A/N: Wow, two chapters in one week. ^^; Yay. Anyways, the plot is still creeping alone, but there *are* some new developments in this chapter, and some slightly more major ones in the next chapter. From this chapter on, there will be classes, mostly Draco's potions class (you'll understand why by the time you finish this chappie). Also, an "erumpent" potion is one that gives you gas (you'll need to know that towards the end to get a joke).

Before i go away and let this be read, I just want to ask why people are such review scrooges. Its not nice, you meanies. =P You're lucky I don't care, otherwise this might not be living to see a third chapter. -_-

Disclaimer: Do I look like Rowling or Warner Bros.? No, I don't. All I claim ownership to in my frightening large TCG collection and the two sets of books I own (one American, one British).

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Chapter Three: Ex cearulo (Out of the Blue)

Somehow, Draco had been blessed with solitude the last three days of the holiday, giving him just enough time to get all his homework done. He supposed that Lucinda and Constance had finally realized their homework had to take precedence over driving him insane. Without them around, and homework to occupy every spare corner of his mind, he hadn't really thought about any of what he'd learned over the holiday. He had actually been in a rather good mood as he strode into the Great Hall for breakfast the first day of the new term.

Of course, that was before the owl came. It had nearly flown straight into the side of his head before landing with a spectacular thud a few feet down the table. At first he had been relieved to find it hadn't been for him, but in learning that he learned something far worse: it had been for Constance. It wouldn't have mattered to him very much if she and Lucinda hadn't kept glancing at him as they read the postcard the owl had brought. Upon finishing the postcard, they simply stared down the table at him, occasionally looking at one another before staring at him again.

"What?" He glared at them, very tired of feeling their prying little eyes on him. "If you have something to say, say it."

"Well," Constance looked at Lucinda as she tucked the postcard in her bag, then stood up. "If you insist."

Lucinda stood up and followed Constance as she moved down the table closer to Draco. "If you don't like what we tell you, you have no one to blame but yourself, got it?"

"Yes, yes," he scowled, wanting to get the torture over with. "Just get on with it."

Constance opened her bag, and pulled the postcard from it. "I'll bet you're curious about who this is from."

"I'm more curious as to what its about," he told her simply. "And what it had to do with me."

"Oh, its got lots to do with you," Lucinda informed him, shaking her head vigorously as if to impress her point upon him.

"That it does," Constance agreed. "Its from my cousin. He's a death eater-"

"-Of sorts," Lucinda cut her off, giving her a pointed look. "He's not a wizard, so technically he's just a servant of the Dark Lord."

"That's true," Constance nodded.

"Why would the Dark Lord even let him breathe, much less serve him if he's not a wizard?" Draco asked. "I didn't think muggles were exactly his style, unless you count his hobby of terrorizing them."

"Who said he was muggle?" was all Lucinda said before Constance continued on about the postcard.

"He sent this-" Constance waved the postcard a little. "-because you seem to be a hot topic of discussion at Chez Volde-"

Lucinda smacked her sharply in the arm. "Don't say the name! Dear God, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Its not like you care," Constance replied indignantly.

Draco just stared at them, wondering why it had to take them so damn long to get to whatever point they happened to be trying to make. "So, what is it that's being said?"

"Eh-? Oh," Constance smiled. "Seems Volde-" Lucinda smacked her arm again. "-the Dark lord," he corrected herself as sarcastically as possible. "Has quite the interest in you."

"Yes," Lucinda added coolly. "Seems your daddy was quite special. One of his favorite pets, so to speak."

"Yeah, nothing like yours at all," Draco commented sardonically. "Just because my father was one of his favorites does not mean I'm in any position to take his place."

"I'm pretty sure," Constance raised her eyebrows. "That he doesn't care too much."

"Well," Draco said, feeling a bit annoyed, and sure that it was easy to hear in his voice. "Right now, I've got much more pressing matters to deal with."

"Such as-?" Lucinda looked at him, inquisitively.

"Such as three and a half hours of N.E.W.T. potions," he informed her. "With Snape. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Oh no you don't," Lucinda's expression suddenly turned to very perky and slightly manic. Draco was not thrilled. "Not with out me, that is."

"And just what will you accomplish by following me?"

"More than you'd think," she positively beamed at him; she obviously was aware of something he wasn't. "Now, come on. We'll be late!"

She quite literally grabbed him by the arm, and skittered off towards the dungeons dragging him behind her; Draco caught a glimpse of Constance as she fell off the Slytherin table's bench, from what looked like the inability to breathe due to laughing too hard. Draco was definitely scared.

They arrived in the stairwell that lead down to potions classroom within five minutes of leaving the great hall. Or rather, she stopped at the top of the stairs, and "accidentally" let go him, causing him to both fall down the stairs and suffer a nasty bit of whiplash. He had apparently flown straight into the door before making contact with the stone floor; moments after he landed, the door opened to reveal a very perturbed looking professor Snape.

"Up, boy. Surely," he said, absolutely glowering at Draco. "That is no way for such a-" he paused, to pick exactly the right word to use. "-prominent Slytherin Such as yourself to behave, is it?"

"Yes, sir," he venerated, glaring at Lucinda as she skipped down the steps, looking cheerful and innocent.

"Ah, Miss Altus," Snape smiled oddly as he said this. "Come with me. I'm not at all in the mood to let you scare anymore of my sixth year students."

"Yes, professor," she smiled a very fake and sugary sweet smile, while batting her eyelashes.

