Disclaimer: NOT MINE!
Parings: Draco/Harry. Implied: Ron/Hermione (Later. Much later…), Severus/Hermione.
Rating: R / M (just to be sure…)
Summary: Harry and Draco, who are paired up together for Muggle Studies, are forced to live together without magic for two months. Will they survive each others' wit and charms or does fate have something else in mind?
Note: Repost. Just working out some kinks before adding a new chapter into the mix. Mostly spell checks and the likes.
-:-:-:-I'm Not In Love-:-:-:-
Chapter 1
The Assignment
"Watch out!" a voice shouted as soon as Harry walked into the communal shower that the seventh year Gryffindor boys shared. Harry, who was still half asleep, looked up, but was too slow and got hit in the face by a wet washcloth.
"Bloody hell! That's cold!" Harry yelped as he snatched the cloth away from his face.
"Sorry Harry. We didn't know that you would be waking up this early," the amused voice of Dean replied as he plucked away the cloth from Harry's now numb fingers.
"Well, I couldn't sleep. Why are all of you up this early anyway?" Harry asked, as he walked over to the unoccupied shower stall next to Ron's and turned the shower on full blast. "I thought I'd be the first one."
"Dunno mate. Maybe we're just excited. It is, after all, our last first day of school. After this, it just won't be the same anymore," Ron replied and Harry smiled at that.
"Yeah, I'm going to miss all this. Pass me that shampoo will you Dean," Seamus said as he pointed to the vanilla scented shampoo on Dean's left. Humming softly in agreement, Dean handed the shampoo over to Seamus.
"Oh yeah, did you guys hear about the new subject all the seventh years have to take? Muggle Studies," Harry injected, changing the subject.
"Yeah, dad told us about it once. He said that it was to 'promote understanding between muggles and wizards from the wizards' point of view'. He was so excited, couldn't stop talking about it," Ron replied.
"So he should be, I heard it was his idea in the first place," Seamus snickered and Ron rolled his eyes in response.
"Well, that is one of the perks of being the Minister for Magic. I just hope that he doesn't get any more crazy ideas like organizing a carnival for muggles that is magic operated," Ron mumbled and the rest of them laughed.
"Don't worry about it Ron, I'm sure he wouldn't. What else did he tell you about it?" Harry questioned as he reached for his shampoo that Seamus had apparently stolen with a glare to the Irish. Seamus just shrugged before shutting his eyes to rinse the shampoo out of his hair.
"He said that all of us are to be paired up with a muggle-born student from any house and that the project is going to go on for about two months or so. They are still working on the rest of the details but I think that they have everything about ready now. Dad thinks it's safe enough since Harry here defeated that slime ball last year," Ron said, chuckling slightly at the scowl now apparent on Harry's face.
"Well it's about time if you ask me. I mean, it would be fun right? And it's been a while since we did something different. I can't wait for it. Hey Dean, you reckon we're going to be partnered up?" Seamus asked as he bumped against Dean slightly, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. Dean just blushed.
"Sod off you great git," Dean mumbled as he turned off the water and walked out of the bathroom with Seamus trotting behind him still lathered with soap. Ron and Harry looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"I wonder when Dean is going to realize that he has a thing for that Irish prat," Ron pondered as he too turned off the water and toweled himself dry.
"Soon, I hope. I mean usually he would just talk to Neville…" Harry trailed off as he said the name, the hand that was reaching forward to turn the knob paused mid way. Ron too, who was smiling slightly, abruptly stopped.
"It's not your fault, Harry," Ron said softly and Harry nodded slowly.
Without another word, Harry turned off the water and exited the showers with Ron behind him. As Harry entered the room, he couldn't help but look sadly at the now empty bed of Neville Longbottom; one of the many students that had died during the battle against Voldemort.
"Okay class, settle down," a voice called out from the back of the room. Harry paused from his chat with Dean and turned around, smiling slightly at the sight of their new teacher, who looked remarkably like a miniature Molly Weasley, walking towards the front of the class. Standing on top of the podium, she smiled warmly at the students before her as they sat at their chosen seats.
