Long time no update...I apologize! I've been super busy, I just graduated, and now I'm getting ready for college, but I have all summer to write! And I'm drawing a scene from later on in the fic, Harry and Draco are yummy...I'll post the link to my DeviantArt account when I have it posted there!
To those who reviewed, thank you! Your reviews are greatly appreciated!
The next morning found Harry in a slightly better mood than the one he had been in the night before. There hadn't been any dreams while he slept, and the pain in his head seemed to have vanished entirely. Of course, the fleeting moment of content he felt was soon scattered to the wind when he realized he had to get up and face everyone again for their first day of school. At least they wouldn't be able to start anything during their classes.
Harry slowly pulled back his bed curtains and looked into the dorm room. Ron and Neville's hangings were still closed as they slumbered, but Seamus and Dean had already arisen and were gone. He silently pulled on his shoes and grabbed his school bag before heading out into the corridor.
The situation was actually kind of ironic if he thought about it. Ever since the night of Voldemort's return, people had changed and some were beginning to show their true colors, and because of it, relationships changed. The Triwizard Tournament was the one time he could compare now to then, Ron had stopped talking to him unless it was to make snide remarks because he had thought Harry purposely entered the contest for more glory. Back then, it had broken Harry's heart to have his best friend abandon him like that. Now, he really wished that both he and Hermione would stop talking to him and leave him alone.
Entering the Great Hall, Harry drew a few curious looks from others at the Gryffindor table as he sat down by himself and started heaping food onto his plate.
"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Seamus asked as he and Dean moved down to sit with him.
"I suppose they'll be along in a while," Harry shrugged indifferently. "They were still sleeping when I left and I was hungry, so I came without them."
"Oh, okay." His look of confusion remained, but he shrugged it off as well.
"So what do you think of Malfoy's mum being our new DADA teacher? I mean, what if she's here to brainwash all the Hogwarts students?" Dean whispered, glancing up at the teacher's table.
"That's a load of rubbish. I spoke to her last night after the feast and she's offered to help me in anyway that she can," Harry replied impassively.
"Of course she'll do that!" Seamus chimed in. "She's going to want to brainwash you first!"
"I tell you it's a load of rubbish and I am perfectly able to handle myself! I'm not stupid enough to let some teacher brainwash me-"
"No! Of course not, I didn't mean it like that!" Dean interrupted before Harry's voice rose loud enough for others to hear. "I mean, I know a lot of people aren't going to like her at all, but if you do, that's your thing I guess."
"Yeah, and what's this business between you and Malfoy? Parvati said her and Padma saw you make Hermione cry in front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and defend Malfoy to her and Ron," Lavender butted in to the conversation. "I'm surprised they haven't ditched you, really, taking up with a guy that called her a you-know-what all the time and always made fun of Ron's family."
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. He did not need this now, but it was not as if he could just blow here in the middle of the Great Hall and tell her to mind her own damn business. So, plan of attack B: pull the sympathy card.
"Well Parvati and Padma completely misunderstood the whole thing," he forced out as normally as possible. "Malfoy had just been following me, you know, doing his usual 'Find any way to annoy the shit out of Potter' thing. Hermione was just upset because I walked off without telling her and Ron where I was going, and I got angry and yelled at her. I didn't mean to, it's just everything is just so frustrating, you know, having to deal with You-Know-Who -again- and all."
Lavender's beady look softened immediately and she went from gossiper to gooey-eyed adorer. "Oh I'm sure it must be -wretched-, Malfoy's just a git, but everything you've gone because of You-Know-Who..." she gushed on for a few more minutes with Dean and Seamus. Harry slowly edged away down the bench until he was out of earshot so he could finish his meal without getting sick.
'Too late,' he thought grimly as the two subjects of his avoidance entered the great Hall, obviously scanning him down the table.
"Harry, you left your schedule in the dormitory," Ron said as they sat down across from him, tossing the folded parchment next to his goblet of pumpkin juice.
"And if we haven't said it once, we've said it a million times- Don't try to push us away to save us," Hermione greeted, narrowing her shrewd gaze. "It's really getting old and you need to get over yourself. Yes, we don't know what you're going through, but that's why you -tell- us so we can help. And stop letting all your frustration out on us!"
"Yeah, we're your best mates, we're here for you!" Ron agreed wholeheartedly.
Harry sighed, letting his shoulders slump in defeat. "I know...but you guys are probably the last good things I -do- have in this world, and all I need is for Voldemort to take you away from me too," he ran his fingers back through his raven hair in anger, gripping it by the roots. "First my parents, then my normal life, Sirius...I just want this to end without anymore needless sacrifices because of me."
'Except for my sanity,' Harry added darkly in his thoughts.
"Of course you do, everyone does," Hermione replied sympathetically. "Everyone has suffered because of these wars. But it's not your fault, you're not to blame for all this destruction and death."
