3 First classes and the opportunity

Waking up after a good night of sleep, Draco changed his clothes and walked out of his room.

After knocking on Theodore, Vicent and Gregory's doors, they left the boys dormitory together.

Outside in the common room, Pansy and Harriet were already there, waiting for them.

As the six of them made their way towards the hall to get breakfast, students from all sorts of houses began whispering and pointing at them.

Draco smirked at Harriet. "Must be really hard being so famous, Potter."

"I-I will never get used to it." She replied shyly. "It's just…"

"Actually, I believe that they are talking about you, Draco." Replied Pansy before Harriet had the chance to finish her sentence.

"What do you mean?" He asked, now paying more attention to what the others were whispering.

"She's talking about your cheap tricks from yesterday, idiot." Theodore said, clicking his tongue. "Everyone's talking about how you openly challenged the professor's authority yesterday."

Draco wasn't aware that his small performance during the sorting ceremony had escalated that quickly. He was already thinking about ways of doing some damage control.

"I guess I must be the laughing-stock of the whole school by now." He said with an easygoing tone.

"Not really." Someone else joined their discussion.

"Oh! Daphne, if you think flattering will set you free from your apology debt, then you are very much mistaken." Draco told her.

"I-I… Wha…" Daphne's face turned red as she recalled their previous exchange. Clearing her throat and recovering herself, she finally replied. "I don't know what you are talking about… anyway, as I was saying, no one thinks that you are a laughing-stock, instead, people are slightly afraid of you."

"Afraid of me? Why?" He asked innocently.

"Only the most powerful and disciplined wizards and witches can perform wandless magic reliably." Pansy said. "It gives any student practitioner a sturdy line of defence when accused of breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. In other words, you can harm others without having to deal with consequences."

"Oh!" Draco replied, faking ignorance.

Theodore turned to Daphne and asked her with a smirk. "So Miss Greengrass, about your apology to my friend."

"I-I'm sorry, excuse me, I-I forget something at the girls dormitory." Daphne said quickly, rushing away.

"You two sure like to tease girls, huh!" Pansy said with an annoyed tone.

Draco and Theodore didn't even turn back, as they quickly rushed towards the hall dragging Harriet with them, as an angry Pansy ran after them.

Gregory and Vincent shrugged their shoulders to one another before following them.

—————————————————————

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts.

Wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different in a particular day; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump.

Then there were doors that won't open unless you requested it politely, or ticked them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending.

It was also very hard to remember where anything was due to it all moving around a lot.

The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other.

For Draco's group, who really hated troublesome things, moving around Hogwarts was almost the most annoying thing in the world.

Like in all honesty, why do you need so many different stairs just to get to one place.

To Draco it reminded him of old video games map design logic, with constant backtracking to validate new upgrades that the player's character acquired.

Thankfully, Peeves (the most annoying creature after Jar Jar Binks) was busy messing with students from other houses. It didn't bother Slytherins that much due to it fearing the Bloody Baron.

Better yet, he had somehow stayed on good terms with Mr. Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. Possibly due to his recently gained fame making him the worst nightmare for any squib.

Thankfully, finding his way around the castle wasn't a problem at all with his recently acquired map and his eidetic memory.

The Marauder's Map revealed all of Hogwarts.

Not only did it show every classroom, every hallway, and every corner of the castle, but it also showed every inch of the grounds, as well as all the secret passages that were hidden within its walls and the location of every person in the grounds, portrayed by a dot.

It was also capable of accurately identifying each person, and was not fooled by animagi, Polyjuice Potions, or invisibility cloaks; even the Hogwarts ghosts were not exempt from it.

One of the map's actual flaws was that it did not differentiate people who had matching names; the shared names were not given a Junior or Senior at the end.

Also, it did not seem to show unplottable rooms, as it was Dobby and not the map that revealed the existence and location of the Room of Requirement in the canon.

The Chamber of Secrets never appeared on the map either because the creators never knew of it, or maybe it was just unplottable as well.

Draco's elves were the ones that benefited the most with it, besides having a better understanding of the property, their tailing operations weren't anywhere as risky as they would've been otherwise.

But he still had an excuse if people somehow got suspicious of his excellent orientation around Hogwarts, with the Prefect from his house being 'influenced' to comment about personally helping him with finding his way around.

The classes themselves weren't any problem for Draco either.

He already was very proficient with Potions and Herbology, since both complemented each other.

The Herbology class was taught by the dumpy little witch, Professor Sprout.

