Harry lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was entirely too bored. There was absolutely nothing to do. With none of his books or belongings here, he didn't know how to entertain himself. He didn't even have his school supplies to at least pretend to do homework! He sighed and sat up, looking out of the widow. The weather was beautiful outside. A true sunny summer day.

He wondered how Ron and Hermione were doing. They must have been jumping out of their skin not knowing where their best friend was taken and how he was doing. Mainly the bushy-haired girl. She was always overly worried about him. Like if he was her younger brother. A small smile appeared on his face while thinking about these two. He couldn't wait to finally meet them. He missed them already.

With nothing better to do, he stood up and took off for the door. He stepped into the hall, looking around. The whole Manor seemed pleasantly quiet. Harry enjoyed silence. It was a nice change to his usually unpredictable and messy life. He wandered around, exploring the halls, opening a few doors here and there. His steps finally took him to the library. It wasn't large, but there was a fine amount of books and Harry spent some time just walking around bookcases, looking up titles. In the end, he settled for a book on DADA, getting himself lost in reading, seated in one of comfortable armchairs in the back part of library, hidden behind bookcases. Sometimes he understood the pleasure Hermione found in quiet reading. Not that he was half the bookworm she was.

Some time later, a sound distracted him. He looked up to see no one else than Draco Malfoy, standing in front of a bookshelf, one of his hands touching the backs of books gently, likely looking for some specific title. It seemed the blond hadn't realized he was not alone.

Harry watched him from his seat, the book opened in his lap. His rival looked relaxed, frowning a little, as he pushed away a strand of platinum hair that have fallen to his eyes, concentrating on whatever he was searching for. Without that ever present mighty sneer on his face, he looked almost normal. 'Almost,' Harry thought. He was still a bloody Malfoy.

The Boy Who Lived was just about getting back to his book, when Draco turned around to witness his company staring at him from his seat in the corner. The Slytherin's eyes widened for a second showing his surprise. But in a moment, it was gone and replaced by his usual sneer.

"What?" he spat at the Golden boy sarcastically.

"Nothing." Harry replied trying to sound as causally as possible, lowering his eyes back for the opened book in his lap. He felt a bit embarrassed, being caught staring at his rival. Well, whatever. He was just going to ignore him. He could hear the Slytherin frown and after a while, quick steps, as his rival left the scene. He didn't bother looking up to see if the ferret found what he was looking for.

The lunch was a quiet event. Harry was careful to concentrate fully on his plate and to not get himself into any potentially dangerous conversation. After that, he retreated back to library to kill some time. The Slytherin hadn't appeared there again. Not that Harry cared.

After Wretcher informed him that dinner was ready, Harry made his way down to dinning room to join the Malfoys. Both of them were there already, sitting at the table at their usual places.

"Good evening, Harry." The blond woman smiled as he entered.

"Evening, Mrs. Malfoy." He answered. Draco once again ignored his presence completely, so the messy haired boy decided to do just the same.

"Your things arrived a while ago. I asked Wretcher to take them to your apartment." Narcissa continued. "Oh, and I almost forgot, this was delivered along, for both of you." She picked two letters from the table, handing one to each boys. Harry, a bit confused, took it from her. Realization hit him as soon as he saw the Hogwarts seal on it. His insides twisted. In the events of past days he absolutely forgot about his O.W.L.s. With shaking hands, he opened the letter, scanning the parchment. The results were pretty much how he expected them to be. Of course, he failed horribly in History of Magic and Divination, but the rest was pleasant. He felt actually quite proud for receiving Outstanding in DADA. But his heart sunk a bit when his eyes fell to "E" referring to his result in Potions. Well, it was unbelievable that he did so well and he owed it to Hermione and her tutoring skills, but his career as an Auror was done for.

In meantime, Narcissa watched her son open the letter and read it with satisfied look on his face.

"How did you do?" she asked.

