The Gryffindor four left the Great Hall and headed up towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to find it full of screams and flying paper airplanes; the new teacher had obviously not arrived yet. Hermione and Nora sat beside Parvati and Lavender who were talking very quietly and obviously gossiping about their new teacher. They both leaned in to hear what they were saying:
"I heard his nose was the size of a Quaffle," Parvati whispered, making a face at the thought of it.
"Ew," Lavender replied. "I heard he has his hair in a ponytail and wears seven different earrings," she then whispered, almost in aw at such daring. Parvati put her fingers to her lips and the two sat up straight. The whole class had become quiet when Dumbledore walked in.
"Does this mean there's no new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Ron whispered to Harry from behind Hermione. Harry shrugged.
"Every one, I am here to introduce you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Spring," Dumbledore told them in his calm voice. He beckoned to the door and a tall, slim, but scared looking wizard walked in. He had large glasses, though not as large as Trelawny's, a balding head and looked as if the smallest sound could make him whimper in fright. He kind of reminded every one of professor Quirrell in their first year.
"H-hello there, every-everyone," he stammered as Dumbledore left. No one said anything, but instead gazed at him intently, wondering if they would actually learn anything this year with such a teacher.
"O-ok, today w-we will go th-through the spells that you already know. S-so team up with someone and practice E-expelliarmus." Everybody did as he said and very soon they were all shouting Expelliarmus. They didn't need to practice very long since every one had gone through most defense spells in Harry's DA lessons. Professor Spring, of course, noticed this so they soon began revising other spells too, such as stunning spells and spells to slow things down. At the end of the period professor Spring had stopped stuttering all together and he beamed at his students.
"Well, you have done a very good job indeed! I'm very proud. If my other students are only half as nice and hard working as you are, I'm satisfied," he told them, with a note of fear in his voice again; he was obviously thinking about the Slytherins.
The Gryffindors left the classroom and headed towards the dungeons for double potions with the Slytherin's. They sat down in their seats and waited for Professor Snape to enter. When he finally did, the whole room went quiet at once, everyone dreading the lesson.
"Today," Snape said, glaring around the room, "we will be practicing Veritaserum, more commonly known as: truth potions. These are incredibly hard to brew, so work carefully and do not mess things up," he added in a dangerous tone while glaring at Neville, who gulped. Snape continued: "Unfortunately professor Dumbledore has informed me that he wants the four houses to work together more often, no doubt for his 'We must unite' project, so I'm forced to pair you all up." Everyone moaned and Neville gave a whimper in fright. "SILENCE! I shall do this by pointing at names on this list," he waved a piece of parchment around that had their names written on it, "while looking the other way, as I do not want to torture my Slytherin's by pairing them up myself." He sighed and then began pricking with a quill at the list, his head turned the other way, looking very silly as he did so:
"Ms. Patil and Ms. Bulstrode." Parvati looked horror-struck, but she grabbed her things, reluctantly, and sat next to Millicent.
"Ms. Granger and Mr. Crabbe." A look of repulsion appeared on Hermione's face, but she sat down next to Crabbe all the same, knowing she was going to be making this potion all by herself, since Crabbe was too stupid to be of any help. "Mr. Goyle and Mr. Weasly. Mr. Zabini and Mr. Longbottom. Ms. Glassyd and Mr. Malfoy. Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Potter." Snape paired all of them up and every one sat next to their partner looking furious or in Neville's case, horrified. "After you have made the potions," he continued, "you and your partner will both be testing it. I will allow you each five questions to ask your partner when they have drunk the potion. If you have made the potion right, which I doubt any of you will, you will find yourself telling the truth, you cannot control this so don't bother trying; it will only wear you out." Every one began working on the concoction and they carefully read the instructions, which were on the board, so that they didn't end up poisoning themselves, though they couldn't care less if their co-worker dropped dead after drinking it.
"All right, I'll go get the ingredients and you just read what we have to do," Nora said getting up. She could feel herself blushing as she made her way to the cabinets that held the potion ingredients they were supposed to use. It felt as if Snape had paired them together on purpose, though he had clearly been looking the other way when jabbing at their names. Returning with her hands full, she tried to sound casual while asking: "What do we do first?"
"First we have to grind the powdered bicorn horn and heat the cauldron, of course," Malfoy drawled, reading off the instruction board. Nora grabbed the bicorn horn and started pulverizing it, pretending it was the person she was working with. After she was done, which took a while since the horn was very tough and pretending it was Malfoy was very satisfying, she gave it to Malfoy who put it in their cauldron and he stirred five times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise.
"Next?" asked Nora.
"Next we need to cut the Unicorn hair in small equal pieces." This was one of the hardest things to do as the unicorn hair was very thin and could hardly be seen. Nora worked very carefully and tried not to notice Malfoy watching her, but the harder she tried the more concentration she lost. Finally, she gave the cut up unicorn hair to him and he lowered the temperature of the fire before throwing them in.
They worked together perfectly and said nothing to each other, unless it had something to do with the potion. It was their silent agreement.
