DISCLAIMER: I would just like assure you that your reviews make a huge difference to the quality of the story. As always, I don't own Harry Potter, JKR does. If you feel you need to flame, please do. I find them amusing. Hell, just enjoy!

It was so grey it was still dark when Harry went down to breakfast next morning, nobody really felt like talking, so they ate their breakfast in silence. He had of course, told Ron and Hermione everything that had happened in Dumbledore's office. He was surprised to see them both talking civilly to each other, given that they were usually bickering. When their new timetables were passed down the table to them, Harry let Ron scan his, then throw it aside.

'Can I check yours to see if it's the same?'

'Go ahead'

'Cool, you've got Transfiguration when I've got History of Magic, and Potions when I've got Muggle Studies but apart from that it's all the same.' Harry barely remembered lying in a hospital bed at the end of last year telling Ron which subjects to sign him up for. Following Professor McGonagall's advice about a career as an Auror, he had signed up for Defence, Transfiguration, Potions and Charms. He had then signed up for Care of Magical Creatures to fill up his timetable and his quota of 5 NEWTs. They were to spend a lot more lesson time on each subject this year, to compensate for the huge workload.

'Wassup now?'

'Whole morning of Charms, I just hope he let's us out for a break halfway through.'

'Mmm...'

's'matter , Harry?'

'Snape.'

'Don't worry 'bout it, Harry. I mean, Dumbledore wouldn't let 'im screw with your future, would he?'

'Nah, s'pose not. Come on.' Harry's eyes were now on Draco, who was walking in the opposite direction to Crabbe and Goyle, and was walking the same route as Harry and Ron. He turned all the same corners, merely a few feet in front of them, and even stopped where they were going to.

'I just hope he lets us learn.' said Hermione. It transpired that she had been a few steps behind them all the way, but apparently, Harry was too moody to notice.

'Sorry 'Mione, it's the weather.' She opened her mouth but shut it again immediately. Harry and Ron followed her eyes to Professor Flitwick, who was levitating at the head of the queue. He addressed the class in a solemn manner;

'I will only let you in this room if you promise to work hard and not to stop others learning for the rest of the year. If you step through this door, be prepared to do so. Right! Come on in then...' Most of the lesson was taken up with course aims and recapping what they had previously done. When they all got up to leave, Harry noticed for the first time exactly who was in his class. There were quite a few Ravenclaws, some Hufflepuffs who Harry was friendly with, not many Gryffindors and a group of four or five Slytherins. Among these were Draco and another boy who Harry had only seen a few times before, one Blaise Zabini. Blaise Zabini seemed to be giving Draco some trouble as they came out of class, even to the point where Draco faced the group and spoke coldly to them, after which they fell quiet and followed him out of the class.

As they went to lunch they discussed their afternoon's lesson; Care of Magical Creatures.

'I bet you my Christmas present' said Ron, 'that Hagrid'll start the year with something lethal.'

'Well you'll have to tell me about it tonight' said Hermione.

'What, you're not doin CMC?'

'No. Much as I'd like to put my life in serious danger two afternoons a week, I'm doing Arithmancy instead.' she replied. Harry decided it didn't suit her when her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

They proceeded down to Hagrid's hut with apprehension. It appeared that Ron had voiced what everyone else was thinking. This class only had a dozen people in it; Hagrid's reputation seemed to have scared off applicants. Harry, Ron and Seamus seemed to be the only Gryffindors in the class, who were all of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

'Where IS everyone?' asked Seamus. 'There can't be that many people in other classes can there? I mean, if they're all this empty then there's gotta be a good half of the year just disappeared. Just fucked off somewhere...' he waved his hand towards the mountains. At that moment Hagrid stepped out of the forest and sat down on a huge log beside his hut.

'OK, this year'll be mostly practical, but that don't mean yeh can jus' ferget yer writin' equipmen'. We'll be doin a lot this year, from Faeries to Dementors, an' no, we won't bring one in.' said Hagrid, seeing the faces that followed this last piece of information and laughing. 'OK, books out and get this down, this is a rough outline of the year...' The rest of the lesson continued in this vain, and ended with the homework of remembering their thick gloves for Wednesday. They went to dinner feeling little less apprehensive that when they went. Once again, Ron voiced everyone else's concern;

'What the fuck is Hagrid gonna bring in that you need dragon hide gloves for?'

'Fuck knows, but it's not gonna be particularly good for your health, whatever it is. How was Arithmancy?'

'What? I don't do Arithmancy.'

'I'm not talkin to you, thickshit.' said Harry, grinning. Hermione was walking behind Ron, barely inches from him, grinning at his un-awareness. Ron spun round and walked backwards as he spoke, but Hermione kept her proximity.

'You'd make a good stalker.' he said grinning.

'No, you'd make a bad guard.' she replied, also grinning. This was more than Harry could stand. Had they said exactly the same things last year, they'd be at each other's throats.

'Why're you two so fuckin happy today?' Hermione looked at Ron, nodded at him, then rushed off for dinner. Ron went red, and examined his shoes.

'Well?'

'Well what?'

'Don't make me hit you.'

'Okay, okay. Well...' Ron screwed up his face and pushed the words out. 'Me and 'Mione have decided to make a go of it.'

'What, you mean...in a 'toghethery' kinda way?'

'Um...yeah.'

'oookaaay. Um, well! Um, well done I s'pose - I mean - er...'

