Chapter 3
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Disclaimers: Harry Potter, its characters, spells, etc, is not mine. But the plot of this fic is.
Hehe^^
Author's note: this is my first Harry Potter fic so please inform me if there are any minor or major mistakes within it. R&r's are greatly appreciated. Oh and this will be a slash fic eventually. So anyone who can't handle Draco and Harry together, don't flame me, just leave
To those who will flame me to criticize some grammatical mistakes or something of that nature, then those flames are as welcome as reviews are.
Reviews are greatly appreciated ^^, they give me the confidence to continue what I started.
And, they will get together eventually, I just thought that it would be better if they both started out as friends first then eventually turn into lovers, hehe^^.
Oh and if some parts aren't clear, they will be cleared in the next chapters Don't worry ^^
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^ ^= telepathy
' '= thoughts
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THE FIRST DAY
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Harry opened his eyes and reached out for his glasses on the bedside table. He yawned and stretched his limbs before putting his glasses on.
"You're putting those on again?"
Harry turned to look at the doorway of his bedroom. And, sure enough, Draco was standing there with a big smile on his face. He hadn't showered yet, Harry realized. 'He just woke up too, I guess,' Harry thought.
"Putting what on again?" he asked the blonde Slytherin.
Draco sighed and shook his head as he entered Harry's bedroom. "You're hopeless," he declared as he sat down on Harry's bed. "We already have Dumbledore's permission to use magic anytime and anywhere. Why then, would you still need that?" he asked, pointing at the pair of glasses Harry was wearing.
"But, if someone else sees me..."
"That could be remedied," Draco cut in. "Besides you look better without those on."
"Alright," Harry said. "I'll put them on when we go on our normal schedule, which means classes and everything with our own houses. But I don't put it on whenever there aren't any other students with us. Is that okay with you?"
Draco seemed to think for a moment, considering. Then, he said, "Okay then. But promise to put that horrid thing away when we're not with the other students."
Harry smiled. "You and your tremendous fashion sense."
"At least I HAVE fashion sense," Draco shot back, playfully. "Look Harry, it's almost time for breakfast. Why don't we fix up and go join everyone else?"
Harry looked at him curiously, "You sure you want to go down there already"
"With the Slytherins?"
Harry nodded.
"We were summoned by Dumbledore to his office last night, then we didn't go back to our common rooms. Your friends would be more than worried about you now. And mine would be very, very delighted to ask me what happened in Dumbledore's office last night."
"I forgot about that!" Harry exclaimed. "How could we explain this?"
"Well, the problem is mainly with the Gryffindors. Slytherins are evil, but being evil does not mean that they are very smart. Your housemates may not be as clever as the book-hugging Ravenclaws, but they're not stupid either. We have to think of a very good excuse."
Harry thought for a moment, then, looking hopeful, he said, "I could always tell Ron that we got detention for what happened earlier and we got our punishment last night. And that punishment would be cleaning up the whole third floor corridor, and that we became tired to even go back to our own dormitories. And let's just say that the reason why we're late for breakfast is because we had to sneak back up to our rooms and bathe while no one's around."
"Yes, and I could complain about Dumbledore being too stupid to realize that it was Ron I was quarreling with and not you. But it was you who got detention instead," Draco added.
"That sounds like the Draco Malfoy they know," Harry agreed. "Come on, let's get going."
Harry, took whatever he needed for the day and with a simple snap of his fingers, sent the rest of his things back to the room he shared with the other Gryffindors.
Draco hurried back to his room and did the same to his stuff.
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Harry looked at Draco, "You ready?"
They were already standing in front of the doors of the Great Hall. They were friends, but once they entered, it would be back to the façade again.
Draco looked at Harry and nodded, "More than ever." He took a deep breath and shouted angrily, "This is all your fault Potter!"
"Sod off Malfoy," Harry muttered as he pushed the doors open.
Draco's yelling had the desired effect. Every conversation within the room halted as the students' and teachers' attention were drawn towards two obviously fighting boys who just entered the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Wait till my father hears of this," Draco muttered as he approached the Slytherin table.
Harry just shook his head and made his way to the Gryffindor table.
