Draco laughed, but not in the condescending way he usually did--that was reserved for people who were below him, which was most people, but he wouldn't put Veronica in that group. "Well, we're allowed to drink at seventeen, technically, since that's 'of age' for a wizard or witch here...but the professors generally frown upon it. Thus, our "traditions" tend to revolve around getting drunk, especially when younger than the drinking age. So, were there any traditions that were much fun?" he asked.

Severus continued down to his classroom, trying not to make it seem like he was hurrying, and definitely not caring whatsoever about the impression he was going to make on Harry Potter. He was wondering about Veronica Fayth, whom he'd have in class too, along with Granger and Draco Malfoy as well as about five others. It was not a very inclusive class, since he only accepted those who achieved an O on their OWLs. He had no idea how Potter had scraped an O, frankly; he was expecting him to get an A like Weasley and Longbottom, but that wasn't the case.

He told himself he was absolutely not happy about that in the least.

After the double NEWT Potions class for seventh years, he had a class of fifth year OWL Potions and then a break for lunch, after which he had more classes. None of that really mattered at the moment, because Harry Potter was in his first class, and that was enough to distract him temporarily.

He checked the time. He had long enough to deal with his...ah, problem, then get back to his classroom to make sure all the necessary ingredients were within reach.

Today, being the first day of class, he'd have each class prepare a difficult potion from the previous year, to see if the information had stuck. Most people would probably fail, but he was expecting--and possibly anticipating--that. Most of these imbeciles hadn't gotten them right in the first place. In the NEWT classes, the catch was that he wouldn't give them the name of the potion, or any instructions besides ingredient names and amounts, so they'd have to use that to figure out the potion they were making. Since it was a very exclusive class, he figured most people would pass the exercise, but he wasn't sure about a few of them. To be honest, he couldn't argue that Potter was terrible in his class the previous year; that had been a NEWT class too, of course, albeit a sixth year one, but the boy always seemed terribly distracted in his class.

He didn't want to think about being distracted in class. Or Potter. Harry Potter was his student.

Speaking of, sometimes he wondered why he was still teaching idiot students. And Harry. Like he'd said, idiot students. He frowned--at himself, then wondered, again, at his sanity.

It wasn't as if Potter felt anything more for him than the usual loathing--or possibly he'd tempered it to just a mild dislike, though that was a lot for which to hope. Why did his mind torment him so? How would he get through the NEWT class, after the dreams he'd had the previous night?

He could do this. As a spy, he had total control of his emotions. Potter was just an annoying cretin, like all the others he had to teach. He could do this.

Oh, Merlin, he was doomed.

((Hah! That's an amusing image!))

Veronica just nodded," 13 for us, and it was never frowned on, unless we had to much. " She told him. " Maybe" She told in response to his question, while she wore a coy smile. Traditions at her school were kept secret so that any possible student wouldn't hear about them, unless they got there.



After Harry had left the common room, they found Hermione in the library. Who of course was already studying for classes which hadn't even started. She then started to lecture them on how they should be studying. Harry sighed, he had hoped this would distract him from his current train of thoughts about a current Professor, but it didn't help at all.

After a few moments of listening to Hermione and Ron argue, Harry spoke. " Hermione we've got NEWT potions in 5 minutes" He mumbled, grabbing his bag. Hermione shouted at him for not saying anything as they two rushed off for class.

"Ah, well that makes sense," he answered, understanding that she'd deliberately not answered his other question. "Ah, secret traditions?" he asked, mildly.

Then he noticed Severus walk out of the Hall, and realized that they needed to get ready to go to Potions class. "Veronica, we have Potions next, and we don't have too long to get there. Walk down with me?" he asked. After all, they were going to the same place and he didn't want her to get lost, but he also didn't want to acknowledge the fact that she might get lost in case that was acknowledging she was technically a "firstie" even though she was in seventh year; thus, he asked in such a way that was just an offer to accompany her.

If there were partners in NEWT Potions, Draco would've wanted Veronica to be his; of course, Professor Snape decided that everyone needed to work on the potions--there were usually ten people or less, so there was enough of the ingredients for every person to make a potion. Usually, Draco liked that, because it meant your potion was your own work and you couldn't get off easy by having your partner do all the work, but...

A few minutes and several panicked thoughts later, Severus was generally calm enough to teach a class. He wasn't sure how it would be to see Harry Potter, but he was fairly confident that he could at least maintain a calm, uncaring façade. He would most likely just ignore Harry for the most part, unless it was necessary not to do so.

He'd just give some sort of speech about it being their last year and NEWTs being given that year, then tell them to go make the potion--which was actually Draught of Living Death--then he'd come around and look at them, as usual, and any that were good enough--as in, extremely good--would be bottled and given to the Hospital Wing or St. Mungo's.

