Chapter 2: Slughorn's Great Plan

Draco:

Draco approached the entrance to the crowded Great Hall, loud with conversation of Quidditch and gossip and what-not. He braces himself for all of that chatter to die and be replaced immediately by not-so-subtle whispers, for the Golden Trio's snickers to rip its way through the Hall and straight to Draco. Oh Merlin, his mother is sure to hear about his crush on Potter by now. What will she think? His father... Well, his father isn't here anymore.

He holds his breath as he lifts a shaky hand to open the entrance way. He holds his head high and enters...

The silence never comes. Nor does the gossip, or the whispers, or the snickers from the Gryffindor table. Everyone is still engaged in their meaningless conversations. Draco's heart-beat quickens in nervous anticipation, wondering if they just haven't noticed his presence yet. He quickens his pace and hurries over to his seat at the end of the Slytherin table.

As he sits down, he breaths out in relief: Weasley hadn't told everyone in the castle. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at how weak and insecure he had been. Once his heart calmed down, he helped himself to some eggs and a waffle, making sure to avoid looking at the Gryffindor table as he ate. He instead busied himself with keeping his eyes glued to the plate in front of him. Usually, in times like these, he would make conversation with his friends. But as they were all either dead, in Azkaban, or in a different country, his plate was his only comfort and distraction.

He thought about Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe was dead, and Goyle was in Azkaban, now. Though they had been his longest friends, they weren't exactly the people Draco would've liked to confide in. No, Pansy had been the one he could casually talk too, and it didn't hurt that she was up for a few meaningless snogs. But she had left before fourth year, and frankly, he'd never really enjoyed those snogs in the slightest. Blaise was the one he could really share personal things with. Blaise was the only one who knew that Draco was bent, for example. Blaise had been accepting and even offered the best advice he could give as a straight man. He still occasionally wrote to Blaise, but with Blaise attending Durmnstrang now, that left Draco alone, other than Theo Nott, who kept to himself. The only company in his midst was his plate.

Eventually, he allowed himself a quick glance to the Gryffindor table. As though his eyes were programmed to do so, they fell directly onto the Golden Trio, where his gaze locked with curious green eyes. Draco found himself making eye-contact with none other than Harry Potter.

Harry:

Harry watches as Malfoy speed-walks to his seat, looking exhausted and pale (more so than usual). He stares intently as Malfoy sits alone and takes a few deep breaths, before lifting his shaky hand and helping himself to breakfast. Though Malfoy moved with his usual calm demeanor, anyone who was really looking could tell something was wrong with Malfoy. For one, because of his aforementioned pale skin and shaking body and for two, because the boy wouldn't look up from his plate. He looked alone and anxious and small and... different. But he also looked strong and independent and had no aura of arrogance, much different from his usual demeanor. Harry wasn't sure how to describe it, but something about Malfoy right now was almost... fascinating.

Then Malfoy looked up from his plate and his eyes bored directly into Harry's. They looked at each other for a long moment, and Harry could clearly see that Malfoy hadn't survived the war unscarred. Malfoy looked at Harry like a deer caught in the headlights, then averted his gaze back down to his plate and didn't look up again until the end of breakfast. This time, Malfoy was the first person to exit.

What Harry failed to notice was how Ron was looking from Harry to Malfoy with a calculating expression throughout breakfast.

Ron:

Contrary to what most people think, Ron Weasley is not oblivious. In fact, he can be pretty observant when he wants to be. That being said, it did not escape his notice that Malfoy looked quite pale and timid as he walked to his seat. He also did not fail to notice Harry watching Malfoy intently with fascination playing gently on his features. What did escape his notice, however, was Hermione watching Malfoy with intense curiousity.

Hermione:

Hermione was practically dying to know what Ron had found out about Malfoy. Typically, she would try her best to stay out of other people's business, but her curiosity really won her over. And seeing Malfoy staring at Harry like that, then quickly looking back at his plate only instensified her dire need to know.

After breakfast, she pulled Ron to the side, telling Harry that she needed to speak to Ron and for him to go on. Harry merely raised an eyebrow, but he seemed too distracted by something to care. So he nodded and went on to Transfiguration.

Once she was alone with Ron, she couldn't help it anymore, so she burst out with questions.

"What did you find out last night? What happened? Does it have something to do with why Malfoy was so odd this morning? What did you do? Come on, Ron, tell me!"

Ron only gaped at her, so Hermione shook his shoulders, rather harder than she had intended, but she needed to know!

"Okay, okay! Jeez, lady, calm down!" Hermione fixed him an impatient glare, urging him to go on, and so he did.

Ron hastily filled her in with rather spread-out details of last night, leaving Hermione quite confused.

"So, what you're saying is..." Hermione trailed off, still trying to comprehend what Ron had just shared with her.

"That Malfoy fancies Harry? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying!"

"And you know he wasn't lying, because you force-fed him Veritaserum?"

"Yep."

"And that's why he was all out of sorts this morning?"

"Exactly."

"And... And you force-fed him Veritaserum?" Even though Hermione was as confused and bewildered as she was right now, she could still be angry at Ron for doing such a horrible and illegal thing.

Ron merely nodded.

"So Malfoy really does fancy Harry!"

