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Chapter 1

"NO FAIR!" Ron exclaimed in the lowest voice possible. Harry had just won another round of hang-man. "You cheated some-how. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO WIN THAT FAST!"

"Ron, it's not my fault you picked a painfully obvious topic. I mean really, when the topic is horror, how much imagination does it take to think 'spiders' when you're the one doing the game!" Harry was slightly amused at Ron's indignence, but he was getting a little irritated that this wasn't the first, second or third time that this had happened. Ron was about as good at hang-man as he used to be at quidditch, and he was just as sore at losing at it.

Ron opened his mouth to reply scathingly but was interrupted by Hermione.
"Come ON. You're not even supposed to be playing ANYTHING just now. This is called STUDY hall for a reason. That essay is due by this time tomorrow."

"Ten points from gryffendor, Ms. Granger." came the cold cruel voice of professor Snape. He hadn't even looked up from the paper he was grading but rather scrawled what looked suspiciously like a 'P' then pulled up the next paper to grade.

An enchanted paper bird hit Harry in the head at that. Harry turned around to see Draco Malfoy and his cronies pointing and laughing in his direction. "Great job Hermione." said Ron with the upmost sarcasm. "Now you've got Malfoy's attention." Another piece of paper landed on the table in front of them in the shape of a crumpled ball. Harry didn't even bother to look this time. "And anyways, You couldn't stand to see us fail." Ron pushed his books towards Hermione and added witha smug little grin, "You'll be doing that essay for both of us in two hours flat and we all know it."

"Oh shut up Ron! I will not!" said Hermione turning a deep shade of crimson. She began furiously smoothing out her parchment where Ron's books had crumpled it.

"Another ten points from gryffendor Ms. Granger." Snape didn't even bother looking at the next three papers. They all got 'O's. He was on the slytherin's papers by now. A paper air-plane hit Harry on the back of the head.

Hermione turned even redder in anger at the injustice of the situation and gave a furious look of indignation in Snape's direction ignoring Ron for a moment. "I don't know what Dumbledore sees in him, HONESTLY."

"Just shut Up Hermione! bloody hell, do you really want us to lose the house cup that bad?" Ron searched his bag for another piece of parchment. "And you will to be writing our essays in one hour and 59 minutes." He said checking his watch. Hermione made a motion to refuse the parchment as if she thought Ron was going to hand it to her. "Ok, you start now Harry. I'm going to win this time"

"I will not!" this time she actually shouted it this time.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID LITTLE GIRL!" Snape finally threw down his quill and stared daggers in Hermione's direction. "We all know they never do anything and you always do their stuff for them. That's how they pass the class with their abysmal potions skills or lack there of." He said these last few words with a slight smile on his face. The slytherins all laughed at this and Harry was hit with another barrage of variously shaped bits of paper.

Harry whipped around in his chair at that. "Will you quit doing that Malfoy! It isn't funny." Malfoy was pink with laughter at that.

"What's the matter Potter? Hurting your head? Need a visit to the Hospital wing, careful, the paper might turn out to be a death-eater in disguise!" These last few words were barely distinguishable as Malfoy was nearly incoherent with hysterical laughter and falling off his chair by now.

Harry turned around in disgust to find that Hermione muttering furiously. She was scribbling in the end to her essay as she fummed.

"Stupid little girl, am I! I'll show him."

"Well, that last essay you did for us only got an 'E'. You are falling behind Hermione", replied Ron in an off-hand sort of voice.

"I will not do your essay to night." She gathered up all her things angrily and dropped a few quills in the process. "not now, not ever... again." She walked up to Snape's desk and turned in her completed essay.

"And I'll have you know granger," said Snape dangerously "That Albus Dumbledore is a smarter, braver, and sexier person than you'll ever be" At that, Hermione turned on her heal and stormed out of the classroom. As she left, she was heard to have said, "yeah, I'm sure that'll turn out great for him".

"You know, maybe she meant it this time." said Harry nervously.
They both burst out laughing. They stopped suddenly when they heard Malfoy laughing even louder.

OOC, does that mean out of character?
I'm pretty bad with the acronyms.

I know I specifically pushed some characters a little in my own direction, but I'm wondering if that's what you're talking about.

Could you be a little more specific about what you think is a little off?

If I continue the story, I'd like to see myself improve with each chapter.

xd the bit with Snape at the end was inspired by the supposed love affair hinted at in "A Very Potter Musical". In that musical, Snape is behind a plot to kill Harry. When Hermione shares her suspicions with dumbledore, his response is "How dare you say such things about him! Professor Snape is the kindest, gentlest, SEXIEST man I've ever met."

And in all fairness, Dumbledore was pronounced by rowling herself to be gay, and he placed a LOT of faith in Snape, so I thought that hinting at a love affair would be a stretch to be in character, but in character none the less. It may have been slightly out of character for him to come out about it to Hermione, but I did that specifically for comic effect.

All the characters for this fan fiction will be slightly altered, but I fully intend to keep the essence of the characters. The alterations will simply be for dramatic effect and to assist with the storyline.

Are there any other things that you thought were out of place that you'd like to point out? I'd love to see if you caught anything else I did.
More importantly, are there any other things that you think I did that didn't work well with the storyline or character development?

xd yes you have seen this before. I posted this in the Fan-fiction section of the Harry Potter guild and thought that I'd get more comments if I posted it here.