On Tuesday the first class that we had after breakfast was double potions with the Gryffindors . I had already taken my seat and waiting for Tracy to join me. was saving a seat for Tracy as always. I don't understand how a petite body like hers can store how much she eats. With Crab, Goyle, Millicent and Tracy sitting together in a table the food disappears in an astounding rate.

Anyways, Harry just strolls into the class and sits down beside me as if it was where he belonged. The odd thing is that no one is questioning his behavior. The other Slytherins just accept the fact that he is my friend no questions asked, while the Gryffindors acted as if Harry was a Snake than a Lion. Generally when a Lion and a snake hold a civil conversation you can expect the hot headed Weasley shouting about 'fraternizing with the enemy' or Draco saying some rubbish about tainting the noble lines.

As I had dawned my ice queen persona, I just questioned him with a raised eyebrow at his direction.

He responded with his ever so casually. "Good morning to you to Daphne." I just give him an acknowledging nod. Its not that I don't like this situation. No I like this situation very much but I really don't understand why he is sitting next to me.

"I hope you don't mind if I sit with you?" he asked "I can move if you want."

"Its okay Harry I don't mind it much, its just that your actions took me by surprise." I tell him sincerely, its not everyday that the person you want to get to know better just sits next to you. I know I am not complaining about this situation. "So why is a Lion 'fraternizing with the enemy' if I may be so bold?"

"Well I am 'fraternizing with the enemy' because the lions don't think I have enough lion-ness in me. For which I couldn't agree more. Charging head first into battle without a second thought is just not my style."

"So please tell oh wise one, why live in the Lions den if you don't have enough lion-ness or lion material in you?"

"Oh that's because Lion's sleep 15-20 hours a day and don't realize much of what's going on till they are in danger. I can do what ever I want and not many people will question or even take notice. If I was in Slytherin I would be labeled a dark wizard, the puffs don't have anything called privacy and the ravens just ask a lot of questions and treat everything like a puzzle"

That's not a bad analogy of all the houses actually. I was going to retort to that but an annoyed Tracy beat me to it. "That's my seat Potter so move."

"Oh I am sorry about taking your seat but I thought you were going to sit with Nott over there. He seemed to have saved a seat for you, well that's what he said to me when I went to sit beside him." As soon as Harry said that Tracy just lit up like a fireworks while Nott visibly whined. However he allowed Tracy to sit beside him without any sort of visible protest.

"How did you do that?" I asked a little amused. It wasn't a big secret that Tracey liked Nott and finally she was getting uninterrupted time with him.

"Nott owed me a favour so I just cashed in."

"I didn't know sitting next to me was worth that much Harry." Being a Slytherin, owing a favour to someone is a big deal. There have been people who have cashed in Hogwarts favors late in their professional careers. One person who was famous for using favors was Horace Slughorn. For Harry to have cashed in a favour for sitting next to me showed that either he was a very big idiot or that he valued sitting with my company very much.

Before he could reply however Snape barged into our class and started his lesson. The lesson itself was mostly a review of our Holiday homework. It was a theoretical class where he was asking us about the properties of the potion and its ingredients. The whole process only took the first half of the class.

"This year we are going to work in pairs so I want all of you to pair up barring Potter and Greengrass" after everyone had chosen their partners Snape continued. "Your assignment is to write a 2 feet essay on the Alihotay Draught. It will be due on Monday. The class is dismissed for today but I want Potter and Greengrass stay back."

When the class had cleared out Snape continued

"Well Potter, it seems you made a good choice with your partner."

"I told you I made the right choice weeks ago you just wont listen."

"Yah well if you didn't keep it so hush-hush then I wouldn't have been breathing over your neck"

"what ever control freak." Harry replied under his breath.

"Now before Ms. Greengrass gets any more confused let's get down to business shall we." Snape shows us to his office and asks us to take a seat.

"Well Ms. Greengrass I am happy to say that you have been chosen by Potter here to work in the advance potion class till you give your O.W.L.S if not till your N.E.W.T.S." Huh, I definitely wasn't expecting that. "This advance class however wont mean that you will be studying something different than what you are studying in the class, you will just be studying it in greater detail with a different approach. While you would be brewing the same potions and would be assigned the same homework, your grading criteria and study material will be more in-depth. What you will be doing is that you will be following a particular set of instruction that a potion master used while brewing the potion. This helps you to understand how and why a particular potion master prepares a potion a particular way and how he uses a particular ingredient in a particular way. For your assignments you will criticize the method of that particular potion master while brewing the specific potion."