Three times a week they would have to go to the greenhouses behind the castle to study.

Draco easily won his house 20 points just on his first day as no other first-year students, except Hermione (and Neville, but Hufflepuff would have class with Gryffindor), could match his knowledge on that field.

Especially in regards to practice, Granger was simply not used to growing and taking care of Plants and Fungi like Draco was.

They were expected to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets.

Despite his interest, Draco would not go as far as to call himself an expert with Astronomy. Well, at the very least he already knew most of its theory.

History of Magic with Professor Binns would have been a complete waste of his time if not for the usual pieces of knowledge that a very old ghost was capable of teaching that weren't recorded in the books.

Although he was still very vague about ancient myths, talking about various pantheons of gods from all around the world while still giving it credit enough during his classes.

Charms with the tiny little wizard, Professor Flitwick, was child's play for Draco.

But the young Malfoy heir couldn't stop wondering how his tiny Professor standing on a pile of books managed to become a dueling champion.

Besides, Professor Flitwick was terrible at hiding his curiosity (and favoritism) for Harriet, who still was a little awkward with all the attention.

Since it was the first day, the whole class was about the different uses of charms and some practices about how to properly wave a wand.

When some questions were asked, Draco and Hermione took the opportunity to challenge one another for who could answer more questions.

By the end of it, Draco managed to completely outpace his competitor and win another 20 points for his house, to Hermione's frustration.

After that, they had Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall.

Draco entered the class alongside the other students, this time deciding to sit next to Hermione.

However, she turned at him with an annoyed expression. "What do you want?"

"Easy there, I just want to sit with you." Draco replied while making a sad expression. "Am I not welcome because I won our previous challenge?"

"Hmph! Do you really think I care about losing to a cheater? It is you that is annoying, not letting me answer any question!" Hermione replied with her bossy tone while pretending to be reading something.

"Hey, if I'm going too fast for you, just let me know." He told her, provoking another grunt from Hermione. "Don't mind me then." Draco said, smiling as he opened his book. "You know, you look very cute when you look annoyed."

"Shut it idiot! Or I will kick you out." She told him while hitting him with her book. "You better be ready to lose this time."

Draco simply winked back at her.

Hermione was happy that he was sitting next to her, even if she didn't admit it.

Due to her bossy behavior, she was having a hard time making friends with the others, but at least her Ravenclaw roommates respected her.

Even the purebloods didn't underestimate her intelligence, although not to the point of complimenting her.

So, with Draco keeping her company, she was very happy.

Meanwhile, as Draco managed to make Hermione smile from time to time, the others stared at them.

Due to Pansy, Harriet and Daphne being roommates, they quickly became close.

Safe for Harriet, the other two girls weren't pleased with the sight of Draco being sympathetic to Hermione.

"What is Draco doing with that Mud-blood?" Daphne asked with an annoyed expression.

Even though she wouldn't admit, she still enjoyed his compliments and even the flirting.

Daphne had been planning to spend the day with him, unfortunately she had gotten carried away and fled when he and Theodore insisted to joke about her 'apology'.

But seeing a 'filthy mud-blood' stealing all Draco's attention was making her get very pissed.

"Who knows! Maybe that mud-blood used some love potion on Draco." Snorted Pansy.

"It's true love." Said Theodore from the side, gaining death glares from both Daphne and Pansy. "I-I was just joking, geez."

"I don't think it's fair to call her names." Argued Harriet. "She seems... nice… a little bossy at times… but still nice."

"She got a point." Vincent interrupted picking his book. "Besides, Draco doesn't like those kinds of words."

"If you still want him to like you, you should at least learn how to act in front of him." Added Gregory as he finished his notes from the previous class.

"Why?" Questioned Daphne, surprised that the two knew how to speak, and a little confused since she had just recently befriended Draco.

"It's his thing. He's just too kind." Sighed Pansy. "Draco doesn't hate Mud… Muggle-borns."

"But wait! Isn't he the same as us?" Asked Daphne, before turning to Harriet. "Hey Potter, you've lived with Muggles. How are they?"

"I-I…" Harriet began saying as she recalled her life with the Dursley family. "They are… not very nice."

"See!" Daphne stated her case to the entire group.

—————————————————————

The bell had rung and the class was supposed to have already started.

But since the teacher hadn't arrived yet, all the other students continued to chatter amongst themselves.

The thing was, that the teacher had already arrived at the class.

Draco wasn't fooled at all by the cat on top of the Professor's desk.

