Bond (Drarry)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

January 25 - February 4

Day 119, Monday

"... up once in a while," Pansy was saying through her teeth when Draco finally registered that she was talking to him.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said that you look like a wet day in a cemetery. Do try to look up once in a while."

"Oh." He shook his head, bringing himself into the here and now. He had plenty of time to think when he was alone; right now he needed to be alert and awake. Especially since he knew people were watching him. First day back to class after major life change and all that. Again.

Always Potions, Draco mused. The first class after being bonded, first class after their suspension. And now the first class after unbonding. Always, Potions was the class where they first had to face new circumstances, with Snape's sharp eyes evaluating them, his sharp tongue taking a strip out of Harry whenever he was vulnerable in any way. It was probably too much to hope that Snape might not do that today of all days.

"We don't have that cheering potion assignment due yet, do we?" he asked Pansy, grasping for something to bring himself out of his internal musings.

"No, that's for tomorrow. You have started it, though, right?"

"Oh, yeah, it's almost done. I just haven't figured out the common fix for the giggling side effect."

"Bat wings," Pansy said as they walked into class and she strode to the front of the class, clearly expecting him to follow. She sat and gestured him to take the seat next to her as the other Slytherins took their places. The ones they'd had at the beginning of the year, that is. Not the places they'd been sitting in the last few months.

Back to each House being a self-contained unit, more or less. Despite the fact that the political situation within Slytherin was if anything even more uncertain and turbulent than before, all the members of his house were sitting in a block: the ones who'd grown closer to the Gryffindors sitting with Draco out of loyalty to him, and the ones who'd drawn away from him sitting where they'd been the whole year.

It was a good thing they were early. Harry normally sat at the back of the class. This way Draco didn't have to see him come in, or look at him during class and try to not think about him.

"D'you have extra ink?" he asked Blaise, annoyed at himself that he'd been too busy searching for his tie this morning to remember to check his inkwell. He tensed slightly as he heard people enter the room and a small murmur went around the class. No doubt Harry and his friends had just walked in. Draco busied himself looking for his extra quill. The Healer had said to avoid one another as much as possible, and he was bloody well going to, no matter how much four months of habit told him to at least turn around and say hello.

"Open your books to page 432," Snape said as he entered the classroom, and a rustle of pages followed, muting the curious murmurs. At least that was one good thing about Potions; there wasn't really much time for anybody to see either of them doing much more than just trying to keep up with Snape's lectures or their practical assignments.

Especially when the practical part of the class involved an assignment as nigh-impossible as this one, Draco thought a while later as they moved to their cauldrons. He set up his distiller, pitying the poor sods who had to distil venom by hand, and glanced at the Sunday copy of the Prophet that Pansy had brought to class while he waited for the distiller to do its job.

Boy Who Lived Single Again

Yes, it's true. The Prophet has confirmed the rumours that the unwilling marriage of Harry Potter to his nemesis Draco Malfoy is finally over, after four stormy months. Through methods unknown, Lucius Malfoy, convicted Death Eater and father-in-law of Harry Potter, was able to track down the man responsible for casting the marriage curse on his son and Mr. Potter. Sources close to the Malfoy family claim the caster was a Death Eater as well, and has been turned over to the Ministry of Magic.