Harry Potter & the Heir of Darkness

CHAPTER 5

Dylan awoke the next morning feeling even more drained than before she had gone to bed. The events of the previous day slowly creeping back into her sleep starved brain. Last night, she had sat in the corridor for what seemed like hours before finally making her way to her room.

Unable to fully comprehend what Draco Malfoy had said to her, she had decided not to dwell on the subject anymore. However, Dylan was quite aware of her predicament. If she wished to keep her private life a secret, she had to go out with Draco Malfoy; otherwise the entire castle was sure to know all about her family in a matter of hours.

On the other hand, this meant that she lost all chances of repairing her friendship with Harry. She knew he and Malfoy weren’t on good terms, had probably never really been on good terms, and therefore any fraternizing would be seen as treason on her part, and she would therefore relinquish what little friendship they had left. Dylan was quite sure that if Harry Potter shunned her, the rest of Gryffindor, and quite possibly the rest of the school would as well.

'I really should have listened to that warning.' Dylan sighed heavily. 'It’s a little late for that though.'

Dylan slowly climbed out of bed, careful not to wake the other girls. As she pulled on her uniform she couldn’t help but wonder exactly what Draco Malfoy was up to. He couldn’t have any romantic interests in her, Dylan was sure he only wanted to get Harry all riled up. 'Perhaps I should mention this to Harry before anything else happens.'

She shook her head angrily. 'I would have to tell Harry all about me, including the small issue concerning my relatives.' Dylan opened the door slowly and made her way down to the comfy armchairs by the empty fireplace. 'He’ll have to talk to me at some stage, I’m not sure why he’s so angry anyway, it’s not like I asked anyone to kiss me.'

“It’s a good thing he doesn’t know who kissed me,” Dylan muttered. “He would be so angry at me. It’s not like I did anything wrong, I was the victim in all of this.”

“Why are you the victim?” Dylan jumped as Harry’s voice trailed out of the shadows. He was seated in another armchair and was peering at her in confusion. “Who kissed you?” he asked slowly.

Dylan stared at him in surprise. “Harry. I didn’t see you there,” she muttered.

“Obviously,” he replied slowly. “So are you going to answer my question?”

“What question?” Dylan didn’t dare to look him in the eyes, hoping he would just change the subject.

Harry sighed heavily. “Obviously not, well I’ll be off then. If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t.” He stood up and started towards the door. “See you in class.”

Dylan shook her head. “Harry…” She jumped out of the chair and scanned the room for him. The only evidence left of him was the portrait swinging closed without a sound. “Harry…” she mumbled softly.

Students began swarming into the common room and turned the quiet atmosphere into one of noise and chaos. Nobody seemed to take even a second glance at Dylan; they were all too busy chatting to one another.

Dylan stared blankly into the crowds of people, barely registering a single face. Her head began to pound and her eyesight had become blurry. 'I better get out of here. Perhaps breakfast will be ready.'

She made her way towards the exit, unaware Ron and Hermione had left in search of Harry barely seconds before her. Dylan made the long and painfully boring trip to the Great Hall by herself, hoping that she wouldn’t get lost.

'I have Potions first today, oh joy.' Dylan could think of a million ways in which her uncle could greet her today, however none of them were warm or happy in anyway. That was Severus down to the button. Anything caring, considerate or loosely linked to happiness in anyway was burnt at stake, or cast away into some deep dark hole.

Dylan had learned that a long time ago. ‘There’s no point crying’ he had said to her once, unhappiness was something he had learned to live with, and he had passed it onto her. Dylan had never had a happy family life; she had never really had a family to begin with. She had had a mother and a father; they were her foster parents. ‘Supplied parents’ they were the kind who always felt sorry for her. Her real parents had never been mentioned.

Her uncles were only related to her through her foster parents, Dumbledore and Cornelius were on her father’s side and Severus on her mother’s. The fact that they still considered themselves related to her was something Dylan would never understand.

