Chapter 4

"Once a git, always a git," Ron muttered as Harry joined him and Hermione outside the door. "You'd think he'd spend more time grieving over his father and would have lost his enthusiasm for tormenting people, but, I guess he hasn't." Harry nodded,

frowning at Draco's retreating figure.

"I think he is grieving. He's still bothered by it, but he just doesn't know what to do, except to try and act the way he did before," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"And what exactly makes you think that, hmm? Seemed like the same old bad ass attitude to me," Ron said.

"Well, I noticed that during the whole class, he kept his head bowed as he worked. He usually looks toward us a lot, making snide remarks and trying to provoke us. But today he worked in complete silence. He didn't even gloat when Snape complimented him for his potion."

"But what about what happened a while ago?" Harry said. "He insulted me for my potion!"

"I guess neither of you noticed the way he hesitated a moment before he threw the insult? Well, he did. And he didn't have much of a choice. You were right behind him. It would have seemed very suspicious if he didn't even say anything."

Harry replayed the scene in his mind. He realized that Hermione was right. He paused to marvel at how very observant Hermione was. It was the way she noticed everything that made her one of the easiest people to be friends with, and at the same time, one of the hardest.

They proceeded to the Greenhouses, to have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Sprout was waiting for them outside Greenhouse three. She chivvied them inside, closing the door behind the last student.

"Today, we will be collecting the sap of the Venomous Tentacula. This plant is sneaky, and will attempt to poison you if you don't guard yourselves. Three of you to a plant. Two will take these needles here in front of me. You will use them to pin the plant to the table and to puncture the places where the sap is to be taken from. The third student will collect the sap in these bottles and seal them with these rubber stoppers. Don't forget to use your gloves to squeeze the sap out."

Harry, Ron and Hermione worked on one plant together. It wasn't very hard work; they just had to occasionally poke the vine with their needles to keep it in line. They were able to fill five bottles with the milky substance when Professor Sprout told them to wrap up.

"Now, that I have the sap, who can tell me what this sap is used for?"

To no one's surprise, Hermione raised her hand.

"Venomous Tentacula's sap, if absolutely pure, can be administered as an antidote for snake bites. Although it is normally poisonous to humans, when drank by someone with snake venom in his bloodstream, it will act as an antibody, thus rendering the poison ineffective."

"Excellent, Ms. Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor. I will be leaving these bottles here in the Greenhouse three cupboards. I daresay it would be useful one of these days."

The three of them got their things and hurried to the Great Hall, eager to have lunch. Ginny smiled at them from the table, and they sat down beside her.

"So Ginny, how was your first morning in your O.W.L. year?" Harry said conversationally, as he reached for the plate of chicken before him.

"It was absolutely horrible. In the three subjects I had, I somehow got a three-foot long essay on Goblin Rebellions, detailed research on how to handle Muggle money, and a whole dream diary!" she stared mournfully at her peas and carrots, as though it held a solution for her sudden amount of workload.

"Oh, so you're taking Muggle Studies are you?" Hermione said. "I can do your Muggle money research for you, if you want. When is it due?"

"Tomorrow," she replied glumly.

"No problem," Hermione said briskly. She whipped out a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to write, pausing every now and then to take bites out of her sandwich. Ron looked at her incredulously. Can you believe her? He mouthed at Harry. Harry shrugged in acknowledgement. He didn't see why Ron was still surprised at the way Hermione so readily helped people. She always went out of her way to do things for him and Ron.

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The rest of the day passed by Draco in a blur of color and sound. He hardly paid attention during Charms, so that the rabbit he was supposed to be turning pink grew dangerous-looking vampire fangs. He had managed to freeze the rabbit hastily, and was able to turn it pink in the end. He wasn't so sure that Flitwick was satisfied with his frozen vampire bunny. He tried to convince his professor that it gave the rabbit a certain sex appeal, and he was really helping it widen its social circle, but he didn't think Flitwick bought his story.

He had lunch, barely noticing his food. When Goyle tried to talk to him, Draco put a Silencing Spell on him. No one really noticed though, since it usually took Goyle a long time to think of something to say, and an even longer time to say it.

It was easy not to draw attention to himself during Double History of Magic. All he had to do was keep quiet, although he couldn't sleep, even as he successfully blocked out Binns' drone.

Before he knew it, he was on his way to his last class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were all seated by the time Professor Lupin entered the room.

"I understand that a lot of you may need this class for your N.E.W.T. studies. There are quite a lot of careers that would require this subject. The reason Professor Dumbledore has decided to give one month's allowance for us to decide the N.E.W.T. classes for each of you is because he feels that some of you, given the circumstances of authority last year, were not able to show their full potential in their O.W.L. exams. I feel that it is best that we review the spells that should have been covered last year. Since none of you have been able to attempt them at all, it would seem unfair if I do not even give you the chance to practice them. Find your partners. We will start with the Shield Charm. I believe Ms. Murdock is in the hospital wing, so your class seems to be of an uneven number at the moment. Mr. Malfoy, you may pair up with me."

Draco stood automatically at the mention of his name. He moved to the front of the room across Lupin. The sound of chairs scraping against wood filled the room as students stood up to find their partners.

Lupin spoke again. "Take turns throwing spells and blocking them with the Shield Charm. The Disarming Spell is the most practical spell to use in this situation. Watch me first as I block Mr. Malfoy, so you see how it's done."

Malfoy took out his wand and pointed it at Lupin's. "Expelliar—"

"Protego!" Lupin shouted. His wand had started to slip from his fingers, then just in time, slid back into his firm grasp. "Remember to keep your mind focused on what you're doing. The more confidence you place in the spell, the stronger its effect will be."

