That evening I began to get myself settled in my dormitory. The ornate designs and muted lighting made me tired, but I wanted to get unpacked as quickly as possible. Before I could even get through one tote bag, there was a shuffle of footsteps climbing up the stairs. The door swung open and the girls laughter stopped almost immediately.

"Oh, it's you," Pansy said, skewing her face up in a grimace. "I can't believe you're the one moving into the spare bed."

I looked at the other two girls and instantly felt unwell. The fact that my new 'home' was now being shared with the few people at Hogwarts who already disliked me made Slytherin even more unbearable. I turned my attention to the two new girls whom I didn't know.

Reaching out my hand, I began to introduce myself. "My name is Adeline DuPont, I just moved here from-"

"Beauxbatons, we know," Pansy rolled her eyes. "You're all anyone can talk about. Why did you move here anyway?" She questioned.

"There was.. a change in my career studies." I could immediately see her eyebrows begin to raise as she began internally questioning my explanation. Before she could further interrogate me, I chipped in one last time. "The professors at Hogwarts are widely known. I begged them to transfer me so I could learn under some of your professors here. My mother always said the best way to become an expert on a subject was to learn it from different people."

Pansy's nose stuck up slightly and her friends exchanged glances with one another. "And what subject are you dying to get a new perspective on?" She asked.

"Potions." It was the first one to slip out, although I was mildly disappointed that Professor Snape would be the one teaching it.

Pansy scoffed a little bit and crossed her arms. She was leaning against the bed post while her friends moved to their own beds. "Are you any good?"

I shrugged. "I'd like to believe so." I said.

"Well we'll see on Monday then." She said before turning and changing for the night. I ought to do the same, I don't think I'll be exploring much more for my first night here.

Pansy and her friends quickly went and ignored me for the remainder of the night. Hours passed and eventually the girls called lights out but I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned and eventually decided a stroll in the common room wouldn't hurt. My hair was pulled back in a loose low bun and I grabbed a night robe to cover myself with. Some may consider it old fashioned, but I prefer to sleep with night gowns rather than a modern sleep set. I quietly slipped on my new Slytherin slippers, courtesy of Hogwarts itself, and made my way out to the common room. It was darker than before and the only light glowing was from the fire place where a figure sat. Their head was buried deep in their hands and they were as still as a marble stature. I paused at the end of the corridor and debated whether I should continue forward.

This surely couldn't be worse than laying still in my bed while staying silent listening to Pansy's snores.

I quietly made my way over to him. "Do you mind if I join you?" I asked. "I couldn't sleep."

Quickly his head turned to look at me and my body stood still.

"I was just leaving," Draco muttered, grabbing at his things hurriedly. I didn't even realize he had books and papers sprawled out around him.

"I'm sorry, if you were working on homework I'll leave." I said. He looked so bothered and now I was second guessing whether enduring Pansy's snores were really that bad.

He seemed to hesitate for a second before closing the buttons on his satchel. "Why can't you sleep?" He asked, standing.

I shrugged softly and looked at the fire. "It's so cold and dark. Plus my flatmates snore," I said, hoping to get a smile out of him. He merely scoffed and stood up, still not bothering to look me in the face. When he still didn't say anything I tightened the grip on my night robe and began to head back.

"Where are you going now?" He asked rather quickly.

I paused and shrugged, glancing back at him. "I know when I'm not wanted, goodnight Draco."

. . .

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groaned and rolled over at the sound of my alarm. I quickly pressed the off button and rubbed my eyes. It was Monday morning and I had the worst sleep yet. This entire weekend Pansy snored louder than I could imagine possible. It got to the point where it felt like she was doing it on purpose even though I know that's not true. With the little sleep I've been getting, getting up early was both easy and a nightmare. I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. I began to pull my blonde hair into a low bun and I pulled out two strands to frame my face. I added a little bit of hair product to ensure I wouldn't have any fly aways on my first day of classes.

