Once more thank you to everyone who reviewed, added to your favourites and added to your story alerts! It's been fabulous.

So, there's a few hints about the potion in this, but they are very subtle. Congrats to those of you who have figured it out. Next chapter will definitely have the answer in it. Then all the REAL drama, romance and everything starts. ;)

Anyways, here you go!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, Oxford University Press or Tom Felton. I wish Tom would at least ask me out for a drink… sigh. I'd even buy the first round. Oh well.

Chapter 4

Monday, February 9th, 1998

Irritated. Agitated. Fed up. Infuriated. Exasperated. Outraged.

Any of those words would be perfect to describe my current mood.

Perhaps the best way for me to explain this is that I am absolutely livid. I've been up all night reading through Remedial Potions and How to Brew Them. You know what good it has done me?

Zip. Zilch. It has not helped in the fucking slightest and all because I couldn't remember any of my fucking language lessons from when I was a child.

I couldn't believe it. I refused to take the blame for this one. This was my mother's fault. If she had been more persistent on me doing my coursework from my tutors when I was a child then I wouldn't be in this predicament, would I? If she hadn't been so lenient and allowed Father to pay off the tutor for a passing grade then I would be able to understand what the fuck this thing was going on about.

It's six o'clock in the morning and I haven't slept in the least. I've not moved from my desk since midnight when I had finally gotten rid of the rest of the Gryffindor's that didn't belong in our dormitory.

I rubbed my eyes with my hands and took a deep breath as I tried once again.

Questa pozione non è prodotta molto spesso a causa del Ministero della paura di immischiarsi di vita personale. Si prega di notare che se si tenta di produrre questa pozione, farlo con estrema cautela. Sebbene questa pozione è molto facile da produrre, se non è fatto correttamente il risultato può essere molto peggiore del previsto. È stato conosciuto per causare la morte di una o di entrambe le parti coinvolte.

I sigh as I slam the large tome shut. I can't believe that I have gotten absolutely nowhere since midnight. It's been six hours and the only difference from now and six hours ago is that I've wasted time that I could have been sleeping.

I pick up my wand.

"Accio Italian Notes," I mutter. Immediately, all of the pieces of parchment that I threw to my floor in frustration a few hours ago fly back into a neat pile on my desk.

I put my elbows on my desk and rest my forehead in my palms. I am at a loss. I sit there rubbing my forehead and temples for about five minutes when I have a brainwave. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of this earlier. I go over to my bookshelf and look through the numerous titles. Finally I found what I was looking for.

I don't know where I came across it, but I found this book ages ago and held onto it because I was curious about it. I had flipped through it a few times but never really found a use for it. Am I ever glad now that I never got rid of it. It translated English word to Italian, and vice versa. Oxford Italian/English Dictionary. Immediately, I opened the dictionary and began translating word for word. It was going to take a while, but I was desperate.

An hour and a half later and here I am sitting at my desk rereading everything that I had just written down. Loosely translated, I had the jist of what I had managed to decipher. Unfortunately for me, it didn't explain what the potion's end result was meant to be. It did say what happened if it was brewed incorrectly however;

This potion is not brewed very often because the Ministry frown upon it, they believe it interferes with people's individual lives. Please note that if you do brew this potion, do so with extreme caution. Although this potion is relatively easy to brew, if it is not done correctly the end result can be much worse than expected. It has been known to result in death for one of, or both, parties involved.

I couldn't believe Slughorn had actually allowed us to brew this potion!

What kind of sociopath would do that?

I looked over at my timekeeper and realized it was time to meet Granger to work on the potion. After all I had just read I was not going to be allowing us to screw this up. I didn't want to die. And I definitely didn't want Granger to die. Who else was I going to irritate when I was bored, right? And who else can I compare notes with about Tolkien's works?

I walked into the common room yawning. I walked over to where my counterpart was sitting and sat next to her.

"Morning, Granger," I said in a tired voice. Fuck, I must look and sound like shit if even I can tell that I sound tired.

"Morning, Malfoy. How did you sleep?" she asked, looking up for the first time. Her eyes met my face and her jaw dropped. "Merlin, are you okay? You look like shit."

