Chapter One
Hmm. Crabbe or Goyle. which one was smarter. Draco Malfoy wrinkled his nose, glancing back and forth at his two "associates". Come to think of it, neither of them was particularly bright. In fact, they were both dumb as rocks. He turned to look around the dusty classroom, trying to appear casual.
He was still trying to decide who would be his partner for their monthly Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment when the new teacher, Professor Nightshade, pounded her fist on her desk. Nightshade had a bit of a temper.
"My god! People! Shut up for one minute before I crucio all of you!"
The class fell remarkably silent. No one seemed to doubt Professor Nightshade's willingness to curse them into submission. She might not use of the Forbidden Curses, as she threatened, but at the beginning of the year Draco recalled her firing some charm on Neville Longbottom that gave him bunny ears and a fluffy white tail for three days. Draco himself tried to remain on Nightshade's good side. He had been turned into a ferret by their last Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the experience was one he would like to forget.
Nightshade sighed. "That's a bit better," she said, a dangerous glint still in her eyes. "Well. I know you're all excited about choosing partners for our next project. However, last month, when I let you pick your own groups, the completed assignments were mediocre at best, and you spent all of the time I gave you in class to work on it gossiping and giggling about who's- dating-who and such nonsense. As fascinating as you may find such a topic, I really don't care if Ron Weasley has a crush on Hermione Granger or not." A murmur rose among the students. Yes, Lavender, I saw that note to Parvati. It was accidentally stuck in the project notebook you turned in to me." Nightshade paused and continued explaining how positively awful last month's projects on vampires had been, but Draco was to busy thinking about Ron and Hermione together to notice.
Draco snickered into his hand. He glanced at Weasely, seated directly in front of him, whose ears had turned bright red. The girl next to him, Granger, her face nearly hidden behind that mass of bushy hair, looked entirely surprised. What a couple. Granger was a mudblood and Weasley was so poor that his entire family barely had two Knuts to rub together. Their children would be lovely. He snorted, imagining a family of freckle-faced little children with enormous masses of bushy red hair wearing too-small hand-me-down robes.
"Mr. Malfoy!"
Draco looked up in surprise. Nightshade looked pretty pissed off.
"Yes, Professor?" he asked calmly.
"I'm not sure why you find it comical that you, Mr. Crabbe, and Mr. Goyle received a 58% on your "Vampires: They Really Suck" report. Aside from the obvious bad pun, your essay had the absolute worst spelling and grammar I've ever seen come from a fifth-year student." She glared at him. "May I continue now?"
Draco bit his lip to keep from laughing. He still couldn't the image out of his mind. "Er. yes, Professor Nightshade, of course."
"Good." Nightshade turned her gaze off of Draco and addressed the rest of the class. "Anyway, I'm afraid that this time, you will be divided into assigned pairs."
The entire class groaned. "It's not fair," whined more than one angry student.
"PEOPLE!"
Silence. Many pairs of eyes turned once more to Nightshade, who was fuming.
"If you can prove yourselves capable of handling this sort of assignment, I may rethink my position and allow you to work with a partner of your choosing on the next one. That is, of course, if you can keep quiet for more than five seconds at a time."
More silence. Draco counted inside his head. one-one-thousand two-one- thousand three-one-thousand four-one-thousand.
So much for staying on Nightshade's good side today. He just couldn't resist. Draco raised his hand.
The rest of the class turned to marvel at Draco. Why was he-
Nightshade scowled. "What, may I ask, is the problem, Mr. Malfoy?
"It's been more than five seconds now, Professor."
Everyone started laughing. Well, except for Nightshade, who was positively bursting with anger by this point. "THAT IS IT, MR. MALFOY!" Her left hand shout out straight towards the door of the classroom. "STAND OUT THERE. NOW!"
Draco sighed, but trotted out into the hall, grinning maliciously. He would probably get detention for this, but it was worth it, really, for the class's reaction and the look on Nightshade's face.
A few moments later, Professor Nightshade flew out into the hall and slammed the door. "You've disrupted my class twice today, Mr. Malfoy," she said, her voice low. "Normally you're behavior is at least halfway decent." She paused. "It seems to make up for your grades- which, by the way, are dangerously low this week, I might add. You'd do well to raise them before progress reports are issued. I highly doubt that your father will be pleased."
Actually, Lucius Malfoy didn't give a damn about what his son scored in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that was another story, and one that Draco was not prepared to discuss with Professor Nightshade. He sighed and put on a pouting face. "I'm sorry, Professor," he apologized as solemnly as he could. "I don't know what's gotten into me." He searched mentally for a good excuse. Hmm. After a second he decided to play on Nightshade's maternal instincts, deeply buried though they may be. "Family problems, you know," he said softly. "My mum and dad." He let his voice trail off wistfully, pleased with his own dramatic performance.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Nightshade's face seemed to soften just a tiny bit. "Very well, Mr. Malfoy," she said, still frowning. "However, you would do well to leave your family issues at home next time." She opened the door. "In," she ordered.
