The Dragon Tamed

Chapter 6.

On Friday Thea woke up excited: her first class was Elemental Magic and she could not wait. Having said that, she was slightly apprehensive that she was going to be thrown out of the class. That was obviously what Professor Algaron had been hinting at in the previous lesson. Thea just hoped that she met the right criteria - whatever that may be.

She was practically bouncing down the tower stairs when she nearly smacked into Harry at the bottom. Only Neville catching her stopped her from falling on the floor.

'Hi, Thea,' Neville said. 'Fancy bumping into you here.'

'Nev, I believe that should be my line,' said Harry, grinning.

Sticking her tongue out at Harry, Thea turned to Neville. 'Morning Neville. And how are you this wonderful morning?'

'I'm good, thank you, Thea,' he answered. He watched her for a moment before asking her, 'Why are you so happy this early in the morning?'

'I've got Elemental Magic,' she told him. 'I'm stupidly excited about it.'

'That'd do it every time,' said Harry as he pulled at his tie.

'What have you guys got?' Thea asked.

'Defence Against the Dark Arts,' Harry told her.

'Oooooo, I have that after,' she exclaimed.

'Poor Remus,' said Harry. 'I know he's relieved he doesn't have to teach me after Elemental. I'm sure he'll be overjoyed to hear you have it before hand.'

'Why?' asked Thea, puzzled.

Harry grinned at her. 'Well, if you use Elemental magic during class you get a bit of a high. It's harmless but you can be rather hyperactive for a while after.'

'Really? That was never mentioned in any of the books I've read.'

'It doesn't seem to be something they think about, but trust me it happens.'

'Should be interesting; me even more hyperactive than I can usually get.'

'Don't worry about that,' Harry told her. 'You get used to it eventually. I hardly ever get a high now.'

'You don't?' asked Neville tentatively.

'No, I don't,' reiterated Harry.

'If you say so.'

'Maybe when I first started class, but not now,' he protested.

'Even now, I think,' Neville said, smiling.

'Am not,' protested Harry, looking guilty.

'What aren't you, Harry?' asked Ron as he entered the room.

'I'm not giddifully cheerful before or after I have had my Elemental class.'

Ron looked at him for a moment. 'The important thing is that you believe that, mate.'

'What does Harry believe?' asked Dean, appearing behind Ron.

'That he's not giddy as a school girl when he has Elemental class,' Neville told him.

'Ok,' said Dean.

'OK, ok, I get the point,' grumbled Harry. 'I'm slightly excited before my class.'

'Yeah, Harry. Only slightly,' agreed Ron, rolling his eyes at the others.

'And what about after class?' added Dean. 'I'd say you're more than slightly excited then.'

'Careful, Thea,' Harry told her. 'You have all this to look forward to; your supposed closest friends picking on you and teasing you because they just don't understand.'

Seeing Ron open his mouth to retort, Thea jumped in. 'So, where is Hermione? She is still doing Defence, right?'

Ron snorted. 'Hermione give up a class? Never going to happen. She's in the library.' He frowned. 'No idea what she's doing, though. She just won't tell me. Think I'll try to ask her at breakfast.' He looked at the others. 'Subtly of course.'

Thea, Neville and Dean averted their eyes while Harry snorted with amusement. 'Sure, Ron. You go be subtle.'

'Hey, what does that mean?' demanded Ron, as he walked ahead with Harry and Neville who were trying to suppress their laughter.

'Hey, Thea,' said Dean, as they walked towards the Great Hall, 'have you heard who the new Quidditch commentator is?'

'What no more Luna?' she asked. Luna may not be one of her favourite people but her commentaries were brilliant. Who wouldn't be moved to laughter by some of the things she said about people?

'Shame,' said Ron dropping back slightly to join them, 'I really enjoyed them; they were bizarre, but utterly fantastic.'

'Nope. I don't think McGonagall would have been able to cope. Though, thinking about it, I dunno if she'll be able to cope with Seamus.'

'I dunno mate, remember what Lee was like?' Ron reminded him. 'According to Fred, McGonagall's hair only started to turn grey after Lee started.'

'Who can't cope with Seamus?' asked Harry, turning around.

'Pretty much everyone,' said Dean, laughing. 'But I was telling Thea how Seamus is the new Quidditch commentator.'

Harry's face lit up. 'Is he really? That's wonderful.' Then his face fell slightly. 'Why didn't he tell me?'

'He only found out last night,' Neville told him patiently.

'And we had no idea where you were,' Dean added. 'He tried to stay up and tell you but you must have been well late to bed.'

Harry blushed a little. 'Oh, well, that could be why.'

'So where were you?' asked Neville.

'Just working,' Harry said vaguely. 'Oh look, there's Hermione.'

Thea, Dean and Neville all swapped amused looks as Ron and Harry hurried to join Hermione.

