Chapter 3: First Day
"Double potions first thing" Ron groaned, brandishing his newly acquired time table as if it were offensive.
"Ronald" Hermione hissed admonishing the boy for his rudeness, "I know it's not ideal having double potions first thing, but at least we can get it over with for the day" She said, trying to lighten his mood.
"We don't have DADA till tomorrow though" Harry noted, checking his schedule with his friends.
"Hermione why are you taking arithmancy?" He hissed, rolling his eyes.
"Because Harry I find it interesting, better then Divination" She responded primly.
"Well, minus potions, today's not awful" Ron muttered, he and Harry had identical schedules.
"Double potions, herbology, lunch then divination, care of magical creatures and lastly history of magic" Ron said, "What do you have 'Mione?" He asked.
"Same, except instead if Divination I have arithmancy" She said, shrugging.
"What about tomorrow?" Harry asked, looking at his schedule.
"DADA first, then double transfiguration, lunch, Ancient ruins, astronomy and charms" Hermione said, smiling.
"Instead of Muggle Studies, Ron and I have Muggle Studies" Harry said with a smile, "Wonder if we have Potions with the snakes again" He mused.
"Of course we do" Hermione said, causing Ron to roll his eyes.
"Ronald" Hermione's shrill voice sounded, and the two entered a bickering match. Tuning them out, Harry turned his attention to the Slytherin table, watching as Malfoy and his friends and twin compared classes.
"You're in everything that I am" Draco said, sounding relieved.
"You knew I would be Drake" Adrian said, "Father insisted as did Mother and Dumbledore had to agree"
"What do you have?" Pansy asked.
"Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have potions, today it's double, history of magic, lunch then herbology, arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures" Draco drawled.
"Tomorrow and Thursday we have, DADA, Transfiguration, tomorrow it's a double block, lunch, ancient ruins, charms and then astronomy" He said, handing his time table to the others.
"We have almost everything together, I have divination instead of Arithmancy though" Pansy said, "And Muggle studies instead of Ruins"
"Why in gods name are you taking Muggle Studies?" Draco hissed, astonished.
"Father wants me to, says I need to understand so I can deal with them when working with our Muggle businesses" She said, sniffing indifferently.
"Weird" Blaise muttered, shuddering. "Well Drake, I'm same as you and Adrian" He murmured. Crabbe and Goyle were same as Pansy, so all in all, they would spend most of the day together.
"Oi Malfoy" Marcus Flint called out, smiling at his seeker.
"You ready for trials? I'm holding them next week" He said, "Before the other houses all try and book the pitch. Snape's already reserved it for me'
"Sounds good Flint, I'll be there" Draco said, grinning at the seventh year captain.
"Good, you gonna try out?" He asked Adrian, who looked stunned.
"No" Draco responded for his twin arching an eyebrow at Flint. "I told you why he couldn't last year" He reminded the Chaser.
"Oh, right" Flint at least had the decency to blush.
"Dray" Adrian murmured, arching an eyebrow in question.
"At the end of fourth year, when Mum and Dad owled me that you'd be coming, I spoke to the house about you, telling them about your condition" Draco explained.
"Mum wanted me to" He said hastily, not wanting to aggravate his twin.
"S'okay Drake" Adrian said, shrugging lightly.
Professor Severus Snape stalked into his Potions classroom, his black robes and cloak billowing around him giving him his trademark 'oversized bat' look. Turning he watched the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins walk in and head to their customary seats. He smiled softly, though to those who did not know him, it appeared to be a sneer, as he watched Draco Malfoy, his godson, and Adrian Malfoy walk in. He was relieved to see Adrian doing better, Narcissa had fire called him the previous night after receiving Draco's letter, and asked him to keep an eye on her ailing son. He was mildly annoyed to see the livid bruise on his pale skin, though besides that the teen seemed fine. Flicking his eyes to the Gryffindors, his mouth twisted in annoyance as Harry Potter, the living embodiment of annoyance, Ron Weasley and know-it-all Hermione Granger walked into the class room. How he longed to deduct points from Weasley for beating his other godson, but he knew since he had not witnessed the event he wouldn't be able to.
"Welcome back" Snape snapped once everyone was seated.
"I hope that all of you have improved in your abilities over the summer, since this is your OWL year and I do not accept those with less then an 'O' into my NEWT classes" He drawled.
"I will not be sorry to see some of you go" His eyes lingered on Weasley and Longbottom, "But that happy dream will not occur until next year' He said, smirking dangerously. Flicking his wand the potion that they would be making appeared on the board.
