Draco spent the next few weeks ignoring Elise, barely talking to her, let alone anyone else. Elise had almost forgotten that he existed until she saw him in her Potions class one morning, his eyes sunken deep into his greyish face.
"Hard night?" Blaise laughed, taking his usual seat beside Draco.
"You can't even imagine." He hushed, so quiet Elise barely even heard him over the chatter of the class.
"Welcome students," Professor Slughorn grinned as he entered the classroom, "to another wonderful lesson!"
Blaise scoffed, "why is he so chipper this morning?"
Elise shrugged, over the past few weeks, she had managed to become somewhat accustomed to his peculiar persona. "Might have had some extra Felix Felicis."
"So students," he began writing up on the chalkboard behind him. "Today we shall be doing something nice and simple. You should all be aware of the Dreamless Sleep Potion..." He glanced around the classroom, smiling as Hermione Granger nodded eagerly. With a wave of his hand, a set of instructions appeared behind him, "now, can anyone tell me the uses of the Dreamless Sleep Potion?"
Hermione raised her hand in an instant, "similar in nature to the Sleeping Draught, the Dreamless Sleep Potion is arguably more powerful by virtue of the fact that it can prevent the drinker from dreaming while under its effect. This is especially useful in cases of exposure to extremely traumatic events, allowing the drinker some respite from troubling and painful thoughts as their body rests." She glanced over at Harry Potter, "it's a very useful potion indeed!"
"Perfect Miss Granger!! Now, could you name the ingredients?" He raised his brows, almost not expecting her to be able to, something Elise knew was a clear misunderstanding.
"Honeywater, Sopophorous Bean, Lavender and Chamomile," she paused to think, "and Moly plants."
Blaise whispered under his breath, "know it all."
"Marvelous job! Now, if everyone could collect the ingredients listed by Miss Granger, and follow the instructions on the board. I expect to have a dreamless sleep tonight." He chuckled to himself, writing the instructions on the board behind him before taking his seat at the front of the class.
"Oh," Draco grabbed Elise's arm, "get my ingredients?"
She scoffed, "finally speaking to me?"
"Come on..." he pleaded with her, biting his lip.
And looking in his fading eyes, Elise couldn't bring herself to say no. "Fine," she shrugged. "Come on then Blaise, help me carry it all." She led him over to the storage cupboard with a sigh.
"Trouble in paradise?" Asked Blaise as he collected his cauldron.
Elise took hers and Draco's cauldrons, stacking them together. "Paradise? Hardly..." Before Blaise could speak again, Elise made sure to cut in. "Get three phials of Honeywater," she pointed him over in the direction as she grabbed a handful of Sopophorous Beans, dropping them into her cauldron.
"Now what?"
"Weren't you listening?" Elise responsed with a laugh.
"To Granger?" He raised his brows, "why would I be?"
"She's smart Blaise, much smarter than you..."
"How much that hurts me Elise, I am truly wounded." Blaise rolled his eyes, stepping closer to her, "now what?"
"Lavender and Chamomile.... stalks and flowers." She shook her head, reaching past him to collect some Moly plants. "Come on then."
With a grin, they walked back over to where Draco sat, placing out all of the ingredients in front of them.
"Pass me my Honeywater," called out Draco, reaching his arm over towards her.
Elise scoffed. "Do it yourself Draco," she said, pouring the honeywater into her already burning cauldron.
She turned away from the boys, cutting up her sopophorous bean as she watched the class around her struggle with the potion. Every student, except Harry Potter himself, was flushed alredy, struggling to even cut up their bean.
"Elise, my honeywater isn't boiling." Draco stated, glancing down at his cauldron.
Rolling her eyes, Elise pulled her wand out of her robe pocket, "Incendia." She stated simply, watching as the flames jumped from the tip of her wand, sending powerful heat through the cauldron, "there."
"Merlin he really can do nothing," said Blaise, rolling his eyes.
"Shut it Blaise." Draco said weakly, twirling his wand over the cauldron and watching as the honeywater simmered.
