See chapter one for disclaimers/suggestions/warnings:

WARNING: There is mention of a possible Mxm side pairing due to Pansy's idiocy . It does NOT include Harry or any of his potential circle mates.

PREVIOUSLY:

Harry's first day at Hogwarts has him hiding the fact that he does not have any magic. No one has noticed yet. As the weeks have gone by, Harry has managed to keep his little secret to himself and he's grown a little closer to some of his fellow classmates. During breakfast, some commotion at the Slytherin table draws the attention of everyone.

A sudden commotion from the Slythering table drew the attention of all eyes in the Great Hall.

Pansy Parkinson was a bright red, her arms flailing about as she worked herself up into a fit. "You what?" She screeched. "How could you do this to me? We were supposed to be married!" She shrieked. "How dare you go and get yourself bonded without even-!"

Draco leaned away from her, and reached for his goblet of pumpkin juice as if her verbal temper tantrum wasn't really happening at all. He was calmly going about his usual breakfasting motions.

That only served to make the girl all the more furious. She grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him around to face her. "I've been brought up my whole life to do everything just perfect so I'd be a proper Malfoy bride and you went and got yourself-" she swallowed. "-Got yourself bonded and you can't even tell me who's the lucky bitch?"

A few gasps were heard.

"My private life and what I do with it, is absolutely none of your business, Parkinson." He said, coolly. "If you cannot control yourself then-"

"You disgusting, filthy, back-stabbing-!"

"Leave him alone!" Millicent shot to her feet, an uneasy glance flickering between her two housemates. The larger girl rarely spoke up and the very fact that she was speaking now drew attention from their own housemates. "Pansy, please, leave it be. You're making a scene."

"Shut up, Bulstrode!" The brunette glared at her. "You've lost it, haven't you, Draco? Just because your father's no longer head of the family, you're bent on dragging the Malfoy name through the dirt to suit your own nasty little-"

In a blur, Draco was on his feet and his face was inches away from the angry girl. "Take it back." His voice was quiet, calm and deadly. "That was uncalled for. Take it back, Parkinson!"

The use of her last name was not lost on her. Pansy sniffed, lifting her chin a few degrees higher. "Hit a nerve? I didn't realize you were so helpless with Mummy and Daddy out of the picture. I would think you'd want to honor your father's wishes for us to be married. I suppose with him gone now you feel that you can simply-"

Draco's hand flashed out and Blaise seemed to appear from nowhere as he stepped in and caught the pale wrist before said hand could connect with Pansy's face. The dark-haired boy shot a warning look to the furious blond and frowned at their housemate.

"Pansy, you're making a scene and-" Blaise began.

Pansy stared at him for a moment and then her own hand flashed out and slapped Draco across the cheek. "You've bonded with Blaise Zabini?" She nearly screamed as she wrenched Draco's wrist out of Blaise's hand and stared at the duo incredulously. "How dare you! How could you?"

Both boys stared at her in a mixture of confusion and befuddlement and then looked at each other and back at her. Blaise shifted slightly so he turned his back to a simmering Draco.

Pansy was huffing for breath her face seemingly unable to turn anything else but darker shades of red as her fiery temper continued to spew. "You insufferable git! You were leading me on this whole time! Did you think it was funny? Were you trying to humiliate me? What were you trying to prove? And w-with him?" She exclaimed, shoving Blaise away as he took another step towards her. A hand went to her mouth in horror. "This can't be happening. You can't do this! You bloody insufferable…!"

The rest of her sworn insult was ignored as Harry snuck a glance at the Head Table, unsurprised to see the teachers whispering disapprovingly amongst themselves along with an untwinkling Headmaster. His attention was caught by a certain glowering Severus Snape who threw his napkin in his plate as he rose silently from his chair. The look on his face was dark and decidedly murderous.

Harry shrank down a little further, grateful to be sandwiched by the two girls and near to the twins—two of the taller students at the Gryffindor table. He felt that he was more than lucky for once, not to be the unfortunate victim of Snape's volatile temper. The man could make you wish you were a single-cell organism with one single glare from those inky eyes. The very fierceness of his temper, the sheer intensity of it, would have you wishing he'd explode or at least react in a more visible way, rather than the consequent darkening of his visage and the icy tone of voice that spelled imminent doom. Yes, Harry was very glad he was nowhere near the dark descendent of the dungeons that now swept towards the table of his beloved Slytherins.

All uninvolved parties caught sight of their Head of House sweeping down towards them and almost instantly, the spaces beside the arguing students cleared out and all students were studiously engaged in their respective breakfasts when Severus Snape glided to a halt beside a still fuming Pansy Parksinson.