Ron looked impatient now. "That's what I said, wasn't it?"

Hermione just nodded, unable to say anymore; she knew Ron was telling the truth; it was just so... absurd! Well... then again... Malfoy was quite obsessed with fighting with Harry or making fun of him every chance he got. And she had caught Malfoy looking at Harry without pure loathing in his eyes quite a bit. She'd also caught Harry doing the exact same thing, now that she thought about it...

Oh, I'm definitely looking into this.

Slughorn:

This year, Horace Slughorn had a plan. He was going to repair as many silly school-rivalries and anything along those lines as he could, in honor of Albus Dumbledore.

At the beginning of the year, Horace had greatly encouraged that the Gryffindors and Slytherins partner together. And what did they do? They segregated themselves. Horace shouldn't have been so naïve as to think that they would listen to him. And now, he was going to take it upon himself to end these rivalries, starting with the 7th and 8th year Gryffindors and Slytherins.

This is going to be interesting, he thought.

Draco:

Draco had been all out of sorts since this morning, when he and Potter had made eye contact from across the Great Hall. At that short moment of eye contact, all of Draco's insecurities came rushing back. Had Weasley told him? Did he really go so low as to tell Potter? What is he going to do the next time that he sees me? For the first time in a long time, Draco was absolutely dreading Potions with the 7th and 8th year Gryffindors and Slytherins. But at least Slughorn had let him partner up with Nott, though he didn't seem to happy about it. He had strongly encouraged partner-ship between the two houses, so when everyone went with the typical segregation between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses, Slughorn was a less than happy.

As he entered Potions, Slughorn greeted him with a wide grin. Draco politely nodded back, confused on why the Potions Master looked so happy to see him.

"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy! Oh, do I have some plans for this class today!" Draco raised an eyebrow at Slughorn, urging him to go on. "What are we doing today, Professor?" Slughorn's smile widened more than Draco would've thought possible. He must have been really excited about whatever he was 'planning'.

"Let's wait for the rest of the class to arrive and I'll tell you, eh?" Draco nodded in response, already setting up his cauldron. But Slughorn interrupted and said, "You might want to wait before setting up your area, Mr. Malfoy. Things are going to be different." Draco pursed his lips in a confused expression, but packed his cauldron back up when the man pointedly looked at it.

No more than a few minutes later, a steady stream of students filled the classroom, each seemingly confused on why they couldn't set up their cauldron. When the last of the students (Potter and Weasley, of course) had finally arrived, Slughorn cleared his throat and stood at the front of the classroom.

"Good morning, seventh and eighth years!" Some scattered students hummed in polite response. "Today will be different from what you are used too. I will be assigning each one of you to one of the different house. The person in which I assign you to will be your partner for the rest of the year, no matter your history." The classroom stayed silent, clearly eerie about being assigned to the opposite house. "Let's begin, shall we?" The Potions Master pointed to the desk at the front-right of the class. "Padma Patil, Corey Langford." He read more names off of the list as he went down the isles, completely unaware of the glares students shot him as he walked past.

Weasley was partnered with a flirty 7th year Slytherin by the name of Laney Woran; Granger was partnered with Theodore Nott, and the list went on and so forth, until he stopped at a desk located in front of Granger's. Slughorn's smile broadened, and he had a sly glint in his eye as he looked at the names on the list. "Ah, the famous rivalry of Gryffindor and Slytherin." He chuckled and began to read the names off the list, whilst Draco held his breath. "Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy."

Draco stayed where he was, feeling a bit uneasy at this situation. It seemed the rest of the class shared his uneasy feelings, along with anticipation, because no one moved as they darted their eyes back and forth between the aforementioned Slytherin and Gryffindor, desperate to see every last bit of their reaction.

After a moment of staring with wide eyes and hitched breath, Draco finally got up and moved to his new location. Potter followed soon after, giving side-long glances at him. Draco ignored every single one of them, keeping his eyes trained on the front of the room. A flash of red caught his eye, however, and he found that Weasley and his partner were two desks in front of him. Weasley met Draco's eyes, and raised a subtle eyebrow. Draco sneered rather harshly and looked away, but not before catching the ghost of a smirk on Weasley's lips.

Draco risked a quick glance at his partner, who was apparently looking at him from the corner of his eye. Once again, they held uncomfortable eye-contact, but Draco found himself unable to look away. Potter looked at Draco solely with curiosity, no hint of loathing what-so-ever. Draco forced his eyes away from green ones and to the front of the classroom. So much for avoiding Potter.

From the desk behind him, Hermione watched this odd and unfimiliar exchange between her best friend and her former school enemy. She smirked to herself, thinking of how her new location gives her a huge advantage. It's quite obvious the two don't loathe each other anymore, and Professor Slughorn has just unknowingly given them an opportunity to form a... new relationship. And Hermione can watch all of it.

So, I've decided that I'm not going to make this a two shot. It'll still likely be short, but there's just so much I want to put into this story. Somewhere in the chapters to follow, there might be something to do with Amortentia, but I haven't decided yet. Anyways, I hope this chapter wasn't too boring for you, and I'm really trying to make these chapters longer.

Please review, favorite, and follow (if you like it of course.) As a young writer, I need honesty! Until next chapter, my Drarry shippers!