Eighth year at Hogwarts is going to be boring. That's what Draco Malfoy thinks when the Wizengamot makes attendance a condition of his pardon. After all, after letting Death Eaters into the school, failing to kill his headmaster, and being forced to serve a homicidal madman, how could finishing up his education *possibly* be interesting?
Answer: a coveted Transfigurations advanced study position, Minerva Mcgonagall's surprising fondness for him, thestrals, tea with Hagrid, tutoring Harry Potter, Granger and Weasley's excessive PDA, and the perplexing nature of sleight-of-hand double-dates with Harry, Luna, and Ginny. And then, of course, there's righteously indignant (if misinformed) Weasley, Draco's own insecurities and flair for dramatics, and a long-suffering Kingsley Shacklebolt.
If I can work in tie-switching and Great Hall relationship reveal I will, because those are some of my very favorite tropes.
Harry didn't exactly expect to see Draco Malfoy return for his last year of education at Hogwarts, and he wouldn't mind it either, if he was allowed to keep a fair distance from the cocky sod. Unfortunately for him, McGonagall has gotten it to her head that the school's future lies in interhouse cooperation, and she has implemented some interesting - or completely mental, if Harry's concerned - changes at Hogwarts. While Harry struggles to adjust to his new roommates and his difficult new tutor who keeps calling him 'scarhead', it dawns on him that passing his N.E.W.T.s isn't going to be the cakewalk he expected. It certainly doesn't help that Malfoy's all grown up now, and his soft hair and occasional smiles make Harry's knees turn into jelly. Will their rivalry stir the cauldron or brew into something else entirely?