1
He failed again. He failed again! Harry huffed as he stared down at his potions homework with a glare that should’ve burst the paper into flames. Ron slapped Harry on the back with a burst of laughter,
“It’ll be alright mate, I’m sure Hermione will help you out.”
“I don’t want Hermione to help me out.” Harry said back, leaning back in his seat with a deep sigh.
“Why not? She helps me all the time.”
“Exactly, Ron. She doesn’t need to help us both pass our classes.”
“But-”
“Mr. Potter.” Snape’s voice interrupted Ron, who immediately quieted and brought his eyes back to his own graded homework.
“Yes, professor?” Harry replied boredly.
“Your work seems to be getting lazier and lazier. I suggest you pay attention to your studies instead of goofing off with Mr. Weasley.” Snape drawled, his face remaining neutral.
Harry internally rolled his eyes. It wasn’t Ron’s fault that Harry was bad at potions.
“Yes, professor.” Harry replied again.
Snape whirled around at that, taking a few steps forward before speaking again,
“Mr. Malfoy.”
Harry watched as Malfoy lifted his head to look at Snape before saying,
“Yes, professor?”
Snape looked over to Draco,
“Your work has been exceptional as usual. You are to tutor Mr. Potter until he gets his grade to a decent level in my class.”
The room was silent as both Harry and Draco gaped at Snape before speaking in protest over each other.
“No! No way am I being tutored by Malfoy!”
“No way am I tutoring Potter, Professor!”
“Mr. Potter will be tutored by Mr. Malfoy. If you do not agree or participate, you will both fail my class.”
They both shut their mouths at that, before turning to glare at each other. Ron was snickering next to Harry which got him an elbow to the ribs.
“Mate, that is some serious back luck you’ve got” Ron sniggered, holding his side.
Harry groaned before knocking forward and pressing his forehead to the table loudly.
Harry was putting his stuff back into his bag when he remembered that it was his first day of tutoring. By Malfoy of all people! The good mood that he’d been riding since he went flying that morning completely vanished and was replaced with annoyance. He shoved the rest of his stuff into his bag aggressively before exiting the classroom behind Ron and Hermione.
“Me and Hermione were planning on heading to the common room and hanging out, you down to join us Harry?” Ron asked, turning to look back at Harry who was slightly trailing behind them.
Harry shook his head, huffing air out of his nose,
“I can’t. I’ve got a bloody tutoring session with Malfoy today.”
Ron immediately burst into laughter, still not over the amusement of Harry having to be tutored by Malfoy.
“What? You’re being tutored by Malfoy? Since when?” Hermione asked, her eyebrows high on her face in question. Harry had totally forgotten to fill Hermione in, trying his hardest to put the whole thing out of his mind after Snape had announced it.
“Snape, the big nosed git, practically demanded that Malfoy tutor Harry otherwise they’d both fail his class.” Ron supplied, traces of a grin still on his face.
“Rotten luck.” He continued.
Hermione nodded empathetically,
“You know if you were failing potions you could’ve just come to me for help, Harry. I’m sure I'm the only reason why Ronald isn’t failing himself.”
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Ron replied, grin now replaced with a frown.
“I know, Hermione. I just don’t want to rely on you for stuff like that. You’re my best friend, not my tutor.” Harry said.
“Well if you’d rather deal with Malfoy- “
“I’d rather fight Voldemort himself than deal with Malfoy telling me I need to stir something clockwise three times in that fucking voice he uses when he thinks someone is stupider than him.”
“You could say that again.” Ron replied.
Harry glanced at the clock at the end of the hall before groaning,
“I’ve got to go. Him talking to me like I’m stupid will be worse if I’m late.”
“Good luck, Harry.” Hermione said, giving him a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, good luck, mate. You’re gonna need it.” Ron said before they both turned and retreated down the hall.
Harry watched them until they disappeared from his sight. He sucked in a deep breath before turning and heading in the direction of the classroom that he and Malfoy are supposed to meet at.
As he walked he couldn’t help but think this might be a good thing. Hanging out with Malfoy so much meant that Malfoy would have less time to plot on whatever he’s been up to. Harry smirked slightly to himself at the thought. Maybe he could get some more insight on what Malfoy was up to while being stuck with him.
