1997
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy," Snape's voice bellowed and echoed in the potions classroom. "I believe I have made it clear on numerous occasions that I will not tolerate such disruptions in my class. 50 points from each house and you'll both be serving detention with me at promptly 8:00 this evening."
Harry closed his eyes and silently counted to 10, willing himself to stay silent so that Snape couldn't find anything else to punish him for. He still couldn't understand why Snape continue to harass him in class. Within a few weeks after Harry joined the Order of the Pheonix in fifth year, Snape had begun to treat him as an equal. Well, only during the secret meetings of the Order. They'd been having a lot of meetings lately, as there was strong suspicion that Voldemort was going to strike soon. The entire wizarding world had finally accepted the fact that Voldemort was still alive and had been waiting with much anticipation for his next attack. Oddly, there had been only one minor attack each year, almost like clockwork. The next attack was expected to be not against Harry, not against Hogwarts, not even against the Ministry, but against the entire known world, Muggle and Wizard alike. The Order was preparing an army. An army to fight an all out war against Voldemort - to hopefully fend off the strain and tragedy of living like that had 20-some years ago before Voldemort lost power after attempting to kill young Harry Potter.
Harry was snapped to attention by Malfoy's demeaning whisper. "You might want to wake up, Potter. If you dare to attract any more attention over here before this class is over, I'll spend a month making sure you regret it." Harry opened his eyes and glanced sideways at Malfoy. He had to admit that he should be making the most out of the unfortunate pairing with the clever Slytherin. Harry was lousy at Potions, not as bad as Neville Longbottom, mind you, but lousy nonetheless. Malfoy, on the other hand, was not only clever in Potions, but was also Snape's pet student. If Harry played his cards right, he could learn a little something useful and bring up his standing in the Potion Master's eyes.
Quickly, he turned his attention back to the bat's wings that needed to be sliced thinly. He had paid enough attention before Malfoy's insults brought them detention to know that the bat's wings would be useless if not sliced thinly enough and added at just the right moment before the potion turned blue.
Draco Malfoy was pleased to see that his threat had worked. He had to admire Potter's skills with a knife, even if the Gryffindor knew next to nothing about the full on process of brewing the night vision potion. Malfoy, like many other seventh year students, had picked up on the fact that many of their potions were being tested and kept by Professor Snape. It was widely suspected that Snape was storing these advanced potions for a very specific reason, though the details of that reason varied by the speaker.
"All right, if everyone's potion is ready." Snape paused and took a look around the dungeon to verify that the potions were in fact ready. He was pleased to see that Miss Granger had finally succeeded in keeping Longbottom out of trouble for this session. "We'll test these out now. Please fill a small vial from your cauldron and wait until I tell you to drink." Snape wandered around the classroom, watching the nervous anticipation on the faces of many of his students. He knew that each potion was exactly right, his expertise allowed him to be certain of that simply by the color, the thickness and the smell of it. In spite of his harsh façade, Snape would never allow a student to test a potion that would cause them any harm. He found it much easier to command attention if he allowed the students to fear the unknown. He also believed it would better prepare them for the real world.
After verifying that all the students were prepared, Snape raised his wand and muttered "Tenebae Totalus," one of the few simple charms he would perform, considering his dislike for most wandwork. Every torch and candle in the room went out simultaneously, plunging the dungeon room into complete and total darkness. "Drink your potions now."
Draco Malfoy put the small vial up to his lips and tossed back the thick blue potion as if it were a stiff drink. He'd begun to think he needed a stiff drink after the way he found himself admiring Potter's hands a few moments ago. It started with the way he handled his knife, but quickly evolved into the way he *handled* his knife. Draco could admit that Potter wasn't a bad looking bloke, and he had no qualms about either gender when regarding sexual relations, but Potter was in a field of his own. Potter was his mortal enemy, the bane of his existence, the opposite of all he believed in, and too damned innocent to be any fun in bed anyway. Nevertheless, once Draco opened his eyes and began adjusting to night vision, he let his gaze wander around the room, taking in all the students, the materials and his professor, subconsciously avoiding one specific Gryffindor.
