Chapter Nineteen

Draco was fairly positive that he was going to end up having a hand in hiding their Alchemy professor's body at some point over the next year. He wasn't mad about it, but the fact simply seemed inevitable. He honestly wasn't certain whether it was going to be Granger or Theo who would be the one that would inevitably avada the wizard. It could go either way. They could both be a bit unnervingly scary when they set their mind to it.

He packed up his things as the class ended, carefully watching Granger's stiffened body language as the professor called her to the front for a one-on-one chat. She clutched at her bag tightly as he spoke with her and Draco decided that getting involved was the best plan possible.

"Granger, we have to go over our Arithmancy project outline before our next class which is in less than an hour, are you coming?" Draco asked, a manufactured tone of annoyance in his voice. Theo watched from behind him and Draco could feel his eyes on him and wondered whether Theo's expression revealed any of the turmoil that Draco could sense through the mate bond.

The annoyed professor looked at him as though he was going to say something, until Hermione smiled brightly at Draco and then at their instructor.

"Oh of course, Malfoy, you'll have to excuse me Professor. As instructive as I find our discussion, I still have another class today. Thank you so much for your time, sir." She replied, her smile forced.

Once out of the room, Draco was shocked when Granger took his arm and sighed gratefully. "Thank you so much Malfoy for getting me out of that. Was he such a creep last week?"

Draco nodded in affirmative and wondered how the hell she hadn't noticed until now, but it was Theo who responded, "Absolutely, yes."

Granger grimaced. "I was so excited about learning Alchemy too."

"I was as well," Draco admitted.

Granger sighed again and leaned into Draco. His heart rate picked up excitedly at her seeking comfort from him.

"Arithmancy is next though." Theo laughed. "I think we are all doing fine there."

Hermione nodded contently.

But Draco groaned when he remembered. "We have Muggle Studies after that." Theo made a noise like vomiting.

"Is it that bad?" Granger asked, grimacing, "Gods rest Burbage but I don't remember good things about that class when I took it third year."

"It's probably worse now," Draco admitted. "The text isn't terrible, but the new professor is less than eloquent."

"I counted the times that she said 'um' last week and it was more than a hundred fifty," Theo added.

"That's horrendous." Hermione looked aggrieved, as though a bad professor was a personal insult to her.

"I'd worry less if Muggle Studies wasn't required for all of Slytherin House," Draco sighed.

"What do you mean, it's required?"

"Well Granger, they assume we are all Pureblood supremacists who need to be educated on all things Muggle for our own good," Theo stated. "We've also assumed they mean we need to pass our NEWTs and that's going to be impossible with the current professorial style."

"Even the half-bloods have to take Muggle Studies?" Hermione asked with the rise of an eyebrow.

"Even the half-bloods." Draco confirmed.

"Well that's ridiculous."

The three of them walked into Arithmancy as an easy going trio, and Draco allowed himself to imagine that this was how they could be all the time. Granger let Theo pull out her chair and then they both sat next to her. Professor Vector didn't even seem to notice their silent camaraderie, but scolded some other students that hadn't sat in their project groups. Draco watched Granger's elegant scrawl take shape in her notes and wondered what it would be like to have those ink covered fingertips move over his skin.

Draco adjusted the way he was sitting as his thoughts caused all his blood to run south. Theo must have sensed his excitement through the bond as he covertly threw him a quick wink and smirk.

He barely heard anything that Professor Vector said during the lesson, simply allowing his hand to copy what she wrote on the board without any of it taking root in his brain.

"Can I come with you two to Muggle Studies?" Granger asked as they were packing up their things as Arithmancy finished.

"Why on earth would you want to do such a thing?" Draco asked her in confusion. "We've already told you that it's hellish."

"Well how can I complain properly if I don't know exactly what's going on?" The swotty little princess smiled sunnily. And what was to complain about if they had one more class period with her at their side?