17. Teamwork

Author's Note: I am terribly sorry for the delay in updating. I'm a bad, bad author, and I should be punished. I hope you're all still reading! Anyway...just to let you all know, there is a good chance there will be no more flashbacks in this story, so from here on out (unless stated otherwise) everything you read takes place in the present. I just wanted to clear that up, for anyone who might get confused. Thank you all for sticking with the story and reviewing. My boyfriend has once again encouraged me to continue with this, so that hopefully one day I might finish it. :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the confusing story structure.

Occasionally, he would sneak a quick glance over at Hermione, who was looking quite uncomfortable. Most of the students seemed to be paying more attention to her, with stares and whispers, than they were to Professor Snape. Draco couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her, as much as he hated to admit it to himself.

"Veritaserum," Snape's monotone voice boomed out from the front of the classroom. "Possibly one of the most well-known potions of all-time, and certainly one of the most useful. Who here can name any one ingredient used in Veritaserum?"

A few of the students raised their hands, but Snape ignored all of them, his gaze resting on Hermione, who had slouched down in her chair, as if trying to hide from everyone.

"Miss Granger?" Snape snarled.

Draco stared at the girl as she started blushing furiously. Judging from the smirk on Snape's face, he was enjoying putting the spotlight on her.

Hermione cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "Um…" She glanced down at the parchment in front of her, as though perhaps she would magically find the answer written there. "I-I don't know, sir."

"What was that?" Snape said, making his way over to her desk. "You need to speak up, Miss Granger, because I could have sworn I heard you say that you don't know."

A few of the Slytherins in the back snickered.

"You heard correctly, sir," Hermione repeated in a louder voice. "I do not know."

"Well, well, well. We may look like Hermione Granger, but we don't possess her smarts, do we? Very interesting – you're not an insufferable know-it-all like the other one."

Draco heard more laughs coming from behind him – he recognized one of those laughs as belonging to Crabbe. He had to resist the urge to turn around and tell him to fuck off…and then he had to wonder why it angered him so much to begin with.

By this time, Hermione's face was glowing completely red, and she looked as though she wished the floor would open up below her. Draco could relate to the feeling. Part of him wished it would open up below her as well.

Luckily, Snape soon returned to the front of the classroom. "Your next assignment will be to make your very own Veritaserum potion. I will pair you up, and you and your partner must perfect your potion by the end of next week. Next Friday, each and every one of you will test out your potion on a group of volunteers, so you will also need to compose a short list of questions to ask them." Snape picked up a piece of parchment from his desk. "The partners are as follows: Bones and Finch-Fletchley, Weasley and Parkinson, Bulstrode and Goyle…"

Snape continued to list off the names of everyone in the class, but Draco paid no attention until the professor named off the last pairing.

"…Malfoy and Potter."

Draco snapped his head up. "Potter?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," Snape replied with a satisfied smirk. "You and Potter. Now, class is almost over, but why don't you all go find your partners and get started on the project anyway. And you should all consider working on your potions in your spare time, as I'm sure it's going to be quite difficult for you all to perfect it by the deadline if you plan on just working on it in class. Keep in mind that it's going to take at least five days for the potion to mature…"

Draco groaned inwardly as he drowned out the professor's voice. So much for his belief that Snape liked him. Of course, Snape probably hated Harry Potter more than he liked Draco, so he was probably getting some satisfaction in knowing that Harry was just as enraged about the pairing as Draco was.

He glared across the room at Harry, who was staring back at him with an equal amount of animosity. They both remained seated as everyone else around them got up to go sit with their partners. There was no way Draco was getting up and going over to Harry. He would remain where he was until Potter gave in and came to him. Luckily, it only took a few seconds for Harry to realize he was going to have to move, and he promptly joined Draco at his desk.

Harry set his books down on the desk and took a seat next to Draco. Neither one acknowledged the other with any sort of greeting. Instead, Draco wasted no time in getting down to business.

"So we should probably get together tonight and work on this," he said, not once glancing over at Harry. "Come by the Heads' tower at around seven, we'll work on it there."

Harry nodded. "Fine. So, have you talked to Hermione yet?"

Draco sighed in annoyance. "For crying out loud, Potter. You and I just had that conversation this morning."

"Yeah…so?"

"So, since we had that conversation, I've been in classes all day. When the hell would I have found the time to interrogate her? Besides, I never exactly said I would, anyway."

"Listen Malfoy," Harry said, "I really think that -"

The bell rang, cutting off the rest of Harry's sentence. Quickly, Draco gathered up his books and stood.

"Remember – seven o'clock," he said, and the made a mad rush for the door.

Blaise caught him as soon as he was out of the classroom. "Hey, Draco. So I guess I'll be seeing you later."

"What?"

"The project," Blaise said with a smirk. "I'm working with Granger, remember?"

No, actually Draco hadn't remembered. He hadn't really been paying too much attention when Snape was reading off the list – that is, until he'd read of his and Potter's names. "Oh…right."

