When the train was only half an hour away from Hogwarts, a very sated and slightly sugar buzzed Ron and Harry returned to where they left Draco and Hermione.
When they peered in they saw that Hermione's hair was green, she was covered in purple polka dots and was coughing out bubbles. Draco, on the other hand was unconscious, had a fist imprint on his pimple covered cheek, he had feathers sticking out everywhere and his robes had been turned neon pink.
Harry looked at Ron, ''Why don't you fix up Hermione and I'll fix up Draco.''
Ron nervously helped Hermione out of the compartment and tried to undo some of the hexes Draco threw at her. Harry, in the meantime, started on getting rid of the magical hexes before he dealt with the affects of Hermione's punch.
The fixing up nearly took the both of them the rest of the trip and Draco was only woken up in the end with a combined Enervate from Harry and Ron. When Draco woke up, the moment he spotted Hermione, he quickly back up, ''Get her away from me! She's crazy!''
Harry held a hand out, ''Draco calm down, she's not going to attack you...''
''I sure will if he says 'that' word again.'' Hermione said threateningly.
Draco shrank back into his chair. Harry stood up and held a hand up to Hermione, ''Okay okay, he's not going to. Can you put that away? You're going to give him a seizure.''
''No, I need to hear it from him!'' Hermione growled.
Harry turned around, ''Draco, for your own health, just say you won't do it anymore.''
''Fine! I won't call you a mudblood anymore! Happy?!'' Draco snapped.
Hermione visibly calmed down, ''Good.''
Draco had hoped that afterwards they would leave and go back to their Gryffindor section. But instead, they took the seat across from him and Harry. And Draco sulked the rest of the way to the Hogsmeade station.
~~~
''Now how did you manage this?'' Poppy fussed as she looked at Draco's bruise on his cheek.
''I wasn't watching, I bumped into a wall...''
''More like ran into it.'' Madam Pomfrey muttered as she finally let go of his face and went into her stores to retrieve a bruise healing potion.
After Draco drank it down, his bruise quickly disappeared and his cheek was no longer reddish purple anymore. But he was still sulking from the humiliation.
''Now hurry to the Great Hall, the both of you. The sorting ceremony is starting.''
Draco and Harry complied and exited the hospital wing, but as they made their way to the Great Hall, the Headmaster stopped them, ''Mr. Malfoy, why don't you go ahead. I need to have a word with Harry.''
Draco shot a glance at Harry. Harry shrugged, he didn't know what was going on either.
Draco hesitated for a second, but finally went on his way and headed towards the Great Hall.
~~~
''Now, Harry can you describe the house elf you saw?'' The Headmaster asked as he led Harry to his office.
Harry's eyes flickered in confusion, ''Why?''
''Your father says that this house elf could be a suspect in the reason why your brother was kept from Hogwarts. Your father says it was threatening Jerry.''
Harry shook his head, ''It wasn't, it was just warning Jerry, it said that Hogwarts wasn't safe and that it would be safer if Jerry stayed at home. That's all, it didn't attempt to hurt anyone.''
The Headmaster frowned, ''Harry, I assure that Hogwarts is very safe and that no harm will come to your brother.''
Harry blinked and shrugged, ''Okay...''
''Now, do you know why this house elf would say such a thing?''
Harry shook his head again, ''Dad threw it out before it could say more.''
Dumbledore looked grave, ''I see. Was there any defining trait? Or perhaps even a name?''
''It wore a tattered old pillowcase, but most house elves I've seen wear those... so, I don't know, nothing special.'' Harry lied, he wasn't about to tell the Headmaster that when he opened the front door, it introduced itself as Dobby. Who knows what Dumbledore or perhaps even his father would do to it.
''I see, well then. Off you go.''
~~~
Near the end of dinner Snape came up to Harry and murmured, ''See me in my office after dinner.''
Harry nodded and then watched his Head of House leave.
Draco happened also be watching, ''You sure are popular today. So, what happened with Dumbledore?''
''Remember that house elf I mentioned?''
Draco nodded.
'He wanted me to tell him the name of it and how it looked like.''
Draco snorted, ''Good luck, they all look the same to me.''
