"Do I really have to sit through this insufferable moron's class?" Vanessa sighed, dragging her feet through the corridor on the way to class, Alex and Artemis both walking beside her. "The mere thought of anyone else teaching Potions is just ludicrous. I miss Snape already."

Artemis shrugged nonchalantly. "At least give Slughorn the chance before you make promises you can't keep," he cautioned. "You weren't particularly fond of Snape, if I remember correctly."

"Besides," Alex chimed in, "I'm pretty sure Slughorn taught all our parents. Maybe he'll remember them and we'll be teacher's pets or something and can just not do any work and still pass."

"One can only hope," Vanessa mumbled. "Wonder who all passed their exams..."

She didn't have long to wait. Only a few seconds later, the three of them stepped into the Potions classroom. It was to Vanessa's dismay that they were the first ones there. The three friends hovered near the back of the room, waiting patiently for the rest of the class to show up. It wasn't long before the other students began filing into the room. Vanessa was admittedly surprised when there were only eleven of them in the class, and unfortunately she noticed one of them was Malfoy. Vanessa rolled her eyes. She was growing tired of seeing the boy already, and it hadn't even been a week yet.

After a few moments, the short stocky man who had been introduced to them at the end of the Sorting Ceremony as Professor Slughorn entered the room, causing all the talking in the room to cease. Upon reaching the front of the classroom, he turned to face the students with a smile on his face.

"Good afternoon, students," he greeted, "and congrats on scoring high enough on your O.W.L.S. to get into my class. I was hoping there would be more of you, but no matter. I know you're all used to Professor Snape's teaching style..."

Almost immediately, Vanessa began zoning him out. This wasn't anything new. The girl was very accustomed to the "new professor" speech, thanks to the possible curse on Defense Against The Dark Arts. It wasn't a surprise to her anymore, nor should it have been for any of the sixth years. It wasn't until she heard her name that she started paying attention again.

"Vanessa Avery?" Slughorn's voice asked.

"Present," she replied, hoping that was what she needed to say.

Slughorn stared at her for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out where he had seen her before. Vanessa knew she hadn't met the man before now, so she was a bit confused for a moment, until she remembered that he probably taught her mother. "By any chance, is your mother Adrienne Belrose?" he inquired.

Vanessa nodded, frowning at the mention of her mother's name. "Yes."

"I knew it. You look just like her, and certainly you must have inherited her potion-making skills as well! How is she these days?" Slughorn asked.

"She's dead," Vanessa answered, a little more bluntly than she intended. "She passed away about a year ago."

"I'm terribly sorry, my dear," Slughorn sympathized. "Your mother was a wonderful woman." After a few seconds, he looked away from her and continued on with attendance. "Terry Boot?"

Vanessa rested her head against Artemis' shoulder (which caught him somewhat off-guard) as she tried to shake the thoughts regarding her mother from her mind. She had been trying so hard to not think about it, and yet people kept bringing it up. She sighed as Slughorn called out another name ("Michael Corner?"), hoping that this year wasn't going to be a repeat of the last in the sympathy department. All last year, that is the only thing people could say to her. Sorry. Vanessa was tired of hearing it entirely. If one more person apologized for her mother's death, she was liable to punch them.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted when she heard Slughorn call out her best friend's name. "Artemis Fowl?"

"Present," Artemis answered, his voice resonating in Vanessa's ear.

Slughorn just shook his head. "I was wondering if I was going to have the pleasure of teaching you. I had the fortune of teaching both your parents, although from what I have heard you have surpassed them intellectually."

Out of the corner of her eye, Vanessa caught a smirk forming on Artemis' face. "Oh, you have no idea what I am capable of, professor," Artemis promised. "I assure you, I have more than surpassed my parents."

"We'll have to discuss it more later, my boy," Slughorn suggested, and then proceeded with the attendance. "Hermione Granger?"

The bushy-haired Gryffindor girl responded, "Here!"

The smile on Slughorn's face grew larger. "This class is so full with talent, and I'm not even half way down the list," he stated, seemingly glad to have the brightest students in the school in his class. "Alexandra Kirkland?"

"Here!" Alex called out, hoping she would get some kind of praise, but when Slughorn continued with the attendance, she realized that wasn't going to happen, and muttered, "Jerk."

After the lone Hufflepuff in the class, Ernie Macmillan, was called, Vanessa heard the name she had been dreading to hear all day. "Draco Malfoy?"

"Present," his cold voice echoed through the room, causing Vanessa to roll her eyes. She was not looking forward to her class with him. For a moment, she had nearly forgotten she had seen him enter the room entirely.

The girl zoned out through the remainder of attendance- and through an outburst as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley showed up to class late- thoroughly irritated now. Admittedly she wasn't sure how Draco had managed to pull off a high enough O.W.L. score to get into the class to begin with. Regardless as to how that happened, it was something she was just going to have to deal with now. Hopefully she would be able to avoid him despite the fact that he was in the class. Yet somehow, Vanessa doubted that would be the case.

Artemis shifted his shoulder, causing Vanessa to realize that Slughorn had stopped attendance and was now rambling about something else. "Now, it would be most beneficial to split into groups," he was saying. "Now, since we have an odd number, we'll have three groups of three and one of four."

Groups. Vanessa rolled her eyes at the word. Vanessa despised working in groups. If she absolutely had to work with other people, she preferred it to be only one other; although in this case, she would've found herself in a sticky situation since both Artemis and Alex were in this class with her. She would've felt terrible for choosing one over the other. Instead, she linked arms with them both, and stepped off to the side by the nearest table, visually claiming them as her group.

Vanessa was celebrating silently in her head, thinking she had managed to pick her group without any problems. And then, Slughorn's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Mr. Malfoy, why don't you join Ms. Avery's group?" Vanessa's heart immediately sank. The last thing she wanted to do was work with Malfoy, and it didn't look like she had much of a choice.

Malfoy said nothing as he walked over to their table, but the look on his face said it all. He was not thrilled about it either, much to Vanessa's pleasure. Slughorn made a motion for the students to sit. Vanessa sat down hesitantly, and wound up between Artemis and Draco. A quick glance around the room let her observe who the other groups were, and she was admittedly not entirely surprised by them. What she was surprised about was Slughorn ruining their perfectly happy group.

"Alright, so let's get out your books and turn to page fifteen..."

Vanessa sighed as she reached into her bag for her book. She opened her book, and pretended to read about whatever potion they were supposed to be working on. Day one in the class, and she was already contemplating murder, and how much she truly missed Snape. Despite how much she hated him, he hadn't frequently given them group work- and when he did he certainly didn't place her with someone she so desperately wanted to punch.

Vanessa's thoughts were interrupted when Artemis sighed, and nudged her with a piece of parchment. She took it, noting how Artemis' eyes looked back at Alex and then back at her. Vanessa quietly and carefully unfolded it, sure enough, revealing Alex's handwriting.

'Someone is gonna die this year. And I promise you, it's gonna be that new friend of yours.'

Vanessa shot her friend a glare. Malfoy was not her friend. She picked up her quill, and wrote back hastily.

'Not even in his wildest dreams am I going to be his friend.'

She slid the note past Artemis and shook her head. There was no way in hell that was going to happen. She and Draco were going to remain enemies, and that was all there was to it. They had a history, and Vanessa was going to make sure it stayed that way.

If only she knew how wrong she actually was.