"No, that is where you're wrong," he released his hair and turned his lifeless emerald gaze at her and Ron. "Everything is my fault and will be entirely my fault until the very end. But here is not the time or place to talk about it. So, our first class is Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
A slap of realization hit Harry as he spoke. He had never told anyone before about the conversation he had had with Dumbledore that morning after the attack in the Department of Mysteries. How the prophecy Voldemort was so desperate to get his hands on foresaw the grim end of the wars, Harry to kill Voldemort or Voldemort to kill Harry. He had told no one except...
He glanced over across the Great Hall at the Slytherin table where Draco sat, ignoring everyone around as if he sat there eating his breakfast alone and not in a room full of hundreds of students. He had told Draco without a second thought in Diagon Alley, not really meaning to, but he had. Although, he could have just thought Harry was being overly dramatic...
Hermione and Ron stared at him in a stupor for moment before snapping back to attention and looking at their schedules. "Y-yes, we're going to be Professor Malfoy's first class," Hermione stammered.
"Good, then I can prove Seamus and Dean wrong then," Harry said lightly, turning his eyes back to them. "They're betting that she's here to 'brainwash' all the students, but I told them it's rubbish because I spoke to her last night and she seems very lovely."
"Is that why Dumbledore called you up to his office after dinner last night then?" Ron asked tentatively, still not wanting to risk another blowup despite the clear acknowledgment that they were involved again.
"Yeah, well that, and to discuss my Occlumency lessons with Snape," he shrugged. "But Malfoy's mum is really different then the night at the World Cup, she's happy that Lucius is in jail and she's free to do as she pleases. She even offered to teach me anything I wanted to know to help me out, secretly obviously."
"We'll find out here in a minute..." Hermione said skeptically as students started to rise from their tables and head to their classes, and the three of them stood to join the crowd.
"Ugh, look! It's a double class with the Slytherins!" Ron muttered in disgust, glaring from his schedule to the classroom.
Gryffindors were all lined up outside the DADA classroom and by the time they got there, the Slytherins were there also. The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife.
Professor Malfoy came floating in her sapphire robes to the door from the other side of the hallway, surveying both groups with a warm smile as she opened the door and ushered them into the classroom.
"Good morning!" she continued to smile as everyone sat down. "Now, I know you all haven't had the best of luck with your Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers these past few years between death, mental incapability, imprisonment, and the like...However, I would like hope that I last more than one year here and can keep this job indefinably. I also know that despite the ghastly teaching methods of Dolores Umbridge, several students here were able to study independently last year and learn quite a few remarkable things from Mr. Potter here," Professor Malfoy paused by the table Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat and threw a slightly dirty look over at the Slytherins, "Before his group was unfortunately disbanded by Dolores and her 'Inquistional Squad'. I also hope to continue this practice. You all need to know how to defend yourself in the war, and what a better place to learn than in the classroom, hm? I want to spend some time with lessons on proper Dueling, learning new spells and counterspells, and Dumbledore has also approved that I can bring in some Dark creatures that Professor Lupin was unable to show you for us to study. Sort of like an advanced mishmash of everything you've been studying since first year. Any questions?"
Hermione's hand instantly shot up. "I've read The Dark Art and How To Defend Yourself and some of the Dark creatures he talks about are definitely not Ministry approved, are you not afraid of being sacked by Fudge?" she asked, clearly concerned.
Professor Malfoy blinked, looking taken aback. "You've read the whole book already?"
"Yes, it's very interesting, but are you not afraid of being fired?" Hermione repeated impatiently.
"Well, no I'm not," she smiled again. "I don't care what Cornelius Fudge thinks about my teaching, I have Dumbledore's approval and that's all that matters."
"But the Ministry did remove the last chapter of the book," Harry pointed out.
"Yes, I couldn't stop them from doing that," Professor Malfoy sighed. "However, as I told you last night, I don't need a book to tell me how to do those curses and I don't plan on teaching those curses to the classes anyway. Alastor Moody's imposter taught you how to defend yourselves against the Unforgivable Curses, and that's all you need to know."
"Besides, all those Slytherins gits can just run home to their daddies and have their dads teach them how to use the Unforgivable Curses," Ron whispered darkly.
"Oh, and Mr. Potter, could you be a dear and leave me a list of the spells you taught your students last year? I wouldn't want to bore you with spells you already know," Professor Malfoy said amusedly. "Now, as for Dueling..."
The rest of the class period was spent discussing the rules of Dueling and famous dueling matches between different wizards and witches, in which Harry wrote the list of everything he taught in his Dumbledore's Army meetings. The list was actually quite impressive when he was through, and he walked up to Professor Malfoy's desk after the bell rang to give it to her.
"Thank you, may I call you Harry?" Professor Malfoy asked as she took the parchment.
"Whatever suits you," he shrugged. "You know all the Death Eater parents to those Slytherins aren't going to be very happy once they report back to them, right? Lucius is sent to Azkaban and the first thing you do is trade sides."
