Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.

Draco's POV

I'm are just walking in to our first period class of charms when I'm pushed aside by a grumpy Pansy. Thankfully Hermione was standing slightly behind me so she managed to catch and help steady me before I fell. Pansy turns briefly to see who she hit and when she's it's Hermione and I, she just sends us a withering glare. I'm confused by this but the two of us find a seat together near the front of the class.

About 2 minutes before class is supposed to start I see Weasel run into class, obviously flustered and tired after supposedly running here. He enters and look around only to see that there's just one seat left that isn't at the front of the class, next to Pansy. I can see him make a face and I smirk to myself. He drags himself over to her and sits as far away as possible. To her own credit, Pansy doesn't even flinch she just glares at a piece of paper in front of her.

Professor Flitwick comes up to stand in front of the class and we quiet down pretty quickly. "Hello class, today we will start by assigning partners for a beginning research project. I will give you the topic and you will have today, tomorrow, and the day after to finish them. They will be presented on Friday in whatever format you would like, though marks will not be given for creativity.

In terms of partners, you will be partnered up as follows. Neville and Ernie, Padma and Michael, Anthony and Zacharias, Hannah and Terry, Amalie and Tracy, Blaise and Millicent, Justin and Dean, Pansy and Hermione, and finally, Ron and Draco. You may now find your partner and begin your research. The topics you may choose are on the board and will be assigned on a first-come first-serve basis."

I practically have a heart attack when I hear the name of my partner. I really don't want to have to work with Ron. Not after everything he's done to me. Stealing a glance at Hermione I can see that she looks like she wants to be anywhere but here right now. I can understand why, Pansy seems even more annoyed with her than usual. I get up and carry my stuff while leaning on my crutches, and walk over to Weasley as slowly as humanly possible. I sit down and he only acknowledges me with a grunt, not even bothering to glance in my direction.

With a sigh I pull out my folder for this class and title a quick sheet for today with details on this project. When I finish writing this down I take note of what topics are still left on the board and jot them down as well. I turn to Weasel and try to get his attention.

"Weasley! Hello? Anyone home?" I ask and he just turns to face me with a bored expression. I'm actually glad he's like this because I really don't want to get attacked again. "The last topics available to do this project on are reversion spells, water making spells, and the advantages of non-verbal spells. I don't particularly care what topic we choose, so how about you?" Suddenly he snaps and I automatically shrink a bit.

"I don't care what we do, and I don't really care about being here right now. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be an Auror right now and Hermione would still be my friend. So if I was you I'd just shut up ferret, choose the topic and do the research yourself." I nod as dignifiedly as possible and berate myself for letting him get the upper hand. I shouldn't be shying away from him. I should be taking away house-points or telling Flitwick. However, even as I think this, I can't bring myself to actually do any of it due to the awful weight of fear settling in my stomach. This is going to be an interesting semester indeed.

I go up without Weaselbee and tell Professor Flitwick that we would like to research reversion spells. He writes our names down for it and it disappears off the list on the board. I sit back down next to Weasel and pull out my laptop to see if I can find some online sources for our topic. I managed to find an online wizarding research journal in one of the newer muggle studies textbooks. It can only be accessed if you search with the url.

I've just logged on and I'm about to start typing in the website's url when Ron notices what I'm using and stares at me, confusion evident on his face.

"Are you using a piece of muggle tech?" He asks, spluttering the whole time.

I see an opportunity to snark him a little bit, so I smile at him very condescending and say, "Why yes I am Weaselbee. In fact, I've been using laptops since the beginning of the school year. I also own a smart watch, phone, and regularly watch movies on a TV with your old girlfriend." I'm not quite sure why, but I felt like twisting the knife a bit with that last part. Not the smartest thing for me to do, but I finally had the high ground.

Just as he was about to retaliate, the bell rang signalling the end of class. I quickly shut my laptop and slipped it into its bag before taking both my folder and laptop bag to place them into my main bag. I stand up and grab my crutches from their spot against the table. As I do so, I see Weasel stare at me with a shocked expression for the second time today.

"Ferret, why are you using crutches." He asks me. I'm surprised by the fact that there is no malicious tone in his voice. In fact, I'd say he sounded a bit curious. I was expecting some teasing or insults, but none come.

"Why do you think Weaselbee? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you attacked a student in Hogwarts, a previously injured student no less." I say in a passive voice.

"Wait, are you saying that I did this?" He asks in a quiet voice.

"That is exactly what I'm saying. Are you trying to tell me you don't take the responsibility to find out what happened to your victims?" I say bitterly.

He just looks shocked and almost stumbles when he hears this. I'm about to leave when I hear him whisper something. "I didn't know you were the crippled civilian." It was said so quietly I almost miss it. It's not quite an apology, but it's acknowledgement and I guess that's a step forward. I don't like holding grudges anymore, it saps your soul after awhile. I give him one more hard look before leaving the classroom as steady as I possibly can.