Cornelius had looked after her for the majority of the twelve years; he had arranged her enrolment at Beauxbaton’s Academy, with a little input from Dumbledore. It was only recently when she had mentioned her desire to see Hogwarts and be closer to home that he had allowed her to transfer. He had been too busy to help out anymore than that, and she had stayed at his house since then. Dumbledore had also been extremely busy, he hadn’t been in contact with her for twelve years, and even before that he had seemed reluctant to see her. He was only there for important decisions, like schooling, work and the like.

Severus had no inclination to see her whatsoever. He had been surprised to see her in the headmaster’s office, yet Dylan was sure he would probably ignore her for the majority of the year. 'What’s the point of being here? It’s exactly the same as Beauxbaton’s, no communication or desire to bond.'

Dylan sat down at the table; breakfast had started however the tables were still empty, only a few early risers had come down. She didn’t blame the others though, who would want to eat and talk to your friends if you could sleep in for a little while longer.

A student sat down in the seat beside her as she reached for a piece of toast. 'Aren’t there enough seats at the table?' Dylan couldn’t help but be in a bad mood, with all the reminiscing of 'happier' times.

She felt a little subconscious buttering the toast as the student sat there pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice. Dylan, under her lowered lashes, glanced across at the boy beside her. His uniform was pressed neatly and his tie was tied perfectly straight. There wasn’t a single thing out of place.

The boys arm reached across her and picked up her glass. As he was filling it with juice she couldn’t help but watch his hands, his large pale hands, with neatly groomed fingernails at the end of long slender fingers. He placed the now full glass back where it had stood merely moments ago, and Dylan breathed in an oddly familiar scent. She closed her eyes and sighed happily.

As she picked up the glass and took a sip of the cool, refreshing liquid, the boy moved ever-so-slightly towards her. Dylan placed the glass down onto the table and stared at her buttered toast. 'Who does this guy think he is?'

She felt a warm breath of air on her neck, and before she was able to stop him, the boy placed his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. “I didn’t think you were so eager to begin your knew role,” he whispered seductively into her ear.

Dylan visibly paled. 'Draco Malfoy?' Her head snapped towards him and her breathing quickened as his thumb began rubbing against her waist. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a hushed voice. She glanced around the room and sure enough everyone was staring at them.

“What do you mean? I’m not the one sitting at the wrong House table.” Draco’s head bent down and he kissed her neck gently. “I know for a fact your dear Harry is watching us.”

He was right; Harry was staring at Dylan in confusion. He was as pale as a ghost and looked as though he wasn’t sure whether to vomit or punch Malfoy in the face. Dylan shut her eyes tightly, trying to keep his look of hurt out of her mind; however it only made her feel even guiltier. 'I can’t sit over there now. There goes the friendship…' Dylan felt as though she might cry.

“Why are you doing this?” she spat at Malfoy. Dylan struggled to keep her voice as quiet as possible when all she really wanted to do was shove him away and scream at him. “We agreed classes only.”

“I thought you wanted to start now.” Draco looked her in the eyes, his sparkling mischievously. He brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. Dylan knew if anyone was looking at them now they would just believe herself and Draco Malfoy were together. “Was I wrong in assuming that? You were sitting at Slytherin’s table by yourself.”

Dylan took another sip of juice and returned her gaze to her toast. “Of course you were wrong. I was tired this morning and sat at the wrong table. I can’t believe you-”

“I what?” he grinned back at her. “What did I do wrong?”

“Oh, never mind now.” She took a bite of toast and pushed the rest away. “The damage is done. Thanks. I’ll see you in class.” Dylan stood up and made to leave, stopping only for a brief second to stare at a bewildered looking Pansy before continuing on.

Dylan knew she’d be early for her class, but she didn’t want to stay in the Great hall with everybody staring at her. 'Damn you, Malfoy!' She rubbed her neck angrily, trying to remove the tingling sensation he had left her with.

She stood in the dimly-lit corridor, waiting for someone to come past and let her into the classroom. 'Let’s hope I don’t have to face the masses before then.' Dylan leant against the wall and stared at the door hopefully. 'Please be unlocked.'

Dylan glanced up and down the corridor warily; she didn’t want to lose points for breaking into a classroom. She slowly walked over to the door, double checked the coast was clear, took a deep breath and stretched her hand out ready. Her fingers barely had enough time to brush the door handle before it was flung open causing Dylan to gasp.

