Bonding by Binding

They got to the classroom just in time for Professor McGonagall to give them a look. They knew they were cutting it close. Harry just followed Draco towards the back of the classroom where Draco’s gang was waiting with room for them both. Harry still felt out of place, especially in his Gryffindor Robes. At least he had a break from the rest of the Gryffindors; Slytherin had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and, hopefully, they were less against him than the looks they were giving out.

“Ok, class. The O.W.L.s are getting closer so let’s get to it. The next spell I would like us to try is called Vestimenta, a useful spell that changes items into clothes the caster pictures. This spell has been in use for centuries and since the caster has to visualize the clothes themselves it never needs to be updated or modernized. The spell itself is ‘Rem Ut Vestimenta,’ make sure to prolong the es’ in both words, and the wand movement is a strong swirl and a strong flick like this.” And so the Professor went on to demonstrate the spell to the class and discuss a few more details before letting them try the spell themselves.

At first Harry thought it was just an accident. His robe kept changing into random outfits, he semi laughed the first time but when it kept happening he was starting to feel targeted. Especially when he could hear some Ravenclaws trying not to giggle or snicker at him. Draco and the rest of the Slytherins were starting to get angry. They could tell Harry wasn’t going to do anything but they weren’t going to leave it be.

“Professor McGonagall, Harry is being attacked by someone!”

Draco wasn’t going to keep quiet. Even if Harry kept trying to stop him from saying anything. McGonagall looked over at them and saw Harry with a skirt and a tube top which he was trying to change back to his uniform.

“That’s enough everyone. If I see this again I will be taking points. Potter, can you change it back or do you need any help?”

Harry just managed to change his outfit back when McGonagall asked him. But as soon as she turned around someone changed his outfit back to a skirt, but this time his shirt was something that said ‘Slytherin’s Toy’. He just sat down and gave up changing it figuring that until the class is over it would just keep changing back. Draco was not impressed. He was getting abnormally angry for Harry figuring that his bonded feelings were starting to really act up.

“Harry, let’s just leave. Obviously McGonagall isn’t going to do anything about it and there’s no way we can get any revenge while in class. There’s no point in staying here and the others will let us know if we missed anything important.”

Draco kneeled next to Harry trying to convince him to leave the class but Harry just keep shaking his head.

“Leaving means they win. Plus Professor Snape would not be impressed with me if I’m the cause of us missing class. Just leave it as is and once we leave I’ll change it back. Draco, it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before. Last year was worse so don’t worry.”

Draco sighed and decided to trust Harry and just keep his head down at this time. The other Slytherins were not completely happy about this but followed their lead. The Ravenclaws at this time just kept changing Harry’s outfit feeling unhappy that it didn’t seem to be bothering him. So instead they targeted Draco. They changed Draco’s outfit to super girly looks. Skirts, pink tops, or just a pink bra at one point. Draco decided to follow Harry’s lead and ignore it but everyone could tell he was getting super angry and annoyed. Then out of the blue Harry just blew up.

“OK! THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Everyone just stared at him. Harry was standing up in the same skirt and shirt as earlier but he was red faced and staring at poor Draco who was still trying to keep calm.

“I understand you are against me for some reason but Draco didn’t do anything and doesn’t deserve to be tortured like this. If you keep going then I might actually do something about all of this and trust me when I say you don’t want me to start getting revenge…”

McGonagall just stood there with her mouth open. She knew she was ignoring what was happening but she figured if Potter and Malfoy weren’t bothered she would just let it all be.

“Mr. Potter! I realize that you were getting frustrated with the situation, but there is a reason I am around. Yelling in class like this is inappropriate. 10 points from Slytherin, and 5 from Ravenclaw. Now everyone put your wands away class is about to be dismissed.”

The Slytherins, used to the unfairness of teachers when it came to them, just shook their heads and spelled Draco and Harry back to their regular outfits then put everything away. Harry on the other hand just stared at McGonagall wondering why she was being so unfair. The Ravenclaws were the ones that were causing trouble. Why would she take it out on him? He sat back down and didn’t even notice everyone getting ready to leave. He just stared at his teacher wondering what was going on. Once everyone was out of the class, Professor McGonagall was going through her notes for her next class and didn’t notice Harry approaching.

“Professor, why is it I lost points for trying to put a stop to the bullying while Ravenclaw barely got in trouble even though they had a warning?”

McGonagall jumped a little when he started speaking, she was not expecting him to still be in her classroom. She put down her notes, took a seat at her desk and looked over at her former lion cub. She did notice that other than his scars he did look very drained and weary, she felt a little bad for him, but at the same time she wasn’t sure what she could do or could have done to help at this time.

“Mr. Potter, you yelled in my classroom. I would never have accepted that no matter who did it. As for the Ravenclaws, there was no proof that they were the ones that attacked you; it could have been other Slytherins so I was not going to punish them too severely without that proof. Now you better get going, you don’t want to be late to your next class.”

With that dismissal she looked back down to her notes expecting him to be leaving her classroom. Harry wasn’t going to let it drop but Draco, who waited for him at the doorway rushed to pull him over and just told him to drop it.

“This is nothing new with what happens to us Slytherins’. You get used to it. It’s also why Sev is so generous with us and takes points easily from the other houses. Now c’mon, it’s time for Potions and the last thing we need is to be late for that.”

