"Malfoy!" I exclaimed, needing to jog to keep up with him. I reached to tug on his robes to pull him to a stop but to my dismay he grabbed me first and pulled me faster to a nearby room.

"Merlin, what is the matter with you?!" I asked, trying to yank my arm away.

"You're so annoying," he mumbled, finally letting go after we entered a spare classroom. What was this?

"Malfoy you're absolutely, utterly, just- ugh!" I huffed rather loudly and crossed my arms. "I've never in my life been talked to as lowly as you talk to me and I've had it. We're going to talk this quarrel out like adults. So if you continue to berate me publicly I'll have no choice but to-" I lost my train of thought when I noticed him stifling a laugh and if even possible, more frustration coursed through me. "Oh what could possibly be funny right now, Malfoy?" I spat, crossing my arms tightly across my chest.

"Even when you're angry you talk like a posh old woman." He said, not even bothering to hide his grin. "I still don't like you, and I still think you lie to the lot of us," my lips parted slightly hearing him lay out his thoughts about me out in the open like this. "But I at least know what to say to push your buttons and get you out where I need you."

He nodded his head to the tables I had completely neglected to look at. Two cauldrons were set up with rows of ingredients and it dawned on me that we were meant to brew potions together tonight.

"You're more stupid than I thought you were if you still think I'm going to sit and do this with you."

He rose an eyebrow and shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said. He moved and opened the door to let me out. "Go back to Diggory but please, save us both some dignity and try to win him over without amortentia."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "No." I said simply.

He rose an eyebrow at me and smirked softly. "No?"

"You heard me right, or do you have slugs in your ears?" I instinctively began tapping my foot and I gestured to the cauldrons. "If you've learned anything about me Malfoy it's that I value education far more than arguing with you. But I swear if you say anything, anything offensive to me, I'm reporting you to the Headmaster for assault and bullying."

He belly laughed now and I feel like this wasn't the Draco I met on my first day. Was Blaise right? Was he finally warming up to me now that I've taken an interest in potions with him?

"What's so funny?" I feel like I've asked him this a thousand times today. "I don't find bullying and assault funny at all, Malfoy."

He closed the door behind him and stalked towards me. I took a few steps back until I bumped into the table behind us. He looked down at me and his smile faltered a little as he looked everywhere except my eyes.

He reached up to toy with a piece of my hair and my mouth opened slightly at the sudden gesture. Why was he so close to me right now? Why was he touching me so intimately after being so close to Pansy all night? After calling me a slut?!

"You've got a little fire to you, DuPont," he murmured, smirking at me and meeting my eyes. He twirled the blonde strand of hair around his finger and tugged on it slightly. "When I first met you I thought you were so uptight... and you still are. Really, uptight." I pursed my lips in a deep frown hearing that. "But you're feisty... I wonder what happened to make you so bold."

I felt glued to the floor but for once, I agreed with him. I did feel a fire within me that I had never felt before. I felt angry, frustrated, and confused. I stepped up a little closer to him until we were breathing the same air. His smirk dropped more and I placed my hands on his chest. I gripped his robes and pulled him close so I could whisper in his ear, "if you ever, and I mean ever, call me a slut again Malfoy," I tightened my grip and made sure the collar of his shirt was digging into the back of his neck. Doing so pushed our chests together tightly and I hoped to Merlin he couldn't feel how rapidly my heart was beating from the nerves. "I'll poison you until you beg me for the antidote." I shoved him off me hard and watched as he stumbled back. He was no longer smiling but he did let out a huff. Or was that a breathy laugh? I honestly couldn't tell. But he simply straightened out his robes, pushed back his hair some, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"We don't have long until curfew," he said. "Let's brew the potions." He hesitated when I didn't move and then almost against his own better judgement, he added a small, "please."

I didn't say anything in response to his small 'please'. But I couldn't deny I would fairly satisfied with him falling into a small form of submission just now. Hopefully I've made my point across but I couldn't tell for sure. I suppose only time will tell.

. . .

"Where did you and Malfoy go yesterday?" Rita asked me. We were sitting outside enjoying the last bit of warmth before the autumn season finally began. It was still a little nippy, but thankfully it wasn't meant to get cold until the later Holidays. We had finished up with all of our classes for the day, so Rita and I decided to have a girls-only afternoon to catch up.

"We talked." I wasn't sure how much I should elaborate. "I don't think he'll be insulting me any time soon," I added.