Besides perfectly recalling watching it from his previous life.

"We all should be self-studying before the teacher arrives instead of being a chatterbox." Noted Hermione as she looked around.

"Hermione my dear, you should learn to have an open mind if you wish to surpass me." Draco told her with a smile. "Who told you the teacher hadn't arrived yet?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Hermione with a confused expression.

Draco said nothing, instead, simply gesturing towards the cat with his head.

Hermione looked shocked. "You can't be serious?"

Just as she spoke, a lanky tall red-head entered class gasping for air.

"I… I made it!" Ron all but shouted as he began searching for the teacher. Making his best Naruto impression. "Yeah!...I can't believe my luck!... The teacher hasn't arrived yet!"

As soon as he finished his sentence, the cat in front of them suddenly transfigured into Professor McGonagall as she appeared in front of Ron's face.

Everyone looked shocked, except Draco.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Remarked Ron with his face wide open.

"Oh! Thank you for the assessment, Mr. Weasley. Perhaps it will be even more 'brilliant' if I transfigure your rat into a pocket watch." Professor McGonagall stated sarcastically. "This way at the very least you will have a better chance of arriving in time."

"I-I got lost." The redhead said grasping his pet while the other Slytherins snickered at him.

"I trust you won't be needing a map to find your seat." The tall woman told him before approaching Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, you were the only one who found that I was an animagus." She announced, shocking the class for a second time. "Care to explain how you did it?"

"Beside the fact that you weren't trying to pretend to be a regular cat in a class full of chattering students..." Draco replied casually. "I recalled the very short list of registered animagus in the country and assumed that you might be one of them."

"Well done." Replied McGonagall before moving to stand in front of the class. "Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts." She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

The Professor then proceeded to change her desk into a pig and back again to its original form.

The students were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started.

Even Draco had to admit being impressed by the display of magic.

After having to take some complicated notes, they were each given a match and ordered to turn it into a needle.

Draco sighed after successfully turning the match into a needle without having to use his wand. 'What's the purpose of having a tailor made special wand, if I simply don't need to use it.' He waved his wand around after the needle turned back to its original form.

This time, the match actually took some time to turn into a needle, with another side effect being that it was now made of gold.

Professor McGonagall, who was walking around looking at her student's work, was surprised.

"Marvelous, Mr. Malfoy." She commented looking at the golden needle. "This is one of the finest works I have ever seen a first year do." The Professor said before displaying it for the entire class to see. "5 points to Slytherin."

Noticing Hermione's frustrated expression, Draco said. "Need some help?"

She glared at him for a while before sighing. "Sure."

"Okay, when you put magic into the objects, you must feel it being transferred similar to how you feel heat leaving your body." Draco guided her. "Can you sense it? Is it leaving your body while being channeled through your wand?"

Hermione nodded without breaking concentration.

"Excellent! Now is the easiest part. Since you are from a muggle school… your imagination and understanding of science must be quite high, compared to natural wizards and witches. Put that into use, visualize what you want and then make it happen."

Hermione nodded again and began doing her own work.

Draco only gave her a little push. Judging from her character, she wouldn't appreciate it if he taught her everything.

By the end of the lesson, only Hermione, Theodore, Vicent and Gregory had made any progress with their transfiguration, to which the Professor complimented them.

The following class was DADA, Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a joke.

His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which he told everyone that was to ward off a vampire he had met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days.

His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank you gift for getting rid of a troublesome zombie.

But Draco wasn't the only one that didn't believe the story.

When Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly about how Quirrell had fought the undead, the Professor simply went pink and changed subjects.

The other students even noticed a funny smell hanging around the turban.

Draco had no idea how Voldemort was doing inside the Turban with this idiot running around, blabbing nonsense all day.

'He must be really desperate to get the stone." Concluded Draco.

Overall, the DADA classes were mostly filled with Draco reading again all the books he had studied from a younger age.

—————————————————————

It was Friday, the day Draco would finally have potion class with his Godmother.

Draco's group were all gathered having their breakfast, when hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall.

He had his eagle owl delivering messages from his parents.

Narcissa wrote about missing him and requesting that he kept updating her about his days.

As for Lucious, the man was more than happy to hear that the famous Harriet Potter had been sorted into Slytherin and that his son has managed to befriend her.

As he was reading the letter, he noticed that Harriet was still paying attention to his notes.

He had been aiding her with the classes, as his notes were intentionally written to be easily understood by someone that lived their entire life as a muggle.

