A/N: It's been a long time since I've written, this is a new profile and a new story, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter One
The youngest Malfoy sat down at the long table filled with his fellow Slytherins with nothing short of exhaustion. A vast array of food was spread out before him, but nausea took hold and he looked blindly at the platters of cooked meat, eggs, toast. Blaise and Pansy were sat on either side of him but didn't seem too concerned at his lack of appetite, instead piling more and more of the, to Draco, foul-smelling food, onto their plates. For lack of anything better to do, Draco poured himself a cup of coffee – the jugs of the drink were spelled so only the older children could indulge. Forgoing milk and sugar as usual, he cradled the mug between his hands, long fingers wrapping around and interlocking. His friends, now joyfully tucking in, only then seemed to notice how withdrawn he was.
"Everything okay, bud?" Blaise asked, the heaped fork hanging in the air midway to its journey to the dark-skinned boy's mouth.
"Yeah, are you alright?" Pansy chimed in, concerned. Her brown eyes began to take him in, narrowing slightly as she surveyed.
Draco sighed, sipping the hot liquid slowly, "I will be better once I've finished this." Was his only reply. His friends shared a knowing look, and were distracted from any follow up questions anyway, as owls swooped overhead and delivered their subscription of the Daily Prophet.
Across the hall, typically, were the so-called Golden Trio. Their pose mirrored the Slytherins, with Harry in-between Hermione and Ron. The former was scanning the front cover of the newspaper that had landed next to her elbow, the latter, suffering from a non-shifting cold, sneezed into his scrambled eggs, Harry and Hermione recoiled from him, disgusted but laughing.
"Urgh, why won't Pomfrey just give me a potion and make this stupid thing go?" Ron sniffled, pushing his eggs and toast away. Some had come out of his nose due to the force of his sneeze and he had managed, remarkably, to put himself off his own food.
Still laughing slightly, Hermione replied, "You know why Ron, he doesn't treat minor illnesses, especially now that that outburst of Chicken Pox has come to school; she's got her hands full."
Indeed, the muggle illness, whilst not as bad as Dragon Pox, had seem to take over Hogwarts by storm – affecting pretty much every child that had been born to magical parents. Hermione and Harry didn't seem concerned at all, of course being vaccinated, but when the first child had been infected the entire school had gone into disarray. With consultation from the Muggle-Born students, Dumbledore had managed to put in preventative measure, but many children – and teachers – had been infected and so the Great Hall was not as packed as usual. Pomfrey had been incredibly stressed and dismissive when Ron had gone to her the day before, attempting to wangle unnecessary potions.
"Yeah but Mi-" Ron began, a whine evident in his voice. Hermione cut him off before he could begin his woe-is-me tirade again.
"Yes, but nothing Ron, there are people much more ill than you, your cold will go in a few days. It's your own fault for insisting to train in the rain!"
As they delved into a squabble, Harry did a quick look over the hall. It was eerie to see it this empty. He did his usual sweep across the Slytherin table and saw Blaise and Pansy chatting over the top of Malfoy's head, which was resting his arms on the table; able to do so due to the lack of plate. Harry frowned, the blond had been incredibly moody recently, but a reserved kind – not even bothering to antagonise him and his friends. Harry, knowing that he was staring but not caring, analysed the other boy as the Slytherin raised his head to take a sip of his drink. He looked tired, soft purplish bruising under his eyes giving away the lack of sleep. However, that (and the lack of food consumption) seemed to be the only divergence Malfoy had from his usual pristine appearance. His hair was layered, cut so it needed to only occasionally be swept away from his eyes. The Slytherin had stopped gelling it back, and as a result it seemed thicker, softer looking. He wore the mandatory school robes, but his had been pressed to perfection, and Harry could just about see a silver chain glinting around Malfoy's neck, but most was tucked into his woollen black jumper. His hands were cradling his mug, the ever-present sold silver signet ring in its customary place on his long, pinky finger. Harry internally scoffed, Malfoy and his jewellery.
"Ain't that right mate?" Harry was jostled out of his analysis of his 'enemy' by Ron's question. Tearing his eyes away from the Slytherin table, he looked towards his red-headed friend.
"Sorry, what?" He replied, sipping his pumpkin juice, now immersing himself into his friend's conversation. Apparently, the argument was over.
"Ron was just saying how the risk of a cold is entirely worth it to see you beat the Slytherins in your next match?" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.
"No what I said was, we're gonna beat those fuckers into-"
"Ron!" Hermione interjected.
Harry grinned, "Completely worth it, we're gonna fuck 'em up." Ignoring Hermione's eyeroll, the two boys laughed together.
