Blood Bound

Chapter 2 - Socius

Draco was having a lovely dream courtesy of Astoria Greengrass whom had informed him the day prior on the train that she had learned a new flexibility charm. In his dream, Astoria was demonstrating to him how she could actually get her leg around –

"What the bloody hell" he woke up with a shout, his upper body soaked and his lower body feeling extremely frustrated that his dream was interrupted.

"Morning Malfoy" fucking Granger was lounging against his door frame, looking every part the cat who caught the canary as she wound a piece of her hair around her wand.

"Granger, there is exactly one reason I invite women into my bedroom and it is not to be doused with freezing water first thing in the morning" his voice came out practically as a growl. Granger should be counting her lucky stars that he left his wand on the other side of the room last night.

"Well-" she stood up from the doorframe spinning around and continuing over her shoulder "since you were such a gentleman last night and woke me from my nightmare, I figured I could return the favour. Classes start in 20 minutes and you're bound to be late if you don't get up now. You're welcome" She tossed the tail-end of her statement over her shoulder as she walked out of the common room into the rest of the castle.

"I'm going kill that fucking swot" he seethed. Checking the time on his wand, the stupid bint was right he only had 17 minutes until class now. Throwing on the same robes he wore yesterday, He shrugged his bag onto one shoulder and accio-d an apple from the fruit bowl in the kitchen as he made his way through the castle to Advanced Potion Making in the dungeons.

--

"Only 5 minutes early for class Mione? That's like being late for you" Ginny teased as she took her seat next to the red-head. A quick scan around the class showed that the small number of students meant all four houses were present.

"Ugh I know Gin" Hermione started, clearly not catching the teasing tone of her friend's words. "It's these stupid heels that came with my uniform, I haven't worn anything other than trainers for two years so I had a right blast trying to get down 5 bloody flights of stairs in them."

"Don't have to tell me twice Mione, I had to walk from the seventh floor remember?" The two exchanged sympathetic glances before turning their attention to the door as Professor Slughorn walked in, followed closely by a flustered looking Malfoy.

"Good morning students -cutting it close Mister Malfoy- and welcome to Advanced Potion Making" Slughorn greeted as he went to stand in front of a large cauldron in the middle of the room. Malfoy took his seat next to Theodore Nott and scowled at Hermione before turning his attention to his potions book. The pissed look on his face brought a smile to hers, now we're even Malfoy she thought as she turned her attention back to the professor.

"Seeing as this is your N.E.W.T year, Professor Babbling and I have decided to assign a joint-studies project between our two classes." There was a collective groan from the students as Slughorn continued. "Later today when you attend your ancient runes class, yourself and your partner -whom I will be assigning at the end of class- will be given a translation of a strong curse that you are expected to transcribe for her class, and for this class you will be expected to brew the counter-potion for the curse you translated. Any questions?"

Ginny's hand shot up. "Professor, why would we brew a counter-curse potion instead of just performing a counter-spell?"

"Excellent question Miss Weasley!" Poor Gin was definitely getting an invitation to his next Slug-Club party if the look on Slughorn's face was anything to go by. "How one goes about breaking a curse depends on the type of curse. Stronger ones such as blood maledictions and contagious curses require more potent magic than wand-work, thus we utilize potions either on their own or along with a spell."