Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Harry Potter yada yada yada, rub it in more :P
I hope you like this, the editing is going well, and I am so much more pleased with these chapters. Chapter 3 is written, but it won't be posted until I have written Chapter 4, so I can allow myself time to edit and add bits in if I get to Chapter 4 and realise I have forgotten to write a bit.
Thank you to my first reviewer and follower and first everything on here- TENSHI YAMI_ ANGEL OF DARKNESS, you are a star!
Review please, I love reading them. I love you all thank you so much xx
When Draco entered the Potions room that afternoon he was surprised to see a new teacher. Obviously, he knew that Snape was killed in the War, but he hadn't seen this professor at the welcome meal. The middle- aged man was wearing plain black robes that were a tad too snug around his protruding belly. His nose was almost as large as Snape's, though it was not pointy, it was just large.
In many ways, the new professor reminded the blonde of Slughorn, with his rotund form and the very slight appearance of a twinkle in his eyes. With some work, Draco decided, he could probably be alright.
"Good afternoon, class. I am your new teacher, Professor Cragfoot! I don't know any of you right now, but that will surely change soon. Now, for the time being, I am going to partner you up so, Weasley. Where's Weasley?"
Ron stepped forward, clearly anxious. Draco scoffed at his nervousness; trust the Weasle to be scared.
"You come here, with Zabini. Parkinson, you will pair with Granger, is it?" Hermione sighed audibly and dumped her stuff next to Parkinson.
"And Malfoy, you will be with Potter." Cragfoot paused before the realisation hit him.
"Oh my Merlin! Harry Potter!" The professor rushed over to Harry.
"Thank you for killing You-Know-Who!"
"Voldemort." Harry corrected.
Draco simply rolled his eyes and sat down. Potter clearly enjoyed all this attention he got, and obviously he used it to his advantage.
As Cragfoot started teaching about potions, Draco turned to Harry. Time to anger Potter, he thought.
"You're so egotistical Potter, did you know that? You were so happy that old Cragfoot there was basically worshipping the ground you walked-"
"Shut up Malfoy" Harry hissed, his anger beginning to build up.
"Maybe you should just date the professor..." Malfoy whispered in the brunette's ear. Draco could tell that he had hit a nerve, and that Harry was about to crack.
"SHUT UP MALFOY," Harry's voice was no longer a hiss, more of a desperate yell.
"Hey, hey, hey," Cragfoot intervened.
"What's going on at the back? Potter, pay more attention, same for you, Malfay."
"Malfoy," Draco informed him sharply. Draco decided to ignore Potter for the rest of the lesson, despite how easy it was to infuriate him.
The next morning, Draco dragged his tired body from bed. That Potter Boy was bothering him again. Draco didn't know why he let him play with his head the way he did, but Draco was sick of it. When he reached the Great Hall he immediately saw that Potter wasn't there. This day might actually be off to a good start! As he reached for a piece of magically kept warm toast, Pansy Parkinson slid onto the bench next to him.
"Hey Dray", she exclaimed brightly. "How did you sleep?"
"Not good. The dreams are as bad as ever; I wish I could just forget the War."
Pansy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and patted sympathetically. She started talking about her summer, and Draco's mind –and eyes – began to drift. At that moment, Potter stumbled into the Great Hall. He had clearly overslept- his robes were slightly sliding off his shoulders, one of his laces was untied and his hair was even more messily tousled than usual. Draco couldn't help but notice all of these features in him. He watched as Harry ambled over to his friends, that Mudblood and the Weasle, laughing as they too noticed his ruggedness of that morning.
"Ow!" He exclaimed, rubbing his stomach.
"You were ignoring me! For Potter!" Pansy cried.
"No I wasn't!" Draco denied.
"So who were you looking at then?"
Draco just ignored his probing friend, and stared at his now cold toast. Pansy smirked to herself silently. A few minutes later, loud squeaks caught the attention of everyone in the Hall. It was mail time. A large majestic Owl flew to Draco, he was his mother's, bearing a letter. Draco slowly opened it, unsure of what was inside. It read:
Dear Draco,
Your father and I have realised that you are getting older, this is your last year at Hogwarts after all, and so far you have no romantic prospects. As a result of this, we have decided to set you up with an arranged marriage. Do not disobey us, this is happening!
Much love,
Mummy Cissa x
Draco blew air between his lips. He should have expected this. He knew his parents were getting anxious to see who their son would marry, but he just wasn't ready to date. And certainly not the sort of person his parents would set him up with; rich, aristocratic, egotistical, a girl. Yes that's right; the big Draco Malfoy is gay. He hadn't told his parents as he knew they wouldn't approve, and as he wasn't dating anyone, it seemed almost irrelevant anyway. He blew air between his lips again and unsuccessfully tried to forget his problems.
Draco had been sat in the Potions classroom for a good ten minutes before Potter came bursting through the door, late as usual.
His unruly hair was even more mussed up than usual, and his robes were barely on, hanging off his shoulders. Draco noticed that his glasses were slightly askew, making it harder to see the vibrant green eyes that Draco knew were behind them. He threw his bag onto his desk and practically fell into his chair.