She was also very relieved to find out that she wasn't miles behind everyone else.

Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like her, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards.

There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.

"Draco, will you sit next to me in the potion class?" Daphne said suddenly.

Theodore, Vincent and Gregory didn't really care about it to stop what they were doing.

But both Pansy and Harriet did, the former glaring daggers at Daphne while the latter wanting to say something.

"Oh! May I ask why?" Draco questioned with a teasing tone.

"I'm not really good at potions, and I don't want to mess it up." Daphne said innocently.

"Draco, you know I'm not good at potions either." Pansy said, giving Draco puppy eyes.

"Yeah! But last night you said that he had already helped you about potions, didn't you?" Daphne told Pansy. "And I heard that Theodore here is also very talented in potions as well, so you can partner up with him."

Pansy was gritting her teeth looking at Daphne with a very pissed expression.

"Girls! Girls!" Draco said, trying to calm them down. "I'm afraid I won't be able to partner up with either of you two. I've already promised to help someone."

"You did?" Asked Daphne, disappointed.

"Don't tell me you will help that mu…" Pansy was about to say something she would have regretted when Draco interrupted her.

"I promised to help Harriet!" He told them, surprising the girl that lived.

"You did?" Harriet questioned without noticing. Seeing both Pansy and Daphne turning to look at her, and reading Draco's winking expression, she added. "I-I mean, of course you did."

Both Daphne and Pansy narrowed their eyes for a moment before shrugging their shoulders.

"Okay then."

"Yeah, perhaps next time."

Theodore couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

He was about to remark something when both Vicent and Gregory dragged him away.

"What's the problem with them?" Asked Daphne.

Draco faked ignorance and said. "No idea."

Both Daphne and Pansy stood up staring at one another.

"Perhaps we should go together then." Suggested Daphne.

"I guess it's better than partnering up with rabbit face." Remarked Pansy as the two walked away.

"See you two later then."

"Yeah, bye Draco, bye Harriet." Daphne said.

As Draco waved at them, he noticed Harriet glancing at him.

"Sorry for that, I don't know what's the problem with those two." He said with an apologetic tone. "If it's not a problem for you, I would be glad to partner up with you for our potion class."

Harriet looked at him with a faint blush. "Not at all!"

Draco smiled. "Excellent, I want to see how useful my notes have been to you."

As he continued to eat his meal, Harriet quickly picked the newspaper, her attention had just been drawn towards the article about the robbery at Gringotts.

As she left with a focused expression, Draco noticed that some things haven't changed.

Although, he wasn't sure if that was for the better.

A loud thud startled him from his thoughts.

Besides him, Hermione had just sat.

She casually sat there as if it was her house's table.

Draco could feel the stares from some of the Slytherin students, so he awkwardly chuckled. "You really are fearless, aren't you? If you weren't so intelligent, Gryffindor would surely suit you."

"As if." She chuckled. "And what should I fear sitting here with you?"

"Can't you see the other snakes glaring at you?" He told her while sipping from his cup.

"I'm sure you will protect me, being a snake yourself." Hermione snickered. "Besides, I came here to show you this!"

Hermione took out a half metallic and wooden needle that was slowly turning back into a match.

"Congratulations!" He said looking at the half transfigured object. "You have progressed very fast."

"Well, I studied all day after school in the library and soon I finally got some understanding of the tips you gave me." Hermione told him. "So I wanted to thank you."

"Oh! But I don't need a thank you." He said thinking for a moment. "How about a favor?"

"What do you want?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing too absurd, just your notes about history and astronomy for the whole year." Draco said smiling.

"What?!" Hermione all but shouted. "There's no way I'm giving you my homework!"

"Such a shame." He shrugged. "That's all I really need. Perhaps some of my friends can..."

"No! You should be doing your homework yourself..." She then proceeded to give him a long lecture. "...if you want, then we can study together and I will help you out, but that's all."

Draco's eyes lit up as he smiled. "Sure, we can meet up at the library after our classes."

Hermione considered his suggestion for a while before nodding in agreement. "Then it is settled." She said standing up and walking away.

After reading the daily reports his elven agents sent him, Draco left the Great Hall.

—————————————————————

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons.

It was colder here than up in the main castle and quite ominous due to the collection of pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Draco, as discussed earlier, sat next to Harriet who was still a little distracted about the newspaper she had just read.

His godmother was a thin woman, but contrary to her original counterpart, with young looking skin, a regular shaped nose and white even teeth.

