A Shadowed Life Of A Malfoy

The potions boy

"I will be expecting your assignments on my desk by the end of the week please students!" A rather frustrated Professor Slughorn exclaimed to the class. The round-bellied professor stood beside his desk with his hands on his hips. Everyone was silent. The class nodded in unison. Some students were rather shocked and concerned by how angry our teacher sounded. He rarely shouted.

A few moments passed before the class returned to its normal state of joyous laughter and chatter. However, I couldn't stop the nauseous feeling I was having.

Potions was one of the classes I was failing and I had no clue how I would pass my OWLS.

I leant forward in my chair, head still buried in my potions book, cauldron still bubbling.

I caught a glimpse of a messy-haired boy who was seated two chairs away from me. He had a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. The boy leaned closer to me so he was within earshot.

"Did Professor Slughorn say anything about late night studying at his place?" He chuckled at his own joke. He must have realised how uncomfortable I was because he leant back in his chair.

I decided to ignore his stupid joke and grabbed all of my books from the table.

The boy had a smirk on his face as I walked towards the door at the end of the class.

He started tapping his pen against his chin as though he was in deep thought.

Almost a second later, as I was about to exit the class, my arm was jolted back and the boy stood before me. His voice was lower than before but the smirk he wore was exactly the same. He reached up and brushed a curl away from my face. "Need any help with those?" he asked in a suggestive tone as he stared at the amount of books I was carrying. My arms ached already but I wasn't going to give in to this arrogant prick.

"I'm fine, thanks" I replied, stepping over the threshold into the hallway.

He still followed me.

He let out a low chuckle as his hand clamped down on my wrist. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I happen to have detention with Binns." I replied shakily, trying to get him to let go of me.

The boy raised his eyebrow. His lips curled into an amused grin as he took a small step closer to where I walked.

"Aha! That explains the haste and that sour look on your face."

He paused for a moment before his face transformed from playful mockery to genuine concern.

"Aren't you a little worried? It's Binns after all. He might bore you to death."

He was right. Binns taught 'A History Of Magic' which was already lacklustre, but Binns was dead, literally. His ghost was void of any emotion and he spoke in a monotonous voice no matter the topic. Insufferable was the best word to describe him.

"No not at all" I responded "All I did was fall asleep during an important lecture." I stuff my many books into my shoulder bag as I turn the corridor.

The boy took another step in my direction so he was walking alongside me.

"I didn't realise that was a punishable offence" He said with a smirk. He then frowned. "What's with all the books, anyway? Surly Binns didn't leave you that much homework to do?"

"The books are for Slughorn. Turns out I'm failing."

"For Slughorn?"

He seemed confused for a moment before comprehension dawned on him.

"You're failing potions?" He looked horrified as he spoke, still smirking however.

"Blimey, that's like failing Astronomy. How are you pulling off a feat like that?"