Well, that confirms that thought, doesn't it?

"I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well. Or at all, actually."

She gave me a questioning look as she passed me the paddle to stir the potion with as she collected the ingredients.

"Why not?" she asked as she added the first ingredient.

"I was up all night reading about the potion. We better brew this right, I don't want to die."

Another questioning look was sent my way as she delicately ripped up the bamboo paper before throwing it into the strange concoction. She didn't say anything, instead just nodded slowly.

I watched as she added the rest of the ingredients. We didn't have to taste again until tonight, so I sat back and rubbed my eyes again.

"You could have mentioned to me that the Ministry doesn't recommend brewing this potion," I say to her in a slightly agitated voice.

She looks at me in shock before saying, "I didn't realize they did. Why would they do that?"

This time it was me sending her a questioning look. "Uh, possibly because of the side effects if the potion is brewed incorrectly?"

I get an eyebrow raised at me but before she can say anything there is a knock on our door. I sigh and watch as she makes her way over to the door. I notice she is wearing a skimpy pair of pyjama shorts and a tiny tee shirt that is riding up her torso. I get another glimpse of that beautiful sun kissed skin. It is truly remarkable the effect just a little strip of her skin has on me. I don't know how to react to it anymore, so I have decided that I'll just let nature take its course. A miracle on my part, I know.

Granger opens the door and begins to speak to someone outside the door. I strain my hearing to try and hear who it is she is speaking too. I realize after a moment that it's Potter that she's speaking too. I tune out their conversation and think about what I discovered about the potion not that long ago.

Fact: If brewed incorrectly it can cause one or both party member's deaths.
Fact: The Ministry didn't want it to be brewed.
Fact: It is some sort of remedial potion.
Speculation: Slughorn is an absolute lunatic.

I was torn out of my revelry when Granger's angelic laugh sounded throughout the room after she shut the door. She came back with a grin on her face and began to add the last ingredient for the morning. I stir the potion, but still watch her as her grin seems to keep getting bigger and bigger as she laughs to herself.

"What are you laughing at?" I snap at her.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry though. We are brewing it correctly so you need not be worried about those side effects," she giggled at the last part. Before I could say anything she was up and walking to her room. "See you later, Draco."

I sat there for a moment before getting up and walking to my own room.

It was minutes later; after I was dressed and already halfway down to the Great Hall for breakfast did I realize that Granger had addressed me by my first name. It was strange. But what was even stranger was that I didn't want to hear her call me Malfoy ever again.

I sighed, contemplating this revelation, and sat down across from Blaise who was disgusted watching Vince and Greg shove food into their mouths like there was no tomorrow. He immediately straightened up as I sat down, however.

"Morning, Drake. How's it going?"

I sent him one of my darkest glares. This bastard knew of the side effects from this potion as well and didn't seem to care that I could have ended up dead. Hell, he's working with the Weasel, he could end up dead too!

Blaise smirks at me. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"There was no bed involved for me last night. I didn't sleep. I was up all night reading," I tell him, grabbing some of the bacon in front of me.

"Oh. And what were you reading?"

"Remedial Potions and How to Brew Them," I inform him over a mouth full of food. I watch as his smirk returns.

"Find anything interesting?"

I send another glare to him. My lack of sleep must be catching up because I snap at him. "As the matter of fact, I did. You know, I thought you may have warned a friend if their life was in danger, you imbecile."

"Whatever do you mean, Draco?" Blaise asked with a sarcastic voice and a smirk on his face.

Shit. I knew what was going on here.

"You fucking twat! What the hell did you do?" I hiss at him after throwing a scone at him.

"Why, Draco, I have no idea what you are talking about," his smirk was turning into a full on grin.

"Oh, come on, Zabini. I'm not in the mood. Just spill it already," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Well, I may have checked out all of the books that have anything to do with Amico Nemico di Rimedio in it and changed all of the information and translated it all into Italian as well so that you, or anyone else for that matter, couldn't figure out its use… and I may have changed what it really said."