One long, thin, bony hand settled on her shoulder with a vise-grip. "Miss Parkinson," he ground out. "Cease embarrassing yourself and drawing attention to your situation with this childish display of immaturity." His voice was smooth as silk and twice as deadly with the promise it held. "We are Slytherins and we do not react with such…vulgar displays of displeasure, no matter the situation." His dark eyes swept over a near furious Blaise and a bright red handprint on the pale skin of Draco's face. He smiled, thinly. "I believe breakfast is over," His grip tightened and he turned her towards the doors, intent on marching her out of the Great Hall and into a more private setting.

A single glare at the rest of the Slytherin table had all the other students immediately shuffling their belongings together and preparing to leave for their first classes, breakfast now a forgotten thing. All heads were bowed as if the entire house was in disgrace for the actions of one, beneath the stern, impassive Head of House. Some of the older students snatched fruit and breakfast rolls, wrapping them in napkins for the younger students and quickly gathering up their things.

Harry blinked as Snape marched Parkinson out of the Great Hall. He could've sworn that he saw the dour man touch Draco's elbow on the way out.

Almost.

"Well, that was certainly-" Fred mused.

"-interesting. I wonder what-"

"-brought it about. Wouldn't have-"

"-thought Malfoy would-"

"-be the perfect morning-"

"-entertainment. How strange." George's gaze darted to Harry's mostly full plate. He sighed. "Har-ry."

Harry looked at him, expectant.

"At least eat the applesauce-" Fred sighed and bopped him gently on the head, before he snitched a tart from Jennifer's plate. She smacked his hand with the back of his fork, but let him have it anyway.

"-if you can't eat anything else." George finished. "You hardly eat enough as it is."

Harry scowled, but did go about shoveling spoonfuls of the bland applesauce into his mouth. He'd have to be more careful. He certainly couldn't eat as the others would, his stomach was still adjusting to the fact that he had food to eat and his Dragel side was constantly protesting as it went through its cycle of demanding meat and fruit in alternate days.

Harry mentally replayed the incident. Draco hadn't reacted at all—well, apart from the slap that he'd never landed, thanks to Blaise—though now that Harry thought of it, he considered it somewhat odd.

Blaise was never around Draco the way that Pansy was and yet he'd stood up between them. Though, now that he thought of it, Harry wondered what part of what she'd said had set the blond off. Certainly, he'd never pegged the boy as one to hit a girl, but then again, Lucius Malfoy had been a Death Eater.

You shouldn't judge him by his parents. The stray thought curled through his mind. Harry frowned. He looked down at his plate to see that more applesauce had been added. He scowled spectacularly, but neither twin would meet his eyes.

Harry unhappily shoveled another spoonful of applesauce in his mouth as he stared across the room at the red handprint still visible on Malfoy's face as the Slytherins silently filed out of the Great Hall.

By the time they turned up for Transfigurations, Harry had grown tired of the chattering amongst the students in regards to Malfoy. He didn't care to really know why or what had happened, but the more he thought about it, the more it annoyed him. It wasn't anyone's business really, if Draco decided to bond to someone else other than Pansy—and if it was Blaise, well, the only thing Harry had to say to that, was that the Italian needed to quit flirting with him if he was serious about Draco.

If he wasn't, well, Harry would deal with it when he came to that point. He didn't see anything wrong with the equation, though he did admit that it was the first time he'd ever seen or heard anything of the sort towards an all-male bonded pair in the wizarding world. He heard of such things, but didn't see much of it in real life. He'd yet to really see it anywhere.

Draco and Blaise had been a bit of a shock.

Harry resolved to ask the Italian at Potions before dinner. He wondered, faintly, what Snape would do.

Then he shuddered and broke into a trot to keep up with Hermione and Ron.

It suddenly felt as if all his luck had run out.

Transfigurations was a nightmare.

Harry knew it was all going downhill the moment McGonagall's sharp eyes zeroed in on him. Her scent dipped sharply in a way that heralded trouble. He'd managed to slip by her for so long and now it was as if she'd suddenly realized something. To his relief, she didn't call him out on it in class.

But as she'd done the first week, she came by to personally inspect his efforts or rather, his lack of visible progress. She'd turned away to scold Ron with face set in an expression of extreme disapproval as class continued on.

Harry had sat in his seat, feeling worse as the minutes ticked by.

The moment class was over, he was on his feet and ready to run.

He didn't get very far at all.

"Mr. Potter, a word?" McGonagall's voice cut through his temporary bubble of happiness.

Harry swallowed. This wouldn't go over well, he could practically feel it.

Ron shot him a sympathetic look as Hermione dragged him out the door to the next class.

