A/N: Okay, I've now updated Chapter 2 on both this story AND The Chase. Applause please! Okay, fine then... I'm happy anyway... Read and Review! Please and thank you, of course.

Harry had walked to his quarters in a daze. He wasn't expecting to have had to be here in this magical place ever again. He had not quite gotten over the spectacle at dinner, but he put it to the back of his mind. He glanced around the spacious interior of his room. He imagined Remus living in these rooms, having all of his books andsupernatural objects set on the now bare dresser and side-tables. He put the things that he had gone home to get on the bed and sat heavily upon it. He did not care that his things were currently jabbing him in the arse, nor did he mind his clothes getting wrinkled.

All of this had been too much to handle. First he had been dragged to Hogwarts when that was the last thing he had intended to do. Then he had been shoved into a box of blast-ended-skrewts (of which, were his favorite), and he had been sent to be cured by none other than Draco Malfoy, betrayer of his family and the dark side (and conspirator of Dumbledore's death...).

Harry rested his elbows on his knees and buried his hands in his hair. His temples throbbed as he thought of what he was going to do for class in two days. He was lucky that teaching here was not like muggle teaching where lesson plans were to be followed and reported to the Headmistress for her approval. This was a very good thing considering he didn't know where to start with the teaching thing...

Hermione helped him decide what he was going to cover each week and what assignments he was going to give and other such boring things. He was actually quite surprised at the extent of knowledge she knew about teaching when she'd only been teaching for three years. The problem, however, did not lie in the mechanical things that came with teaching... It was the students.

He remembered that he had hated sitting in the classroom, bored out of his mind because he hadn't the heart to listen to whatever the teacher was saying. He remembered especially the way hehad always beenbored, staring into space and wishing for anyone to just kill him where he snored. He wanted to avoid that very train of thought with his pupils, but how to go about that? A sudden revelation struck him and he jumped up and ran to his fireplace and proceeded in calling Remus Lupin. If anyone could help, it was Remus.

----

He hadn't expected to be late for his own class. It wasn't intentional, really. He just wasn't used to waking up early and he'd not paid attention to the time. For the first (or second) time he cursed the wards around the school preventing him from apparating around the castle. He found himself missing breakfast in order to gather his things and run to his classroom. When he finally arrived to class he was winded and tired... and late.

It was going to be a long day.

"Good morning class," Harry said with false confidence as he strolled nonchalantly into the room. He wiped at his brow with a handkerchief and sighed as he put his things down on his desk.

Students had piledthrough the doorway and, while some of them had sat in seats, others had chosen to wait for further direction. "Take any seat you wish. I advice you to choose wisely," he spoke as he walked toward the windows and pulled the shades down magically. He smiled at his students and clapped his hands, waking up a boy in the third row who had already fallen asleep.

He glanced at the rest of the class and continued, "I will not hesitate in finding you a less appealing seat should you disturb my class."

And so the day began...

----

Harry sighed as the last students of the day walked out of the room. He had, thankfully, not gotten any 'you're the Harry Potter!' from any of his students yet. He supposed it was because A.) It was the first day of schoolOR B.) They were so intimidated by him that they decided to shut up.

He rubbed at his temples and thought about going to the hospital ward to choke some migraine medicine out of Malfoy when a hesitant knock came from the door. "Come in," he said pleasantly.

In came a hesitant first year girl. Her straight black hair was tucked behind her ears and he found hewasimmediately remindedof Cho Chang. She was a cute little girl, (he couldn't imagine ever being that small) and he could tell she was afraid. He smiled down at herfour footframe gently, "can I help you?"

The girl blushed and shifted her books nervously in her hands. "I-" but before she could say anything a loud bang reverberated through the halls. Harry immediately pulled his wand out and silenced the girl with a hand. He ran towards the door and looked out to inspect the damage that had been done.

All over the walls was a green slimy substance that was sliding down onto the floor, making girls squeal and run. Peeves (of course) was laughing to himself joyfully and cackled maliciously "Blimey! Bloomers made the wall slimy! Did all that come from your nose?" Harry looked to see who Peeves was tormenting now and saw a fifth year Gryffindor seething with anger.

"It's not 'Bloomers' you bloody poltergeist! It's Bloom! Triton Bloom!" The boy brandished his wand at Peeves again, "this time I won't miss!"

Harry moved at once and shouted, "expelliarmus!"

The boy was thrown and the wand flew into his hands. Harry looked toward Peeves threateningly, "will you stop making people miserable for once? At least onthe first day of school?"

