Everything Black | Harry Potter

7. Middle Finger

Harry had never realised just how conflict free first year would've been if he and Draco hadn't been at each other's throats every other day. True, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so Harry didn't actually have to put up with the boy much Before, but still. It was honestly ridiculous. When Harry spotted the notice announcing their first flying lesson with Slytherins pinned up in the Gryffindor common room, he ignored his groaning housemates and thought. Already, they'd stopped the less than stellar meeting at Diagon Alley, the confrontation on the train, the antagonization of various classmates and the disaster that was their first Potion's class – minus Neville's mishap, of course. And if today went well, they could tick the Rememberall incident off the list as well.

Not bad, if Harry does say so himself.

"Typical," said Ron darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To watch Malfoy, making us all look like idiot by going ahead and using a broomstick perfectly, bragging the whole while."

He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.

"Oh, come off it Ron," said Harry with an eye roll. "Trust me, I know Draco's always going to be a bit of a prick, but he's honestly not as bad as you all make him out to be. And to be fair, kind of does have reason to brag."

That was even more true than Before, seeing as Draco was actually a 17-year-old inside an 11-year-old's body. Much like with how they underestimated how subconscious their knowledge of Hogwart's layout was, Harry and Draco had also underestimated how difficult it would be to tone down their knowledge and magical prowess. During the last month-or-so before term, along with refreshing their first-year knowledge, the two had set about practicing bouts of wandless magic.

Well, at this point it was still more accidental magic, but it's the principle – magic done without a wand, magic untraceable by the ministry.

Both Harry and Draco wanted to make sure that when the time came to defeat Voldemort – because mark their words, they would – they would be more prepared than last time. Which meant more research than last time – can never be too sure – and more magical training – Draco had been particularly furious when Harry revealed he'd never really received much special training in preparation of defeating Voldemort.

So, as Harry had discovered on that first day, not only did they retain their memories when they got sent back, they also retained their magical cores. But there was a big problem. Unfortunately, the strain of trying to access that magic was too much for their young bodies. This meant, in order to be able to access the full majority of their cores – as they'd been able to when they were 17 – they'd have to build these bodies. . . magic muscels, so to speak.

While they were nowhere near the level they wanted to be, they were still leaps and bounds ahead of regular first years, which had led to some truly interesting classes.

Harry was a source of great pride and entertainment for Professor Flickwick and from what Draco had told him, the blonde boy was being hailed as the Transfiguration King, much to Hermione's consternation.

"Not as bad as he seems?" asked Ron sarcastically, "Right, I'll believe it when I see it, thanks."

Harry turned and frowned heavily at him, looking in irritation between the Weasley boy and Neville – who looked was uncomfortable being caught in the crosshair. He understood that it was hard to change one's ingrained beliefs, especially if it was something, you'd been taught your whole life, but honestly, not even Harry was that stubborn.

"Look," he said, "Draco is my friend, alright? I'm not saying he doesn't have bad qualities – trust me, I knowhe does – but that doesn't mean you get to shun him for it." Harry shook his head and sighed. "All I'm asking, is that you give him a chance. One chance, that's all."