Something to Remember

Chapter 4 The Trick is to Keep Breathing

**

Draco walked into the Great Hall from the Slytherin Common Room in the dungeons. He had been harassed the night before by an odd first year girl, Celeste, who happened to be Blaze Zabini's sister. She had gone to him to either A) Play 20 Questions B) Annoy the living shit out of him or C) Because she actually needed help. Frankly, he did not care, but he now had a strong dislike for the girl, because he found her to be abundantly annoying. At least Blaze never talked or bothered anyone.

Draco sat with Crabbe and Goyle, as usual, and also as usual, Pansy came and joined him. Draco could tolerate Pansy's presence to a point - she had had a crush on him ever since he had taken her to the Yule Ball, painstakingly - but it was getting to be a bit much lately, because every time they were together Pansy was insisting on flirting with him. It made her very unbearable to be around, as he, Draco Malfoy, was definitely not the slightest bit interested in her.

"Oh, Draco how was your summer? Charming as usual?" asked Pansy, smiling.

"Huh? Oh, yes, of course it was," replied Draco dully, basically automatically, as he really didn't want to talk to Pansy.

"That's great. So you're a prefect now? Of course you would be, being the most charming and smartest boy in our year," said Pansy, scooting towards Draco. "But that Mudblood Granger is also one; so is that blood-traitor Weasley, too, I think."

Draco didn't know why, but for the first time it bothered him that anyone had called Hermione a Mudblood. "Whatever, it doesn't matter." Pansy looked shocked; she was used to Draco taking any outlet to insult Hermione or her friends. Noticing she looked suspicious, he added as an extra note, "More important things on my mind right now."

Pansy somehow managed to find this attractive. "Of course you do, so busy these days, no time for that filth."

Draco truly at this point was so irritated that he would have loved to shove a broomstick right up her arse. "Pansy, please get the fuck away from me, I don't like you, certainly don't want you anywhere near me, and I'm just not in the mood today for your bullshit," snapped Draco, probably sounding like a real asshole. She glared at him, said nothing, and went very red. She looked around to see people staring at her. She was so embarrassed she ran out of the Great Hall back to her dormitory. Draco knew that while she did of course fancy him (maddeningly, too), that she in fact did really authentically admire him too; but no less, he was just so bloody sick of her, already had so much stress, and he just didn't want to take it any longer. So as people stared, he tried to pretend like nothing happened.

Draco looked over at Hermione for half a second - she was smiling, and it was obvious why...Pansy and Hermione loathed each other. Of course, being Hermione, she was much more mature about it, basically ignoring her; however she would not hesitate to laugh at Pansy this time. The moment really was something to remember. Draco smiled to himself, thinking evilly, All right, I reckon that was sort of fun, hehe...

**

"...And I thought they were dating!" laughed Ron unrelentingly.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were discussing the Draco/Pansy fight at breakfast before Charms, which was their first class for the day. This year, the fifth-year Gryffindors had Charms with the Ravenclaws, which probably made Professor Flitwick look quite biased, as he was head of Ravenclaw House. Previously, Ravenclaws had Charms without any other students - but as they entered their upper-class years, there was not enough space in timetables to have any one house of students with one teacher. Classes were bigger for upperclassmen.

"Eh, Draco can do much better than her," said Hermione without thinking, before she could realize what she had just said. She thought terribly to herself how to correct what she just said, but knowing what was said was done, and that speaking again would make her seem highly defensive, Hermione decided it would look less suspicious if she just stayed quiet.

Ron and Harry stopped dead in their tracks. "What?" exclaimed Ron; he actually looked suddenly quite angry. "Are you defending Draco Malfoy? Do you know who we're talking about?"

"Well, I mean, you know, he's not bad-looking..." conceded Hermione, trying to downplay it, but unfortunately was speaking slowly and quite nervously. Oh Lord, I shouldn't have said that! thought Hermione, looking away from Ron.

"Hermione?" said a very confused Harry; he sounded really puzzled, at loss for words.

Soon afterward they approached the Charms classroom, and before Ron or Harry could say anything else the bell rang, saving Hermione from further interrogation (for now). Sitting down quickly, Hermione desperately began looking for a quill, taking much longer than normal as to avoid the eying of her best friends.

Ron and Harry exchanged mystified looks.