When Harry arrived at the door to the classroom he paused. The door was open and Malfoy was sitting with his back to the door, moving various books and supplies around to his preferred set up. Harry scanned the hallway before entering the classroom.
Once Draco heard someone had entered the classroom he turned, looking at Harry with an unimpressed stare.
“You’re late.”
“What? No I’m not!” Harry protested, immediately feeling his rage towards Malfoy start burning in his stomach.
“Yes you are.” Draco said neutrally before glancing at the clock.
“4 minutes, Potter. Surely you know how to read a clock, or is it a Gryffindor trait to think being late is fashionable?”
Draco turned back to the books laid out on the table while Harry scrambled to come up with a comeback. He huffed loudly before moving to sit in the seat next to Draco when he couldn’t think of anything. Surely it's more of a Slytherin thing to be fashionably late.
Draco didn’t look at him when he sat down, just pushed one of the books he had under Harry’s nose. Harry looked down at it, seeing that it was the textbook for their potions class. He groaned internally. He really hated potions.
“First you’re going to read the chapter you failed. Then you’re going to read it again-“
“Why do I have to read it twice?!”
“So you understand it, idiot.” Draco replied casually before continuing,
“and then you are going to try and brew this potion.” He said while gesturing to the parchment that had instructions on it.
“Oh for fucks sake.” Harry remarked.
Draco scoffed,
“What? Is the chosen one too good for some reading? Oh wait a minute, can you even read? Do you need me to read it for you?”
“Fuck off, Malfoy” Harry glared at him, flipping open the book aggressively and turning to the pages he was supposed to read. He could see Malfoy’s stupid smirk out of the corner of his eye which made him glare even harder at the page. Maybe if he glared hard enough he could finally make it burst into flames and then he wouldn’t have to deal with any of this stupid shit.
Surprisingly, Draco stayed silent as Harry began to read.
As Harry continued reading, he found his thoughts drifting elsewhere. Like the common room he could be hanging out in with his friends right now. Or the quidditch pitch he could be flying in right now.
“Pay attention to the words in front of you, Potter. I know your tiny brain must be having information overload but-“
“What? Got somewhere to be Malfoy? Hot date?”
Draco glared at him at that,
“I know you’re not used to people not wanting to spend time with you, but I do have better things to do. Much better things.”
“Why can’t you just teach me then? I’m more of a hands-on learner.”
“Fine, if it means I can leave earlier.”
Harry shut the textbook with a thud and shoved it to the side as Draco pulled the parchment closer along with the cauldron and ingredients.
“Do you know what the first thing you have to do is?” Draco asked.
Harry looked over all of the supplies, glancing at Draco’s bored expression before shrugging,
“Nope. Not a clue.”
Draco all but hissed through his teeth at Harry’s answer, barely hiding his annoyance through his carefully masked face of boredom.
“You’re hopeless. A hopeless idiot who is going to make it through school on the fact that he’s the fucking chosen one.”
“I don’t think Snape would let me get that far.”
“Yes, because Professor Snape has some actual sense. The other teachers are blind to your idioticness.”
“Is the only insult you know ‘idiot’?” Harry shot back.
Draco huffed, both of the boys were now glaring heatedly at each other,
“No, but it’s the only one your puny brain could even begin to comprehend. Read the directions, Potter, and brew the fucking potion.”
Harry opened his mouth to say something, but because he likes to believe that he’s sensible and not impulsive, he snapped it shut again and aggressively pulled the parchment towards him before setting to work.
Surprisingly, with Draco’s comments, the ones not about him being an idiot, actually helped Harry in his potion brewing. There were no explosions, and by the end of the hour, the potion was actually decent.
Harry smiled to himself as he put the potion into a vial to bring to Snape along with his homework assignment re-do. Draco had neatly cleaned everything up and begun putting stuff back into his back with the flick of his wand before saying,
“Well it wasn’t the worst potion you’ve ever brewed, thanks to me, but it is certainly not up to standard. You’ve much to learn, Potter. Unfortunately, I’ll see you here again tomorrow. Same time. Next time, don’t be late.”