"You fucking asshole," I murmured. Then I wondered why Granger had said needn't worry about the side effects the way she had. Why did she emphasize the two words with a big grin on her face?

Before I could question it any more, Blaise went on. "However, I must be hanging out with the Weasel too much because my conscience got the better of me and last night after dinner I went to the library to reverse it all. I couldn't however because all of the books were signed out. I went to Madame Pince to ask who'd signed them out so that I could 'get together with them and ask if I could use it for a moment to just double check something about my own potion.' Or something along those lines. Imagine my surprise, and amusement, I might add; when she told me that you had the one I had put the most bullshit in."

I was furious. I had been up all night reading a load of bullshit and I had fallen for it. Surely I wasn't becoming daft? Or was I? Oh fuck.

"So, to top it off, I told Weasley what I did and he said that he would get Granger in on it to play around with your mind a bit. But you don't seem in the mood for a joke, so I'm telling you this all now and hoping you aren't gonna go all Bellatrix on my ass."

I shake my head no as I process all of this. Blaise pulled a prank. He then got Weasley in on it, who must have told Potter about it, which is why he was there this morning talking to Granger. That would also be why Granger had a huge grin on her face. I looked behind me to the Gryffindor table where I could see Granger sitting with Potter and Weasley. They were all looking at a book and laughing about something or other. Bitch.

I sighed as I continued to eat my breakfast. Maybe later I would be mad at Blaise. Maybe later I'd be irritated with Granger. But for right now, I was too tired to give a flying fuck.

-.-

By the end of my lessons, I was completely knackered. And to top it off, I couldn't even have a kip before tea because I had to meet with Calvin Warrington about Quidditch Practice. Then I had to eat dinner, (I'm starving!) and then I had to meet Granger to work on the potion and we had to taste it again tonight. Not to mention the piles of homework I had to do for the morning.

I sighed as I walked to meet Warrington. Luckily when I met with him, we only ended up speaking for about twenty minutes. We made our way to the Great Hall and by the time I was done eating it was nearly seven. If I went now, I could get a head start on my homework and put a dent in it before doing the potion.

So, I walked up to my dormitory, went to my room and pulled my Transfiguration book. I started reading about transfiguring common wooden objects into clothing.

"Malfoy? Are you in there?" I hear Granger's voice through my door as she is knocking on it.

My head snaps up and I look around, confused for a moment. I look at my time keeper and realize I was supposed to meet Granger ten minutes ago to work on the potion. I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. I was more tired than I thought.

I quickly go to the door and open it up.

"There you are! Are you alright? I got worried when you didn't show to work on the potion. I was hoping you were in there," she gushed, looking up at me with concern visible in her sparkling eyes.

I nod and gesture for her to go over to the potion.

"I fell asleep at my desk," I offered.

Granger nods and hands me the paddle and a scrap of the edible parchment.

She immediately begins to add the ingredients and looks at the instructions for a moment before opening the book off the couch beside her.

Sensing that she doesn't want to be disturbed, I get up and walk to the washroom. I return after five minutes to see her in the same spot.

"What are we supposed to be writing on the parchment today?" I ask her cautiously. There is a tension in the air that I'm not equipped to deal with.

"Middle name. Then we also have to add a memory. Favourite childhood memory. There is an incantation to use so that we use our favourite subconscious memory. That way it's more honest and real," she explains, not bothering to look up from her novel.

I nod and wait.

When the time comes, we follow the correct procedure until we are watching the other apprehensively before we take our taste.

I eventually take my drink and have my senses overwhelmed. My mouth has the taste of meringue, raspberries, cream and white chocolate and I feel like I want to hang out with Potter and Weasley again. Luckily, that urge fades away as I close my eyes and see the colour yellow flash behind my eyelids before it fades away into a visual.

"Hermione, there's a letter here for you!" a female voice calls out.

Young Hermione, about eleven, runs down the stairs to see her mother holding a thick parchment envelope. Hermione takes the envelope and begins to read it. Her jaw drops and her mouth forms the shape of the letter 'O'.

A moment later she's got a huge grin on her face as she shows her mother the letter.

"Look, mum! I'm a witch! I'm magical!"