"I can't help it Potty!" He shouted as he swung upside down from a banister. His cackle resonated throughout the hall and he finally disappeared, "till next time Bloomers! Yahahahaha!"

"Honestly," he heard a witch murmur as she picked her friend up from the floor. "You'd think he'd learn to ignore Peeves like everyone else."

"That's enough Miss Everly before I give you detention." Spoke a familiar female voice from behind her. The girl visibly stiffened and with a nod she moved down the hallway, turning redder with every step.

"Damn, the first day and you're already giving detentions..." Hermione said jokingly as she crouched down in front of the boy who had been shouting at Peeves. When he noticed Hermione near him he jumped up at once.

"P-P-Professor Granger!" He shouted and blushed as he tried not to step on the green goo. "I-I-I c-can explain!"

Hermione smirked at him, "I'm sure you could Mister Bloom. But it's not me you need to explain yourself to. It's Professor Potter," she nodded toward Harry. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, Triton."

"But!" He shouted in argument.

"No buts," she said firmly. "You will be serving detention with Professor Potter."

She walked off toward the end of the hall and turned around. "Oh, by the way Harry! I heard your class was very interesting today! Good job!" She waved at him cheerfully before walking off.

"Well, I'm not sure what to-" Harry said but was interrupted by the young man before him.

"Just give me the punishment already..." He began picking up his things and muttered curses toPeeves a few more times.

"Well then, you can start by cleaning up this mess." He then added, feeling a lot like Snape. "Without magic." At least he had the decency to allow the boy a meal before having to clean up the mess.

With nary a groan, the fifteen year old chap walked away with his bag slung over his shoulder. Harry stared after the boy's retreating back for a while, pondering upon why Peeves affected him so much. Harry chose to shrug it off and walked back into his classroom. He wanted to prepare for tomorrow. Boggarts had always been a favorite of his.

----

"So Malfoy," Hermione spoke into the silence of the Medical Ward.

"Granger," he said impatiently as he looked through his stock of medicines and herbs. "What do you need?"

Hermione pouted and put her fisted hands on her hips. "Why do you automatically assume that I'm here for something?"

"Because Granger," he said with a knowing smirk. "You always come in need of something..." he glanced around and leaned in for effect, "...specific."

Hermione laughed at him and swatted at his hand as it reached out to flick her. "You know," she said while still laughing. "If you hadn't been such a prick when we were still in school, we would have gotten along great. Well, maybe not with Ron, but definitely with Harry and me."

Malfoy stiffened at this statement. He hadn't wanted to bring Potter into this at all. Sure, he and Granger had called a truce when they found they'd have to work together at Hogwarts, but that didn't mean they were best friends. She certainly did seem to think so with the way she acted toward him. He would admit only to himself that he had entertained the idea of befriending the trio but found he didn't fit. He was much too... Malfoy-ish.

At the age of twenty-five, Draco found that he resembled his father in every way. He was handsome and he was not afraid of admitting that he was actually somewhat pretty (in the most masculine ways possible of course). His almond-shaped silver eyes matched perfectly with his almost white blonde hair. He had grown his hair out enough so that he could pull it back into a small ponytail but not nearly as long as his father had worn his.

"Now," Draco said as he pulled out a vial with a powder blue liquid inside. "Let's get down to business." He leaned against a counter and held the liquid between two long, elegant fingers. He swayed the contents and smirked when he noticed that Hermione was eyeing its movements.

"Seven galleons," she said after a moment.

Draco clutched back the vial and snorted. "Seven galleons woman! What the hell do you take me for! I should stop doing business with you."

She smiled at him, "you need the business Draco. Plus, where will you find a customer with the amount of charm I have?"

Again Draco snorted but he pulled the vial out and began to roll it between his digits teasingly.

"Seventeen galleons," she said confidently and smirked when Draco shook his head no. "You're right Draco, that's entirely too much. Ten galleons."

Draco looked outraged and insulted. "You're not supposed to go backwards! You don't know how to haggle!"

She crossed her legs and smiled again. "I do so! That's why you're going to give it to me for ten galleons. Plus, your undying love for Harry Potter will be enough blackmail to make you give it to me for free. Consider this a favor to you from me." She then stood up and snatched for the vial.

He decided to keep his mouth shut on that jibe in favor of addressing a different issue. "What do you need this for anyway?" He said as he eyed the contents.

"For me to know..." she said in a sing-song voice as she wagged her finger.

