat at the front towards the right hand side, and she was at the back on the far left, she was sat completely alone. She would just have to deal with that.

She waited for a few minutes with nothing to do, before she started to hear very faint footsteps. No one should be out of the great hall this early. Well, except for her. There was around another quarter of an hour left before breakfast let out and people started to come to lessons. So why was there someone else in the dungeons so early?

She was a little wary at this point. The castle did have quite the history of housing a multitude of strange and deadly things over the years, and the footsteps were getting closer.

Maybe she was being crazy or just very sleep deprived, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Something in her brain told her that it would be a good idea to hide behind the door, and she decided to listen to it.

The footfalls got gradually louder as she stood, rock-solid and alert, waiting for something to happen. She saw a movement in her peripheral vision and stood up straight, ready to face whatever it was.

A few seconds earlier, Draco was hurtling down the moving staircase that led to the dungeons. He turned the corner, making his robes flourish behind him.

He had Slughorn for potions first. Such joy(!) Draco sat alone in potions ever since Crabbe had died in the war. That's what people were calling it. They said that he "died in the war" which he supposed was true, but nobody ever mentioned the fact that he perished in a fire of his own creation. Nobody ever mentioned the fact that he had dabbled with FiendFyre and that it had killed him. Nobody even mentioned the look of anguish on his father's face when he discovered the news. Draco was the one who had broken the news, in the end.

Lost in thought, he rounded the final corner and came to the doors. They were slightly open, which was odd. All classrooms should be locked during breakfast.