New Beginnings: The Seventh Year

by Dayna Day

Harry's seventh year is filled with danger and joy as he fell in love with a certain good looking blond. Then they discover the connection between the two of them (Slash) DracoHarry, RonHerm, DeanSeamus and others

6. Why Me?

Title: New Beginnings: The Seventh Year

Summary: Harry begins his seventh year, having to deal with the dangers and joys of life in school. He also notices that a certain someone is quite good-looking… (Slash) Harry/Draco, Ron/Herm, Dean/Seamus

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Chapter 6: Why me?

 As soon as the whole class settled themselves into their seats, they noticed a cat seated on the professor's table. Everyone stared at the cat, waiting for her to stop cleaning itself. Back in the first year, everyone ignored the cat. However seven years later, they knew better than to do that. In fact all the Gryffindor prefects attempted to discreetly warn all first years in Gryffindor to never ignore the cat in their first Transfiguration lesson, so as to avoid detentions and point deductions. That was because the cat was actually Professor McGonagall's animagus form. She had often used that form to patrol the hallways at night. The cat looked around and realised that all the students had arrived and leaped off the desk, changing to Professor McGonagall's form. She stopped in front of Draco, politely nodding to him. "I trust that you were comfortable last night in your dorm room?" She asked politely.

Draco nodded, and answered "Yes, Professor. Thank You." Upon hearing that she strode back to the blackboard to start her lesson.

"This year we are focusing on spells that can transfigure animals into other animals. Then we will progress to the spells that can allow you to transfigure other people into animals. However, these spells cannot transfigure your own self into an animal. The only one that can do that is when you train to be an animagus. We will not be teaching that in our curriculum in Hogwarts, mainly because when you have completed the training, you will have to register with the Ministry. There are institutions in which you can apply for when you graduate from here to learn that, mainly because not everyone can do it, the process being very long and hard, as well as painful in the training. It is more useful if you can handle the spells I'm going to teach you, because of the variety of choices that it allows you. Animagus transfiguration does not allow you to choose the animal. Very often, the animal chooses you, depending on the character that you have. What you learn this year will help you in that area, should you wish to further your studies in Transfiguration. Now, please pair up. There will be a group with an additional member as we have an odd number of students. Please face your partner." Professor McGonagall ended, with the students turned their chairs to face their partners. Everyone chose to stick with the potions pairs that were assigned by Snape and Neville being the odd one out decided to join Hermione and Ron, thinking that if he did something wrong, Hermione would be able to correct the mistake.

On the whole, the lesson went very well. Each pair was given a small hamster, which each partner took turns to change it into a mouse, a rabbit, a turtle and back to a hamster. The cycle went on as the requirement was that you need to change the color of the animal at each transfiguration. It amounted to quite a bit of laughter as Neville was seen chasing after a blue rabbit which hopped off after the change. Finally when the animals were changed back into the original hamsters and placed back into their cage, the class was dismissed.

The Gryffindors then traveled to the Charms classroom in which they were to have the lesson with Hufflepuffs. The first Charms lesson was based on theory and the whole class sat in the warm classroom listening to Professor Flitwick drone on and on. Harry was seated next to the window and was looking out of it, only paying half of his attention to the lecturing professor. He was quite restless as all throughout the summer, his aunt got him working in the garden and he was not used to sitting so much in one day. He missed his morning run that morning as well as he slept in. Looking at his schedule he realized that he had one and a half hour free after Charms before dinner and decided to go for a run around Hogwarts. Looking out of the window, he saw Hagrid bringing his class to a shed behind his hut to look at a certain animal. Knowing Hagrid, it must be something that was very rare. Since they took their O.W.L.s every one of them was to revise their curriculum in which they specialized in two areas of magic. Care of Magical Creatures, which Hagrid taught was taken out of the curriculum for the sixth and seventh years, for them to concentrate on other subjects. That also meant that he had less chance to talk to Hagrid, who was his first friend. From what he knew, there were only three people in the seventh year currently taking three areas of specializations, Hermione because she was the top student, Draco because he wanted to compete with Hermione, and Harry himself due to the need to be able to defend himself against Voldemort. Thus the three of them were no longer needed to take the Intermediate Herbalogy classes. In terms of workload, Hermione still had the most number of classes as she was taking Advanced Arithmancy, an elective, meaning she had an addition Intermediate Arithmancy class that she had to go. (A/N: the subjects that everyone is taking is at the end of the chapter.)

