tw : description of a wound, blood

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Hermione

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As they walked into the Great Hall on the first day of school, it was hard not to notice Malfoy mimicking Harry fainting to make his table laugh.

"Don't mind him." Hermione whispered into Harry's ear. "Don't mind him, he's not worth it..."

Actually, she was kind of trying to convince herself not to give the Slytherin group the finger.

"Hey, Potter!" shouted Pansy Parkinson. "Potter! The Dementors are coming! Potter! Ooooooooh, Merlin, I'm fainting!"

Hermione watched Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle as she sat down at the Gryffindors table. They were laughing, but strangely, Theodore Nott wasn't laughing at all. He was sitting next to Blaise Zabini, reading the paper, and completely ignoring his friends.

She didn't know if it was her imagination, but she felt that Nott had changed, as if he had gained five years in one summer. It wasn't as blatant as Blaise Zabini, who outshone everyone at the Slytherin table, including the seventh years. He wasn't interested in Malfoy's behaviour either.

Malfoy... He too had grown. He was taller in stature, and his face was not at all the proud little boy of first and second year. He had changed his haircut: before, his hair was slicked back with a heavy dose of gel, and now his platinum hair just fell over his forehead. It looked much better, if one forgot that he was an arrogant jerk.

"Third year schedules!" shouted George as he passed them around. "What's up with you, Harry?"

"Malfoy." said Ron.

"That little git." replied George as he watched Malfoy too. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were down at our end of the train. Came runing into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself." Fred said, giving Malfoy a look of contempt.

"I wasn't too happy myself..." said George. "They're horrible things, those Dementors..."

Hermione lost track of the conversation as she analysed her schedule. She was already calculating the days she would have to use her Time Turner the most: "twice today, once tomorrow, twice Friday..."

"Hermione?" Ron said, looking over her shoulder, "They've got your timetable completely wrong. Look, they've stuck you with ten classes a day. You'll never have time to do it all."

"I'll work it out. I've sorted it all out with Professor McGonagall." she said.

"But that's impossible!" he replied with a laugh. "Did you see, this morning? Nine o'clock: Divination. And below that, nine o'clock: Muggle Studies. And... there, look! Underneath that again... Nine o'clock: Arithmancy. I know you're brilliant, but no one can be so brilliant as to be in three different classes at once."

"Don't be stupid." Hermione replied dryly. "Of course I'm not going to take three classes at once."

"Well?"

"Pass the marmalade." she replied, not looking at him.

"But..."

"Ron, what do you care if my schedule's a bit full? I told you I've worked it all out with Professor McGonagall." she said dryly.

Ron seemed about to reply something else, when Hagrid's arrival distracted him and he quickly forgot about Hermione's schedule. McGonagall was right: it was easy to make them think it was normal. Ron or Harry would never realise that she was going back in time to attend several classes, they just had to be made to change the subject. They really weren't observant.

Hermione continued to study her timetable until they reached Divination class. The first class of the year was not the most interesting. The teacher announced straight away that they were not to study with books - which horrified Hermione - but rather to open their minds to discover the 'veils of the future'. Hermione almost burst out laughing at this.

It reminded her of Mary, who loved to read her horoscope every morning to find out what would happen to her that day. Hermione was amazed that such a hazardous science could be studied at Hogwarts. Professor Trelawney was a bit like the fortune tellers who stopped passers-by on the streets of London to take money from them by pretending to read their futures.

During the lesson, she looked around at the chairs where the students were sitting. She noticed that Draco Malfoy had not taken that option, which she thought was odd because Pansy Parkinson was there, sitting next to Blaise Zabini. They were whispering together, giggling. Theodore Nott wasn't there either. Perhaps he didn't want to study such a vague course?

When the class was over, she followed Harry and Ron to the entrance of Transfiguration class, glanced at McGonagall who nodded very subtly, and then retraced her steps. She locked herself in a cupboard, grabbed the necklace she had put under her dress and flicked it once. She felt dizzy as the broom cupboard spun around her, Hermione closed her eyes, holding onto the hourglass until she landed firmly on the floor with both feet.

She looked at her watch: eight fifty. Perfect. She walked out and hurried to Muggle Studies class. Few students were seated. Hermione sat in the front row and waited patiently for the teacher to arrive.