He shuffled up to the desk and waited. She scribbled something on a piece of parchment and then peered up at him over her glasses. "Is something the matter?"

"No, Professor McGonagall." He answered, politely.

"I see." She eyed him meaningfully. "You've had this kind of a…reaction before." She sniffed. "In the first week, correct? I've been watching you and I've noticed your recent lack of progress in class. Have you come into any magical inheritance this year?"

Harry's jaw dropped. "Professor?" He managed.

She perked a brow at his reaction and made another scribble on the parchment. "I thought not."

"Professor?" He tried again, unable to help himself.

"Of course, you might not be aware of it, seeing as you were raised by muggles, but I would have thought Miss Granger might have mentioned it to you, then again, she may not have the same interest…" The witch's words trailed off for a moment as she was lost in thought and then gave a sharp shake of her head. "Most young witches and wizards find themselves with a magical inheritance on their sixteenth birthdays." She sighed. "Some do and some do not, but it depends on family bloodlines. Your mother received hers as a sudden, inherent ability to manipulate charms at will, I do believe she was not a pureblood, however, she did possess a significant amount of raw magic and that may have had something to do with it. Albus should have mentioned this."

She held up a hand. "Before you ask, I have no idea what your father's was, I do know that it did help to settle him down just a bit. He did have quite some trouble controlling his magic for a few weeks until it settled down. Whether you did inherit something or not, it is quite normal for your magic to rewrite itself on an auspicious birthday." She scribbled something else on the parchment. "As I don't believe you've ever had this sort of issue before, I would suggest visiting Madam Pomfrey. She can help, if there are any symptoms you have noticed or at least, you will have a proper excuse from classes if there is something wrong."

The stern professor handed it over. "I do not think I should have to impress upon you the seriousness of this matter." She peered at him over her glasses. "This is serious, Mr. Potter. Now, Poppy can also give a better explanation than I, as to why your magic may be…reacting, if that is the case. Run along now. This should excuse you from your next class."

So Harry left.

He made his way down to the next class and stuffed the note in his pocket. The last thing he wanted to do was go and see Madam Pomfrey. He'd managed to avoid her for three weeks after all. The matron was never quite happy to see him—probably because disaster usually followed shortly afterward—but as far as he knew, he was fine, well, except for the lack of magic part, but that wasn't really much of an issue—sort of. If Professor McGonagall had thought his inheritance to be an excuse for it, then he'd let her go right on believing that. He hadn't confirmed nor denied receiving an inheritance. There was no real need to correct her assumptions and it was her own fault for making them in the first place. She hadn't given him much of a chance to answer.

He wouldn't answer.

He didn't have to. It was no one's business but his own.

With that reasoning hammered out in his head, Harry trotted off to Charms class. His mind flickered back to his mother and he wondered what it must have been like for her. He'd heard once, that she was extremely gifted in Charms. It was one of the few treasured tidbits of knowledge he knew of her. It was news to him that her gift had come as a magical inheritance. He'd treasure that new tidbit and silently thanked McGonagall, even though she didn't know what it meant to him. He found himself wondering if the same would work for him—after all, a magical inheritance had to come from one's parents and if his mother had talent in charms, then perhaps he wasn't entirely screwed for the moment.

Maybe.

His magic was just as nonexistent in there as it had been everywhere else for the past nearly two months. He wondered if Professor McGonagall's mention of his magic redirecting itself had anything to do with it.

Perhaps he ought to see Madam Pomfrey after all.

Perhaps.

His stomach twinged in unease and he shoved that thought away.

No, absolutely not.

He'd avoid it as long as he possibly could.

A/N: Blaise and Draco are NOT bonded. Pansy is just being her usual idiot self and jumping to conclusions that are not there. This is half the reason she is so outraged and Draco is so very insulted. Thanks for reading! I might get another chapter up tonight, depending. Thanks for reading! Comment, if you feel so inclined. ^_^

Also, a little bit of promotion here for one of my reviewers, Kitsune Shifter, who has posted a challenge for an HP story using an interesting setting and harem plot. It is posted on their profile and also as a fic, with an opening prologue so you can get a feel for the story. If you're interested, do check it out and let me know if you take it on. ^_^

Penny is wise : I'm glad you can enjoy this version then. ^_^ I'm trying to keep as many of the actual elements (the fight with Pansy, the mystery, adventure bits, etc) from the original in this one, so it might take a little more word wrangling, but hopefully you can stick around for the read. ^_^

Maleivius: His breakdown is coming up in another chapter or so. Your guess is right on target. And I like the Weasley twins, so I've stuck them in there. ^_^ Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! I appreciate it. If I missed your review, my apologies! FF has been eating my alerts and reviews, so I haven't seen them. :(