''Yeah, that's what I said.''
''So, what'd you tell him?''
''It was wearing an old pillowcase.''
''Every third house elf that exists wears an old pillowcase. Did you tell him it's name?''
''Uh... I didn't hear it.''
''Nice try Potter, but I have house elves remember? They always talk in third person.''
Harry looked away, ''I don't want to talk about it... what if he hears?''
''Why are you protecting it?''
Harry was really sick of this argument, so he twisted it to suit Draco's logic, ''If you knew something, no matter how trivial, that the Headmaster really wanted, would you tell him?''
Draco scoffed, ''No.''
''Well, there you go.''
~~~
''You wanted to see me?'' Harry asked as he came into Professor Snape's office.
Snape's obsidian eyes darted up and then he held out a hand and crooked a thin potion stained finger at the chair in front of the desk, ''Sit.''
Harry felt the sinking feeling in his stomach grow heavier as he drew closer. He squirmed a little in the chair and then stared forward at something trivial on Snape's desk.
''Potter, do you know why you're here?'' Snape asked. It was an exact repeat of what he said back in Harry's First year.
''You're protecting me from a group of bullying Gryffindors?''
Snape raised a brow and then snorted as he also recalled the exact same phrase, ''No, not this time. This time you are here because it has come to my attention that your potion making abilities are worse than poor.''
Harry gulped.
''I know you're very competent in the theory of potions, however your hands-on application of it is only a little better than Longbottom's. You're very absent-minded when you go through the process. You timing is wrong, you don't stir the right direction, you don't know the difference between chopped and diced, you measure incorrect amounts, amongst other things. You have to capability of being a good potions student, but you simply don't know how to apply them. Therefore, I do believe you need a tutor this year.''
''Oh. Um, who?''
''It'll either be me or Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw, he's the only student that I think has the potential to be a potions master. He will tell you the basics of how to prepare your ingredients to recognize what you've done to your potion before it's too late. Is that understood?''
''Yes sir.''
''Your sessions will be on Monday and Wednesday after your last class of the day.''
Harry nodded.
''Good, now go.''
~~~
''Potter, I want to have a word with you.'' Draco mocked as he tried to look like a teacher with his best Mrs. McGonagall accent.
Harry looked up, ''Nice Draco, perhaps you should be a Hogwarts teacher.''
Draco walked over and hopped onto his own bed, ''Yeah right, I'd rather die than be a teacher.''
''Not make enough money for you?''
''No, it's the bloody kids. I'm one right now, I know how we think and I don't think I could go a day without hexing one of my students.''
''Professor Snape looks like he would love to do the same thing.''
''Professor Snape has better restraint than I do.'' Draco muttered sleepily as he raised his head a little and glanced over at Harry. ''Reading again? I swear, you're worse than Granger.''
''It's not school stuff, just Transfiguration stuff.''
Draco made a face, ''Isn't that the same thing?''
''It's a book on how to become an Animagus.''
Draco suddenly sat up, looking very interested, ''Really?''
Harry looked at him, ''So you want to too huh?''
''Heh, who doesn't want to be one?''
''My uncle Sirius and my Father are Animagi. They said they managed it during their time at Hogwarts before their Fifth year.''
''I'm impressed. My father never finished his.''
''Why not?''
''He stopped when he noticed that he was a bit scaly during his initial transformation.''
''I thought your father would like to become a reptile, he was Slytherin wasn't he?''
''Actually, it was scaly as in fish scaly. He didn't think it was worth the effort if it meant that he could only travel by water. So he stopped.''
''Ah. Well, what do you want to be?''
Draco gave Harry a look an pointed at his name imprinted at the head of his bead. Harry snorted, ''Of course you want to be a dragon.''
''And you Potty?''
''Not sure... but I think if ended being a fish, I'd be a bit disappointed too.''
''Yeah...Actually, I think Weasel might end up a fish.''
''Why would you say that?''
''He always has that stupid expression on his face with his eyes popped out and his mouth gaping open like a big bass.'' Draco said, trying his best to imitate Ron. His attempts sent Harry rolling on his bed laughing.
Eventually Harry calmed down and Draco walked over, ''scoot over Potty, I want to read too.''