'I really hope that the survival of the wizarding world does not depend on Harry's ability to be subtle,' commented Dean as they sat down.

'We would have a problem,' agreed Neville, helping himself to some bacon.

----------------

As she walked out of the Great Hall, Thea was joined by Alicia. 'Looking forward to class?' she asked.

Thea nodded. 'Very much so.'

'What else do you have today; anything exciting?'

'Defence. You?'

'Defence as well and then Muggle Studies.'

'Oh, have you heard who the new Quidditch commentator is?' Thea asked as they walked through the corridors.

'No, but from your excitement, I'm betting it's a Gryffindor,' said Alicia, smiling.

'Oh, is it ever. It's Seamus.'

'Seamus? Oh my. Slytherin will be spitting blood when they find out,' said Alicia, grinning. 'Oh, and just think of the accent,' she added.

Rolling her eyes, Thea laughed. 'I'm sure Seamus will be over the moon to hear that his appointment has created so much excitement in all the girls.'

'Oh dear God, you can't tell him,' Alicia exclaimed. 'He's bad enough as it is.'

'Oh, he's not that bad,' protested Thea. 'Sure, he flirts somewhat, but that's Seamus.'

'Thea, he flirts with anything that walks,' retorted Alicia.

'I can't argue with that,' admitted Thea as they walked into the classroom. As Thea spotted Abi and Lauren on the other side of the room she smiled. She hadn't heard anything from Coll or Ben; maybe she could get some gossip from Abi and Lauren before she saw the boys.

'What are you smiling for?' enquired Alicia.

'Last night, after the DA, Coll and Ben walked Abi and Lauren back to the Hufflepuff common room. I was just wondering if anything interesting happened,' she explained.

'You didn't ask them last night?'

Thea shook her head. 'Nope.' She then sat down next to Abi. 'So?' she asked excitedly.

Abi looked at her blankly. 'So, what?'

'How did last night go?' persisted Thea. She couldn't be sure if Abi honestly hadn't quite caught onto what she was talking about, or if she was being deliberately dumb.

'She means did anything happen between you two and Colin and Benji,' injected Alicia.

'Oh, why didn't you say so?' teased Lauren.

'I thought I did,' said Thea.

'You sat down and said "so",' retorted Abi.

'Well, that's what I meant,' Thea replied, shrugging.

'It went fine,' Lauren told her.

'In what way?' asked Thea, leaning forward.

'As in, it went ok,' repeated Lauren.

'You two are just trying to wind me up,' grumbled Thea, crossing her arms in front of her.

'Well, of course we are,' said Abi, smiling. 'If you really want to know, ask Colin or Benji.'

'I will when I see them,' explained Thea, omitting the fact that the boys had avoided her and Ginny last night so that they wouldn't be asked. 'It's just I saw you two first. The boys are still in bed, or at least they were when I woke up.'

'Oh, ok then. Colin asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him,' said Abi, grinning happily.

'And Benji asked me,' added Lauren.

'Double date?' asked Alicia.

'Oh, no. Separately,' corrected Lauren.

'Yeah, gotta make sure we like each other before we take the big step towards double dating,' agreed Abi.

At that moment Professor Algaron appeared in the room...in the middle of the room to be precise. How did he do that? Probably that same invisibility thing...that wasn't invisibility, she remembered, that he had done in the last class. He obviously hadn't Apparated because as Hermione was forever telling them, Apparation wasn't possible in Hogwarts.

'I really hope that he tells us how he does that,' whispered Abi.

Alicia and Lauren nodded their heads in agreement.

'Well, to our first lesson,' began Professor Algaron.

All of them were sitting, regarding the Professor intently. Even the Slytherins were being quiet, Thea noticed.

'However, before we begin, I do remember telling you that I would have an announcement.'

Thea swapped looks with the others. This was it; she was positive that one of them would be leaving today. She just hoped it would be one of the Slytherins. She didn't know what she would do if she was thrown out. As she thought about it her stomach started to tie up in knots.

'Every year I take in every student who has some potential in Elemental Magic but I only keep those who have the most promise. Therefore I am sad to say that Lauren Scott will be leaving us today.'

Thea felt her eyes widen in shock and surprise. Lauren? No way, that was so unfair. Why not get rid of one of the Slytherins instead of Lauren?

As Thea turned to look at Lauren, she was surprised to see that Lauren didn't look that upset. As surprised as she was by that she was relived that Lauren wasn't saddened by the decision. Abi and Alicia, on the other hand, looked as stunned as Thea felt.

Seeing them staring at her, Lauren looked at them all and shrugged.

'You can't be serious,' exclaimed Abi, turning on the Professor.

'I am perfectly serious,' responded Professor Algaron.

'Frankly, I'm surprised that the other Hufflepuff isn't being thrown out as well,' injected Flint, as Trellis smirked at them.

'Oh, screw you,' shot back Abi hotly.

