A/N:

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 5: The First Day

Draco felt much better after he had taken out his frustration and anger on Potter. Getting to break Potter's nose made the start-of-term feast much more enjoyable as he had a great story to tell the Slytherins, and he could mock Potter about his nose all through dinner.

The low of the feast was having to listen to Dumbledore's speech which was all about the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord was someone Draco did not want to think about right now. For all he knew, the Dark Lord could be torturing his mother right now...not likely, but probable.

Feeling quite elated after the hearty meal, Draco descended to the Slytherin common room with the rest of his house after the feast. Once inside the common room, Draco felt quite at home. The eerie green light enveloped him like a hug, and the hum of conversation made him feel happy. He lowered himself onto one of the silken green couches near the fireplace, laying his head back and closing his eyes as he let the fire's heat warm him up. Pansy sat next to him, quite close to him, and began chattering to her gang of girls. Draco desperately wanted to move away from Pansy, but thought it best not to upset her, have her owl her parents, who would in turn owl his mother, who would then be disappointed in Draco for not being polite.

Draco didn't want his Mother to feel worse about him. She was already quite upset about him becoming a Death Eater, and he didn't want her to have any more reasons to be distressed

Doing his best to ignore Pansy, Draco watched Theodore and Blaise pay a game of Wizard's Chess; Theo was winning. Crabbe and Goyle were trying to open a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans with poor results. Meanwhile, Pansy and her friends were busy discussing Professor Snape's new position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Draco was honestly surprised to find out that Severus had been given the DADA position. After so many years, Dumbledore had finally given it to him. Why? It was rather odd.

After and hour of sitting by the fire, Draco decided to go to bed. Muttering a good bye to Pansy and her friends, Draco headed to his dorm, magically opening the pack of Every Flavor Beans that Crabbe was holding on his way. Crabbe and Goyle, who didn't realize that Draco had opened the box, seemed extremely pleased with themselves. Draco chuckled softly to himself as he opened the door to the dormitory.

Draco sighed as he collapsed onto his bed. He had changed into his black silk pajamas, and was ready to fall asleep. However, just then the rest of the boys in his dorm entered. Draco rolled over and pressed his face into his pillow. It was impossible to sleep when Crabbe and Goyle were stuffing their faces with sweets and chewing rather loudly.

Eventually, Draco did fall asleep, but it took him a while. All he could think about was his task. How long would it take him? How difficult would it be? And where was the Vanishing Cabinet? He knew it was in the same room that Potter and his gang had their secret Defense lessons last year, but that room could become so many things...

Finally, Draco had just closed his mind off completely, then drifted off to sleep. His sleep was dreamless and quite restful that night.

The next morning, Draco woke up first in his dormitory. He rolled out of bed and changed into his robes, then headed down to the common room. Nobody else was there. Draco yawned and pulled a book off of the table in front of the fireplace that someone had left behind last night, and began to read. It was a boring yet intriguing book. He only put the book down when Blaise, Theodore, Crabbe, and Goyle all came into the common room, and they all headed to breakfast together.

Breakfast felt rather rushed that morning; Professor Snape kept swooping down on the Slytherins, handing out their schedules. Draco's schedule was simply dropped next to his plate with a slight nod, but the Head of House had a long discussion with Crabbe and Goyle about how he didn't think either of them were worthy of being in any N.E.W.T. classes at all (their O.W.L. scores had been horrible, to nobody's surprise).

Once Snape had swooped away, Draco, Blaise, and Theo took great pleasure in taunting Crabbe and Goyle, who were quite frustrated.

After the teasing had ceased, Draco looked down at his class schedule. He had made it to the N.E.W.T. level in all of his classes, except Care of Magical Creatures, so he was rather proud. He didn't care about Hagrid's stupid class anyway. He hoped, that once his father was out of Azkaban, his father would be proud of this accomplishment as well.

Draco's schedule for the day was quite boring. He read the list:

Transfiguration

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Herbology

Break

Ancient Runes

Charms

Free Period

Lunch

Astronomy

Free Period

Potions

Draco had dropped History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures, the two classes he truly hated.

Stuffing his toast in his mouth, Draco chewed and swallowed, then looked at his friends' schedules.

"Great! We've got almost everything together!" Blaise said cheerfully to Draco and Theodore. "Let's go to Transfiguration then?"

Draco nodded, then stood up and swung his bag over his shoulder. The three boys headed toward the Transfiguration classroom, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"D'you reckon this year'll be a lot harder?" Theo asked.

"Definitely," Draco mumbled darkly.

"Can you believe Snape's teaching Defense?"

Draco shrugged. "He's been asking for the job forever."

"Yeah, but..." Theo trailed off. They had reached the classroom, and Professor McGonagall was looking at them sternly. They slumped off to sit at a table in the back of the room.

Class started soon, and it began with a long lecture from McGonagall about how difficult her class was going to become this year. Then, she started them on a review of transfiguring animals. This proved to be difficult after two months of not practicing. However, by the end of the lesson, Draco had managed to turn his rabbit into a top hat. He was the only one in the class who did.

"Well," Professor McGonagall said sharply. "I guess you're all a bit rusty, so..." Then she proceeded to give them at least two hours of homework. Draco groaned and wondered when he would be able to work on his task if all his teachers gave them so much work.

Next, Draco, Blaise and Theo had Defense Against the Dark Arts, for the first time with Professor Snape.

As soon as they entered the classroom, Draco saw how Snape-like the room had become. The walls were covered with grotesque pictures that had once covered the walls of Snape's home study. Draco noticed Snape looking at him and smirked, gesturing to the pictures. Snape smirked back.

Like McGonagall, Snape started the class with a speech on how difficult N.E.W.T level would be. Then, he had them practice nonverbal spells.