"Welcome class, to your first Muggle Studies lesson of the year. I am Professor Yohanna, and I will be your assigned professor for this year. Now, I know that almost all of you are wondering as to why every seventh year student in Hogwarts this year has been enrolled automatically into this class," she paused as she noticed half of the seventh year Gryffindor / Ravenclaw class were nodding their heads. "Well as of this year, all students that are in their seventh year of studies have to take this subject. The reason is to give you some sort of an idea as to how life is as a muggle. Hopefully after the duration of this course, you will have an in depth knowledge about them and how they live."
Harry nodded his head slightly as he listened to the professor give them the standard 'why-you-have-to-take-this-course-even-though-you-think-this-has-no-connection-whatsoever-to-your-future-carreer' lecture, when he felt Ron nudge his right side slightly. Glancing at the redhead, he saw Ron smirk as he shoved a piece of parchment into his hand. Harry raised an eyebrow as he unfolded the parchment, reading Ron's scrawl:
'Translated, that actually means: 'We are forcing you to change your perspective towards muggles so that Harry Potter will never have to deal with another Voldemort ever again!'
Harry snorted slightly as he was thinking the exact same thing. Shaking his head, Harry looked up once again to see Hermione, who was sitting in front of him, raise her hand.
"Yes Miss Granger," Professor Yohanna called out and turned towards her.
"Professor, do we still have to take the N.E.W.T for this particular subject? It doesn't seem to be that practical if we do because we are only taking this subject for one year instead of two like the other subjects," Hermione asked and half of the class nodded their heads in agreement.
"Excellent question Miss Granger. The answer to that question can be found on the piece of parchment in front of you," she replied and with a wave of her wand, a piece of parchment appeared in front of everyone with their name written on top as well as another one beside their own.
Harry looked at his, smiling slightly when he read that Seamus' name was next to his. He figured that the name next to his would be his partner for any assignment for the subject. Looking back up, he gave the thumbs up at Seamus when his eyes caught the periwinkle blue ones of the Irish boy.
"As many of you might have guessed, the name or names beside your own on your parchment is, in fact, your partner or partners for the duration of this year. On that piece of parchment, it also states that your N.E.W.T consists of 60 percent practical work and the rest will be in the form of a written exam. The exam will be taken at the same week as your other papers," she said once she was able to get her students attention once more.
"So what's the practical work that makes up the 60 percent?" Elsa Stone from Ravenclaw asked when the professor paused for breath.
"Patient, Miss Stone. The 60 percent is the fun part. As you may or may not notice, your partner may be either a pureblood or half blood that is not familiar with the muggle ways. If you were raised by muggles, you will help your partner/partners with the things they are not familiar with," she replied, and half of the class looked back at their parchment, nodding their head at that statement.
"There are groups of twos and threes due to the fact that the amounts of half bloods that are familiar with the muggle ways are clearly lesser than the amount of purebloods," the professor explained as she walked around to the class slowly.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Eric Stone, Elsa Stone's twin brother wondered out loud.
"This is important because your knowledge about the muggle world is going to be a valuable asset in the coming two months, which by the way is the exact duration of this project. Another detail I have not yet mentioned - this project is not going to take place here, rather it will be carried out in the muggle world," Professor Yohanna said with a smile, halting in the middle of the front of the class once again, facing her students. Almost immediately, the entire class exploded with excited chatters mixed with some curious and angry ones.
"Bloody hell! I knew that this project was a big one but I never thought that it would be this cool! Dad never mentioned anything about this! No wonder he was so excited when the proposal got through!" Ron exclaimed with a huge grin and Harry nodded his head, also smiling.
"Settle down class!" the redhead professor called out with a soft chuckle. After a few minutes of calling out to the overzealous class, she cleared her throat again.
"I understand that all of you are excited but that is only half of the news. Another part of the news might not be what you are expecting. For the next week, all of you will be attending two hours of lectures for this subject every day as a crash course in everything muggle." Groans emerged from the students in front of her, just as she expected, causing her to smile. "After the one week crash course, the real fun begins. The following Monday, after dinner, at approximately 9 p.m., all seventh year students are required to assemble at the Great Hall, along with their belongings, where you and your partner or partners will be flooing off to your designated apartments which are scattered across Brittan. The apartment you receive is going to be your home for the next two months."
