Summary: When Hogwarts announces their need for a new Potions professor, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are deemed best for the job. Each is desperate to have the job, for different reasons, and since there's only room for one of them… chaos inevitably erupts. DM/HG with hints of RW/PP.

Sanctuary in Potions

Chapter Five: That Dreaded First Time on the Job

-

Draco was horribly torn between making a grand entrance by being fashionably late and punishing the students for it, or creating a lasting impression by being extremely early and punishing the students for it.

Then he realized that he'd be punishing the students either way so it really didn't matter.

He scrutinized his appearance on the mirror, frowning as he looked down on himself. Draco was wondering how some of the teachers created that billowing effect on their clothes. It was a crucial factor to earn respect – he picked that up from a magazine somewhere - but then again, who'd want to meddle with a Malfoy? Particularly one who actually had legalpower over things and people?

A perpetual breeze, perhaps? No. It might get too drafty on certain… important parts of his anatomy. A bigger robe? And make him look twenty pounds heavier? Please. How about—

Someone knocked on his door and shattered his thoughts on the very important matter. Draco was about to ignore it – clearly, his appearance was definitely more significant than, say, his job – but the knocking became louder and louder until he was almost afraid a fist will go through the door any second.

"Yes?" he snapped, without fully seeing whom he was speaking to when he opened the door.

When he finally saw the person, his temper shot up and for a moment his vision blurred with anger. After all, he was disrupted from an essential morning routine and all because of one pathetic, idiotic woman named— "Hermione Granger," he bit out, his voice full of suppressed annoyance. "Fancy seeing you in my doorstep. What, you wanted to start your day all bright and glorious so you've come to see me for it?"

Granger raised her brow at him. "And a good morning to you too. Here. Have this." She shoved a ton of paper at him.

Draco staggered at the weight he received. "What the hell—"

"It's the outline for the two subjects we're teaching, with titles and authors of reference books and short descriptions of the topics in them.

I've browsed through them last night, and I also checked the library when I had the chance. I think there're only one or two books missing from the list, but otherwise—"

"Aren't you just the eager beaver," he quipped. He lifted the stack with some difficulty. "I appreciate this very much." To prove his sincerity, Draco threw the papers at the floor where upon impact it exploded into a huge, messy heap.

Granger's jaw dropped at his actions. "Wha—Why'd you do that? Don't you know that that list was already arranged in chronological order so our topics won't overlap?"

"You probably didn't sleep at all last night just to arrange it. Correct?"

"Of course! And now you—"

"Granger, does it somehow occur to your bushy head that I just don't care?" he asked earnestly. "Well," Draco said after a moment of silence, "I guess it doesn't, with that hair disrupting your thinking process and all."

She glared at him, and folded her arms over her chest. "You're so infuriating, you know that? You don't have an ounce of decency in that corrupted, filthy head of yours that makes me think you're—"

Draco adopted a wounded look on his face. "That hurts me, Granger. I am a decent man, let me tell you. Why do you think I'm not slamming this door on your face as we speak? But, now that I've mentioned it—" He slammed the door on her face.

That felt good, he thought, smiling hugely.

She pounded on the door three times. "I'm only trying to help you, Malfoy! But I guess you're too much a bigoted self-righteous jerk to even—"

"Whoever told you I needed your help? I don't need your help! Now go away before somebody sees you there. I have a reputation to maintain, you know."

"Ha! See if I help you out in the future… ferret!" Footsteps echoed, and then the sound of her door slamming close resounded in the silent hallway.

That woman really knew how to get under his skin so early in the morning. Some type of Gryffindor skill, no doubt about it. She probably had a 'pester Draco Malfoy' tattooed on her skin somewhere, making her act accordingly.

How unfortunate that he had to tolerate her presence for, oh, another three hundred and sixty four days.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

It took Draco fifteen minutes to calm himself enough to not want to set the stack of papers she delivered on fire and slip it quietly under her door, then pull a chair by her room to hear her frantic screams.

It also took him that amount of time to realize that he was going to be fashionably late for his class. Head held high, he marched towards the dungeons.

Draco opened the door to the Potions classroom, and instantly the yammering noises ceased. He tossed a glance around and saw that the students he was going handle were Slytherins and – gasp! - Hufflepuffs.

