“- and Harry. You’ll be partnered with Draco,” Professor Snape sneered. His hatred for Harry really knew no bounds, so much so as to partner him with someone who didn’t really enjoy his company. At least, that’s what it felt like to Harry.
“Ugh, Why do I have to work with you, Potter.” Draco spoke, walking over to stand at Harry’s potion bench.
“Sorry,” Harry mumbled. He really didn’t know what else to say. He was already dreading potions class because of Professor Snape, and now he had to work with Draco - someone who looked at him like a piece of gum on the bottom of his shoe - he had already started to feel completely overwhelmed and now he had to make a potion he wasn’t familiar with and -
Woah. OK. Deep breaths. You got this. Harry took a deep breath in, and when Snape waved his hand, he was able to start on the potion with Draco.
Snape had really challenged them this time. Everyone was forced to prepare the ingredients from the very beginning. They had to mince, dice, peel and separate about a gazillion different items and had to follow very strict instructions (which - under normal circumstances - Harry would be fine with, but he was already very overwhelmed).
“Alright Potter, I’ll start with the Bloodroot stems, you can do the Valerian root. Don’t do the frog slime until we need it, got it?” Draco stated, grabbing the Bloodroot stems and preparing his side of the bench. Harry nodded and started to get on with it.
Looking at the instructions, he had to ‘mince the Valerian Root’. Should be simple enough. He got out his board and knife, and began to mince the root. Excellent. Perfect. He could totally do this. He’s doing so well. It’s new and scary, but he’s doing so well! Look, at him, mincing the root.
And in a jiffy, he was done.
“I’ve finished mincing the Valerian Root. What should I do now?” Harry asked Draco, placing the minced root into it’s own little bowl.
“You’re a big boy, can’t you figure that out yourself?” Draco spoke, looking up at Harry.
Harry looked puzzled, “Why, yes. I can. Um…”
“... Go do the Skullcap leaves. Then we can start with the potion,” Draco told him, looking back down at his mortar and pestle.
“Alright,” Harry responded, moving to carry act Draco’s words.
The instructions stated that the Skullcap leaves needed to be shredded lengthwise, so Harry began to do just that. And just as quickly as before, Harry had finished. And this time, so had Draco.
“OK, now we can start with the potion,” Draco spoke. He began to look over the instructions and started on the potion. Draco didn’t announce his moves and any attempt Harry made to anticipation his needs was directly - and rudely - shot down.
“Why are you handing me the Skullcap leaves? I don’t even need that?” Draco sneered.
“Sorry, I just… I don’t know what you need?” Harry spoke, picking the skin at his nails and looking down at the ground. All that fear and embarrassment that he shoved down from before had come erupting, and he felt like he wanted to cry. “Sorry Draco, I’ll just stand here and let you do it.”
“You can’t just see what I’m doing and follow along?” Draco asked. Harry couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or not.
“Well, you’re not saying anything, and I can’t see what you’re doing so I don’t know what to do and you keep looking at me like that and telling me off I- … I’m sorry,” Harry mumbled. He felt like he could just die.
Draco sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, “Come here,” Draco spoke calmly, placing his hand on top of Harry’s.
“I’m up to here, see?” Draco pointed to the step on the sheet, “I need the calendula leaves, can you grab that for me?”
“Sure,” Harry spoke softly, moving to grab the leaves.
“Good job,” Draco spoke, adding the leaves to the potion. He placed the bowl down and turned to Harry again, “The Skullcap leaves,” Draco extended his hand out.
Harry reached over and grabbed the Skullcap leaves and placed them into Draco’s hand.
“Excellent. You’re doing great,” and even though Draco said that with little-to-none emotion and no smile, Harry felt really happy. Draco had complimented him, and it seemed like he meant it. Harry had done something right.
The rest of the hour went by relatively quickly, with Draco walking Harry through every step, and announcing exactly what he was doing and exactly what he needed as he did it. Harry was finally able to have better communication with Draco, and he felt like he could start to be more comfortable around him.
Finally, the potion was done and inspected by Snape, and they both received full marks (Although, Harry has an inkling he only received the full mark because he was partnered with Draco).
~~
As the trio exited the Potion’s Classroom, Hermione turned to Harry and asked, “Partnering with Draco? That must have been dreadful! Was he kind to you, Harry?”
“It wasn’t as bad as you think it was. And yes, he was really kind and helpful.” Harry smiled, putting his friends worries at ease.