Harry looked at Draco in a little shock. He never noticed the unfairness the teachers had towards Slytherin… Then again, he always was in the mind that they deserved everything they got since he didn’t know or get along with them.

They both walked super-fast to get to class on time and it looked like they just made it. Unfortunately for Harry the only places left was one with a Slytherin and another with Lavender Brown. Harry sighed, looked over at Draco and just rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I’ll take the one with the Gryffindor if you want. Lavender is usually just a gossip queen but she doesn’t tend to cause trouble herself… Besides, I don’t know the Slytherin that’s left and you’ll probably do better with him than me.”

Draco looked over at the Slytherin, it was Theo Nott, he frowned… He had no issues with Theo but he was worried about Harry. Plus he had it in his mind that he would help Harry bring his marks up in Potions.

“Take a seat boys, we won’t be waiting on you to start if you don’t.”

Snape seemed to be in his no nonsense, no favorable attitude, in other words his teacher mode. Harry winced and went to sit down with Lavender but he was pulled away and pushed towards the Slytherin instead.

“Go, I’ll sit with her and deal with it. Theo is nice and will be good with you, if anything he’ll help you raise your grade up.”

Before Harry could even start to think of a reply Draco was sitting down beside Lavender and Snape was glaring at him. So he rushed to the only spot left and noticed Theo nodding at him and gently moving the stool out for him to sit on. Harry smiled at Theo and sat right down getting ready to start class.

Snape started class right away.

“Now, due to the last class mishap I am in need of more scar removal cream. While this cream does not completely remove the scars, it does diminish them and help heal most of it…”

Harry blushed red and just kept his head down to his notes while Snape was semi smirking at him.

Snape had noticed that the bond was changing his view of Harry and he wasn’t sure if he liked that at this time. Not only is he supposed to be a spy for both Voldemort and Dumbledore, but also he really didn’t want to be seen being friendly to a Potter, there was too much history between him and Potter’s to be comfortable with it.

So, he continued the lesson, ignoring Harry but treating Draco even better than before. Theo was very confused, wasn’t Harry his omega? Why would anyone treat their omega this way? He felt bad for Harry, he could tell that Harry was feeling very down and it seemed to be affecting his potion making as well.

“Harry, when it says slice they mean in thin strips from the long way down. Otherwise it’s considered chopped and changes the potion since the item dissolves differently. Didn’t you get the book that shows the different chopping and mixing ways?” Theo asked. He was very confused as Harry was listening to the professor, just not doing what his own notes says.

“I… umm… I haven’t… I just never got it and just found out about the other side of the list from first year… The ‘teacher’ that got me from my muggle household was Hagrid and as great a person he is, he just shouldn’t be the one introducing people to magic…”

Harry mumbled this while re-slicing his work. Theo on the other hand was very surprised and unsure what to say to that. So instead he just helped Harry learn the basics of the ways of cutting and mixing. Something that Snape should have done in the first lesson in the boys’ minds.

Once the hour of class was over Harry felt very comfortable with Theo and appreciated his help so much.

“Thanks Theo, no one took the time to explain things like this for me but it makes much more sense now. I may actually be able to pass my potions owl with you as a partner.” Harry smiled widely looking up at the tall boy. Theo on the other hand just nodded his head while looking down at him.

‘How is he so small… I don’t think even the second years are this short by the end of their year…’

            “Not a problem Harry. You’re one of us now and we take care of our own in Slytherin as I’m sure Professor Snape or Draco explained. Besides, with you on my team maybe Snape will be easier on us.”

            “Hahaha ya ok. You saw how he was in there, there’s no way he’ll ever favor me and even if he did it would just be the same as every Slytherin gets from him in class.”

            Theo looked down at Harry and saw that Harry was actually partially amused about that, but that he also looked like he might be putting himself down. He wasn’t sure what to say this time. Thankfully Draco decided to show up and take over the conversation.

            “Thank Merlin that class is over. Brown does nothing but talk in class and then complains when she’s supposed to touch anything that she figures would ‘ruin her nails’ and then she complained about being the one stirring the potion as the fumes would ruin her hair… Harry I hope you are happy I made you sit with Theo, between you and Brown there would have been no chance for you to pass the day never mind the class.” Draco snickered showing the others’ he didn’t really mean it even if it was probably true.

            “Now let’s go before lunch is over. We have Charms after and having energy for it is always a good idea.”

            With that Draco started walking away catching up with Pansy and Daphne while Harry and Theo slowly caught up with them walking quietly. Once they got to the Great Hall they were all stared at once more. Harry had almost forgotten the article that was printed in the Prophet since Potions surprisingly went with no problems from the Gryffindors. But now that they aren’t only with Snape he can tell that they want to get back at him for his so called ‘betrayal’. Luckily, when he sat down and looked at his schedule he noticed he had Charms with the Ravenclaws after lunch, so he can hopefully postpone his confrontation with the Gryffindors for a little longer since this was his last class before the weekend. He planned on staying in his rooms for most of it trying to catch up to classes, both new and old.

            They ate fast and quietly too tired to really converse at that time. Once it was close to class time they all looked at each other and just nodded and prepared themselves for the Ravenclaws so called revenge on Harry and Draco.