Chapter 4:

"Alright everyone, welcome to the first day of Reproductive Studies with your new partners. If you're not already sitting with your partner, please do so now," said Professor Douglas and waited patiently for the students to join their partners.

Harry, of course, was not sitting next to Draco. He looked back at Draco who was surrounded by his friends and then up at Ron and Hermione who sat in the row in front of him and sighed. He got up and joined Draco at his table. He didn't really mind moving so much, seeing as he wasn't sitting with anyone anyway. He hadn't talked to Ron or Hermione since last night when he'd told them what Dumbledore had said. He didn't blame them, really. If one of them had been paired with Draco he probably would have felt the same way. The Slytherins all snickered as he sat next to Draco and one of them launched a spit wad at him, which hit him on the forehead and then fell to the ground. Harry glared at them. He wondered why Draco's friends didn't seem to mind that he was paired with Harry. He'd probably told them some lie about it being Voldemort's doing or something, Harry decided. He glanced at Ginny who was sitting next to Blaise. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Okay then," said Professor Douglas. "From now on you will need to sit next to your partner for every class. Today's class is going to focus on you getting to know your partner better. Hopefully this will help break the ice between you and will allow you to be more comfortable with one another. I'd like you all to space out around the room with your partner so you can fully concentrate on them without any distractions. I'm going to pass out a paper with a list of questions on it that you will ask one another. You'll write the answers on the parchment and turn them in at the end of class today." Professor Douglas waved her wand and papers went flying across the room, landing in front of each student. "Okay! You may begin!" she said with a smile.

Harry followed Draco to a far corner of the room and sat down across from him. "This is the most idiotic assignment I've ever heard of!" said Draco. "Why the hell would I want to get to know you, Potter?" he asked him nastily.

"Fuck off, Malfoy," snapped Harry. He was in no mood to put up with Malfoy's crap today. "Just lets fucking do the assignment!"

Draco smirked at him and read the first question. "Tell me one thing about your past that you wish you could change," read Draco.

Harry paused, the answer to the question was only too obvious, but he didn't really know if he wanted to tell it to Draco.

"Come on Potter. We don't have all day! Spit it out!" sneered Draco.

Harry sighed, Draco was his partner and he was supposed to be getting to know him better. He looked down into his lap as he told him his answer. "If I could change anything, it would be my parent's death," he said quietly, still not looking at the other boy.

For a moment pity passed over Draco's face, but he quickly replaced it with his trademark smirk. He wasn't about to let Potter know that he actually felt kind of sorry for him. Instead he blurted out, "Aw, yes, poor little Potty lost his daddy and mudblood mommy when he was a baby," he cooed at Harry.

This was the last straw for Harry. Before he knew it he was on top of Malfoy, gripping his collar as he shook him fiercely. "Don't you ever say anything about my mother or father again you stupid fucking arsehole!" Harry yelled at him.

The whole class turned to stare at them as they struggled with eachother on the floor. In an instant Professor Douglas was hovering over them with her wand pointed at them.

"Stop it boys! I mean it! Stop it right now or I'll have no choice but to petrify you!" she said holding out her wand. Harry glanced back at her and sighed. He could tell that the woman meant business. He shook Draco hard one more time, then shoved him back as he let him, go causing his head to bang on the floor.

"Both of you come with me! NOW!" she bellowed, her pretty features screwed up with anger. Draco got up and rubbed the back of his head as he followed Harry and the Professor out into the corridor. She glared at both the boys, her arms crossed in front of her. "In all my days I have never seen such bad behavior," she scolded them. "I don't even want to know what you two were fighting about. It doesn't matter who started what," she said looking from one boy the other. "The Goblet chose you to be partners so you better learn to live with eachother. We've got a long year ahead of us and I won't tolerate this kind of behavior in my classroom anymore! Since it's obvious you two aren't getting along, I'm going to have to make you come see me for couples counseling," she said with a serious expression on her face.

"Couples counseling!" Draco cried in an outraged voice. He stared at the woman as if she were crazy. "Are you insane? I'm not going to couples counseling with him!" he said pointing at Harry who was looking just as terrified at the prospect as he was.

Professor Douglas just shook her head at him. "You will go to couples counseling Mr. Malfoy. End of discussion. I'll inform the Headmaster of my decision and let you know when the dates will be that you are to attend," she said calmly.

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Draco beat him to it."And stop calling it that! We are NOT a couple!" he yelled and stamped his foot impatiently on the ground.

"I don't care what you are!" said Professor Douglas. "If you don't want to call it couples counseling, then call it partners counseling or whatever. But you will be there and I don't want to hear another word on the subject," she said. "Now Professor Snape warned me about you two and so I had a back up plan for the both of you in case you got out of hand. Professor Snape has given me a bottle of Veritaserum that you will both drink. Then you can finish your questions," she said and held out the bottle.

"But it's against the rules to use Veritaserum on students!" protested Harry angrily.

Draco just stood there looking betrayed. He couldn't believe Snape would do this to him!

"I've already got permission from the Headmaster, Mr. Potter," countered Professor Douglas. "So what'll it be boys? You can either drink the serum right now and go back into class and finish your assignment; or I can send you to the Headmaster and you can drink the serum and finish the assignment there."

Harry glanced at Draco and arched his eyebrow. He really didn't want to waste Dumbledore's time. With a sigh he replied, "We'll do it here." Draco didn't try to disagree with him. Professor Douglas nodded and conjured two shot glasses and poured a small amount of the Veritaserum into each of them, then handed one to each boy. Harry watched as Draco quickly drank the shot and then he did the same.

