Chapter 7

Harry woke the next morning feeling very groggy. Is this a hangover? He hoped not. He rolled over to find a fuming Draco Malfoy merely inches from his face. "Woah, wha-", he shifted so far to the right he fell out of bed and straight on his ass on the floor.

"Gah, eww Potter. Put some clothes on", he pulled a disgusted face, covering his eyes and Harry grabbed the duvet cover and stood up.

"What were you doing, Draco?"

"Wondering what the hell happened to you last night. You came back at some god forsaken hour I was worried".

Harry looked guilty, "sorry, detention went longer than it should have". Wrapping himself fully in his duvet cover he made his way round to his trunk and pulled out some clean boxers and his uniform. He stood and put them on the bed when something on his desk caught his eye. My robes. Had Snape come in last night and put them there? He noticed a piece of parchment sticking out the side beneath his sweater.

Mr. Potter,

Do remember to take these next time.

"Snape?", Draco said over his shoulder.

Harry replied vaguely, "yeah".

"Where did you leave them?" he asked.

"In the lab", he said without thinking then he face palmed himself.

"The lab? What, Snape's private lab?", he raised an eyebrow in interest.

Blaise was in the shower so it was just the two of them. "He made me clean his private lab last night ok? Nothing happened."

Draco snorted, "Yeah right, Potter. I know you're lying. It's me you're talking to".

"Look just leave it ok. I'm starving, will you let me get dressed so I can get some breakfast?"

"Whatever", he waved his hand dismissively and left the room. Phew, close, he thought.

When Harry walked through the common room Draco wasn't there so he headed straight for the Great Hall for breakfast. He saw Draco talking with Hermione? At the Slytherin table and he went over and sat next to Draco. "Hey Hermione", he beamed at her. She and Draco shared a look. "Oh, for the love of – you serious?" He looked between the two and sat down. He winced as he'd forgotten about the pain.

"Rough night, Harry?" she said knowingly.

"Ok, both of you can shut it. Nothing happened alright. I fell on my ass this morning because someone", he turned to Draco, "scared the shit out of me. They looked at each other again knowingly, but dropped the conversation. Ravenclaw and Slytherin had Care of Magical Creatures that morning so Hermione was hanging out with them till then. "Where's Andrew, Hermione?"

"Oh, he was too chicken to sit over here", she smiled. He frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you're Slytherin's", she said deadpanned. "You know, for a Ravenclaw, he's really not that bright".

Harry chuckled and Draco snorted.

"Obviously", they said together which earned a laugh from Hermione. Mystic flew in at this point and landed on Harry's shoulder, dropping the Daily Prophet on his lap.

"Thanks, girl" and gave her a piece of bacon and she hooted happily at him and nipped his ear. There weren't many people at breakfast this early so Harry had a clear view of the head table. He turned his head to the left and found Snape looking straight at him with a smirk on his face. He picked up his cup of coffee and maintained eye contact with Harry as he took a sip. Professor Sprout turned to him and started talking to him. He turned away from Harry and Harry turned back to his food, smiling slightly. Of course the other two noticed as well.

"Right, let's go otherwise we'll be late" announced Harry. The trio stood up and left the hall, Andrew caught up with them and they walked down to Hagrid's hut by the Forbidden Forest. Class went really slowly which was unusual for Hagrid's class. Harry supposed that it was because of last night he just couldn't focus on the class. Draco jabbed him in the ribs. "Oi, pay attention will you. You look ridiculous with that spaced out face".

"Sorry", he tried to focus on what Hagrid was saying.

Class finally finished and they made their way back to the castle, Draco and Harry had a free period so Hermione bid them farewell and headed off to Herbology. Harry was heading straight for the Slytherin common room to study. He had to keep his mind occupied otherwise nothing would get done and they had Charms and Transfiguration exams tomorrow, the last day of the term. "Not going to the library, Harry?"

"Nah, I really need to focus and study. Being around people is going to distract me".