Still dressed in flowing black robes which made her resemble "an overgrown bat".

She had long black hair which framed her face in curtains, curling lips and dark, penetrating eyes that resembled tunnels.

Even this different version of her had a strong, authoritative presence.

Speaking in a soft, contained voice most of the time, except during the occasional instances when she lost her temper.

Snape, like Flitwick, started class by taking the roll call, and just like the Charm teacher, she paused at Harriet's name.

"Ah, yes!" She said softly. "Harriet Potter. Our new… celebrity."

Draco glanced at his class partner as the girl seemed to squirm under his godmother gaze, calming her down with a friendly pat on her back.

Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class, her cold eyes staring down at the students.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making,"

She began, speaking in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. Like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses....I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death...if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed this little speech.

Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

This didn't escape Pansy and Daphne as they started whispering things to one another.

"Potter!" Said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harriet glanced at Draco with wide eyes as Hermione's hand had shot into the air.

"A-asphodel added to wormwood infusion can produce a powerful sleeping potion known as the D-draught of Living Dead." Replied Harriet, as if she had read that sentence in a paragraph several times over the week.

Snape's eyes narrowed.

"So gaudy fame isn't everything about the legend." She remarked as Hermione lowered her hand.

"Let's see what else you know. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat.

"From... a goat's stomach?"

"Is that a question?" Snape asked emotionlessly.

"No ma'am." Harriet began looking straight into Snape's cold eyes, as she tried to recall Draco's notes. "It's the answer."

Hermione was forced to lower her hand again.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.

Pansy and Daphne were shaking with snickers.

"I-is that a trick question? Aren't they the..." Asked Harriet before quickly correcting her statement. "I mean, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of Aconite."

"Hmmm. Ten points to Slytherin." The Professor finally conceded. "It seems you are Slytherin material after all." Snape told Harriet with a visible level of disbelief in her tone. As she looked towards Draco she added. "You did well associating yourself with the right company, Miss Potter." She then turned to look at everyone back with a grin face. "Well... Why aren't you all copying that down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.

Paired together, Draco and Harriet followed their teacher's instructions and brewed the potion she requested for the class.

The work wasn't hard since Draco was very familiar with dozens of potion recipes, so Harriet just had to sit there and watch as Draco explained each step of the process to her.

Snape swept around in her long black cloak, as she came near them.

The Professor picked up the potion they've made with a semblance of a smile.

"Very good, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Potter." She said. "10 points to Slytherin."

Harriet looked very happy at the finished potion as she kept praising Draco, it seems he had succeeded in making her interested in the subject.

After receiving more instructions, the class was dismissed.

Draco's group went to the library, with everyone else busy looking for books to aid them with their homework, Draco went to search for Hermione.

Sitting next to her, he heard her complaining.

"You are late."

"Oh! Apologies, I had to point out a few books for my friends to research for their own homework." Draco replied, smiling. "So, what are you reading?"

"Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration and Potions." Hermione told him while picking them from a pile and showing them to him. "Clearly I still don't know enough."

"Hey, don't be so harsh on yourself, Ms. Granger." Draco sheepishly smiled, gaining a glare from her. "Okay, let me help you with that."

"Weren't you the one asking for help?" She questioned.

"True, but I think I can help you with some things that you won't be finding in books." He told her, but immediately noticed her reaction calling what he just said a blasphemy. "Don't worry, I've been studying with my grandfather and father since I was very young, so I've learned some things from their decades of experience."

"Are you sure about it?" She asked. "Isn't that classified or something?"

"Technically, most of it is. But part of the process of learning something is teaching it to someone." Draco admitted. "Besides, if you managed to impress me, I would be open to consider sharing some improved recipes and invented spells with someone worthy of knowing them."

Before Hermione had the chance to reply, Pansy, Harriet and Daphne came from out of nowhere.

"There you are, Draco!" Pointed Pansy.

"I thought you had returned to the Slytherin common room." Remarked Daphne while Harriet greeted Hermione.

The young Malfoy turned around to face his friends. "Hey there, found everything I told you to look for?"

"Yeah." Pansy replied as the three girls waved a few books on their hands.

Daphne looked at Draco sitting with Hermione with a weird out expression and asked while ignoring her. "Will you help me study potions?"

"Sure." He told her with an innocent tone before faking to just notice that she was waiting for something. "Oh! You meant right now? You see, I am currently doing a favor to Ms. Granger here, helping her with astronomy and history."

Daphne glanced at Hermione as she clenched her fist.

