Younger Than Springtime

Chapter Two

As Draco walked with his friends to the dungeons, he felt his left forearm burn. It burns it burns it burns. Try not to think about it. He couldn't help it. The pain was intense. Far more intense than anything he had felt before. And the pain was constant. It wouldn't go away. Unless he was distracted. Yes. Let's get distracted and think about anything else except for this god awful pain. He became aware of his surroundings, and realized they had reached the common room, and everyone was engaged in conversation except for Astoria. She was staring at him with a questioning look in her eye. "You okay?" She mouthed from across the group. "Bloody tired" he mouthed back as they reached the door to the boys and girls dormitories. Blaise, Theo, Graham and Draco went to their room, while Tori and Pans went to theirs.

"They've all gotten awfully pretty haven't they" Blaise commented as they changed. "Bloody hell, especially Jules" Theo agreed. Even Draco had to admit that all three girls had gotten quite pretty over the summer. "Hey. My sister has not gotten pretty" Graham argued in disgust. "Well then how about darling little Astoria" Theo cooed with a teasing voice and knowing smile. "Tori has always been pretty and I am not the only one who thinks so." Graham retorted in an effort to defend his 5 year long crush on the beautiful Greengrass. Draco was quite puzzled why the boy didn't make a move since he has clearly been infatuated with her for so long, but apparently he had his own reasons that he didn't feel like talking about, and so they all pretended his crush was non-existent, including Graham himself, and watched Astoria be completely unaware of the conversations happening about her behind closed doors.

"How are you and Pans doing?" Graham asked in an attempt to change the topic. "Broke up at the end of the year. It was mutual. I think we both realized we were both doing it for the sex anyways, so why make it bigger than it needs to be?" It was true. Pansy and Draco had hooked up at a party, both of them half drunk, and when they woke up the next morning, thought they owed it to themselves to give dating a try. But after less than a week, they both realized they didn't actually have feelings for each other and they both weren't ready for commitment. So, considering neither of them was actually breaking the other's heart, they were able to carry on the way they were before, as if nothing happened.

"No mate I'm serious. I really like her." Blaise said. "Who's this?" Draco questioned after returning from his thoughts. "Blaise over here has finally admitted that he has fallen for our favorite blonde-haired blue-eyed fifth year Ravenclaw." Theo said with a nudge to Blaise's shoulder as he grinned. "Well since you both have been obsessed with each other for the past two years, I think it's safe to say she likes you." Draco said sarcastically, even though he was serious. Blaise and Luna had clearly liked each other for a very long time, and he didn't know why it had taken his best friend so long to admit that. So dim witted.

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"That is a horrible thing to say Theodore" Julianna scolded. But as she pictured Umbridge's face, she couldn't help but laugh as he was right. She did have some resemblance to a toad. "I can tell by the way you are laughing that you know damn well I'm right." Theo chuckled as he looked at her struggling to keep a straight face. "So what if you are?" she laughed. "It's still awful." "But if it's true.." Blaise offered, and the whole group burst out laughing again. Julianna looked around at her friends, and noticed that everyone seemed to be having a splendid time. Everyone that is, except for Malfoy. He didn't seem to be as present as everyone else. He laughed at jokes and participated in conversation, but he didn't seem as energetic or as interested to be there.

She looked at the clock. Christ! It was half-past eleven. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to head back to Ravenclaw tower and get some much needed sleep." She said to her tired group. "Draco, do you mind walking me back?" She knew he needed rest as much as she did, but she wanted to check in with her friend and see if he was okay. "Only for you Jules." He replied with a tired smile. "Bye everyone" "Bye Jules" "Bye darling" "Goodnight ugly" she rolled her eyes at her ever so charming brother and left the room with Draco behind her.

She waited until they had left the common room and were sneaking through the halls when she asked him "Are you okay? You seem a little off" He looked down at her and said as convincingly as he could, "Oh. Just tired. Had a long summer." She nodded and continued walking with him at her side. As they reached the door to Ravenclaw tower, she gave him a hug, and said "You know you can always talk to me right?" He nodded and replied, "I know. Thank you Jules." She smiled, and began walking up the stairs. She turned around to wave at him, but he was already walking back down the hall to the dungeons.

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"We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death. I know it is more complex than anything you have attempted before, and I do not expect a perfect potion from anybody. The person who does best, however, will win little Felix here. Off you go!" Julianna begrudgingly got up from her seat to gather the ingredients she would need. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to make this potion. She couldn't seem to make anything right for the life of her.

Sure enough, she stirred the pot too many times to the right, not enough times to the left, didn't turn off the burner soon enough, and couldn't seem to remember the difference between the little black bugs and the little black beans. She didn't even know what they were called. She was frustrated and annoyed. She shouldn't be here. She barely got an Exceeds Expectations. She just happened to accidentally drop in one of the ingredients when it needed to be dropped in during her OWL. She wouldn't have put it in for another five minutes. Sweat was burning on her forehead and she was breathing heavily as she finished her disgraceful attempt at the Draught of Living Death. She couldn't meet Slughorn's eyes as he took a mere three seconds to inspect her potion before moving on to the other Ravenclaws. She glanced up at Draco, who was already looking at her. She shook her head with a look on her face that said a thousand words. It was no secret in her group that she was miserable at Potions, and it was even more humiliating to see Draco doing so well. Even though Harry won the little contest, Julianna saw that Draco's was near perfect. He surely would have gotten it if Harry didn't. Draco had always been naturally very good at potions, and always gave Hermione a run for her money during the end of year exam. Maybe he should be the one to tutor her so she could get a manageable grade to explain to her parents.

She gathered her things and left the classroom as soon as they were dismissed, and waited outside the door for Draco. He was one of the last ones out the door, and began walking with Julianna to the Great Hall for lunch. "I need to ask you something" she said nervously. He's your friend. He's your friend. He's your friend. He won't judge. "Well then ask it Montague" Draco replied as he looked down at her. She was visibly uncomfortable, and felt even more uncomfortable talking about it in public, so she led him down an empty hallway before asking the most embarrassing question she had to ask in her life. "I need you to tutor me in potions."

His eyebrows flew up, and he bit his bottom lip in an attempt to not laugh. Julianna had always been very on top of her studies and he considered her a worthy competitor for the top spot in Charms and Astronomy, but with Potions he was undeniably far better than her. Unfortunately, he had his task and he simply didn't have enough time to fix it by the end of the year, and help Julianna not fail. He was about to tell her this, when the thought occurred to him. She needed help, and so did he. If she worked with him, it would probably be fixed a lot sooner than if she didn't use her expertise in Charms to his benefit. He took a couple seconds to think about it, looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and then leaned down so he wouldn't have to talk as loud.

"Sure I'll help you Jules, but I'm gonna need some help from you in return." Julianna was surprised. She didn't expect him to accept right away. She was fully willing to bribe him with sweets, tickets to the theatre, write his Transfiguration essays for him until Christmas, ANYTHING that would get him to help her. "Sure, what do you need?" she asked curiously. He leaned in even closer, looked her in the eye, and whispered, "how much do you know about vanishing cabinets?"