She rose her thin eyebrows at me and pulled her legs into a criss-cross position. "Why's that? If it's true you have to spill! Did you put a spell on him? Oooh or maybe one of your potions from that fancy French book?"

I couldn't help but giggle at her rapid-fire questions. I shook my head and stretched out, trying to soak up as much sun as I could. "No... we just talked."

"You guys, talked?" She tsked and shook her head. "If I knew I could just 'talk' to Draco we would've been dating by now." I laughed and honestly forgot that she found Draco attractive. I guess not attractive enough to pursue anything, but thinking back to her little comment my first encounter with her, it did strike me as odd that she thought of him as cute despite how absolutely infuriating he was.

"I thought you were super into Blaise?" I questioned.

Her eyes flew wide open and she reached to cover my mouth and shook my shoulders with her other hand. "Shhhh! Gosh you talk so loud! If you don't keep it down someone's gonna hear!"

"Okay, okay, il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat." I laughed whole heartedly but when I noticed her confused look I frowned softly. "What's the matter?"

"What did you say about a cat?"

"Oh!" I laughed a little more and smiled brightly. "It's like an expression. It means, 'it's no big deal', er, 'it doesn't matter'." I shrugged softly and honestly didn't even realize I spoke to her in French. I honestly miss it tremendously.

"Oh, so it's not a big deal if someone hears?" She asked.

I nodded my head and looked out around us. "Oui, I mean there's no one around us nearby. And yesterday you had no issues telling the entire dining hall about my date with Cedric."

She seemed a little bothered and I wasn't sure why. What did I say wrong?

"I guess, so are you excited for tomorrow?" She asked.

I nodded my head and couldn't hold back the smile. "Yeah I am. He's very cute, but I'm a little nervous too."

"Why's that?"

"He is a little older than me, maybe Draco is right. Maybe dating a fifth year makes me a slut." I frowned and pulled my knees to my chest. People never talked this way at Beauxbatons. I mean, I'm older than Draco and he has the nerve to cause such a tiff over an older boy liking me.

Rita rolled her eyes and finally began to smile again. "He's what? Two year older than you? You guys both have early birthdays, he got you beat by a few days I'm assuming."

I nodded my head and bit my bottom lip softly. "Mhm," I mumbled. "My birthday is actually coming up-" a lump caught in my throat when I realized that my parents wouldn't be around to celebrate my birthday this year.

"Adeline?" Rita asked. "Is everything okay?" I nodded and forced a smile.

"Mhm, yeah," I managed to croak out. "I'm just gonna go wash up before dinner."

As I was getting up and straightening out my robes, I tried my best to keep my composure. I began to turn to leave but Rita stopped me in my tracks. "Hey..." she started. "Whatever's bothering you, you know I'm always here to talk." She smiled softly and shrugged. "I don't have a ton of friends at Hogwarts, but I'm pretty good at reading people. So, whenever you're ready I'll be here to chat, 'Kay?" Her smile brightened and I couldn't help but feel a tightness in my chest. It took so much in me not to burst out into tears right now. I simply nodded and turned to leave before I showed her exactly what I was going through.

I found my way to an empty study room and frantically rummaged through my bags for the last bit of Draught of Peace I had. The potion was here somewhere, I just knew it. Tears welled in my eyes and my heart began to beat faster.

Ba dum. Ba dum. Ba dum.

I rubbed my hand over my chest and with my other hand I continued to search my bag. When I finally found the bottle, a defeated sigh escaped my lips. It was empty.

"Oh Merlin.." I whispered. I didn't have any of the ingredients on me and I used the last bit on Draco. At this point I could no longer hide the sadness that took over my body. I sat down in a nearby chair and covered my face in my hands. Why was this happening to me? Just weeks ago I was a happy, loved, carefree witch. I had parents who adored me and spoiled me rotten, and now I'm alone in itchy robes, trying not to cry over the fact that I'll never see them alive again. Quiet sobs filled the room and I didn't even realize I was no longer alone.

"DuPont?" Draco's voice overpowered the sounds of my soft cries and my head whipped up so fast I got a headache. "Are you-"

"It's allergies," I respond quickly, wiping away tears and standing abruptly to my feet. I couldn't hide the pain my headache gave me as it shot around from my temples to the front of my forehead. "I'm fine, thank you."