Harry Potter had the distinct impression that Malfoy was distracted by something. Shrugging his shoulders, he downed his vial of potion, grimacing against the chalky taste, and carefully felt to set the vial down on the table. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, allowing the potion to sink in. When he opened them, to his utter amazement, he could see everything in the room. It wasn't quite like daytime, rather everything had a slightly blue-grey tint and certain things seemed to be glowing. Hermione and Neville looked like a couple of floating heads across the room from him, the white collars that stuck up from their robes were glowing, casting an odd light on their faces. Looking over at Ron, Harry smiled to himself when he saw that the boy's red hair seemed to be on fire - so fitting for someone with a temper like his. Finally, he turned his head to look at Malfoy, and couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips. Malfoy looked.well.unbelievable! His silver blond hair appeared truly silver, his pale skin looked like porcelain and, when Harry finally caught a side view of those grey eyes, they appeared to be sparkling like diamonds.
Harry shook his head in disbelief. He hadn't begun to show any "relationship" interests until the end of sixth year (with the exception of Cho, of course). After Cho, and the guilt he felt over Cedric's death, Harry had determined that any type of "relationship" wasn't a good idea for him. Anyone he dated would automatically be in danger because of Voldemort's vendetta against him. Harry wasn't willing to put anyone else in that position. Finally, toward the end of last year, he began to acknowledge that he was no longer immune to the maturing students he shared his classes with. Parvati was very nice looking. Seamus could be downright sexy when he tried. Even Blaise, Slytherin or not, was pleasant to look at. Truth be told, there were a great number of people in seventh year alone that Harry found attractive, or interesting, or engaging, or . whatever. But there were three people, exactly three people in his year that Harry knew he would never see in that light. Ron - because he was Harry's best friend and Harry had spent so much time with Ron's family that they felt like brothers. Hermione - because she was Harry's other best friend and the sister he never had. And finally - Malfoy - because he was an arrogant, evil, insensitive, prat who knew nothing but how to behave like his bastardly, insufferable git of a father. Malfoy was his enemy. And his enemy looked rather hot through night vision.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy," Snape's voice bellowed and echoed in the potions classroom. "I believe I have made it clear on numerous occasions that I will not tolerate such disruptions in my class. 50 points from each house and you'll both be serving detention with me at promptly 8:00 this evening."
Harry closed his eyes and silently counted to 10, willing himself to stay silent so that Snape couldn't find anything else to punish him for. He still couldn't understand why Snape continue to harass him in class. Within a few weeks after Harry joined the Order of the Pheonix in fifth year, Snape had begun to treat him as an equal. Well, only during the secret meetings of the Order. They'd been having a lot of meetings lately, as there was strong suspicion that Voldemort was going to strike soon. The entire wizarding world had finally accepted the fact that Voldemort was still alive and had been waiting with much anticipation for his next attack. Oddly, there had been only one minor attack each year, almost like clockwork. The next attack was expected to be not against Harry, not against Hogwarts, not even against the Ministry, but against the entire known world, Muggle and Wizard alike. The Order was preparing an army. An army to fight an all out war against Voldemort - to hopefully fend off the strain and tragedy of living like that had 20-some years ago before Voldemort lost power after attempting to kill young Harry Potter.
Harry was snapped to attention by Malfoy's demeaning whisper. "You might want to wake up, Potter. If you dare to attract any more attention over here before this class is over, I'll spend a month making sure you regret it." Harry opened his eyes and glanced sideways at Malfoy. He had to admit that he should be making the most out of the unfortunate pairing with the clever Slytherin. Harry was lousy at Potions, not as bad as Neville Longbottom, mind you, but lousy nonetheless. Malfoy, on the other hand, was not only clever in Potions, but was also Snape's pet student. If Harry played his cards right, he could learn a little something useful and bring up his standing in the Potion Master's eyes.
Quickly, he turned his attention back to the bat's wings that needed to be sliced thinly. He had paid enough attention before Malfoy's insults brought them detention to know that the bat's wings would be useless if not sliced thinly enough and added at just the right moment before the potion turned blue.