A bell chimed overhead, giving them their 10-minute warning to get to lessons. Gathering their things, they made their way to first lesson.
Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, the Potions Master had been able to avoid the Chicken Pox, administered the vaccine and seemed in perfect, grumpy health.
He stood before his desk as the students, a combination of Gryffindors and Slytherins, filed into his class and took their customary seats. He said nothing and soon enough, chatter died pretty immediately when everyone had sat down and taken out their textbooks, parchment and quills.
"Now that you have ceased your inane chatter, we may begin. Today, as usual, we shall begin the double lesson with an hour of study of the potion, and the latter half will be dedicated to brewing. The potion for today's lesson is particularly difficult; indeed, I fear some of you will fail in your efforts to produce what I require," That was said with a pointed look at Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean, all sat on the back row. "Nevertheless, this first term will be judged through the quality of the end result, your ability to work efficiently with your partner, and an essay detailing not only the ingredients of the potion and their other uses, but the difficulties in brewing, the side effects, and whether or not it's use is acceptable for the general use." Snape moved to behind his desk, and Harry could see Hermione writing all of this down in her massive planner.
Snape lifted a black sheet from a wooden potion stand on his desk. In the stand were four vials – each filled with a clear, bright purple liquid. Gold bubbles seemed to emanate from the liquid and pop against the wooden cork. As far as potions go, it didn't seem that remarkable to Harry – but he noticed Malfoy across the room immediately straighten his previously slouched back; it seemed a couple of Slytherins and even Gryffindors seemed to recognise it. Judging by the way Snape picked up one of the vials, delicately and with seemingly minor disdain – it was potent and important.
"Oh my god," breathed Seamus "Amore desiderio."
"Correct, Mr Finnegan. However, 5 points from Gryffindor for your interruption. Can anyone tell me what their knowledge is of this option?" Snape drawled, looking expectedly over the class.
Hermione immediately raised her hand, Snape nodded towards her, unsurprised at her desire to impart knowledge. "Amore desiderio, is Latin meaning 'love, desire'. This potion came was first widely used in the 1700s amongst Pureblood families; its purpose is to increase or create feelings of desire towards another. It was commonly used amongst the Purebloods in order to make arranged marriage occur more smoothly. Following accusations of it being unethical and resulting in un-consensual relationships, it was banned in 1926. However recently, a case has been made for it to be brought back for use amongst the Pureblood elite, as they are concerned at the increasing of procreation and relationships between those who are muggle-born and Purebloods."
Snape looked reluctantly impressed, "Correct, Miss Granger. 10 points to Gryffindor. Amore desiderio has many ethical debates attached to it. Headmaster Dumbledore, in his attempt to make lessons more in-tune with current events," Snape gritted his teeth at this, "Has asked for us to brew this particular potion, with permission from the Ministry. They will be needing us to submit these to them once brewed, hence the necessity for them to be perfect when finished."
Hermione's hand shot up once more, Snape rolled his eyes, "Yes Miss Granger,"
"Why do the Ministry need the potion?"
"They are going to attempt to modify the potion in order to lessen the force of the emotion, as well as change the type of desire. Rather sexual, make it platonic." Snape replied, obviously unhappy at her curiosity.
"But why do they need to make a – a cordiality potion?" Hermione didn't bother raising her hand at this point.
"Isn't it obvious Granger? I thought you read the Daily Prophet? There is increased unrest at Azkaban, they're going to use it to increase camaraderie between prisoners." Draco Malfoy interjected, his know-it-all tone completely insufferable.
"5 points from Gryffindor for interruption, 10 to Slytherin for display of knowledge." The protests from Ron and Harry were silenced with a glare from their teacher. Hermione however, was frowning at something else – clearly unhappy with the unethical potion being modified for something unethical again.
Hermione raised her hand, "But Sir, surely it is inappropriate for the ministry to be using potions to alter behaviour of prisoners? Maybe if their living conditions were better-"
"Write a letter Miss Granger, we do not have time for a debate on this. All work and brewing is mandatory if you wish to have a grade this semester, am I understood?" Snape almost snarled. Hermione nodded silently, clearly unhappy.
"And with the needless chit-chat over, partners will be issued randomly." Snape cast the spell that coupled the students; a glowing orb appeared over their heads, and the two with the matching colours were partners. Harry looked up and saw a brilliant white orb, and proceeded at his friends to see theirs.
Hermione with Blaise Zabini. Ron with Millicent Bullstrode. Seamus with Pansy Parkinson. Dean with Isaiah Oaks. Harry with … Draco Malfoy.
Both boys groaned aloud.
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