'Miss Murphy!' exclaimed Professor Algaron, 'I will not have students talk to each other like that in my class.'

The Slytherins were laughing openly, or at least they were until Professor Algaron turned to glare at them. 'And Miss Flint, I do not discriminate according to house in my class, and neither will you while you belong to my class. Is that understood?'

Flint nodded mutely, looking vaguely shocked.

Thea was beginning to understand exactly why Harry and Malfoy had agreed to a truce while in Elemental Magic. It had been a big talking point at the beginning of the last year, but no one knew why the truce had occurred, and those that did, hadn't said a word. However, obviously it had had nothing to do with them but everything to do with their teacher. If Professor Algaron didn't allow Abi to say that to Flint, then she doubted he had put up with Harry and Malfoy's antics for a second. It would explain their rather sudden truce, even if it hadn't extended outside of the Elemental class to begin with.

'I am sorry, Miss Scott, but I must ask you to leave,' he repeated.

'Of course, sir,' said Lauren, gathering her belongings. She looked at Abi, 'I'll see you later, OK?'

Abi nodded wordlessly.

After Lauren had left, Professor Algaron turned to the class and smiled brightly. 'Shall we begin?'

--------

'So, Dark Arts now,' said Thea to Alicia and Abi, as they walked down the corridor towards the classroom.

'Looking forward to it much?' inquired Alicia.

'Just a bit, I mean it's Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Lupin is back. What's not to look forward to?'

'Good point,' conceded Abi.

'Hey, Thea,' called Ginny, from down the hallway. 'Wait up.'

Thea turned and waited with the others until Ginny caught up with them, panting a bit.

'So, how was class?' she asked after getting her breath back a bit.

'It was fantastic,' enthused Thea. 'There is so much to know. He started today by just explaining exactly what Elemental Magic is. I can't wait for the next class.'

'So, what did you learn?' Ginny enquired.

'Not that much,' admitted Alicia.

Well, he did tell us what the class is all about, which was good 'cause I didn't have a clue,' added Abi.

'Yeah, it's basically when, and I quote, a wizard is strong enough mentally, physically and magically to use their body as a conduct for the Elemental forces of magic,' Thea explained.

'Why, thank you, Professor Maggi,' said Ginny sarcastically, 'I know that. I can even tell you the four elements are Earth, Fire, Wind and Water.'

Thea stuck her tongue out at Ginny.

Ginny laughed at her before asking, 'So what do you do in class?'

'As of today, not much,' said Alicia.

'But we're sure that will change,' added Abi.

'It's likely,' agreed Alicia dryly.

Thea rolled her eyes. 'Since we have two classes, one will be practical and the other will be theory and history,' she informed Ginny.

'Sounds like you can't wait for the next one,' observed Ginny.

Thea grinned, 'Can't wait. It's going to be great.'

'So, all in all, a good time was had by all,' summarised Ginny.

'There was one downside, though,' added Abi.

'Yeah,' agreed Thea, her face falling at the thought.

'Why? What happened?' asked Ginny, pulling her bag up as it fell off her shoulder.

'Lauren got kicked out,' Abi told her glumly.

'What?' exclaimed Ginny, turning to look at her in shock. 'How? Why?'

'You remember when you told me and the boys that Algaron threw people out of his class?' Thea asked her.

'Yep.'

'Well, Lauren was the chosen one,' deadpanned Alicia.

'What? Over the Slytherins?' demanded Ginny. 'That's so unfair.'

'Tell me about it,' agreed Abi.

'We couldn't agree more. We tried to tell Algaron that, but he said Lauren was less suited to the class, or something along those lines,' Alicia said. 'Personally I think it's a load of bull.'

'Why?' asked Thea.

'Who would choose a Slytherin over anyone else?' questioned Alicia.

Thea nodded. 'Good point. I'll give you that.'

'How did Lauren take it?' asked Ginny, concern written on her face.

'Surprisingly well, I would have been devastated,' said Thea as they came to stop outside the classroom.

'Ah, the seventh years aren't done yet,' Daryl Winton from Ravenclaw told Abi as she went to open the door.

'Oh, ok,' said Abi, stepping away from the door, which was lucky because it opened at that very moment.

As the seventh years poured out of the room, Thea could hear them all chattering excitedly about the class they had just had.

'Sounds like Remus still knows how to keep a class enthralled,' commented Ginny, grinning.

'How shocking,' said Thea sarcastically, before grinning at Ginny in excitement. Who knew what Remus' first class would be like.

'Yeah, the best teacher we ever had - excluding all homicidal maniac's - is still the best,' agreed Alicia.

'Look, here come Harry and the others,' said Thea, peering over the crowd, seeing Ron's red hair coming towards them, followed closely by Harry's messy hair. Suddenly she found she was no longer looking at the tops of heads, but at feet. Someone had rather rudely shoved into her and she'd been unceremoniously dumped on the floor. And whoever the bastard was, they hadn't even bothered to apologise. She looked indignantly at the polished boots of the person, who now stood in front of her, as if waiting for her to move. Whoever the hell it was, they were so going to be getting a piece of her mind.