"Well enough." The Slytherin boy answered. "Outstanding in Potions and Charms and Exceeds Expectations in rest of subjects." He said with smug look, handing parchment to his mother who immediately looked it over.

"I am very proud at you. How would you feel about a new Nimbus?"

"Don't make a big deal out of it mother, it was expected after all. There was no way I would fail anything." Slytherin said dismissingly, but still looked overly pleased with himself.

Great, Harry thought. Even Malfoy bastard had out done him in Potions.

"What about you Harry?" Narcissa turned her attention to the Gryffindor boy.

"What, failed everything?" Draco sneered at him from the other side of the table. "Just imagine the headlines in Prophet. The Boy Who Failed. Or Golden Troll? I can't quite decide what sounds better. But don't worry Potty; I am sure you will find a way to keep your celebrity status."

Narcissa shot her son a warning glare. Harry decided to ignore him.

"Well, could be worse." He said, laying his letter on the table. "Got seven O.W.L.s. Even O in Defense. But only E in Potions. I wanted to continue them so I could become an Auror. Guess I have to think about something different I want to do after school, since Professor Snape takes only Outstanding students."

Narcissa frowned. "Well, that may be for Severus, but I don't reckon professor Slughorn having such a condition. I myself had E from Potion but continued his classes, it was all those years ago, but I don't think it changed."

Harry eyed her, confusion clearly written on his face. "Slughorn?" he asked.

"Oh, you didn't know? Severus is taking the post of Defense teacher, so Professor Slughorn should be coming back to school to take over Potions." She filled Harry in with her ever-present gentle smile.

"I hadn't known." Harry said after a while.

He didn't really know if he was happy that his dream about becoming Auror could continue, or horrified that his favorite class was about to be ruined by the dungeon bat. DADA lessons were his favorite but, he supposed, they wouldn't be anymore. Harry stayed hopeful that the infamous curse Defence professors seemed to suffer would catch up to Snape as well. With satisfaction, Harry imagined the greasy git sharing a room with Lockhart in mental ward of St. Mungo's. How such a little thought could make his day brighter.

"You should write down a list of school supplies and other things you need from Diagon Alley and hand it to Wretcher later, so he can purchase it for you." Narcissa informed him, while the aforementioned house elf laid food on the table.

They ate mostly in silence much to Harry's delight. After dinner, he excused himself and retired to his room. His old trunk indeed stood there, just next to a closet as if encouraging him to unpack his things. Harry waved his wand, making his belongings fly to shelves. Being in a wizarding household had its advantages.

All his possession looked ridiculously small in the large closet. Harry found it funny, in a twisted way, how little he had. Of course, he had more than enough gold to buy more; he just had never felt the need. Why buy fancy clothes when he couldn't wear them anyway? But now, in this spacious, luxury apartment his things that could fit in two shelves looked pitiable.

He closed the closet, levitated his trunk to the corner of the room and walked to the desk. Opening its drawers, he searched for a quill and parchment to write down a list for Wretcher. He needed various textbooks for an upcoming year, also some cauldrons and another school supplies. He still felt awkward about Malfoys providing for his costs, but he knew better than opening that topic again. Who knew where that discussion would lead?

When he was done, he summoned the elf, who immediately insisted on taking his measurements for new school robes. By the time Wretcher was done, Harry felt deadly tired, the lack of yesterday's sleep showing itself.

Tomorrow would be his birthday, he though brightly. Well, it wasn't like he had ever really celebrated it. But he still felt a hint of sadness thinking about how it could've been, had he stayed at the Burrow. With a sigh, he reached his bed, his gaze falling onto a tiny bottle on the nightstand. He hadn't a clue how it got there, but by its colour, he would recognize Dreamless Sleep Potion anywhere. His tired brain left little space for analyzing the circumstances of its appearance in his apartment, so he settled for draining it down in one go. Merlin knew he really needed some.

AN: I am very sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. Blame my university and its stupid exams. But I have only one more exam to go, so I promise I will try to update sooner.

Anita