"…and you will be testing the potion on whomever I assign you to partner up with…No, no buts , I shall be picking partners this time so yes, you and…Potter…will be separated," droned the greasy Potions master Professor Severus Snape, "Well let me see. Weasley and Granger…Miss Granger please do not let Weasley near the potion, I do not need any deaths in my classroom today. Potter and Finnegan. Thomas and Patil. Brown and Longbottom…on second thought, Longbottom works alone so there are no accidental injuries today. Mr. Finnegan's ears are finally even. Brown and…Parkinson. Miss Parkingson, I'm sorry to separate you from Mr. Malfoy but you to have gotten no work done in this class as partners and I have decided separating the happy couple is the only way to go. So Mr. Malfoy and…hmm…well it seems that Miss Jeckyll is the only one left. So you'll be working with her. Now everyone get to work. I'm expecting a completed and relatively correct potion in… 25 minutes!" The dreary professor wandered back over to his desk and picked up a book to tune out the class for the next 25 minutes. "Oh and one more thing…students. These are the partners that you will be with for the remainder of the school year. Good luck."The groups got together and started assembling their ingredients and equipment, with occasionally bursts of laughter or angry shouting.

Draco Malfoy, dashing, blonde, rich, Slytherin, is not used to being told who to work with, especially not by Professor Snape! "My father will have you fired for this," he muttered under his breath. Draco looked to the back of the room at his partner. Kalyope Jeckyll was a fellow Slytherin, a pureblood thank goodness. But she rarely spoke to anyone. If Draco thought he was exclusive about who he interacted with, Kaly was even worse! It was a known fact around the school that Kaly looked down on everyone. Though it was with good reason. Her mother was a Greek heiress and her father had some sort of top secret job in the Ministry of Magic. Her family had both gobs of wealth and were even said to be somehow related to the great Slytherin himself! Besides her wealth and power, Kaly was absolutely and irrevocably gorgeous. A true Greek goddess. Almost 6 feet tall and perfectly curvy, she had flawless deeply tanned skin, long dark curls and eyes that bordered on black. A strong Grecian nose, pouting lips, deep-set eyes and a perfectly oval face set off with dramatic clothing and make-up, Kaly would have had all the boys at school at her feet...if she didn't terrify them all. Draco shuddered as he thought of the rumors surrounding her. If what he's heard is true, she definitely isn't a virgin, is being commissioned by the Death Eaters to do top secret missions for the Dark Lord, spends her days planning how to overtake the entire world, and if you try to get to know her, she will kill you. Draco straightened up and arched his eyebrows. Well he thought I do like a challenge. And Kalyope should be fun to break. Hope my girlfriend won't mind. Besides, Kaly's way hotter and richer than Pansy.

With that, he sidled over to the dark figure hard at work mixing potions in the back of the class. Kaly looked at him through thickly black lined eyes. "So it seems I'm stuck with…you…for the year?" It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. "Hmm, well I'm the top student in our year, much to that mudblood Granger's dismay, and I don't need some spoiled bastard like you ruining it for me. Stay out of my way and you can be the potion guinea pig…if I need one. Got it? Good." Kalyope went back to mixing her potion and adding the ingredients. Just my luck she mused to get stuck with Snape's pet. I'd bet anything this idiot won't do shit to help…and if he did, he'd just fuck up. Dumb pretty boy. I work better alone. Draco sat watching her and thought Hmm… well then. Apparently she is as much of a bitch as everyone says. Well easy grade for me. I'll be passing potions without doing an ounce of work this year. I'll just let the wicked bitch of the west get what she wants. Too bad she's so damn sexy though. Fine piece of ass like that wasted…