Harry then shot a glance at Draco. He knew that Draco and he were the only seventh years taking Advanced Transfiguration. (Draco's was taking Advanced DADA and Advanced Potions and Harry took Advanced DADA and Advanced Charms.) For the past year, Professor McGonagall said that she needed to get each other on par with each other's abilities before she could group the two together for combined lessons. Even though the two were still enemies then, Harry felt quite lonely turning up for lessons alone. Maybe she was afraid that she would have to spend time breaking up fights instead of teaching. And she meant whose abilities were NOT on par with whose? Harry frowned. He didn't want to lose out to Draco. Even though they were now sleeping in the same dorm, it did not mean that he was not competitive. He did care about the results he get, just that he also had other things on his mind, like Quidditch. Then he remembered that at breakfast when he compared his schedule with that of Draco's the only difference was that when he was supposed to go for Advanced Charms, Draco was to report to Snape for Advanced Potions. That meant that their Advanced Transfiguration was together. Hmm… I wonder if we can persuade McGonagall to teach us to be an animagus since Voldemort is after us. I think not, she made it very clear in her lesson that she doesn't approve of illegal animagus. Bet the presence of Sirius around is already driving her nuts. Harry smiled to himself.

Looking at his watch, he realized that he day-dreamed quite a large bit of the lesson away, missing the notes that he was supposed to take. Glancing at Draco who was studiously taking notes on his parchment which was full of notes, he slowly leant himself over Draco's right shoulder, placing his left hand over the back of Draco's chair, and started copying the notes that he missed. How can he write everything so neatly when Flitwick was speaking so fast? Harry wondered to himself, as he copied, not noticing that Draco's body froze in the middle of note-taking.

Draco breathed in shallowly and licked his lips. His mouth had suddenly gone dry as he felt Harry's warm presence lean in close to him, nearly embracing him. He shot a glance at Harry and realized that he merely wanted to copy his notes. He then tried to pull his attention back to the professor who despite having gone on for an hour, seemed to still have relentless energy in the way he talked. Draco hurriedly scribbled the new point that was being brought up by the professor so as to not let Harry know how his presence had affected him. When Harry finished, he leant back into his own seat, catching Draco's grey eyes staring at him. He gave Draco a quick grin and turned to face the professor. Draco, upon seeing his grin, realized that Harry merely leant close to him to copy notes and had no ulterior motives, breathed in deeply before turning his eyes back to Flitwick. That smile… and the reason why he's so attractive is that he does not know that he's attractive. Draco sighed to himself. How am I going to survive the rest of the year in his ROOM!

All these were observed by Dean who was seated behind Harry. He even caught the worried look that appeared on Draco's face when Draco turned to face the front. Way to go Harry! That was a really neat trick. Probably he didn't even know what he was doing to Draco. Wonder if it works on Seamus. Dean shot Seamus a look. Seamus for once was paying attention to the professor and scribbling his notes on the parchment, and did not see what happened with Harry and Draco. Dean cautiously leant over and followed Harry's previous position with his chest lightly touching Seamus' right arm and Dean's left hand behind Seamus. He nearly couldn't control his elation when he felt Seamus freeze up and shoot him a glance. He copied the notes he missed when he was observing at Harry and Draco and then slowly pulled back when he finished. He nearly smiled when he saw Seamus looking at him with the deer in the headlights look in his eyes and casually gave a grin to thank him for letting him copy the notes. He then faced the front, keeping an eye on Seamus' face. Seamus looked at his parchment, swallowed, and bit his bottom lip, before glancing at Dean again. He then seemed to come to the conclusion that Dean did not mean to lean that close and looked up at the professor. However, he did not continue to take down any more notes as his mind seemed to be a mess at that moment.