“Dylan?” a confused voice asked. A white hand grabbed her chin and lifted her lowered head. “What are you doing here?”

Her uncle was standing in the doorway staring at her with the same expression as the night before. Severus Snape still looked the same as the last time they had met. The years had done nothing to him, he was still as thin as ever, he still had the same pale skin and black hair… even his haircut was the same. It was like the past had come back to haunt her.

“I’m… I’m here waiting for the class to start,” Dylan mumbled. She tried desperately not to look him in the eyes; he had always scared her into saying the things she wanted to keep a secret. It was his special gift.

“My class doesn’t start for a little while. I can’t have you loitering outside my classroom.” He shook his head. “Can’t you go 'hang' in the library?” Her uncle always tried to tell her to ‘piss off’ in the nicest way possible, while embarrassing the both of them at the same time.

“Please don’t ever say that again. It’s not fun for either of us to hear. I can’t go to the library; I don’t think it’s open at this hour.” Dylan had already thought of going there, only to find that it was in fact still closed until classes start. “I’ll just sit quietly in the corridor until then.”

“No, definitely not,” Snape had finally released her chin. “Get in here. I won’t have people walking past you like you are a piece of garbage. Sit at one of the desks.” He moved slightly out of the way so she could walk past. “Don’t touch anything, I’ll be right back.”

'You really haven’t changed,' she thought as he left the room, closing the door decisively behind him. 'You are still as unfeeling and self-absorbed as ever.'

Dylan figured he’d be going to get something to eat, that gave her maybe five minutes alone. As long as she was sitting down by the time he got back, he wouldn’t know what she had been up to.

She walked around the classroom, there were cauldron’s bubbling everywhere. 'What does he need this many for?' On closer inspection, Dylan realized that they weren’t Severus’ cauldrons, but they belonged to the students. 'They have already started a whole term assessment?'

While Dylan was terrible with Potions, she did know a few tricks that would bring her up to speed. She knew it tore her uncle up inside to know that Dylan wasn’t a Potion’s Master. The fact of the matter was she wasn’t a blood relative, and she had strengths elsewhere, Travien for one knew this first-hand.

Dylan wandered over to his desk and sat in the chair. It wasn’t like all the other professor’s chairs, while the other teacher’s chairs were all comfy and soft, Severus’ was the same as the students, wooden and hard. 'Boring!' Dylan had to fight back a yawn; Severus was a pretty boring person when you knew him.

She opened the top drawer of the desk, empty jars, quills, ink pots and spare pieces of parchment were hidden away there. The second drawer was full of potion ingredients and a rather large, tatty looking textbook. The final drawer, however, was empty. 'That’s not like you at all, Severus. Wasting space…'

She closed the drawer slowly and sat back in the wooden chair. Dylan’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion, why would he have an empty drawer? She stared at the bottom drawer curiously. Perhaps he’s busy cleaning it out or something. As Dylan thought this she realized nothing on the desk would fit in the drawer.

Dylan opened the drawer again and again, first slowly then progressively faster and faster. She tried rattling the drawer first, opening it only slightly and peeking in, she even tried knocking on every side of it, but nothing worked. She sighed heavily, her determination was wearing thin.

She put her hand in the drawer and felt around for any invisible objects or a paperclip, anything that may give her an idea of what could be in the drawer. Dylan wracked her mind for any spell that might reveal what was in that drawer, but nothing sprung forth. She was about to scream at the drawer in frustration when she heard footsteps rapidly approaching the classroom.

Jumping up Dylan ran back to the desk where she was supposed to have stayed. Just as she sat in the chair, and pretended to be interested in her nails, the door opened and Severus Snape walked in. He was holding a piece of toast in one hand and a jug of juice in the other, and was staring at Dylan as though she had sprouted three heads right in front of him. 'Oh no, the drawer! I forgot to close it…'

Her uncle continued to stare at her curiously as he proceeded to his desk. He took a bite of his toast and gave a deep sigh. “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked dryly. Dylan heard the snap of the drawer as it closed and she tried to keep her heart rate steady. If there was one thing she knew about Snape, it was not to get him angry.