"This is the potion you will be making today, it is normal to see the Pepper Up potion on the OWLs, and I expect you all to be able to brew and identify it by the end of this class" He murmured.
"Now, before you begin, I think a little quiz is in order" He chuckled maliciously as the Gryffindors shuddered.
"What is this potion used for?" He hissed, ignoring Granger's hand as it shot into the air, nearly hitting Potter in the face.
"Mr. Malfoy?" He was surprised to see Adrian's hand in the air.
"The Pepper-Up potion is used for those who are feeling exhausted" Adrian said, his voice almost a whisper. "One can take a dose of this potion and they will immediately feel more energized. Not to be taken in excess or for days on end. It is popular with Quidditch players and Aurors." He said, looking at Snape with hesitant grey eyes.
"Excellent answer Mr. Malfoy" Snape beamed, "Ten Points to Slytherin for answering correctly and in your own words" The last part was directed at Granger because she tended to give text book memorized answers.
"Thank you Sir" Adrian said, smiling lightly.
"Now that we know what potion we are making, get to work" Snape said, settling back at his desk for a moment to watch the mad scramble for ingredients. He knew Adrian would do fine. The boy had been tested last summer in order to see if he would be qualified to move into the fifth year at Hogwarts, thankfully he had passed with flying colours.
"No Ron" Hermione hissed again, grabbing her friend's hand before he added yet another wrong ingredient to the potion. Sighing, Ron raked his eyes off Malfoy whom he had been glaring at for earning points and turned his attention back to the potion at hand.
"Thanks 'Mione, I just can't believe Snape gave that git ten points" He said, shaking his head in disgust.
"Well he was right Ron" She said, shrugging as she focused on her own potion which was the prefect yellow colour.
"Still, your hand was up first, and Snape would have never given you points for the right answer" Ron argued.
"Save it Ron, we all know that Snape favours the snakes, especially Malfoy and I guess Malfoy's twin" Harry said, re-reading the instructions for the potion yet again.
What seemed like hours later, Potions let out and Harry and Ron emerged, looking visibly shaken.
"I've never seen Snape that mad" Harry said, shaking his head and watching as Neville slipped from the classroom, tear stains clear on his cheeks. Hermione was beside the upset boy, trying to sooth him.
"He did explode another cauldron" Ron said, shaking his head, "Snape makes him so nervous that he can't concentrate, and then something like this happens" He said, indicating his singed robes.
"But still, Neville's exploded cauldrons before, Snape's never been that angry" Harry argued.
"Could be because of Adrian" Hermione mused, having caught up with them once Neville had calmed down a bit.
"Oh?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione interestedly. "Why do you think that?"
"Because Neville was right in front of Adrian, and from what Ron told us yesterday, Adrian's not exactly healthy" She said, "Snape would know what's wrong with him, and probably was worried" She said, shrugging a bit. "I do agree though, he did overreact" She reassured hastily after seeing the incredulous looks on both Harry and Ron's faces. Glancing ahead of them Harry noted Malfoy was walking with his twin and the rest of his friends.
"Shall we see what they're saying?" Harry asked, pulling his invisibility cloak from under his robes and looking at his friends. They followed the snakes until the Great hall were they went towards the green houses and the snakes headed off towards whatever class they had.
"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital wing?" Draco asked, looking his twin over anxiously.
"I'm fine Dray, really" Adrian said, and he was, minus a few minor burns from where the potion had struck his exposed skin. "It was an accident, and Professor Snape took fifty points off of him" He said, trying to placate his over-protective twin.
"Shoulda taken a hundred" Blaise muttered as the group made their way out of the dungeons and headed towards the history of magic classroom. "At least we don't have the Gryffindors anymore" He said, trying to change the subject.
"Fine" Draco muttered, though he didn't look pleased, "Hmm? Oh yea, I don't think I could handle another class with Longbottom just now, I'd probably hex him into next week" He commented as they swept into the classroom just off of the great hall.
"S'okay Dray, I'm pretty sure Snape scared the piss outta him" Pansy reassured, a haughty expression on her face. To outside observers, the group of Slytherins looked the same as always, refined, withdrawn, 'above' everyone else. However, this was normal, they always tried to present themselves in this manner, having been taught to never show true emotion unless surrounded by those they trusted, and at school Slytherins only trusted other Slytherins.
"He did, didn't he?" Blaise commented, sitting down next to Pansy and smirked.
"Longbottom's always been terrified of Snape. Don't you remember the bogart incident in third year" Draco commented from behind where he was seated with Adrian.
"Bogart incident?" Adrian asked, jumping a little as Professor Binns floated through the black board.