**

The Slytherins had Defense Against the Dark Arts first that morning. The new teacher had not arrived in time for the feast last night; apparently they had been very busy. Rumor had it the new teacher was a female, the first one they would have. There was also a rumor it might be someone inside the Ministry, because The Daily Prophet was recently reporting the Ministry being in an uproar that Dumbledore was "spreading such horrible slander of that mental case Potter." One thing was for sure true; Fudge and Dumbledore did not talk anymore, were no longer bound by that compromised medium which had always helped keep things in order. This was obvious. So yes, Draco speculated that Fudge might try to place a spy inside Hogwarts at this point. And yet Draco knew, like so many others did, that naturally Cornelius Fudge, stubbornly drunk on power as he was, still remained without a doubt frightened of Dumbledore's influence. Terrified, as a matter of fact.

As Draco walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts with these irresolvable thoughts at mind, he saw an old, batty woman in which in his life he had never seen before. The woman seemed to be obsessed with cats; all around the room were portraits of cats. Some of them portrayed the cats as royalty of some sort, some showed them looking powerful, and others made them look vicious.

However, at the moment, the odd teacher was the last of his concerns--all his fellow Slytherins were glaring at him as he walked by for some reason. Fucking Pansy, what the hell did she tell them?

"You all got a problem?" directly confronted a very testy-voiced Draco. He was not afraid of any of them.

Then Pansy walked in with Millicent Bulstrode. They both glared at him before exploding into laughter right in front of him. "So, does the Mudblood love you back?" mocked Pansy.

Oh, no, thought Draco. "What the fuck? You're just mad because I can't stand you. Don't lie," said Draco sharply. They both were talking in hushed voices, though the other Slytherins had come over.

"Really? That's why Millicent and Theodore both heard you defending her to no end and talking madly about that filthy Mudblood? It's fine, Draco, there are plenty of people who love blood-traitors.....err....like the Weasleys!" Everyone exploded in laughter together, and finally the old lady calmed them all down.

"Everyone take a seat!" And everyone did; they could tell the woman meant business. "Now, to start out, my name is Professor Arabella Figg."

The class stared googly-eyed at their odd new professor.

**

Mr. Flitwick had given them an unusual load of homework, due mainly to O.W.L preparation. As Harry and Ron complained, Hermione constantly reminded them how it 'was for their own good' and 'the O.W.L.s will determine where you go in the wizarding world'. Harry and Ron knew she was right, but they were frightened to death of how much homework Snape would be giving them next, in Potions. As the three of them walked to Potions in the dungeons, a lot of people, especially Slytherins, were giving Hermione smirks and looked as though they were about to laugh when they walked by her. The trio said nothing, but it was quite peculiar as they took seats in class together as usual.

Draco Malfoy meanwhile walked in by himself, which was quite odd. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, as Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott came in. Nott was holding Pansy's hand; it looked as though Pansy had moved on rather fast. They were giggling and laughing, unhesitatingly making fun of Draco right in front of him.

"The Mudblood is right there!" shouted Pansy cruelly, pointing at Hermione. She laughed so hard she had her hands on her ribs, almost falling to the floor.

The three of them sat down with each other. "What on earth?" whispered Hermione to Harry.

But at that moment, the last students came in, and then entered Snape. His presence alone caused silence. He began talking about their O.W.L.s, and how he expected them to do very, very well if they hoped to enter his N.E.W.T. class. He also spoke on how he'd be grading on the O.W.L. level, and there would be no slacking off this year (in which at that point, he stared right at Harry). There were some allowed silent giggles. But as Hermione looked over, Draco was not one of the laughing individuals...

"You will have lab partners that I have assigned you. Today, you will be stirring an antidote for very rare snake bites, The Draught of Life, they call it, as it is the only thing that can save you from certain snake bites, and if you are bitten, you have perhaps ten minutes to live. However, skilled ones could concoct the Draught of Life in a few short moments. The antidote does not require a lot of materials, but the manner in which it is made is very, very precise, and if not done in the exact manner, will be completely ineffective. Now..." He began assigning lab partners. "Potter, you work with Nott...Weasley, Parkinson...Hmm, Granger, you're with.... Malfoy."