Everything was being observed by Neville who was seated behind Seamus. He was trying to hide his smile behind his hand. I can't wait to tell Ginny what happen. He smiled to himself, just as Professor Flitwick dismissed the class and reminded them to hand in their summer assignments.

Harry went with the whole group to the dorms with only Hermione running off for her Arithmancy class. Upon reaching the dorm room, Harry dumped his bag on his bed, took a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of shorts to change and then bent down to wear his running shoes. Draco was sitting on his bed tidying his things when he looked up just in time to see the back view of Harry straightening up dressed in a pair of shorts that showed off his muscular legs and a t-shirt that showed off his arms. Seamus sat down on Draco's bed, discreetly muttered to him "You're drooling." and grinned at his uncomfortable look. "Harry, you are not going to go running alone are you?" Seamus commented in a serious tone.

"I'm just going to run around the Quidditch pitch. Nothing is going to happen to me." Harry took his wand from the pocket of his discarded robe and wondered where to tuck it so that it would not disrupt his running. When he was running during the summer, he did not have to bring his wand around as he was prohibited from using magic in the summer.

"Quidditch Pitch? I'll sit in the stands while you run. Pass me your wand. I'll hold it for you." Seamus stretched out his hand and took the wand from Harry. He then took off his robe, showing him in a t-shirt and jeans. "It's too hot outside to wear a robe."

Draco quickly took off his robe as well, pulled a t-shirt from his closet and combed his hair. "I'll join you." All Seamus did was to wait at the door for him. All three left their room, and went down to the Gryffindor common room.

Just then the portrait swung open and Day entered with her group of Fifth Years. Some of the girls passed Harry and giggled. Day bounded up to Harry and stopped him. She then gestured for him to make a turn. Knowing that Day would not let him leave till she was satisfied, he made a turn, like showing off his clothes to Day. When he turned back to face Day, she leant close to him and whispered into his ears, "You look so HOT. Looks like Draco's going to have wet dreams tonight." She then ran laughingly towards her dorm room. Harry chuckled and turned towards the portrait, seeing from the corner of his eye that Draco was staring at him.

The three made their way to the Quidditch Pitch and Harry did some warm-up. He then did some push-ups and sit-ups before starting for his run. All through his warm-ups, both Seamus and Draco were silent, staring at him exercise. Only when he left them at the stands for his run did they relax in their seats.

"Amazing in the fact that he doesn't know how good he looks." Seamus commented, looking at Draco. All Draco did was nod as he looked at the figure running. Draco was slightly aroused by the sight of Harry doing his warm-ups. He thanked Merlin that he chose a looser pair of jeans that morning when he dressed. Then he turned back to Seamus to find him scrutinizing him.

"What?"

"I see attraction." Seamus commented, before turning to look at Harry.

"For who?" Draco tried denying it.

"Don't. He's attracted to you too. All I ask for is that you don't hurt him. He already lost too many things in life. And he isn't like me. I don't mind flings because I'm selfish. So that when I'm lonely, at that moment, I have someone with me. He once told me that he mate for life, because he doesn't want the emptiness of flings."

 "Don't you want someone to be with you for life?" Draco asked.

"Who doesn't?" Seamus smiled sadly. "But… it seems that the one I really want doesn't want me. So whenever I feel cold… I start a fling."

"It's Dean isn't it?" Draco asked softly.