"Oh, and by the way. I'm not in love with scarhead. The idea of the man makes me absolutely sick." He then handed over the vial and watched as she left the Medical ward for the third time this week. He snatched up the money purse she had left on her chair. Inside were exactly ten galleons. She hadn't expected to pay more than that from the beginning...

----

A teenaged wizard and a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher were the only occupants of the corridor. The Professor sat on a floating armchair and surveyed the young lad as he served his detention. The teen swept his overly long bangs from his face before continuing to scrub the floor with his sponge. He disliked silence almost as much as he disliked Peeves and so, he filled the hall with his chatter.

Harry participated if the topic interested him, but otherwise he kept to himself and allowed the boy to vent on different subjects. The teen had come to the conclusion thatTriton wasn't hard to talk to and even opened up on the most touchy of subjects: Peeves.

"It's because he knows that I'm gay," the frankness in the boy's voice had momentarily thrown him off. He sat upright in his chair in surprise but soon after, he leaned back and relaxed. It was rude to be so obviously surprised in a time like this. Especially since the boy in front of him was so sensitive.

The statement had piqued his interest and now he waited for the boy to continue. He watched with intent green eyes as the boy scrubbed the floor of the hall. The boy hadn't complained once about his punishment and had even commented on how easy the task would be for him. Apparently, he got punished often and spent most of his evenings in detention.

"Peeves won't stop calling me 'bloomers' either." The brown-haired teen spoke after a few moments of silence. He groaned when the slime got on his bangs and sat up abruptly. He grouched as he pulled his hair back with a hair-band and sent a cold stare at his Professor's direction. "I don't wear bloomers, for your information."

Harry fought back the urge to laugh as he nodded and sent the boy back to work. He hadn't even thought for a moment that the statement was true but now that it was mentioned, it was even harder not to laugh. He could understand why such an accusation could be so damaging to one such as Triton Bloom. Harry had the urge to consol him and give advice but the truth was, he wouldn't know what to say. He hadn't 'come out' to anyone except Ron and Hermione. Everyone else who knew had either just assumed it or heard it from Hermione (Ron would never broadcast such information).

Harry wasn't obviously gay anyway, not as far as he could tell. His hips didn't sway unless he thought about it and his hands didn't gesture excessively as he talked or while he walked. Triton Bloom was the same way as far as Harry could tell.

"I'm spilling my guts out to you and you find the wall more interesting?" Triton's hands were fisted at his hips and the hurt tone to his voice made Harry smile slightly. He watched in amusement as the boy rolled his eyes and continued working when Harry only stared at him.

Triton mumbled something Harry couldn't hear. He leaned forward in his chair and raised an eyebrow in question. When Triton saw this he replied in a sarcastic tone, "I said 'Professor Granger said I could talk to you, but I don't think you understand at all."

There was no way he'd said all ofthat in the small mumble he'd overheard but Harry pushed that aside to wonder why Hermione was telling her students to talk to him. He opened his mouth to speak but a loud beeping erupted in the deserted hall. Triton started and pressedthe button on his watch that silenced the noise. He stared at the watch contemplatively and frowned down at it. He looked up at Harry and spoke softly. "Mada-I mean, Mister Malfoy'll be cross if I am late again." Triton stood and surveyed the clean hall with a critical eye. "I missed a few spots but I really must go, Professor."

Harry watched with interest as he slung his beige bag over his shoulder and proceeded down the hall. However, before disappearing fully, the teen twirled around and called toward his departing professor. "Maybe we could talk sometime?"

And before Harry could respond, the teen ran out of his sight.

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A/N: Okay, I hope you review. This chapter was not beta-edafter I made some corrections so I don't know how badly misspelled or grammatically incorrect it is...

Review Responses:

Ms. Dependent- Yayz, I updated! Lol. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Cithara- Let me know what you thought about this chapter. I hope you enjoy the story as it progresses.

Georgia Sunshine- Well Draco isn't friends with everyone, he's just tolerating them... I think Harry is a good teacher. I don't think he'd be a good Auror because he'd be tied down by the Ministry. I've read stories where he was the Flying teacher. I thought that was funny.

Rujutoshi- And love back. I hope you enjoyed this installment.

dracorox418- Short n sweet, ne? I appreciate your reviews.

Cate- Thanks to you and dracorox418 for reviewing both of my stories! I love Draco too, I can't write anything that doesn't have him as a main character. I'm glad you like both of my stories enough to follow them. Thank you very much!

Thanks to all of my readers. I really appreciate reviews! I have a bit of bad luck where my stories get a whole lot of hits but only three or four people review... Is it a sign? Mou...Until next time!

Keiko Yuki