'Who's the rude asshole who barged into me and hasn't even apologised?' she demanded as she raised her eyes. She found herself looking into the eyes of a very pissed off Malfoy. Oh bugger. 'So are you going to help me up, Malfoy, or at least apologise?' she asked, refusing to back down.

'He bloody well better,' exclaimed Ginny hotly, glaring at Malfoy.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. 'Neither,' he snapped. 'Now get out of my way, Maggi.'

An angry murmur spread around the crowd at Malfoy's reply. The Slytherins though, were predictably sniggering and cheering Malfoy on.

'If I'm in your way, it's because you put me here. If it's too much trouble for you to either apologise or help me up, you'll have to walk around me.' She was very aware that the hallway had gone deathly silent and that everyone was watching the developing situation with interest. Thea refused to be intimidated by him and he better get used to it. There was no way he was going to push her around, especially since she had to spend more time with him than anyone else.

'For your information, Maggi, Malfoys do not walk around those inferior to ourselves; we tend to walk over all them.'

By this time, Thea noticed, the Dream Team had appeared, although they probably had already been there for a while. Dean and Justin Finch-Fletchley were holding back Ron, although that wasn't stopping him from yelling at Malfoy. Hermione was trying to calm him down but he was paying no attention to her. Harry was looking very angry but he was making a visible effort to control his temper. Having said that, Neville was hovering near him, probably just in case. She also noticed that Alicia and Abi were keeping an angry Ginny from launching herself at Malfoy. Thank God. Otherwise she'd have one very dead best friend. She could vaguely hear her saying something about Malfoy and ferrets.

'Malfoy, how many times do I have to tell you to leave Thea alone?' demanded Harry angrily, his hand tightening around his wand, although he didn't draw it.

Malfoy ignored everything going on around him, not even acknowledging Harry when he spoke. Instead, to Thea's astonishment, he crouched down in front of her. As he reached towards her, Thea was just about able to stop herself from flinching. He gripped her chin firmly, making her look at him.

'Malfoy, let go of her!' growled Ron, struggling against the hold Dean and Justin had on him.

'Leave her alone, ferret boy,' yelled Ginny.

'Malfoy, let her go,' said Anthony Goldstein, 'she's done nothing to you.'

By this time Abi and Alicia had let go of Ginny and had started yelling at Malfoy as well.

Out of the corner of her eye, Thea saw Hermione stop trying to calm down Ron, and instead turn her wrath on Malfoy as well. 'Malfoy, leave her alone. You are supposed to be head-boy. Try acting like it for once.'

Thea was pretty sure that a fight was soon going to break out between the Slytherins and the rest of those present. Either wands would be drawn of fists would be thrown.

As her friends called to Malfoy to leave her alone, he continued to ignore everyone, focusing wholly on her. 'Maggi,' he said crisply, 'Get out of my way. Now!'

Still looking directly into his eyes, Thea shook her head, or as much as she could considering he was still holding her face. 'Make me,' she told him defiantly.

'Are you sure, Maggi?' he asked softly.

Without waiting for an answer, he began to reach for his wand with his free hand. Suddenly a hand descended onto Malfoy's shoulder.

'I think that's enough of that,' Thea heard Remus say. 'Seventh years, I believe most of you have other classes to attend. Sixth years, I believe you all have class here so if you would make your way into the classroom please.'

As Remus talked, Thea slowly came back to herself. Suddenly it became all too apparent that she was sitting on the floor with Malfoy kneeling in front of her, holding her face in his hand. There were also an awful a lot of people staring at them, making her feel rather on display. She was also acutely aware that Malfoy was really very close to her and that he hadn't actually let go of her yet.

He looked at her for a long moment before finally releasing her. Standing up he dusted off his robes before looking piercingly at her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't look away. Vaguely she heard everyone walking off as Remus ushered them all away. They were all muttering excitedly to each other about what had just transpired. No doubt it would be the talk of the school for a while.

Her attention was finally pulled away from him by Remus talking to her.

'Thea, perhaps you would like to join your friends while I have a quick word with Mr. Malfoy.'

Nodding, Thea sighed. She really should stand up and go and join the others inside. As she began to push herself up off the floor, a pale, well-manicured hand appeared in front of her. She looked up, surprised, but Malfoy said nothing, just stood there, waiting. Slowly, Thea extended her hand to his, not entirely sure he wasn't going to snatch it back. But he didn't. Instead he pulled her gracefully to her feet. Waiting until she was steady, he released her hand and took a step backwards.

She threw him a confused look as he picked her bag up off the floor and handed it to her wordlessly. As she shouldered her bag and stepped towards the door, Malfoy said, 'See you tonight, Maggi.'

