THE SECOND TASK of the Triwizard Tournament grew ever closer, and classes had returned in full swing. In Potions class, Snape was having them brew a Wit-Sharpening potion, and someone like Hermione Granger found this to be a very useful thing to know what with everything that'd been going on. Just the other day, she'd overheard Harry admit he still hadn't figured out the golden egg, and Hermione thought that perhaps – perhaps, she could help him out. It was Ronald she was mad at after all, not Harry.

Still, she did not approach him or even sit in the same area as the boys. She chose to work with Neville, finding that he was hopeless when it came to Potions, and feeling terrible for how often Professor Snape likes to yell at him. With her help, they successfully brewed their potions, and Snape considered them passable before moving on to check the progress of another table.

"Parkinson, get your head out of the clouds! Your potion is not supposed to be that color." The professor snapped, and Hermione glanced back to find the black-haired student hurriedly trying to salvage her potion, messing it up further. There was a small explosion, and her short hair stood on end. She cried out, and someone laughed at her.

"Serves her right." Neville muttered, opening his Herbology textbook as now that they'd finished their potions, the rest of the class could be used as a free period. In spite of herself, Hermione stood up slowly and rushed towards Parkinson's table, moving to help her clean up the gloopy substance sticking to the surface. At the same time, Blaise Zabini had stood to offer help; Pansy's own partner Daphne Greengrass was busy applying rogue to her pale cheeks. As they encountered one another at the table, Zabini looked at the Gryffindor questionably.

"I've got it, Granger." He said quietly, sending her a warning look that wasn't threatening towards her, but rather signified just how much she should not be over in this section of the classroom. The other Slytherins would tear her apart with ridicule. When she didn't move automatically, Pansy's eyes flashed towards her, her dark eyes also filled with alertness.

"Haven't you heard him, Granger? You're not wanted!" She snapped, and Hermione frowned at her. Days prior, the Slytherin princess had approached her in the library: she'd even sat down across from her and admitted that she concerned herself in matters she didn't need to. Now, here she was returning to her own cruel self.

With a sigh, Hermione headed back towards her table. Neville stared at her as if she'd grown a third head. "Hermione, what's gotten into you? Approaching the Slytherins is practically a suicide mission!"

Three tables away, even Harry and Ronald were staring at her. Before she could explain herself, the bell rang, signifying the end of class. She hurriedly gathered her belongings and rushed through the door and towards the dungeons' exit. She had Ancient Runes next, whereas most of the Gryffindors had Herbology.

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A Hogsmeade weekend was quickly approaching, and as Hermione Granger sat on her bed in the girls' dormitory studying, she heard the door open and two sounds of footsteps approaching her. Her bed hangings were pulled open and her eyes met the blue coloring of Lavender's, and the brown of Parvati's.

"Hermione, we hate to see you so upset. We may not be aware of what's happened, but we want to help. What do you say the lot of us go to The Three Broomsticks on Saturday?" Parvati asked, and Hermione closed the textbook she'd been skimming through.

"As nice an offer as that is, Parvati, I'd really rather not spend my day drinking butterbeer and checking out cute boys. I have essays to write, extra credit assignments to complete..."

"You work too hard!" Lavender exclaimed suddenly. "Merlin, Hermione, you're not in Ravenclaw... no offense, Parvati. Everyone needs a break every now and then."

"We won't leave you alone until you agree." Parvati insisted, ignoring Lavender's comment about Ravenclaws. Her twin sister was one, after all.

Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Fine, I'll go with you to Hogsmeade. Now, since I know a large part of my Saturday will be taken up by you lot, can I please return to my books?"

The girls nodded, smiling to themselves victoriously as they left the dormitory. Down within the common room, Hermione could hear Seamus Finnigan yelling at the top of his lungs about something. She closed her bed hangings and casted a Silencio, muting herself from the outside world. She flicked open her book.

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In the Slytherin Common Room, Pansy Parkinson sat on a couch watching Crabbe and Goyle eat an entire box of extra-large toffees. Their lips made horrific smacking sounds as they devoured the sweets, and a part of her remained in wonderment as to how the boys could eat three helpings at supper and still be hungry.

Her mind was clouded with thoughts of Potions class that day, and the disaster she'd made of her table. Daphne had found a stain of the gloopy substance on her robes after class, and had chewed Pansy out for being airheaded. Suddenly, she felt the weight of the couch shift as someone took a seat beside her. She looked over and saw Blaise Zabini, a worried look on his face.