"You want some company? You won't even know I'm there, and to be honest, I don't trust you being by yourself right now. You're hiding something, I know it. Something to do with last night, I'm sure". He looked at Harry suspiciously.

Harry threw his arms in the air, "Fine". He sighed and they made their way to their dorm. He guessed he couldn't goof off if Draco was with him. They reached the common room and headed straight for their dorm. Blaise was in the dorm already and looked buried in all the books and pieces of parchment studying. After half an hour of studying Harry growled and threw his quill at the wall. "I'm going for a fly", he announced and Draco spun round.

"Why? It's only been half an hour".

"I can't concentrate. Going to clear my head. I'll meet you in the hall for lunch".

"Alright." Draco huffed. "Suit yourself".

He grabbed his broom from under his bed and darted out of the room. When he reached an outdoor space he jumped on and launched himself into the air. Snape was walking down an adjacent corridor when he saw Harry running and jumping onto his broom. He looked like he was panicking and he found himself concerned for the boy. The last thing he wanted was confuse him and mess with his head. But he wanted it. This was true. He definitely wanted something to happen last night. Silly brat, thinking with his anatomy rather than his head. He noticed Harry heading in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. Snape had a few minutes spare before lunch so decided to go after him and make sure he was okay.

Harry sped off towards the Quidditch pitch at full speed. It felt so good to have the wind blowing through his hair. He felt so free up here and already he felt better and his head clearer than it had five minutes ago.

He hurtled towards the goal posts and ripped through the middle one still at full speed. The adrenaline coursing through him and he felt so at home. He did a few more laps of the pitch and then stopped in the middle, high above the ground. Snape made it to the pitch and spied Harry up in the clouds. His dark robes clear against the bright blue sky. He climbed the stands and made his way to the Slytherin teacher's stand so that Harry might see him. Once he was there Harry had sped off for another couple of laps of the pitch and hightailed it through another goal post. He was panting rather hard, it was physical work maneuvering a broom at high speed and making tight corners. He stopped in his tracks when he felt someone's presence and turned to the stands. He spotted a dark figure standing at the edge looking at him. Snape. He headed over to the man and jumped onto one the bench's.

"Hey", he said casually.

Snape eyed him speculatively and raised a curious eyebrow. "Please, tell me why you are out here flying round in circles when you have two exams tomorrow?".

"Couldn't concentrate, had to get out and clear my head". For some reason he was feeling really confident talking to Snape. Maybe because he beat the hell out of you last night. "I was studying though", he smiled and put his hand on his heart, "scouts honor".

Snape snorted, "I'm sure".

Harry propped his broom up against a bench and plopped down on the second row. He was surprised that Snape came and sat next to him on his left. "So, why are you out here?", then added, "sir", when Snape glared at him.

"Surprised to say, Potter, I was concerned. I saw you jump on your broom looking rather frazzled and followed you".

"Oh, ok". He smiled at Snape.

"You know, Harry. You have changed so much this year". He looked off into the sky as he spoke, as if reflective. "You've, stayed out of trouble, matured emotionally", and physically, but he kept that to himself, "and your grades have increased dramatically". He turned to Harry at this point, "the last thing I want to see is for you to fail your exams after all the effort you've put in this year".

"It's been a weird year to tell you the truth", he half laughed. "And Slytherin's not that bad, you know", he looked at Snape and smirked and Snape laughed. Not a full on laugh but a laugh nonetheless. Both of Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he smiled at Snape. He looks amazing when he does that, thought Harry.

Snape coughed to clear his throat and Harry looked at him. "Then, let me make you a deal. Do well in your exams and I shall, reward you. If you don't, then lets say the consequences won't… Be pleasant." He looked expectantly at Harry who visibly swallowed.

"I understand, sir". He nodded.

"Glad to hear it". He put his right hand on Harry's knee and gently squeezed it. "Do not. Disappoint me, Harry. Because we both lose if you don't". He winked and went to stand up. Harry stood as well and grabbed his broom.

"See you after lunch, Professor". He smiled at Snape.

