A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first fanfiction...holy crap I'm nervous...I've been reading Harry Potter fanfiction since about...2002 so I've read a whooole lot, and I decided to try my hand at writing my own story. So please! I'm new at this and I would definitely appreciate constructive criticism. I don't have a beta-reader I read over my own stories and chapters so there is a possibility that I have some mistakes, if so please point them out and bare with me.
Pairing: HP/DM
Rating: Eventually M
Summary: The students in the seven year Muggle Studies class all get laptops for a class project. What happens when Harry and Draco meet on-line and fall in love without knowing who they are talking to? Will eventually be slash. HP/DM
Chapter 1
Almost everyone was startled by the voice that interrupted class from the back of the Muggle Studies room, almost everyone meaning, everyone in the class except for Harry. Harry noticed Dumbledore the second he entered the bright room from the door on the far right. He glanced slightly to his left and looked at Hermione and smiled a little. She had a 'deer caught in headlights' look. She had been so engrossed in her note taking that Dumbledore truly shocked her by his presence. Plus, he thought that most people could hear the audible squeak she gave.
"Professor Carter, maybe I please have a word?"
Professor Carter had been hired as the new Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts a few years earlier. She overall had a good reputation; she was tall, thin and had elegant blond hair. Most of the males and probably even some females had expressed extreme like for the young teacher.
She looked up from her desk and smiled at the Headmaster, "Certainly, I'll be out in just a minute."
She smirked and turned towards her seven year Slytherin and Gryffindor class and asked them to go over what a computer was on page 374 in their text book titled 'Muggle Technology.'
"I'll be back in a few minutes."
As soon as Professor Carter left the room, the class starter chattering about what could possibly be going on.
"Hey Harry, do you think something has happened with some rogue Death Eaters?" His best mate Ron asked.
"Ronald, I hardly think that Professor Dumbledore would be so casual about something like a rogue Death Eater attack." Hermione snapped.
"Well Hermione, lucky I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Harry." Ron glared at her and turned towards his best friend, "Well?"
Harry was amused by the mock anger that Ron and Hermione displayed towards each other. Anyone in their right mind would see that they were totally made for each other. Ron had even confessed his feelings about Hermione to Harry at the start of this school year, but the two of them were just too pig headed to snog and get it over with.
Harry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a snide comment from none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Yeah Potter! Was it a Death Eater attack? We all know that you hope it was, so you can go out and play Hero again."
Ron instantly jumped to his feet, eager to defend his best friend. "Shut up Malfoy! You don't know anything." Ron's face was as red as a tomato and Harry was trying to get his irate friend to sit down.
It was almost always like this. The professor would leave the room, Malfoy would make some kind of nasty comment, someone would come to Harry's rescue, the professor would come back to a fist fight, and then of course house points were lost. Harry was honestly sick of it all. Sick of Malfoy and sick of having everyone defend him. He was very capable himself.
"You're such a wanker Malfoy, it's obvious that if there was another Death Eater attack that your good for nothing father was probably behind it. You're just trying to protect your sorry ass." Ron was seething.
Draco's normally calm, cool exterior cracked for a second. The whole classroom was quiet, the other students knew better than to get in-between a fight with the infamous Draco Malfoy and the Golden Trio. Even if Ron and Malfoy seem to be the only two doing the fighting.
"Ron, just sit down, you're going to—
Hermione was cut off by the fuming blond Slytherin, Draco quickly stood up his chair clattering to the ground and crossed the room. In mere seconds he was in Ron's face groping for the front of the red head's robes. But instead of the normal shouting and exchange of insults Draco's voice was deathly quiet.
"What did you say Weasel?"
For a moment, panic shone through on Ron's eyes but in the next second Draco was pulled away by Harry. "Get off of him you ferret."
"What seems to be the problem boys?" Professor Carter had quietly come back into the room eyeing her students crossly. "I leave for five minutes and all hell has breaks loose, cannot I not trust my students? And not just students, seventh year students, you are supposed to be good example for the younger residents at Hogwarts." She shook her head in disappointment.
"20 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor." There were protests from some of the innocent bystanders but she held up her hand to indicate that her decision was final.
Professor Carter brusquely made her was back to the front of class and paused for a second. "Mr. Malfoy, I believe you seat is on the other side of the classroom." She pointed to the Slytherin side where Crabbe and Goyle sat with a dense expression on their face, as if they had no idea what about what had just happened.
Draco didn't say anything he simply let go of Ron's robes and elegantly took his seat, his superior demeanor back in place.
"Class! I have some very exciting news to share with you this morning. Professor Dumbledore and I have been working closely with the Ministry to get the wards changed here at Hogwarts. As you know, Muggle technology does not work on Hogwarts grounds, but thanks to the help of Professor Dumbledore and a few other select individuals we will be getting laptops for everyone of you experiment with for the rest of the school year! They will be equipped with the Internet, and you all know what that is now, correct?"
Hermione's hand shot up eager to answer the semi-question.
Professor Carter nodded to the frizzy haired girl to answer the question.
"The Internet is a vast computer network, linking smaller computer networks worldwide, and it includes commercial, educational, governmental, and other networks, all of which use the same set of communication protocols." She smiled knowing her answer was, as usual, correct.
"Very good, five points to Gryffindor." The professor smiled.
"Now class, when we get these devices I expect everyone to use them, I will require you to keep a diligent log of what you do on your computer every night and new things that you have discovered, whether you like using this technology or not, and why. This is a very new and exciting thing for Hogwarts to be participating in, and I hope all of my students will utilize this as an opportunity to learn something new and interesting. At the end of the school year you will turn in a 25 inch essay on your experience. Are there any questions?"
Surprisingly, Malfoy's hand timidly rose.
"Mr. Malfoy?"
"Will we have an—"
He looked down at his book and flipped a page or two before continuing.
"—e-mail account set up for us to use?"
The professor smiled, happy that someone was already interested in the project. "Excellent question Mr. Malfoy and the answer is, yes, you will have your own personal e-mail account set up on the Hogwarts Network for you to use."
Malfoy nodded and looked down towards his book, almost as if he was embarrassed to have asked a question. But in truth, Draco was very interested in Muggle Studies. It was something he knew nothing about and in reality he was looking forward to using a computer.