"Was I that obvious? I thought I hid it well. Flirt with everyone, every ten people I flirt with, I flirt once with Dean. That once was all I asked for. Sometimes I wonder why I torture myself. There are quite a few guys who don't mind having me in their bed, not that I'm boasting. But every night I go and lie in my empty bed just to hear the snores coming from the next bed. Just to be near to him. Because that seems to be all I can get. A roommate. Oh God, I'm being sappy. Again." Seamus sighed, lying back, looking up into the sky which was going to darken soon. "I think Harry knows. I never told him, but he always caught me staring at Dean. Last year was horrible. Remember Dean had a girlfriend? The two of them were always snogging in front of me. I wanted to slap that bitch. Then she cheated on him. Dean really liked her. He came to me crying. That night I had to put a silencing spell on my curtains and I cried the whole night. Why must I fall for Dean?" Seamus closed his eyes, trying to control his emotions. He was afraid that he was going to start crying. He didn't understand why he was telling all these to Draco Malfoy all a sudden. Maybe it was because that Draco, being houseless and having no family, wouldn't really tell the other Slytherins and make them tease him. Maybe it was because he was starting to trust Draco. He turned to face Draco who was staring at him. "Don't tell Harry huh?"

Draco nodded. "I have to admit, I do find myself attracted to Harry. But like him, I don't play around. The only person you could hear who was linked to me was Pansy. But that's because she was always latched to me. Not by my choice. But Harry and I… it's too fast. He's grown a lot in the last summer. He looks really good now. Yesterday morning we were still enemies. Yesterday night he accepted me as a friend because of Dumbledore. I think we should go slower. Until I realize that I really like him a lot and that it IS going to last, I think we should try our hand at friendship first." Draco sighed. "After all, I don't want to start something with him now and regret it when I realized that it was because I'm feeling lonely now. And I personally think that we can become very good friends if we want. We are quite similar you know." Draco looked out at the pitch, and spotted Harry slowing down to make his way back to them.

As Harry made his way back to the two of them, he wondered what they have been talking about. He then thought about the Dean and Seamus situation. Dean should be working faster. Seamus had been in love with him for more than a year. He was so hurt last year when Dean got himself a girlfriend. It was so obvious in that every time Dean and his girlfriend talked to each other, Seamus would latch onto Harry's arm and engage himself in everything but not to look at them. It hurt Harry to see his friend so sad. Now when Dean finally decided to notice Seamus, can't he work harder to get Seamus so that Seamus could stop thinking himself as unwanted? I need to talk to Dean and get him to speed it up. Seamus isn't going to wait forever.

Then what about yourself? A voice inside his head asked.

What myself? Harry answered defensively.

You know, that attraction to a certain blond. That voice cheekily said.

Don't say it like he's a silly blond. He's smart, good looking, and had a sad childhood. He had enough sadness in his life. I don't want to endanger him. No one wants a boyfriend with the lowest life-expectancy in the whole damn school. Why would he want me? And why am I arguing with myself? Harry sighed.

Harry reached the other two and did some short cooling-down exercises. Then he took his wand back and the three silently made their way back to his dorm room. Harry took his toiletries to take a shower. As he stepped under the hot water with his eyes closed, he couldn't help seeing the image of Draco's mercury eyes staring at him. He reached out his hand and turned the water to cold water as he finished showering using cold water.

The whole group met Hermione outside the Great Hall when they went for their dinner. Ron immediately took over her heavy bag and gave her a peck on her cheeks. They did not know that four people were sending them looks of envy as they went into the Great Hall, feeling lonely in the crowd of hundreds.

Halfway through the dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. "As you have noticed, we have yet to announce the identity of the Head Girl and Head Boy. I'm pleased to announce that Mr Terry Boot from Ravenclaw and Miss Hermione Granger from Gryffindor are the Head Boy and Girl respectively. Please give the two of them all the cooperation you can in this year." Both Terry Boot and Hermione stood up and bowed to the school. When she sat down, Ron gave Hermione a big hug.

"I knew you will get the post. Knew it six years ago when you were scolding me in Charms. Congratulations, love." Hermione beamed at her boyfriend. Everyone around was congratulating her. Hermione then quickly finished her dinner, went over to the Ravenclaw table to discuss the date for the first prefect meeting before going to the Hufflepuffs table to tell the prefects the meeting date. Terry then made his way to Blaise, the other Slytherin Seventh Year prefect and told him to pass the news to the prefects of his house. Draco shook his head.

