One More Year

Chapter Eight

After dinner Hermione, Theo, Draco and Blaise made their way back to the Potions classroom together.

They gathered around their respective cauldrons to begin prepping and adding their next set of ingredients.

Hermione reached out to grab the gillyroot but Theo grabbed it first and started slicing it.

"You'll want to extract as much-"

"Juice, yeah I know." Theo interrupted with a good-natured smile. Hermione was startled but recovered quickly. This was so different from working with Harry and Ron.

"Blaise, you're going to end up screwing up our potion if you keep doing that!" Draco grabbed the silver dagger out of Blaise's hand and started demonstrating how to extract the juice form the sliced roots by using the back of the dagger. "Do it this way or we'll end up too much pulp in our juice."

"I hate to admit it, but Draco's right you know," added Theo, "the juice from the gillyroot reduces the dizziness side effect but the more pulp in the potion the less effective it'll be."

"I'm not an idiot, I know how to extract the juice!" Blaise snapped.

Hermione stood there with her mouth agape. She didn't realize that they had this much knowledge about potions. Most people just followed the directions without understanding the purpose of each ingredient. Draco shot a quick glance at Hermione and noticed her expression. "Don't look so shocked. Theo and I are second and third in our year and Blaise can be smart when he applies himself," smirked Draco. It was the first time Hermione had seen that characteristic smirk since they had returned to school. She was surprised to find she missed it.

"Oh, I'm smart even when I don't apply myself. I just don't let on. It's smarter that way," grinned Blaise.

They continued working on their potions, each concentrating on their tasks at hand. Theo and Blaise occasionally joked back and forth and even Draco joined in the odd time. Hermione was happy to be left alone to complete her work and was content with being ignored. She found herself relaxing as she listened to these friends banter back and forth.

It was swelteringly hot in the dungeons with the fires going. There was no windows and it had already been a humid day to begin with. There was absolutely no breeze in the room and Hermione could feel the sweat dripping down between her shoulder blades and her hair frizzing up in an unmanageable mess. Hermione was intently concentrating on the potion as she wiped away the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her robe and then pushed her sleeves up to around her elbows. She was re-reading the instructions ensuring that she had not missed any ingredients when she had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew something was wrong but she didn't know what. She realized belatedly what had caught her attention. The boys had stopped talking and were silent. She glanced up to catch all three boys staring at her. They quickly looked away as she caught their eyes but not before she was able to follow their gazes down to her forearm where the word "Mudblood" was etched into her skin. They caught her look and quickly started working again as they pretended nothing was amiss. She hastily pulled down the sleeve of her robe, hiding her scar from them.

They completed the rest of their work in near silence. Theo and Blaise had both tried half-heartedly to start a conversation on a few occasions, but it felt strained. Draco said nothing. Once they had completed all they could do, they started the long trek back to their dormitory together.

"We literally could not be any further from our common room than we were!" complained Blaise. "Couldn't McGonagall set us up an apparition point."

"No kidding!" Huffed Theo as he took the steps two at a time. "I'm going to have to remember to bring some nourishment with me for these long journeys."

"Ugh there has to be a faster way."

"Yeah, it's called an escalator," mumbled Hermione. She hadn't meant to really join in on their conversation, but she was so grateful they were speaking again that the comment just slipped out.

"What's an escalator?"

"Nothing. Just a muggle invention."

"I'm open for any suggestions that would result in us not having to climb 20,000 steps every day!" Blaise exclaimed.

"Come on Princess. Details."

"Uh, well, it's a staircase that moves. You just step on the stairs and it will automatically move you up or down, in the direction you want to go."

"How does that work exactly?" asked Draco looking skeptical.

Hermione couldn't resist, "is the great and wonderful pure blood Draco Malfoy actually interested in a muggle invention?!" Hermione wasn't sure what reaction she expected out of Draco based on her comment but his chuckling appreciatively at her sarcasm was not it. The unexpected response caused Hermione to turn beet red.

"Yeah I guess I am. I just don't understand how something can move without magic."

"Well, there's a motor that causes the stairs to revolve in a circle." This brought on a whole new round of questions as the boys tried to understand what a motor was, and Hermione tried to explain it.

Draco looked like he was trying to envision it. "Too bad that wouldn't work here anyways. Muggle technologies don't work within Hogwarts."

For the third-time tonight Hermione was in shock. "How did you know that?" she asked accusingly.

Draco caught her eye, "you know, I do pay attention in class once in a while and I know this must be shocking but I even pick up a textbook occasionally."

The four of them returned to the common room together with Theo and Blaise complaining about the walk the entire way. Hermione said the password and they entered to see the rest of their house, except for the Slytherin girls, all sitting around on the couches talking to each other. Theo's face immediately split into a large grin as he boyishly hopped over to them and maneuvered himself into a spot between Hannah and Padma on the couch. "So what are we talking about?" he asked enthusiastically. The talking immediately died down as everyone gawked at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Michael angrily.

"Oh, you know, making friends, sharing feelings. That sort of thing."

"No one invited you to join us," chimed in Mandy.

"We don't associate with Death Eaters," Ernie said dangerously.

Theo's face fell and he paled considerably, "I'm not a Death Eater."

"Your father certainly is one. He's in Azcaban right now for that. Don't pretend like he hasn't taught you everything he knows," Susan shrieked shrilly. Hermione recalled with a sinking feeling that most of her family had died in the past year.

"Susan," Hermione started calmly, "I don't think it's fair-"

But Theo interrupted her, "I am nothing like my father!" he yelled and got up and slammed the door of the Slytherin dorm. Hermione was frozen to the spot. Her heart was racing and her hands were clammy. She wasn't surprised by the behavior of her housemates. She had even expected it. But what really scared her was the look on Theo's face when he was compared to his father.