The whole room was engulfed in silence. But as Harry took his usual seat on the Gryffindor table, and Draco took his seat on the Slytherin table, everyone finally got over their shock.
And for Harry, when his friends get over their shock, it only meant one thing - a heavy bombardment of questions.
"Harry! Where've you been?!" Hermione asked.
"Harry, where were you last night?!" Ron asked at the same time. "What happened?"
"Calm down guys," Harry said. He took a drink from his pumpkin juice and started with the little white lie he and Draco formulated earlier that day. "Well you see, Prof. Dumbledore talked with me and Malfoy last night. And he gave us detention because of the earlier incident upon our arrival at Hogwarts."
"Detention?!" Ron asked, very surprised. "But why you? I should have been the one who got the detention. Or on second thought, it should only be Malfoy because he started everything."
"Well," Harry continued. "I really had no idea why he decided to put me through detention as well. And our detention was the worse one yet. He told us to clean up the whole third floor corridor without magic."
Hermione's hands shot up to her mouth, stifling a gasp. She looked horrified at this, "He wouldn't!"
"He did," Harry said, voice grave.
"But I can't help but imagine Malfoy's face during detention. Imagine, a spoiled little brat doing work without magic?"
"You can't imagine his ranting Ron," Harry added. "He kept on complaining and complaining and complaining. He complained so much that we barely finished cleaning up. But eventually we did. Although, after we finished, we were both too tired to go back to our dormitories."
"You fell asleep in the third floor corridor?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"Yup."
"So that's why you weren't in our room last night," Ron said, relieved. "But didn't Filch and his cat catch you there?"
Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "He saw us there, scrubbing the floors, three times. Maybe he didn't bother to check up on us afterwards anymore. I can't imagine anyone making rounds in the school grounds more than three times. Even Filch must have his limit."
"So you're okay now?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded and both his friends silenced, giving him time to eat breakfast in peace.
Harry could barely suppress a grin from spreading across his features. They actually bought it.
^ How're the Gryffindors taking it? ^
Harry nearly sputtered on his pumpkin juice. It was a good thing that Hermione, Ron and the other Gryffindors weren't paying that much attention to him or else it would have made them bombard Harry with a lot of questions again.
^ Draco! Stop that. ^
^ You're still not used to telepathy Harry? Well I'm really sorry for surprising you. ^
^ Don't worry about it; the others didn't notice my surprise so there's no harm done. And, answering your earlier question, it worked like a charm. I can't believe that even Hermione didn't question it at all. How about you? ^
^I already told you before, Slytherins aren't exactly the smartest people on this planet. ^
^ Except for one, ^ Harry corrected.
^Yup, except for one, ^ Draco agreed. ^ After breakfast, we have Potions together right? ^
Harry thought for a while, he didn't really check their schedule earlier. So he turned to the one person who surely checked their class schedule the night before. "Hermione, what class do we have after breakfast?"
Hermione was about to reprimand Harry for not checking their schedule beforehand, but she remembered how Harry spent the entire night in detention, so she simply answered the question. "Well, we have Potions first thing this morning, and with the Slytherins no less."
"Ugh, with the Slytherins? But thanks for reminding me Hermione," said Harry.
^Yup, we do have Potions together, after breakfast. How'd you know that? Were you still able to read our class schedules last night? ^
^ Just scanned it, so I can't remember most of them, ^ Draco admitted. ^ See you later? ^
^ Yeah, see you later. ^
Harry looked at the Slytherin table and saw Draco, Crabbe and Goyle stand up to leave the Great Hall.
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Snape was seated behind his desk when the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins entered the classroom.
He simply observed them from his desk, watching them file in, speaking in hushed tones and whispered words. But when the last student settled down and the door to the classroom was shut close, he stood up and addressed the class, "Submit your summer essays. Put them all on my desk, now."
After all the essays were submitted, he looked at them again, eyes calculating and unreadable. "This is already your sixth year here at Hogwarts," he said slowly. "And I expect to see better results from those of you who nearly failed miserably last year."
His eyes swept over the Gryffindors then finally settled on Harry. "I hope that some students who were in danger of failing last year will at least try to pass this subject."