“Surprisingly, no,” Dylan thought it best not to lie; it would only provoke him otherwise. “What exactly do you have in there? I know there’s something in there; you would never waste the space.”

“You know me too well,” he replied sarcastically. “If you must know, it’s for photographs. I just don’t have any I like.”

Dylan tried hard not to laugh. “You were never overly sentimental. You proved that many times. What’s really in there?” She watched him carefully, searching for some reaction but none came.

Snape calmly stared back at her as he took another bite of toast. “Why do you think I’m lying? I have no photographs, at least none that warrant any special attention.” He paused. “Didn’t I tell you not to move?” he added.

“That’s beside the point.” Dylan tried to avoid answering that question; she knew she would be in trouble.

Her uncle stood up slowly and walked over to where she sat. “Did I tell you or not?” Snape was average height, but his mere presence was enough to intimidate someone, and right now he was towering over Dylan with a ‘less-than-pleased’ look on his face. “Dylan?” he scolded.

“Alright, yes you did. I couldn’t help it. You have such a boring classroom, you and Travien.” Dylan shook her head. “Besides I don’t think I have to take orders from you, especially since you haven’t bothered to contact me in ages.”

As Dylan tried desperately to avoid eye contact with her Uncle, he was rolling up one of his sleeves angrily. “You don’t have to take orders from me, huh?” He laughed coldly. “We’ll see about that.” His hand shot out to grab her but Dylan shrunk away, and almost fell off her chair. “So you understand?”

She stared in horror at him, unable to recognize anything familiar about her uncle. “You have changed.” Dylan jumped up and ran behind his desk for protection. “Don’t even think about getting into one of your moods!” She drew her wand for support.

“What are you going to do with that?” Snape grinned back at her slyly. “You wouldn’t dare to hex a teacher. Put that down,” he muttered as he advanced towards her.

Dylan shook her head stubbornly. “Not with you like that, roll your sleeve down.” She shut her eyes tightly. “I don’t want to see that.”

Snape seized the opportunity and grabbed her outstretched arm. “You don’t have a choice. You want to disobey me…” He pushed her back against the wall causing Dylan’s head to hit it painfully.

“Let me go!” Dylan struggled against him but he held her tightly. “Please, I’m sorry.” Tears stung her eyes from the pain.

“Just look at it, Dylan Thompson. I’ll let you go straight afterwards. I just want to remind you of everything,” Snape increased the pressure of his hold on her arm. “It won’t take long at all. Just do it!” He shook her violently and Dylan gritted her teeth against the pressure.

She opened her eyes slowly and peeked at his forearm, unshed tears welling in her eyes. Dylan raised her head and stared into his hard face apologetically; she opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say.

“Merlin’s beard!” someone muttered from behind them causing them both to turn around guiltily.

*******

Draco Malfoy knew he would never forget this day in his life. Not only was Dylan Thompson completely humiliated in front of the entire Potion’s class, and therefore the majority of the seventh years, but Harry Potter looked as though he was moments away from exploding with rage.

The class had walked into the room to begin setting up their cauldrons to continue brewing their term project, and there was Dylan backed into a corner with Severus Snape holding her against the wall, oblivious to the onslaught of students. Obviously they hadn’t heard the door open, and while no one had heard what they were saying only moments before, a million possibilities were certainly flying around the student’s heads.

Draco grinned at the look on the Dream Team’s faces. 'Absolutely priceless,' he thought gleefully.

Harry Potter had stared at them for a full minute before taking his cauldron silently and sitting in the far back corner so that he didn’t have to stare at them. The other students following his example with several pointed stares thrown here and there.

Draco walked forward, grabbed Dylan’s arm and thought he would explode with happiness. His lucky streak was not only continuing but gathering speed as well.

Snape cleared his throat pointedly, poured himself a glass of juice and glared at the students. “Well? What are you waiting for? Hurry up and get started.” He rolled his sleeve down as he said it, careful not to let anyone see his pale arm. However, Draco knew better than that.