Draco Malfoy was pleased to see that his threat had worked. He had to admire Potter's skills with a knife, even if the Gryffindor knew next to nothing about the full on process of brewing the night vision potion. Malfoy, like many other seventh year students, had picked up on the fact that many of their potions were being tested and kept by Professor Snape. It was widely suspected that Snape was storing these advanced potions for a very specific reason, though the details of that reason varied by the speaker.
"All right, if everyone's potion is ready." Snape paused and took a look around the dungeon to verify that the potions were in fact ready. He was pleased to see that Miss Granger had finally succeeded in keeping Longbottom out of trouble for this session. "We'll test these out now. Please fill a small vial from your cauldron and wait until I tell you to drink." Snape wandered around the classroom, watching the nervous anticipation on the faces of many of his students. He knew that each potion was exactly right, his expertise allowed him to be certain of that simply by the color, the thickness and the smell of it. In spite of his harsh façade, Snape would never allow a student to test a potion that would cause them any harm. He found it much easier to command attention if he allowed the students to fear the unknown. He also believed it would better prepare them for the real world.
After verifying that all the students were prepared, Snape raised his wand and muttered "Tenebae Totalus," one of the few simple charms he would perform, considering his dislike for most wandwork. Every torch and candle in the room went out simultaneously, plunging the dungeon room into complete and total darkness. "Drink your potions now."
Draco Malfoy put the small vial up to his lips and tossed back the thick blue potion as if it were a stiff drink. He'd begun to think he needed a stiff drink after the way he found himself admiring Potter's hands a few moments ago. It started with the way he handled his knife, but quickly evolved into the way he *handled* his knife. Draco could admit that Potter wasn't a bad looking bloke, and he had no qualms about either gender when regarding sexual relations, but Potter was in a field of his own. Potter was his mortal enemy, the bane of his existence, the opposite of all he believed in, and too damned innocent to be any fun in bed anyway. Nevertheless, once Draco opened his eyes and began adjusting to night vision, he let his gaze wander around the room, taking in all the students, the materials and his professor, subconsciously avoiding one specific Gryffindor.
Harry Potter had the distinct impression that Malfoy was distracted by something. Shrugging his shoulders, he downed his vial of potion, grimacing against the chalky taste, and carefully felt to set the vial down on the table. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, allowing the potion to sink in. When he opened them, to his utter amazement, he could see everything in the room. It wasn't quite like daytime, rather everything had a slightly blue-grey tint and certain things seemed to be glowing. Hermione and Neville looked like a couple of floating heads across the room from him, the white collars that stuck up from their robes were glowing, casting an odd light on their faces. Looking over at Ron, Harry smiled to himself when he saw that the boy's red hair seemed to be on fire - so fitting for someone with a temper like his. Finally, he turned his head to look at Malfoy, and couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips. Malfoy looked.well.unbelievable! His silver blond hair appeared truly silver, his pale skin looked like porcelain and, when Harry finally caught a side view of those grey eyes, they appeared to be sparkling like diamonds.
Harry shook his head in disbelief. He hadn't begun to show any "relationship" interests until the end of sixth year (with the exception of Cho, of course). After Cho, and the guilt he felt over Cedric's death, Harry had determined that any type of "relationship" wasn't a good idea for him. Anyone he dated would automatically be in danger because of Voldemort's vendetta against him. Harry wasn't willing to put anyone else in that position. Finally, toward the end of last year, he began to acknowledge that he was no longer immune to the maturing students he shared his classes with. Parvati was very nice looking. Seamus could be downright sexy when he tried. Even Blaise, Slytherin or not, was pleasant to look at. Truth be told, there were a great number of people in seventh year alone that Harry found attractive, or interesting, or engaging, or . whatever. But there were three people, exactly three people in his year that Harry knew he would never see in that light. Ron - because he was Harry's best friend and Harry had spent so much time with Ron's family that they felt like brothers. Hermione - because she was Harry's other best friend and the sister he never had. And finally - Malfoy - because he was an arrogant, evil, insensitive, prat who knew nothing but how to behave like his bastardly, insufferable git of a father. Malfoy was his enemy. And his enemy looked rather hot through night vision.