This was extremely easy for Draco as Snape had taught him these last year. Bellatrix had also coached Draco on them over the summer. Draco found Theo and Blaise's attempts at silently jinxing him quite amusing.

After class, the Slytherin trio headed to Herbology, then they had break. During break, Draco headed to the seventh-floor corridor and tried to get the Room of Requirement to become the room that housed the Vanishing Cabinet. However, Draco found this very difficult because he had to do this while no other students were around, a condition rarely encountered in the halls of Hogwarts.

Finally, Draco gave up, vowing to come back later. Then, Draco headed to Ancient Runes, then Charms, and then he had his first Free Period. He used this time to work on his homework, whose amount had been increasing steadily as the day went on.

After completing a fair amount of him homework, Draco headed to lunch, then Astronomy, and then, during his second Free Period, to the seventh-floor corridor. Now, nobody was in the corridors, and Draco could continue his attempt to find the correct room.

Draco stood in front of the wall across from the tapestry, then began pacing in front of it.

I need the room that Montague was shoved in... he thought. I need the room that Montague was shoved in...

Nothing.

I need the room that has the Vanishing Cabinet in it...

Still nothing.

Draco tried for half an hour before stumbling upon the right thought.

I need the room that contains hidden things...

Finally, a door appeared in the stone wall, but just as Draco was about to open it, the bell rang.

"Ugh," Draco groaned as he picked up his bag and raced down to the dungeons

Once he reached the classroom, Draco met Blaise and Theo, who had both made the N.E.W.T. level of Potions

"Wonder what Slughorn'll be like," Theo muttered to Blaise and Draco.

"He was nice enough," Blaise said as they waited for Slughorn outside the dungeon door.

Draco frowned as he saw that Potter, Weasley, and Granger walking toward the classroom. Draco wasn't surprised that Granger had gotten in, the insufferable know-it-all, but Potter and Weasley? They had both always been awful at Potions!

Finally, Slughorn opened the door, and the class filed inside. Slughorn greeted Blaise very enthusiastically, and Draco nudged and smirked at Blaise once they had sat down. Blaise looked smug.

"Now I've got an advantage over you in Potions, " he whispered. "The teacher likes me more than he likes you!"

Draco rolled his eyes, then turned to the front of the classroom.

Slughorn, who Draco thought extremely overweight, began asking the class about the potions within the row of cauldrons at the front of the room. Granger told him the name and gave a description of each one to Slughorn in that annoying way of hers.

Slughorn was quite impressed with Granger, and, much to Draco's astonishment, asked if she was related to a famous Potioneer. Granger, extremely flustered, had told him that she was a muggle-born.

"What?" Draco whispered to Theo. "He couldn't smell her dirty blood? What kind of a Slytherin is he?"

Theo sniggered.

FInally, Slughorn stopped questioning Granger, and began telling the class about the love potion she had identified for him.

"...it's possibly the most dangerous potion in this room," Slughorn was saying.

Draco smirked at Theo and Blaise. Love? Dangerous? How?

Slughorn saw their faces and told them off. "Yes, love, obsessive love is dangerous, boys."

Draco almost rolled his eyes.

Then, Slughorn began asking about the potion in the last cauldron, which he said was callled Felix Felicis. Granger, of course, answered him.

"It's liquid luck!" She said excitedly.

"Yes!" Slughorn said. "Two tablespoons with breakfast will grant you with a perfect day! And, one of you will get some Felix if you correctly brew the Draught of Living Death for me today. You'll find the instructions on page ten. Begin!"

Draco sat up straight immediately, eager to start making his potion. He began flipping through his textbook, gathering his ingredients, and making the potion.

"Eager, aren't we?" Blaise chuckled. Draco merely nodded. He needed that lucky day! Then, he would be able to complete his task!

After about ten minutes, Draco could see that his potion wasn't going very well. This was odd; Draco was usually very good at Potions, and he was following the instructions exactly. He decided it was time for desperate measures. He needed to kiss up to the teacher.

"Professor Slughorn?" He asked as the Slughorn neared his table. "I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?"

Much to Draco's frustration, Slughorn only mumbled a small acknowledgement, then walked away. Blaise smirked at Draco, who scowled at him.

"Well, it was worth a try," Draco told Blaise. "And besides, it doesn't look like your potion is turning out correctly, either." Draco looked around the room. Nobody's potion seemed to match the book's description, not even Granger's. The only person whose did was...Potter.

Draco became even more annoyed. Potter had never, ever been good at Potions, so why was he starting now? When Draco needed to show his own talent?

Potter got the Felix. Blaise and Theo were astonished as well.

"Potter? Good at Potions? Have we traveled into a parallel universe?" Theo exclaimed as they walked to the common room.

"I know, right?" Draco said. "Since when?"

"Well, he is a teacher's pet now," Blaise said.

"Well, so are you!" Theo said. "And your potion didn't work either!"

"Right," said Blaise. "I dunno then."

"You know what I think?" Asked Theo. "I think Potter must have Imperiused Slughorn!"

"Please," Draco interrupted. "Saint Potter, corrupt a teacher? If that happens, I'll shave my head."

Blaise laughed. "You wouldn't!"

Draco smirked. "Of course not. Because I won't have to."

"Maybe Granger helped him," Theo speculated.

"Yeah, like she'd help him and not do her own work correctly," Blaise said.

Draco snorted. "As if. The insufferable know-it-all."

Blaise and Theo laughed as Draco began thinking about what Theo had said earlier about Imperiusing someone. Maybe he could Imperius someone to help him with his task! Draco filed the idea away in his mind for later. Right now, he just wanted to head to the common room, finish his homework, and have some fun with his friends.