Chapter Twenty-Six: Homework Help

"While you are practicing that spell, I will be returning your essays you gave to me last week." Professor McGonagall said as she weaved through rows returning students essays back, commenting to some people about their own.

As Dawn sat with the trio in the second back row of class, she smiled, remembering she thought she had done well on that essay since she had no other homework that night and had that whole day to focus on making it great.

Just as Professor McGonagall finished that sentence, she heard both Harry and Ron simultaneously groan.

As she turned to see what time it was, she saw Professor McGonagall return Draco's essay and strained her ears to hear what she was saying to him.

"I don't understand what happened Draco, you were doing so well in my class, but this essay barely passed. I want it re-done for tomorrow, I know you can do better than this." McGonagall said and once she left, Draco began complaining to Crabb and Goyle next to him and sending evil glares at McGonagall.

A few minutes after turning back to the work at hand, she received her essay and McGonagall complimented that she had done very well. She grinned and saw she received two marks higher than Hermione, causing Hermione to grab her work and compare both of theirs, trying to see what Dawn had done better.

She saw Harry and Ron both just passed, with Harry slightly higher than Ron's, and they both seemed relieved at their results.

At the end of class, they all headed of to Potions, all four of them dreading it.

---

"Your never going to get this all done now." Hermione said as Dawn sat down from some flying practice with Ron and Harry.

"Its okay, I'll just finish it later," Dawn told Hermione positively, feeling rejuvenated after her flying practice, "I don't have that much left."

Hermione looked at her skeptically and said, "Alright."

After dinner, Dawn headed up to her dorm room to get her homework and head off to the library to do it there.

As she made her way to the portrait, a poster on her common room's notice board caught her eye.

She changed her course of direction and went to read it. It was about trying out for you apparition license. She read they would be starting in a few weeks and she got the idea it was like teleportation.

It also said you had to be seventeen, which she would be in a few months.

After about a minute of reading the poster, she left for the library, carrying her Potions and Herbology homework.

After getting there, she saw there weren't many seats available as today the library seemed quite full.

She looked around for somewhere quiet and empty to sit and saw an empty table with only one other students books there and a pushed back chair. They're probably gone to look for a book, she thought.

She sat down in the chair opposite the other person and got out her Herbology homework first.

As she began writing about the different properties of Aconite, a book was placed onto the seat across from her and she looked up, startled to see Draco, the person using the seat across from her, look down at her from where he was standing. He looked like he wanted to tell her to leave, but he didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, is this seat taken?" Dawn asked him, hoping he's say no.

He looked at her for a few second and then shook his head no, and took his own seat.

Nearly an hour later, and not a word spoken, Dawn put away her finished Herbology homework, and took out her very hard Potions home work.

She was okay at the practical potion making, their were instructions and steps to doing it, it was like chemistry, but with the homework and all the information she had to know and remember, that was where she had trouble.

As she questioned what would happen if you added two extra drops of moonstone to the Draught of Peace, she looked up when she heard Draco sigh in frustration and began to scribble out lines on what looked to be an essay.

"Do you need any help?" Dawn asked Draco, this being the fourth time she'd heard him do this in only a few minutes.

He looked up startled, and said, "No."

"Are you sure?" She asked again, knowing he just didn't want to admit he was struggling.

He looked at her, wanting to say yes, but instead didn't reply and looked down at his work in defeat.

"What are you working on?" Dawn asked him.

"My Transfiguration essay." He replied, all looks of a sneer or scowl on his features gone.

"And what are you having trouble with?" She asked.

"I cant find anything on the changes occurring in transforming an object into an animal." Draco told her, "Step by step."

"Well, what books do you have?" She asked leaning over to read the titles of the books he had on the desk. "I remember I had trouble with that part as well, but theres this one really good book that had the answer… You don't have it, I'll go see if its in the bookshelf."

They both left to look for the book, and Draco replaced the books he had back on the bookshelf.

"Found it!" She said happily after about ten minutes of searching.

They both returned to the table, Dawn sitting in a seat beside Draco now to help find the page with the information he required.

After a few minutes of flipping through pages, Dawn found it and they both leaned in to read what it said.

"Okay, so first the inside changes, like its organs and their positioning, and then the outside, like its colour and size, with the harder aspects changed last, like the eyes or mouth." Dawn summarized for him from the book as he scribbled it down onto his parchment, and she realised what a different person he seemed to be when he didn't have Crabb or Goyle hanging around him.

After about twenty more minutes of helping Draco with his essay, she noticed the library had nearly cleared out.

"Okay, I helped you, now can you help me with my potions homework?" Dawn asked him as he packed away his Transfigurations essay.

"Okay." Draco replied reluctantly after glancing at the clock.

"Cool, now I just don't get how were supposed to know what extra portions of different ingredients are going to do to a potion." Dawn admitted, confused.

"You have to look at the effects that ingredient has on its own, and the effect of the potion its used in." Draco replied, pulling over her work to read the question.

"See, now this one," He said pointing to a question, "is asking what two extra drops of scurvy-grass would do to a Confusing Draught, so if Scury-grass has a natural perplexing symptom to anyone who comes into contact with it, this would make the confusing draught more effective, maybe even acting as a memory wiping potion."

