Nico Goes to Hogwarts *HIATUS*

God I Hate Coming Up With Chapter Names

Draco watched as Nico and Will left, mouth pressed in a thin line. Objectively, he knew it was a dumbass move to yell at a teacher, but he couldn't really bring himself to feel too bad about it. After all, he had bottled up all his Snape-related frustrations for years, and he was just... Tired of pretending he even somewhat liked the git.

Fortunately for him, Snape seemed to have forgotten it was Draco who started the series of outbursts, instead quietly fuming and snapping at Harry, Hermione, and Ron to move to separate tables; Harry went to an empty table up front, Ron with a few other Gryffindors, and Hermione... Hermione was sent to occupy one of the spaces Will and Nico left empty. Up front, Snape seemed to be saying something to Harry, but Draco was no god, nor did he feel like attempting to listen in at all. Instead, he turned to Hermione.

"You alright?" He asked. The air between them was a little tense, still. Not that he didn't deserve that. Still, it was.... Awkward.

"Yes," Hermione answered, taking care to whisper. "Thank you for standing up to Snape."

"He's a git," Draco murmured, continuing with his potion. "He had it coming. I only wish I could have said more, though I s'pose Nico-Angelo said it for me."

Hermione just hummed in agreement, now concentrating on the ingredients before her. The air was still tense, but considerably less so, and there was polite silence amongst the table except for when Neville asked a question about a step, Draco or Hermione lending him assistance.

Draco's attention to his potion, however, waned. Up front, Snape had plunged his hand into his robes. For a moment, Draco thought Snape was about to pull his wand on Harry. He didn't know how he felt about that: on the one hand, Harry did sort've have it coming, having acted like a total ass throughout the school year; on the other, he didn't feel any more warmly towards Snape, and really would hate him pulling a wand on a student in principle.

Fortunately, Draco didn't have to decide how he would feel about that, for it wasn't a wand Snape pulled from his robes, but a small vial filled with clear liquid. Veritaserum, Draco read from Snape's lips. And, shit, because Draco knew what that was. But why would Snape threaten him with it? What did he think Harry had done to warrant that? And--

There was a knock upon the dungeon door.

"Enter," said Snape, his voice betraying nothing that had happened in the past hour or so.

The class watched with apt attention as the door opened, tension thick in the air. That tension dissipated somewhat as Karkaroff strode in, looking serious-- then again, the Durmstrang Headmaster rarely looked anything else. He strode towards Snape's desk.

"We need to talk," said Karkaroff. It was clear he was trying to remain quiet, so as to prevent students from listening in. Unfortunately for Karkaroff, Draco was damn good at reading lips, damn good on picking up sounds most mortals couldn't.

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered in return.

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip off. You've been avoiding me, Severus."

"After the lesson," Snape snapped, loud enough that Draco didn't need to strain to hear it.

Karkaroff looked worried, extremely so. Snape, on the other hand, looked pissed, but Draco would be hard pressed to pin down why, especially after all that had happened today. Karkaroff didn't push it, though, which was probably wise. Instead, he hovered around the classroom, close to Snape. It was clear he wouldn't let the latter slip away. Two minutes before the bell rang, there was a clatter up front as Harry knocked over his armadillo bile-- clearly, he wanted to hear just what had Karkaroff in a press.