The first month at Hogwarts did not go well for Draco. Initially shunned by the Slytherins, as well as all the other houses, they had now worked out some sort of truce. He was accepted at their table, and into the conversation, but not with any warmth. Ironically, he found that the more they feared him as a Death Eater, the more he baulked against the idea of actually becoming one. Pretending was another matter altogether, and he was a past master at insinuation. It was partly due to this, and also his famed wand skills that he managed to command a certain respect without Crabbe and Goyle to beat it out of people for him.
Also, he found some sympathy for the Gryffindors, as he had joined them in sharing Snape’s disfavor. Draco had never before been on the receiving end of Snape’s unfair teaching style. Previously he had been the beneficiary, Snape’s favourite. Luckily it was Snape’s sarcasm that Draco had to put up with most “ Snape did not want points taken from his House. However, the sarcasm was hard to put up with, and Draco lived in terror that Snape was going to let slip one of the many things he did not want to make public knowledge. Draco kept his mouth shut, but some of the class wondered how Snape dared taunt Malfoy. He looked quite as dangerous as Snape himself!
Luckily Potions was easily Draco’s favorite subject. Without Crabbe and Goyle to hinder him (he found they had, as he had thought, been expelled) he found himself enjoying the class. In fact, since he had no particular friends, his studies were beginning to improve, and he was even able to vie with Hermione (a Prefect, of course) for positions at the top of their joint classes, a point which none of the Gryffindors took well. Of course this added a bit of spice to the lessons, and he studied harder than he ever had before, delighted when his marks topped hers. He even tied one week with Neville in Herbology, a class that he greatly despised, but which he had taken this year as one that worked well with Potions.
His rivalry for top place in class replaced his competitive drive in Quidditch. He had been asked to resign his place as Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch Team, and was surprised to find that although he kept his face impassive, it was the first thing that happened to him that truly hurt. Blaise wanted one of his friends to play Seeker. (Since Hubert Durnsley had taken over, they had lost the first match of the season, to Hufflepuff, of all people.) From the time that Hermione Granger had accused him of buying his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch Team all those years ago, Draco had practiced regularly and with complete focus. If there was one thing he had honestly striven for, it was to beat Harry Potter for the snitch in a House game. Not having Harry’s natural abilities, he had been up every morning to practice, and although still not quite a top player, he had improved his abilities greatly, and built up a good deal of muscle at the same time, of which he was inordinately proud. He still continued his flying practice each morning, but out of habit rather than necessity. There was still hope too, that the Slytherins would revolt and insist that Hubert Durnsley be taken off the team, and if that happened, Draco wanted to be sure to be in training.
Today, they had a double potions lesson, and were making Tiginta Dopsulous, a potion, which if used correctly would dry into fibers that could be used in the making of Invisibility cloaks. Snape was in a high good humor for some reason, which made him twice as scary as usual. Draco read the instructions, and realized the class would be easy. He relaxed and spent some time doing what he usually did in Potions: he watched the back of Parvati Patil.
There was just something about her that was exquisite. Her features were lovely, but what fascinated Draco were her hands. They never appeared still, and were graceful as butterflies. Her pigtail annoyed him immensely; he wished that she would, for once, wear her hair down. He could imagine what it would feel and smell like. He liked the midnight black, and her dark complexion. She reminded him of a deer with her delicate build and large eyes, which was perhaps not original, but was what Parvati looked like. He deliberately drew his eyes down to his potion again. Even Parvati would not make him lose his equilibrium. When he watched her, he made sure nobody noticed “ least of all Parvati herself. He had to admit to himself as he stirred in a pinch of powdered Soserphus horn, that she did not always look her best in Potions. Now that Neville was no longer in the class, Snape had randomly settled on her as his favorite pupil to bully, (she had worn an ornate hair grip in their first lesson that he had disliked) and her confidence had plummeted accordingly. Draco remembered her being one of the better students in their fifth year. She bit her lip often, pulled anxiously on the end of her pigtail, and put her head in her hands a lot.
He himself put the exact amount of oil of anteater that the recipe specified, and sneaked a quick look over at Granger to see how she was doing. She was going to make a mistake, he saw. She was watching the Weasel. This was happening more and more, often to the detriment of Hermione’s work. There was something wrong there. Weasley had been preoccupied lately “ he had been working harder than he ever had before, and Draco had even seen him hunched over books in the library without Hermione. The Dream Team had some cracks in it at last! Usually it was the Weasel who watched The Fount of All Knowledge. He had never realized she had been there for the taking. Gormless prat. He really didn’t have a clue.