The he looked at the whole class again. "I will already tell you what your 1st assignment of the term is. You will create a potion of your own choosing, make a complete written report on it and then show me the potion. You may submit it on or before September 20."
Collective gasps could be heard from the students, but eventually silenced when Snape's eyes landed on them.
When everyone quieted down, he continued, "There will be no double assignments. That means, if there is someone who submitted the same assignment as you, only earlier, then you must settle for another one. Most of the materials you will need are here in the classroom. But to those that aren't, you must go look for them on your own. There are cauldrons behind me, and you will be working with these. They are not your usual cauldrons, because there is a spell on them that will tell me if it was really you who did your assignment. AND the potions have to work. If they don't, you will receive a failing grade. Any questions?"
No one dared raise a hand.
"Good, now on to our lessons..."
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"I can't believe it!" Hermione screamed, as they were making their way out of their Potions classroom. "September 20? That's barely three weeks away!"
"You don't have any problems," said Ron somberly. "You know a lot about potions and can easily start on one. I don't even know where to start!"
"Calm down guys, we'll be able to think of something."
"How can you be so relaxed Harry?" an incredulous Ron asked. "You had remarkable grades in all subjects except Potions last year!"
"I know that Ron," Harry replied, calmly. "But we can always pull through. Don't worry." He pulled out his schedule from his Potions book and checked it. "Look guys, we don't have any classes until lunch. Why don't we go do some research in the library? That'll give us a good start."
"Ugh, books again..." Ron groaned.
But Hermione looked at Harry, pleased. "Good idea." Then she looked at the still whimpering Ron and rolled her eyes. "Oh get a grip Ron. You will never really get any start on your assignment if you don't do research first."
Ron didn't want to go, so Harry and Hermione had to half drag him to the library.
But, as they were about to enter, Harry heard Draco's voice inside his head again. ^Do you have any class after Potions? ^
Ron was too busy escaping from Hermione and Hermione was too busy finding a way to push Ron into the library that none of them noticed Harry's surprised face.
^You surprised me again Draco, I guess I'm really out of practice. Nope, no class until lunch. You? ^
^ None either. Want to get started on the Potions assignment? ^
^ Sure. Wait for me in our room, I just need to get away from Ron and Hermione.^ Harry turned to his two friends and said, "Guys, I forgot to do something very important. I'll meet you again during lunch."
"But where are you going Harry?" Hermione asked as Ron finally stopped struggling.
"I just have to speak with Prof. Dumbledore. It's a bit personal so I hope you guys don't mind if I go alone?"
Hermione smiled sweetly at him and Ron nodded. Harry took that as a yes from both his friends and immediately went off in the direction of Prof. Dumbledore's office.
Once his friends faded from view, he slipped inside a very dark corridor, and after making sure that there wasn't anybody who could see him, Harry Disapparated.
He Apparated in the room he shared with Draco a few seconds later. The blonde, who was seated on the couch, reading a book, looked up at Harry. "I thought you would never come."
"Had to reason with Ron and Hermione," Harry explained., removing his glasses and keeping them in his pocket. He whispered a spell and soon his eyesight cleared.
Both boys went to their own little library and sat down, after putting their cauldrons and parchments on the table.
"So what are you planning to make Harry?"
"What do you suggest? You're the better one between us when it comes to potion making."
"Hmm..." Draco thought for a while. "It has to be something that the others could never think of, something rare.Ah! I know! Why don't you try the Cryptiol potion?"
Harry looked at Draco with an amused expression on his face. "That potion that works like the Imperius curse?"
Draco nodded. "I doubt you'll encounter any problems while making that?"
"Nope, no problem at all. No one in our class would dare make such a complicated potion, and I seriously doubt that Snape even has the ingredients necessary for this potion. What about you, what are you making?"
"Finity potion," Draco said.
"You're really making that?!" Harry asked, giggling a bit. "And just how will Snape test a gender changing potion?"
Draco shrugged, "Beats me." He grabbed a piece of parchment and his quill. "I'll ask dad to get the ingredients for us." And with that, he began scribbling on the parchment, writing down the exact number of ingredients for both potions, relying on his memory alone.