She followed Snape into the classroom, leaving Draco to pick himself up without another word. He scowled, and trudged into the dungeon. When he reached his seat, he let his bag fall onto his worktable rather violently; the noise echoed about the room for several minutes. Everyone stared at him.

"Class," Snape stood at the front of the room, staring at his students, a rather nasty smile on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself. "I would like to, shall we say, welcome a new...addition to this class."

Everyone looked around, wondering if the rest of the room was as clueless as they were. Hermione Granger eyed Draco suspiciously; he stuck out hi tongue and looked daggers at her. She rolled her eyes and averted her gaze to elsewhere in the room.

Snape ignored the chatter, and turned to look behind him, at his office door. "Miss Altus?"

Lucinda just about bounded out of Snape's office like a small dog that had been locked up just a bit too long. Snape raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She Scurried over to the professor's side. Snape looked out at the classroom, not needing to refocus their attention; any that had been lost had returned when Lucinda had come scampering out. He seemed to be looking for a table to sit Lucinda at more than he was looking for his Class's attention, anyhow.

"Ah, I think I shall pair you with Miss Granger," he smiled crookedly, finding that idea to be deliciously amusing. Draco wasn't sure whether to laugh at Hermione, or to feel pity; Hermione made a loud choking noise. Snape's smile widened. "Yes, I think that will do nicely. I'm sure Miss Granger can answer any question you might have."

Lucinda nodded vigorously. "Yes, professor."

"One thing, professor," Hermione stood up as she spoke.

"And what might that be?"

"She isn't actually studying at the N.E.W.T. level, is she?"

"Oh," Snape seemed to have remembered something. "No, she is not. She simply had to be moved out of the normal fifth year class-" he paused, again picking his words carefully. "-due to complications."

"I...see," Hermione let out a very audible sigh and sat down. Draco suppressed a laugh. No, he was certainly not going to pity her, he had decided. He wasn't quite that nice.

Snape turned to Lucinda before she had a chance to be seated. "Do be aware that I fully expect you to pass the O.W.L. exam for my class, after sitting in the N.E.W.T. class for a full term." She nodded and scurried off.

Lucinda took under a minute to settle herself in next to Hermione. Draco was one table over them, at a diagonal with theirs. It was, perhaps, very fortunate that the assignment for that day was not a very complicated one, as far as N.E.W.T. classes went; he was particularly distracted that day, watching Lucinda do everything in her power to drive Hermione mad. It was a very satisfying thing to watch. But he could no longer enjoy himself when he discovered that his potion was making strange noises at him, almost as if it were attempting speech.

"What in-" He stared at it; Lucinda and Hermione clearly heard the sound as well. It took them a few moments to realize where it was coming from. Draco was stunned to see that Hermione looked quite stumped; she apparently did not know what he could have done to cause that reaction.

The potion's noises became clearer as it continued to "speak". It was making finally pronounciated hissing noises by the time Snape had noticed something was more than a little odd at Draco's table. It did not take very long for professor Snape to drop what he had been doing and come trotting back to Draco's table, looking both perturbed and a startled. "See me after class, Mr. Malfoy," was all he said as he performed a quick vanishing spell before walking away. He clearly knew what had happened.

Hermione stared at Draco, as if he should somehow be able to explain. Lucinda giggled; Draco had the creeping feeling that she knew what had happened as well. Hermione shot her an annoyed look; Lucinda smiled innocuously, discontinuing her giggles.

Draco stared at his now empty cauldron, trying to remember what he done to his potion before it had started to hiss. He looked up, and noticed that Snape was looking at him furtively. Somehow, Draco was sure he didn't want to hear the explanation.

He was knocked away from any thinking he might have done by the sensation of having his arm poked rather roughly. He turned to look at the offender, an almost blank, but yet almost sarcastic expression resting on his features.

"What do you want?"

Lucinda frowned, apparently not amused by his reaction. "I thought you might like to know that its time to clean up."

"Oh," he gave her an annoyed look. "He wants me to stay after. I've got plenty of time. Besides-" he pointed to his cauldron. "-I don't really have much to clean."

"I suppose that's true," she nodded. "Though I am fairly certain he would rather you were cleaned up before he spoke to you."

"I guess so," he stood up, collecting his ingredients. Then he turned to her, remembering something he had wanted to ask her earlier. "What might those "complications" have been that caused Snape to switch you into this class?"

"Oh, something about Ginny Weasley being tricked into drinking a very powerful erumpent potion," she replied, sounding altogether too casual about it.

"Erumpent-?" He couldn't finish the phrase; he was laughing so hard he had to sit down in order not to fall over.

"Was it that funny?" She looked at him curiously.

"Ye-yes," he stammered between giggles. "I wish I could have seen it!"

"Oh, well," she smiled and batted her eyelashes. "Maybe next time?"

"What," he began, goggling at her in disbelief. "Is torturing Ginny Weasley your hobby?"

"Naturally."

He continued to stare at her, then dissolved into more laughter. She looked at him as if he were insane, then walked back to her table to finish cleaning her workspace. Draco folded his arms on his table and buried his face in them in an effort to not make a scene. This of course, meant he did not notice when Snape approached his table.

"And what, pray tell," Snape asked slowly. "Is so amusing-?"

"Eh-? Ah!" Draco sat bolt upright, all laughing purged from his thoughts. "Uhm, nothing, professor."

"At any rate, Mr. Malfoy," Snape began calmly. "You will notice that class is over."

Draco looked around. The classroom had emptied sometime between Lucinda informing him of her hobby and Snape jolting him out of his laughter. Draco nodded, to imply he understood what Snape meant.

"Into my office, Mr. Malfoy," Snape ordered.