"Ron, you do know that the prefects are going to hate the Head Boy and Girl this year. Both are SO hardworking. And most of the prefects are really lazy. I know from experience. Slytherins prefects are notorious for being unapproachable. I had a good year last year with the first years quivering whenever I walked past their group. It was so hilarious." Draco joked.

"Draco, only you would think of scaring the first years as hilarious. Imagine they come into a school that they were not familiar with, and the prefects are so scary, you are going to scar them for life." Ginny frowned back at Draco, as she was a prefect for her year too. Just then Hermione came back to her seat.

"Gin, Wednesday eight pm, prefect room. Pass the message." Ginny nodded and went to find the other prefects of the house. Hermione then turned to Draco. "You do know that I'm going to miss you arguing against me in the prefect meetings right?" Hermione smiled at Draco.

"Of course. Who else will argue against you? Harry, potatoes." Draco said, handing Harry his spoon. Harry took the potatoes for him and went on eating. Just then a black furry head pushed itself in between of Harry's and Draco's bodies. "Snuffles, didn't anyone feed you? You are so rude." Draco mock scolded Sirius whose eyes were eyeing the chicken wings on the table. Harry stretched out his hand, grabbed a chicken wing and extended it to Sirius who immediately bit into the chicken wing and sat down between the two chairs eating it. Draco just shook his head and frowned up to the teachers' table where Professor Lupin was seated eating his dinner. "The way this mongrel is eating, you would think that Lupin is starving him. He won't do that, will he?" He glared back at Sirius who had finished the chicken wing and was panting hopefully up to him. Draco took two chicken wings and threw it onto the floor again, before going back to his dinner.

"Do I hear the great Draco Malfoy being concerned for a mere dog?" Ron teased Draco. Then a growl came from the dog behind Draco, who was baring his teeth and glaring at Ron for the comment of him being a 'mere' dog.

"Down, Snuffles. Ron, after all, Snuffles did belong to me for three weeks before school started. Who did you think was my bodyguard when I was at Hogwarts?" Draco grinned back at Ron, throwing two more chicken wings behind him to Sirius. Sirius settled down to finish the chicken.

There was an empty seat beside Dean. Harry motioned Dean to pass the empty plate in that seat to him. He then piled some more chicken wings, some potatoes and pastries onto the plate and lowered it for Sirius to eat. Sirius wagged his tail furiously, barked once in gratitude and started gobbling the food on the plate.

"The rate you kids are feeding it, before long, it will be too fat to even patrol the halls." Remus had walked to their group after finishing his dinner, sitting down beside Dean. Sirius looked up at Remus, growled at him and went back to gobbling his food.

"I should think that after everything, Snuffles deserved to eat." Ron commented. "What's up?"

Remus looked at Harry. "Just dropped by to say hi. And you are feeding my ungrateful dog. Any problems with your rooms?"

"Nope. No problems. But I do have some questions to ask you. So why don't you and Snuffles follow us up later?" Harry answered. Remus nodded and turned his eyes towards Sirius, who was now licking his paws, with the empty plate and a pile of bones in front of him. Harry saw his loving look and turned to look at Draco who was also staring at the professor. He lifted his eyebrow, to which Draco shrugged his shoulders. It seemed that there may be something between Sirius and Remus that they all did not know about.

When everyone finished dinner, they all made their way up to their rooms, with Remus and Sirius following. Or rather, the whole group followed Sirius who was in front with another group of Gryffindors who was trying to pet it. Finally, reaching what they call Study area, Sirius pounced on one of the couches and changed back to human form. Those who did not get the couches just sat on the carpet around the couches, lazy to pull chairs towards the centre. All that is lacking is a fireplace for the cozy atmosphere to be complete. The night before, when everyone was unpacking, Hermione suggested that they each pick a table in the Study area as their own and the shelves above their table will be their own personal book space. This was a good idea as the sleeping areas only had closets for the clothes and no space to keep the books at all. In comparison, Hermione's, Ginny's and Draco's shelves had the most number of books, while Ron's, Seamus's and Harry's space had many Quidditch stuff. After the first day of school, Hermione's area already looked very well-used as she had woke up early in the morning to attempt some studying before breakfast. Neville's desk had a small cactus on it and was next to the window looking out to the Quidditch pitch, which was always left open for air ventilation and for the owls to reach the people in the dorm. Sirius looked around the place.

