Harry slept in the next day and was woken by Cicatrix appearing on his bed in a burst of magical flames. Groaning, he took the letter from the phoenix and stroked the blood-red plumage of his head, unrolling the parchment with the other. It was from Mrs Weasley.

Dear James,

My name is Molly Weasley. I am Ron's mother, and I am delighted to hear that he has made another friend. From what he has written you sound like a wonderful person, and I look forward to meeting you.

I am afraid I must apologise for Ron's behaviour. Sometimes he can get very angry and upset, but you must understand that it is just because he is still upset about the death of Harry Potter. He was Ron's best friend, and both he and Hermione took the news very badly indeed.

Again, I look forward to meeting you soon.

Molly Weasley

Wondering vaguely why Ron was writing home so early, and why Mrs Weasley felt it necessary to welcome him as Ron's friend, he screwed up his face. He sighed and lay his head back down.

"Wake me up half an hour before Potions, will you?" he murmured to Cicatrix, who settled compliantly on Harry's stomach.

He was woken again by a sharp peck on his nose.

"Hey!" he yelped, and Cicatrix stared at him placidly. Grumbling, he crawled out of bed and made a beeline for the shower. He had dreamt about dragons and stags, and shook his head to clear it of the odd images. The shower was cold, and he made it a quick one, getting down to Potions before the class started. He yawned widely as he came to a halt outside the dungeon, and stood beside Hermione, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I'm tired." He complained.

"You shouldn't be. You had a long sleep," she said surprised.

"Yeah well, I'm still tired." He groaned. He took his head off her shoulder and tried to flatten his unruly hair – then remembered that he had different hair. And it was already lying flat against his head. He smiled to himself and yawned again.

"Amazing though your tonsils are, please refrain from exhibiting them to the whole class," said a drawl to his right. He closed his mouth abruptly and stared at Malfoy.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Hermione snarled viciously. Harry and Malfoy stared at her – Harry with shock, Malfoy with amusement.

"You don't need to get huffy, Granger, I was merely complimenting James's tonsils," he said mildly. Harry snorted at the look on Hermione's face.

"Don't worry, Hermione. He's harmless," he said with a grin.

"I am not harmless!" Malfoy said indignantly. "I happen to be very dangerous! First years quiver before me, and those in the other years at least have to sense to move out of my way when they see such a powerful, authoritative figure approaching!" he turned sharply towards Harry and Hermione. "Bow before me, humble Gryffindors!" he said dramatically.

Hermione was about to start yelling again when she saw that Harry was laughing. She stared as Harry bowed.

"I am not worthy of your presence, oh great Draco Malfoy." He said, stifling a laugh as he bowed before Malfoy. The Slytherin looked immensely pleased.

"It's good to see that at least one Gryffindor has a sense of humour!" he said happily as Harry straightened.

"What's going on?" asked a cold, sneering voice. Harry's head snapped around. Snape was standing in the doorway to the Potions classroom, a suspicious look on his face.

"Antares was just acknowledging my superiority, sir," Malfoy said innocently. Snape shot Harry a glare.

"Come in, and no more messing around," he snapped. Chuckling, Malfoy followed Harry into the room. Snape waited until they were all sat down before he spoke again. "Before we even start, I want you in pairs," he said. Hermione automatically shifted closer to Harry. "If I do not approve of the pair, I will reshuffle you as I see fit. Is that understood? Keep in mind that you will be staying in these pairs for the whole year."

The class watched him in silence. He looked sharply at them.

"Get on with it!" he snapped, and they immediately started moving. Hermione sighed and turned to Harry.

"Well, at least I –"

"James?"

Harry turned to Draco. Hermione gave them a puzzled look.

"Sorry Hermione, I said I'd partner him," he said apologetically. She looked crestfallen.

"It's fine, I'll find someone else," she said miserably, and turned away. Harry watched her for a moment before he gathered his bag up and followed Draco to where he was sat.

"I recognise you," someone behind him said. "You were in the common room last night."

Harry turned to see Blaise Zabini staring at him.

"Yeah, he's the new Gryffindor, but I'm working on converting him," Draco replied, offering Harry a wink. "His name is James Antares. He's not fond of the Gryffindors,"

Hermione happened to be walking past at the second and she gave Harry a hurt look and marched off. Draco dropped his stool back onto four feet and bit his lip.