Harry wasn’t given a chance to respond before Draco was out of the room. Harry let out a loud sigh as he packed the rest of his stuff by hand.
All in all, the study session with Malfoy hadn’t gone nearly as bad as Harry had thought it would. Sure, he called him an idiot in nearly every sentence that he spoke, and the helpful bits were usually accompanied by some jab at him or his friends, but they hadn’t hexed each other. That’s all Harry could hope for. He just hoped that tomorrow would be the same.
The next day had gone by normally. Harry ate breakfast in the Great Hall, was late to two of his classes, hung out with his friends, and even went flying on the pitch with Ron for a bit while Hermione watched from the stands. Now he and Ron were hanging out in the common room, playing some wizard's chess while Hermione finished up her last class of the day.
It was going great, until he remembered that he had to go see Malfoy.
A jolt of slight panic shot through Harry as he jerked his eyes towards the nearest clock.
“Shit!”
“What?” Ron asked, sitting on the floor in front of Harry, the wizarding chess board sat in the middle of them.
“I’m late!” Harry yelled as an explanation, scrambling to his feet and grabbing his bag from where it lay discarded on the couch of the common room.
“Mate, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about-”
“Malfoy!” That was the only response Ron got before Harry was out the door and running to the classroom he was supposed to meet Malfoy in.
Goddamnit. Being late once was alright, but twice in a row? He’d be lucky if he made it through the door before Malfoy hexed him. Harry slowed his pace and tried to make himself look presentable, and not like he just ran all the way here, before he got to the classroom. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame it down before doing the same to his robes. He didn't bother trying to fix his tie.
Once he got to the doorway, he peeked in to assess the danger, but all he seen was the same thing as yesterday. Malfoy was rearranging things to his taste. Harry noted that there was different ingredients on the table this time and no textbook. Harry mentally cheered at the thought of not having to read the chapter this time, but his excitement was immediately squashed when Malfoy turned around, meeting his eye.
He watched as Malfoy looked down at his own arm, at the watch sitting on his wrist before flicking his eyes back up to Harry.
“Late again, Potter?” He questioned.
“I’m sorry! I totally forgot we were even doing this and-”
“Oh, shut up. I don’t care about what you were doing with your time, Potter. I just know that you’re wasting mine with your brainless warbling. Let’s brew this fucking potion so we can leave.” Malfoy turned back around in his seat and waited for Harry to come take his seat beside him.
Harry timidly approached the seat, setting his bag down on the ground and then sitting next to Malfoy. As soon as he was seated, the parchment was placed in front of him.
“Get to it. I haven’t got all day.”
“What, no reading this time?” Harry questioned. He tried to sound like he was teasing, but for some reason he was a bit terrified of Malfoy at the moment so it came out as more of a whisper.
“No. It’s proven ineffective for your miniscule brain. You said you were a hands-on learner, so start fucking learning.” Draco said back, shooting a glare towards Harry.
Harry reached for his needed ingredients, noting that Malfoy had hidden some that he wouldn’t actually be needing amongst them. He saw Malfoy’s small nod of approval once he had all that he needed. Then he set to work.
This potion went by much like the last one. Malfoy helped him along with the process, accompanied by insults and quips that were entirely unhelpful. Harry even managed to do some of it by himself this time, and not mess it up.
Once they were done, Harry smiled at the finished product in the vial, turning to show Draco.
“Better than last time.” Was all Draco had to say before flicking his wand and packing up all his things.
“I cannot stand to spend this much time with you for three days in a row, and I’d like the weekend to myself, as I’m sure you would, so I’ll see you here again on Monday. Same time, and I am being entirely serious when I say that if you are late again, I will hex all of your disastrous hair off of your idiotic head.” Draco said with a pointed stare before he exited the room.
Right before he turned the corner out of the door, Draco turned around and said,
“Don’t be late, Potter.”
“I won’t, I promise.” Harry said, just as Draco turned and walked away.
Harry stared at the empty doorway for far too long before thinking,
God, it’s going to be a long weekend.