I open my eyes and watch as Granger also opens her eyes and cocks her head to the side as if analyzing what she just saw. I hold my breath unconsciously waiting for her reaction.

I wait for her to say something, anything, but she doesn't. She simply gives me a small smile and walks off to her room.

Fucking women.

Tuesday, February 10th, 1998

The potion was due in three days and I still didn't fucking know what it was meant to do. After returning the library book earlier, I didn't bother trying to check out any of the other ones because Blaise admitted that he'd done it to any of them that had the potion mentioned in it.

As well, since she'd seen my favourite memory last night, Granger was avoiding me. She ignored me when I asked her what my memory was. When I tried to corner her at lunch as ask her, she simply stated it wasn't important and ducked off with Weasley as he passed by us.

I sighed as I entered the common room to work on the potion with her tonight, knowing it was going to be awkward. She was already there, as she always was, prepared and ready to go. I sat down, picked up the paddle and began to stir as she began adding the ingredients.

The longest ten minutes of my life just then. I still wanted to know what the memory was that she saw last night but I didn't dare ask. She seemed to be in a rather weird mood.

I looked at my instructions and saw that there was an incantation to get our subconscious worst memory out. This is not going to go over well.

When it was time, we followed the steps perfectly as normal and I took a sip immediately, simply wanting to get out of this awkward situation.

Eton mess taste, check. Wanting to hang out with the Dynamic Duo, check. Yellow, check. Granger's favourite memory, check.

I waited as the worst memory came into focus and my stomach turned and twisted into knots as I saw my twelve year old self with the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Nobody asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," I hiss to Granger in the memory.

I open my eyes and see that I'm staring directly into Granger's brown ones. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears and I don't know what to do. I'm her worst memory. I really don't know how to take that. For the first time in my life, I am truly unsure of what to do with myself.

Without thinking or realizing it, I lean in and kiss Granger softly and chastely on the lips.

I pull back slowly, ignoring the fireworks going off in my mind and look at her intently.

"I'm so sorry," I murmur to her. "I really am an asshole. I know."

Granger closes her eyes and shakes her head quickly as a tear falls from her eye. She quickly wipes it away and opens her eyes, her eyes boring into mine.

"You're very confusing, Malfoy," she mutters. When I hear my name come out of her mouth, I'm immediately reminded of when she said my given name the day before. Dare I say, I felt butterflies just at the prospect of her saying it properly again.

I take a deep breath. "What is so confusing about me?"

She takes a deep breath as well before replying to me. "Confusing isn't the right word. Superficial? Perhaps. Mainstream, even. A conformist. Yes, you conform to the norm."

I don't really know where she's getting at, so I ask her to tell me about what she saw.

"It's embarrassing to me," she mutters.

"How the hell is embarrassing to you? It's my memory," I try to reason.

She shakes her head and stands to leave, but I grab onto her wrist to stop her.

"Granger, I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the hell you've seen the past two nights," I threaten her, standing up and towering over her, hoping it will add some intimidation to the situation.

Granger glares at me. It's then that I notice she looks exhausted. If I looked like shit yesterday, she looked like she's been dragged to hell and back. The funny thing is that she was still so attractive even if she looked like she might drop dead to sleep on the floor at any moment.

Seemingly too tired to argue, I watch as she continues to glare at me, but pulls out her wand and places it against her forehead and drags a memory out. She places the tip of her wand to my temples and transfers the memory.

Immediately, I close my eyes and see myself walking down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express. It's my first day ever on the train on my way to Hogwarts for my first year of school. I see a girl who also seems to be going to Hogwarts for the first time talking to someone else, but I overhear her conversation and realize that she's quite smart and witty. I immediately feel drawn to this girl, even though her hair is incredibly bushy and her front teeth are rather large.

I couldn't believe that this was my subconscious' favourite memory. Fuck. I didn't know until after the sorting ceremony that she was a muggleborn. I had a little crush on her before that, but after the feast, I let it drop immediately.

I wait as my worst memory begins to appear, and I can't believe what I'm seeing. Myself, again, with the Quidditch team in my second year.

"Nobody asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

-.-

Woah, another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

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