"Oh I'm sure I'll receive a fair few attempts on my life before the school year is even halfway over," she replied calmly. "But I'm not qualified for this teaching position for nothing. The only thing that kept Lucius' attempts to poison or curse me into oblivion to the minimum was because of our social status and not wanting any suspicion to fall upon our reputations. Now that he's been revealed for the filth he really is, I'm sure I'll be getting plenty of threats to keep me on my toes. Good day, Harry."
He nodded and left the classroom to go catch up with Ron and Hermione.
"That was a very good lesson, wasn't it?" she was saying to Ron as he ran up. "I mean, she knows loads more than what we would have learned in the Dueling Club Lockheart tried to put together."
"And she's definitely better than that Umbridge cow!" Seamus crowed.
"I thought you said Malfoy's mum was here to brainwash us," Harry smirked.
"Ugh, don't sneer at me like that, you look positively evil," the Irish wizard grimaced. "And Professor Malfoy seems all right, I mean, it was only our first lesson..."
"I think Dumbledore's trying to kill us! Our next class is Double Potions!" Ron moaned miserably.
They doubled back to the Gryffindor dormitory to collect their Potions things before heading down into the dungeons. Being the N.E.W.T. level, the size of the class was considerably smaller and there were quite a few more Slytherins to be seen than Gryffindors.
"Hey Potter, I think you're in the wrong class," Pansy Parkinson laughed shrilly. "I heard you had to take Remedial Potions last year because you were failing so terribly."
Harry was about to reply but someone else beat him to it.
"Pansy, shut your fat mouth up for once before I do it for you," Draco said irritably. "He obviously passed his O.W.L.s well enough to get in here, no matter what he had to do to pass them. If I'm not mistaken, -you- begged Professor Snape to tutor you before our exams, but he refused to help you."
Pansy looked scandalized, as if he had struck her across her face. Everyone else was equally stunned.
Did -Draco Malfoy- just defend Harry Potter AND trash his own House mate?
The moment of silence was broken as Professor Snape fought his way through the crowded entrance, wearing a disgusted glower. "If you all are not in your seats by the count of three, I'll deduct twenty House points from each and every one of you," he snarled, causing chaos to ensue as the students scrambled to their seats. "The first day of your N.E.W.T lessons and you have all shown me how immature you still are. I expect next time that everyone will be seated and prepared for their lesson before I even come in, or I will take away fifty points!"
He leveled his icy glare around the room. "Now, as I said before, this is a N.E.W.T. level class and some of the potions we will be handling are very dangerous, possibly lethal if not done properly, concoctions, some of whose ingredients are just as dangerous. There will be no room for error. If you do not like the sounds of this, I highly recommend you leave now. However, not all will be so life threatening, we will also be working with antidotes to commonly used poisons I will give you myself to test your antidotes on. And after Christmas break, I would like to test your wretched excuses of potion making in the fine art of brewing Veritaserum. I find my stocks are running low because of our former High Inquisitor, so why do it myself when I have a classroom of students whom I hope are capable of handling such a task," he finished silkily, flicking his wand at the blackboard so that the instructions to their first assignment wrote themselves in white chalk. "This is the antidote to a poison called Stone Breath, can anyone tell me what it does?"
Hermione's hand shot up, as usual, but Professor Snape ignored it as his scanned over the classroom, until it was clear that she was the only one who knew the answer. "Yes, Mrs. Granger?"
"It's the more deadly potion form of the spell Petrificus Totalus. While the spell only makes you immobile, the poison seizes up every muscle in your body starting from your feet up, and you have an hour to take the antidote before the poison hits your heart and it stops beating," she answered primly.
"Thank you, Mrs. Granger," Professor Snape sneered, then added in a rather offhanded sort of way, "Ten points to Gryffindor, I suppose...Now begin your antidotes, I'll be poisoning you all on Friday."
"Is he allowed to do that?" Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth as they gathered their ingredients together.
"Oh, I'm sure if someone gets their antidote wrong, he's not going to let them -die- because of it," Harry frowned. "He may be a evil slimeball, but not bad enough to get himself into any trouble. He'll probably just have them take some of someone else's antidote."
"At least Neville's not in this class..." Hermione remarked gratefully.
An hour and many frazzled nerves later, the bell rang, dismissing them for lunch before their Charms class. Anyone within a fifty yard radius could hear Pansy screeching at Draco for his cruel comment in Potions as they walked towards the Great Hall.
"You know, Malfoy has been really odd," Hermione said thoughtfully. "In the prefect meeting on the train Pansy was the only Slytherin prefect, simpering some stupid excuses as to why he wasn't there. But Ginny said she found him with you."
"Yeah, we were sitting in the same compartment together, and he kept me company since everyone else was too busy not speaking to me," Harry replied defensively, getting angry at his friends' suspicious stares. "He's a decent guy when you get past all the Slytherin bullshit, he actually helped me out a couple of times."
"But-"
"Not right now, wait until we get into Charms and we can't be overheard," Harry interrupted Ron impatiently and sat down at the table for lunch.
I hope the length of the chapter made up for the delay! I'll get the next chapter and the art out ASAP!
Reviews are greatly appreciated as well. :) :)