Year Five? Jan. 17 1996 (Ignore this, its for the author who takes breaks that are too long between chapters because the author has commitment issues with fics)

"Wow. Okay?" She just sort of glared at me as I glowered at her.

"Try something else." I practically stomped my foot as I spun around and made my way to the same corner that Luna had gone around before.

"Lovegood!" She shouted for me again but I just sort of ignored her. I was irritated enough to snap but I had to stick to my guns if I ever wanted to just live a normal life with Harry during my school years. I don't even know what I'm going to do after Hogwarts, but I had plenty of time.

I sort of just made my way up to the common room, ignoring the stares of females around the room. I'm sure that by now something had started up in the rumour mill but I didn't care much for listening to it.

I just sort of collapsed onto my bed, rolling around until I'd found my pillow and buried my face into it. It smelled fondly of Hogwarts which was comforting in a way, not many smells comforted me outside of the old stone smell of this castle and soft hay. It was only ironic because I was allergic to hay.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Ara." Luna's tone forced me to roll back over to see her face. She was just sitting on her bed, crosslegged and watching me.

"Explain?" I raised a brow at her scolding expression.

"You're messing around with fate...and it's going to backfire." She sighed, watching me still.

"Remember that time in the living room when you were making earrings?" I waited for her to nod. She seemed to think for a moment, but nodded after a second.

"Even a Heliopath takes time off?" I continued on after she had, in some attempt to explain my logic but she just sighed again.

"This isn't a Heliopath, this is something risky. You're being a chancer." She turned her head ever so slightly, giving me the same regard that Draco had earlier. She was serious about this, I could tell from how thick her accent got.

"Hes a Veela...hes going to notic-"She tried again to lecture me but my patience had ran out already.

"I got it." My words were short and curt.

"Goodnight." She sighed, getting up and grabbing her nightclothes. I didn't reply, laying down to go to bed. It didn't take me long to fall asleep, and when I did, I was fast asleep. It was dreamless, which for once I was thankful.

It was a Tuesday and the day had started off ordinary but quickly took a turn for the worst once the news had arrived during breakfast. Azkaban had a breakout which was unfortunate, a total of five death eaters had broken out. It wasn't as bad as all of them but five was worse than none breaking out. Draco sat with us which wasn't that odd, what was odd was that Harry didn't.

"I think it appropriate to remind you that this June you will be sitting a important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. As such, today will be especially challenging..." Snape's voice was crisp and to the point as I realised I needed to focus on him right now.

Potions class was likely my best one and I enjoyed it to a point, it gave me something to focus on entirely...though it was hard to when Draco was as close as he could possibly be.

I minded it but I didn't at the same time. I felt better when Draco was around, I didn't feel as tired or anxious when he was next to me which was odd considering his presence alone used to be enough for me to fly off the handle.

"You'll be attempting to brew Invigoration Draught. Now assuming you all can read it's ingredients on the board, keep in mind one may be missing...well?" He looked around the room, his eyes were sharp and irritated.

"These won't brew themselves!" He snapped at the series of Ravenclaws and Slytherins who all began scrambling to get out of their seats for ingredients. I went to get up as

"I've got it. Its a madhouse up there." Draco held a hand out, stopping me from getting up.

"Fine, dad." I rolled my eyes at his over-protectiveness but nodded nonetheless, sitting back down again. He reappeared quickly, dumping a series of ingredients onto the table. I looked through each of them, Alihotsy leaves, Dried billywig leaves, Infusion of Wormwood, and Peppermint were here but we were missing something. I glanced at the board but only these were on there.

"Whats missing?" Draco's question forced me to remember he was in my head most of the time now. Think, Ara. Think. Mandrake? No. Where was my potions notebook? I searched the desk, checking under Draco's textbook and the peppermint.

"Missing something, Ms Malfoy?" Snape sounded sardonic as he stopped in front of our desk. I glanced up at him to see Snape was watching me search through the chaos of ingredients with an expression I couldn't decipher.

"I'm still only 16." I pursed my lips at the name, forgetting we were in school right now and he wasn't some odd addition to Draco's family.

"You're still running out of time. Tick. Tock." Each word's K was enunciating with the most irritating pop and a wave of his infuriating. I felt like a challenge had been issued

"Stewed Mandrake root!" I declared loudly...a little too loudly. Loud enough that the people still gathering ingredients turned to stare at me. Oops.

"See me after class, Ms Malfoy." He appeared to be mad but not mad enough to deduct points. Draco eyed his back as Snape turned and stalked to the next set of students to intimidate. He wordlessly disappeared to the shelves available for students behind Snape's desk and grabbed a bottle of Stewed Mandrake Root.

"He wouldn't deduct points from you, you know?" Draco spoke after a second of me continuing to search through my bag for my potions book. I didn't realise he was back already.

"Hows that?" I raised a brow, looking away from my bag.

"He wouldn't have bothered giving you that letter unless you had a talent for this, Ara." He looked at me as though I should have gotten that already. I couldn't tell if he was just point out my moment of stupidity or if this was supposed to be comforting.

"Its supposed to be comforting." He shook his head, moving to chop up the leaves and peppermint as I dumped the stewed Mandrake into one cauldron on a high heat.

"I'm not great at being comforted." I mumbled, focusing on taking the right amount of leaves and using my wand to set a low stirring speed in another cauldron on low heat.

"I know." His voice was low but soft as he handed me the peppermint. That needed to be added last so it could counter any possible side effects like a runaway heartbeat and it made it taste nicer. A bunch of leaves and roots tastes exactly like it sounded...like you licked a tree.

"Is that bad?" I raised a brow, eyeing him carefully.

