Breakfast was underway when we got back to the Great Hall. While I did notice some concern from a few of the professors and a few students in the immediate vicinity of Draco, everything went back to normal when I calmly and quietly sat down. My spot next to Pansy had been taken, so I sat down next to Daphne, who was sitting next to Draco. Daphne gave me a little nudge with her shoulder and a smile. I haven't really gotten to know Daphne yet, but she seems nice. Slytherin is very cliquish, everyone pretty much sticks to the same close knit groups that had formed by our second day here. Draco, Pansy, and Tracey are the only ones that can flit between multiple social groups.

Classes were the same as the rest of the week, tests and reviews. Transfigure this, re-pot that. And while Hermione isn't acting weird or trying her best to ignore me anymore, Draco is.

“How long are you gonna let him sulk?” Pansy asked while we were collecting various leaves for use in potions class from our plants we have been growing.

“That depends on him.”

“But he's no fun like this. Last time was our first week here when you humiliated him in front of everyone. And then the whole thing with the troll.”

“Well, as soon as he apologizes I'll forgive him. But we both know it's not as simple as that.”

Pansy sighed. “The joys of Slytherin. But I'd still hate to have been sorted anywhere else.”

Our task for detention was to finish trimming the hedges and bushes we didn't get to yesterday, but with Hermione helping us we were done in just a couple hours. Hagrid didn't have any other tasks for us so he let us go early.

“Oh, Holly! Professor Snape has asked fer ya to see ‘im in his office when ya finished yer work.”

“Okay. Thank you Hagrid.” I turned to my friends “I'll see you two at dinner?” I got nods and a parting hug from each of them and made my way towards the office of my head of house.

The door to the office was open, but I stood at the door and knocked. “Professor Snape, you wanted to see me?”

Snape was sitting behind his desk, and looked like he was grading papers. He responded without looking up. “Take a seat, Miss Potter.” He gestured to one of the chairs.

I sat down and waited in silence for a moment while he continued reading the rest of the parchment in front of him and wrote something down on it. He sat his quill down and stared at me. “What did I tell you your first night here, Miss Potter?”

I thought back to that night. “Umm. Don't get caught breaking the rules, and use cunning instead of direct aggression.”

“A united front, Miss Potter. So when I see you on the verge of attacking not only a fellow student, but a housemate, I have to ask if your free time might be better suited to corrective action rather than leisure.”

I was at the edge of my seat and very heated. “But he was insulting my friend! He was about to…”.

Professor Snape cut me off mid sentence with his stare. “As you have not done anything wrong, there is nothing to punish.”

My body relaxed a bit and I sat back in the chair.

“But if you step out of line again, I can guarantee you that the punishment will be severe.” He pulled another parchment from a stack on his desk and began reading it. “Dismissed.” He said as he shooed me off with his hand before picking up his quill.

I made a silent exit, the door closing behind me. I leaned my back against the stone wall and let out a sigh of relief. I stayed there for a moment to let my head clear. I briefly considered abandoning my quest of getting past Fluffy and retrieving the philosopher stone, but I remembered what Dumbledore told me about being rewarded for solving unique problems, and if my dad really is trying to use it to resurrect himself then this might be the only chance I'll ever have to talk to him. A quick check of the time showed I had fourteen minutes until dinner.

I pushed myself off the wall and was on my way to the Great Hall. I was still thinking about when the best time to get past Fluffy would be. My detention punishment ends right before we go into exams, so Hermione will want to study. I should study in the limited time I have as well. Our last exam is that Wednesday, that gives the rest of the week where the majority of everyone will be focused on tests, and the final match for the quidditch house cup will be that Friday as well.

“Oh, hi Holly.” Draco pulled me out of my thoughts. He was still several meters away, having just rounded the corner leading to the stairs I needed to go down. “Were you just seeing Professor Snape? I hope you didn't get in any trouble.”

We stopped a few feet from each other. “No, not in trouble. I got off with a warning.”

“That's good. I hope you're not still mad at me. I'm sorry for what I said at breakfast.”

“Draco, I'm more hurt than anything else. Hermione is one of my best friends, and she doesn't deserve being looked down on just because of who her parents are. If you choose to not like someone let it be for their actions, not their heritage.”

“You're right. I grew up with that word being commonplace. I really have been trying, but sometimes I still slips, especially if I'm upset about something. So do you forgive me?”