This system of teaching is very different from a teaching regular classes. It would be like we would be studying about a potion master and his style of potion brewing than the potion itself. This is more about the whys and how's of potion brewing than learning to follow instruction. I just stare at Snape while he talks about the course contents. This is a really big opportunity for me, if I don't screw this up I could study up to 4 potion masters by the time I give my N.E.W.T.S.

"Now please remember that I want you to be extra careful while brewing the potion and record your steps and reaction of the potion thoroughly. I do know that Potter has been doing this for the past 2 years but now with the 2 of you, it would be easier to spot the error of your ways and I won't need to keep a constant eye on you Potter."

I look at Harry incredulously. He has been doing this for 2 years. This actually explains why Snape constantly keeps an eye on Harry or why he puts him under intense scrutiny while brewing some of the potions. Its more to do with Harry's safety than to do with belittling him. I am sure Snape can identify what is going wrong with a potion when we follow regular instruction so he doesn't need to keep a constant eye on every student but with Harry he doesn't have that luxury. With Harry following a different set of instruction than the rest of the class Snape knows that if he misses a mistake from harry, it is quite hazardous for the whole class.

"Now Ms. Greengrass generally we would require the parents to send a letter of consent but thankfully for you Potter has already talked to your parents and gotten it for you. You can thank him later for that. This year Potter has already decided which potion master it is going to be and it will be Damocles. He's the person who made the wolfsbane potion. For your first assignment I want you to read up on Damocles and how he prepared the Alihotay Draught. You will be preparing that potion using his instruction for the next class. Any questions?"

"No sir" the both of us reply and he motions us to leave his office.

As soon as we are free from the class I started my interrogation.

"Why me?" that's the first question I ask

"Because you are the 4th best potion student in our year after Malfoy, Granger and me. I really don't like the two of them, while Malfoy is a Brat Granger just steamrolls everyone to follow her instruction. Then there is the fact that your mother asked me to. Even if we were not going to be partners you would have still been made to enter the advance course."

So mother knew about this. Why didn't she tell me about his earlier. "Well Harry looks like we are stuck together as potion buddies till out N.E.W.T.S. I do hope that you have the brains that mother tells me about. But if you could have pulled it off for the past 2 years, I'm sure you know your stuff."

"I have actually been doing this for a 3 years now. I started it during my first year, its actually my modification of the potions apprentice program, where instead of being taught by one potion master you study different potion master every year. Snape caught on to what I was doing during the end of first year where I hade a big explosion landing me in the hospital for a few days." He said it in his usual casual tone. Oh how I wanted to hex him In that moment. The way he talks about these incredible stuff like it was nothing special just irritates me to no end. I really wish he sometimes says something that make him seem like an average teen wizard not some hidden prodigy.

"You know Daphne it doesn't need to be just potions. As all our classes are the same we can work together. We can sit together in the classes we share and the others we can do the assignments together. We can crosscheck each others work too if you like."

"And what's to say that you won't be copying my work"

He just gives me his loop-sided grin. "I promise you Daphne working with me is never boring. Just ask your mother."

By the end of the second week I had no doubt that working with Harry Potter was never boring. While Granger was our residential know it all, I could tell that Harry was more knowledgeable than Granger in everything. While he may not have been a Master, he was definitely a jack of all trades with at least N.E.W.T. level knowledge of all of out classes if not more. Plus Harry understood the wizarding world and how it worked.

The way he wrote his assignments were a masterpiece of his own. That is if you know how to read them. While it looks like just your average assignment, once you knew what you were looking for it showed how brilliant he was. The way he presented his opinion was nothing short of artistic beauty. He would present examples , explanations or both where need be. they would thoroughly explain the what, why and how of method and subject matter with many quotes from the subject masters to support his statement. While Grangers work showed how much she could parrot from the different books that she had read, Harry's showed how much he actually understood the concept.

Then there is this added bonus of him being a fabulous teacher as he had a very strong grasp on the concepts. He could complicate explanations as much as he wanted or make it as simplistic as possible. He could just read over your work or see what you are doing and pinpoint exactly what and where you were doing wrong. And he was easily approachable. Many times this past couple of weeks I was amazed by the way he taught his juniors. There were times where even the seniors would come to Harry for help regarding their problems. He never said no to anyone. He may tell them to come to him later if he was busy but he made sure to make it a point to give them their needed time.

All in all by the end of the two weeks I knew I had found the best study buddy that I could have hoped for who always carried a jar of my favourite cookies with him.