"Oops." He said, wincing. Harry shook his head.

"It's fine. She probably won't believe you anyway."

"Mr. Antares," Snape's voice rang out across the room. "Kindly focus on the task at hand,"

Harry glanced at the board and quickly read the instructions. He recalled studying something similar over the holidays, and forced himself to think back to that week when he was staying with Snape, the week when he had studied meticulously for each of the four subjects. It suddenly came to him.

"Lingua Omni," he said, surprised. He turned to Draco. "What does he want us to make that for?" he asked, puzzled. Draco shrugged.

"Merlin knows. We'd better just get on with it,"

Harry nodded in agreement, and pulled his scales.

"Do you want to use your cauldron or mine?" he asked Draco. The Slytherin peered at his, then his eyes widened in shock.

"Solid silver? Ooh, we'd better use yours. Solid silver gives potions more potency and makes them more stable," he said enthusiastically, hauling Harry's cauldron towards him and throwing the first ingredients in. "How rich are you?" he asked incredulously as Harry produced crystal vials and an eagle quill.

"My parents left me a small fortune," he said modestly.

"You could say that," Draco said appreciatively.

They worked in silence for five minutes, perfectly content with short missives like "Pass the syrup," or "Turn the cauldron down a bit," Harry glanced up once, and caught Snape eyeing him and Malfoy with something akin to pride. Harry frowned, and when Snape noticed him staring, glared furiously. Harry withered under the look and gazed around the room. He couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for Hermione, who was paired with Ernie Macmillan. She looked bored to death as he prattled on pompously to her about everything and nothing. He suppressed a grin.

"What was so funny in Madam Malkin's?" Draco asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

Draco tilted his head in amusement.

"Astounding, your vernacular ability is almost shadowed by your retention for events," he said smoothly, not once stumbling. Harry scowled.

"I ought to enquire as to the connotation of that sentence, but you would irrefutably ridicule my distinct ignorance for such extensive vocabulary." Harry said mildly. Draco dropped his knife, stunned, and stared at Harry, who continued working. Then he burst out laughing.

"Excellent, James!" he spluttered, earning himself a few disturbed glances from those working around them. "That was bloody brilliant!"

"Mr Malfoy, language," Snape reprimanded sharply from the class. Harry couldn't help but grin as Draco took a few deep breaths, still chuckling now and then.

"Well, you were asking for it," Harry muttered. Draco snorted.

"I was hardly expecting my trick to be thrown back at me. And it was thrown quite well, too!" he said brightly, adding liquefied holly berries. "Now, answer the question. What was so funny in Madam Malkin's?"

Harry paused, considering whether or not to tell him. In the end, he relied on his in-built Slytherin cunning.

"If you can tell me my lineage, I'll tell you what was so funny," he said finally. Draco looked rather pleased.

"Well, it's just a matter of time then!" he said, grinning. "Because everyone knows that I'm the best potions student!"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's good to hear," he said wryly. He flipped his textbook open to the correct page. He read through the potion and frowned at the bottom of the page. He looked up, and sure enough, there was a stage missed out on the board. He poked Draco in the ribs and stared when the Slytherin giggled. Draco stopped immediately when he noticed Harry was staring.

"Shut up," he scowled. "Very few people know I'm ticklish,"

Harry snorted.

"Look, he's left this bit out of the potion," he said, and pointed to the line in the textbook which stated that dragon's liver should be added after the rosehip juice.

"Honestly, do you really think that Snape keeps dragon's liver in the student's store cupboard?" Draco said exasperatedly. Harry stared at him blankly, then stuck his hand into his pocket and drew out the bag that contained a few bits of Cicatrix's dragon's liver. Draco stared at it. "I'm confused." He said bluntly.

"It's for my phoenix. It's what I feed him." He set the bag down on the desk and peered at the textbook. "It says it makes the drinker able to speak the language, too. Hey, don't you want to add it?" he asked Draco enthusiastically.

"Do you have enough?"

"I should do, and I have plenty back in the dormitory. Plus I can just buy more in Hogsmeade at the weekend. Come on, what's the worst that could happen? We can make up an excuse if Snape starts yelling. You're his favourite student, remember?"

