Break it Up (Ron Weasley)

5. New Partner

A/N: i know ron wasn't in the last chapter a lot, so this one is extra long!! with lots of time with him at the end, don't worry ;)

I took a deep breath the next morning as I stood outside Slughorn's classroom, preparing myself for how different class would be without Ron.

As I stepped in and made my way over to my desk, Hermione and Harry looked over at me with sympathetic expressions. I gave them both a weak smile and pulled out my Potions book from my bag.

Slughorn's eyes fell on me, sitting alone in the front row. He furrowed his brow and bit his lip, trying to decipher what was different about the seating arrangements today. "Sitting alone today, Miss y/l/n? Where's your usual partner, Wallenby?"

The class fell silent as they awaited my response. "He's in the hospital wing," I explained quietly.

"Well, that just won't do! Can't have you sitting alone!" he said as his eyes scanned the classroom, looking for someone new to sit next to me. I appreciated the gesture, but I was fine by myself for a couple of days.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy! You're all alone back there. Why don't you move up next to Miss y/l/n here?"

My heart sank in my chest at the mention of his name. Hermione and Harry both gave me worried glances as Draco stood up and quietly made his way to the front of the room to sit next to me.

"Hi," he said awkwardly under his breath.

"Hi," I said, refusing to look at him.

"Now that we've got that all worked out, let's all flip to page 245 in our textbooks," Slughorn announced, taking his own book and flipping recklessly through the pages.

I followed along with the rest of the class, the sound of paper filling the air. I noticed that Draco didn't move, he simply sat there with his hands on his lap and a blank expression.

"I forgot my book," he whispered, leaning over to me.

"That's unfortunate," I replied, finally finding the right page.

Draco eyed me suspiciously before speaking again. "Well, can I look at yours?"

As much as I wanted to say no, I couldn't. I felt bad.

"Here," I muttered, pushing my book over towards the middle of the desk. Draco scooted his chair closer to mine and leaned over the book.

He didn't even say thanks.

I could barely pay attention in class. All I could focus on was how my new lab partner could possibly hurt me. So much for better grades.

"... and that is why you'll be working with your partners on a presentation!" Slughorn declared, holding his hands out to the class.

Shoot. I was completely zoned out for the first half of that sentence. I sat up straight and looked to Hermione and Harry for help, but they were busy discussing with each other what their project would be about.

I turned to Draco, who was still eyeing me suspiciously. "Okay, so what's this presentation about?" I asked.

"You weren't paying attention?" he scoffed.

"I have a lot on my mind right now," I spat. "Now, are you going to tell me what this presentation is about or what?"

Draco leaned back and held his hands up to me defensively. "Jeez, it was just a question. Don't go all psycho on me," he huffed. "The project is to pick an ingredient and explain what it does to whatever potion it's used in," he explained.