"Okay!" Dawn replied impressed, writing down what he had just said.

"What?" Draco asked confused.

"Oh, it's just," Dawn replied, "I never knew you were such a whiz at potions."

"Well, it kind of runs in the family." Draco replied.

"So your dad was good at potions?" Dawn asked delicately.

"Yeah," Draco replied, shifting I his seat, and she could feel him closing up, becoming protective, "So, are there any more questions you have?"

"Uhh, yeah, just a few." Dawn replied as Draco helped her figure out the next one.

"Wow, hang on!" Draco said quickly and picked up her arm as she was writing.

"What?" Dawn asked in alarm, wondering what was wrong.

"You were going to smudge your whole paper with your arm!" He replied as he looked over her work.

"Oh," Dawn said un-alarmed, "Yeah. Its these stupid quills. Everything I write gets smudged from the ink."

"Its because your doing it wrong." Draco said.

"Wait a sec, theres a 'right' way of writing?" Dawn asked surprised.

"Well not really." Draco corrected him self, "You just have to move your arm in the right direction when your writing. Write how you normally write." Draco said as Dawn picked up another piece of paper and began re-writing her last sentence of her homework.

"Okay, there's your problem." Draco said as she began her new line, smudging her above line in the process.

"Your just dragging your whole hand across the paper," Draco said, "smearing the above line while your doing it. You cant just relax your whole hand so its just laying on your work. You have to lift your other fingers from the page as you write, but rest your hand on that small bone on the opposite side of the base of your thumb at your wrist."

"Uhh, its to much effort!" Dawn said annoyed after a few lines of practice.

"Come again!?" Draco asked startled.

"It would be way easier if I could just use a pen!" Dawn complained thumping her quill onto the desk top. "You don't have to watch where you put your hand or dip it in ink after every few words!"

"A pen?" Draco asked confused.

"Don't worry." Dawn replied frustrated and picked up her quill to practice some more.

For the next hour, they got both of their potions homework finished for the next day and Dawn now understood how to figure out what different quantities of ingredients did to different spells.

"Thanks a lot, I probably wouldn't have gotten that finished tonight." Dawn said as she gathered up her books and Draco did the same.

"Yeah, thanks as well." He said to her, also piling his books into his arms.

---

"So, where did you come from?" Draco asked as they walked down a dark corridor back to their common room, "I mean, what school?"

"Ohh, uhh, just one in America. This one's much better though." Dawn said, uncomfortable with this twist in their conversation.

"Which one?" He asked as they began down a stair case.

"Uh, I actually don't remember!" Dawn said giving a nervous laugh, "How bout you have you always been at Hogwarts?"

He looked at her and she knew he knew she was lying, but was nice enough not to mention it.

"Yeah, always been here." Draco replied.

"You know, you remind me sooo much of someone I knew back home." Dawn said, trying to fill an awkward silence.

"Really, who?" Draco asked curious.

"Ohh, just this friend of mine, he's also English and has the same peroxide hair as you do." Dawn said, "He's way older though but I swear, you'd probably look like him when your older."

"Oh yeah? Tell me, is he cute?" Draco asked grinning at her as she started laughing.

"Well-Ah!" Dawn began but squealed as she nearly walked into Mrs Norris, Filches cat which appeared round the corner and meowed accusingly at them.

"What's the time?" Draco asked, now serious.

Dawn lit her wand and looked down at her watch, "Oh God, its 10:30, we gotta get outta here before Filch's appears."

"Agreed." Draco said and led them back up the corridor.

After a few twisting stair cases and never ending corridors, Dawn turned to Draco and asked, "Are you sure you know where your going?"

"I'm sure." He guaranteed her and they then approached a dead end with a painting about their size on the wall of a family portrait.

Just then, they heard Filch's footsteps leading up to where they were and heard him talking to his cat.

"Cos, I really don't think you do." Dawn said panicking.

"Shh, follow me." Draco said, and approached the painting.

He pulled at the side and it opened like a door.

Dawn stared in amazement and ran in as Draco held it open for her and he ran in after, shutting it after himself.

It turned out to be like a large stone path which ended up right behind another painting, where he knocked seven times for it to open.

It turned out to be a corridor away from their common room and Draco told Dawn to hurry and they run to the safety of their common room.

"Why do we have to hurry?" Dawn asked confused, sure they had lost Filch.

"He probably knows about that passage," Draco told her as they entered their empty common room, "He knows nearly all of them in the school."

"Wait, there are more?" She asked him surprised.

"Yeah, about a dozen, well, that I know of, but, I'm pretty sure I know them all." Draco said, purposefully over-confidently and Dawn laughed.

"I'll show you some time." He told her.

"Absolutely." Dawn said smiling, "But right now, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Right." Draco said.

"Goodnight." Dawn said as she made her way to the girls dormitories.

"Goodnight." Draco called back as he watched her leave.

---

Hey, hope ya liked dis chapter, just wanted to add, this chapter has the word count of two chapters so since i usually update every week, the next update will be in two weeks.
Hope you liked it and i hope its realistic, if u have any tips or helpful comments that'll make my fic betta, then i'd love to hear it :)
Thanks :)