''Can't you read after I'm done?''
''I'm not going to let you become an animagus before I do!'' Draco growled, ''Now scoot!''
Harry grumbled as he moved over and let Draco onto his bed. ''Don't put your dirty shoes on my pillow.''
Draco had a wicked grin on his face as he touched the tip of his boot onto Harry's pillow and then ... found himself face flat on the ground.
''Dammit Potty! That hurt!''
~~~
''Hello Class!'' Gilderoy Lockhart said as he came in wearing frilly baby blue robes. Harry and Draco traded looks of disgust.
Lockhart rambled a little longer about his own magnificence, never really covering the curriculum. And then he pulled out a stack of papers, ''Now class, we are going to have a pop quiz!''
Harry picked up the test, expecting it to be a sort of DADA test to wager their skill. Instead the questions were things such as, ''What's Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?, What's Gilderoy Lockhart's middle name?, etc.''
Draco leaned over and whispered, ''You've got to be kidding me.''
Harry turned to him, ''I didn't even read his books.''
''None?''
''I thought they were nonsense.'' Harry muttered
''You're a worse bookworm than Granger and she read them.''
''Hermione has a crush on him, of course she read them.''
''I thought she was smart.''
Unfortunately, even Harry couldn't defend Hermione in this situation. He agreed with Draco that her crush on Lockhart was pretty stupid.
''Hey.'' Draco whispered, ''Let's just make up the worse answers possible.''
Harry grinned, ''Okay.''
~~~
When Lockhart collect the papers, he would look at them to see how to students answered. When he came across Draco's paper, he read out loud, without previewing first, ''What is my middle name? And Draco here replied: Knickers.... No wait... What?!''
But the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had already caught the mess up and were laughing out loud at their DADA professor.
Lockhart sputtered, unsure of what to do and then finally he managed to say, ''Ten points from Draco! No wait... uh.. Slytherin... no no. uh, Ten points from Slytherin!''
Although Draco had lost the house points, they didn't really seem to care as they continued to snicker.
Draco nudged Harry with his elbow, ''We're going to have a lot of fun this year.''
~~~
By lunch, what had happened during the second year Slythern/Ravenclaw DADA class had spread throughout the school. A lot of the guys were subtly giving Draco the thumbs up despite the fact that he was a Slytherin.
As they sat down to lunch, Flint walked over and talked to them, ''We have practice during study period.''
Harry and Draco nodded. But later when they went out onto the pitch, they found Gryffindor already heading out there.
''We've already booked the pitch.'' Flint growled as he sized up Wood. Wood stuck a scroll in his face, ''McGonagall gave us a note.''
Flint took it from his hand and skimmed it, ''You're training a new seeker?''
''That's right'' Jerry said cockily as he appeared before the Slytherin Quidditch team.
''Oh! It's the Giant Squid's girlfriend!'' One of the players called out, ''Why don't come back after you learn how to pull out of a simple dive.''
The Slytherins started laugh at Jerry and it grew louder as Jerry's face turned a bunch of shades of purple.
''Look!'' Wood interrupted, ''Rule book says that a teacher's note overrides any booking on the pitch, so we get to- ''
Flint stuck a hand out and shoved Oliver over, ''We don't give a shit Wood. We booked the pitch and we're practicin', if you insist on training the rookie (Flint made sure to stretch out and emphasize that word) you can use the pitch with us. At your own risk.''
With that the Slytherins left and headed off.
~~~
Foolhardy as always, Jerry decided to use the pitch with the Slytherins.
Harry was practicing with a silver snitch Ron had gotten him and owled him for his birthday when Jerry suddenly came tumbling through and started to go after the silver ball.
''Hey!'' The Slytherin beater yelled out, ''Get your own bloody snitch Gryffindork!''
Jerry flipped him off and continued to chase the silver snitch. The beater growled and then shot Harry a look, Harry glanced over at him and said, ''Just remember, I had nothing to do with this.''
At that prompt, the beater grinned and went after Jerry.
Half an hour later Jerry was dragged off of the field with a broken arm and the same broken hand that had flipped off the beater.