"Hi Malfoy," Harry muttered. Draco was surprised, he wasn't expecting Harry to actually be nice to him, well it wasn't particularly nice, but it was a whole lot better than usual. Then he remembered the truce, and through gritted teeth replied to Harry.
"Morning, Potter. Wake up late?" Draco tried to sound indifferent, but he was actually interested in hearing his partner's reasoning for being late.
"Um yeah, I didn't really sleep well. Nightmares." Harry replied almost inaudibly, shooting an apprehensive look in Draco's direction.
"I get them sometimes too," Draco whispered, looking down at the ground. "Well, not sometimes, most nights."
Suddenly, Draco remembered where they were, and turned his attention to the board.
"Right Potter, I'll do the majority of the brewing, I've seen your potion skills. You just cut this Boomslang skin into 10 squares, okay?" Draco knew that Harry hated having anyone tell him what to do, so he was pleasantly surprised when Harry gave a curt nod and began his task.
Draco turned to his task and realised too late that Harry was sweeping up the Boomslang skin pieces and throwing them into the big, black cauldron they were using.
"Potter, what the fuck- NO!" Draco leapt forward screaming, but it was past the point of saving.
Exploding in both their faces, the potion covered them. It was destroyed.
Malfoy lunged at Harry.
"What is wrong with you Potter? You can't do anything! Urgh!"
Draco picked up a remaining piece of Boomslang skin and launched it at Harry, hitting him square in the face. The now very angry raven haired boy drew his wand from his back pocket; Draco did the same thing simultaneously.
"Expelliarmus!" The spell missed Draco by a mere inch and rebounded off the cold stone wall of the dungeon.
"Stupefy!" This time the spell came from the blonde's wand, but also missed its target.
"Sectumsempra!"
"Sectumsempra!"
The two spells were said in unison, and this time, neither of them missed.
Draco and Harry both fell to the floor, screaming in pain. Professor Cragfoot came running over, yelling for an explanation.
And then everything went dark.
His vision was blurred when he woke. It took about a minute for his eyes to adjust, and then he sat up and drank in his surroundings. From an initial sweep of the room, Draco thought he was in St Mungo's, but on his second scan, he realised he was in the school Infirmary. Oh Merlin, he thought, what have I done now?
Pain radiated throughout his body, but it didn't take long to find the source. His stomach. Gingerly, he lifted his hospital gown at the hem, rolling it up to his neck. His breath hitched violently at the sight of the gash running along his pale skin, parallel to the silvery scar from sixth year, when Potter decided to hit him with a 'Sectumsempra' curse.
Potter.
Sectumsempra.
It all came rushing back to Draco, and he shut his eyes in pain as he remembered the events. His eyes fluttered open and wandered back to his new injury. It was an aggressive red colour, the colour of his blood. He winced and then unrolled his hospital gown until it reached to top of his calves.
A rustling next to him broke Draco from his thoughts and he slowly turned to see his arch nemesis occupying the bed next to him. Potter looked really bad. His skin was paler than usual, and he was thin. Dangerously so. Draco grabbed a mirror that was on his bedside table and studied his reflection. He was just as pale as Potter, and when he had rolled up his gown he did notice that his hip bones were more prominent than usual, and his ribs stuck out a bit more.
Darn curse.
"Hi Potter," Draco murmured. The blonde watched as the realisation of what happened hit Harry and his face went from fairly pleasant to disgusted and then to pain.
"Oh Merlin. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. The Sectumsempra curse!" Harry cried, and then winced in pain, hands flying to his stomach.
"This is your entire fault Malfoy!" Harry spat, peering down his own gown to look at the bloody wound.
"I believe you hit me too, Potter," Draco's tone of voice turned icy, and his features curved into a sneer. God, he hated Potter.
Before they could argue anymore, the door to the Infirmary swung open and Professor Cragfoot strode in.
Oh no, Draco thought. This is not going to be good.
"Boys!" Cragfoot boomed. "We need to talk! After your little outburst in lesson a couple of weeks ago, you must be punished. Detention every two days for a month!"
The boys went to protest and then realised it was futile so gave up. They sighed in unison, sharing a scathing glance that lasted less than a split second.
"Wait a second," Harry called out, stopping Cragfoot from leaving. "You said we had the outburst a couple of weeks ago. So we've been out for-"
"Two weeks. You've missed a lot of lessons boys!" Cragfoot interrupted, his loud voice cutting over Harry's.
Draco gaped. He couldn't have been unconscious for two whole weeks! Oh he hated that stupid curse. He vowed to never use it again.
As soon as Draco was let out of the Infirmary, he had to change and go to detention. So this was his life now. Detention, detention and more detention. When he arrived, Potter wasn't there, and Draco let out a small sigh of relief. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with Potter and his arrogant ways today. But speak of the devil, or think of the devil, Harry came wandering through the door, a bored expression on his face.
"Potter." Draco grumbled.
"Malfoy." Harry continued their tradition, as usual.
"Hi boys," Cragfoot bellowed; he seemed unable to talk at a normal volume. "Today, I want to help you solve your issues with each other."
Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"You will both write a list of ten reasons why you dislike the other-"
"I have more than 10 reasons, Sir." Draco interrupted.
"Shush Draco! Take your parchment, ink and quill, and get to it! I'll return in thirty minutes." And with that, he was gone. Draco growled under his breath, but started the list.