"I suppose so," Draco said eventually. Grinning broadly, Harry measured out the correct amount of liver.

Five minutes later, the class was full of cauldrons gently simmering, all a faint blue colour. All except one.

"I assume you have an explanation for this, Antares?" Snape sneered coldly, glaring down at the offending potion. It was bright green.

"We followed the textbook properly, and didn't do anything wrong to our knowledge," Draco replied smoothly. Snape jerked his head to face him.

"Did you not think that I might have written out a different version of the potion out for you to follow for a reason?" he barked. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Hermione fling her book open, curious as to what Harry had done that she hadn't.

"As far as we could see, the extra ingredient doesn't have any harmful side effects." Draco said quickly.

"And would you be kind enough to explain exactly how you got your hands on the extra ingredient? I know for a fact that I do not have it in the student store cupboard." He sneered. Harry swallowed nervously.

"I have some, sir," he said, and pulled the bag out of the robes. Snape stared at him.

"Why?" he asked softly. Harry shivered.

"It's for my phoenix. Professor Dumbledore gave me it," he said honestly. Snape scowled down at him, then turned to address the class.

"Well then, since you have decided to take matters into your own hands, I do not expect you to come running to me when it fails dismally. I have been told that you are a Parselmouth, Antares. Let's see if Mr. Malfoy can make sense of your incoherent hissing." He said smartly, and sat down. "Three drops should do, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco took three drops of the potion and turned to Harry.

"Say something," he prompted.

Harry glanced down at the Slytherin crest on his partner's chest and tried to imagine it moving.

"Draco Malfoy," he said.

"I understood that!" Draco said excitedly.

"That's because it was in English, Mr. Malfoy," Snape drawled from the front of the classroom. "Perhaps Antares is not a Parselmouth after all."

Burning with fury, Harry concentrated on the snake on Draco's crest, forcing himself to believe that it was real.

"Draco Malfoy," he tried again.

"I think we will have to move on, if Antares refuses to perform…" Snape began.

"Shut up!" he snapped furiously, head whipping around to face Snape. "It's not as if I'm not trying, you try and speak Parseltongue!" then he cringed, waiting for Snape's wrath to come crashing down. Draco had a similar look on his face. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I am assuming that was an insult you just threw at me. However, Mr. Malfoy is the only person other than yourself who would know at this point, so unfortunately I cannot take points." He said coldly. Harry blinked.

"Oh," he said blankly.

"Antares, kindly talk in English when you are directing your speech processes towards me." Snape snapped irritably. Harry glanced back at Draco and they simultaneously burst out laughing.

"So it's working?" Draco asked between gasps, and Harry noted the faint hiss in his voice. He tried to copy it.

"It must be!" he choked.

"We can take some of this potion away with us, so we can speak privately from now on. I wonder how long it lasts?" Draco mused once he had calmed down enough. The rest of the class were already taking their potions.

"I don't know, you can ask Snape, but be careful now, the rest of them are testing." Harry replied. Draco nodded, and spoke again without the hiss.

"Professor, how long does the potion last?"

Snape sneered at them.

"That which I assigned to the class will last for an hour at most. However, the version you two attempted will last the full day," Harry and Draco exchanged gleeful looks, "but I can easily provide you with a counter-potion, Mr. Malfoy,"

"No thanks," Draco replied. "I'll be all right."

"Quiet!" Snape yelled over the mutterings of the class. "Antares, speak a sentence of Parseltongue. The rest of you, take a note of the sentence. I will be checking your answers at the end of the lesson to see how well you have done,"

He motioned to Harry, who bit his lip. He didn't know what to say. Then he grinned.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present the Marauder's Map," he recited in Parseltongue. Most of the class looked faintly puzzled, but copied down what they had heard anyway. To his left, Draco was barely suppressing his laughter.

"He's going to kill you," he whispered, writing out the sentence as he chuckled. Harry grinned.

"What's he going to do? He can't prove anything. He doesn't even know I have the map!"

"Very Slytherin of you," Draco complimented. Harry smiled.

"Bring your parchment up to the front, with your pair's name on it," Snape called out. Once the paper was all collected in, he turned once more to Harry. "Come up here and write out your sentence on the board."

