Chapter 1
Hermione POV
Hermione rushed through her shower and immediately after dressing up, she grabbed her bag, stuffing her copy of Advance Potion-Making, and hurrying out of the Gryffindor common room.
Casting a tempus charm, Hermione knew that the classes would begin in another 20 minutes, and that gave her barely enough time to grab a toast and maybe some tepid tea. Getting to the Hall, she almost tripped running to the Gryffindor table.
"Over here, 'Mione," Ron waved to her. Huffing as she drew near her friends, Harry and Ron, she sat down and started putting marmalade on a toast.
"What took you so long?" Harry asked her.
Munching slowly around a bite, she answered, "Slept late. I was working on my Potions Essay last night. I have to turn it in today."
A choking sound came from her left. Ron was holding a muffin in his hand, a big chunk missing from it, probably it flew down the wrong pipe. Harry thumped him soundly on the back.
"Blimey! Hermione did we have to submit an essay today. I don't remember old Sluggie assigning us anything," Ron asked her with panic.
"Don't worry about it. We were not assigned anything. This is just part of my extra credit work in Potions." Her explanation deflated the tight set of Ron's shoulders.
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The Potions class with Professor Slughorn seemed to drag on today. They were doing the pepper-up potion today, and Hermione was slightly distracted, her mind not really on the 5 drops of Salamander Blood or the Bicorn Horn, but since she had read up on the recipe the previous night, she was not deeply concerned. This was not a dangerous potion that would blow up. However, when she slacked off on putting just 3 drops of Salamander Blood, and as Parvati beside her pointed that out, Hermione roused herself sufficiently to keep attention in the class.
When the hour struck 12, the class was dismissed, and she could approach the Professor.
Slughorn, the Head for the Slytherins beamed when he saw her before his desk. "Ah! Miss Granger. You must be done with your research on the Mandrake Root's uses in Potions."
She smiled and extended her scroll, without getting a word in. It never really was useful to interrupt Prof. Slughorn, he loved to talk, and he was one of the easiest Professors to please if one praised him just right. When finally he was done talking, Hermione had her cue, "...yes, I agree Professor, indeed it was your idea on the antidotal properties of Mandrake root that inspired me so much to take this up."
Old Sluggie had a pleasured flush on his face as he gushed, "Indeed. It is such a joy inspiring young minds. Of course, you'll get extra credits for this. Now, you already know about Tom, Miss Granger. He is working on a special research of mine, the amalgamation of certain properties of amortentia and the felix felicis. You're a bright student Miss Granger. With your Prefect duties and O.W.Ls this year, do you think you'll be able to work on that with Tom, under my supervision of course."
This time the smile on Hermione's face was not strained. She had aimed exactly for this. To be included in Slughorn's research would open up career options for her phenomenally, apart from the fact that Slughorn really did have impressive contacts in the Ministry and through previous students.
"I'd be most happy to Professor," Hermione told him genuinely.
"Well then, you can come to my office Friday at 8pm. Tom will be here too, and we can start off with sorting the ingredients."
With the work details hammered out, Hermione walked out of the class with a spring in her steps. She was in her 5th year, and when she thought about the 6th year Slytherin-Prefect and probably soon-to-be Head Boy Tom Riddle her cheeks heated inadvertently. To say he was the most handsome boy in their school would be an overstatement, but his tall frame combined with his chiseled features, not to mention his obvious intelligence, made him the starring actor in many girls' wet dreams, and Hermione was not immune either. She had never personally interacted with him, but she looked forward to engaging with his brilliant mind the coming Friday.
Tom POV
He had his smile plastered on as he led the First years to the classes. After having shown them their classes these past three days, he felt they should be smart enough to know their way by now, but he caught the adoring look in the eyes of the 11-year old blonde girl.
He barely kept the smirk off his face. That obvious adoration for him would have been useful had the girl been a bit older, and maybe from his own house, but as it was she was too young to be useful to him, yet. One never knew who would come in handy, and so he kept up his genial boy charade. It wouldn't do to lose his Slytherin Prince title just because a few pesky first-years tried his patience.
His day went as it usually did, Herbology with Professor Sprout, Arithmancy with Professor Vector, and finally Potions with Professor Slughorn.
In many ways, Slughorn was easy to manipulate, he liked candied pears, and Tom was always careful to give him those, even when the saved sickles that he so frugally scrimped tempted him to buy that new eagle-feather quill, he tamped down on that and spent it on future investment. For the time being, being in Slughorn's good books served him, and though it ached him to part with his money to utilize it not on himself, he reminded himself that he was still spending that money on himself, though in an indirect way.
Although he liked Slughorn because he could be manipulated, he was also sometimes acutely annoyed with the man. For getting his privileges to the Restricted Section of the Library, or the permission to go to Hogsmeade, Tom had to remain the charming boy to his professor, even when said professor used him as free labor to keep the potions' ingredients stocked and organized, and sometimes left the task of preparing potions for classes in advance. On most days, Tom didn't mind the work, it was calming to organize the shelves and post handwritten notes for the ingredients. But on other days when he himself was swamped with work, he felt like giving the boot to everybody and just taking off for a walk in the grounds or just be anywhere where people did not look at him with expectation, did not keep watching his model conduct, did not hold him up to the standards of an ideal, an ideal that he himself had set but also abhorred. He felt like letting loose just once, but he was surrounded by snakes—at the Slytherin dungeons where he needed to maintain his authority, in the great hall, in the classes, everywhere he had to be the perfect boy, but it grated him.
Now as he stood before Slughorn, he got a surprise information. He would get a research partner for the amortentia and felix felicis study. And it was a junior, a 5th year Granger girl. He vaguely knew about her, she was supposed to be a bright student, with very bushy brown hair, and he had spotted her at the Library many times.
It was surprising because Slughorn wouldn't take anyone incompetent for his research, but this girl had to be more than just bright if she had made the cut to be on this research. He guessed he would see this girl's work for himself this Friday. He was the first to make the cut, and he didn't like the place getting too crowded. By the end of Friday, if he could fluster her enough, she would be thrown off the team.
A sinister smile unseen by anyone graced on his face, it would get really interesting to see how the girl would manage around him.