This class was exciting. It was very interesting to learn about wizards' views on Muggles and their inventions which seemed eccentric to Professor Burbage, but which were part of Hermione's everyday life. She spoke to the class about how the ovens worked and managed to get 5 points for Gryffindor.

After this class, Hermione's feet were a bit sore and she was getting hungry, but she turned the hourglass a second time. 8:55. She had to be very careful now, because there were two doubles of her in the corridors. Trying to remember the route she'd taken with Harry and Ron to avoid the corridors in question, she managed to sneak into the Arithmancy class unseen.

This option was even less full than Muggle Studies. There were no other Gryffindors, four Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs and two Slytherins: Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. She suspected that Nott would be there, but she found it hard to understand why Malfoy would take such a difficult option.

She sat down silently and Nott gave her a quick glance, and when he saw her he gave a small, competitive smile. Hermione immediately grabbed her quill and followed the calculations that Professor Vector was already writing on the board with her wand, more determined than ever to beat Nott in that subject too.

She realised that it was the same principle as Divination, but with precise calculations and diagrams that structured the course much more than "third eye vision." Unlucky for Nott, she passed all the exercises on the first try, not even hiding her proud smile.

By the time it was ten o'clock for the third time that day, Hermione ran to Transfiguration class and stood next to Ron and Harry as if nothing had happened. She had almost forgotten the mood of the class after Trelawney's predictions, until she saw that all the students were looking at Harry with an embarrassed look.

Fortunately, McGonagall reassured everyone that Divination classes started like this every year. Hermione arched an eyebrow at Ron as if to say "I told you so."

Draco

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"Come, come, hurry! You're in for a surprise! You won't be bored, believe me! Is everyone here? All right, follow me!"

Draco heard Hagrid's gruff voice long before he reached the front of his hut. He sighed in exasperation, and heard Pansy mutter through her teeth, "that sounds promising." They walked towards an empty paddock, and Draco grumbled all the way because he hadn't been able to avoid a puddle of mud that had soaked his robe.

"Gather round along the fence!" shouted Hagrid. "There, like that... We need everyone to have a good look. So, first thing, you're going to open your books..."

"And how do we do that?" asked Draco.

"What?" said Hagrid, the imbecile.

"How do we open our books?"

He took out of his bag the huge book that had tried to bite him when he bought it on Diagon Alley, which he had tightened with a rope.

"No one's managed to... open his book?" asked Hagrid stupidly.

Pansy pulled out hers, which she had compressed with a black belt, and Theo didn't even dare pull out his for fear that it would try to eat his arm again.

"You just have to stroke it..." the gamekeeper explained as he picked up Granger's book. He ran his finger over the binding and the book immediately calmed down, as if it were really a wild animal. Pansy gave a mocking laugh.

"Oh, how silly we are! All you had to do was stroke it! We should have guessed it right away!" said Draco in a tone that clearly showed irony.

"I... I thought they were rather funny." Hagrid said to Granger.

Granger looked at him like he was a fucking genius.

"Oh, extraordinarily funny!" gasped Draco, which made Theo and Blaise laugh. "What a wonderful idea to have us buy books that try to eat our hands!"

"Quiet, Malfoy." hissed Potter.

Draco had no idea why the Golden Trio had bonded so strongly and strangely with this half-giant, but it pissed Draco off, and he felt the familiar surge of anger slowly revive.

"Wait for me." said Hagrid, visibly disconcerted.

Draco quickly leaned towards Pansy, Blaise, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle and whispered:

"I've got an idea, put your hoods on and make it look like we're Dementors and piss Potter off."

Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle nodded vigorously, but Theo and Blaise rolled their eyes and walked away slightly.

Draco provoked Potter again:

"Truly, this school has gone downhill!" he continued, speaking loudly on purpose so Potter could hear him. "Now this worthless bloke has become a teacher! My father is going to have a stroke when I tell him about this..."

Obviously, he reacted in a huff:

" Shut up, Malfoy!"

"Dementor, dementor!" shouted Draco, pointing to something in the sky.