"All right, Pans?" He asked, and she shook her head no. Feeling hopeless and so very confused with what her mind had been doing these past few weeks, she rested her head on his broad shoulder and let out a deep sigh.

"Truthfully, I don't know what's wrong with me." She admitted, eyes gazing over towards where Draco and Theodore were explaining something from Transfiguration to a Second Year. Blaise followed her gaze.

"Has it something to do with Malfoy? You two don't seem as... close, as before." He observed, and again, Pansy shook her head.

"It's got nothing to do with Draco, Blaise. He's fine... I'm just, I don't even know where to begin." She ran her hands through her hair, messing it up considerably. Blaise grabbed her hand lightly, pulling it away from her head and resting it between them, fingers still clasped.

"You could tell me anything, Pansy. Anything at all, and I'd never think less of you." He told her truthfully, and she gulped, staring down at their hands clasped together. It was no secret Blaise had had a crush on her for the longest time, but she knew he'd never acted on it because it seemed as though she'd been promised to Draco since birth. Pansy had tried to explain to Blaise that she doubted her and Draco would ever become an item, but he remained respectful though hopelessly pining.

Her mind drifted again to Potions, and then to the library, and the Yule Ball. All three of those things had one thing in common: Hermione Granger. She slipped her hand from his and sat so she was facing him, her knee bent on the cushion, and Blaise moved to sit the same way.

"What if I told you I think I'm gay?" The words were barely above a whisper, just loud enough for Zabini to hear them, and his dark eyes widened.

"But," he started, "you and Malfoy-"

"Are never going to happen. You weren't around after the Ball, but he and I talked, and we decided we see each other more as siblings than anything else. He's already broken the news to his parents." She finished his train of thought, and he blew a breath.

"So, you're free to marry whoever you want... but you think you're- you're gay?" She could see the sense of hopelessness in his eyes: the harsh reality that Pansy would never, ever be with him.

"I'm so sorry, Blaise." She went to reach for his hand and he pulled away, hurt struck across his face as if he'd been slapped. Technically, perhaps this could be considered a verbal slap: this news.

"Who is it?" He asked bitterly. "Who is it that's turned you... gay?" He spat the word as if it were poison.

"Blaise, nobody turned me gay." Her thoughts fell again on Hermione Granger, as they often did nowadays. "It's something I've always been, though it's taken me this long to realize it."

The dark-skinned boy began to run hands through his own hair, messing it up as he reached the point of a mental breakdown. He wanted to scream, to cry, to break the stupid magic windows in their common room and allow water from the Black Lake to drown everybody. Then, his eyes met hers again and at the speed of light he'd pulled her closer to him, kissing her fervently and thoroughly whilst she struggled against his strong grasp.

At last, she broke free and stood, rushing to stand as far away from him as she could. "What is wrong with you?!"

They'd drawn attention to themselves now. Draco and Theodore had turned away from the Second Year and were now watching the exchange between Blaise and Pansy with intense interest. Noticing what he'd just done, Blaise stood and attempted to walk towards her apologetically.

"Pansy, wait, I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have- I didn't mean-"

"You just tried to take advantage of me, Blaise." She spat, and at those words, Draco rushed forward to stand in front of Pansy: effectively working as a block between the two of them, his closest friends now torn apart.

"What is the meaning of this?" He snapped, glaring at Blaise through his cold grey eyes. They resembled steel in a rainstorm, his eyebrows were knit with fury.

"Draco, I didn't mean to- I was just so angry, and-"

"Crabbe, Goyle," Malfoy snapped, catching the attention of the brutish boys who were now licking the toffee wrappers clean. "Take Zabini there and throw him out of the common room. Change the password if you must. He is not welcome in here until he's thought about what he's done."

The boys stood and grasped either arm of Zabini's, dragging him from the common room while he screamed his innocence. As far as he was concerned, Draco didn't care if Filch heard him and sent him to a month of detention. He turned to Pansy quickly, eyeing her with fierceness: a guardian angel pulling her from a descent to hell. "Should another incident like this arise," he started. "We will go straight to Snape and see him expelled."

The common room remained silent and in shock for awhile. Never had Draco Malfoy shown such severity in his life. Truthfully, they'd thought the Slytherin prince to be something of a wimp, but there he stood as a beacon of light in all of this. Nobody harms his kind, especially not each other.