Catching sight of himself in a small mirror in his office--he'd moved there in case students, i.e. Potter, started walking in to the classroom--he frowned upon seeing that he looked as generally ugly as usual. His...whatever for Potter was ridiculous because Potter would never, ever feel the same way about him. He was much too old, and scarred, and had done too many terrible things in his life as a Death Eater. It was an extremely depressing train of thought, but after having spent much of his life in such a state, Severus could handle it.

It was soon time to start class, so he walked out of his office and back into the classroom; sweeping in was something he only did with the first year classes, in order to establish himself as an authority figure. He found that they were less prone to goofing off in his class if he did that.

Veronica nodded slightly. " Of course" She said standing. She always loved starting out with potions as her first class. She followed after Draco, glad that he was leading the way, and showing her around, without treating her as a firstie. She would also get to see what Snape was like as a teacher.


Harry and Hermione walked into the potion class room. Hermione rushed over to her station and Harry walked over to his. He glanced around the room, looking for Severus Snape, the man who he found sexy, even though he was a teacher. Harry knew most people would think he was crazy, but there was just something about him that Harry couldn't resist. As said man walked back into the room, Harry shook those thoughts out of his head.

He knew he needed to focus on the coming task at hand, he still was terrible at potions, and knew he needed to do well. Yet he found him self getting distracted by a certain Professor.

Draco smiled at her obvious enthusiasm for Potions--it was so apparent even in those few words--then strode with no less grace than one Severus Snape from the Great Hall. Secretly, he'd learnt from the man himself. After all, Severus Snape was his godfather, so he'd taught him a few tricks.

It wasn't actually too far a walk to the classroom, and they made it in good time, not without conversation of course. Draco found that talking to Veronica was just as lovely as he'd thought the previous night.

Severus tried to force himself not to see if Harry was there, but he couldn't help it; he glanced. Harry was there. He felt his face redding imperceptibly at the sudden snatches of his dreams that swept through his mind. Hurriedly, he cleared his mind. There was still about two minutes before class would begin, so he'd wait until it was exactly time to say anything. Anyway, Draco wasn't there yet, and he had two minutes to get his arse into the classroom--hopefully with Veronica Fayth in tow.

In any event, he could use this time to surreptitiously peek at Potter instead of reading the Potions text at which he was looking. The boy looked...the same as usual, but different somehow. Severus didn't understand it, but he kept his calm, uncaring appearances up just in case. Nobody needed to know that he was feeling differently towards Harry--not that he was, but--oh, could he even deny it? He could deny what he was feeling, but not that it was decidedly different than usual.

Of course, it wasn't long before her and Draco into the Potions classroom. Her eyes scanned the room. She then moved to her potion station with a grace that could rival Snape's. Something she had never been taught, but born with. She glanced over at Draco, the person who she was enjoying chatting with more and more each time they talk. She then looked to the front of the room, wondering what their task would be.

Harry barely glanced at Snape, before last nights dreams raced into his mind. His face turned a few shades of red. Something he hoped no one noticed, as he manged to clear his mind, which he found hard to do. This worried him considering his lessons would start with Snape again, and there was a good chance if he couldn't control it, this would slip out. These feelings he had for Severus, he knew would be rejected.

He would be laughed at if his teacher knew, especially since he hated Harry. Not to mention Snape would never let him near him again, these thoughts alone depressed Harry.

Draco glanced at Veronica and then at Severus. They were so alike and yet rather different; it was extremely odd. He smiled encouragingly despite the fact she was obviously exuberant about Potions, then he turned to the professor and waited for him to speak, smirking because they were, as usual, right on time.

Severus swallowed for a moment, noticing Harry...blush and wondering why. He wanted to use subtle Legilimency on the boy, but despite popular belief, he did not actively use it on anyone except in necessary situations or if they were enemies.

The blush looked good on the boy--was he a virgin?

What an inappropriate thought.

Severus blinked once and then spoke quietly, as usual, intoning every word. "This is your NEWT Potions class. This year, you will take your NEWT for this class if I deem that you have done an outstanding job in the class itself. I do not tolerate failure; you know this by now."

He glanced around, making sure everyone was paying attention. They were, and Harry still looked fairly red, which Severus ignored. He noticed Veronica looking at him intently. "We have a new student, Veronica Fayth. Miss Fayth, I hope you have some competence in this subject, or you will be out of this class before you can say cauldron," he smirked.

"Now," he said, addressing the entire class once again, "there are ingredients for a potion on the chalkboard. You must prepare it and name it, as well as explain its effects. You have one hour to prepare the potion...go."

He sat down at his desk and insconspicuously watched his students move around, gathering ingredients and thinking about the potion.

