Hermione Granger hurried to Potions with three different ideas, unsure of which two to pick. And there was a good half chance that Malfoy had chosen one of them anyway.
Draco Malfoy waltzed in the door about twenty seconds before it was time to start the class, looking at Granger and heaving a great sigh. "Alright, let's see them."
Before the day could turn into a catfight about porcupine quills and pygmy puff hair (how in the world? Oh, she cited her sources. Nevermind that everyone knew listening to Tattam on Potions was about as bad as listening to Lockhart on Defense), Draco Malfoy simply said, "No, this won't work at all."
Hermione Granger with her best put upon knowitall look on her face, started to say, "But...! It's a simple derivation from..."
Draco Malfoy yawned languidly, saying "I saw your bibliography. Don't use Tattam again, he's utterly useless when he's not a danger to everyone around him."
"Then why is he even in the library?" Hermione Granger squawked.
"You'll find that citing things out of the Restricted Section isn't going to get you very far in Potions, unless you are considerably more diligent than you have been, Miss Granger." Snape said, his sallow visage peering out of the door towards his office.
"Yes, sir." Hermione Granger said stiffly, trying to hide the hurt.
"If you're done arguing, perhaps you have a recipe for me?" Blaise said with a saucy smile, only slightly diluted by spreading it on both Draco and Hermione.
Potter, of course, rushed in at the very last second (or possibly a few seconds later).
"Running, in the potions lab? Potter, that'll be another two detentions and be glad I don't just cut your leg off and save the potions the trouble." Snape said in his purring voice, the venom running just under the surface.
"That makes what? Fifteen detentions?" Potter muttered under his breath.
"Sixteen." Snape snarled.
Potter at this point tried to use his hands and toes to count that high*, before looking up at Snape, "But sir!"
"Another for your cheek. Unless you'd like to make that two?" Snape said, and Potter was, for once, blessedly silent. Snape swept out of the immediate vicinity with that lanky stride of his and a swirl of black robes. Draco (and hopefully everyone else in the room) was well aware that Snape wasn't actually out of listening distance, but was instead allowing them to have a bit of rope to hang themselves. Of course, the point of giving people a little rope was also that they could be a trifle freer about speaking.
"Great, another detention." Potter muttered, looking down and toeing at the ground with his foot. Draco Malfoy couldn't help but smirk at Perfect Potter managing to land another detention, just for counting how many he had (instead of taking Snape's word, which was the smart plan). "Oi! And why are you smirking? It's not like Snape ever gives detentions to Slytherins."
Draco Malfoy's mouth fell open (just slightly, but it was far from urbane. In fact, it left him feeling like a haystack villain**), and he just stared at Potter a moment. His mind snapping into full gear, he spat, "You mean she didn't tell you?" - gesturing vaguely in Granger's direction.
At this, Potter turned to Hermione, giving her a look as if she had been keeping secrets with Malfoy or something.
"We weren't exactly friends at the time, Harry." Hermione Granger said slightly stiffly, as if she didn't like Harry treating her like she might be a Slytherin spy.
"What are you two talking about?" Harry querrled.*** as Blaise smirked in the background, rifling through Granger's notes while everyone else was busy not working.
"So, first year, Granger heard some of us (by which I mean Slytherins, obviously) talking about having Private Potions Lessons." Draco Malfoy said with a surprisingly straight face.
"Naturally, this triggered both Granger's sense of Righteous Indignation that the Slytherins were receiving Unfair Advantage, and her positive lust for knowledge." Draco Malfoy continued. At the word lust, Potter eyed Draco sidelong (a feat that Draco was previously unaware Potter could pull off, particularly when he had been looking at Malfoy straight on just a second ago), trying to decide if this was something he ought to take offense at.
"So, what does the adorable Gryffindor do?" Draco Malfoy said, his sarcasm patently evident in his tone. "Why, she walks right up to Professor Snape and demands Private Potion Lessons." Harry Potter at this point was leaning forward, interested almost despite himself. "Which Snape was only too happy to oblige."
Hermione Granger broke in at this point, with sarcasm worthy of Draco Malfoy himself, "Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be cleaning cauldrons."
Blaise abruptly laughed, "You know you were the talk of the Common Room for months after that?"
Harry Potter, abruptly seeming to remember that Snape might be listening in, said in a low voice, "so you do get detentions."
"Every time." Draco Malfoy said, his arrogance firmly in place. "The rule of Slytherin is don't get caught."
Harry Potter actually smirked at that, lacing his hands together behind his back. Hm. Draco Malfoy hadn't been aware that expression was even in Potter's repertoire. "So why, exactly, have you been throwing Potions ingredients in my cauldron for the past two years?"
Draco Malfoy rolled his eyes, and said, "Imagine, explaining politics to a Gryffindor."
"Oh, the horrors!" Blaise agreed, in a tone worthy of Snape himself.
"Well?" Potter demanded.
Crossing his arms, Draco lifted his chin for a second, saying, "What's it to you?"
"Call it curiosity," Granger said, still looking at notes that Blaise hadn't yet filched. "And I'm interested too, for that matter."
With a sigh, Draco said quietly, "Greg and Vince started it, you know? They didn't like you, and wanted to put a shrivelfig in your cauldron."
Harry Potter listened quietly.
"Unlike those louts, I do know that putting a shrivelfig in a Shrinking Solution is likely to be an utter disaster. And as I'd rather pass Potions than worry about my hair falling out from the fumes... well... I said that I'd do something better." Draco Malfoy said, affecting an air of utter unconcern. "There you have it."
Harry Potter gave him a look, a queer sort of half grin on his face, "No, I don't have it. That explains the once," Potter said firmly.
"Oh, then someone," Draco sent a quick, telling sidealong glance at Blaise, "decided you and I were rivals, and everyone expected that we'd be doing things to each other." Draco Malfoy paused for a moment, and said, "Of course, that incident with the Rememberall didn't help."
Draco Malfoy actually looked just a touch peeved, as he said, "Here I got yelled at, shouted at, lectured - and what do you get? Seeker on the Quiddich team." Malfoy paused, and said, "How fair is that?"
"Wait, you actually got yelled at?" Harry Potter said, sounding a great deal more wondering about this relatively normal occurrence than Draco Malfoy thought was warranted.
Draco Malfoy put on his best Snape tone, saying, "What in blazes were you thinking? Such dire misconduct is a discredit to our House. I ought to call your father immediately."
At which point, Snape, naturally, billows in, saying mildly, "One point to Slytherin for accurate mimickry. If you ever use it in the halls to scare the blitzens out of younger students, you will regret it, I assure you."
Harry Potter muffled a snort of amusement, which Snape thankfully didn't feel worth bothering about. "Yes, Professor Snape." Draco Malfoy said attentively.
"Now, get to work." Snape snarled, as he left the room, bootheels clicking on the stone with the force of his steps.
*no, he didn't really. Draco's fantasizing.
**villein.
***neologism. Queried and Querulous mixed together.
[a/n: Yeah, we'll get into Harry's reaction a bit more later. For now, leave a review! It's Wonderful Wednesday, and that's Potions Day.
The whole bit about Private Potion Lessons was developed for an entirely different character, who will be entering the story shortly. Can you guess who it is?]