Harry

If there was ever a place I didn't belong in, it was here by the lake with nothing to cover me but a sheet, at midnight of all times, bumping feet with a person just as confused as I'd been. Why? Well, for one thing, no one's allowed out on the grounds so late unsupervised, but that's the least of it. First off, Ginny and I had been going out for exactly six months…yesterday; I'd missed celebrating by a few short hours by being here instead, and I was almost certain she'd be liable to kill me because of it. But even that's the worst part. The worst part is that I, Harry Potter, was laying next to the one person in the world I was sure I hated the most, Draco Malfoy.

I'm not even sure if I can explain it fully, but the best way is for me to backtrack…I guess you could say that all of it started in late September, more than four months ago, and, as most cruel and unhealthy predicaments begin, in the classroom of Professor Snape. Nothing so far that day had seemed out of the ordinary; Snape assigned us the kind of impossible project that only Hermione had any hopes with (lucky for me I was sitting right beside her). All I really had to do was watch her from the corner of my eye and mimic her actions. It seemed as if I wasn't the only one with the idea; looking around, I saw the rest of the class hastening to copy her.

It wasn't long before Snape caught on, and if you thought Snape was unpleasant before I wish you could've been there.

With an angry flourish of his wand the potion in my cauldron vanished, as well as Hermione's, Ron's, and everyone else in the class. "I will not tolerate cheating in my classroom!" he whispered in his signature death-voice, the one that sent chills snaking up your spine like icy fingertips. I swear the whole class was shuddering as they felt his wrath. Class was nearly over, but still he found time to fit in an angry speech about "The Importance of Independence" and "The Incompetence of Such Students". "To ensure that this doesn't happen again," he went on, as livid as ever, "you and a partner will each complete a drought separate from the other pairs...and this grade will count double as well."

There was a scraping of chairs as everyone moved closer to Hermione. Snape's nasty smile only grew. "A partner of my choosing. Miss Granger will work alone."

There went the classes' chance of passing. Hermione stiffened, obviously taking the statement for a compliment as she glowed with pride. Snape pretended to take no notice and swept through the rows of people, pairing them together depending on their seating. On my opposite side, Ron had forced Hermione to switch seats with him, so that we now sat side-by-side.

"You never know; maybe we can get Hermione to help up if it's the both of us on the same team."

It wasn't long before Snape stood right in front of our table. Realizing out trick (which wasn't too clever in the first place), he smirked spitefully.

"Mister Weasley, you will work with Miss Patil," he said, with a look that Ron wasn't about to protest against. Ron gathered his things in a silent huff and followed Snape's outstretched finger to the table in front, where Parvati Patil sat alone (having been separated from Lavender, who was off somewhere working with a Slytherin).

No one else in the room seemed without a partner, no one except….shit! I glared up at Snape, anticipating his next move.

"You, Potter, will work with Mister Malfoy."

The soft chuckle I heard could've only come from him; I dared to glance at his table, a mistake, because when I did he winked suggestively, sending the entire room into peals of laughter that not even Snape could control without some effort. I knew that I was blushing.

"Nervous, Potter?" Malfoy whispered when I rose reluctantly and went to join him. I was aware of the whole classroom watching, so I chose to shoot him an aggravated look.

"What's there to be nervous about?" I said, feigning indifference. "It's you."

"That's just it, you know."

What was he going on about? I kept silent as Snape assigned different potions to every group, thinking how much this was going to suck. A week-long project with Draco Malfoy would be like hell on earth.

When the bell rang I was the first out of the room, eager to leave Malfoy's presence, and I stood to the side, waiting for Ron and Hermione to join me.

"The Wit-Sharpening Potion…how am I supposed to manage that?" I heard Ron complain as he approached the threshold.

Hermione eyed him curiously. "We made it last year, Ron. Obviously you need to try a sample or two."

"Just tell me how it's done already! I want to get it over with so I can have a free period."

"You should know how it's done! You're lucky to get one of the ones that we've already learned."

We fell into step as they finally caught up.

"If you want to talk luck, look at Harry," Ron said. "He's got a Slytherin partner, so Snape's bound to give him a good grade."

"I'd take a bad grade over Malfoy any day," I told him seriously, and Ron shrugged as if to say you have a point.

Ron, who'd already lost interest in the whole Potions thing, started up about lunch or something, mostly to Hermione.

I thought I heard Malfoy chuckle just before we stepped out of range.

I think I have some kind of problem...all of my first chapters come out so short all the time -__-

more to come soon, so stay around. R&R if you please ^-^

-LxTmidnight