"I like a challenge." He shrugged, cleaning his blade of the juice from the Alihotsy leaves.

"30 MINUTES LEFT. MOVE!" Snape's voice thundered across the classroom, making some students scurry a bit faster. I refused to allow him to scare me, at this point only Draco rampaging or He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named would do it.

"Good to know I scare you." Draco sighed, shaking his head as he moved to stir the cauldron of Mandrake.

"Not like that!" I was defending myself for some reason, mainly because I felt bad and goodness knows why.

"I'm just saying that you can be scary when you're mad." I shrugged awkward shoving my face back down into my book. It wasn't quite a potions book, rather it was my own additions and recipes that I liked the most. Not all of them worked, of course. Some needed tweaking but I never had the time do it.

"You'll have the time over holidays...though you might have to share with Snape." Draco smirked at me, glancing at Snape for a second before he looked back at me. I rolled my eyes at that, eyeing the Mandrake root.

"I'm adding the leaves." I declared to him, halfway expecting him to stop me.

"Alright." He shrugged, watching me pick up the cauldron. Usually people used magic for this but I felt like this was easier to measure the amount going in at one time.

When I was done adding the entire mixture, I began stirring by hand. I was mainly focused on the potion but I swear I could see Draco watching me from the corner of my eyes. My eyes strayed to his for a quick second, he was watching me with his fist under his chin. It was almost sweet.

"I'm telling you, they're dating." I stopped my stirring as I heard feminine whispers from the table behind us.

"No way. I'm telling you that she's with the golden knob." Had to be Slytherins. I glanced at Draco to see the thoughtful look in his eyes gone, he was rather irritated now.

"Right right. Wasn't he dating Parkinson?" The first girl was whispering again and I tried to focus back on the pot infront of me before I fucked it up. I don't know why it made me mad, that Pansy and him were a thing when I was with Harry.

"You're not with him." Draco mumbled with a bitter edge.

"Right." I nodded quickly, trying to form a plan without him knowing. What to do? Wall? Wall. Imagine a wall between me and everything else in the world, absolutely everything.

"Seriously, Ara?" Draco sounded a right bit of mad with that and I didn't want a scene here. Okay, not the best idea.

"Sorry." I mumbled softly, watching the potion for that signature greyish colour before I'd bottle it to be inspected. What really surprised me though, is how apologetic I felt for even trying to shut him out. Actually, that just irritated me now that I think about it.

I said nothing else for the remaining time, hoping to not step on any toes. Well no more than I already had, so I waited and stirred in silence. Awkward but not as bad as a mad Veela, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

"You're not wrong." Draco's voice was lowered, likely to not attract anymore attention than we already had. Relationships were complicated and this one was even more so thanks to a possible return of Voldemort. Though now he'd have some difficulty.

"You time has ended. Please bring your...concoctions to me for review." Snape's voice was sharp this time, sounded like he was already losing what little patience he had. I eyed the brew once more, spooning it out and letting it drip back into the cauldron to see the consistency. It was the right colour and everything but I still felt nervous for this part, like always. I was messy in general but I hit a perfectionist streak with potions.

"It's perfect, love. Just pour it in." I felt a hand at the low of my back, it was calming but I felt the need to make sure no on else saw it which made me more anxious than I was already. My eyes darted around the room, checking to see that everyone was busy bottling their own potions. Terrific.

"Now! Ara." Snape was getting impatient and I was ever so thankful he elected to use my name as opposed to my new surname.

I hurried pouring the potion, spilling a bit on my hand which burned but I ignored it in lieu of moving it to the front of the classroom. I placed it front of the, oh-so terrifying professor and waited with bated breath. Draco stayed at the table, possibly because only one of us needed to be up here or more likely because I was a nervous wreck at the moment.

He smelled it, and swished it around in the bottle. I watched as he dipped his finger in it and tasted it, it took him a moment until he nodded. Oh, bless. I was worried for a good while there.

"Adequate." He declared with little interest, vanishing it away. I felt some relief at that and returned to my desk to grab my bag and books.

I paused for a moment noticing that neither things were where I'd left them. My head spun side to side as my eyes searched over the desk, floor, and chairs until I realised Draco was smirking at me, my bag on his shoulder.

"Ready?" He raised a brow, waiting for me to move forwards.

"Ms Malfoy." I went to take a step when Snape's voice stopped me. I glanced around the room to find that the last Slytherin had already made their way out of the door, leaving Draco, Snape, and I in the cold dungeon. I'd never gotten over the heavy odour of mildew in here.

"Yes?" I turned on my heel, facing the odd Malfoy family member.

"The next time you decide to shout out the answer to the rest of the class, I will deduct 15 points from Ravenclaw." He looked rather intimidating, standing over me with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.

"I-" I started to try and explain that I didn't actually mean to shout the bloody answer to everyone but he stopped me.

"Favourite or not, I will deduct points." He seemed quite serious but I couldn't help the smirk that popped up on my face.

"I thought Draco was your favourite?" I'm sure this wasn't the best thing to say right now but it was out before I could stop myself.

"Only one of you has a talent for this." I was surprised that Snape looked like he may have actually wanted to smirk at that, but it had to be my imagination.

"Right." I nodded, turning to head for the door and hoping Malfoy would get the hint and follow me along.

"Draco." Oh, right. He was in my head whenever he could be, of course he'd figure out what I was doing.

I was happy to get out of the dungeons, it always felt wet down there. Wet and dark. You'd think Snape would want a classroom on the first floors instead of the dungeons just for avoid any condensation. Some of what he brewed was temperamental to the slightest change. He was odd.

"Have you ever seen Snape smile?" I asked aloud, looking at Draco as we made our way to Transfiguration.