The rest of the girls in my dormitory were still fast asleep so I was lucky enough to have a peaceful morning to myself. After fixing my robes and double knotting the laces on my shoes, I grabbed my wand and made my way down to the dining hall.

I prayed on my way there that Rita was awake as well. I didn't want to start my morning off alone. To my surprise, the dining hall had a decent amount of students grabbing an early and quiet breakfast. The noise was low and the food was hot.

I made my way to the Slytherin table. I ignored the slight glances my way and kept my chin up and proud. Be poise, be confident. I reminded myself. You're just another student here.

There were very few people sitting at the table but there was one familiar face, although I'm not sure if I would call it friendly.

"Good morning," I said, making my way to sit across from him. Blaise smiled at me and set down his roll.

"'Morning," he said, nodding slightly as a sign of acknowledgment. "You know you still can't sit there."

"I know," I began loading up my plate with eggs, sausage, biscuits, and fruit. "But no one's here yet except you and I, and I plan on leaving before they come around." I wasn't going to let Draco ruin my morning. "I saw him last night, Draco, I mean."

His eye brows rose slightly as he ate. "Oh yeah?" His mouth was full of food and I clenched my jaw as to not grimace. "What was he up to?"

"He has a lot of papers around him, I'm not quite sure. But he left as soon as I came down the corridor so it's not like I could've asked."

Blaise shook his head and forked another large bite into his mouth. "Ignore him, he's cold at first but he warms up to almost all Slytherin's. And you're a Pureblood?" I nodded. "See, bonus points already."

My brow furrowed and a sinking feeling filled my stomach. "What's Hogwarts's obsession with Pureblood's?" I asked.

"Not really a school wide thing honestly," he paused and shrugged. "Mose of our families come from a long line of Purebloods, there's a lot of deeply rooted 'respect' if you will." He used air quotations around the word respect and that pushed my curiosity further.

"Respect?" I asked.

He nodded and quickly finished his bite so he could speak again. "Well, in the past yes. Now it's frowned upon to favor Purebloods. There's very few families who are actually full Purebloods, Draco's family is one of them."

I nodded my head and continued eating."Makes sense why he views them so highly."

Blaise shrugged and began loading his plate for seconds. For someone so lean he seemed to have quite the appetite. "I think he feels pressure to keep up that side of his family. He doesn't have the most... warm family, sorta speak."

Before I could ask something I felt someone standing behind me. I glanced up and my stomach dropped.

Draco looked down at me and scoffed. "You'd think you'd learn your lesson yesterday, DuPont." He stood over me but instead of moving I took another bite of my fruit.

"And what is that, Draco?" I asked.

"To stay where you belong."

I was quickly losing my appetite and I turned back to my plate. It was almost empty and I didn't feel like moving. I've never been bullied before and I don't want to subject myself to that. "You can sit next to me," I replied. "There's no one sitting on either side of me or Blaise." I turned my gaze to him with the most stern look I could muster up.

He scoffed and grabbed a biscuit off the table. "I'd rather starve." With that, he turned quickly on his heel and walked away. My face felt warm and I didn't realize I was holding in my breath until I felt Blaise's hand on mine.

"If you grip the fork any harder I'm scared you'll break it." I looked down and realized my hands were red and my knuckles were white from how tight my grip was. I let go and placed my hands in my lap. "He'll warm up to you." Blaise said.

I rolled my eyes slightly and kept my gaze averted. "And why is that?" I asked.

"Because you're my friend now and friends sit together for meals." I looked up quickly and saw him smiling. "You seem really chill, Malfoy will get over himself. Just you wait."

. . .

Draco unfortunately didn't have to wait too long to sit next to me. Professor Snape rearranged our seats to accommodate me and I was unfortunately sitting next to Draco. Good, maybe he'll at least learn something here.