Draco nodded meekly and walked purposefully back to his desk. When he got there, he winked at Crabbe and Goyle, who sniggered stupidly. Draco wondered if they even knew why they were laughing.
Nightshade stood once again behind her tall mahogany desk. "Right then." she muttered, gathering up her thoughts. "Ah. Yes. Partners for the assignment. well, let's see, now." She glanced around the room. "Mr. Finnigan, you and Mr. Thomas scored surprisingly well on that report. You two can work together again if you wish." Dean and Seamus high-fived each other, grinning. Some other students began to complain, then seemed to think better of it and shut up before Nightshade got a chance to reprimand them. The teacher seemed pleased.
"Okay, now. Ms. Brown, let's have you work with Mr. Weasley. Mr. Crabbe, how about you with Ms. Patil."
Weasley doesn't seem too pleased about that, thought Draco with a smirk. Nightshade continued down the rows,
".Mr. Goyle, I'd like you to work with Mr. Potter."
Well, that's an interesting combination.
".and finally, I think I'll have Ms. Granger go with you, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco's jaw dropped. Damn it! Not the mudblood! Well- to be honest, she was the smartest girl he'd ever met- well, besides one or two Ravenclaws, but- still- no! They couldn't stand each other! The injustice of it all! He could just kill Nightshade-
The teacher glanced around the room, checking to see if she'd left anyone out. "Ah, yes, Ms. Parkinson? You can choose- would you like to work alone or with Malfoy and Granger?"
Oh, just great. Not only would he have to deal with Granger, he'd have that little pug-faced freak trailing about after him all day. As though he didn't already. Pansy worshiped Draco. at first, he'd enjoyed the attention, but he soon realized that he didn't need her, and her constant whining and simpering drove him absolutely nuts. He glared at Nightshade, but she didn't seem to notice. Or care.
Please let her decide to work alone, he prayed fervently. PLEASE.
Draco Malfoy didn't pray often. But now was a time that called for desperate measures.
But of course, Pansy was more than delighted to work with Draco. Granger was another story, but anything to work with Draco.
He sighed. This was going to be a long project.
Hmm. Crabbe or Goyle. which one was smarter. Draco Malfoy wrinkled his nose, glancing back and forth at his two "associates". Come to think of it, neither of them was particularly bright. In fact, they were both dumb as rocks. He turned to look around the dusty classroom, trying to appear casual.
He was still trying to decide who would be his partner for their monthly Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment when the new teacher, Professor Nightshade, pounded her fist on her desk. Nightshade had a bit of a temper.
"My god! People! Shut up for one minute before I crucio all of you!"
The class fell remarkably silent. No one seemed to doubt Professor Nightshade's willingness to curse them into submission. She might not use of the Forbidden Curses, as she threatened, but at the beginning of the year Draco recalled her firing some charm on Neville Longbottom that gave him bunny ears and a fluffy white tail for three days. Draco himself tried to remain on Nightshade's good side. He had been turned into a ferret by their last Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the experience was one he would like to forget.
Nightshade sighed. "That's a bit better," she said, a dangerous glint still in her eyes. "Well. I know you're all excited about choosing partners for our next project. However, last month, when I let you pick your own groups, the completed assignments were mediocre at best, and you spent all of the time I gave you in class to work on it gossiping and giggling about who's- dating-who and such nonsense. As fascinating as you may find such a topic, I really don't care if Ron Weasley has a crush on Hermione Granger or not." A murmur rose among the students. Yes, Lavender, I saw that note to Parvati. It was accidentally stuck in the project notebook you turned in to me." Nightshade paused and continued explaining how positively awful last month's projects on vampires had been, but Draco was to busy thinking about Ron and Hermione together to notice.
Draco snickered into his hand. He glanced at Weasely, seated directly in front of him, whose ears had turned bright red. The girl next to him, Granger, her face nearly hidden behind that mass of bushy hair, looked entirely surprised. What a couple. Granger was a mudblood and Weasley was so poor that his entire family barely had two Knuts to rub together. Their children would be lovely. He snorted, imagining a family of freckle-faced little children with enormous masses of bushy red hair wearing too-small hand-me-down robes.
"Mr. Malfoy!"
Draco looked up in surprise. Nightshade looked pretty pissed off.
"Yes, Professor?" he asked calmly.
"I'm not sure why you find it comical that you, Mr. Crabbe, and Mr. Goyle received a 58% on your "Vampires: They Really Suck" report. Aside from the obvious bad pun, your essay had the absolute worst spelling and grammar I've ever seen come from a fifth-year student." She glared at him. "May I continue now?"
