Chapter Two- Pretty Boys And Potions
The weekend was now over and it was time to go back to class. Being a Monday, it meant that Blaise's first class was double Potions with the Gryffindors. This was one of his favourite lessons, not only was he actually good at Potions but Snape would be teaching, which meant there would be plenty of snarky and harsh comments directed at the Gryffindors. Snape had a very...dry sense of humour and it appealed greatly to Blaise. But first, clothes must be put on; breakfast eaten and Draco must be freaked out. Blaise started with the last, seeing as it would be the easiest. In fact, three sentences would do it. Jumping out of bed, Blaise crossed the dorm and pulled back Draco's bed curtains. Leaning in close, Blaise put his face nose-to-nose with Draco's. Sensing his private space being violated, Draco's eyes flickered opened, and widened when he saw Blaise's inane grin.
"Good morning Draco. How are you this fine day? Ready to face...the world?" Blaise's grin only widened as Draco's mask dropped slightly, widened as the fear crossed Draco's eyes.
"Morning Blaise. Will you back off, or are you looking for a morning kiss?" The last was said with a smirk; Draco might be scared and fearful but he wouldn't let Blaise see it.
Blaise backed off; "You offering? Nah, I like my guys dark and mysterious. You're too...too pretty." Blaise moved over to his area and grabbed the clothes he had left out the night before. Draco's fear was quickly being replaced by annoyance.
"Pretty?! Pansy is pretty, I am handsome- no, heart-breakingly good looking- great looking! How dare you!"
"Sorry Draco, but all Malfoys are pretty; your dad, granddad. I've seen the portraits. You are all similar, all pretty. You are, what I believe the Muggles call, a 'pretty boy'." With that Blaise turned and left the room, entering the bathroom. Unlike Crabbe and Goyle he washed.
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Blaise left the Slytherin common room as Draco was dressing. He quickly made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Blaise slid onto the bench and picked up a couple of pieces of toast. Generously lathering them with butter he ate slowly, while keeping his eye on the door. When Theo came in, he quickly made sure the boy sat opposite- instead of next to- him. This would leave Draco no other choice but to sit next to him. Perfect. Theo immediately understood what was going on and followed Blaise's instructions, also helping himself to some toast. Toast was a very Slytherin thing. Gryffindors mainly ate large fatty breakfasts; Ravenclaws daintily ate a lot of porridge with fruit- good brain food, or bagels; the Hufflepuffs were inclined to sandwiches, made from the various meats, eggs and spread available. Slytherins went for a clean but plain breakfast. Not very amusing but it was breakfast. I mean, who cares what people ate for breakfast? No-one would be conducting a survey, no-one would laugh at someone for eating toast for breakfast, and they wouldn't compare what the majority of houses ate and how that compared with the others. No-one would write a five line conclusion stating their findings.
It was when Blaise was on his second piece of toast that Draco finally made his entrance, no doubt late after spending fifteen minutes on his hair. Blaise realised that his fame at breaking people with psychological prank warfare had spread, proved when Draco's face paled at the thought of having to sit next to him while Blaise was annoyed. Blaise just smiled predatorily at him and motioned for him to sit. Draco slowly crossed the threshold of the door and made his way over. He glanced nervously around, looking for a hint of what was about to happen, but saw nothing. Not that that was any reassurance. If anything it made it worse.
Draco came to a stop and looked at the bench, searching for a sign, anything. Finding nothing he slowly sat down. And jumped when Theo turned to him and cheerfully cried; "Morning Draco, took your time!" He jumped because he now knew something was up; Slytherins never cheerfully greeted anyone, and greetings were polite and dignified.
"Probably sorting out his hair, do hurry up Draco, we have to leave in a minute." Blaise turned his attention back to his toast, while Draco reached for a blueberry muffin- his favourite- but then decided to leave them and instead have a piece of toast. Draco then noticed Blaise's eager eyes on his hand, so he instead decided to pour himself some orange juice but seeing the eyes flash with mirth he decided that maybe a glass of water would be better. Seeing Blaise's eyes lose their smugness he safely poured and drank the water. He was taking a sip when Blaise stood up suddenly and slapped him on the back saying;
"Come on, Potions is starting." Blaise pulled Draco to his feet then strode away, Theo and the other Slytherins following him. Draco took one last look at the most likely pranked food and dejectedly followed also. Leaving the Hall he saw Blaise waiting for him, with a smirk that got bigger as Draco went over to him. It was then that Draco realised that Blaise was a master manipulator and a Slytherin. He would never be that obvious if he was pranking someone, never would any emotion give away the prank.
"None of it was pranked, was it?" Draco asked, already knowing the answer.
"Nope." The smirk got even bigger.
"I was so hungry. All I had was a sip of water! Water!" Draco and Blaise resumed the walk down to the dungeons.
"You made me prank myself! So hungry! Water!" Blaise just carried on walking, saying nothing, though he did chuck Draco a muffin. Draco stared at the muffin. Surely it wasn't pranked? Blaise was his friend after all; Blaise wouldn't let him go hungry! Draco devoured the muffin and it was only as they entered the classroom that he knew he had made the wrong choice. His hair grew down past his shoulders and became bushy and brown. Blaise had given him Hermione Granger's hair.
As Draco fled the Potions classroom, Snape merely raised an eyebrow and waved his wand at the board, bringing up today's potion and instructions.
"The Draught of Ego. A complex potion that I expect you to be able to brew to at least a standard degree of correctness. The Draught was first created by Potion Master Michaelo Vinchiancee. He slipped it into a rival's drink and for the rest of the night the rival believed himself to be above everyone. Even the Doge. Unfortunately the Doge was at this particular dinner and did not take kindly to the man's self proclaimed importance and swiftly had the man...terminated. Because some of you," Snape glared at Neville, "have trouble creating the simplest and least complex wart remover potion, a potion which first years begin their studies with, I have decided to group you into fours. If you organise yourselves using intelligence then hopefully you shall be finished at the end of the lesson with a somewhat passable potion. One member from each group shall then test the potion." Looking over at Harry, Snape lowered his voice and suggested, "Choose someone in your group however, on whom you shall be able to tell if there is any change, as some people in this class will find themselves immune to this potion." Neville put his hand up and asked; "Because they have a strong will against personality altering potions?" Snape looked at him and smiled- or grimaced- tightly. "No, Mr Longbottom. Ten points from Gryffindor for not waiting to be called upon and five more from Gryffindor for stupidity. To answer your question, for some people," He looked back to Harry, "for some, they already think they are above everyone and the rules, so the potion does nothing to increase their already large ego. Begin!"
Blaise smiled. Harry Potter had one of the smallest egos in the whole school, but Snape was right about the rule breaking and Potter did get away with most things. He crashed a flying car into the Whomping Willow for Darks sake! Didn't get expelled- anyone else would have been straight out. Potter has friends in high places, specifically in the Headmasters office. Blaise paired up with Pansy, Theo and Toby. Draco did not return to class. Neville Longbottom tested his group's potion, Snape took thirty more points from him for "thinking he was above and better in Potions than Snape himself,"- five of those points were taken for stupidity, five more for Neville being entirely deluded.
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Adieu, Sarah