"Ah Harry, decided to join us?" Slughorn asks as Harry walks into Potions class the first morning, without choice after McGonagall had volunteered for him and Ron to take Potions class, saying it was mandatory for them to take if they were, in fact, still wanting to become Aurors. Harry couldn't argue the fact that he did still want to be an Auror, so instead he simply trudged along, dragging Ron with him into the classroom. "And who did you bring with you?"

"Ronald Weasley, sir." Harry answers awkwardly as the entire class stared on at him, reminding him of whenever he went to the muggle school, long before he got accepted at Hogwarts, and was called out by one of his professors to answer a question he didn't know. It was a feeling that, over the years, Harry had come to dread.

"Good, good. Well, you and Wallabee can come over, just open your books-" Slughorn started before Harry inturupted.

"We don't have books sir, either one of us."

"That's fine," Slughorn answered, "Just get your books from the cupboard. Now," He said, turning back to the class. "Who can tell me what this potion is?" He asked, lifting up the lid of the cauldron to expose a pearly potion shimmering near the rim as steam spiraled out of it in beautiful ribbon-like designs, filling the room with a beautiful scent that everyone could smell. Hermione raised her hand with enthusiasm, being the only one in the class to raise her hand. "Miss.." He called out, waiting for the student to say their name, as Draco smelt the familiar scent of freshly mowed grass, sending him back to the last morning he had shared with Hermione.

"Granger sir," The voice answers, causing Draco to look up at the voice. "The potion is Amortentia. It's the most powerful love potion in the world."

"Good, excellent. And what makes this potion different than any other?" Slughorn asks, interested that Hermione knew about the potion as she smelt familiar smells that she couldn't place. She didn't know why they were important, only that they were.

"It's smell is unique to each person," Hermione answers, swallowing softly as she felt her voice choke up. "It is supposed to be the most attractive smells to the person. For example, I smell new parchment, freshly cut grass and-" She stopped as Draco stared at her, time standing still. He knew scent was the sense that was most memory-orientated. This can't be happening, he told himself in fear that Hermione was remembering. That her safety was at risk because she would suddenly turn to him, remembering the nights they shared. Instead she stared at the potion, re-awakening from the trance that she was in. "spearmint toothpaste." She whispered, mesmerized, before turning to look back up at the professor.

"Thank you Miss Granger." Slughorn answered as Draco toned the rest of the subject out in relief before being brought back to reality by Blaise.

"Come on," The Italian Slytherin who had been Draco's friend for the past six years said, nudging Draco back over to the cauldrons.

"What did that idiot say?" Draco asked with a snarl, tilting his head towards Slughorn.

"Have to brew Draught of Liquid Death." Blaise answers with a sigh. "Winner gets a vial of Liquid Luck. What do you want to bet the mudblood gets it?" He snarled, glancing over at Hermione who was already at work on the potion.

"Yea," Draco answers distantly, having too many other things to focus on, like his own life, Hermione's, and that of his mother to deal with the everyday worries that his fellow classmates like Blaise and Pansy were, who although working on the potion, were flirting back and forth over their cauldrons.

Draco went through the usual routine of the day, walking from class to class as he was supposed to, doing what he was supposed to as a friend to Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle by nodding his head when he was supposed to, adding in the occasional 'yeah' or 'okay'. None of them seemed to notice the difference as Draco sat there supper in the Great Hall, staring off into the distance.

He had broken a vanishing cabinet, with Hermione's help of course, and he couldn't deny that she was genius. How was he supposed to fix one on his own, with no help from anyone, and where would he even find it? It made no sense inside his own head how he was supposed to do this. What did the Dark Lord expect him to do? At least Dumbledore had offered him someone to help, now he was all on his own. There had to be another way to kill Dumbledore besides that. There had to.

"I'm going to ummm...study." Draco mumbled more to himself than anyone else under his breath before getting up to leave. Walking out, he back to the dorms, flopping down on his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. Think Draco, he reminded himself, Focus. He concentrated on a way until his eyelids grew heavy and he drifted off into a sleep.

Draco found himself in the Shrieking Shack once more in his dream, Hermione standing in front of him.

"You have betrayed me Draco," She whispers, hurt in her voice as she still wore his mother's dress from the day they took the polyjuice potion. "I expected to leave with you. To visit Paris and Italy. To see the world."

Draco looked down at his feet, ashamed of himself as Hermione continued.

"I smell you everywhere I go. You surround me."

"You surround me too." Draco answered, a choke in his voice. "I love you."

"LIES!" Hermione yelled at him as the floor fell out from beneath Draco.

He felt himself falling through the pitch black air before landing inside a tiny black box that smelt familiar, like old cedar. Opening the door of the box, he found himself facing Lucius with his wand pointed at the box. Draco looked up to see it was the vanishing cabinet he had changed.

"You have disappointed me Draco." He said coldly, a dark glare in his eyes. "I asked one thing of you, to protect your mother."

"But I have," Draco answers desperately as Narcissa withered on the floor behind him, screaming out in pain as she had under the Dark Lord's curse.

"DOES SHE LOOK PROTECTED?!" Lucius hollers as Narcissa continued to scream in the background. "Where is it Draco? Where is IT?"

"Where is what?" Draco asked over the chilling screams of his mother as he watched Nagini moved closer to Narcissa, trailing back and forth along the floor, darting her tongue out as she gleamed at Narcissa as a comforting meal.

"Where is the necklace?!" Lucius yells again, "The one you took from your mother?!"

"I...I didn't." Draco answers in fear, his eyes not leaving Nagini as she moved closer to his mother. "STOP HER!" He yelled over Narcissa's screams as Lucius stared down at him in disgust.

"Save her yourself." Lucius answers, "The Necklace!"

"What necklace?!" Draco cries out as the snake stands up to strike at a screaming Narcissa. "Protect my mother!"

"I can't," Lucius answers, taking a few steps back as the snake stuck out it's tongue again, sniffing the air.

"HELP HER!" Draco yelled, his legs stuck in place as he tried to run for his mother, wanting to get in the way, make the snake attack him instead.

Lucius starts to shake his head, his white hair falling down onto the floor around him as his eyes turned into the evil red color that Draco now dreaded and his nose turned into two slivers, his form changing into Voldermort's.

"Kill him," The Dark Lord told him, "Or I'll kill her." Suddenly the snake strikes, red filling Draco's sight as he felt his body shaking.

"Malfoy, wake up!" Goyle hollered, shaking Draco awake.

"What the hell!?" Draco hollered, feeling wet spots on his cheeks from where he had been crying in his sleep as he woke up in a cold, sticky sweat.

"You were screaming." Goyle told him as Draco sat up, looking around the lit room to see Blaise, Crabbe, and Nott staring at him in concern.

"What was that about?" Blaise asks with concern for his best mate, Nott and Crabbe both knowing better than to ask about having a bad dream after having seen enough themselves to cause the Dark Lord himself to have nightmares.

"Nothing," Draco answers, wiping his hand with his face before laying back down. "It was nothing."