Draco smirked to himself as Snape swirled past with a sour look at his perfect brew, and then came to a halt beside Hermione. “Well, well Ms. Granger. I see you are taking a rest from your studies. Unfortunately the potion is not. Please take detention tonight.” With a wave of his wand, the murky purple in Hermione’s cauldron disappeared. The Weasel raised his head quickly, and Draco saw his look of distaste as his eyes followed Snape. Draco narrowed his eyes. So he was still keen on the Mudblood? Why then, was Granger making it so obvious and still being ignored? Interesting…or maybe not. Draco was turning his head back to his potion again, when he met Harry’s eyes. Harry had noticed him looking at his friends, and of course had the impression that he was satisfied at Granger’s expense. Well, it was the truth. Draco exchanged a hard and unfriendly look with Dumbledore’s Golden Boy, and then caught sight of Parvati. She was glaring at him too. She had obviously formed herself into one of the “Granger Support Group Against Malfoy”. Draco smiled superciliously, and let his silver gray eyes bore into hers. He had expected her expression of disgust as he did so, in fact, he had watched her so much by this time her expression was exactly as he knew it would be, with the little lines at the sides of her nose that appeared when she laughed or wrinkled it for any reason. What took him by surprise was his reaction to her. He wanted to kiss her. In fact, he wanted it so badly, he could feel his fist clenching on the workbench.
And if she didn’t look away, he would be standing there staring like an idiot.
Again that feeling of nausea welled up in his stomach… The feeling of losing control, he realized. He battled himself into submission, as he stared into her eyes, not daring to drop his less she read it as surrender, then raised his eyebrows haughtily before looking down at his potion, which was luckily still intact. He was shaken, and he felt hot and cold by turn. He calmed himself, breathing slowly and looked around furtively. Nobody seemed to have noticed. Parvati herself had gone back to chewing her pen. He relaxed.
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Parvati chewed her pen thoughtfully. That was the second time she had looked right into Malfoy’s eyes. This time they hadn’t remained narrowed, either. He had opened his eyes, and she had seen a flash of something other than cold dark nothingness, which is what you expected to see in Malfoy’s eyes. She couldn’t explain it, but she had felt a shifting in the pit of her stomach, and felt her lips shiver, almost as if he…well, as if he… She leant lower over her work, and chewed furiously. Of course he was drop dead gorgeous. He always had been, but tie that to his personality? Hormones. It had to be hormones. She needed a boyfriend badly. Surreptitiously she wiped her hand over her mouth in an imaginary cleansing ritual, but that reminded her of that sudden longing for his lips on hers. She gritted her teeth, and screwed up her eyes in an effort to forget, and was interrupted with smug satisfaction by Snape.
“I am not surprised you look pained Ms. Patil. I believe you will join Ms. Granger in detention tonight. Next time watch your clock.” With a whisk of his wand, her potion, which until the last few minutes she had been doing so well with, disappeared.
Snape whirled to the front of the class. “You may go.”
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Draco waited until the Dream Team had left before he turned to go. He was avoiding them as much as possible recently, as he had come off badly from an exchange with Granger earlier on in the year, which had left people laughing at him. Parvati was still packing her books, but he did not want to talk to her either, although he would have loved to gloat. When it came to wit, she was almost as great a hazard as Granger to his mind.
However, he could not stop thinking about her. He watched her covertly from the Slytherin table that afternoon. She was so graceful. She held herself so well, and she made his breathing uncomfortable. Enough. He had to do something about her. One good kiss would probably get her out of his system. After all, he had not kissed a girl since the beginning of summer. It was not surprising that he had fastened on Parvati. She was, after all, the most spectacular specimen in their year. Padma was beautiful too, but in a quieter way. Parvati was more vivacious. He began to formulate a plan.
Tonight Parvati was working late for Snape. If Granger could be got out of the way (and the Dream Team would probably see to that) she would have to walk back to the Gryffindor common room in the corridor next to the Slytherin common room. He could catch her there on her own. Draco considered his approach.
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Parvati sat with Lavender Brown at the Gryffindor table. She felt that she was being watched, but could not work out why. Malfoy was sitting with his head in her general direction staring off into space the way he usually did nowadays. But was he watching her? Parvati felt her cheeks flush again as a shiver ran down her back, and she resolutely turned her away from him. She whispered to Lavender, who giggled and looked over her at Draco.
“He’s not watching you. He is looking at the ceiling. Ugh! Who would want Malfoy watching them? What is the matter with you Parvati? I know you think he is,” she tried to imitate Parvati, “Simply gorgeous, but stop drooling. Strictly eye candy only.” She turned back to the absorbing discussion of whether or not Seamus was interested in Lavender, which Parvati suspected he was, and Lavender hoped he was but suspected he wasn’t.
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It was a cold evening, and the dungeons were particularly nasty. Hermione and Parvati went down together, a bit to Draco’s annoyance. He hoped they wouldn’t stick together on the way back. He had counted on the Dream Team collecting Hermione. Well, if he had to improvise, he had to improvise. He waited until they were out of sight, and then followed.