It Started With a Potion - Dramione

Chapter One

You know, all of this could've been avoided if I hadn't been late to class. It was the very first time I had been late to class, and it sure taught me my lesson, never again would I be late.

My punishment? Sitting next to Draco Malfoy for the whole lesson. That's right, the one boy I hated most, scratch that, the one person I hated most in the world, and he was my potions partner for an hour.

Ok, it could've been worse, I could've had to work with him for a whole term. Oh wait, I did. A potions project had been set, and seeing as neither me nor Draco had a partner yet, we had to work together.

If only I had been earlier to class, I would've been able to sit next to one of my friends, had a nice, fun project, and never have to see that slimy blond again. But no, fate hated me so much that it cursed me with compassion, so when the first year in front of me's bag split open, I just had to stop and help.

Draco looked me up and down, as though assessing my use on this project with him, as though tallying up my worth to him. It couldn't have been high. I found myself subconsciously smoothing my uniform, I wanted to impress Malfoy, show him that I could be as useful as a pureblood, as someone of his status.

"Do you want to arrange a time for us to meet up, or not?" He asked, eyebrows raised, giving me that expression that all rich folk seemed capable of, like they owned you.

His words temporarily stunned me. He was going to contribute? I had expected him to take advantage of my smarts, and do what everyone else seemed to think was right: make me do the work and then slap their name on the top of the page. He actually wanted to help me? 

No, he didn't want to help, he probably just wanted to be there and watch me slave over our work whilst he kicked his feet up and sipped some form of expensive drink, all the while laughing poshly as me, and spilling my ink pot over so I had to keep restarting.

Yeah, that seemed about right.

"Whenever's best for you" I replied, still copying down the criteria from the chalkboard at the front of the class. He shrugged at me.

"This Saturday, 12pm, library?" He asked. I nodded, making a note of the date in my journal, before returning to copying. He turned to some of his friends and began talking to them while I wrote down the requirements.

---

"Can you believe how ignorant he is?" I asked Ginny after recounting the events of my potions lesson.

"Mione, I don't know what you expected, this is Malfoy, the kid who called you a you-know-what at age 13, before laughing about it" she said. I understood where she was coming from, but I thought, after everything that had happened during the war, maybe he would've softened a bit? Most of the Slytherins now were kinder, more approachable, but not Draco. If anything, he seemed colder, more distant.

"Yeah, I guess" I replied. Ginny sighed at me, before smiling.

"At least its only for a few weeks, and not the rest of your life" I smiled, but something about that phrase put me off.

"Yeah" I agreed, turning back to the notes I had copied down. Our project was to pick a potion, study its affects, how its made and its history, before finally attempting to make it in lessons. I would've preferred to work with anyone other than Malfoy.

If only I had been earlier to class.