Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 4

He summoned a roll of parchment and unfurled it, looking around at everyone again and adjusting his glasses. "Now, we are going to be working on charms today that require a partner. I have split up the pairs already, and when I call you and your partner's names, please move to sit next to them."

Ginny groaned slightly from next to Hermione, as did quite a few other students. Professor Flitwick seemed to ignore the groans as he began reading off the names. It seemed that he was pairing the opposite houses together, which made Hermione's stomach turn to knots.

"Ginevra Weasley and Theodore Nott."

Ginny leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms across her chest. From the other side of the room, Theo frowned but gathered his things, giving Pansy a look before crossing the room and sitting on the other side of Ginny.

"Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson."

Hermione looked up in surprise and looked across the room to see Pansy just as shocked as she was. They made eye contact and Pansy gestured towards the empty seat next to her that Theo previously sat in, and Hermione gave a slight nod before grabbing her bag and crossing the room.

After the rest of the pairs were announced, Professor Flitwick announced, "Today we will be starting off with a rather easy charm to get all of you back into the swing of things. I've decided that we will be practicing the Color-Changing Charm, colovaria. You are only to change the colors of the uniform of your partner, nothing else."

He then demonstrated the wand movement for the charm, and said, "By the end of the class period, I would like you to have mastered the spell non-verbally. You can start off using the verbal incantation if needed."

The pairs all split off and the classroom floor was enlarged to make room for everyone. Hermione nervously looked over at Pansy, only to see that the Slytherin girl looked just as nervous. They went off to a corner to practice, and for a few moments they simply looked at each other.

"So, Granger..." Pansy started nervously, gesturing towards Hermione's robes with her wand. "What color do you want?"

Hermione looked down at her robes out of habit and then back up, surprised that Pansy was even asking for her input. "Um...I don't know. Just not an ugly color please."

Pansy nodded and then concentrated, pointing her wand at Hermione's robes. A surge of panic ran through Hermione as her mind instantly jumped to the worst conclusion, trying very hard to not jump out of the way.

"Colovaria!"

Hermione relaxed then as she heard the incantation, and looked down to see that her robes were now a deep wine red. She laughed slightly, looking back up at Pansy, who was smiling.

"Alright, I think I can live with this color," Hermione said before nodding at Pansy. "What color do you want?"

Pansy was quiet for a few moments, looking down as she thought about it. Then she looked back up and tilted her head to the side. "Think you can do a silvery-blue color? It's Theo's favorite."

"I should be able to, yeah," Hermione nodded, unable to hold back a smile at the meaning of Pansy's request. Then she pointed her own wand at Pansy's robes, and without uttering the incantation was able to change Pansy's robes to her requested color.

Pansy looked down at the robes and grinned, before looking back up at Hermione. "I should have known you would have done it non-verbally."

Hermione laughed slightly. "Well, I've practiced this one before..."

"Look, Granger..." Pansy's smiled faltered and she shifted her weight awkwardly, biting her lip as she mulled over what she wanted to say. "I just wanted to apologize for everything in the past. I've been, for lack of a better term, a bitch to you, and I just really want to put everything behind us and start off on a better note."