Harry turned an amused gaze at his friend who was busily scribbling potion ingredients on the piece of parchment. "After you finish writing that, are you game for a little duel?"
Draco paused in scribbling to give Harry a small smile, "You're on."
Both boys sat down in silence, the only sound in the room was the scratching of Draco's quill against the parchment.
Then, there was a knock on the door.
Very unexpected, because no one was supposed to know that there was even a room there.
"I'll go get it," Harry said, leaping up from his chair and rushing out of their library, while Draco was still writing down their potions' ingredients.
'Who could it be?' Harry thought. 'This room isn't even visible from the outside.'
He and Draco had not doubted the Hogwarts headmaster when he said that this place was off limits except to them. And when he made no announcement during the start of term speech, they didn't doubt him either. They knew the older wizard knew what he was doing.
So how come there was someone knocking on their door?
Harry shook these thoughts from his head. Surely anyone who knew of this secret room would be a trusted friend.
So he touched the wall and it immediately opened up, to reveal Prof. Dumbledore.
"Prof. Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, ushering the headmaster in.
"I see you liked the arrangements I made?"
"Yes sir, very much," replied Harry. "I'll just go get Draco sir."
"There's no need Harry," said Draco, approaching them from the library. "I already sent the owl to father and I think our potions' ingredients will arrive tomorrow morning." He looked at Prof. Dumbledore and greeted him, "Good morning Prof. Dumbledore."
"Good morning to you too Mr. Malfoy," replied the headmaster. Harry and Draco sat down side by side on the couch and Prof. Dumbledore sat down on the arm chair beside the couch.
"What brings you here professor?" Harry asked.
"The next part of your training," the headmaster replied simply. "I understand that you have an assignment in Potions. But can you squeeze this into your schedule?"
"There's no problem with that professor," Draco said.
"Oh? No problem at all Mr. Malfoy?" Prof. Dumbledore asked in an amused voice.
"Harry and I both chose potions that would only take a short time to make," Draco pointed out. "Both are very complicated potions, but when done correctly, barely takes an hour to make."
"I see, I see," said Prof. Dumbledore. "When will you boys start making your potions?"
"Tomorrow sir," Harry replied. "We both seriously doubt that Prof. Snape has the ingredients that are needed for our potions. Because both potions aren't even known to our classmates and it wasn't taught in class either. So we resulted to ask Draco's father to send the ingredients to us."
"You owled your father?"
"Yes sir," Draco replied. "I simply wrote the ingredients and that I needed them to make a potion for my assignment. There is nothing suspicious with the letter in case the Death Eaters are able to intercept it."
"I see, very well then." The headmaster stood up and addressed the two boys, "The next part of your training will not be under my supervision, so you have to do this on your own. I have full confidence that you are capable of doing this even without me by your side."
"What is it sir?" Draco asked.
"I want both of you to become Animagi."
Both boys gasped at this, but Prof. Dumbledore stopped them from asking further questions by continuing, "Don't worry, you won't need to become registered Animagi, we register you two when the war is over. It's too risky to have other people know what you two are really capable of. Come to my office when both of you are ready to show me what you've accomplished. There are some books in your library which will be very useful."
"Why would we need to become Animagi?" Harry asked.
"Because," replied Prof. Dumbledore. "Having that knowledge and capability may come in handy sometimes, it may even save your life."
And with that, the elderly wizard left the room.
"To the library?" Harry asked Draco after Prof. Dumbledore left.
"We don't have a choice, now do we?" Draco asked, standing up. Harry sighed and followed his friend back to their library.
Once inside, Draco sat down as Harry skimmed through the books on the shelves.
"Do you even know what we're looking for?"
Harry nodded and picked out two books from the shelf. He tossed one to Draco and kept the other one for himself.
"Do we have the same books?"
Harry sat down on the chair opposite Draco's and shook his head. "Basically they're both about becoming Animagi, but the authors are different."
"I see," Draco replied. Then silence ensued as both boys focused their attentions to the books they needed to read.
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Author's note, again ^^
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, they're the best ^^. I'll eventually clear out this entire "training" thingy by the next chapter and explain their past in either chapter 4 or 5.
