Luckily for her, and much to her chagrin, Draco Malfoy, the second best potions student in Hogwarts, was her assistant. He had shown up at the doorstep of number 12 Grimmauld Place midway through October of what would have been their seventh year at Hogwarts. It had set everyone on edge when Ron found him, half-dead, begging for sanctuary from the Order while claiming that Severus Snape had told him the location of the Order Headquarters and helped him escape. If it hadn't been for Remus and Kingsley, Hermione was sure that Harry would have hexed the blond to oblivion for knowing Severus Snape's location.
After being questioned under Veritaserum, Harry had allowed him to stay. However, he was to be watched at all times and had to earn his keep. In addition, Draco was forced to take an Unbreakable Vow, so that if he ever left and went back to Voldemort, he'd die if he tried to reveal any of the knowledge gained during his stay. Harry had mostly allowed him to stay because, as the former Death Eater put it during questioning, "Dumbledore promised me safety, Potter. The Dark Lord has killed my parents. I wasn't able to save them. I have no reason to stay by his side; it'll only be a matter of time before he kills me, too. I got out as soon as I could."
As it turned out, he was rather useful for research purposes, creating counter–jinxes, and curses. Also, to Hermione's surprise, he made for a decent assistant, sans the attitude.
"No. I think not," drawled the voice of the aristocratic blond from across the room as he fiddled with a toy Snitch he had found in the attic earlier.
"Excuse me? You're currently under my charge whilst under the protection of the Order. Or have you forgotten that it was you who came to us begging for your protection. If I'm not mistaken, you showed up bloodied and half dead, crying like the coward you always have been, and let's not forget–"
"Enough, Granger, here's your bloody Hellebore," he retorted angrily, violently throwing the entire contents of the unstable ingredient towards her. They both stood stock–still in shock as the ingredient flew across the room, and landed with a soft plop over the potion.
"Bollocks!" Draco shouted. "Get it out!"
"How?" Hermione demanded helplessly as the ingredient slowly sunk to the bottom.
"Are you kidding me? Are you a witch, or not? Summon it back!" Hermione frantically reached for her wand, but it wasn't fast enough, the entirety of the plant had begun reacting with the potion. Hermione stared angrily as the potion turned black and simmered dangerously. Draco took a couple of steps back from the cauldron.
"Malfoy!" Hermione screeched. "You prat. You added the entirety of Hellebore – this potion is now useless. Do you know how long I've been working on it?" she screamed, pointing her wand at him.
"You're not the only one who's been working on it, Granger," Draco snarled. "Or have you forgotten that I was the one chopping up the ingredients, squeezing out the salve, and stirring in the middle of the night."
"Shut up," she glowered.
"No, I'm a Malfoy, I don't have to listen to you," he snarled.
"We'll have to start from scratch," she spat angrily.
"Does it look like I care, Granger?" he drawled. Hermione's eyes narrowed as she took in his words.
"Oh, you wouldn't care would you, Malfoy? The only reason you're here is to save your sorry excuse of a life. Couldn't save your parents, could you? Slytherin to the end, I suppose."
"Well, it took you long enough to finally figured that one out. I only watch out for myself, Mudblood – no one else," he answered derisively, hiding the pain her words had caused.
"You're nothing but a coward, Malfoy."
"As you lot are fond of reminding me," he replied mockingly.
In a desperate fit of anger, Hermione grabbed the potions book she had been working from and threw it at Draco. Not expecting physical retaliation, Draco had been busy inspecting his fingernails in a manner that indicated he was above this pathetic conversation, when suddenly he got nicked by the thick volume across the forehead.
Hermione gasped in surprise at her actions.
"Oh no! Malfoy are you all right?" she asked the Slytherin sprawled on the floor.
"You cow," he bellowed as he picked up the offending object. "You're going to pay for that."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose at the scene before him. Part of him wanted to hex Malfoy first and ask questions later, but Remus had insisted that he question the Slytherin first.
"Malfoy," he began, "I'm only going to say this once. What happened?" He waved his arms around to the disaster before him: parchment was scattered everywhere, a cauldron was overturned, Hermione's wand laid on the wood floor, and a little girl with bouncing brown hair was sitting cross-legged on the creaky floorboards carefully examining the people in her presence.
Draco was staring at the little girl who was currently giving him a toothy grin.
"Malfoy," Harry snapped.
"Oh. Yes. Well, Granger and I were working on a potion and then she began with her incessant bossing me around. I had just about had enough when the cauldron exploded and the contents splashed on her in the middle of her fit," Draco finished lamely.
Of course, he cleverly left out the bit where he was the one who had blown up the cauldron when he tried to hex her, and entirely missed when the spell bounced off her shield. In his defence, she was the one to throw down the gauntlet first with that thick volume. Harry stared at him in disbelief.
"Do you really expect me to believe that tripe, Malfoy?"
"Why would I lie, Potter?"
Harry narrowed his eyes and scrutinized his rival. "Whatever it was you two were brewing must be reversible, right?"
"Er…," Draco mumbled quietly, staring at his thumbs. He didn't have any idea how to reverse the damage done to the buck–toothed Gryffindor, but he supposed he could find out.
"Never mind, I don't want to know just right now – just fix it," Harry angrily replied. Then he added, "And no bloody wand for you, Malfoy. I'm sure that it was your fault the cauldron exploded – Hermione is never careless while brewing."
Without warning, Harry summoned both Draco and Hermione's wands, and pocketed them.
"What do you think you're doing, Potter? I need my wand," Draco sneered, standing abruptly to challenge his school rival.
"Actually, you don't, Malfoy. I only allowed you to keep your wand for your own safety, but now my friend is hurt, and I'm sorely tempted to throw you out and fend for yourself," Harry replied. "Until you fix Hermione, you get to do everything the Muggle way."
"The Muggle way?" he queried scowling.
"Yes, Malfoy, the Muggle way. Now, get lost while I talk to Remus about this mess you've created."
Harry walked past Draco, picked up mini-Hermione, and strolled into the dim hallways of Grimmauld Place muttering curses under his breath regarding 'ferrets' and 'cauldrons.'
Draco could only scowl in anger as the four-eyed-git walked out of the makeshift potions lab on the second floor while the small girl enthusiastically waved goodbye to him the entire time.
He was wandless and felt naked without his wand, and while Potter didn't hex him, the way Draco saw it his current situation couldn't possibly get any worse.