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— (chapter three.) —
Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Aurora's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.
"How is it, Draco?" asked Pansy. "Does it hurt much?"
"Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Aurora saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.
"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.
Aurora scowled to herself; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if anyone else had walked in late, he'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House, and generally favored his own students above all others; unless it was in the unlikely case of Aurora, he didn't hold much hatred over Aurora which Aurora found incredibly curious due to her Gryffindor status.
Perhaps it was because Aurora really should have been a Slytherin, that much was clear, even Regulus thought so.
They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Aurora and Theodore Nott, and Harry and Ron on the other side, so that they were all preparing their ingredients on the same table.
"Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm — "
"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.
Ron went brick red.
"There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy.
Malfoy smirked across the table.
"Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up these roots."
Ron seized his knife, pulled Malfoy's roots toward him, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.
"Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."
Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, then gave Ron an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair.