As he added dragon’s blood to his potion he couldn’t help but replay that scene over and over again. Pansy sat down in front of him and threw angry glares his way every minute or so, also making sure Draco could hear everything she was saying.

Draco knew Lavender Brown was the one who had cried out, and as she sat in the front row staring at the professor in confusion he couldn’t help but smirk. The whole school would know about this by the end of the day, Lavender Brown and Pansy were the two biggest gossips in the school. 'You would have been better letting everyone know he was your uncle, now they all think you are lovers.'

His stomach gave a jolt as a little voice inside his head spoke to him. 'You thought that the first time you saw her, remember? You would still think that if you didn’t hear that argument.'

As Draco’s mind replayed that scene yet again, he noticed something for the first time. While she was cornered against the wall, innocent as it may have been, Dylan’s skirt was hitched up a little more than usual, and while Snape’s face was just plain angry, Dylan’s expression was softer, almost scared. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she was about to say something before Lavender had interrupted them.

Snape’s sleeve… 'Was he showing her the mark? No, he wouldn’t be so stupid, why would he want her to know that? He would be found out and sent to Azkaban.'

Draco almost felt sorry for Dylan, the poor girl had no friends anymore and now her uncle was scaring her, on her first day in his class nonetheless. Dylan gasped softly and Draco stared at her immediately. “What’s wrong?” he muttered.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” she whispered harshly. “You’ve already ruined my life, and I’m sure you enjoyed that little scene back there. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

Draco glanced in Potter’s direction and saw that he was concentrating overly hard on his potion. 'Potter’s nose is badly put out. This is a great day!'

“Potter, what do you think you are doing?” Snape’s voice floated over to Draco. “I told you to put the dragon’s blood in before the thistles. Why don’t you ever listen? Or do you have trouble following simple directions?” He sighed. “Even Longbottom got that right.”

Draco watched on as Potter stood up slowly. “Shove it, Snape,” he mumbled angrily. “I don’t give a damn anymore.”

“What did you say, Potter?” Snape whispered coldly. “I think you’re head is getting to big for your body, perhaps a few points taken away will make you think twice.”

“Harry sit down,” Hermione interjected. “As Head Girl and your friend, I’m asking you, sit down.”

Harry glared at her in reply. “Stay out of this, Hermione.” Draco almost laughed, Potter really was angry.

Snape smiled wryly. “Sixty points from Gryffindor and two detentions with me Potter. Have a nice day.”

“You are a perverted, pathetic man. No wonder everyone hated you.” Harry grabbed his books and walked over to Dylan. “I hope you are happy with these two Slytherins. If I see you in Gryffindor tower at all, I swear…” Then without another word Harry Potter left the room.

Draco sighed happily. “What a day,” he whispered.

“I hope you’re happy, Malfoy.” Dylan turned towards him and Draco couldn’t help but stare at her.

Her face was flushed and she looked like she was about to slap him. Dylan’s blue eyes had turned a clear green color and were shining with tears. She turned away before he could look at her properly, obviously embarrassed by him seeing her in a weakened state. Draco wasn’t sure what to make of it, but before he could add thistles to his mixture Dylan suddenly dropped her knife with a sharp hiss.

He looked over to see crimson blood everywhere. 'I can’t believe she knocked over the dragon’s blood. That will take forever to clean.' Draco was about to comment on this when he noticed her pale fingers soaked in it. She was shaking furiously and he realized that Dylan had cut herself with the knife.

“Sir,” Draco called. “Dylan cut herself.”

Snape sauntered over slowly, grabbed her hand suddenly and stared at the cut. “Can’t you do anything right, girl? You will have to start your potion again.” He let her hand go and stared at her in disgust. “She’ll live, Malfoy,” he added before turning away.

Draco’s blood began to boil as he watched her slowly pack up her ingredients. She looked so pale and disheartened. As she picked up her cauldron Draco noticed she was babying her hand, the cut wasn’t deep and it didn’t look too bad, quite simple to fix really but that wasn’t the point. 'A professor should have fixed it immediately, and a relative would be more concerned than that. Even if it was just to say ‘it is not deep but I will fix it if you would like’.'