"Yeah. I suggested that she and I work on it at your place tonight. You going to be there?"

"Yeah," Draco mumbled. "Potter's coming over too."

"Great. It will be just like a party." Blaise snorted, muttered some sort of goodbye, and then continued on down the hallway.

As Draco watched him go, an uneasy feeling crept into his stomach. He didn't really like the idea of Blaise working with Hermione, but he didn't quite know why it bothered him, or more importantly, why he cared that it bothered him. So he chose to ignore the feeling, and focus more on avoiding Harry as he exited the classroom.

Fortunately, Harry was too busy talking to Ron to notice Draco, who had pressed himself up against the wall next to the door to be less conspicuous. One person did notice him, however. Hermione.

"Well that was fun," she mumbled, making her way over to him. "It's so nice to see that Snape is exactly the same in this world. For a moment there, I almost felt like I was home."

Draco smirked. "Honestly, I can't imagine Snape being any different, no matter what world he's from."

Hermione sighed. "And Blaise Zabini? He's not that much different either - although, he seems to be a bit more egotistical in this world. Though I never thought that would be possible."

"How close were you to Zabini in your world?"

Hermione shrugged. "I wasn't close with him at all. I just shared a few classes with him." She paused for a moment, then said, "So did he tell you that he's coming over tonight?"

"Yeah. Potter's coming over, too."

Hermione froze at those words. "Oh, really?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Yes," Draco replied. "Does that bother you?"

"Of course not," Hermione replied. "Why would it?"

But he could tell she was lying. He'd seen her reaction at the mention of Harry's name. It was obvious she was uncomfortable with the idea of being in the same room with him – but why she was uncomfortable with it was a mystery.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. You just get all weird whenever Potter's name is mentioned."

"No, I don't," she insisted.

Draco decided to let it slide, since now was not the appropriate time to have any sort of discussion with her. "If you say so," he said. "Well, I'll see you later."

As he began to walk off, he noticed that she was following him.

"Wait, do think you could possibly show me where the library is?" she asked. "I'm not exactly sure where it is in this world. And I don't exactly know what it is we're supposed to be making."

"Veritaserum," he reminded her. "Weren't you paying any attention in class?"

"I was," Hermione replied, "but I don't know what Veritaserum is."

Draco halted in his steps. He glanced back at Hermione with a raised eyebrow. "You don't know what Veritaserum is?"

Hermione shook her head.

"It's a truth potion," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"A truth potion?"

"Yeah. As in whoever drinks it is forced to tell the truth."

"Wow," Hermione breathed. "I don't think we have truth potions in my world."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No," Hermione said. "If a truth potion does exist in my world, nobody has told me about it."

"Amazing," Draco said, smirking. "Well, then, I guess you've found your first big difference between our world and yours."

"I guess so," she mumbled.

A few of minutes later, they arrived at the library. As soon as they walked in, Madam Pince, the librarian, gasped and muttered, "Oh my!"

Apparently, she hadn't prepared herself for the moment she would see the new Hermione Granger walk into her library, and from the looks of it, she had been taken completely by surprise.

Draco kept walking, and Hermione followed. He led her over to one of the shelves, where he then carefully examined the spines of each book until he found the one he wanted. When he finally located it, he took it off the shelf and handed it to her.

Hermione took the book and read the title aloud: "A Plethora of Potions."

"It will tell you everything you need to know about Veritaserum, and hundreds of other potions," he said, brushing past her. "It will tell you what ingredients you need for them, how to brew them, whatever. You're going to need that book desperately, since Zabini is your partner. I'm willing to bet he's going to make you do most of the work."

"I don't know about that," Hermione said. "After all, he told me that if I get the list of ingredients for him, he will get them for us."

This struck Draco as odd. For as long as he had known Blaise Zabini, the boy had never once offered to help with anything. Draco himself had been paired off with him before for school projects, and every single time, Blaise would find one reason or another not to cooperate. The only reason Draco ever put up with doing a majority of the work was because he knew Blaise would never lend a hand no matter what, so it was either do the work himself and pass, or not do it and fail. So it just seemed a bit suspicious to Draco that Blaise had offered to actively participate in this project with Hermione.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't count on Blaise if I were you. He's one hundred percent Slytherin."

"And you're not?"

Draco faltered a bit. There had been a day when yes, he had been one hundred percent pure Slytherin, and not an ounce less. But with the death of his father, and his slowly developing feelings for a mudblood, he couldn't exactly consider himself a true blue Slytherin anymore. It was amazing how much that fact didn't bother him.

"I'm just saying, watch out for him," he said. "I'll see you later."

Before walking off, Draco grabbed a random potions book off the shelf for himself. He figured he might as well get a head start on the project to show up Harry.

He brought the book up to the front desk, where Madame Pince opened it and took out the library card. She stamped it, and then handed it to Draco. "Sign your name, please."

Draco grabbed the librarian's quill and began to sign his name, and then immediately stopped. He had glanced at the name signed above his, and his breathing had stopped. The last person to have signed the book out was Hermione Granger, just a little over two months ago.