"We will be leaving Hogwarts!" Hermione shrieked, bordering on hysterical and Professor Yohanna nodded her head. "What about the other lessons! Does this mean we are unable to attend those classes? All of us have projects that we are required to complete for other subjects. Does that mean we won't be able to work on that for two whole months?!"
"Calm down, Miss Granger, I understand what you are trying to say. No, you won't have to worry about that since you are still able to attend those classes. An arrangement has been made between the Professors as well as the officers at the Ministry of Magical Education. It is decided that all of you will still have to attend the classes you've taken but instead of going back your dorm room to retire after class, you have to go back to your assigned apartment. It will be like going to work, but instead of working you will be going to classes. This means that breakfast and dinner cannot be eaten at Hogwarts; you have to make due of that on your own. This rule is only forfeited for those who have extracurricular activities and then only you are allowed to have dinner here," she said as she once again toured the length of the room, the eyes of every one of her students following her every move. Turning around, she then looked at strictly at each student before stressing the next part of the project.
"A magical signature will be detected as soon as any one of you leaves the school. That way, will be able to detect you as well as your partner's whereabouts - so don't even think of escaping this project."
"The floo connection will be opened at precisely 8 a.m. every morning from Monday to Friday and it will be closed one hour after that. It will re-open from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. for all of you to floo back to your apartment. For the rest of the day, the connection will be open in a one-way direction, where those of you at your apartment will not be able to come here to Hogwarts, but those of you who are still in Hogwarts will be able to leave. This means that if you're late, you don't come at all. Think of it as preparations for your working days after you leave Hogwarts," she chuckled at the last part as a wave of moans and groans swept through the class.
"During weekends, the connection will also be open in a one-way direction due to a rule - you are not allowed to be on school grounds on weekends. Any emergency communications will be done using fire call that is connected to the Head of your House, depending on what House you are in, during those times you are not on Hogwarts grounds."
"You are completely on your own while you are in the muggle world. This is to test you on your resourcefulness as well as to see whether or not you are capable to act like an adult in time of crisis. If, by any chance at all that any one of you is in trouble, send out a flare. No matter where you are, the usage of that particular spell will trigger an alarm here in Hogwarts, and a team of Aurors will apparate to your exact location immediately. So if this situation should arise, make sure you are really in trouble and you are out of sight. If we detect any usage of magic of any kind other than the ones to generate a flare, even the simplest spells, and a total of five percent will be deducted from your total percentage for your Muggle Studies N.E.W.T. As you can see, we are taking this very seriously." The news about the deduction of percentage caused a gasp from Hermione and the all of the Ravenclaws. Ignoring the gasp, Professor Yohanna continued.
"You are allowed to stay over at your friends' apartments or anywhere else for maximum time of 40 hours. A total of one percent will be deducted from your total percentage for your Muggle Studies N.E.W.T for every hour you spend sleeping over if you exceed the maximum time given. In other words, if you have a sleepover, the visitors may not actually sleep. The idea here is to get you to return home. It doesn't matter what time, just see that you do. For all of you who are wondering why we're doing this, it is to test your responsibility as well as commitment to a cause," she said while looking pointedly at some of the boys around the class. A few of them grinned in return while others just looked pointedly away.
"As for sightseeing, you are allowed to go anywhere you please as long as you don't apparate, floo, portkey, or travel by any magical means or devices. The Ministry is being very lenient on this one. It doesn't matter, once again, what time you get back to your apartment, just so long that you do and as long as you are able to go to class the next day without calling in sick."
"The Ministry agreed to give you enough money to sustain you comfortably. The money will be given to you every Monday and it is to be used to buy food and other necessary items."
"After the two months are up, each of you will have to submit a report based on the topic that you choose. We will discuss the details of the report during our next class. Any questions?" she asked, ending the lengthy explanation. She only smirked as she watched the students in front of her sitting on their seats, mouths slightly agape. At that exact same moment, the bell that signaled the end of the class rang.
"Right, no questions then? If you do happen to think of any, feel free to ask me during our next class. Class dismissed."