He laughed as he saw Potter turn around abruptly, looking for the creature with his eyes. Even Weasley had fallen for it. Granger, on the other hand, was staring at Draco with the meanest look she could muster, that is, her eyebrows furrowed. He was sure that if she started talking right now, she'd have her high-pitched voice.

He pulled his hood up, accompanied by Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy who waved their arms in front to mimic the Dementors. Potter stared at them for a second, surprised, then Granger stepped in and grabbed his arm, made a disgusted face as he glared at him and pulled Potter away in front of the empty enclosure barrier.

"Haha, well done!" exclaimed Draco to his friends who had donned the hoods.

He then noticed that Theo and Blaise were now much further away, across the paddock. He frowned and moved closer to them:

"Everything all right?" he asked Blaise.

Theo stared at an invisible point in front of him and paid him no attention, but Blaise replied in an icy voice:

"No, everything is not all right. What was that number with the hoods?"

"Huh? Just a joke to make fun of Potter, that's all. What's your problem?" asked Draco.

"Our problem? Draco, do you hear what you're saying? Didn't it cross your mind that maybe Theo didn't want to see this?"

"It was just a joke."

"Never mind, Blaise." said Theo in a blank voice, still avoiding looking at Draco. "It's nothing, it's fine."

"What's going on?"

Pansy had approached the group of boys and positioned herself next to Draco, arms crossed. Crabbe and Goyle had come along too, which annoyed Theo even more.

"It just so happens that you're insensitive idiots, that's all." Blaise said, still in a cold tone. "Imitating Dementors in front of Theo? Seriously?" he added in a low voice so Crabbe or Goyle wouldn't hear.

"Stop it Blaise, I don't need protection. I'm not a child or something." snarled Theo.

"It was just a joke!" repeated Draco, a little annoyed.

"Would it kill you to apologize, Dray?" snapped Blaise. "You can see it was out of line, why can't you just admit you did something stupid?"

"Hey, leave him alone, he didn't do anything wrong, it was just a joke for Potter. He didn't mean to hurt Theo!" interjected Pansy before Draco could even open his mouth.

"You're always defending him anyway." Blaise replied, looking down on her. "You two are just incapable of apologizing."

Pansy then did the same thing Granger had done a few seconds earlier: she grabbed Draco's arm, and turned around after giving Blaise her most evil look. Except hers was much more threatening than Granger's, it was dark and didn't invite retaliation at all. Draco and Pansy walked away.

"Never mind, they're just on edge." Pansy said as soon as they were a little further away.

Draco shrugged. He really wanted to pretend that he didn't care, but he was actually horribly embarrassed. The truth was that he hadn't thought for a second about Theo and how he might react, too blinded by his desire to piss Potter off. Now that he saw what it had caused, he honestly wondered if it was worth it.

Draco noticed that by this time Hagrid had returned and brought a herd of hippogriffs with him.

"What a horror," Pansy muttered, watching the creatures with a grimace.

It had to be said that they weren't the prettiest animals Draco had ever seen either.

He watched Potter climb onto the hippogriff with disdain. The rage he felt at seeing him succeed in this way was now tightening around his neck. He wanted Potter to be swept off his feet by the hippogriff's wing and fall to the ground in front of everyone. When Hagrid suggested the other students come closer, Draco took a step forward, but Pansy held his arm:

"Are you crazy? You want to ride on these things?"

"I don't want to ride them, just watch."

He could feel the anger heating his chest. He had no idea why he felt surges of rage like that, but they had a way of making him act impulsively. He walked over, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, and stroked the grey hippogriff's beak.

"It's very easy." Malfoy said. "It has to be easy, if Potter could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute?"

Before he could even step back, he saw the hippogriff's wings spread out in front of him, and suddenly he felt something piercing cut the flesh of his arm. He was thrown backwards by the force of the hit and clutched his arm to his body: the pain went straight through him. On top of that, his fall had cut off his breathing violently, as if his lungs had abruptly stopped working.

He felt the blood running down the sleeve of his robe, and vaguely heard Pansy's piercing scream behind him.

"I'm dying! I'm dying! It's killed me!" he screamed as soon as he could speak.

He felt Hagrid's strong arms lift him off the ground and carry him. In the chaos, the excruciating pain in his arm and the tinnitus in his ear that prevented him from hearing because of his head hitting the ground, he saw Granger open the gate. She was worried, he could see it on her face, she was watching him with wide eyes.