She really wanted to stay around and help him with it, but she wasn't good with history and astronomy.

Not wanting to appear less intelligent than a 'Mudblood' she just kept quiet.

Pansy was getting used to faking her anger by that point. So she simply went along with it. "It's so nice of you for offering help to those in need."

"It certainly is." Said Hermione with a sarcastic tone.

"Don't worry Hermione. Draco is an excellent teacher. Thanks to him I was ready for Professor Snape's surprise test for me." Harriet finally spoke, misunderstanding Hermione's tone.

"Come now Harriet, I just guided you through the basics and let you study some of my notes." The young Malfoy said, winking at her. "The merit of succeeding lies with the student."

"I-I guess you are right." Harriet replied, blushing ever so slightly. She looked through the window and said. "Anyway, I won't continue to disturb you two."

Daphne and Pansy looked at Hermione before turning to Draco.

"See you in the common room then." Said Pansy.

"You still owe me some help with my studies." Remarked Daphne with a friendly smile.

"Perhaps after you pay your debt." Joked Draco, only for Daphne to reach over and kiss him in the cheek.

"Nowhere to run now, Mr. Malfoy." Daphne told him with a red face.

"It seems to be the case." Chuckled Draco as Daphne covered her face and left, with Pansy running after her showing a face of pure disbelief.

"Theodore, Vincent and Gregory said that they would be in the common room if you need them" Harriet informed with a smile before leaving after her new friends.

After they were left alone, Hermione looked at him. "So, you are helping me study?"

"Actually, that was a mistake on my part. We are helping one another, aren't we?" He said expecting her reply.

"I'm so going to regret this." She sighed.

"Ah, you wound me with your cruel words." He faked being hurt in the chest by a metaphorical stab.

Hermione just chuckled as both of them started studying seriously.

She was surprised by his different method of thinking and 'excellent memory'.

Even though he usually had an easygoing behavior, in regards to study, it was almost as if he had a different air around him.

"Hey, you are clearly good with both history and astronomy. Why have you asked for my help?" Hermione finally asked. "It can't be only to get away from those two."

"They aren't so bad after you get to know them." Draco said as they walked out of the library. "That said, I do hope my presence isn't that hard to be around."

"It remains to be seen." She told him with a smile before they returned some books to the librarian Madam Irma Pince, and the two parted ways.

—————————————————————

The day for flying lessons, also known as Broom Flight Class, had finally arrived.

As the days approaching it have been filled with anticipation from the students, who often told exaggerated tales of past flying achievements.

Of course, Draco could tell that they were bluffing, since he could easily read superficial thoughts from young wizards and witches.

The young Malfoy had already had his fair share of experience with riding a broom since his father wanted him to join the Quidditch team.

Being discouraged at first, thinking that sitting on a stick for hours would've been a literal pain in the ass, he had almost argued otherwise with Lucious.

But the broom's enhancements and cushions charms made it entirely different than what he was expecting it to be.

Thanks to him eventually mastering wandless magic, Draco felt much safer being capable of compensating for the lack of physical protection riding a broom offered.

Amongst all the bragging first years, you could clearly notice the nervous Harriet and Hermione.

Both being who they were, were very uncomfortable and overthinking things, like they always did.

Each with their own peculiar way of coping with it.

Even Ron, although trying not to, was showing signs of dread.

The relationship between him and Harriet wasn't as good as it was the first day they met.

In fact, from what she had told Draco, they didn't even have a simple conversation ever since they got off the train.

Harriet said he insisted on trying to frame him (Draco) as someone that couldn't be trusted.

Both Gregory and Vincent gave him a black eye and a bloody nose after hearing him bad mouthing their boss.

Back to the anticipation for the Flying lesson.

Besides them, Draco's group of close friends were similarly familiarized with the practice of riding a broom.

Daphne and Pansy were trying to calm Harriet, while Theodore was doubting Gregory and Vincent's stories.

At three-thirty that afternoon, the first year's Slytherins hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lessons.

The Slytherins were the first to arrive, finding several old broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground.

Draco looked at the brooms and sighed. 'Where is that old wizard spending the school funds? How does he manage to fool all the school governors that it is in top condition?'

If he didn't feel so strongly that Dumbledore wasn't in any way his ally, Draco would've considered funding the school with his own money.

The Ravenclaws came soon after them.

Hermione waved at Draco, who waved back.

Shortly after, their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived as well.