[[ Crap what does this potion do...XD]]

Veronica of course knew the potion right away. Normally people would say it was somewhat of a hard potion to brew, but for her, it was child's play. She went and gathered what she needed. She got to work, every moment she made while working on the potion, was flawless and graceful.

Harry gulped, he sort of knew the potion, they had brewed it last year, but he of course couldn't recall much about it. Nervously he gathered what he needed. As he started to work on it, he studied everything with care, biting at his bottom lip as he worked. He knew his potion wouldn't come out perfect he never had that good luck, but he worked hard, because he really wanted to impress Snape.

((This will be helpful: Draught of Living Death - Harry Potter Wiki :3 I love this site for all things HP that are fact-related. I'm wondering if there was some way that Harry still got ahold of Snape's old Potions book, because the Half-Blood Prince had some great tips for this one. Like maybe Harry forgot his Potions book one day and the HBP's book was lying around on a small pile of books? Of course, he'd know not to take it to class 'cause Snape would call it cheating, but it's just a thought. Fine if not, though. xD ))

Draco thought for a moment. Draught of Living Death. He remembered that Severus had given him some tips about this potion, though he couldn't remember all of them. He didn't rush too much get his ingredients or set up; although this potion was difficult, it wasn't time-consuming besides ingredient preparation, so he tried not to make any mistakes by not rushing too much. He was rather confident in his abilities, and so, it seemed, was Veronica. Potter was looking a bit lost; Draco snorted quietly. It was a funny sight.

Severus saw immediate recognition in Veronica Fayth's face as well as Draco's and Granger's and a couple others. The rest had a look that said they remembered it but not exactly. That group included Potter. Luckily, nobody seemed to have a blank look of confusion on his/her face.

Some people were rushing but some were being careful, and Severus was always interested to see whose potions would come out looking the best.

[[ Thanks, I don't know if I want Harry to have the old potion book. ]]

Veronica added the next needed Ingredient. This was one of the potions she has started out testing different ways of brewing in order to try it make it stronger, last summer. She had found, at the final stage after stirring the potion counter-clockwise seven times, if she stirred once clockwise it was much stronger Draught of the Living Dead.[[ I figured she would know that.]]

Harry finally recalled the name of the potion, Draught of the Living Dead, and from what he recalled when they brewed it last time, he looked right. Well it may be of horrible quality, but he hadn't messed up yet.

((Ah, mkay. No prob, and yes I think she would know that.))

Severus caught sight of Veronica stirring once clockwise. "How did she know to do that?" he wondered, "Who'd taught her?" Not many people knew that trick. He knew Draco did, since he'd showed him, but he, Severus, had figured it out by himself because of the properties of the potion.

His eyes swept the room and he saw that Potter was doing a decent job with the potion, and comprehension had finally dawned. That could not be said for the others who still only half knew what they were doing. Granger's looked to be rather good quality, but he knew Veronica and Draco would have better potions as they obviously were using some tricks to make it turn out better.

Draco saw Veronica using some of the tips Severus had told him and wondered who'd told her. He thought Severus had said people didn't really know them. Had she figured them out herself? That would be really awesome.

Veronica glanced over her potion, making sure it was all could, while others in the room wondered where she learned a certain trick. ' Alright, right it should be flawless, or nearly there' She thought. At this moment she was very glad for her father's private potion labs, that she took over years ago. Now all that was left was to bottle her potion.

Harry put the last few things that need to go in, in. He was praying the whole time, this would turn out good, he really wanted to impress Snape, while the other side of his mind told him it was a hopeless thing to try, and that he was just being a silly foolishly boy. Harry then started the stirring process, not messing up for once.

Draco was just finishing stirring his potion, and he saw that most of the class was also finished. Looking around, he saw that most people's potions still had a light violet tinge, but Potter's was actually...rather good. Damn. Veronica's was perfectly clear and Granger's was just about, but Ernie MacMillan's, for example, was barely clear at all. Severus would definitely notice those things.

Severus definitely noticed those things. He walked around the room, glancing into each cauldron and berating the students as necessary. Of course, he didn't tell them what was wrong as they still had to do a write-up about the potion, but he would tell them if something was wrong.

He got to Veronica's station, looked in her cauldron, and...it was perfect. He stared for a moment, nodded, and walked off. He'd talk to about that later; in any event, he should probably speak with her about how she was...settling in--he was, after all, her Head of House, and he did take those responsibilities seriously.

Draco's was just about perfect as well, as was Granger's.

He got to Potter's station, hoping to berate him too and gain a little of his integrity back...but he couldn't. Somehow, Potter's potion was extremely clear. It wasn't Veronica's or Draco's, but it was just about as good as Granger's potion. He nodded at Harry with surprise in his eyes that he couldn't quite hide from the boy.

