The Cowardly Lion (Book 1)

4: Of Howlers and Potion Masters

The Howler his father sent in the early hours of Draco's first day woke all of the first-year Gryffindors up - well, most of them. Draco hadn't had a single moment of sleep the night before, despite Harry and Ron's best efforts, and so when the Howler came, it only woke up Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Harry, and Ron.

But the Howler did succeed in making Draco even more nervous for class than he already was.

"SITTING WITH HARRY POTTER, I COULD HAVE ACCEPTED! THE BLOOD-TRAITOR, MAYBE NOT! BUT A MUDBLOOD, AS WELL? AND A GRYFFINDOR - I TOLD YOU THEY WERE THE WORST HOUSE IN HOGWARTS! WHY WOULD YOU GO AND BECOME ONE? IF THIS IS A JOKE, IT IS NOT AMUSING IN THE SLIGHTEST. EXPECT TO BE PUNISHED WHEN YOU RETURN HOME THIS SUMMER, ALTHOUGH IF I HAD MY WAY, DRACO MALFOY, YOU WOULD NOT BE RETURNING TO THE MANOR AT ALL! IF YOU LIKE THE SO-CALLED CHOSEN ONE SO MUCH, YOU CAN GO AND LIVE WITH MUGGLES LIKE CRABBE TELLS ME HE DOES! A GRYFFINDOR MALFOY! THERE IS NO SUCH THING! YOU WILL NEVER FIT IN WITH THESE PEOPLE, THESE MUDBLOODS AND FILTH! YOU ARE A SLYTHERIN, ALTHOUGH YOU SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN IT!"

The red letter tore itself into shreds in what seemed to be a particularly vicious manner, and for once, Draco didn't even bother doing anything to his dreadful appearance. He didn't even speak to anybody, despite Harry's best efforts. Even the Slytherins looked slightly worried, having known the Malfoy heir to maintain a perfect appearance...always.

During History of Magic, taught by an extremely boring ghost teacher named Professor Binns, Draco worked on maintaining accurate notes, despite the monotonous tone of Professor Binns' voice that had nearly everybody else falling asleep. Hermione Granger and Harry Potter were the two exceptions - Hermione, because she was taking notes as well, and Harry, because he was prodding Draco's side in an attempt to get him to talk (if only to tell Harry to stop prodding him).

Harry continued to do so in Charms, where they had a miniscule teacher Lucius would have made fun of, especially since he could literally look down on him. Draco focused on writing down the course outlines, and the hints Professor Flitwick dropped regarding their final exams. When Professor Flitwick reached Harry's name, he let out an excited squeak, and when he reached Draco's name, he frowned. "I didn't know we had Slytherins in this class," Professor Flitwick said, as Draco winced visibly.

"We don't," Harry said loudly, as Draco's entire body stiffened even more. Professor Flitwick blinked, surprised, before he coughed uncomfortably.

"Ah. Right then, my apologies, Mr. Malfoy..."

Transfiguration was by far Draco's favorite class. Professor McGonagall said both Draco's and Harry's names calmly, not even grimacing at the word Malfoy, and set the entire class straight to work, having them write down a series of complicated notes and then giving each student a match that they were to turn into a needle.

At the end of class, only Hermione, Draco, and Harry had managed to make any difference to their matches - Hermione and Draco, because they'd already finished their textbooks and somehow managed to complete the complicated notes Professor McGonagall had them take, and Harry, because Draco had helped him to perform the correct procedure. Needless to say, Ron was very upset with the three of them.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught by Professor Quirrell, was quickly discovered to be a joke, with stories of Romanian vampires and troublesome African zombies circling the class. Draco had finally managed to get Harry to give up, and so they both took notes.

Potions, however, went very differently. Probably against normal childhoods, Professor Snape had been teaching Draco all about Potions Theory since he was a little boy, and it was Draco's dream to end up just like Professor Severus Snape, who was not only a Potions professor, but had achieved his Potions Mastery, thus proclaiming him a Potions Master - something not many could say. In private with his godfather, Draco had told him he'd hoped to achieve his Potions Mastery before the age of nineteen - the youngest age on record, and back then, it had been Draco's dream; somewhere where he was still a child, it was, but now he knew he would probably be far too busy as the Malfoy heir.