And a good way to start the day is… "Ten points from Hufflepuff," Draco happily said.

Half of the class went white with confusion, which were a sight for sore eyes and a sour mood.

Damn. It felt good to actually be a professor. It's like being a professional bastard and getting paid for it.

A snicker caught Draco's attention. It came from the student sitting nearest to his desk.

"You. Stand up."

The infernal child did, and raised his chin and glared defiantly at him while at it.

Draco remembered this ghastly-looking kid from the Sorting Hat ceremony, and now it sickened him to see the Slytherin emblem on this Longbottom's robe. It was so… insulting. Like saying Potter should've been a Slytherin. Pause. Shudder. Vomit at the thought.

Huh. Maybe he should be thankful for small favors.

"What's your name?"

"Neil. Longbottom," he said with a very proud sneer.

"How unfortunate," Draco said disdainfully. "Sit down and ten points from Slytherin."

The other half of the class went white as well. Now all his students were pale and sweating.

He did mention something about being a professional bastard, didn't he?

But Longbottom proved himself to be his father's son. "Ten points!" he exclaimed annoyingly. "Why? Why? Why?"

"Because I said so. Now sit down and another ten points for questioning my authority."

"You're a Slytherin before, my father told me you were," Longbottom muttered, still not sitting down. "Why aren't you taking our side?"

"Because I'm a professor. I don't take sides."

Which was true. Faced with two options, a Slytherin Longbottom or pasty Hufflepuffs, Draco would definitely choose neither one of them. House loyalty be damned!

"When my father hears this—"

Odd. That line sounded very familiar to his ears. Like someone from his childhood years used it often. Who could that be? Potter? No, his father's dead. Weasley? His father's too poor. Pansy? Err… Granger? Dismissing the thought he said,"Listen here, Longbottom. I don't care if your father happens to be the Minister of the whole wizarding world, all right? If your father happened to be Dumbledore and you're the product of an illicit love affair between him and McGonagall then I'd still deduct points from your house. Now sit down before I deduct all the points from Slytherin."

Reluctantly, Longbottom sat down, muttering, "Wait 'til my father—"

"So," said Draco, taking out his wand and twirling it prettily, "let's skip the 'introduce yourselves to me' part and go directly to me introducing myself to you, which we all know is more important. As all of you should remember, I am Draco Malfoy. I'll be your professor every Tuesday in Potions and every Thursday in Care of Magical Creatures. As for rules… don't be stupid, don't be too bright, and don't ever be a know-it-all. Impress me and I'll deduct points from you. Annoy me and I'll deduct points from you. Breathe improperly and I'll deduct points from you. Disagree with me and I'll deduct points from you. Agreed?"

The students, stunned to silence by the chain of events, mutely nodded.

"Wonderful." And Draco smiled.

By the end of the first subject, the Hufflepuff glass case didn't have a single stone in it.

The Slytherin's, on the other hand, was near overflowing.

Seemed that Draco Malfoy couldn't keep being unbiased for too long.

--

Hermione rubbed her palms nervously for the hundredth time, craning her neck to check if the students were coming or not. She squinted, and then sighed – not a single child was coming her way. Yet.

Care of Magical Creatures might not be her strongest area, but she had developed a fondness for it, partly because of Hagrid's short-lived participation. Now, she was standing near his hut, the open space being the official venue for the subject. Hermione had learned that past students preferred this location instead of a classroom because they didn't feel enclosed. It was also better for the students to observe the animals in their natural habitat than those in trapped in cages.

It was already past lunch hour, and finally Hermione could hear voices and footsteps coming her way. She placed on her brightest smile and waited, not allowing herself to look too eager or too impatient as she did.

"Welcome!" she said, spreading her arms wide in greeting. "Please gather around, yes, that's it. My name is Hermione Granger, and I'll be teaching you your first lesson in Care of Magical Creatures for today. But before we begin, can anyone tell me your expectations for this term? What do you wish to learn? Anybody?"

No one was raising his or her hand.

Hermione felt some stress creeping into her, but she decided to ignore it. "All right," she said instead. "Let's do introductions first. I've already told you my name, so you have to tell me yours. Who would like to start?"

Still no response.

Then someone raised her hand.