Thea shot him one last confused look as he walked over to where Remus was standing, before finally entering the classroom.

-----------

She opened the door to the History of Magic classroom slowly. She really wasn't looking forward to the next two hours. She knew he was eventually going to get her back for the truth potion and now she had the events of the morning to think over as well. Colin and Benji had asked her about it at luck but she had just waved it off as one of those things. She quite obviously didn't think of it as one of those things, but until she got it all sorted in her head she didn't really want to rehash it with anyone - not even her best friends.

'Hurry up there, Maggi,' she heard Malfoy call out impatiently.

She reluctantly opened the door further and stepped in, not entirely sure she would be leaving the same way in two hours. After all that had happened that week she wouldn't be all that surprised if he decided to use this tutorial (or any of the subsequent ones) as an opportunity to get his own back.

Malfoy was sitting at one of the tables at the front of the room. He already had another chair placed opposite him, ready for Thea. He glanced up as she walked towards him but said nothing, returning to the book he was reading.

She stood uncertainly by the chair he had set up for her.

'Are you going to stand there all night?' he snapped. 'Sit down, for crying out loud.'

Setting her bag on the floor, she sat down cautiously.

After a few more minutes Malfoy picked up a random sheet of parchment and studied it for a moment. As he put it down, Thea could see it had all of her marks on and she assumed that Sirius had given it to him.

'You seem to know a lot about History of Magic,' he commented conversationally. His voice wasn't friendly but it certainly wasn't unpleasant and Thea was slightly thrown. She had expected him to curse her extensively, both literally and figuratively.

She shrugged. 'I read a lot.' Which was an understatement. Ginny was constantly teasing her about the amount that she read. How many times had Ginny, or Colin, or Benji pulled her out of the way of some moving staircase, or moving suit of armour as she wandered around the school with her nose in a book? Even Harry had saved her a few times. At least she had learnt to always have someone with her to keep an eye on her.

Malfoy reached over the table and handed her another sheet of parchment. 'Look at this list of historical events and figures. Apart from what that convict,' Thea frowned as he referred to Sirius like that, 'will be teaching us this year, this is everything you have to know for the N.E.W.T.s. Those you don't know, note them down and read up on them at your leisure. When you've done that, grab a book, sit in that chair, and don't bother me for the rest of the night. Is that understood?'

Thea regarded him with a rather confused look on her face. What the fuck was going on? Was he seriously not going to bother teaching her anything? Not that she minded, she had heard of most of it, and it would be easy to read up on the few things she didn't know about. It just didn't seem like a very Malfoy thing to do. She was well expecting these sessions to be hell on earth, not a relaxed two hours of reading.

He must have noticed her look of confusion because he put down the book he had picked up. 'This is all very simple, Maggi. We have to attend this tutorial; I believe I made that clear on Monday. However, there are no rules about the content of these tutorials. I have more important things to be doing than teaching you things you already know. Understand?' He raised an eyebrow as if challenging her to contradict him.

She nodded. Actually, she was rather relieved. She hated being told things she already knew. She copied down the few things on the list that she had never heard of, secretly pleased that she had heard of most of them, even if she had little idea of what had actually happened. Then she looked at the pile of books on the table. They did not look like library books to her.

'Umm, Malfoy,' she ventured. 'When you said choose a book, did you mean from this pile, or what?'

He glared at her through his fringe. 'Didn't you bring a book with you?'

As she shook her head, she thought she saw his eyes soften a smidgen. 'Choose one from the pile if you like. But remember to leave a note on it, so I remember to bring it next week.' With that he returned to the book he was involved in.

Thea nodded wordlessly as she looked though the books in front of her. They were all exclusively about either Dark Arts or Elemental Magic. She was pretty sure that none of the books on the Dark Arts were about defence and she didn't think she was ready to read what was obviously a selection of Malfoy's private collection. God knew what he had in there. Instead she looked through the books about Elemental magic that he had brought with him. He had nearly every book that Algaron had suggested they read, as well as many others. She flicked through How to Use the Four Elements and Practical Applications of Elemental Magic. Then, as she began to reach for Fire: The Unstable Element when she spied a book that she had wanted to buy in Flourish and Blotts but that had been too expensive for her. A rather long-winded account of the destruction of the Potestas Veneficii was both very old and very rare, and the store had only acquired it that morning. The next time she had gone to take a look at it, it had been sold. Now there was a copy sitting in front of her, and she immediately reached for it.

Just as her fingers curled around it, a hand snatched it away from her. 'Hey,' she protested. 'You said I could read anything.' And damn it, she wanted to read that book, and no-one, not even Malfoy, was going to stop her.

'You won't understand it,' he told her dismissively.

'Will too,' she contradicted.

'What makes you so sure?' he questioned.