He liked that look, it made him feel important.

Hagrid had gone livid. Draco felt a mixture of pride at having gotten so much reaction from Granger, and fury. It was proof that this pathetic gamekeeper was not capable of handling a class at all. The blood had stained his entire wizard's robe.

They arrived at the hospital wing after what seemed like an hour and a half's walk. He heard the nurse's voice echoing around him:

"Oh! What happened?"

"An injury in the Care of Magical Creatures class, Malfoy got a little too close..." stammered Hagrid.

"Got a bit too close!" yelped Draco, who could barely open his eyes. "You were the one who said to get close, I just petted it and it attacked me, shredded my arm!"

He felt the nurse roll up the sleeve of his robe to reveal his wound. He knew his forearm was open, he could feel the wound, even though he didn't want to look. Hagrid let out a fearful groan that angered Draco even more.

"This is your fault, you and your bloody pigeon!"

"Alright, I think we'll calm down." the nurse announced dryly. "Thank you Hagrid, I'll take care of him."

Hagrid set Draco down in one of the hospital wing beds and walked away sheepishly.

"It hurts!" hissed Draco through his teeth.

"I'll close the wound. Drink this, you shouldn't feel the pain anymore."

She gave him a glass of milky, foul-smelling water. He swallowed it in one gulp, and then he felt a very strange sensation that seemed to emanate from his stomach, and spread throughout his body. His arm didn't hurt anymore, as if he couldn't feel it. In fact, he could not feel anything at all. His fingers were numb, his legs had become detached from his body, and even his tongue was heavy and unusable. He only managed to groan in pain between his lips and glanced down at his forearm.

The wound was gaping and bloody. His arm was completely open from the top of his wrist to his elbow. He closed his eyes and buried his head in the pillow as Madam Pomfrey circled him to better assess the wound. Then she poured something on it, and Draco knew it was Essence of Dittany because he recognized the smell, the same smell that had emanated in Blaise's living room.

Draco didn't really know what the potion he'd been drinking was, but it put him in a semi-conscious state that he didn't really like. He blinked a few times, thinking he recognized Pansy's voice, but no matter how hard he turned his head, he couldn't see her. He couldn't feel his body, it was as if he was floating, and suddenly he fell asleep.

When he woke up, Pansy was sitting next to him. She was half lying on the hospital bed, her black hair contrasting with the white sheets, but when he opened his eyes, she suddenly raised her head:

"Draco? Are you alright?"

Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were soaked with blood. She had been crying a lot.

He wanted to say "I'm fine", but when he tried to speak, he couldn't stop coughing. Pansy immediately waved her wand over a glass of water to fill it and handed it to him. Draco drank slowly then replied:

"I'm fine."

"Good." she said in a strangled voice.

"Have you been crying?"

She nodded a little and wiped her cheeks, even though there were no tears left.

"This is the second time I've seen a friend of mine bleed to death in just two months." she moaned in justification.

"No, Pans', that's not the same thing. It was just a cut, not like Theo."

"When I saw the hippogriff throwing himself at you, I saw everything again and it... it made me..."

"Don't worry, it doesn't even hurt anymore."

"That's because Madam Pomfrey gave you an anesthetic so you wouldn't be in pain." Pansy explained in a squeaky voice.

Draco lifted his head to look at his arm. The wound was still exposed, but much more presentable, and covered in a strange jelly.

"It's a healing accelerator." Pansy explained. "It helps you not get a scar, or a smaller one at least. It takes longer, but you'll have your arm back like new in a few days. You'll have to wear bandages."

Draco shrugged. He wished he had a scar on his forearm, he thought it was cool. Then he remembered the white marks around Theo's arm, and changed his mind.

Just then, the door to the hospital wing opened and Theo and Blaise entered. They looked worried, but when Theo sat down next to Draco's arm, he winced.

"What?"

"Sorry, I hate blood. How are you feeling, Draco?"

"Not too bad, I can't feel anything from my shoulder to my fingers."

Theo nodded, avoiding looking at the wound and Draco's face, which made him look odd as he swept his eyes around the hospital wing. Blaise, as blunt as ever, didn't hesitate to toss him:

"You were a bloody idiot to do that, Dray. What were you thinking, picking on a hippogriff?"