“I'll forgive you when you apologize to Hermione.” I saw Draco's throat bulge as he swallowed. “Don't worry, it doesn't have to be in public. I'll give you until dinner tomorrow if you want it to just be the three of us. Anything past that and there will be more people there to witness it.”

Draco took a deep breath. “Okay. Tomorrow, before dinner starts, outside Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.” Draco paused for a moment. “Now I need to see Professor Snape before he leaves his office for dinner or it'll be my ass on a plate.”

He started walking again. When he had made it a few steps past me I turned toward him. “And Draco?” He turned back to face me. “I'm sorry for my extra emotional outbursts recently. I really do think of you as a friend.”

Draco regained his arrogant smirk, something I've grown to enjoy seeing on him. “No worries. Someone's already filled me in.” He turned back around and I felt my face flush and felt like I was about to burst into flames as I watched him round the corner.

“So you want to do it during the Quidditch Cup final?” Susan asked. She had her head in my lap while Hermione was partly leaning her back against me but mostly against the same tree I was leaning on, nose in yet another book.

“It makes sense. Everyone will be at the pitch, teachers included. And in the event we get caught Holly won't have to worry about missing the dueling championship. Not to mention we'll have all of our exams completed before then.” Hermione answered.

I hadn't even considered missing out on the dueling championship if I got caught.

“Hermione, how do you keep reading while holding a conversation?” Susan asked.

Hermione actually put her book down and looked up, off into the distance. “I don't know exactly, but I have a theory.” She leaned forward and turned to face us. “So there are certain traits that are passed down through a family line. I don't know if any of them are strictly unique to a certain lineage, it gets really hard to trace genealogical records back past a thousand years or so. Some of them might skip a generation or two, and some traits might not be hereditary, they just appear randomly, but I think most of us have them. Holly, you're a parstlemouth, so there's a chance you might be descended from Salazar Slytherin himself. You also have an uncanny innate dueling proficiency. Neville is absolutely brilliant with herbology. He has been from day one and he told me he had never read anything on herbology or had any lessons prior to school starting. Ron Weasley is ace at wizards chess, and his brothers Fred and George always know how to get the best results from their pranks, suggesting superior spatial reasoning or tactical expertise.”

“Pansy seems to see her surroundings without having to actually look.” I added.

“Exactly!” Hermione responded.

“So you're saying your special gift is talking and reading at the same time?” Susan asked.

“I think it's more than that. Like the part of my brain responsible for learning runs on autopilot. I've always been able to retain knowledge effectively, whether I'm actually paying attention or not. It takes a lot to actually distract me.”

“Hmm. And what about me?” Susan asked.

“You always seem to know when trouble is coming. How many run-ins with Peeves have been avoided because you told us to wait, or took us the long way around to get somewhere.” I answered.

“And the night we got detention you told me you had a feeling we were going to get caught. So maybe you'll do well in divination.” Hermione added.

Susan seemed happy with that answer as she snuggled her head deeper in my lap. We spent the next half hour or so talking about our fellow students and the rare gifts they may or may not have. For a lot of our classmates we agreed that their special abilities haven't had a chance to show themselves, as the majority of the classes are not available to us yet, and some can be very difficult to detect.

Our conversations eventually died off. Susan ended up taking a nap, so I got to read more of my novel. Hermione was just as content with her books. We stayed there until the last possible moment. I had the furthest walk back to my common room and I made it back with only five minutes till curfew.

The weekend passed without much happening of note, save for Draco's apology to Hermione which went rather well. He did seem to be genuinely sorry. It was Sunday afternoon before I remembered to look at the list I got from Professor Flitwick. I had looked it over as soon as I received it and nothing on the list was outside my capabilities, but now was the time for me to figure out how best to tutor my fellow students.

“Whatcha up to?” Susan asked from behind as she hugged me and kissed my cheek

“Figuring out the best way to teach these charms.”

“Lemme see.” She said as she picked up the list. “Depulso, Diffindo, Carpe Retractum, Bombarda!? Protego Duo!? These are advanced! No offense, but are you up to the task?”

“Nothing I haven't done before. And Professor Flitwick wouldn't have me tutor these if he had doubts in my ability.”

“Well you are a bit of a dueling prodigy and his teacher's pet, but still, you'll be tutoring third through seventh years.”

“I am not a teacher's pet. Prodigy, maybe.”

Susan shook her head at me. “What am I going to do with you?”