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Disclaimers: Harry Potter, its characters, spells, etc, is not mine. But the plot of this fic is.
Hehe^^
Author's note: this is my first Harry Potter fic so please inform me if there are any minor or major mistakes within it. R&r's are greatly appreciated. Oh and this will be a slash fic eventually. So anyone who can't handle Draco and Harry together, don't flame me, just leave
To those who will flame me to criticize some grammatical mistakes or something of that nature, then those flames are as welcome as reviews are.
Reviews are greatly appreciated ^^, they give me the confidence to continue what I started.
And, they will get together eventually, I just thought that it would be better if they both started out as friends first then eventually turn into lovers, hehe^^.
Oh and if some parts aren't clear, they will be cleared in the next chapters Don't worry ^^
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^ ^= telepathy
' '= thoughts
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THE FIRST DAY
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Harry opened his eyes and reached out for his glasses on the bedside table. He yawned and stretched his limbs before putting his glasses on.
"You're putting those on again?"
Harry turned to look at the doorway of his bedroom. And, sure enough, Draco was standing there with a big smile on his face. He hadn't showered yet, Harry realized. 'He just woke up too, I guess,' Harry thought.
"Putting what on again?" he asked the blonde Slytherin.
Draco sighed and shook his head as he entered Harry's bedroom. "You're hopeless," he declared as he sat down on Harry's bed. "We already have Dumbledore's permission to use magic anytime and anywhere. Why then, would you still need that?" he asked, pointing at the pair of glasses Harry was wearing.
"But, if someone else sees me..."
"That could be remedied," Draco cut in. "Besides you look better without those on."
"Alright," Harry said. "I'll put them on when we go on our normal schedule, which means classes and everything with our own houses. But I don't put it on whenever there aren't any other students with us. Is that okay with you?"
Draco seemed to think for a moment, considering. Then, he said, "Okay then. But promise to put that horrid thing away when we're not with the other students."
Harry smiled. "You and your tremendous fashion sense."
"At least I HAVE fashion sense," Draco shot back, playfully. "Look Harry, it's almost time for breakfast. Why don't we fix up and go join everyone else?"
Harry looked at him curiously, "You sure you want to go down there already"
"With the Slytherins?"
Harry nodded.
"We were summoned by Dumbledore to his office last night, then we didn't go back to our common rooms. Your friends would be more than worried about you now. And mine would be very, very delighted to ask me what happened in Dumbledore's office last night."
"I forgot about that!" Harry exclaimed. "How could we explain this?"
"Well, the problem is mainly with the Gryffindors. Slytherins are evil, but being evil does not mean that they are very smart. Your housemates may not be as clever as the book-hugging Ravenclaws, but they're not stupid either. We have to think of a very good excuse."
Harry thought for a moment, then, looking hopeful, he said, "I could always tell Ron that we got detention for what happened earlier and we got our punishment last night. And that punishment would be cleaning up the whole third floor corridor, and that we became tired to even go back to our own dormitories. And let's just say that the reason why we're late for breakfast is because we had to sneak back up to our rooms and bathe while no one's around."
"Yes, and I could complain about Dumbledore being too stupid to realize that it was Ron I was quarreling with and not you. But it was you who got detention instead," Draco added.
"That sounds like the Draco Malfoy they know," Harry agreed. "Come on, let's get going."
Harry, took whatever he needed for the day and with a simple snap of his fingers, sent the rest of his things back to the room he shared with the other Gryffindors.
Draco hurried back to his room and did the same to his stuff.
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Harry looked at Draco, "You ready?"
They were already standing in front of the doors of the Great Hall. They were friends, but once they entered, it would be back to the façade again.
Draco looked at Harry and nodded, "More than ever." He took a deep breath and shouted angrily, "This is all your fault Potter!"
"Sod off Malfoy," Harry muttered as he pushed the doors open.
Draco's yelling had the desired effect. Every conversation within the room halted as the students' and teachers' attention were drawn towards two obviously fighting boys who just entered the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Wait till my father hears of this," Draco muttered as he approached the Slytherin table.
Harry just shook his head and made his way to the Gryffindor table.