"I don't know, I wasn't thinking." he said earnestly.

He remembered having a temper tantrum because of Potter, and that he had rushed at the animal on impulse. Now that he thought about it, it actually made no sense.

"The good thing is that now that big oaf Hagrid is probably going to get expelled," he said.

Everyone seemed happy at the thought. He wondered if his father knew yet, he had no idea what time it was. Perhaps he would storm into the hospital wing like a fury. Draco secretly hoped so, he would have liked to know that his parents were worried about him.

Draco watched Theo from the corner of his eye. He was still avoiding looking at the wound. Draco could see the white marks protruding from his collar, and he knew they continued on his chest and arms. He cleared his throat:

"I'm sorry Theo. About the Dementors joke and all that."

Draco never apologized. Ever since he was a kid, he tended to always downplay his mistakes, or blame others, or get mad and walk away when someone pointed out that he was wrong. But he felt really bad about hurting Theo's feelings, so he'd done it.

Blaise arched an eyebrow and Theo didn't hide his surprise, it was probably the first time he'd heard a 'sorry' come out of his mouth, but he didn't comment and finally looked him in the eye:

"Don't worry, Malfoy."

They grinned at each other and at that moment the nurse arrived holding a large bottle in her hands:

"Visiting hours are over!" she exclaimed as she saw the three students around Draco. "And dinner has begun! Come on, get moving!"

Pansy, Theo and Blaise stood up. Pansy didn't look like she wanted to leave at all, but she didn't insist and simply wished Draco a good night before turning on her heels.

"Here." the nurse said, handing him another cup.

He drank the medicine, then watched Madam Pomfrey tending his wound by tapping it with her wand. He had no idea what she was doing, but decided not to ask. In the end, she conjured up a tray with tomato soup and toast and returned to her office.

He drank the soup and munched on the toast, which was very difficult to do with one hand. He would have liked to eat with his friends.

He pushed the empty tray aside and put his head on the pillow, and probably because of the effects of the sleeping pills, he fell asleep without any difficulty.

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The next day, his wound had completely closed and he could move his arm again, but Madame Pomfrey still refused to let him get out of bed. He didn't particularly mind, because it meant he missed classes. He took the opportunity to write a letter to his mother and father telling them about the accident, omitting the fact that he had insulted the hippogriff so that they would not say that it had served him right.

At noon, the nurse approached his bed, and her footsteps woke him from his unwanted nap. She brought him a tray of food and said in a gentle voice:

"Your friend Theodore and Pansy stopped by to check on you this morning, but you were asleep, so I asked them to put whatever they wanted to give you on your bedside table and come back after their classes."

"Okay, thanks."

She walked away and Draco enjoyed his breakfast, followed by the chocolates Pansy had brought him. Theo, on the other hand, had put down a small pile of books for him to occupy himself with. Draco sighed when he saw that the bastard had slipped him a Muggle book between two textbooks. He must have been laughing his arse off doing that, knowing him. He read all the books during the day, except the Muggle one, of course.

At five o'clock sharp, Pansy, Theo and Blaise entered the hospital wing:

"Feeling better?" asked Pansy as soon as she was seated in the chair next to him.

"A little, I slept well and I'm not in any pain."

He showed her his bandaged arm with what he hoped was a comforting smile. Her eyes were swollen, she must not have slept much. Draco wondered if she had slept in his bed, even if he wasn't there.

"What did I miss?" asked Draco as he took the pumpkin juice Madam Pomfrey had given him a few minutes earlier.

"Not much, Herbology class was boring as hell, and we just studied some second year spells in Charms class." explained Theo. "Did you like my present this morning?" he added with a smile, pointing to the books on the bedside table.

"Yeah, very funny." replied Draco dryly as he threw the book in question into his lap.

"Have you read it?"

"Of course not, Nott, I'm not like you to read such abominations in..."

"You should have, it probably would have calmed you down. A nice love story between two Muggles who aren't allowed to love each other and sing songs..."

Draco grimaced in disgust and Theo burst out laughing as he tucked his book into his robe pocket.

"There's one thing you missed." Blaise said suddenly, as if remembering something important. "Theo, tell him what you learned!"