"Is something wrong?" Madame Pince asked.

Draco cleared his throat and finished signing his name. "No," he replied, even though that answer couldn't have been further from the truth.

She and Blaise were sitting on the couch, their books strewn across the coffee table in front of them, laughing and seemingly having a grand old time.

Blaise looked up when Draco entered the room. He smirked and said, "Hey, Draco. You arrived just in time for me to leave."

"How unfortunate," Draco said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. But he wasn't being entirely sarcastic. In a way, he wished he had come home sooner, to make sure that Blaise was on his best behavior, but it looked as though everything had gone all right between the two of them. Hermione even had a grin on her face.

"Well, I'm off," Blaise said to her, as he gathered up his books. "See you tomorrow."

Hermione nodded as Blaise stood up and walked over to Draco.

"Sorry we didn't get to hang out for very long," he said; this time his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Draco said nothing as Blaise brushed past him and let himself out of the common room.

"How did it go?" he asked Hermione, as soon as Blaise was gone.

"It went fine," Hermione replied. "More than fine, actually." She motioned toward all of the equipment on the table. Apparently, their potion was already made and in the process of maturing.

"Wow," Draco said. "And Blaise actually helped you?"

"Yes, he did. I think we have pretty much everything figured out. He said he had no problem finding the ingredients. How about you? How's yours coming along?"

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but a knock on the door interrupted him. "It's about time, Potter," he grumbled.

He walked over to the portrait hole and opened it. Sure enough, Harry was standing on the other side, but he did not have any books or supplies with him. It appeared as though all that he had brought with him was a grim look on his face.

"Potter, where is your stuff?" Draco demanded.

Harry glanced over Draco's shoulder, probably looking to see if he could spot Hermione in the common room. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Out here?"

Draco furrowed his brow and crossed his arms over his chest. He did not acknowledge Harry's question with a response.

"Please?" Harry insisted. "And close the door behind you."

Draco did not want to take any orders from Harry Potter, but he figured it would be in his best interest to abide if he ever wanted to get around to working on the project before the end of the evening. So he stepped out, closing the portrait hole behind him.

"What the hell is this about, Potter?"

Harry mirrored Draco's stance, folding his arms across his chest. A hard glare came over his features as he began to speak. "Have you talked to her yet?"

Draco sighed in annoyance. "Dammit, Potter, I -"

"Because I'm refusing to work on this project with you until you do," Harry continued.

For a brief moment, Draco could almost see a resemblance between Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini. "Is that so?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. And if you care at all about your grade on this project, you'll talk to her."

Draco scoffed. "Potter, if you think for one second that this threat is going to work, you've got another thing coming. I actually don't care at all about my grade. But let's pretend for one moment that I do – in which case, I will just conduct this project by myself, and you will be the one worrying about your grade."

Harry's features softened a bit. After a moment, he said, "Okay, fine. I didn't actually believe my threat would work. I just…I'm not ready to go in there with her, okay? So if you could please just talk to her tonight, find some stuff out…anything…"

"Then you'll get off my back?"

"Yes," Harry replied.

"You swear that if I talk to her – no matter what she ends up telling me – you will at least be able to exist in the same room as her? And you will shut the hell up about her to me?"

Harry nodded.

It seemed like a fair enough deal. "Okay. Fine. I will go in there right now, and I will talk to her. I will let you know tomorrow what I find out, and then we can do this project and then never speak a word to each other again. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like a deal," Harry said, holding out his hand to shake on it.

Draco narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't push it, Potter. Now get the hell out of my sight."

Harry did as he was told, seemingly satisfied with what had just transpired.

There was no time like the present. If it would get Harry off his case, Draco was willing to talk to Hermione until he was blue in the face.

So he went back inside, closing the portrait hole behind him.

"Who was at the door?" Hermione asked.

"It was just Pansy," he lied. "She wanted to borrow my notes from Transfiguration, but I reminded her that I don't take notes during class."

Hermione smirked as she began pouring a bit of her potion into a flask.

"Listen, Granger, I was wondering if -"

Draco paused when he saw Hermione take a swig from the flask she had just filled. "Whoa, Granger, I don't think you should be drinking that just yet."

Hermione shrugged. "It's fine. I'm just testing it to make sure it has the right flavor."

"Veritaserum doesn't have a flavor, Granger."

"But Blaise said -" Hermione stopped mid-sentence. A look of panic crept over her face.

"Granger?" Draco said cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Hermione replied in a strained voice. She brought her hand up to her throat. "I think – is it supposed to…"

Suddenly, she began gasping for air.

"Granger," Draco said in a firm tone. When she responded only with a choking sound, he reacted swiftly, strolling over to her in a couple of quick strides, and picking her up into his arms.

He knew that something was terribly wrong. He wasn't sure what, exactly, but he wasn't going to wait around to try and figure it out. She needed medical attention, and she needed it now.

He carried her all the way to the hospital wing, praying he wouldn't arrive too late.