'I've understood everything I've read about Elemental Magic so far, and Professor Algaron didn't confuse me once in class today,' she told him, not taking her eyes off the book in his hands.

'You take Elemental Magic?' he asked, sounding interested.

'Yes.'

He handed the book back to her without comment. 'Enjoy,' was all he said.

She looked at him for a moment longer but it seemed as though he had said all he wanted to. She looked at the cover; it was very old but it was in pristine condition; the colours had hardly faded and hardly any of the pages were dog-eared. She opened it up, and looked through the contents page. All the chapter headings sounded so fascinating that she didn't know where to start, she wanted to know it all immediately. Since the beginning was a logical place when it doubt, she just opened up the first page and began to read.

After about an hour he spoke, jolting her out of the book.

'Aren't Trellis and Flint in your Elemental class?' he asked.

'Um, yes, they are,' she told him.

He nodded before returning to his book.

Shaking her head, Thea also went back to reading. She wasn't very far in, but so far she was completely engrossed. The book wasn't a history of the Potestas Veneficii but a first-hand account of what had happened to them, written by Ambrosius Magnus, the most famous Potestas Veneficii of the 5^th Century, or possibly ever. Thea had already come across him in some of her reading through the summer and was really excited about reading something written by him.

Some time later she was startled out of her reading by the classroom door opening and Sirius walking in.

'Ah, you're both here, good. Thought you might have already finished.' He shut the door behind him. 'So, how is the tutorial going?'

Thea nodded. 'Good.' She had a feeling that he was here for more than asking them how it was going.

'Is something the matter, Professor?' asked Malfoy, and Thea was shocked by his respectful tone. Hadn't it been only this week that he'd called Sirius a murderer to his face?

'What? No, not really. I had a visit from Miss Weasley, though, asking for permission to be out after curfew, so she could walk The...Miss Maggi back to the common room. She was worried about her being alone at such a dangerous time.'

Thea doubted it was the dangerous times that Ginny was worried about. It was more likely to be Malfoy. By the tone of Sirius' voice he hadn't really been all that taken in either. No matter what Ginny's reason she really hoped that Sirius would allow her to be met by her friend. If she had Ginny waiting for her at the end then it wouldn't be so bad. Sure, this one had been alright, but peaceful, even enjoyable, tutorials with Malfoy were surely too good to be true.

However, Sirius dashed her hopes with his next words. 'But me and Rem...Professor Lupin didn't think that would be the best idea.'

Even though she was disappointed about that, Thea had to smile at Sirius. He was trying so hard to behave all teacher-like, not calling her or Ginny by their names, nor Remus for that matter. It was all really rather funny. According to Harry, Remus had said something to Sirius about him being too informal with the students. It seemed as though Sirius was now going too far into the other direction. She sneaked a look at Malfoy but he looked less than amused.

'So I had an idea.'

Thea's attention was pulled straight back to Sirius. Something told her she wasn't going to like this idea.

'I thought you,' - he pointed at Malfoy and Thea felt her stomach plummet, 'could walk her back at the end of each session.'

Sirius was crazy, Thea decided. That was the only explanation for sure a mental suggestion.

'Me?' exclaimed Malfoy, sounding less than pleased at the idea. Thea didn't need to look at him to know that his upper lip would be curled in disgust.

'Yes, Ma...Mr. Malfoy. You. Do you see anyone else here?'

'But...'

Sirius cut him off. 'It was not a suggestion and this is not a debate, Mr. Malfoy.'

'Yes sir,' bit out Malfoy.

'Oh, and on my way down here I remembered that Ginny is the only Gryffindor in her Potions and Transfiguration tutorials, so I thought you could walk her back then as well.'

The look of horror that descended onto Malfoy's face, Thea was sure was mirrored on her face. Sirius had to be kidding...right? She knew that both Harry and Ron had spent a vast amount of time over the summer complaining to Sirius and Remus about "that bastard, Malfoy" or "that sodding ferret", so it wasn't like he didn't know what Malfoy was like. Hell, even her and Ginny had told some of the Malfoy horror stories that they knew of. Why did he suddenly think it was a good idea of her to spend more time with Malfoy? What if it wasn't really Sirius, but some fiendish Death Eater plot? What if Sirius wasn't really there but someone had polyjuiced themselves to be him? Unfortunately Thea knew this wasn't very likely. Ever since the debacle with Moody the Order carried out tests on all teachers to double check they were who they said they were. Thea had no idea what these tests were, but Harry had assured her and Ginny that they did exist and that both Dumbledore and Sirius had explained how they worked to him. The only other possibility Thea could think of was Imperio, but that seemed unlikely too. Thea was sure that if Sirius started acting strange both Harry and Remus would notice straight away and do something about it. It was a puzzle to be sure.

'But, uh, Professor, I, umm,' stammered Thea.

'You?'