Flint floated up next to the beater with an amused grin on his face, ''Now if only you had sort of precision in a 'real' game.''
When they peered in they saw that Hermione's hair was green, she was covered in purple polka dots and was coughing out bubbles. Draco, on the other hand was unconscious, had a fist imprint on his pimple covered cheek, he had feathers sticking out everywhere and his robes had been turned neon pink.
Harry looked at Ron, ''Why don't you fix up Hermione and I'll fix up Draco.''
Ron nervously helped Hermione out of the compartment and tried to undo some of the hexes Draco threw at her. Harry, in the meantime, started on getting rid of the magical hexes before he dealt with the affects of Hermione's punch.
The fixing up nearly took the both of them the rest of the trip and Draco was only woken up in the end with a combined Enervate from Harry and Ron. When Draco woke up, the moment he spotted Hermione, he quickly back up, ''Get her away from me! She's crazy!''
Harry held a hand out, ''Draco calm down, she's not going to attack you...''
''I sure will if he says 'that' word again.'' Hermione said threateningly.
Draco shrank back into his chair. Harry stood up and held a hand up to Hermione, ''Okay okay, he's not going to. Can you put that away? You're going to give him a seizure.''
''No, I need to hear it from him!'' Hermione growled.
Harry turned around, ''Draco, for your own health, just say you won't do it anymore.''
''Fine! I won't call you a mudblood anymore! Happy?!'' Draco snapped.
Hermione visibly calmed down, ''Good.''
Draco had hoped that afterwards they would leave and go back to their Gryffindor section. But instead, they took the seat across from him and Harry. And Draco sulked the rest of the way to the Hogsmeade station.
~~~
''Now how did you manage this?'' Poppy fussed as she looked at Draco's bruise on his cheek.
''I wasn't watching, I bumped into a wall...''
''More like ran into it.'' Madam Pomfrey muttered as she finally let go of his face and went into her stores to retrieve a bruise healing potion.
After Draco drank it down, his bruise quickly disappeared and his cheek was no longer reddish purple anymore. But he was still sulking from the humiliation.
''Now hurry to the Great Hall, the both of you. The sorting ceremony is starting.''
Draco and Harry complied and exited the hospital wing, but as they made their way to the Great Hall, the Headmaster stopped them, ''Mr. Malfoy, why don't you go ahead. I need to have a word with Harry.''
Draco shot a glance at Harry. Harry shrugged, he didn't know what was going on either.
Draco hesitated for a second, but finally went on his way and headed towards the Great Hall.
~~~
''Now, Harry can you describe the house elf you saw?'' The Headmaster asked as he led Harry to his office.
Harry's eyes flickered in confusion, ''Why?''
''Your father says that this house elf could be a suspect in the reason why your brother was kept from Hogwarts. Your father says it was threatening Jerry.''
Harry shook his head, ''It wasn't, it was just warning Jerry, it said that Hogwarts wasn't safe and that it would be safer if Jerry stayed at home. That's all, it didn't attempt to hurt anyone.''
The Headmaster frowned, ''Harry, I assure that Hogwarts is very safe and that no harm will come to your brother.''
Harry blinked and shrugged, ''Okay...''
''Now, do you know why this house elf would say such a thing?''
Harry shook his head again, ''Dad threw it out before it could say more.''
Dumbledore looked grave, ''I see. Was there any defining trait? Or perhaps even a name?''
''It wore a tattered old pillowcase, but most house elves I've seen wear those... so, I don't know, nothing special.'' Harry lied, he wasn't about to tell the Headmaster that when he opened the front door, it introduced itself as Dobby. Who knows what Dumbledore or perhaps even his father would do to it.
''I see, well then. Off you go.''
~~~
Near the end of dinner Snape came up to Harry and murmured, ''See me in my office after dinner.''
Harry nodded and then watched his Head of House leave.
Draco happened also be watching, ''You sure are popular today. So, what happened with Dumbledore?''
''Remember that house elf I mentioned?''
Draco nodded.
'He wanted me to tell him the name of it and how it looked like.''
Draco snorted, ''Good luck, they all look the same to me.''
''Yeah, that's what I said.''
''So, what'd you tell him?''