The whole class erupted in laughter for several minutes. Snape himself laughed - it was pretty obvious a Slytherin had informed him about whatever Parkinson was ranting about that had to do with Draco. And putting two and two together, it was also pretty obvious Parkinson was spreading lies that Draco liked Hermione or something!

**

Damn, I want to hurt that girl.

Draco, hating life, sat at the table farthest from everyone and instructed Hermione to follow him.

Though Pansy and many others made fun of her, and although Weasley's and Potter's retorted insults only lost points from Gryffindor, Hermione followed Draco and ignored them. Hermione sat down next to him, and asked him immediately what it was all about.

"Fucking Pansy is telling everyone I like you to get back at me," said Draco angrily.

"I'm sorry, she's a real bitch," agreed Hermione, and even after all that, she smiled at him.

Draco smiled back. "I was just so sick of her shit, and I didn't want to deal with her, so I told her to fuck off this morning. Now, she's going out with Nott (which I don't get why) and spreading rumors about me. I'll deal with it," Draco said resignedly, and then he went and got the materials for the potion. He immediately started reading the directions. "Since it's so specific, we'll both read it twice before we do anything. Got it?"

"Yes, good idea." And they began working on the antidote, trying their best not to look at those trying to torment them to death...

**

Thirty minutes later exactly, Snape bellowed, "TIME'S UP!" and then went to check on everyone's antidote. "Very good, Parkinson, doubt Weasley did any of that work .... Decent, Nott ...good Ms. Bulstrode ... could be better, Thomas ... what is this filth, Longbottom? I thought you'd stir something half-decent, Ms. Brown, but I see Longbottom's mental incapability is highly contagious .... Granger and Malfoy, decent, expected of course out of both of you."

Draco and Hermione sighed. What Draco did not understand is Snape almost always favored him and now he seemed almost completely opposed to him. Had his father done something to upset Snape? Draco wondered, as his father and Snape's friendship was the reason for the favoritism ...

"Draco, you know, you can sit with us at lunch if you don't want to be bothered by them at lunch," suggested Hermione brightly. It was so strange, in just twenty-four hours he had gone from hating Granger's guts to realizing she was a really good-natured, sweet person - but sitting with the Gryffindors would still be undoubtedly worse than with the Slytherins. Talk about disregarding every ounce of pride! Plus, if he sat with Hermione, people would then have a valid reason to think they were going out...

Sufficiently baffled, Draco second-guessed himself, wondering, But does it matter? Hell, Crabbe and Goyle aren't even talking to you, not like that's a loss, but you have the opportunity to get a real friend...

Finally Draco answered Hermione's offer, though sadly sounding not any less uncertain in his reply. "I dunno, Hermione, everyone hates me at that table just as much (if not more), don't they? But hey, look, I got to do some work on my essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts in the library later, so maybe I'll see you then - well, if you're not with Potty and-"

"Harry and Ron!" Hermione impatiently finished for him.

Draco smirked just as the bell rung. He left quickly to avoid the taunts.

**

Hermione, Harry, and Ron walked into the Great Hall. Draco was being tormented by several Slytherins and even Gryffindors, who seemed to now equally dislike Malfoy.

"HAHA Bookworm and the Beast, is it now?" yelled Billy Cantle, a sixth year Slytherin.

"Oh Lord, that was beautiful, Cantle!" admired Parkinson rudely, barely talking, laughing so hard.

"Oh look, there's the filthy Mudblood! Hey Mudblood, where's your boyfriend? You aren't cheating with Potter again, are you? I mean, once was enough with Krum, but again

..."

SLAP.

Hermione had walked up to Parkinson, and slapped her so hard across the face her face was as red as an apple. She looked simply shocked. Parkinson said nothing. Ron and Harry were grinning at her broadly as a heated-like-never-before Hermione (except maybe for when she slapped Malfoy for making fun of Buckbeak, ironically) screeched, "That's just my way of saying 'fuck you', Parkinson. And if you mess with me or any of my friend again, you'll be seeing stars. I may just be that 'bookworm' to you, but I will hex you into smithereens."

Ron and Harry were also in shock, as was everyone around them. The staff had glanced over, but thankfully neither McGonagall nor any other staff member who would actually care were present at the time.

"Wow, Hermione!" exclaimed Ron out of pure admiration.

"I'm hungry," Hermione announced with total complacency, and she pulled the boys over to the Gryffindor table.

**