Hermione stared at her cauldron. It was bubbling – with a lock of her own hair, nonetheless – and she wondered if she had gotten the potion right. Snape had said it should be a bubbling concoction at this point and that’s what her cauldron looked like. It helped to know that she was the only student in the class who had gotten to this point. Of course, Snape would never praise her. Oh, he may not find something to criticize as he stared down his long, hooked nose at her work, but he’d never compliment her. She was not a Slytherin and was an insufferable know-it-all according to him. So there was that.
Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were sweating behind their cauldrons, with Ron looking at her work in exasperation. “Hermione, couldn’t you pretend to not be a show-off in Snape’s class?” His tone was a dark mutter, and Hermione didn’t blame him for the question. But, that wasn’t who she was. Her father had always told her to be proud of her intelligence. She had worked hard to be considered the best in their year – why should she stop now?
Hermione rolled her eyes, ignoring his comments. He could keep them to himself. As she looked around the classroom, her eyes landed on Neal. He was a student who was a couple of years older than her, but because he was a foreign exchange student from America, he had been placed in her classes. She didn’t understand the logistics of it, but she found herself curious about him.
He didn’t talk to many students; mainly kept to himself. And Hermione was intrigued by that. She wondered if he was just naturally shy or if he preferred to keep to himself because it was easier that way. She stuck to Harry and Ron because they were her best friends, but she didn’t really venture out of that. Not as a fifth year.
Of course, there was Viktor Krum last year and she and him had stayed in touch via owl post. But that was different. She had had a crush on him. And he had liked her too. So there was something about being his friend that thrilled her. Harry sighed explosively. “Mate, we’ll never get this right.”
Hermione took a little pity on him. “I’ll tutor you guys. Or you can look at my homework.” She didn’t condone cheating ever but she could make the exception. What was the harm in it?