"See you soon, Harry". He put his hands in his pockets and watched the boy climb onto the railing and jumped off the side of the stands and disappear. He saw the boy again as he flew up past the man and sped off towards the castle. It was the last day of Potions for the term and he had a feeling the Potions Master would set them a pop quiz with them having no exam. He ran to the dorm, grabbed his bag and sprinted as gracefully as he could to the Great Hall for lunch and to do some last minute study before class. Draco and Blaise weren't in the dorm when he grabbed his bag so expected to find them in the hall but he couldn't see them. He shrugged and made his way to his seat. He sat down and pulled his Potions notes out and spread them out on the table. As he ate a sausage roll he skimmed over all his notes. Snape walked into the hall and smiled a little when he saw Harry buried in his notes. Potions? Had he read his mind? He snorted; brat can't close his mind let alone intrude someone else's. True, Snape hadn't organized an exam this term but he had organized a pop quiz for their last class. Smart boy. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little proud of him.

Harry looked up and saw Draco and Blaise enter the hall a little flushed. "I see you two had some fun. So much for grilling me about not studying", he mocked Draco.

"Shut it, Potter. As it happens, I felt I needed a distraction to clear my own mind". He said defensively.

"Fair enough".

"What are you doing anyway?", Draco said as he pushed Harry's notes away from his space.

"Snape hasn't sorted an exam for Potions so I expect that he'll do a pop quiz for the last class".

"Hmm, why didn't I think of that?", Draco said, more to himself.

"Because you were, busy". He smacked Harry on the arm and Harry just laughed. It was loud enough for Snape to hear at the teacher's table and he felt like it was music to his ears. He noticed Draco was a little red faced and embarrassed. Apparently Harry busted him with something. After 10 minutes Snape stood and left to prepare for the test he was going to spring on the students. He left through the back door so he didn't distract Harry and left for the dungeons.

Lunch finished, Draco, Harry and Blaise made their way to the dungeons to the Potions classroom. They walked in to find Snape leaning against the front of his desk with his arms crossed. Instead of round tables with several cauldrons sitting on them, there were individual desks and chairs that were separated. Pop quiz. Harry smiled. They made their way to the front and Harry sat right in front of Snape who appeared to be looking straight past him. Harry turned when he heard an undignified squeak from the door and saw Ron go bright red. Obviously he won't be prepared. He watched him sit right at the back of the classroom. Once everyone was seated, Snape started talking, "As, some of you may have realized, I have not set an exam for this class. Seeing as this is our last class for the term, I have decided that I will test your knowledge through a pop quiz". There were several students who groaned and Harry was secretly happy. Snape uncrossed his arms and flicked his wand. Pieces of parchment appeared on all the tables with self-inking quills. "You have 50 minutes. Begin".

Harry read the first question, and then he was away, his quill scratching the parchment furiously. At this current point in time he felt like Hermione in the previous exams they'd had. Snape rounded his desk and sat behind it to watch the students. He could clearly tell those who had been paying attention, and those who had not. Most of the Gryffindor's were sitting there staring at the ceiling and Harry, well he was going at full speed through those questions. After the 50 minutes were up, Snape stood and went to the front of his desk, "Quills down. Time is up".

Harry managed to finish the last word before the piece of parchment flew off his desk and went in the pile along with the rest on Snape's desk. "Do not think that this is all the work I require of you. When you all come back from the Christmas break, I expect five rolls of parchment, each roll containing information about the five ingredients we will be using next term. These ingredients are highly volatile and require adequate theory behind their uses and reactions before the brewing commences". Gah, seriously? I wanted to rest these holidays, Harry groaned. "Class dismissed". He looked to Harry who was right in front of him and looked to him knowingly. Harry smiled back, he and Draco left the class together discussing the questions and moaning about the homework Snape just set.

"At least we can work on it together", Draco stated. "Snape had a large say in the types of books we have in our library, so it shouldn't be a problem to get this done". And the fact that he is staying with us as well, he chuckled to himself.

"Oh, cool. Easy then", Harry smiled and they headed off to the common room. Because they had classes with exams, they had study break for the remainder of the day.