"You all had been busy huh? This place looked lived in after one day. The carpet wasn't here yesterday." Sirius commented.

"Remember the bell? Got the house elves to dig a carpet out for us. They'll give Ron anything." Hermione grinned.

"That's only because they know I appreciate the food they cook. And they loved to serve people." Ron grinned at Sirius.

"So Harry, what questions?" Remus looked at Harry, whose expression quickly turned serious.

"Why me?" Harry said.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other and sighed. They had been expecting this question. They knew that this question had been bothering Harry since a few years ago, but Dumbledore kept avoiding the issue. However, over the summer, he had finally given his consent to tell Harry why he was so important to the cause. They were just waiting for Harry to ask the question again.

Ron frowned. "Harry, what do you mean?"

"Why is Harry so important that Voldemort would kill so many people to get to him?" Draco translated for Ron.

"Because he's the Boy-who-lived. He embarrassed You-Know-who." Ron answered as if it was obvious.

"No, there must be a reason why Voldemort came after my family. He didn't want my father. He didn't even want to kill my mum. Why me?" Harry asked again, never taking his eyes off Sirius. Everyone then turned to stare at Sirius and Remus.

"Fifteen years ago, one month before Halloween, we received news from Dumbledore that the Potters may be in danger. A pregnant mother who was recently widowed by Death-eaters had been murdered in her sleep. The Dark Mark was spotted by the Aurors and when Dumbledore attempted to trace back the family tree of that family, he found that they linked back to Helga Hufflepuff. Thus the baby in that woman's womb was in actual fact the heir of Hufflepuff. Thus he deduced that the Potters may be in danger as the Heir of Slytherin may be hunting the heirs of the other founders." Sirius said

"Harry, when they did the tracing of the other founders' families, they found that the Potters actually descended directly from Godric Gryffindor. The deduction would that the Heir of Gryffindor to be James. However, you were one year old by then. When trying to find the Ravenclaw's heir, we found that we were too late. Hence the Fidelius charm was suggested for your family." Remus continued. "At first we weren't even sure if the heir connection was passed onto you or not by birth, but from what Dumbledore told me, you pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the sorting hat a few years back and in a way, that's the proof that we need that you are the Heir of Gryffindor. Hence for this year, we made extra protection around you."

Everyone then turned to look at Harry, who didn't look at all surprised with what he had just been told. "Well, I'm not THAT surprised. Dumbledore dropped clues and I did have quite a few years of time to figure it out. All I needed was confirmation. So there are two heirs left? Voldemort and myself? Is that why the world seemed to think I can get rid of him again?"

"I also don't get something. Why didn't Dumbledore just leave me be? Why would he want me be protected like his darling Gryffindor Heir? I'm nowhere as important. That bastard already killed my whole family." Draco injected.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other again. "Harry, it's true that only the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's Heir are left. However, we know something that Voldemort don't. He assumed that Parseltongue was a talent which only descendants of Salazar Slytherins have. It is not. The reason why Tom Riddle could open the Chamber of Secrets was not because he was the Heir of Slytherin. After all, Harry, you could open it. That just made Voldemort assumes that he is the Heir. But he's not. Heirs are passed down through the males of the family. And Tom got his magic powers from his mother." Remus answered.

"Then who IS the Heir of Slytherin?" Hermione asked.

Sirius smiled. "That's the other person we all are trying to protect here."

Everyone turned to stare at Draco, who looked stunned with the news. "What? Me? But… my father never said anything. How could it be me?" He started to panicked. What am I to do? Not only is You-know-who after me, I'm also the Heir of Slytherin. Draco, who was always so cool and calm with everything that happened, seemed to be about to hyperventilate.