Hermione, on the other hand, wasn't doing as well. As suspected, Crabbe did absolutely nothing, except joke around with Goyle, who was working with Ron at the desk before them. So Hermione was left doing everything herself, though that was perhaps better, because now she had all the control and he wasn't there to mess everything up. But Ron, who was terrible in potions, wasn't doing that well on his own, though he did try hard and had some whispered help from Hermione. Harry wasn't happy with who he was working with either. All Pansy did was gossip with her Slytherin friends about boys and it was very hard to concentrate when they burst into, what he assumed could only be, giggles every thirty seconds.
"You will all have finished your potions by now," drawled Snape as he walked along the desks and inspected the cauldrons. "Drink it one at a time and be prepared for your partner to know your darkest secrets. Ask away," he said bored.
"You try first," Malfoy told Nora with a smirk on his face. Nora looked at him in hatred, but drank the potion reluctantly, wondering if he'd poisoned it. A few seconds later she felt herself become calm inside and feel at ease. Malfoy thought hard about the questions he should ask and she watched him anxiously and impatiently, or she would've been, if the concoction hadn't made her feel so comfortable and relaxed.
"All right, what's your favorite color?" Malfoy asked.
"Blue."
"Right. Favorite pet?"
"Dog."
"I see, now is either Potty or Weasel your sweet little boyfriend?" He looked at her with interest.
"No." 'That's what he's asking me? Why on earth would he care if I was going out with Harry or Ron?' Nora wondered vaguely. 'Just as long as he doesn't mention Saturday morning. Please, do not let him mention Saturday morning!'
"So… did you like it when I touched you?" Malfoy asked her quietly, looking so very smug with himself. 'Oh my god!' Nora tried her very best not to answer, but as Snape had said before, she soon felt herself becoming worn out by the strength it took. Of course, she didn't want Malfoy, her enemy, to know that deep dark secret, but she was forced to tell the truth.
"No… and Yes." 'Well,' she sighed inwardly. 'It's half of what I wanted. The bloody git.' Malfoy looked absolutely ecstatic. Then he leaned forward and whispered:
"Do you like me?"
"No." Nora came out of her calm trance and looked at him in fury. How she wished she could pummel him right then and there! 'Urgh. Thank Merlin it's over. And I hope he doesn't mention Saturday ever, ever again! I hate Snape; it's all an evil conspiracy. Though notice that I said 'no' so I don't like him, at least one good thing,' she thought, feeling relieved. But there was that little annoying voice again that never left her alone: 'Oh no, you do like him, only you don't know it yet, so it's not a lie to say "no".' Her own thoughts were completely confusing her, so she ignored them.
"So, you liked it, huh?" Malfoy said with a smirk. Nora closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh, trying to calm herself down so she wouldn't feel like attacking him so much.
"Oh, shut up and drink the bloody potion," she said when she'd opened her eyes again. He shrugged and obeyed, gulping the liquid down in one go. A serene look passed over his face, replacing the smirk. Nora sighed again.
"Ok. What's your favorite color?" she asked bored.
"Yellow."
"Oh, very manly," she told him. "Your favorite animal?"
"Wolf." Nora thought that over, being fascinated by wolves herself, and then a thought, a stupid thought, entered her head: 'Ask him! Ask him! Ask him why he did it!'
"Ok, so, why'd you do… what you did on Saturday?" she asked seriously, very aware that the entire classroom was filled with students who would be able to hear, if, luckily, they weren't so busy with the asking-and-telling themselves.
"I like you."
"What?" she blurted horrified, backing away.
"I like you."
"Oh Merlin's Beard, why?" she thought out loud, not realizing that that counted as a question. This was the evil Slytherin who had tortured her and her friends since their first year! How could this be? How could he like her: the 'stupid mudblood'? She couldn't believe it and looked at him as if he'd sprouted two other heads.
"Because you're very beautiful," he answered. Nora was now staring ahead of her, her head in both hands. When Malfoy came out of his trance he nearly fell out of his chair in shock; he hadn't thought she would've asked questions about it too! And now she knew! Oh this was terrible. Just awful… would people notice if he jabbed himself in the heart with his wand?
The bell rang and everyone quickly got up, not wanting to be in the potions classroom any longer than necessary. Nora was the first one out of the dungeon's and in the Entrance Hall where she waited, panting hard, for Hermione.
"Why'd you run out of there?" Hermione asked catching up with Nora as the Entrance Hall quickly filled with students who were heading for lunch.
"I'll tell you at the table," Nora replied, dragging Hermione into the Great Hall. When they were both seated at the table she told her everything. "But please don't tell Harry and Ron right now, because I don't think they'll be able to take it," Nora finished, watching the boys walk towards them. Hermione nodded, looking shocked and bewildered. After lunch they went to Herbology and Charms, during which they revised the previous year. By the end of the day every one collapsed in their seats at their house tables starved and tired.
"I can't believe we got homework on the very first day," Ron complained loudly.
"Oh, come on, we always get homework on the very first day," Hermione replied.
"Yeah, well, they could've changed it, now I get to spend everyday in the library looking up ingredients for potions and how to take good care of those ugly plants," he said, piling his plate full while sulking. Hermione just shrugged; she didn't mind homework that much.
After dinner they went to their common rooms to try and get a head start on their homework, but Harry and Ron didn't feel like it and Nora had too many thoughts racing through her mind. So, as usual, only Hermione was getting anything done out of free will.
A/N: That's it for today. Hope you liked it.