"Yes, in third year Professor Lupin was teaching us how to defeat a bogart" Draco answered, "Anyway, a bogart always takes on the image of what you fear the most and Longbottom's bogart took on the shape of Professor Snape" He said while Parkinson giggled.
"Man what a long day" Ron groaned, having just returned from dinner in the great hall.
"At least we have Quidditch to look forward to in a few weeks" Harry said, collapsing into a comfortable chair by the fire.
"I still can't believe how much homework they assigned" Ron groused, looking down at the pile of books in front of him.
"And this is just the first day" He groaned, staring at the amount of work.
"Well it is our OWL year Ron" Hermione said, pulling her herbology text towards her and beginning her essay on magical herbs and where to find them.
"Chess mate?" Ron asked Harry, having shoved his books away in disgust.
"Yea sure, I don't think I'm going to get much done tonight anyway" He said, glancing around as Fred and George, Ron's twin older brothers caused a ruckus in the corner.
"I could ask them to stop" Hermione said, fingering her shiny prefect badge.
"Nah, let them have their fun" Ron said hastily, having been assigned as the other Gryffindor Prefect he had no desire to take on his pain in the ass twin brothers.
"Why didn't Malfoy get Slytherin prefect?" Harry asked suddenly, glancing around at his friends.
"He did, but he turned it down. Its gone to Parkinson and Zabini now" Hermione responded before pointedly returning her attention to her essay.
"Harry" Ron prodded, the chess board having been set up.
"You really should start your homework" Hermione cautioned, shaking her head at the two as they ignored her and started on a rather loud chess match.
Down in Slytherin common rooms, things were much the same, however the Snakes were a bit more quiet then the Gryffindors.
"How was your first day?" Blaise asked Draco and Adrian as he pulled his potions essay towards himself. Work ethic was common among Slytherin house, and they often broke off and formed small study groups in order to get things down quicker.
"S'alright" Adrian said, curling in a large, leather chair and working on his history of magic essay.
"Long" Draco said, having been in a mood since potions class that morning. All three were busy working when Pansy appeared, closely followed by Professor Snape.
"Uncle Sev" Draco said in surprise, though he smiled pleasantly.
"Draco, Adrian" The man said, grinning in a very un-Snape like manner at the twins. "Would you mind accompanying me to my office for a moment?" He asked.
"Sure" Adrian said, standing up tiredly and yawning. The petite teen rubbed his eyes before nodding at his godfather to lead the way.
Draco also nodded, rising quickly and following Adrian and Severus out of the common room, ignoring the curious glances from other members of their house.
Once locked in the privacy of Snape's office the man turned and looked at the two. Gesturing for them to sit, he conjured up some tea and handed Adrian a mug full as well as Draco.
"So, why don't you tell me what happened yesterday evening with Weasley?" He asked, once he had comfortably seated himself. He listened intently as Draco launched into the story, though his eyes were focused on Adrian. The poor boy looked exhausted, though that was only to be expected after his first day, and also a little scared. It was clear that being punched in the face was not something he had enjoyed, plus the added fear of his episode probably hadn't helped.
"Can I heal your bruise?" Severus asked, looking kindly at the boy. Adrian's hand automatically flew to his bruise, though he winced as his fingers brushed over it and he nodded, his eyes downcast.
"Y-yes" He stammered, wincing as his godfather placed his wand on his sore cheek. Muttering a spell, a hot sensation flowed over Adrian's flesh and then it was gone. Surprise marked the boy's face as he touched his now healed cheek. "Thank you" He said gently.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, watching his brother intently.
"Fine Dray" Adrian said, smiling reassuringly at his twin. "Just tired"
"If you still feel tired tomorrow morning, I'd like you to go to the hospital wing, okay?" Severus asked his godson, "Just so Poppy can check you out and make sure you're not straining yourself" He reassured as Adrian looked ready to protest.
"Okay" Adrian said, "I'll make sure he goes" Draco added, his grey eyes fierce.
TIme flew past as they chatted and sipped tea, however, when Severus' clock chimed rather suddenly, he turned and checked the time.
"Time certainly flies" He muttered, looking back at Draco with a grin. Turning he indicated Adrian who was curled up in his chair, sound asleep.
"Make sure he doesn't strain himself" He murmured to Draco a small frown on his face as he watched the youngest Malfoy.
"I will' Draco said, effortlessly scooping Adrian into his arms, "See you tomorrow Uncle Sev, we can have tea again" He said, grinning.
"Yes Draco, see you tomorrow" Severus replied, watching the two boys leave with a small grin.
Heading to the fire place he tossed in a pinch of floo powder, "Malfoy Manor" He called, inserting his head into the fire place.