The whole room was engulfed in silence. But as Harry took his usual seat on the Gryffindor table, and Draco took his seat on the Slytherin table, everyone finally got over their shock.
And for Harry, when his friends get over their shock, it only meant one thing - a heavy bombardment of questions.
"Harry! Where've you been?!" Hermione asked.
"Harry, where were you last night?!" Ron asked at the same time. "What happened?"
"Calm down guys," Harry said. He took a drink from his pumpkin juice and started with the little white lie he and Draco formulated earlier that day. "Well you see, Prof. Dumbledore talked with me and Malfoy last night. And he gave us detention because of the earlier incident upon our arrival at Hogwarts."
"Detention?!" Ron asked, very surprised. "But why you? I should have been the one who got the detention. Or on second thought, it should only be Malfoy because he started everything."
"Well," Harry continued. "I really had no idea why he decided to put me through detention as well. And our detention was the worse one yet. He told us to clean up the whole third floor corridor without magic."
Hermione's hands shot up to her mouth, stifling a gasp. She looked horrified at this, "He wouldn't!"
"He did," Harry said, voice grave.
"But I can't help but imagine Malfoy's face during detention. Imagine, a spoiled little brat doing work without magic?"
"You can't imagine his ranting Ron," Harry added. "He kept on complaining and complaining and complaining. He complained so much that we barely finished cleaning up. But eventually we did. Although, after we finished, we were both too tired to go back to our dormitories."
"You fell asleep in the third floor corridor?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"Yup."
"So that's why you weren't in our room last night," Ron said, relieved. "But didn't Filch and his cat catch you there?"
Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "He saw us there, scrubbing the floors, three times. Maybe he didn't bother to check up on us afterwards anymore. I can't imagine anyone making rounds in the school grounds more than three times. Even Filch must have his limit."
"So you're okay now?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded and both his friends silenced, giving him time to eat breakfast in peace.
Harry could barely suppress a grin from spreading across his features. They actually bought it.
^ How're the Gryffindors taking it? ^
Harry nearly sputtered on his pumpkin juice. It was a good thing that Hermione, Ron and the other Gryffindors weren't paying that much attention to him or else it would have made them bombard Harry with a lot of questions again.
^ Draco! Stop that. ^
^ You're still not used to telepathy Harry? Well I'm really sorry for surprising you. ^
^ Don't worry about it; the others didn't notice my surprise so there's no harm done. And, answering your earlier question, it worked like a charm. I can't believe that even Hermione didn't question it at all. How about you? ^
^I already told you before, Slytherins aren't exactly the smartest people on this planet. ^
^ Except for one, ^ Harry corrected.
^Yup, except for one, ^ Draco agreed. ^ After breakfast, we have Potions together right? ^
Harry thought for a while, he didn't really check their schedule earlier. So he turned to the one person who surely checked their class schedule the night before. "Hermione, what class do we have after breakfast?"
Hermione was about to reprimand Harry for not checking their schedule beforehand, but she remembered how Harry spent the entire night in detention, so she simply answered the question. "Well, we have Potions first thing this morning, and with the Slytherins no less."
"Ugh, with the Slytherins? But thanks for reminding me Hermione," said Harry.
^Yup, we do have Potions together, after breakfast. How'd you know that? Were you still able to read our class schedules last night? ^
^ Just scanned it, so I can't remember most of them, ^ Draco admitted. ^ See you later? ^
^ Yeah, see you later. ^
Harry looked at the Slytherin table and saw Draco, Crabbe and Goyle stand up to leave the Great Hall.
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Snape was seated behind his desk when the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins entered the classroom.
He simply observed them from his desk, watching them file in, speaking in hushed tones and whispered words. But when the last student settled down and the door to the classroom was shut close, he stood up and addressed the class, "Submit your summer essays. Put them all on my desk, now."
After all the essays were submitted, he looked at them again, eyes calculating and unreadable. "This is already your sixth year here at Hogwarts," he said slowly. "And I expect to see better results from those of you who nearly failed miserably last year."
His eyes swept over the Gryffindors then finally settled on Harry. "I hope that some students who were in danger of failing last year will at least try to pass this subject."