He hurried away from Potter, finished his walk-around, then went back to his desk. "Now, I want your potions bottled and accompanied by a write-up by the end of class, or you shall receive a zero for the day," he instructed, seemingly nonchalant.

After the potion was check, Veronica bottled it of, and then of course got started on her write up. Including all the important information, she knew or had a feeling he would want to see. This of course didn't take her long to have something that was nearly a flawless write up. Now she needed to read over it to make sure everything was write and correct.


As Snape came to Harry's cauldron, he glanced up nervously. When Snape nodded and didn't berate him and he saw some surprise in the other's eyes, Harry's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Harry manged to shake that feeling off, and get his potion bottled up. He started his write up, it wasn't great, but it was some what good, as he wrote, he bit and chewed at his bottom lip, trying to make sure he always wrote this up correctly.

Like the rest of the class, Draco bottled his potion and started on his write-up. He had a rather eloquent writing style, but he was not exceedingly verbose like Hermione Granger. He managed to state everything Professor Snape wanted in a concise style with which he was happy, so he sauntered up to the man's desk and handed him the write-up and bottled potion, with a smirk.

Severus rolled his eyes imperceptibly at Draco's smirk. The boy still had too much of an ego for his own good, but some people seemed to temper it. He seemed a bit taken with Veronica, actually; he, Severus, could see Draco's surreptitious glances at the girl. He wondered again about her, reminding himself to tell her to see him after all her classes that day.

Veronica read the last line of her write up,' Alright, perfect' She said. She grabbed her potion, and the write up, and moved to Severus desk, and set them down. It seemed she moved across the room with grace and air. She knew her potion and write were perfect, but unlike Draco, she knew to keep her ego in check.

Harry stared at the paper, trying to figure out how to word this last bit. He knew Hermione already had turned hers in, and he was quickly becoming the last student there, but he wanted to impress his teacher, and even though he tried to convince his self not to be acting so silly he couldn't stop it. He wrote down another sentence and bit at his lip again.

Draco stood by the door, against the wall, and waited for Veronica. Next was Transfiguration, and he knew they had that together. He suspected that most of their schedule was the same, as most NEWT levels only had one class time--DADA and Charms were the only ones with two. He was taking a lot of NEWT classes and he suspected she was too.

He figured that everyone would just think he'd taken it upon himself to be her guide, of sorts, which was perfectly a fine conclusion--it was only partially correct, because he rather liked spending time with her so it wasn't about her being in his debt or anything of the sort, but nobody else needed to know that.

Severus looked up when Veronica came to hand in her potion and write-up. "Miss Fayth, if you would please come to my office after classes, I would like to make sure you're--ah--settling in alright," he said, quietly.

A few minutes later, hee glanced around, seeing that Harry was the only student left. There was still some time in between classes, but not much. Suddenly, he remembered that their first lesson was this evening after dinner. He wondered how in the world he'd get his...perversions--dear Merlin, the boy was only seventeen--in check by that time.

Frowning, he drummed his fingers on his desk. "Mr. Potter, you are aware that you only have a few minutes yet?" he reminded the boy in his smoothest tones.

" Yes professor" She told him, before leaving. She left the classroom and spotted Draco. Next was her Transfiguration class, with Draco of course. It seemed almost all of their classes would be together. She was talking all Newt classes, she planned on excelling in everything she does.

Harry quickly worked, he knew he was running out of time. " Yes Professor, I'm sorry sir" He said. He wrote the last line. He gathered his write up and potion, which he almost dropped, and place it on his professor's desk. Though he'd rather be on his professor's desk, while his professor lean over him and...now is not the time for these thoughts. Harry face adopted the color red.

"We are in all the same classes, yes?" Draco asked Veronica as they walked to Transfiguration, which was a rather lengthy walk. He did not mind, as there was usually about seven minutes in between classes for that purpose.

Severus nodded, seeing Potter's red face and imperceptibly furrowing his brow. Suddenly, he wanted Potter to squirm.

He leaned forward a bit, so his face was not too far from Harry's, and said softly and silkily, "Remember, your lessons start tonight." He stared at Potter for a moment, then blinked, quickly moved his face away, and motioned with his head towards the door, signifying that Potter had to leave to get to his next class.

" Yes from the looks of it, it does seem so" She said. At least Draco wasn't like the other house mates, because she would be going mad by the end of the day if that was so.



Harry blinked, as suddenly his professor was closer, and spoke with a voice, that sent heat sending through his body, and made him feel like a puddle of goo. If his face wasn't Weasley red a moment ago, it now was. " Ye-ye-yes Pro-professor" Harry manged to get out before fleeing, one his was dismissed, all the while thinking of how foolish he had just been in front of Severus.