"What, Romeo and Juliet?"

"No, silly. Not your book, Black!"

Draco frowned as Theo's features relaxed in understanding:

"Ohhh, you mean my amazing discovery..."

"Spit it out, Nott." said Draco.

Theo was so happy to share what he knew with Draco that he didn't even comment on the name he had used to call him out:

"I was just reading the school prefects' records..."

"Why on earth were you doing that?" cut in Draco.

Theo blushed slightly:

"Uh... To see... If we could sign up..."

"It's not until fifth year." pointed out Blaise.

"I know!" growled Theo.

"Well? And?" pressed Draco.

"And there was one name that intrigued me. James Potter."

"Potter's father?" asked Draco, increasingly confused.

"Exactly. I didn't know he'd been Head Prefect, I thought he was the type to show off and disobey all school rules, like his son. So I was intrigued, and I poked around. I came across some old detention records. Filch keeps them all with details and stuff. And I found a good thirty of them that talked about James Potter and his friends."

"What are you getting at?" interjected Draco, exasperated.

This was not at all the exciting story he had hoped it would be. Theo waved a hand at him:

"Wait, I'm getting to it, Merlin! Among Potter's friends, there was Remus Lupin..."

"The teacher?" asked Draco, frowning again.

"Yes!" exclaimed Theo, who was now so into what he was saying that he could almost have made a drum roll to announce the rest of his sentence. "And... Sirius Black!"

Draco opened his mouth wide, much to Theo's delight as he shook his head frantically:

"I know, I know! And I have something more! I went to the Library, and I went to the section with alumni albums to show their careers and lives after Hogwarts, and in it was a picture of Potter and Black, arm in arm, with the caption, "James Potter and Sirius Black - newly godfathered son of James Potter and Lily Potter, students of Gryffindor - 1980!"

Draco's mouth opened even wider:

"Black is Potter's godfather?!"

"Yes!"

Pansy, who didn't seem shocked by the news at all, asked in a jaded tone:

"But why does Black want to kill Potter?"

"Because he's a Death Eater!" cried Draco, putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his head as he spoke. "He got himself imprisoned after Potter's parents got murdered by the Dark Lord, I read about it in the Daily Prophet."

"Not likely to happen, with all those Dementors at the school gate." Blaise commented.

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The next day there was a letter on his bedside table:

Dear Draco,

I received your letter about the accident. It's a scandal. That good-for-nothing Hagrid deserves to be expelled, and I intend to do just that. I've asked the school nurse and Professor Snape for a report on your injuries, and I've complained to the school board. I've also sent an owl to the Ministry's Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures to arrange an emergency hearing. Supposedly, the foolish gamekeeper should be fired soon.

Your mother is very worried that you will never be able to use your arm again. Please send her a letter to reassure her as soon as possible.

In the meantime, try to be discreet, and don't take advantage of being in the hospital wing not to do your homework. You'd better come first overall this year.

I will keep you informed of the procedures that will be put in place in the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Lucius Malfoy.

Madam Pomfrey allowed him to leave the hospital wing and he headed to Potions class with his arm in a scarf. As he wandered the corridors, he noticed that his cast had advantages he hadn't imagined: girls. All the girls his age that he passed looked at him as if he were a war wounded man, and all of them had looks of pity and admiration on their faces.

Draco loved being the centre of attention. He strutted down the corridors proudly and arrived at Potions class a little late. He sat at his usual desk, between Pansy and Crabbe. Crabbe asked him:

"Feeling better, Draco?"

"It still hurts a bit, but this cast is magical, it attracts girls like a magnet."

"Is that so?" asked Goyle, impressed.

"How are you doing, Draco?" asked Pansy, turning to him then. "Does it still hurt a lot?"

Her voice was honeyed, not at all like usual, and her eyes were compassionate.

"Yes." he affirmed with a fake grimace of pain.

She placed a comforting hand on his able-bodied arm and turned to Theo, who wanted to show her something. Draco looked at Crabbe and Goyle again:

"See?" he whispered with a wink.

Goyle laughed greasily and Crabbe's eyes went wide. Draco was sure he was planning to have his arm cut off too, to get the same treatment as Draco.