The he looked at the whole class again. "I will already tell you what your 1st assignment of the term is. You will create a potion of your own choosing, make a complete written report on it and then show me the potion. You may submit it on or before September 20."
Collective gasps could be heard from the students, but eventually silenced when Snape's eyes landed on them.
When everyone quieted down, he continued, "There will be no double assignments. That means, if there is someone who submitted the same assignment as you, only earlier, then you must settle for another one. Most of the materials you will need are here in the classroom. But to those that aren't, you must go look for them on your own. There are cauldrons behind me, and you will be working with these. They are not your usual cauldrons, because there is a spell on them that will tell me if it was really you who did your assignment. AND the potions have to work. If they don't, you will receive a failing grade. Any questions?"
No one dared raise a hand.
"Good, now on to our lessons..."
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"I can't believe it!" Hermione screamed, as they were making their way out of their Potions classroom. "September 20? That's barely three weeks away!"
"You don't have any problems," said Ron somberly. "You know a lot about potions and can easily start on one. I don't even know where to start!"
"Calm down guys, we'll be able to think of something."
"How can you be so relaxed Harry?" an incredulous Ron asked. "You had remarkable grades in all subjects except Potions last year!"
"I know that Ron," Harry replied, calmly. "But we can always pull through. Don't worry." He pulled out his schedule from his Potions book and checked it. "Look guys, we don't have any classes until lunch. Why don't we go do some research in the library? That'll give us a good start."
"Ugh, books again..." Ron groaned.
But Hermione looked at Harry, pleased. "Good idea." Then she looked at the still whimpering Ron and rolled her eyes. "Oh get a grip Ron. You will never really get any start on your assignment if you don't do research first."
Ron didn't want to go, so Harry and Hermione had to half drag him to the library.
But, as they were about to enter, Harry heard Draco's voice inside his head again. ^Do you have any class after Potions? ^
Ron was too busy escaping from Hermione and Hermione was too busy finding a way to push Ron into the library that none of them noticed Harry's surprised face.
^You surprised me again Draco, I guess I'm really out of practice. Nope, no class until lunch. You? ^
^ None either. Want to get started on the Potions assignment? ^
^ Sure. Wait for me in our room, I just need to get away from Ron and Hermione.^ Harry turned to his two friends and said, "Guys, I forgot to do something very important. I'll meet you again during lunch."
"But where are you going Harry?" Hermione asked as Ron finally stopped struggling.
"I just have to speak with Prof. Dumbledore. It's a bit personal so I hope you guys don't mind if I go alone?"
Hermione smiled sweetly at him and Ron nodded. Harry took that as a yes from both his friends and immediately went off in the direction of Prof. Dumbledore's office.
Once his friends faded from view, he slipped inside a very dark corridor, and after making sure that there wasn't anybody who could see him, Harry Disapparated.
He Apparated in the room he shared with Draco a few seconds later. The blonde, who was seated on the couch, reading a book, looked up at Harry. "I thought you would never come."
"Had to reason with Ron and Hermione," Harry explained., removing his glasses and keeping them in his pocket. He whispered a spell and soon his eyesight cleared.
Both boys went to their own little library and sat down, after putting their cauldrons and parchments on the table.
"So what are you planning to make Harry?"
"What do you suggest? You're the better one between us when it comes to potion making."
"Hmm..." Draco thought for a while. "It has to be something that the others could never think of, something rare.Ah! I know! Why don't you try the Cryptiol potion?"
Harry looked at Draco with an amused expression on his face. "That potion that works like the Imperius curse?"
Draco nodded. "I doubt you'll encounter any problems while making that?"
"Nope, no problem at all. No one in our class would dare make such a complicated potion, and I seriously doubt that Snape even has the ingredients necessary for this potion. What about you, what are you making?"
"Finity potion," Draco said.
"You're really making that?!" Harry asked, giggling a bit. "And just how will Snape test a gender changing potion?"
Draco shrugged, "Beats me." He grabbed a piece of parchment and his quill. "I'll ask dad to get the ingredients for us." And with that, he began scribbling on the parchment, writing down the exact number of ingredients for both potions, relying on his memory alone.