"Okay, good," Professor Douglas said smiling at them. "But before you go back into the classroom I want you each to say a few things that you like about the other. Draco, you first," she said fixing her gaze upon Draco.

Draco's face turned bright red with anger and he clenched his jaw tightly, trying to fight off the Veritaserum for as long as possible.

"Draco! Tell us what you like about Harry!" she said impatiently.

Draco fought the Veritaserum off for a few more seconds, glaring at Professor Douglas all the while, but as the potion worked it's way into his system, he couldn't stop himself from answering. He turned to Harry and said through clenched teeth. "I admire your bravery and how you will protect your friends at any cost. And you fly really well, and...," this last part he tried to hold in, but the Veritaserum wouldn't allow it. "I love watching you play Quidditch because you look so good doing it," he admitted, then flushed in embarrassment. Damn the Veritaserum! The last thing he wanted Potter to know was that he liked to check him out on the Quidditch Pitch.

Harry looked at him in shock and his face flushed bright red, then he looked down at his hands.

Professor Douglas smiled knowingly at the two of them. "There now, you see? Look at the nice things you have to say when you're being honest. Thank you Draco. I'm sure Harry appreciates your compliments. Now your turn Harry," she urged the other boy.

Draco awaited eagerly to hear what Potter would say about him. He hated to admit it, but he was dying to know what Potter liked about him.

Harry didn't even try to fight the Veritaserum he just let himself blurt out his answer. "I like your self-confidence and your natural charm and charisma. You were born to be a leader. And...," he sighed, knowing this next part would be embarrassing, "you're...," he racked his brain quickly trying to think of the least embarrassing word. "Attractive," he said at last, then covered his burning face with his hands. This was an absolute nightmare! He had told Draco to his face that he thought he was attractive!

Draco leered at him triumphantly. Harry's answer was just as embarrassing as his own. "Well thank you Potter. I already knew all that about myself, but I must say I never thought I'd see the day that you'd admit it! So you think I'm attractive, huh?" he asked with a cocky grin on his face.

Harry glared at him but the Veritaserum made him answer the question. "Yeah I guess so, I mean, I just said it didn't I?" He couldn't have been more humiliated. Then he thought of something he could throw back at the other boy. "You think I look good when I play Quidditch! I bet you like to check me out during games, don't you?" he asked, flashing Malfoy a challenging smile.

"Shut up Potter! You better never repeat that to anyone! I didn't mean it like– shit, I guess I did mean it like that," he said, unable to lie about it.

Professor Douglas was smiling encouragingly at them. "Very good boys, I think we've made some real progress today. You may both go back inside and finish your assignments now," she told them.

Harry and Draco nodded to her and moodily entered the classroom. All the students eyes were on them as they returned to their seats, but Harry and Draco ignored them.

"Hey," Draco whispered to Harry as they sat down. "I won't tell anyone what you said, if you promise not to tell anyone what I said about you and Quidditch. Deal?" Draco held out his hand for Harry to shake on it, reminding Harry of the first time they had met when Draco had introduced himself before the sorting ceremony.

"Deal," agreed Harry, this time taking Draco's hand and shaking it. Their eyes met and Harry realized this was the first time he'd ever willingly touched Draco. Their gazes locked and a moment of understanding passed between them as Draco also recognized this resembled the first time they had met.

"Okay class!" called Professor Douglas, interrupting their moment. "You have twenty minutes left. Once you finish up your questions come turn them in to me. For homework I want you to write an essay on what you learned about your partner today."

Harry quickly released the other boy's hand and Draco glanced around the classroom wondering if anyone had seen them holding hands like that. He looked back at Harry and made a show of wiping his hand on his robes in disgust. Harry glared at him and did the same but no amount of wiping could get rid of the tingling warm sensation Draco's hand had left on his.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harry!" Hermione called after him as they left Reproductive Studies. Harry turned around, surprised that Hermione was talking to him. She probably just wanted the gossip about what had happened in class, he thought to himself.

"I don't want to talk about it," he abruptly told Hermione. She gave him a hurt look.

"Talk about what?" she asked.

"About what happened in class today. I don't want to talk about it!"

"Okay, that's fine Harry. But why have you been ignoring me and Ron?" she asked with the same hurt look on her face.

"I haven't been ignoring you, you've been ignoring me since last night," he said pointedly.

"We weren't ignoring you Harry! We were giving you your space. You seemed really mad about Malfoy and we know how you get when you're angry...," she trailed off.

"Oh," Harry replied, feeling a little ashamed of himself. "So, you don't mind that I'm paired with Malfoy then?" he asked them.

"Of course not! I mean, we don't understand why you're paired with him, but neither do you, right?"

Harry shrugged then nodded. He glanced at Ron who was trailing behind Hermione with his eyes determinedly focused on the ground.

"So, how's it been living with him?" asked Hermione. Harry looked at her and laughed.

"How do you think? It's been a right nightmare!" Hermione and Ron both laughed then Hermione suddenly fixed him with a serious gaze.

"Just be careful, okay?" she said seriously to him. Harry gave her an odd look and Ron cleared his throat and looked away.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked her.

"I mean you're living with a Death Eater's son! Just... be wary of him, okay?"

Harry looked away from her. "You mean you still think Death Eater's had something to do with this? Even though Dumbledore said it's not possible?" he asked her, wondering if she had even considered the possibility that maybe they really were paired together based on compatibility.

"Maybe," she replied and then fell silent.

Ron looked at them uncomfortably then decided to change the subject. "So who do you think will win the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw match tomorrow?" he asked brightly.

Harry smiled at him gratefully as they launched into a Quidditch discussion, but in the back of his mind he was still thinking about what Hermione had said.

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far:) I really need a beta for this story, so if any of you are interested, let me know.