''It was wearing an old pillowcase.''
''Every third house elf that exists wears an old pillowcase. Did you tell him it's name?''
''Uh... I didn't hear it.''
''Nice try Potter, but I have house elves remember? They always talk in third person.''
Harry looked away, ''I don't want to talk about it... what if he hears?''
''Why are you protecting it?''
Harry was really sick of this argument, so he twisted it to suit Draco's logic, ''If you knew something, no matter how trivial, that the Headmaster really wanted, would you tell him?''
Draco scoffed, ''No.''
''Well, there you go.''
~~~
''You wanted to see me?'' Harry asked as he came into Professor Snape's office.
Snape's obsidian eyes darted up and then he held out a hand and crooked a thin potion stained finger at the chair in front of the desk, ''Sit.''
Harry felt the sinking feeling in his stomach grow heavier as he drew closer. He squirmed a little in the chair and then stared forward at something trivial on Snape's desk.
''Potter, do you know why you're here?'' Snape asked. It was an exact repeat of what he said back in Harry's First year.
''You're protecting me from a group of bullying Gryffindors?''
Snape raised a brow and then snorted as he also recalled the exact same phrase, ''No, not this time. This time you are here because it has come to my attention that your potion making abilities are worse than poor.''
Harry gulped.
''I know you're very competent in the theory of potions, however your hands-on application of it is only a little better than Longbottom's. You're very absent-minded when you go through the process. You timing is wrong, you don't stir the right direction, you don't know the difference between chopped and diced, you measure incorrect amounts, amongst other things. You have to capability of being a good potions student, but you simply don't know how to apply them. Therefore, I do believe you need a tutor this year.''
''Oh. Um, who?''
''It'll either be me or Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw, he's the only student that I think has the potential to be a potions master. He will tell you the basics of how to prepare your ingredients to recognize what you've done to your potion before it's too late. Is that understood?''
''Yes sir.''
''Your sessions will be on Monday and Wednesday after your last class of the day.''
Harry nodded.
''Good, now go.''
~~~
''Potter, I want to have a word with you.'' Draco mocked as he tried to look like a teacher with his best Mrs. McGonagall accent.
Harry looked up, ''Nice Draco, perhaps you should be a Hogwarts teacher.''
Draco walked over and hopped onto his own bed, ''Yeah right, I'd rather die than be a teacher.''
''Not make enough money for you?''
''No, it's the bloody kids. I'm one right now, I know how we think and I don't think I could go a day without hexing one of my students.''
''Professor Snape looks like he would love to do the same thing.''
''Professor Snape has better restraint than I do.'' Draco muttered sleepily as he raised his head a little and glanced over at Harry. ''Reading again? I swear, you're worse than Granger.''
''It's not school stuff, just Transfiguration stuff.''
Draco made a face, ''Isn't that the same thing?''
''It's a book on how to become an Animagus.''
Draco suddenly sat up, looking very interested, ''Really?''
Harry looked at him, ''So you want to too huh?''
''Heh, who doesn't want to be one?''
''My uncle Sirius and my Father are Animagi. They said they managed it during their time at Hogwarts before their Fifth year.''
''I'm impressed. My father never finished his.''
''Why not?''
''He stopped when he noticed that he was a bit scaly during his initial transformation.''
''I thought your father would like to become a reptile, he was Slytherin wasn't he?''
''Actually, it was scaly as in fish scaly. He didn't think it was worth the effort if it meant that he could only travel by water. So he stopped.''
''Ah. Well, what do you want to be?''
Draco gave Harry a look an pointed at his name imprinted at the head of his bead. Harry snorted, ''Of course you want to be a dragon.''
''And you Potty?''
''Not sure... but I think if ended being a fish, I'd be a bit disappointed too.''
''Yeah...Actually, I think Weasel might end up a fish.''
''Why would you say that?''
''He always has that stupid expression on his face with his eyes popped out and his mouth gaping open like a big bass.'' Draco said, trying his best to imitate Ron. His attempts sent Harry rolling on his bed laughing.
Eventually Harry calmed down and Draco walked over, ''scoot over Potty, I want to read too.''
''Can't you read after I'm done?''