I exit into the hallway and make my way to our Alchemy class. I walk in just in time and find a seat next to Blaise. Hermione is already sitting at the back of the room with Padma Patil and Terry Boot. There aren't too many students here in this class, but that's because Alchemy is an elective class and it's quite advanced.

Professor Laporte is an older french teacher, but she is rumoured to have been one of the few teachers who are so well respected in their communities and are so well versed in their subject that they can actually teach at multiple schools. She seems a little stern, but not quite as much as McGonagall. She has grey hair and blue eyes, and she's wearing a set of brown functional robes. She carries herself with authority, but her eyes are kind and have a similar twinkle in them to Professor Dumbledore.

She calls for our attention and we quieten down. She then flicks her wand and the board at the front is suddenly filled with an introductory list of alchemy topics and course breakdown. "Welcome students to Alchemy. As I'm sure you all know, this is a NEWT only class and is only taught when there is enough demand for it. You are the first class to actually meet the minimum demand for this course in over 15 years here at Hogwarts. As such, I'm a little rusty in the actual teaching but I hope to make to make this quite enjoyable for all of you. We will start today with a simple overview of what we'll be doing this semester and the basic principles of Alchemy, as well as some safety rules."

The professor then pulls out a folder of copies of the outline and uses magic to distribute them quickly. I pluck mine out of the air and read through it. She then explains it to us and goes over how all of this will lead to the final project. We go over the basic philosophical principles of alchemy; Sulfur: the soul, Mercury: the spirit, and Salt: the body. It's quite fascinating, but a little complicated. I make sure to take as many notes as possible so I can easily research this later.

She then dismisses us when the bell rings and I struggle to catch up to Hermione, who is discussing something with Dean. When she sees me, she discreetly ends the conversation and runs over to meet me.

"What'd you think of Professor Laporte? I thought she was quite nice. She really seems to love this subject, it shows when she's speaking of it." Hermione says.

"Yes she is. I think she's kind, but I also still wouldn't push it with her. She seems to have an air of authority that you wouldn't want to cross." I reply.

"That is very true." She says.

"Hermione, why was Pansy so upset with you this morning?" I ask her. I've wanted to know since Pansy first bumped into me this morning, but I never got Hermione alone to ask her.

"Oh… I may or may not have failed her. It's nothing personal, she just didn't meet the requirements of the course. Since she failed, she's had to retake Muggle Studies this semester.

If I remember correctly, she's been assigned to tutor Ron in it and is his partner. I can't wait to see how that'll go. I'll be surprised if they haven't killed each other by next week." I can't help but laugh at her explanation. It explains why she was so upset this morning. I can totally understand her attitude now.

We head down to the Great Hall for lunch and sit with Ginny, Blaise, Neville, and Luna like usual. Weasel is sitting on the far end of the table glaring at all of us, but we just ignore him.

"Hey you two, you're in charge of student events right? Are we going to have a Valentines dance or what? It'll be pretty cool if there was one. We could decorate the hall in pink and red, maybe even get-" Hermione cuts Ginny off before she can go any further. I'm glad she did because Ginny seems like she could talk about this for ages.

"We actually haven't thought about that. I completely forgot in all honesty, what with exams and marking them. Draco and I can talk about this later. No promises, but I'm sure we can do something." Hermione replies to her.

"Yay! I hope you can. We haven't had one at Hogwarts before, but I mean this seems to be a year of firsts." says Ginny.

We then move the conversation on to other topics. We mostly talk about Quidditch since Hermione is the only one who isn't that interested in it, but even she has a rough idea what we're talking about.

I'm surprised by Ginny's request for another ball. She's usually so much of a tomboy, but I guess even she likes being a girl sometimes. I was equally surprised by how quickly Hermione dealt with it as well. I hadn't even thought about it either. The only issue is that Valentine's day is about a week and a half away so planning will be a nightmare. I guess we could do a spring dance instead, closer to the end of February. I make sure to file these ideas away in my head for later so I can tell Hermione.

We spend the rest of lunch conversing before Hermione and I leave a little early to switch our books before our afternoon classes. As we're walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts, I realise that I should probably start thinking about what to get Hermione for Valentine's day. I silently thank Ginny for reminding me before we walk into Professor Lerwick's class. Hopefully he'll be a good professor and we actually keep this teacher.

Author's Note: I'm sorry about the shorter chapter, it was either update early with less content or update late with the normal amount of content. I realized that I've completely glossed over the fact that all the subjects need teachers, and it turns out many of them do not. Therefore, I've had to create even more made-up professors for this to work. Pansy and Ron are finally entering the picture and things are going to start getting a little more interesting; I have a lot of ideas, it'll just take awhile to get to them. Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it, but please review! Have a great week, till next time!