She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

Looking at them (her eyes), Draco felt a considerable flux of mana that reminded him of the aura that surrounded Professor McGonagall during her transfiguration form.

Even Ron's rat (Draco knows who it really is) shared the same similarity for the young Malfoy.

'When I first saw Professor McGonagall as a cat, I thought that it was only a coincidence. That some strong wizards and witches simply gave off that aura.' Draco thought. 'But not having the same feeling during the time I saw Dumbledore, and knowing that Madam Hooch had suffered an accident while trying to become an animagus...It must really mean that I can somehow spot animagus by looking at them.'

Even though he was confused about why that was the case, he couldn't help being pleased by the edge that he would have while dealing with one.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" The teacher barked. "Everyone stands beside a broomstick. Come on, hurry up! Stick out your dominant hand over your broom." Called Madam Hooch at the front. "And say 'Up'!"

"UP!" Everyone shouted.

From the Slytherin's side, Draco's, Vincent's and Gregory's brooms jumped into their hands.

Alongside Harriet's.

Theodore managed to do it on the second try while both Pansy and Daphne were still trying their hardest.

On Ravenclaw's side, similar to Hermione, they were still struggling to get the broom to come up in their hand.

After a few minutes of grunting and shouting, everyone got their broom.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips.

She unsurprisingly complimented Draco, since his form was apparently 'perfect'.

Perhaps 'good enough' would also classify as such, especially after observing some terrible attempts being made.

But for the first time in a while, Draco heard Weasley's voice as he grunted something.

Though he was immediately shut off with Gregory and Vincent giving him the 'I'm watching you' gesture.

Ron has been frustrated with being 'mis-sorted' into the house of the snakes, with Harriet not wanting to talk with him anymore, and with how hard the classes have been proven to be.

He didn't know how, but he knew that all of his bad luck had been provoked by the 'Genius of Hogwarts'.

Ron assumed that because of him… Harriet was being underestimated by the other students, people were gossiping about how 'The great Harriet Potter' wasn't all that great.

Behaving as the shadow of the Malfoy.

Ron suspected Draco was befriending Harriet under his father's orders, believing this would make his claims of not supporting You-Know-Who more believable to everyone else.

Unbeknownst to The Slytherin Weasley, Harriet wasn't affected by the rumors circling at Hogwarts.

Instead, she was glad that people's expectations for her were getting lower.

The other person Ron was pissed at, besides 'Draco's lackeys', was Hermione.

Even though he didn't really like her bossy tone, what made him really angry was that she, a muggle-born, was always acting as if she was Draco's pet.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard." Said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle… three… two…"

But Ron, jumpy and nervous of being left behind on the ground alone, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back boy!" She shouted, but Ron was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle.

Dozens of feet above everyone else.

The teacher was about to pick her broom when she heard two more Slytherin students shoot up towards Ron with great speed.

As The Slytherin Weasley shouted for help, his broom shook him completely out of balance, making him slide sideways off the broom.

The last time he saw his broomstick, Ron sighted raising higher and higher before it drifted towards the forbidden forest, after that he began free falling through the clouds.

Feeling a powerful breeze, thanks to the air resistance, he finally got to see the ground again as it rushed towards him at ludicrous speed.

Ron almost pissed himself in terror before he felt his momentum shifting horizontally, and eventually noticing that he had been rescued.

By two other students.

One of them being Harriet, the friend he regretted losing.

The other was...

'Bloody hell! Why did it have to be him?' He asked himself mentally.

"Calm down Weasley, we are here to help." Draco told him as the wind blew past his hair.

"Y-you…" Ron managed to mutter before being interrupted by Harriet's tightening grasp.

"Trust us!" She said.

The redhead finally relented and decided to not struggle, knowing better than making his rescue harder than it already was.

The three of them finally reached the ground safely after circling around the space about the school to slow down more safely.

As both Draco and Harriet released Ron after his feet met the ground, they heard claps from all the other students, from both houses.

Millicent Bulstrode, a Slytherin friend of Pansy, gave both Draco and Harriet a bear hug.

She was a big girl, not as attractive as the other girls, but appeared to be very tough in a brawl.

And Padma Patil was louder than she usually was with her claps and cheers.

Although not as athletic as Millicent, Draco had witnessed her attempts to compete alongside Hermione against him for house points during classes.

Draco looked around and noticed that Crabbe and Goyle had almost followed him after he had taken flight.

Looking at him with ashamed looks, they were somewhat relieved after seeing Draco nodding at them friendly.