They practiced the Shield Charm for the whole lesson. Draco managed to block almost all of Lupin's spells. He made his way back to his seat feeling drained of all his energy.

"That was good, class. Please practice on your own if you haven't mastered it yet. We'll have to move on to the next lesson, I'm afraid, and we won't be reviewing this one anymore."

He cast a worried glance at Crabbe and Goyle, who had been partners. Both of them had been unable to produce shields, and were now suffering the effects of each other's spells. Crabbe was still snickering uncontrollably, but the Tickling Charm was wearing off. Goyle on the other hand, was searching for his wand under every table, for he had lost it when Crabbe disarmed him. He didn't realize that it was in Crabbe's hand, and Crabbe could not be expected to tell him so, considering the state he was in.

"Finite Incantatem," Lupin muttered.

Crabbe stopped laughing, looking around in a bemused way. "Here's your wand, Gregory."

"You may go now," Lupin said, as Goyle threw dagger looks at Crabbe.

Draco left them to it and went to the Great Hall to have dinner. He was exhausted from the lesson, but he somehow had no appetite. He forced down a few bites of steak, downed it with a glass of pumpkin juice, and stood up to go to the Slytherin common room. He felt an annoying tugging on his sleeve.

"You're leaving so soon, Draco?" a familiar voice simpered. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Not now, Pansy," Draco said, sighing. "I'm tired, and I'm not in the mood."

"You're always like that nowadays. You never have any time for me anymore!" she whined, clutching onto his arm.

He bit back the retort, "When did I ever have time for you?!" Instead, he gently removed his arm from her grasp and thought quickly of a good excuse. "I need to get some sleep. We're holding Quidditch tryouts this Wednesday and I need to think of what I'm going to make them do."

He was made captain of the Slytherin team by Snape. It was partly true anyway; the Quidditch tryouts were that coming Wednesday, but he had no intention of spending the night thinking about it. He needed to sleep.

"Okay then, Draco," she said, smiling.

Such a sweet girl, he thought as he made his way to the dungeons. If only she weren't so shallow, she would have been perfect for me. A pureblood, Slytherin, kind of attractive. As father used to say, 'Qualities worthy of a Malfoy.'

But that doesn't matter now, does it? he thought sadly. He's gone.

He had reached his dormitory. Having changed into green silk pajamas, he lay down on his four poster bed and looked up at the black ceiling. He suddenly remembered a Muggle nursery rhyme his mother used to sing him to sleep with, much to his father's annoyance.

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock

When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall

And down will come baby, cradle and all

Draco woke up the next day, remembering only flashes of his dream. He remembered green lightning, repeatedly striking the branch of a dead tree. And he started to fall, and he just kept on falling, never hitting the ground.

"Damn it. I need some coffee."

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It was Wednesday. Draco hated Wednesdays. It left you hanging, not knowing what to expect. It was the middle of the week. It seemed like you were so far from the weekend, yet you couldn't remember what you did in the past two days. And Draco found this lack of control unnerving.

He looked around from his seat on his broom. They were having Quidditch tryouts. He had to fill in the spots for all three Chasers and the Keeper. Blaise Zabini was in front of the hoops waiting for Draco to throw the Quaffle at him. Draco faked swerving to the right and at the last minute, threw it towards the left goal hoop. Blaise hurtled through the air, managing to push it away with the tips of his fingers. Draco caught it smoothly and launched it towards the middle hoop. Blaise flew a little too far, missing the hoop by some inches, but was able to whack it away with the tail of his broom. Draco threw three more times, and Blaise let the ball through only once.

Not bad, Draco thought, as Blaise flew to the ground and dismounted. He called for Crabbe and Goyle to try out the chasers, three at a time. He decided on a skinny brunette, a thuggish-looking guy, and boy with curly blonde hair. He chose Blaise as their Keeper. They all seemed to be fairly talented. Blaise was a tad clumsy, but they could work on that later on.

Suddenly he noticed Harry sitting in the stands, with something akin to amusement playing on his face. Draco walked over to him, sneering.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" he said testily.

"I just wanted to see what we're up against," he replied, shrugging. "Congratulations. I see you've managed to put up a pretty good team. Of course, I was mildly surprised when you picked a girl to play. After all, Flint seemed to think he didn't need any girls on the Slytherin team."

"Well, I'm not Flint," Draco said tersely. "I happen to care about my teammates' actual skill, if you know what I mean."

"Oh yeah?" Harry challenged. "Then why are they still here?" he said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of Crabbe and Goyle, who were struggling to strap the bludgers down.

"You can't expect me to kick them off the team, can you? They're my friends. Besides, you're the one who's playing alongside that Weasley amateur, so you're one to talk."

"Hey! Ron's good! He's better than you, anyway."

Draco laughed. "Better than me?! Weasley couldn't block the Quaffle if it danced in front of him disguised as Professor Mcgonagall stark naked!"

Harry fought to suppress a smile at that. He could just imagine Mcgona—no, wait he couldn't imagine. He did not want to imagine. Now he knew he'd never be able to see Professor Mcgonagall in the same way again.

"Besides, you can't deny that you thought he was no good last year. I mean, you're friends and all, but don't tell me you never thought he was rubbish at the game."

Harry stopped imagining Mcgonagall for a moment. Come to think of it, he did have his doubts about Ron last year. He remembered thinking that it would even be kinder that they just let Ron resign from the team, with all the bad it was doing him. Harry looked up at Draco and nodded, realizing that Draco was right.

Draco smiled smugly. "I rest my case." He walked away swiftly, feeling quite pleased with himself for getting one over Harry.