Harry stood and walked over to the board, and quickly wrote out what he had said. He finished and laid the chalk down on the shelf. He glanced at Snape's face once on his way back to his seat. And saw that he looked partly confused, partly furious. Draco prodded him as he sat back down.

"Should be interesting to see what the dolts all came up with," he whispered. Harry grinned, but his smile faltered. A year ago he would have been angry at Draco for calling them that. But now, he was simply accepting it as Draco's inability to see himself as being on the same level as such 'plebeians', as he had called them at least once the previous year.

"Miss Granger and Mr. Macmillan have translated rather well, with the error of Mauler rather than Marauder.

"Miss Parkinson heard that they were the Perverts of AIDs and Magical Masturbaters.

"Mr Zabini transcribed their names as Loony, Worm and Snail, Madfoot and Songs.

"The rest carry on in a similar fashion, although not quite as disturbing as Miss Parkinson and Mr. Boot's…" Pansy went bright red and hit Boot on the arm, "but not one of you managed to correctly translate the sentence. Nevertheless, I am sure that you would survive with this level of understanding, and – no, wait." He said softly, pulling out a single piece of parchment. The words on it were small and neatly done in a slightly fancy script. "Mr. Malfoy has correctly translated the sentence with an extra word. 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,"

"Oops," Draco cringed beside Harry.

"Idiot," Harry seethed.

"But I shall overlook the error," Snape continued. "As you have spelt every word correctly. Ten points to Slytherin," he said.

"What about Gryffindor? We worked together on the potion," Draco interjected. Snape stared.

"Fine then. Five points to Gryffindor for helping," Snape sneered at Harry, who glared back.

"Bastard," he hissed, and several startled faces turned to stare at him, waiting for Snape's reaction. Then they realised that he had said it in Parseltongue, and the amazement turned to amusement. Snape raised another eyebrow, which Harry fought with an innocent smile. Snape scowled and turned away.

"I want samples from your potions labelled and on my desk in five minutes," He said loudly. "Get moving."

Harry watched as Draco filled a flask with the potion and took it to Snape, then furtively siphoned the rest off into a larger flask which he stowed away in his bag. He cleaned the cauldron out and handed it back to Harry.

"This is going to be fun!" he said brightly, a massive grin on his face.

Harry had never seen anything more disturbing.

Draco was making full use of his new-found powers. He had waited an hour before yelling things across the Great Hall at lunch, things that made Harry blush even though he knew that nobody else understood.

"Check out that Ravenclaw James! She's damned hot!" he yelled at one point, and Harry couldn't help himself. He looked over to where Draco was pointing, and was appalled to see Cho Chang glaring at him.

"That's not funny, Draco," he hissed back. The Slytherin simply giggled helplessly.

"Stop yelling, Antares," Snape growled from behind him. Harry leapt out of his seat, and Draco taunted him some more as Snape started yelling at him. The Slytherin proceeded to say the most embarrassing things he could think off whilst Snape berated Harry, and when it didn't work, started commenting on Snape's greasy hair and big nose. Harry had to bite his lip to stop laughing, so hard that blood crept into his mouth.

"I wonder if McGonagall has a sex life?" Draco wondered during Transfiguration, and Harry had been so surprised by the comment that he just burst out laughing whilst trying to be angry with Draco. Damn, the Malfoy charm was just hilarious. Draco used the advantage to say the most outrageously funny things he could, causing Harry to collapse on the floor in hysterics, only to be shut up with a Silencing charm by a rather irate McGonagall. She only removed it when he appeared calm enough to talk.

"Would you like to tell the rest of the class what Mr Malfoy said that is so funny?" she said angrily. Harry took one look at Draco's face at collapsed again.

"Ooh, how about this – McGonagall and Filch, and Filch is wearing a pink leather thong…"

Harry didn't hear the rest. McGonagall had sent him out of the classroom.

Ahem... yeah, well, I read all the lovely reviews you sent me and, like one of you (sorry can't remember who!) said, getting reviews kind of make you want to post more chapters. So I won't get acrried away with myself, and only post one chapter this evening. Even though I have more than ten written.

Reviews are good... reviews are nice... please review...

Praise the wonderful FireOpal tree.

smokey