Then he saw the look on Granger's face from across the room. She wasn't listening to Snape as he listed the ingredients needed to make the potion, she had turned her head to watch Draco's cast with her eyebrows furrowed and her lip slightly curled. When she saw that he had caught her studying it, she quickly looked away and blushed a little.

Those bandages really were magic! Granger had never looked at him with such concern, it was a strange feeling. He didn't feel the usual rage he had when he saw her, he felt important, proud, and it was quite addictive.

When the practical work began, Draco stood on the table shared by the Golden Trio and took advantage of his cast to force Potter and Weasley to make his potion for him. Another advantage: no more work. He hoped to annoy Granger, but she was immersed in her own preparation and wasn't looking at Draco at all.

While he was having fun annoying Potter and Weasley by making them cut up all sorts of ingredients for his potion, Longbottom's cauldron was belching orange smoke. As soon as Snape approached him, he let out a fearful groan. The Professor dipped his ladle into the contents of the Gryffindor's potion:

"Orange, Longbottom!" shouted Snape. "Orange! Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?

"Sir, please?" intervened Granger with her high-pitched voice. "Perhaps I could help Neville?"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger." replied Snape.

Draco saw Granger blush intensely as she looked down, and it made him smile.

"Longbottom..." continued Snape. "At the end of class, we'll give your toad a few drops of this potion and see what happens. Perhaps this will encourage you to prepare it properly?"

As soon as Snape walked away to check on Crabbe and Goyle's cauldrons, he heard Longbottom imploring Granger:

"Will you help me?"

Of course, she did. Draco could see her whispering directions to Longbottom, who corrected his potion by putting the right ingredients in the right order this time. Granger managed to give him instructions, study Longbottom's potion, prepare her own which was the perfect pale green colour and check that Snape couldn't hear her all at once. It was so frustrating, how did she manage to do this?

"In this morning's Daily Prophet, they say they've spotted Sirius Black."

Draco suddenly turned to Finnigan, the one who had just spoken.

"Where?" asked Potter and Weasley.

"Not far from here. It was a Muggle who saw it. Of course, she didn't quite understand what was going on. Muggles think it's an ordinary criminal. So she phoned the freephone number and by the time the Ministry people got there, he was already gone."

"Not far from here..." repeated Weasley in a low voice.

Draco met Potter's gaze:

"What's the matter? Do you want me to peel something else for you?" he asked.

Granger had looked up without stopping to help Longbottom and pour her own ingredients. Now she was also managing to follow another conversation on top of everything else she was already doing.

"You want to try and catch Black on your own, Potter?" asked Draco.

"Exactly." replied Potter in a casual tone.

"If I were in your shoes, I would have tried something by now. I wouldn't stay at school like a good boy, I'd get out of here and go get him." said Draco in a low voice.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" interjected Weasley.

"Don't you know, Potter?" whispered Draco. He loved knowing such important information when he didn't, it was almost as satisfying as watching him lose his nerve after yet another taunt.

"Know what?"

"You'd probably prefer not to risk your neck and let the Dementors do the work? But if I were you, I'd get even. I'd try to find him myself."

"What are you talking about?" said Potter angrily.

"You should have finished mixing your ingredients by now." Snape glared. "You need to let the potion warm up for a long time before you drink it. Let it brew, then we'll try Longbottom's..."

Draco poured the rest of his caterpillar into his potion and it turned the pale green colour it was supposed to. He looked up and saw that Granger was still helping poor Longbottom. She always seemed to be helping him, and he had noticed that she tutored him every Saturday afternoon in the Library.

When Snape grabbed Longbottom's toad to test the potion, Draco knew he would be fine, thanks to Granger's advice. And indeed, Longbottom's Shrinking Solution was perfect.

He met Granger's defiant gaze. She was taunting him, daring him to report what she had done to Snape, she was almost... insolent. He arched an eyebrow, and they looked at each other for a long moment, but Draco said nothing. He didn't know why. He could have told Snape that she'd been helping Longbottom for the last fifteen minutes, that she was a Know-it-all who obviously had a big problem staying out of other people's business.

He could give her a detention, see her cry out in anger, but instead he just stood there without saying anything, his gaze locked in Granger's chocolate eyes.