Chapter THREE

As the sun rose outside the classroom window Harry looked at the folded notes on the desks, each with a student's name written on it. All while the professor watched the arriving students with A twinkle in his eyes.

"Mr Potter, I believe you are in the front to the right." Dumbledore informed him and Harry could not help but think that this was not boding well for him, or anyone for that matter, as he made his way to the front of the classroom.

Glancing at the names next to him he found two Slytherin names, Greengrass and Riddle. Looking at the notes behind him he found the same pattern there, seating a Gryffindor and Slytherin next to each other. If this was an attempt to improve the house relations, it was doomed to fail. And putting him and Riddle together made little sense as they were the only ones who were known to socialise with people from the opposite house. But seeing little use in analysing it further he instead waved Riddle over when he saw the other teen looking for his name on the folded parchment notes.

Sitting down he greeted Harry by his given name and he had to admit it took him aback a second or two. He had personally never thought of Riddle as anything other than Riddle. Without knowing the exact situation he was fairly sure he could blame his use of "Harry" on his cousin.

"Tom." He said instead. The name didn't feel right, it was too simple for Riddle.

"What do you expect this to be about then?" Riddle asked, gesturing to the notes in front of them.

"Inter House unity?" Harry suggested, voicing his earlier thought.

"Perhaps." Riddle agreed, throwing his eyes around the room he added. "People are also matched by ability, more or less."

Harry had not considered that, but he might be right. Harry paid admittedly very little attention to others' abilities unless they were friends or foes. Riddle the only exception.

"I'm sure you are all curious about our new seating arrangement" Dumbledore started when all the students had arrived and were seated, throwing suspicious looks at their partners.

"Slytherins, the person sitting to your right will be your partner for our next assignment." Harry and Riddle didn't even glance at each other, instead of keeping their eyes on the professor, who stopped to gleefully take in the reactions of his students as the news settled in.

"At the end of the term, I want each pair to present a transfiguration project to the class. You will be graded on the difficulty, skill required for the project, and your collaboration. I want your initial project plans by the end of the week, after which I will set up meetings with each pair to discuss the plan and how to move forward. Please note that you will need my approval on the project before commencing. Major human transfiguration, such as Animagus transformation, projects will not be approved." he smiled. "On that note, I will leave you with this advice. I often find the best inspiration in a good book."

Harry and Riddle looked at each other thoughtfully for a few seconds before Riddle spoke. "Library?"

As they walked side by side down the corridors Harry distantly noted that it did not feel as awkward as it perhaps should. While he and Riddle would acknowledge each other and, he assumed, both kept an eye on the others academic successes, they had never spoken much outside of the prefect meetings. Yet it was an almost companionable silence as they made their way to the library, unlike the bickering pairings that made the journey with them.

By the end of the hour, Harry and Riddle had narrowed their area down to either large mammal vanquishment or non-sentient conjuring. After which they both agreed to do some research and they would meet up after potion to iron out the details the following day, before preparing their project plan and draft for Dumbledore.

Making his way to care about magical creatures Harry was not surprised when Tim fell into step with him, a wide grin on his face. Seemed like he had heard the news.

"So…?" He began. "On a scale of 1-5, how angry are you?"

"Angry?" Harry echoed surprised.

"You hate to work with other people. It took almost 6 months before you began trusting me not to screw things up in potions."

"You are better than me at potions." Harry protested.

"True, doesn't mean you don't watch me like a hawk when we work together. Even now."

"I learn by watching you. You have a rare talent." Harry countered.

"Don't try to change the subject." Tim told him, though he couldn't stop the hint of a smug smile from taking shape at the compliment. Harry sighed.

"I'm working with Riddle. The only better option would have been Minnie. I think Dumbledore paired us based on our last exam and house."

"Do you even know what others got? Apart from Riddle?" Tim asked, amused. Harry might be smart and well liked, but he lacked awareness when it came to certain things. Tim was surprised he even knew how he was doing in in their classes. Not that Harry was ignorant of others, but he could at times be a little single minded.

"Riddle commented on it. We were in the top last time, Minnie and Blaise after, and so on.

"He had the list memorised?" Tim asked, not really surprised. Tom Riddle had a knack for knowing everything about everyone as far as Tim was concerned. While he was always nice and polite, Tim had also noted that the only ones he took special care with were people with power, connections and/or talents. He was as much a collector as his head of house. Harry only shrugged.

"Sounded like it."

"Well, I'm glad I dropped transfiguration. Can't imagine working with the Slytherins."

"They are not that bad" Harry said.

"That's because you are almost an honorary member because of who your family is. Me, they won't stop sneering at. Because of my mum."

"There are a lot of half-bloods in Slytherin. But, I get what you are getting at. Mum used to be the same, you changed her mind though. Which in itself is a miracle."

"Your mum loves me!" Tim protested, and Harry laughed.

"Now? Yeah. All you had to do was show off those dimples and she was putty in your hands. That she had someone who likes potions as much as she was just an added bonus."

Upon reaching the Care of Magical creature classroom Harry got distracted from the conversation by the bickering inside. They were loud and, in all honesty, it sounded like a group of first years sniping at each other. It took Harry a few seconds before recognising he was the only one hearing it. Serpents then. Quite a few from the sound of it. He hated when that happened. It was like ignoring children, especially if they figured out he could understand the. Then they wouldn't leave him alone. Really the 'gift' of Parseltongue was more of a curse, especially considering the stigma attached to it by the light. As much as he loved his mother and grandfather, in this case, they really were wrong to envy his ability.