Draco bit his lip to keep from laughing. He still couldn't the image out of his mind. "Er. yes, Professor Nightshade, of course."
"Good." Nightshade turned her gaze off of Draco and addressed the rest of the class. "Anyway, I'm afraid that this time, you will be divided into assigned pairs."
The entire class groaned. "It's not fair," whined more than one angry student.
"PEOPLE!"
Silence. Many pairs of eyes turned once more to Nightshade, who was fuming.
"If you can prove yourselves capable of handling this sort of assignment, I may rethink my position and allow you to work with a partner of your choosing on the next one. That is, of course, if you can keep quiet for more than five seconds at a time."
More silence. Draco counted inside his head. one-one-thousand two-one- thousand three-one-thousand four-one-thousand.
So much for staying on Nightshade's good side today. He just couldn't resist. Draco raised his hand.
The rest of the class turned to marvel at Draco. Why was he-
Nightshade scowled. "What, may I ask, is the problem, Mr. Malfoy?
"It's been more than five seconds now, Professor."
Everyone started laughing. Well, except for Nightshade, who was positively bursting with anger by this point. "THAT IS IT, MR. MALFOY!" Her left hand shout out straight towards the door of the classroom. "STAND OUT THERE. NOW!"
Draco sighed, but trotted out into the hall, grinning maliciously. He would probably get detention for this, but it was worth it, really, for the class's reaction and the look on Nightshade's face.
A few moments later, Professor Nightshade flew out into the hall and slammed the door. "You've disrupted my class twice today, Mr. Malfoy," she said, her voice low. "Normally you're behavior is at least halfway decent." She paused. "It seems to make up for your grades- which, by the way, are dangerously low this week, I might add. You'd do well to raise them before progress reports are issued. I highly doubt that your father will be pleased."
Actually, Lucius Malfoy didn't give a damn about what his son scored in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that was another story, and one that Draco was not prepared to discuss with Professor Nightshade. He sighed and put on a pouting face. "I'm sorry, Professor," he apologized as solemnly as he could. "I don't know what's gotten into me." He searched mentally for a good excuse. Hmm. After a second he decided to play on Nightshade's maternal instincts, deeply buried though they may be. "Family problems, you know," he said softly. "My mum and dad." He let his voice trail off wistfully, pleased with his own dramatic performance.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Nightshade's face seemed to soften just a tiny bit. "Very well, Mr. Malfoy," she said, still frowning. "However, you would do well to leave your family issues at home next time." She opened the door. "In," she ordered.
Draco nodded meekly and walked purposefully back to his desk. When he got there, he winked at Crabbe and Goyle, who sniggered stupidly. Draco wondered if they even knew why they were laughing.
Nightshade stood once again behind her tall mahogany desk. "Right then." she muttered, gathering up her thoughts. "Ah. Yes. Partners for the assignment. well, let's see, now." She glanced around the room. "Mr. Finnigan, you and Mr. Thomas scored surprisingly well on that report. You two can work together again if you wish." Dean and Seamus high-fived each other, grinning. Some other students began to complain, then seemed to think better of it and shut up before Nightshade got a chance to reprimand them. The teacher seemed pleased.
"Okay, now. Ms. Brown, let's have you work with Mr. Weasley. Mr. Crabbe, how about you with Ms. Patil."
Weasley doesn't seem too pleased about that, thought Draco with a smirk. Nightshade continued down the rows,
".Mr. Goyle, I'd like you to work with Mr. Potter."
Well, that's an interesting combination.
".and finally, I think I'll have Ms. Granger go with you, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco's jaw dropped. Damn it! Not the mudblood! Well- to be honest, she was the smartest girl he'd ever met- well, besides one or two Ravenclaws, but- still- no! They couldn't stand each other! The injustice of it all! He could just kill Nightshade-
The teacher glanced around the room, checking to see if she'd left anyone out. "Ah, yes, Ms. Parkinson? You can choose- would you like to work alone or with Malfoy and Granger?"
Oh, just great. Not only would he have to deal with Granger, he'd have that little pug-faced freak trailing about after him all day. As though he didn't already. Pansy worshiped Draco. at first, he'd enjoyed the attention, but he soon realized that he didn't need her, and her constant whining and simpering drove him absolutely nuts. He glared at Nightshade, but she didn't seem to notice. Or care.
Please let her decide to work alone, he prayed fervently. PLEASE.
Draco Malfoy didn't pray often. But now was a time that called for desperate measures.
But of course, Pansy was more than delighted to work with Draco. Granger was another story, but anything to work with Draco.
He sighed. This was going to be a long project.