A Big thank you to all who have reviewed…

Anniacuru, my beta, I love you.

Neko, I'm glad you like this story! Hope you like this chapter.

Obviations, all will soon become clear.

Jessie c, hope you enjoy this chapter, all will become clear.

Almonds: hope you enjoy, large plot in this, but lots of Draco to cheer it up.

To everyone else, Enjoy!

KEY:

An, letter, prophesy.

Draco thought

Harry thought.

Stressed speech.

~~~ = pov or scene change.

Chapter 4

When Harry walked back to the transfigurations classroom at 7:30 whatever he had expected to see was definitely not what was happening before his eyes…

He stared bemused at a bedraggled Draco Malfoy trying to push off a clingy Pansy Parkinson, who was getting far too close for comfort.

"Leave me alone!" Draco's tone held his father's imperious tone, which obviously went over the girl's head.

"Oh, come on, you know you want to!"

"That's where you're wrong, I despise you."

"You don't mean that!"

"Yes… I … DO!!!" with an inhuman effort, he managed to get Pansy to lose her grip on his neck, and throw her to the floor. However, she was unfazed by this, and from the expression on her face, this happened regularly.

"Just one kiss…"

"No!"

"Why not?" Pansy whined. Draco was the only boy who had ever rejected her, it only made him a more enticing catch in her opinion.

"Just, leave me alone!!!" Draco's usual composure had been worn out; his hair was tussled. Normally, Draco wouldn't have tussled hair in his sleep. Pansy backed away, trying a different tack, thinking that if she couldn't arose him, she could damn well enrage him.

"You're not Gay, are you?"

"You're such a great judge of Character! You guessed by deepest secret! Yes, sadly, I am gay, and that means I could never fall for you." Draco keeled over in a melodramatic manner. He never let people have victories if mental tactics were involved, a trait he inherited from his father. His admission fazed Pansy, she had expected a violent reaction, but Malfoy's were too good for that, she actually believed him.

"No, you can't be…"

"Too bad, you need to go find some other rich, eligible, young, handsome man to latch on to." He smiled sardonically. She burst into tears and ran out of the room, barely missing Harry, but too depressed to notice. Harry decided that he should make his presence known.

"You shouldn't have said that, the whole school will have heard it before the night is out" Harry looked at the Slytherin. He seemed completely calm, a remarkable thing to do in his current situation.

"Yeah? Well she's a slut. I have a good reason not to like her. People will understand that I only said it to get her off me. She's fine once or twice in a broom closet, but when she tries to turn it into a relationship, just leave. I'd never go with someone like her!" Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Anyway, the project, what is it?"

"Animagi"

"Excuse me? We, a bunch of 17 year olds are going to learn how to change shape?" Draco was excited; the mere exhilaration of being another shape was amazing. His father turned him into a falcon, at an early age, to be a messenger for some of his more compromising messages. Of course, a young boy of five wouldn't think twice about parroting something like 'the lord will be revenged, the blood traitors will beg for mercy in vain.' Draco smiled bitterly at the memory; he had stopped being a parrot when he began to connect the words to newspaper reports, at the tender age of eight or so.

Harry's clear voice interrupted his thoughts,

"Yes, we are going to learn to be animagi, but the first step is to discover what animal you will be. Most wizards take on a normal animal; powerful ones take on a magical creature. The actual creature is unique to you, like your soul."

"Yadda, yadda, yadda, I get it already. Sheesh, you sound like a textbook. Maybe Granger is rubbing off on you." Harry continued unperturbed,

"We need to be in pairs so that we can record what animal form the other takes, in practicals, or trances, or something else. Have you ever made a Patronus?"

"No, Dementors have never felt the need to attack me" Draco replied scathingly.

"Could you do one, now? The animal form it takes might help. It won't be the form that you will eventually take, but it is a key to your character."

"And your stag tells you what? That you are an arrogant show-off who takes after his father?"

"Pretty much" Harry confessed. "Now, let me see yours, I have a bet going with Ron, he is certain it will be a ferret but I think he's underestimating you."

"Such flattery!" Draco did a fake swoon. After a while, he stood up and adjusted his clothing to its previous perfect state. Almost lazily, he produced a completely corporeal Patronus. It was a horse.

"hmm…" Harry ran over his notes searching for equine manifestations. "You are passionate, possessive… and powerful? Are you sure you did a Patronus? I mean, when have you been those?

"Those who know me would vouch for all three." Draco smirked.

"Well I haven't seen any."

Draco moved closer to the disbelieving boy in front of him. "Well, that's because, you don't know me."

"I'd like to"

"Would you now?" Draco raised an eyebrow. Harry nodded. "We'll see. Anyway, what did McGonagall mean when she said something about cats in class?"

"Oh that, well" Harry blushed. "To put it plainly, um, Mrs Norris is male, and really likes her in that form."

"Yuck. I thought cats had good taste."

"He's been stuck with Filch for ages, which would drive anyone mad."

"True. Back to the 'getting-to-know-me' thing. I have a feeling that we might be partners in a lot of things now. You might have a chance…" Draco moved closer to Harry, who was breathing shallowly, eyes wide.

"Really?"

"But, don't bet on it."