Harry turned an amused gaze at his friend who was busily scribbling potion ingredients on the piece of parchment. "After you finish writing that, are you game for a little duel?"
Draco paused in scribbling to give Harry a small smile, "You're on."
Both boys sat down in silence, the only sound in the room was the scratching of Draco's quill against the parchment.
Then, there was a knock on the door.
Very unexpected, because no one was supposed to know that there was even a room there.
"I'll go get it," Harry said, leaping up from his chair and rushing out of their library, while Draco was still writing down their potions' ingredients.
'Who could it be?' Harry thought. 'This room isn't even visible from the outside.'
He and Draco had not doubted the Hogwarts headmaster when he said that this place was off limits except to them. And when he made no announcement during the start of term speech, they didn't doubt him either. They knew the older wizard knew what he was doing.
So how come there was someone knocking on their door?
Harry shook these thoughts from his head. Surely anyone who knew of this secret room would be a trusted friend.
So he touched the wall and it immediately opened up, to reveal Prof. Dumbledore.
"Prof. Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, ushering the headmaster in.
"I see you liked the arrangements I made?"
"Yes sir, very much," replied Harry. "I'll just go get Draco sir."
"There's no need Harry," said Draco, approaching them from the library. "I already sent the owl to father and I think our potions' ingredients will arrive tomorrow morning." He looked at Prof. Dumbledore and greeted him, "Good morning Prof. Dumbledore."
"Good morning to you too Mr. Malfoy," replied the headmaster. Harry and Draco sat down side by side on the couch and Prof. Dumbledore sat down on the arm chair beside the couch.
"What brings you here professor?" Harry asked.
"The next part of your training," the headmaster replied simply. "I understand that you have an assignment in Potions. But can you squeeze this into your schedule?"
"There's no problem with that professor," Draco said.
"Oh? No problem at all Mr. Malfoy?" Prof. Dumbledore asked in an amused voice.
"Harry and I both chose potions that would only take a short time to make," Draco pointed out. "Both are very complicated potions, but when done correctly, barely takes an hour to make."
"I see, I see," said Prof. Dumbledore. "When will you boys start making your potions?"
"Tomorrow sir," Harry replied. "We both seriously doubt that Prof. Snape has the ingredients that are needed for our potions. Because both potions aren't even known to our classmates and it wasn't taught in class either. So we resulted to ask Draco's father to send the ingredients to us."
"You owled your father?"
"Yes sir," Draco replied. "I simply wrote the ingredients and that I needed them to make a potion for my assignment. There is nothing suspicious with the letter in case the Death Eaters are able to intercept it."
"I see, very well then." The headmaster stood up and addressed the two boys, "The next part of your training will not be under my supervision, so you have to do this on your own. I have full confidence that you are capable of doing this even without me by your side."
"What is it sir?" Draco asked.
"I want both of you to become Animagi."
Both boys gasped at this, but Prof. Dumbledore stopped them from asking further questions by continuing, "Don't worry, you won't need to become registered Animagi, we register you two when the war is over. It's too risky to have other people know what you two are really capable of. Come to my office when both of you are ready to show me what you've accomplished. There are some books in your library which will be very useful."
"Why would we need to become Animagi?" Harry asked.
"Because," replied Prof. Dumbledore. "Having that knowledge and capability may come in handy sometimes, it may even save your life."
And with that, the elderly wizard left the room.
"To the library?" Harry asked Draco after Prof. Dumbledore left.
"We don't have a choice, now do we?" Draco asked, standing up. Harry sighed and followed his friend back to their library.
Once inside, Draco sat down as Harry skimmed through the books on the shelves.
"Do you even know what we're looking for?"
Harry nodded and picked out two books from the shelf. He tossed one to Draco and kept the other one for himself.
"Do we have the same books?"
Harry sat down on the chair opposite Draco's and shook his head. "Basically they're both about becoming Animagi, but the authors are different."
"I see," Draco replied. Then silence ensued as both boys focused their attentions to the books they needed to read.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Author's note, again ^^
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, they're the best ^^. I'll eventually clear out this entire "training" thingy by the next chapter and explain their past in either chapter 4 or 5.