''I'm not going to let you become an animagus before I do!'' Draco growled, ''Now scoot!''
Harry grumbled as he moved over and let Draco onto his bed. ''Don't put your dirty shoes on my pillow.''
Draco had a wicked grin on his face as he touched the tip of his boot onto Harry's pillow and then ... found himself face flat on the ground.
''Dammit Potty! That hurt!''
~~~
''Hello Class!'' Gilderoy Lockhart said as he came in wearing frilly baby blue robes. Harry and Draco traded looks of disgust.
Lockhart rambled a little longer about his own magnificence, never really covering the curriculum. And then he pulled out a stack of papers, ''Now class, we are going to have a pop quiz!''
Harry picked up the test, expecting it to be a sort of DADA test to wager their skill. Instead the questions were things such as, ''What's Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?, What's Gilderoy Lockhart's middle name?, etc.''
Draco leaned over and whispered, ''You've got to be kidding me.''
Harry turned to him, ''I didn't even read his books.''
''None?''
''I thought they were nonsense.'' Harry muttered
''You're a worse bookworm than Granger and she read them.''
''Hermione has a crush on him, of course she read them.''
''I thought she was smart.''
Unfortunately, even Harry couldn't defend Hermione in this situation. He agreed with Draco that her crush on Lockhart was pretty stupid.
''Hey.'' Draco whispered, ''Let's just make up the worse answers possible.''
Harry grinned, ''Okay.''
~~~
When Lockhart collect the papers, he would look at them to see how to students answered. When he came across Draco's paper, he read out loud, without previewing first, ''What is my middle name? And Draco here replied: Knickers.... No wait... What?!''
But the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had already caught the mess up and were laughing out loud at their DADA professor.
Lockhart sputtered, unsure of what to do and then finally he managed to say, ''Ten points from Draco! No wait... uh.. Slytherin... no no. uh, Ten points from Slytherin!''
Although Draco had lost the house points, they didn't really seem to care as they continued to snicker.
Draco nudged Harry with his elbow, ''We're going to have a lot of fun this year.''
~~~
By lunch, what had happened during the second year Slythern/Ravenclaw DADA class had spread throughout the school. A lot of the guys were subtly giving Draco the thumbs up despite the fact that he was a Slytherin.
As they sat down to lunch, Flint walked over and talked to them, ''We have practice during study period.''
Harry and Draco nodded. But later when they went out onto the pitch, they found Gryffindor already heading out there.
''We've already booked the pitch.'' Flint growled as he sized up Wood. Wood stuck a scroll in his face, ''McGonagall gave us a note.''
Flint took it from his hand and skimmed it, ''You're training a new seeker?''
''That's right'' Jerry said cockily as he appeared before the Slytherin Quidditch team.
''Oh! It's the Giant Squid's girlfriend!'' One of the players called out, ''Why don't come back after you learn how to pull out of a simple dive.''
The Slytherins started laugh at Jerry and it grew louder as Jerry's face turned a bunch of shades of purple.
''Look!'' Wood interrupted, ''Rule book says that a teacher's note overrides any booking on the pitch, so we get to- ''
Flint stuck a hand out and shoved Oliver over, ''We don't give a shit Wood. We booked the pitch and we're practicin', if you insist on training the rookie (Flint made sure to stretch out and emphasize that word) you can use the pitch with us. At your own risk.''
With that the Slytherins left and headed off.
~~~
Foolhardy as always, Jerry decided to use the pitch with the Slytherins.
Harry was practicing with a silver snitch Ron had gotten him and owled him for his birthday when Jerry suddenly came tumbling through and started to go after the silver ball.
''Hey!'' The Slytherin beater yelled out, ''Get your own bloody snitch Gryffindork!''
Jerry flipped him off and continued to chase the silver snitch. The beater growled and then shot Harry a look, Harry glanced over at him and said, ''Just remember, I had nothing to do with this.''
At that prompt, the beater grinned and went after Jerry.
Half an hour later Jerry was dragged off of the field with a broken arm and the same broken hand that had flipped off the beater.
Flint floated up next to the beater with an amused grin on his face, ''Now if only you had sort of precision in a 'real' game.''