I entered the classroom with Greg and Vin. I grabbed a chair next to Theodore who was sitting in the back. In front of me Pansy and Blaise were sitting. Pansy was watching me as she loudly started talking to Blaise. "Even you think she is good looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"

They were talking about Ginny. Blaise looked annoyed. "I wouldn't touch a filthy blood trai-"

"Look, she is one of us now. She's in Slytherin," I told Blaise annoyed. Any time someone started talking trash on someone muggleborn or muggle friendly, calling them a blood traitor or mudblood I felt I had to join in. Knowing our fathers were friends and had the same ideology. It made me uncomfortable. I knew next to nothing about them and personally they had never done anything bad to me.

I felt Pansy's gaze boring into me. Was she hurt? No more like angry. She looked furious. "Pansy, what's wrong? You are like a little sister, why do you mind so much about redhead. You're pretty too."

Her gaze did not soften as I had hoped. "I'm like your little sister?" She sounded wounded. "You. Are. Such. A. Prat."

Then Professor McGonagall walked in and her presence effectively shut Pansy up. "Could I have your attention please? Right, now, today, we will be transforming animals into water goblets. Like so. One, two, three. Vera Verto." The cat at her desk now turned into a small goblet with a soft whooshing squeak.

I leaned to the front, so if I spoke softly, Pansy would hear, while professor McGonagall would not. "Look, I'm sorry, what did I do?" I asked bewildered. "Just don't act like such a girl."

She huffed angrily. "You should know. This is your fault, Malfoy."

"Don't call me that. I'm not my father. You know that." I leaned further to the front.

Merlin, she looked really angry. "Maybe you should be more like him, what would your father say, associating with that-"

"Don't. You. Dare." I said a lot louder.

I felt hawk eyes focus on me. Professor McGonagall stood right in front of me. "Mister Malfoy, why don't you show the class how you turn your owl into a cup, now?"

I tapped it quite sharply, three times, pointed my wand directly at my owl Arrakis and said "Vera Verto."

A whining noise comes out of my wand. A spray-like jet shoots out of it and engulfs Arrakis transfiguring him into a goblet with two or three feathers sticking out.

Professor McGonagall gave me a curt nod, while changing my owl back. "Keep practicing, mister Malfoy. That was a fine try."

I nodded and kept practicing, Pansy would have to come later. No use in getting detention on my first school day.

Then the bell rang, Pansy quickly disappeared into the hall. Theodore seemed to make himself scarce, seeing that me and Blaise were in such a sullen mood. Blaise very much hated doing anything that would get his hands dirty, like Herbology, which was our next subject.

This was one of the classes that we shared with the Gryffindors. Professor Sprout ordered everyone to form groups of four. I searched for Pansy's eyes in the crowd immediately, but she seemed to be ignoring me and quickly formed a group without me, consisting of Theodore, Daphne and Blaise. So I had to work with Vin, Greg and Longbottom.

Professor Sprout the called for silence. "Good, I see you have made groups. Today we are going to take care of mandragora's, can anybody tell me about it?"

Of course the first hand to be raised in the air was Granger's, as almost always. I sneered at her. She huffed. "A mandragora, or a mandrake, is a plant with human-like roots. When matured its cry can be fatal to humans."

Professor Sprout smiled encouraging. "Good job, Hermione, 10 points to Gryffindor, can somebody add something to that?"

Then, with a shaking hand in the air, Longbottom started speaking softly. "Mandrakes eat dugbog's, right? I think their leaves are used in potions. It is an ingredient in most potions. The root is used in healing as a sedative and pain killer."

Professor Sprout then looked very fondly at Longbottom. I sneered, why did teacher's always have to favor Gryffindor's? "Oh Neville, very well done! 20 points to Gryffindor." Longbottom blushed bright red at Sprout's praise. "Everyone please put your earmuffs on. We are going to feed the Mandrake babies. The dugbogs should be sliced in very small pieces so the mandrake's won't get anything stuck in their throat. Let's start, okay?"

Still a bit annoyed I took one of the mandrakes out of the pots and a shrill, loud screaming erupted and one of the most ugliest, sandiest baby faces I ever saw appeared. I almost dropped the thing.

Greg and Vin started slicing up the dugbogs and Longbottom actually did not seem that incompetent. And before this, he even answered a question well. Mind-boggling.

Why was he so awful at potions? Longbottom carefully fed the screaming, aggressively finger-biting and bugbogs outspitting mandragora. He was oddly calm and determined. Maybe Longbottom would make an half-decent herbiologist. Although I would not admit it or ever say it to him.

When I got to the Great Hall Pansy was seated between a furious looking Daphne and an indifferent Blaise. Maybe I'd better give her some space to get less angry and I sat down elsewhere. "Hey Ginny, how's you first classes?"