Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter...if I did...well you don't wanna no...*winks*
Chapter 7
September 1st 1991 - Slytherin Boys' Dormitories
They entered a dimly lit room with six beds inside: three on one side, three on the other. Instantly, the two groups separated themselves: Draco, Harry, and Blaise to one side. Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle on the other.
'How are we going to live in this room with them, Dray?'
'I don't know Harry...I hope they don't try to do anything stupid.' Just then Professor Snape entered their dorm.
"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, come with me." The boys immediately followed, knowing not to question Severus when he was in such a mood. Once they were out of earshot, Draco asked,
"Professor Snape, where are we going?"
"To your new quarters, Draco"
"What? New quarters? What are you talking about?" He stopped in front of a portrait, just passed the Seventh Year Boys' Dorms. It was a portrait of Salazar Slytherin's daughter, Serpentia Slytherin.
"Viniculum," he said to the portrait, which opened revealing a small common room decorated in the Slytherin theme, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
"Just one bedroom?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Potter." He smiled.
"Thank you. I was getting worried."
"So, Professor, not that I don't like the quarters, but what exactly is this for?"
"Draco you are bonded. When you were reading about your bond, what were you looking for?" Draco looked around sheepishly as Harry went to explore their new home.
"A way to focus on the bond and determine Harry's location..."
"Then I suggest you ask your Aunt to send you your bonding books. You have much to read. For the short version: Now that you and Harry are reunited you need to touch him to keep a normal state of mind instead of being filled with despair-" He snorted. "and pining for him. The easiest way to do this is to give you your own quarters so you can sleep in the same bed."
"Thanks for explaining Professor. Is that all?"
"No. Viniculum is your password. It means bond in Latin. If you wish to change your password, you must press your wand to the inside of the portrait, recite the current password and what you wish to change it to."
"Thank you Professor."
"Good night Draco," he replied with a slight smile and left their quarters. Draco went to their bedroom not at all surprised to see Harry dead asleep on top of the covers.
Friday Morning - The Great Hall
Harry and Draco joined Blaise, Pansy, and Tracey at the table.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked Draco as he poured sugar on his porridge.
"Double potions with the Gryffindors," said Draco.
"Our first class with Professor Snape. They say he always favors us Slytherins - we'll be able to see if it's true."
"Well at least we'll have Ron and Hermione in that class."
"Ugh not the know-it-all." Draco groaned.
"Hey! She might be able to help us." Draco thought for a minute, a smirk coming across his face before he stifled it.
"You might be right..."
"Draco..."
"Just kidding Harry." Just then, the mail arrived. Harry was used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps. Hedwig had brought Harry a letter from the Tonks's and a package of sweets earlier in the week but otherwise nothing. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:
Dear Harry,
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you and Draco like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send an answer back with Hedwig.
Hagrid
Harry borrowed Draco's quill, scribbled
'Yes, please, see you later.' on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.
1/2 hour later - The Dungeons - Potions Classroom
Snape started the class by taking roll call, and paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, yes." he said softly,
"Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity." Theodore Nott and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands.
'Why is he acting like that Dray?'
'He may like you, Harry, but being a Slytherin is all about keeping up appearances. Don't be offended.' Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead. "Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
'Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?'
'Harry! They make the Draught of Living Death!'
"The Draught of Living Death sir." said Harry.
"Tut, tut, - you may be right this time, won't gain you anything." He tried not to look at Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was, thought he could feel the gears of Draco's mind working. Just when he was starting to panic Draco shouted the answer,
'A goat, Harry! The stomach of a goat!'
"The stomach of a goat, sir."
"Seems you actually opened a book before coming, eh Potter?"
'Don't back down Harry, you may have already proved yourself to him, but you need to do it publicly.' Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes.
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.
'Sorry, Harry, I don't know.'
"I don't know, sir," said Harry quietly.
"I think Hermione does though. Why don't you try her?" A few people laughed; Harry caught Ron's eye, and Ron winked.
"For your information Potter, monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant which also goes by the name aconite."
'How did I not know that?' Draco exclaimed.
"Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" Everyone rummaged for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor for your lack of decorum, Miss Granger." Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a certain potion to cure boils He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Draco and Harry. The potion was almost complete when Neville Longbottom melted down his cauldron and they all had to jump on chairs to escape the oozing potion.
"You - Weasley-" he snapped at Ron who was working with Seamus beside Neville. "-why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought you'd look good if he got it wrong, did you? Well you've just lost another point for Gryffindor." Harry was about to say something from the unfairness of it all when Draco stopped him,
'Uncle Sev can get nasty when someone speaks against him in class, so don't push it.' He didn't and when they left the class an hour later Harry felt light with relief despite the fact that none of the cricitcism was directed towards him.
A/N: I hoped you enjoyed it! As for Draco and Harry sleeping(in the same bed) together...I never truly pointed it out in the beginning but when Harry was at Ted and Andromeda's they were in one bed. The reason being that now that they knew where the other was they would sleepwalk to the other in the night and they had to sleep together to prevent that...also it was comforting to them. Review and make the bond grow...Teasers for all that do...
