Chapter 6 Beginning Again.

By the time Harry awoke the next morning Draco had already left. Harry glanced frantically at his alarm clock. To his relief it was still only 7:06 a.m. Draco must really be an early riser. That or just the fact that he hates me. He yawned and stretched and slowly peeled himself from his bed. Why did Draco always have to be such an impossible prick, even when the ferret wasn't doing anything, he still managed to annoy Harry.

After showering and dressing Harry pulled out his new schedule to see what class he had first.

Advanced Potions was the first class of the day, and due to the high number of 8th year students requiring the class for their prospective professions, it was an 8th year only class. Harry decided that whatever sleep Draco might have gotten had done him no good; he looked just as drained and pallid as ever. He quickly put the sight aside and turned to Ron, Hermoine, and Neville, all of whom still required Potions. Seating was arranged in pairs so Ron sat with Hermoine in front (much to Ron's dismay and Hermoine's delight), with Harry and Neville behind them. Draco sat in the far back corner of the room, as usual, alone with Blaise and Pansy, also in the back row, occupying the table next to him. It appeared there was an odd number of students in the class, as Draco never gained a partner. Probably whoever the odd person was died of fright when they realized who they'd be paired with, Harry thought sardonically.

"The potion we are going to be working with today, known as the Sanguine Confuto, is very complicated; but can be made relatively quickly, and used properly has proven to be instrumental in healing practices. The potion itself is a fast acting hemostatic that is used in most emergencies." Professor Albatross explained. "Now," he continued, "As I noted before, its proper use and preparation is key to it's success. Can anyone tell me what is the key to brewing this potion?" The handsome teacher scanned the room. He thought he saw a twitch from the Malfoy boy, but his eyes slid instead to the eager hand in front of him, belonging of course to none other than Hermoine Granger.

"Right time, right temp, right colour." She recited from memory the exact words of her text.

"Exactly, exactly. Excellent, 5 points to Gryffindor." The professor beamed at Hermoine, who in turn smiled a little too eagerly back at him. "Yes, the key to this potions success hinges on adding the final ingredients at a specific point during brewing, and if it isn't the right temperature and colour at the right time, you haven't got a chance of it working. The potion itself takes only about 15 minutes to brew, and as I have said the step are fairly complicated so make sure you read the whole procedure before you begin." he said with a stern look to his rapt students. "Even if you fail the first time you should still have time to try at least twice more, so lets see if we all can get a successful draught before the end of the period."

After two utter failures; the first potion being a sickening shade of muck brown-green instead of clear pink at the all important time, the second potion nearly 20 centigrade to cold at the appropriate time, Harry was finally finding success in his potion. Neville had also managed to bring the potion to the right temperature and colour by the time they needed to add the last ingredients. Out of the corner of his eye Harry thought he saw the flick of a wand and heard snickering from somewhere behind him in the room. His eyes darted quickly, his attention being drawn to Draco's cauldron which had now begun to bubble furiously over. More snickering and Harry put it together that Draco had been the victim of some sort of hex. He sighed, couldn't people just leave it? To make matters worse, Professor Albatross now strode over to where the lone boy was seated, still trying to quell the incessant rebellion emanating from his bewitched cauldron.

"Having trouble? Do you not have a partner?" The professor cooed at the no pink tinged student who had stilled in his presence. "That is a shame, I think you could benefit from some company?" Albatross's eyes bore into Draco with that same glinting hunger that he had sensed the previous night.

"Uhm, I guess there was just an odd number of students," Draco mumbled dumbly, avoiding the teachers gaze.

"Yes well, if you are to work alone for the year, perhaps you could benefit from tutoring?" The professor moved closer, never taking his eyes off the wary student. An new intensity had begun to stir in the air and Draco wondered if the others could feel it the way he did, though he was still unsure what was driving it. "I could tutor you in my spare time, of course. I have every Tuesday and Thursday at around 7 p.m. free if woul-"

"I'll do it." Harry interrupted the professor. Harry too had noticed the change in the air and it had only served to further unnerve him with regards to the new Potions teacher. He could not help but come back to thinking that there was something serious off about this guy, despite Hermoine's reproachful looks in his direction. Maybe he seemed like the nice guy to everyone else but something in Harry's gut to him not to trust the mysterious man.

The looks of shock of the faces of his peers did not escape him. Ron gaped openly at him, Hermoine only looking at him with a questioning look, but Neville... Neville had this look on his face, was it a smirk? No. couldn't be. Harry looked towards Draco who had stopped staring at the floor and was now staring right at Harry, a blank look on his face. He did not protest, but to Harry's surprise, simply nodded.

"Wonderful." Albatross broke in, hiding a quick look of disappointment. "I trust you boys will work out the specifics on your own, but why don't you move to the desk behind Harry for class."

Class ended and students began to file out, Harry hanging back to discuss the tutoring thing with Draco. He the whole thing felt like a farce to him from the beginning, and though Harry could quite guess why, he felt that the professor had been purposely trying to get Draco alone. Draco didn't need a tutor, he needed a bodyguard.

"Potter?" a quiet, questioning voice broke his thoughts. He turned to see that voice belonged to Draco Malfoy himself. Had he always sounded so timid and girlish?

"Oh right, I wanted to talk to you about the tutoring thing." Harry shrugged his shoulder in a shy sort of gestures, eyes falling to the ground. "I mean, I just thought, since were roommates and everything it would be easy for me to just help you whenever you needed it. If you actually need it that is," he stuttered, "I just mean that you were always pretty good at potions, right? Er, you know, whatever, just ask." Harry shuffled nervously hoping that Draco wouldn't make a big deal about it.

Draco was quiet for a minute, but then he spoke. "Yeah, that's fine, Potter." Draco locked eyes with Harry for an instant, then moved passed him and slipped out the door. Draco's face had been impassive, as always, except for the trace of sadness Harry thought he saw streak through his eyes before he left.

He knew it. He KNEW it. There was no way Potter would ever actually care about what happened to him. He had just used this tutoring thing to make himself look good then blown it off without a second thought. Didn't he KNOW how hard it would be for Draco to come to HIM for help? Draco pushed back these thoughts and pulled out his schedule shifting his focus to his next round of torture.