'What?'

'It's not bad, don't get me wrong, it's just weird coz you're both my mates.'

'Oh, OK'

'Have you er-' Harry made a pumping motion with his arm.

'No! I mean, well' Ron flashed a grin then returned to his worried look. 'I think girls usually wanna take a bit more time, don't they? But when she wants to...' he made his own pumping motion. They laughed as they went through the front doors.

It felt good, decided Harry. He'd much rather be here talking to Ron about fucking his girl than kicking Voldemort's arse. Oh well, he thought. At least the Voldemort path needed Bad-Ass Harry, and Bad-Ass Harry had it's fun moments.

'Hey 'Mione, heard the news, just don't turn my best mate into a book worm, right?' Harry joked as he threw himself over an armchair opposite his other best friend. They were in the common room, having missed Hermione at dinner. At transpired that she was so embarrassed that she had rushed dinner, so much so that Neville had asked her if she had an eating disorder. Neville was now in a corner with Dean and Seamus talking about the Herbology lesson he had just had. Herbology seemed to be the only subject that Neville was any good at, with the possible exception of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Although he was good, Harry doubted Neville would advance much in this field, not with Snape teaching it. It was this thought that provoked him and Ron to spend a relaxing evening bitching about the ex-potions master.

When the time came to finally meet his least favourite teacher (which was only the next morning), Harry was of the mind that he would maybe go back to teaching himself.

There seemed to be quite a few more people in the Defence class than either of Harry's other lessons so far. It seemed that there was most of the year in this class, save the Slytherins. Draco seemed to be the only person from his house in the room.

'Hey guys, let him sit here. We got a spare seat.' Draco was standing in the middle of the classroom looking about for a seat, and being refused a place when one did appear. Ron seemed to be just as adverse to letting the Slytherin sit next to him as the rest of the class.

'Let him feel what it's like to be on the receivin' end.'

'Oh, come on Ron. Look, I'll budge up and he can sit on the end of the row.' Harry put his words into action, allowing Draco sit with them. This attracted a lot of dirty looks from his classmates. Many even muttered offensively under their breath.

'Mind your own fuckin' business!' said Harry and Draco together.

Snape swept in looking very smug shortly afterwards.

'Now that you have a competent teacher for this subject, I will expect grades to go up. If they do not I will want to know why.' He began dangerously 'Furthermore, the subject matter has changed slightly this year due to current events. Potter!' he shot, 'What is the incantation required to perform a Disarming Spell?'

'Expelliarmus.' and when Snape didn't answer; 'Expelliarmus sir.'

'Good.' he said, looking ever smugger. 'Finch-Fletchley, the Stunning Spell?'

'Stupefy, sir'

'Good. Abbott, the Reductor Curse?'

'Reducto, sir?'

'Correct. Fawcett, the Impediment Jinx?'

'er, Impedimenta, sir.'

'Your spell knowledge seems to be adequate for your age. This year I will build on that knowledge, as well as teaching you to recognise what spell a person has been inflicted with, so that you can effectively perform the correct counter-spell. You will learn these counter-spells, and we will touch upon potions. Similarly, those of you who are taking potions will find yourselves touching upon Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

Snape then took the register, and surveyed the class. He noted the fact that Harry and Draco were sitting together, but did not mention it.

'Oh my god, I have NEVER seen an ego that big in my life. You?'

'Nah. It'd be alright if he did what he said, but he won't. You know he's just gonna take the piss and be an arsehole for the whole year.'

They were walking to lunch, having just endured a whole morning of Snape trying to find something they didn't know. In the end he had had to resort to NEWT material, and ignore Hermione. Hermione seemed to be of the opinion that Snape could be a good defence teacher, given that they gave him a chance. She and Ron were walking with their arms round each other's waist; they seemed to be over the embarrassment.

After lunch Ron left them to go to Muggle Studies; he didn't get a high enough grade to do NEWT Potions. 'As if I want to.' he had said. Actually, Harry was amazed that he had scraped through.

'I s'pose we'd better get goin too. I dunno what this Professor Thompson is like for punctuality.' And so they set off. It appeared that Professor Thompson did not set much store by punctuality at all, being a quarter of an hour late herself.

'Sorry about that, I was in a deep conversation with Professor Sprout.' she bustled, 'Now, this year will be a bit different from your previous years of Potions.' Harry and Hermione exchanged an apprehensive look.

'What we'll do is learn the properties of an ingredient, and how it affects other ingredients, then after a while, we'll see if you can't pick the correct ingredients to make a potion. Sound good?' It sounded like complete bullshit to Harry, but if it worked.

The week went fairly swiftly, with Harry's first Transfiguration lesson fairly successful. He was amazed when the weekend came, for it had been Harry's fastest first week back in his school career. There was of course another thing that marked the weekend; the upcoming meeting with Dumbledore, and on Saturday evening Harry found himself waiting in the office a good quarter of an hour early. Draco turned up a few minutes later;

'Can't wait either?'

'Nah, I wanna know what this is all about.'

'Same here. Hey Draco, what d'you think of old Snapey this year?'

'He's a bit of an arse aint he?'

'A bit?'

'Good point. Good evening Professor.' Dumbledore had just joined them.

'I shall waste no time, gentlemen. Let me tell you why you are here.'

You might have to wait a bit for the next one; I'm a bit tied up for the next few weeks. I suppose it depends on how many of you rr.