"Yes?" Hermione smiled encouragingly at Charlotte, and felt as though she could've awarded the Hufflepuff a thousand points for breaking the stiff silence surrounding them.

"Miss Granger, are you… are you going to deduct points from us? Because we don't have any left."

Half of the students nodded solemnly at this, while the other half looked smug.

Hermione didn't have to guess which house felt more superior over the other. She just had to remember from what subject these students came from and she'd know what happened. "No," she said slowly, looking at the others. "I'm not going to deduct points from Hufflepuff. In fact, why don't I award twenty points for you being the first student to speak?"

At that, half the students smiled, and the other half looked ready to hex her.

Malfoy, you sick bastard, she thought, balling her hands to fists. She knew that idiot was big trouble, but to have him destroy her first teaching experience and scar the Hufflepuffs' lives while at it… it was too much.

The awarding of points to the Hufflepuffs proved to be the much needed icebreaker. Soon, the children were encouraged to speak, and even the Slytherins became talkative. It didn't take Hermione too long to figure out that she had to exert strict control over the students, or else even she wouldn't be able to hear herself think.

"So," she said, motioning for the students to pipe down, "as Mr. Malfoy no doubt already told you, we both will be your professors for these two subjects – Potions and Care for Magical Creatures. On Tuesdays, like this one, we'll be discussing about magical animals and how beneficial they are to the wizarding world. I'll also be teaching you how to take proper care of them, and how to recognize a creature and so on. Thursdays will be devoted to Potions, and in there I'll show you that magic is also reliant on the different concoctions that wizards and witches conjure in order to make spells more effective or, at times, counter them. I assure you that we'll be having fun while learning. Doesn't that sound good?"

"Yes!" the children wholeheartedly answered.

"Wonderful," said Hermione. "Now—"

A loud screech came from atop, and she ducked as a large eagle swooped down, clutching something in its blade-like talons. The children cried out in terror and scrambled to their feet, rushing towards Hermione like a mob. Then she started – the eagle was heading towards Neil Longbottom!

"Neil!" Hermione shrieked, taking out her wand. "Nei—"

Then the most unbelievable thing happened.

The Slytherin casually stretched his right arm, and the bird perched on it, dropping a small bag onto the child's left hand. "Good boy," Neil crooned, then thrust his arm upward to allow the eagle to fly again. "Tell Mama thanks for me!" Then he locked eyes with Hermione and he smirked.

She was almost trembling. Her heart was still pit pattering in her chest and here was the infernal child smirking at her? "Neil," she said low, glaring at him, "do you know what you've just done? You scared your schoolmates half to death!"

"Well," Neil said, shrugging, "no one was hurt. And it isn't Ralph's fault the Hufflepuffs are such cowards."

"Cowards!" cried Charlotte, stepping out of Hermione's side. "We are not cowards! That—that thing was so scary and—"

"Ralph wouldn't hurt anyone anyway," Neil answered, frowning at Charlotte. "He's trained very well. My father saw to it that he was."

"So this Ralph is your house pet?" asked Hermione.

"He's my eagle. I didn't want to get an owl. Owls are stupid."

Hermione crossed her arms in front of her. "You do know that there are specified times for deliveries from home, don't you? It was made perfectly clear during the Sorting Ceremony."

"I can't predict when my parents will send me sweets!" said Neil in his most obnoxious tones.

She had reached the end of her limits. "One hundred points from Slytherin," Hermione called. "And detention for you, Longbottom!"

"WHAT!" he cried. "That's not fair! It wasn't my fault that—"

"Be thankful I'm not deducting more points from your house, when I could very well do so!" she said loudly.

"But—"

"Not one more word," Hermione warned. "Not one more word."

And Neil Longbottom stood there, glaring daggers at her.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. It was such her luck then, that fate would treat her like this.

She had Draco Malfoy as a co-teacher, which was hell indeed.

Now she had one just like him as a student as well?

"Someone shoot me now, please," she muttered under her breath.

"What's that, Miss Granger?" asked Charlotte, attentively hanging on to her every word.

"Nothing!" Hermione said, pasting on a false cheery smile. "Nothing at all."

Author's Notes: Do forgive me for taking so long to update… at first I was thinking of picking this up after I've finished DH but I also thought it'd be a waste to let this go, so… updated! Hopefully you'll be on the lookout for the next chapter of this story :)