The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 2

Anna already knew that this year was going to be....interesting, to say the very least, especially with Snape as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Secretly she wondered if it was really going to be defense, or teaching of the dark arts. Professor Slughorn seemed a little bit eccentric, and Anna didn't know if he had everything all there. He approached her after dinner, when she was on the way back to Gryffindor Tower with Ginny. 

"Miss Potter, a word?"

Anna looked at Ginny and mouthed 'save me'. Ginny giggled a bit. "I'll catch up with you later Anna." She said before walking off, and Anna huffed a bit at being left with the Professor by herself. She turned to look at him, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Can I help you with something Professor?" She asked.

"I had your mother in my Potions class you know." He said, which actually caught her attention. "You did?" She asked, always wanting to know more about her mother. Slughorn nodded his head. "Indeed. She was quite the witch, I was saddened to hear of her death. But I've heard that you don't quite have the same knack for Potions."

Anna flushed a little bit as she shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She answered. "Although it didn't really help that our Potions professor seemed to hate my brother and I." 

Professor Slughorn shook his head. "Well, maybe now that I am teaching Potions, that can change hm?"

Anna gave him a small grin. "Perhaps professor." He seemed pretty all right. A bit eccentric yes, but fine to be around. "See you in class professor." 

"How did it go?" Ginny asked when Anna finally entered the common room. "It actually went really good." The Potter girl replied. "He just talked about how he had my mother in his Potions class. She had a knack for Potions, it would seem."

"And he thought that you would be the same way?"

"Apparently. He did seem a bit disappointed when I told him that Potions wasn't one of my best classes, and he seemed determined to change that." She laughed a bit. "Honestly, I think that the only reason I'm so bad at Potions is because Snape seems to hate me."

"Of course he does, it's because you aren't a Slytherin.."

"That's probably why Draco does so good at it..." She trailed off. Something had seemed off with the Malfoy, but Anna couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly. Had he and Harry been fighting? She didn't know, but she was going to find out.

According to Harry, there hadn't been anything that the two lovers had been fighting about. "He does seem rather off though." Harry admitted. He and Anna were sitting in the courtyard. It was a Saturday, and unseasonably warm for September. "Anna..." Harry bit his lip. "You don't think that he's cheating on me, do you?"

"Of course not!" Anna shook her head vehemently as she took her brother's hand. "I may not have liked Draco in the past, but one thing I know is that he loves you, Harry. Look, I'll talk to him, okay? I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, I promise."

Harry nodded, and Anna gave him a hug. "Hey, you still have dad's invisibility cloak?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just grab it, we're gonna go and have some fun to take your mind off of things."

When Harry left to get the cloak, Anna sighed softly. "What's going on with you Draco?" She murmured. If he wound up breaking her brother's heart, she was definitely going to kill him.

"What are you skulking about for, Potter?"

Anna sighed as she turned to face Pansy Parkinson. "What the hell do you want?"