A loud crash sounded and Draco shot up quickly. “Are you all right?” he asked Dylan. Her cauldron was completely smashed, the potion splattered all over the floor and her shoes but Dylan looked as if she didn’t notice.

Draco watched on as she knelt down in the muck and began to clean it, while in the background Snape muttered abuse at her. 'How could he say all this? It wasn’t her fault!' Draco began to help her but Snape wouldn’t allow it.

“Malfoy, you need to finish you’re potion. I won’t have you fall behind because of her clumsiness.” Draco couldn’t argue with his head of house, and therefore begrudgingly continued his project.

She could get an infection, has he thought of that? Draco tried hard to concentrate on the task at hand, but would get distracted as soon as Snape mumbled something to her. What made matters worse was the fact that Dylan stayed silent; she took all of his abuse and comments without batting an eye. “Hurry up, it shouldn’t take this long to clean a spill. You’re worse than Longbottom.”

Draco gritted his teeth, wishing the class would hurry up and end. “What are you all staring at? Get back to your work.” Snape shot at the class. “Thirty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Oh, just go, class dismissed.”

“What?” Draco muttered under his breath. Snape had never let a class go early, they were half-way through the class and he was telling them to leave. 'This must be pretty serious.' The other students must have thought so as well because they had cleared their things and left the room in a matter of seconds.

Draco slowly gathered his things, moved his cauldron to the other side of the room and then returned to his desk. “What are you waiting for, Malfoy? Get out of here,” Snape muttered silkily.

“I think I would rather help Miss Thompson clean up. I’m sure she doesn’t want an infection with that cut.” He knew Dylan wasn’t going to like him helping her, and Pansy was probably waiting outside for him, but he didn’t care.

Draco knelt down beside her and began mopping the mess up. “I’m leaving you in charge, Malfoy. Make sure you lock up before you leave, and do not let her go before that is clean. I can’t stand to look at her any longer.” Snape left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“You can go,” Dylan murmured. “I don’t need help with this. I’m almost finished.”

Draco stopped what he was doing and stared at her. “I can’t leave you like this. You’re getting blood all over the place, and you will most probably get an infection because of this,” he pointed to the mess.

“I doubt it. It was only hot water and a little bit of frog’s eggs. Nothing to write home about,” Dylan stood up slowly and went to get the bin.

“That was it? That wouldn’t have made such a mess,” Draco stood up as well, watching her walk towards him.

She gave a small smile. “I know a few tricks. Since I was a day behind, and needed to catch up, I just…” Dylan’s voice trailed off.

“What did you do?” Draco asked curiously. “You can tell me, I’m the king of tricks.”

“I don’t know why I’m even talking to you,” she whispered. “Please don’t ask me anymore, just go.”

“Excuse me? I just helped you out, and this is how you repay me.” Draco shook his head. “You’re lucky I know what was going on with you two just before. Everyone else thinks you are lovers, how embarrassing for you. Honestly, I have kept my end of the bargain, I haven’t told a single person about your relatives.”

Dylan threw the bin at his feet. “What do you want? An award, a certificate, did you expect a pat on the back? You have me at your command; I have to pretend I’m dating you, isn’t that enough? You have to wreck my life as well?” Dylan glared at him. “I want you to leave.”

Draco stared at her. “So saint Harry Potter doesn’t like you anymore, and doesn’t want to see you. Big deal, you don’t need him or the Dream Team,” he spat. Draco sighed happily. “He looked as if he wanted to murder you, and why is Snape so abusive towards you?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Dylan finished cleaning up the mess and grabbed her books. “Just stay away from me, I’ll keep my end of the deal, but don’t ask for anymore than that.” She grabbed her books and turned to leave.

“Where are you going? You can’t go to Gryffindor Tower, especially if Potter is there.” Draco watched her freeze on the spot and he walked over to her. “I’m your only friend in the whole world at the moment.” Yeah, good work Draco. I bet she’ll be happy to hear that.

Dylan laughed coldly. “That makes me feel a whole lot better. If it’s all right with you, your majesty, I think I’ll go see Travien. I do hope you’ll understand when I say it is invitation only, please don’t eavesdrop on our conversation this time.”