Potions was my favorite subject back at Beauxbatons and this was supposedly my "reason" for moving to Hogwarts. Professor Snape told me to grab a spare book on the cabinet and I was unfortunately met with a tarnished book that was hanging by a thread. Today's potion class we were given a list of ten potions and we had the duration of the class to see how many we could brew correctly. I smiled and scanned the list. This was going to be so easy-

"Just stay out of my way DuPont," Draco muttered, moving my things and giving himself more room on our table.

"Excuse me?" I asked, bewildered.

"You heard me," he said. "I don't need you to mess this up for me."

I rose my eyebrows and scoffed at him. I put my things back to their original location and began grabbing ingredients. "I think it's more like I don't need you to mess this up for me."

He shot me a quick glance but once he realized I had already started, he quickly began to brew his potions as well.

Rabbits foot, Devils Snare, Thyme, Sea Urchins... everything was here. I followed the potion to a T and when finished, I poured a small amount into a vile and went to go clean my cauldron.

Gillyweed, Dragons Tooth, Tree Roots, Rats Tail... once I started the second potion, I noticed Draco staring uncomfortably at me.

"What?" I asked rather unfriendly.

He rose his eyebrows and gave my cauldron a pointed look. "You're supposed to crush the roots, not grind them." He said. I looked at my book and shook my head.

"My textbook says grind."

He pursed his lips and looked back to his cauldron. "Fine. Last time I try and help you." He mumbled. He was ahead of me in making his potions and he moved fluidly. Had he done these before?

Seeing him work at such a quick pace motivated me to continue. Soon, we were neck and neck and unfortunately we both finished at the same time- tied for first place. Professor Snape slowly walked over and examined our viles.

"DuPont, Malfoy," he mused lowly. "No surprise you are done first." He examined the potions one by one and stopped at the second potion for both of us. "They are all exactly the same except... this one. DuPont, did you by chance happen to grind your Tree Roots?" He picked up the vile and gently swirled it in a circular motion. My throat was dry and I knew if I spoke my words would come out unsure and raspy. So I simply nodded.

"And Draco," he said, picking up Draco's second vile. "You crushed your roots, am I correct?"

Draco shot me a glance before nodded his head. "Yes professor."

Snape was silent for a long while before setting both down and turned to walk away. "You can tell." He mumbled. When he next spoke, his voice was slightly louder, just enough so the rest of the class could hear him. "Do you know why you should crush the tree roots in that particular potion?"

No one responded so Draco rose his hand. "Because it preserves the natural stems, sir."

"Precisely. Ten points to Slytherin. And Draco," he paused and looked at the two of us. "Congratulations. You were the first to successfully brew each potion. You are exempt from tonight's homework, the rest of you please review each potion we brewed today and write a page for each potion explaining the history and uses." Groans filled the classroom. "That will be due next class." He added, assumingely out of spite.

Just as Draco was the first to finish, he was the first to collect his things and leave. I quickly followed after him at an uncomfortable walking pace.

"Wait!" I called out. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me.

"Are you actually talking to me?" he questioned.

My eyebrows furrowed and I looked up at him. "You talked to me first, remember? In class." He seemed to have genuinely forgotten our interaction that happened just moments ago. "I want to know how you knew to crush the roots."

Now that I was thinking about it, I'm not sure if Draco was even reading his textbook to brew each potion. "I'm not entertaining this." He simply spat.

He again turned to walk away but this time I stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Would you just stop and talk to me?" I raised my voice this time which shocked the both of us. His face skewed into one of disgust and he yanked his arm from my grasp. The force was enough to off balance me and stumble back into passing students.

"I'd be lucky if I never had to look at you again, let alone talk to you. Get out of my face DuPont and don't both me or my friends again. You're a nuisance and the others just pity you. But I don't buy it. You're hiding something and I'm going to find out what."

With that, he turned and quickly left the busy hall. Thankfully no one paid attention to our conversation and I was left alone with nothing other than my thoughts to keep me company.