He watched quietly as I gathered my things that I had previously scattered around. When reaching for the empty bottle of my Draught of Peace, my hands shook so bad that it knocked over.

Draco moved closer and picked up the potion bottle. "Did you need more? I recognize the bottle from yesterday." He set down the empty one and reached in his pockets before pulling out the batch he made. "Promise it's not poisoned," he said, adding a cheeky wink.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, taking the vile from him. "I'd hope not, I was watching you when you made it." I looked down at it in my hands and hesitated slightly before opening the lid. Thankfully, it has a distinct smell to it and after a few seconds of inspecting the potion, I downed it quickly. Within seconds I was able to feel a wave of relief and peace wash over me and as an added bonus, my headache even went away.

"Thank you," I said softly, gently wiping the last few tears away. I handed him back the potion bottle and he took it from my grasp, lingering slightly when our hands touched. "I promise I'm not usually a blubbering mess, I've just.." I trailed off and sighed softly. The potion kicks in quickly and thankfully I was too overcome by its side effects to cry anymore. "I've just had a bad day. It's really nothing, just a long story if anything."

Draco pulled a chair out and gestured for me to take it. "I've got all night," he said. "Besides, you can sit and watch me brew another batch. It's not fair you still have Wolfsbane and I haven't got anything to prove it was worth swapping potions."

I was hesitant at first but it only took a few moments of lingering before I took the seat. My breathing slowed back to normal and a numbness took over me. It was the same numbness I had been feeling consistently ever since arriving to Hogwarts.

"So," he said. "What's got you crying like that?" He obviously wasn't going to let it drop, but I wasn't going to spill so easily.

I turned to look away and shrugged. "What's got you so interested in my problems? Last I checked you loathed me."

"Loathe you?" He asked.

I nodded and pulled my hand to my mouth and bit my thumbnail slightly. "Mhm," I hummed. "You loathe me." I met his gaze and watched as confusion flashed across his eyes. He was taking out the ingredients to make another batch of my potion while he presumably pondered his thoughts.

"Loathe is such a strong word," he mused. "Hate is even a more forgiving word than 'loathe', Adeline." He began brewing the potion casually, not even needing my help like he previously insinuated. "If I loathed you I wouldn't tolerate you at breakfast.. and lunch.. and dinner everyday. And if I loathed you, I wouldn't be sharing potions and make plans to do it again."

"But we haven't made plans-"

"No, not yet, but we will. I haven't had the chance to find another challenging one I don't think you've made yet." He winked again and heat crept up my neck to my face.

"Okay," I mumbled, nodding my head. "Continue." I quite liked hearing him go on about the reasons he couldn't possibly loathe me. It was comforting to know that maybe I truly was building an acquaintance with him.

He chuckled slightly before nodding and continuing. "I wouldn't be tolerating you right this moment, offering you a potion I brewed for myself with materials I stole, if I loathed you."

"That's true," I said, watching him. He was working swiftly and confidently as if he'd made this many times before. "So I guess if you don't loathe me, why are you so mean to me?"

He grew quiet and the silence was filled with soft bubbling from the cauldron. I gently furrowed my eyebrows when I realized he was having to ponder this question longer than I anticipated. "Draco?" I asked softly. His eyes glanced at me quickly before looking away, so at least now I knew he heard me.

He shook his head and finally looked at me once more. "When you first got here, something felt... off. It still does, sometimes. Other times you just feel like another person here." He frowned now and looked me up and down. "What really happened?" He asked. "Why did you all of a sudden pick up and-"

"I told you already what happened."

He shook his head and briefly paused working on the potion. "I don't think I believe you."

I pursed my lips and stood up. "You don't have to believe me. We don't have to be anything more than acquaintances who are kind to one another in the halls and at meal times. We don't have to be anything more than that."

"You have a point," he turned to face me. "But if we're acquaintances, then you're just going to have to get used to my humor. I can be mean." His eyebrows rose slightly and I matched his expression as best I could.

"And I can be tough," I said. "So long as we're playing on even grounds."

"The ground is even until it's not."

"Then I best bet we ought to play before it gets that way, right, Malfoy?" I held out my hand and smiled politely. His lips twitched up into a smile of his own and I couldn't help but feel a bit satisfied when he clasped his hand in mine for a decent handshake.

"Then game on, DuPont." With those words, our hands let go and my smile grew. I think we finally became acquaintances.