'In both Potions and Transfiguration there are lone Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well,' she told Sirius. Surely it would be unfair and rather stupid to have her accompanied back to her common room when the others weren't.

'Ah, I see,' he said, frowning in consideration. 'In that case, I'm sure Mr. Malfoy will be happy to escort them as well.'

Oh, that had so not been what she had meant to happen. It was supposed to get her out of being walked back by Malfoy, not get more people involved. Although more people would mean it would be less likely for him to attack her or anything.

'I'm sure I'll manage,' said Malfoy with a pained look on his face.

Sirius smiled brightly at them, which neither of them returned. Obviously pretending to be oblivious to the death stares being thrown his way, he said, 'Right then, I'll leave you both to it.' And then he was gone.

'I think I'm going to kill him,' Thea said out loud, staring at the closed door.

'You can't,' Malfoy said shortly.

'Why not?' she demanded hotly. If she wanted to kill Sirius for making her spend more time with Malfoy, then she would.

'Because I'm going to do it,' Malfoy told her as he shrunk his books so that they could all fit into his bag.

'Uh-uh. I get to try first.'

'And why is that?'

Thea thought for a moment. She supposed that "because" wouldn't be excepted as a decent answer. 'Umm, because he's a former Gryffindor and so it's only fair that I get a chance to kill him.' It was lame, but it was all she could think of at that time.

'Oh, please,' he scoffed. 'As a Slytherin it is my duty to try and kill all Gryffindors, current and past.'

Thea stared at him. She really hoped that that was some twisted Malfoy humour (although the concept of him having a sense of humour - twisted or otherwise - kind of threw her) and not a confession.

'Oh, ok then. So, he's a friend, so...'

'Forget it,' dismissed Malfoy, 'I beat you. He's family. I should get first shot.'

'Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that,' mused Thea.

He looked at her sharply. 'How do you know that?' he demanded.

'Ginny told me.'

'How did she know?'

Thea shrugged. 'Don't know. Didn't ask.'

'Bloody big mouth Weaselette,' he muttered darkly.

'Hey!' said Thea indignantly. 'Don't talk about my best friend like that.'

Malfoy ignored her. Instead he said, 'Come on, let's go. It's your turn to argue why you should be allowed to kill Black instead of me. He slung his bag over his shoulder. 'Ready?'

Thea picked up her bag and walked out of the classroom in front of Malfoy.

'Well?' he prompted.

'Huh?'

'Your turn,' he told her.

Thea looked at him strangely. What was up with Malfoy? If she didn't know any better - which she did, so it was ok - she would say he was bordering on pleasant.

'Umm, ok. So let me see. I'm really out of ideas so I'll fall back on the old "you're evil and I'm not." ' She paused and frowned. 'Oh hang on, that won't work. That's an argument for you, not against you. I'm done, so I guess you get to kill Sirius.'

'Why, thank you, Maggi. Your generosity astounds me,' Malfoy said dryly.

'Oh, but I get to kill Ginny. Best friend's privilege,' she added quickly.

'Why do you want to kill the Weaselette?' He looked a bit puzzled, which was a new look on him as far as Thea was concerned.

'Were you not listening to Sirius? Ginny went to see him. It's her fault you have to walk me back to Gryffindor.'

Malfoy's face turned stormy. 'I'll completely kill her,' he seethed.

Thea rounded on him. 'Oh no, you won't,' she ordered him.

'Oh, and why is that?' he asked, recovering from the look of shock that had crossed his face as she had confronted him.

'Because she is my best friend and I get first shot at killing her.' At that she thought she saw a brief smile cross his face. 'That, and the fact that if she wasn't so worried about me, she would never have gone to talk to Sirius,' she added.

'Why would she be worried about you?' he asked uninterestedly.

She looked at him sceptically. 'You can't think why she might just be a little worried that I just spent the last few hours in a room, alone, with you?'

'Is she worried for your virtue?' he asked, leering at her.

Thea snorted. 'Not even a little,' she said scornfully.

'Is that so?' he asked, glancing over at her, a possible hint of amusement colouring his voice.

Thea briefly closed her eyes. Why had she done that? What girl in their right mind would actually tell Malfoy that they weren't interested in him? No doubt he would see it as a challenge. This had the potential to be even worse than she originally thought.

'Well, here we are,' she said brightly as they ended up just outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. She was not going to give the password to the self confessed Prince of Slytherin.

Malfoy smirked. 'Don't want to say the password in front of me, Maggi?'

'Of course I don't,' she agreed.

'I won't listen, promise.'

'I'm not stupid.' How could he think she would fall for that one?

'I'll go and stand over here then,' Malfoy told her. 'I can't hear it if you whisper it. Does that satisfy your Gryffindor sensibilities?'

'Not really, but I suppose it will have to do.' She leaned close to the Fat Lady. 'Bedbrooms and Candlesticks,' she whispered. She frowned as the portrait didn't open.