Draco watched her storm out of the room without another sound. He picked up his books and decided he’d have to talk to her about her manners next time he saw her, but for now, he’d better go find Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy before they thought he had been murdered by Snape.

As Draco searched for them, he couldn’t help but wonder why Snape was so cruel to Dylan. Even a Gryffindor doesn’t deserve that… 'well maybe bloody Potter.' There didn’t seem to be a logical explanation for his behavior at all. Dylan was his niece, so be it, that didn’t give him the right to bully her in front of everyone.

'Though Potter’s face was so hilarious,' Draco grinned inwardly. 'Where could they have gone?'

Draco had searched the great hall, the common room and even the library – though he had known they wouldn’t have been there. He was running out of ideas, there were only so many places they could be. Just as he was heading towards the grounds the bell sounded, signaling the end of class.

'They’re in my next class, I think. Charms… Bloody Flitwick!'

As he neared the classroom he glanced up and down the corridor warily. 'Where were they?' Draco wasn’t early, yet nobody had shown up to the room. There wasn’t a class already in there, and there hadn’t been a room change notice this morning. 'What is going on?'

Draco leant against the wall, lost in thought. He didn’t notice another student’s presence until a wand was pointed in his face. “Hurry up, Malfoy. Draw.” Draco smirked; Harry Potter was standing in front of him, alone, glaring back at him darkly.

“Hello, Potter. Nice to see you again,” Draco cocked an eyebrow at Potter’s wand. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already? I’m Head Boy; perhaps twenty points off Gryffindor will refresh your memory.”

Draco watched on as the boy merely shrugged. “I don’t give a damn. What the hell are you doing with Dylan?”

“What’s it to you, Potter?” Draco watched for a reaction, when one didn’t come he continued to bait him. “You don’t like her,” he said slowly. “I can’t help it if she wants something more than the famous Harry Potter.”

Draco unhurriedly withdrew his wand from his cloak. 'Head boy or not. I don’t care, it will be worth it.' “There’s no one to back you up,” Harry mumbled causing Draco to laugh coldly.

“I could say the same for you.” He scanned the corridor once more. “At least the know-it-all isn’t here to baby-sit you. Be a man.” Draco raised his wand and pointed it straight at the other’s face.

“Impedimenta,” Harry whispered.

Draco blocked the spell, “Expelliarmus!” He watched on happily as Potter’s wand flew several meters away from him. “Give?”

“Why would I? I don’t need a wand to beat you,” Harry lunged towards Draco, throwing him into the wall, and wrestled his wand out of his hand.

Draco’s arm came back as far as possible and without warning he punched Potter in the chest. “Get off of me,” Draco pushed him to the ground and punched again, this time his fist collided with the side of the boy’s face.

“Harry!” a voice called out. “Petrificus Totalus.” Draco’s body tingled for a moment before he felt extremely heavy. “Are you all right, Harry?”

Hermione Granger walked over and stared down at Draco. “Thirty points from Slytherin. I’m sorry Harry, but thirty from Gryffindor as well.” She leant down, muttering quietly, and before Draco could figure out what she was doing he had regained free movement of his body again.

“What’s going on here?” Professor Flitwick had rounded the corner and noticed the small group. “Mr. Potter, are you all right?”

Draco, while his pride was a little bruised had suffered no injuries. Potter, he was glad to see, wasn’t so lucky. Not only did he have a large bruise on his cheek, his lip was bleeding slightly, there were a few scratches from the stone floor on the other cheek and he was breathing a little more shallow than usual. 'Hope it hurt, git.'

“I’m fine, professor,” Harry muttered wiping his lip with the back of his hand. As Potter walked towards him, Draco couldn’t help but smirk; Potter’s anger was his fault entirely and he was proud of his handy work. “This isn’t over,” Harry spat, keeping his voice as quiet as possible.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Draco mumbled back. “Please excuse me, but I must get ready for the lovely Miss Thompson. I have a feeling she will be my partner in this class too.” He pushed his way past Harry Potter, and sauntered into the room to wait for Dylan’s arrival.