Madam Hooch rushed past the cheering crowd of students, and immediately went to check on Ron, her face as white as his.

She muttered a few things, checking his current state, before calling for him. "Come on, boy...it's all right, up you get."

"So you really wanted to be the hero, Mr. kind guy." Said Theodore.

Both Daphne and Pansy were also looking at him, wanting to hear his reason.

"It was nothing." Draco shrugged his shoulders. "The boy was flying so fast that I was curious if I was capable of catching him before he splattered on the ground." He looked at the other shaken figure of Ron as he was being lectured by the teacher. "Besides, got the best look of Weasley's crying fit."

Theodore snickered. "Nonsense, you just wanted to show off." He turned to the approaching Harriet who had just recovered from the rush of adrenaline she just had. "Or you were trying to rescue our 'Savior' here if she fell."

"Maybe both." Draco replied with a slight smile before walking towards Harriet.

"Draco! You were incredible!" She complimented him, still having difficulties catching her breath.

"You too Potter." He told her before moving a strand of hair from her face. "I assume this was your first time riding a flying broom. Seeing how quickly and skillfully you acted, gotta say, you are a natural."

"Thanks." She replied.

"HARRIET POTTER! DRACO MALFOY!"

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall came rushing towards them.

Harriet's legs began trembling after hearing her name being called, but Draco calmed her down by slightly squeezing her hand and giving her a reassuring smile.

She felt calm seeing his smile, and after remembering what they had just been through together, she nodded back.

"Never… in all my time in Hogwarts…" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously. "... how dare both of you… you could have broken your necks…"

"They are heroes, Professor…"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil." Turning to both Harriet and Draco, McGonagall said coldly. "I will be taking these two to their house head, Professor Snape. She will decide both of their punishments."

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Soon they arrived at Snape's office.

McGonagall knocked on the door. "Professor Snape, I've some of your house students that have been causing trouble."

"Get in." The voice came from inside.

McGonagall opened the door and walked in with both Draco and Harriet.

Snape's office was a gloomy and dimly-lit room inside the school dungeons.

The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars filled with slimy, revolting things, such as bits of animals and plants, floating in potions of varying colors.

Snape glared at them for a second, before she had the chance to say anything, McGonagall delivered a letter to her.

"It's from Dumbledore." McGonagall said. "For after you finish deciding the punishment for your students."

The potion teacher simply nodded as McGonagall left them.

"Care to explain?" Snape turned to Draco, ignoring the chance of punishing Harriet.

"Weasley lost control of his broom and almost splattered against the ground." He shrugged.

The Professor's face turned sour as she grumbled some insults about Ron, questioning the Sorting Hat's decision of placing a Weasley in Slytherin. She stared at Harriet's eyes before saying. "I won't give you any punishment for now, so leave."

Harriet sighed in relief and started walking towards the door, but noticing that Draco wasn't following her, she turned back.

"I have something to discuss with Professor Snape." Draco told her. "Wait for me outside for a minute."

Harriet nodded and left, closing the door on her way out.

"What is it?" Snape asked. "If you want to talk about potions, then we can have a conversation some other time."

"It's not that Godmother." Draco said, since no one was around. "It's about Dumbledore's letter."

Snape stared at the piece of paper over her desk. "Continue."

"He will request that you select Potter to be the next seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team."

Snape's face got a little suspicious. "I'm afraid that's impossible, she's only in her first year."

"Yes she is." Draco said as he approached her. "But you see… our noble Headmaster favors a lot our dear Ms. Savior. Perhaps he still hasn't fully recovered from having her sorted in our house. So, having her as the star of our house would be the best alternative."

Snape considered her godson's words and finally opened Dumbledore's letter.

Snape's mood was hard to describe, having a mixture of emotions on her face.

Draco considered that, even though Snape is a woman in this reality, he believed that Harriet's parents still had a complicated relationship with his Godmother.

After a moment of silence, considering her complicated feelings for 'the girl that lived', Snape turned to Draco once again. "So, what do you have in mind?"

"I propose we consult our young savior about what she wants. Depending on her decision, and Dumbledore's precise choice of words, Slytherin's Quidditch team might after all break tradition."

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(23/05/2021)

*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking. I tried establishing the MC's first classes and interaction around Hogwarts while hinting about some possible plot threads that I plan to work upon.

Sorry if you expected more of it. 😅

Any ideas for powers, adventure arcs and girls are more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.

If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait that I'll promptly try to fix it. But for that I need your feedback.

Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.

Bye.