'You'll have to do better than that, dearie,' said the Fat Lady.

'What's the matter, Maggi, forgotten your password?' asked a smirking Malfoy.

Thea glared at him before turning back to the Fat Lady. She always got this one wrong. It wasn't her fault, it was an easy mistake to make. 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks,' she whispered, praying that this time she had got it right.

'That's much better,' said the Fat Lady as the portrait swung open.

'As Thea climbed into the common room, Malfoy called out softly, 'Night, Maggi.'

Thea tried to turn around as she climbed through but as she did so, she caught her foot and fell flat on her arse. And all because she had wanted to see if he had really said that. As the portrait closed, the last thing she heard was Malfoy's laughter. Bastard.

Ron was the first to notice her sitting on the floor from where he was playing Wizard Chess with Harry. 'Hey, Thea, how was it? Did Malfoy behave himself?' He frowned. 'And what are you doing on the floor?'

'I tripped and fell as I was coming through the door,' she explained as she stood up. 'The tutorial was fine, Ron. I survived and Malfoy was kind of civil. Well, civil for Malfoy,' she amended. As she spoke she spotted her friends sitting on the floor by the fireplace, playing Exploding Snap.

Ron stared at her, mouth agape. 'Malfoy? Civil?' he finally managed to splutter.

Harry chuckled. 'What she means is he was a rude git.' He looked at Thea. 'Right?'

'That's it,' she agreed.

Ron recovered. 'Oh, that's OK then.'

'Thanks, Ron,' Thea responded dryly.

'That's not how I meant it,' he protested. 'I just meant at least Malfoy's the same...or something.'

Thea waved him off, laughing as she walked over to the fireplace and her friends.

'So, was it ok?' asked Colin as she sat down between Benji and Ginny.

'Surprisingly so. I think I might actually survive this. Malfoy was actually civil.'

Benji dropped his playing cards. 'What?'

Thea laughed. 'I know, weird, huh?'

'More than weird,' said Ginny. 'Scary. More so than when he's being...scary.'

'Well, if it had been anyone else, I would have said their behaviour was unpleasant but then, unpleasant is such an improvement for Malfoy.'

'Something is definitely going on,' decided Colin.

'I know. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I mean, he can't actually be civil voluntarily, can he.'

'Not likely' agreed Ginny. 'So be careful.'

'I will be, I promise,' Thea reassured her friend. 'Now, are you lot going to deal me in, or what?'

Benji duly obliged and dealt Thea into the game. As she studied her cards she glanced over at her best friend. No way she was going to let Ginny get away with fostering Malfoy on to her like that, intentional or otherwise. 'Hey, Gin,' she said casually, 'did you go and see Sirius earlier this evening?'

Ginny looked up from her cards. 'Yes, I did. I was worried about you having to spend that much time with Malfoy. Why? Did he come and see you?'

'Oh yes, he came to see us,' confirmed Thea.

'You don't sound too happy about it,' observed Colin.

'Well, he did tell Malfoy he had to walk me back to the common room after every tutorial, so, no, I guess I'm not so happy.'

'He did what?' exclaimed Ginny.

'Asked Malfoy to walk me back,' she repeated.

'But, but why?' stammered Benji.

'Excellent question, wish I knew,' said Thea.

'God, Thea, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that would happen.' Ginny looked suitably mortified.

'It's ok. I know you had no idea. Not your fault. I just wish I knew what Sirius was trying to do...well, apart from getting me killed, obviously.'

'I'll ask him' said Ginny, looking determined.

'I'd be surprised if he tells you,' commented Colin.

'I'm still going to try.'

'Let's get back to the game,' said Thea, suddenly fed up of all the talk about Malfoy.

For the next hour or so they played and no matter how many games they played, or how many times they tried to gang up against her, Ginny always won.

Finally, Thea, feeling rather tired, sighed. 'OK, that's it, I'm done. I'm going to bed.'

'What? So soon?' asked Ginny.

Colin looked at his watch. 'Gin, it's nearly eleven.'

'Yeah, and being beaten every single time by you just is losing its appeal,' added Thea.

Ginny shrugged. 'What do you expect from a girl who has Fred and George as brothers?'

'Surely that's a form of cheating,' asked Benji.

'How so?' asked Ginny.

'I don't know,' muttered Benji, squirming. 'It just sounds like it should be.'

Thea smiled. 'Well, I'm off to bed. I'm beat.'

'Yeah, me too,' agreed Colin. 'And just think, this is only the end of the first week.

'We'll never survive to the end of the year,' declared Benji.

'Drama queen,' said Ginny as she gathered up the cards.

Benji stuck out his tongue at her before he and Colin ran up the stairs to the boys' dorms.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Thea. 'What did he think I was going to do? Hex him?'

'Well, to be fair, you have done worse to others,' pointed out Thea.

Ginny grinned wickedly. 'That's true.'