Harry reached out when he saw that Draco seemed to be in a panic and grasped Draco's wrist tightly. "Draco, listen to me. LISTEN. Voldemort does not know. You are not in anymore danger than you were before, yet. No death eaters will be that stupid to go to him and tell him that he's not the heir. I don't think your father knew. That's why he didn't say anything. Voldemort would never have guessed that the Malfoy family that was under his control for so long is in actual fact hiding the heir. Calm down. Take a deep breath." Harry said in a commanding voice. Draco took a deep breath and found him calming down. His mind started moving very fast, accessing the situation. Upon evaluation, he realized that Harry was correct. Nobody would be so stupid as to tell You-know-who the truth if they wanted to keep themselves alive. Voldemort, assuming that he himself was the Heir, would not attempt to order anyone to trace the Slytherin bloodlines. When he was positive that he had his emotions under control, he looked up at the rest, who were still staring at him.

Harry saw that he was back in control, so he let go of his wrist and leant back in his couch. "You really need to teach me that."

"Teach you what?" Draco asked, turning to Harry.

"Hiding your emotions. Everyone tells me that they can read me like an open book. I don't want Voldemort to read me so easily." Harry commented.

"You didn't grow up having to hide your emotions from everyone around you. This is sixteen years of practice." Draco easily answered. "Any more secrets you want to drop on us?" He asked Sirius and Remus, who shook their heads. Everyone just sat back in silence to digest what they learnt that night. Remus was leaning against the couch Sirius was sitting and Sirius was unconsciously ruffling Remus' hair. They could almost hear Remus purring if he was a cat. All the students noticed and were looking at the two of them in amusement.

"Um, Remus, Sirius, anything about you two that you want to tell us?" Harry asked. Then the two adults realized that everyone was looking at them trying not to laugh.

They looked at each other and laughed. "Well, Remus and I are together. Harry, you don't mind, do you?" Sirius looked worriedly at Harry.

Harry laughed. "Why should I mind? I'm happy for you both. So Professor, does that make you my godmother?" Harry grinned, and Remus blushed at his comment. Everyone laughed.

"Sirius, I normally go for morning jogs. Seamus says that I shouldn't go alone. And I don't want to wake them up early. Do you think you could be my bodyguard every morning?" Harry asked Sirius.

Sirius nodded, and asked, "What time, I'll meet you outside the Portrait of the Fat Lady?"

"Six Thirty." Harry replied.

Ron looked at Harry like he was mad. "You'll wake up so early for a jog?" Harry just smiled at Ron.

The rest of the time was spent chatting on other stuff, while Remus refused to tell the others what he is teaching them this year for DADA, wanting them to know only when they turn up for the class. Sirius was talking to Seamus and Dean about Quidditch and Ginny and Hermione were discussing about the issues they can bring up for the prefect meeting. The only people who were quiet were Harry and Draco, who were just sitting there thinking. They caught each other's eyes and Draco indicated that they should talk. Draco got up and went into their room, sitting on his bed. After a minute, Harry walked in, and came to a stop and leant on the post of Dean's bed, facing Draco.

*****

Name	Advanced			Intermediate
Harry	DADA	Charms	Transfiguration	DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic
Draco	DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic
Ron	DADA	Charms		DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic	Herbalogy
Hermione	DADA	Charms	Arithmancy	DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic	Arithmancy
Dean	DADA	Charms		DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic	Herbalogy
Seamus	DADA	Charms		DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic	Herbalogy
Neville	Herbalogy	History of Magic		DADA	Potions	Transfiguration	Charms	History of Magic	Herbalogy

A/N: another long chapter. Above is the subject combinations they are taking. I decided to save the talk between Draco and Harry till next chapter. Shall I just speed the attraction up and make them kiss faster? And the Dean and Seamus situation. Sigh… this whole story is progressing so slowly. Sigh. I liked the fact that Voldie thinks he's the heir… lesson learnt here: Never assume. It makes an ass out of you and me. Review!!!