Nonverbally, Elise lifted her sopophorous bean out of the cauldron, dropping it onto the surface beside Draco, water jumping out at him. "Merlin Elise..." He glanced down at the wet patch on his shirt, "care to fix what you did?" He said, eyebrows raised.
Elise shook her head silently, turning back to her potion. She had little interest in repairing her minor friendship with Draco, especially when he seemed far more intrigued by things she couldn't even imagine.
With a steady hand, Elise tied her lavender and chamomile together, taking a deep breath in before dropping it into her simmering cauldron. She watched on as the students around the classroom moved onto the next step, mimicking their movements as she cut up her Moly plants.
"Merlin this takes forever," sighed Elise, stirring aimlessly.
"I'm bored," protested Draco to Blaise as he began to throw stalks of lavender and chamomile into his potion.
"You're bored?" Blaise huffed, "you know what's boring, this stupid party Professor Slughorn has invited me to."
"Is that for your little club thing?"
He nodded, "he wants us all to mingle together, share our wealth of knowledge with one another..."
"Sounds like a load of rubbish if you ask me, just don't go." Elise shrugged at him, dropping in her Moly plants as she removed the fire from her cauldron with just the wave of her hand.
"I wish!" He sighed in response, "Slughorn is actually checking that we attend, and I should probably try and form some connections with the Ministry after everything last year."
Elise grimaced, she had only heard in whispers of what had happened last year in the Department of Mysteries, but she knew it had shattered a lot of relationships.
"Anyway," he shook his head, stirring his potion. "I was wondering actually, Elise," she looked up at him at the sound of her name, "if you might want to come with me?"
"Oh," Elise bit her lip, taken aback by his proposal, she wasn't even sure he liked her as a friend, let alone enough to take her as a date. "That would be lovely."
"-its just, it's always better to turn up with someone else you see, and I would really rather not take Pansy."
"Ah," that made a lot more sense. It was her or Pansy, and Elise, along with every other Slytherin, knew that Pansy would not be the most suitable choice. "Go on then, when is it?"
He grinned, "it's on Friday, meet me in the common room after dinner."
"What should I wear?" Elise had a few dress robes, but she wasn't sure if Blaise would approve of her second-hand fashion.
"Don't worry, I left a dress in your dorm."
Elise huffed, "huh, so you knew I would say yes?"
"Elise," he leant across the table, "do you really have anything better to do?"
"Point taken."
"Stop flirting you two-" Draco cut in, "Blaise your potion is not looking so good."
Elise glanced over at his cauldron. Inside, was a deep blue paste, bubbling and gurgling away. "Merlin, what did you do to that?" Her eyes darted between his concoction and her own, "that could probably kill someone."
"What?" He stared down at his cauldron, "Elise you distracted me!"
"Blaise, you actively started the conversation!" She protested, "maybe learn how to multitask before you give it a go next time."
"Draco, give me some of yours to hand in!" He asked his friend desperately, scooping up some of the liquid into a phial before he even had a response.
"Well, do go ahead then." Draco groaned.
"You realise that won't pass either?" She said in a singsong voice, "that wouldn't be a dreamless sleep at all, in fact, that would probably give you more nightmares than you started with."
"Why would you even want a dreamless sleep?"
"This is a load of rubbish."
"Didn't you listen to Granger?" Elise raised her brows, already knowing the answer. "It's useful when people have trauma, it gives them some respite from their thoughts," she said as she began to pour her own mixture into a set of ten phials. "I think they used it a lot in the Wizarding War..."
"Like a muggle sedative?" Blaise asked, "my mum loves those, reckon I could pinch some for her?"
She shook her head, "no Blaise. It would be best if you didn't."
Elise stacked up her equipment, walking it all back over to the storage cupboard and tidying it away. It had been a long day, all she wanted was a nice bath, and some of her own respite. Alas, that was not on the cards for her.
"Blaise, give it back." She said with annoyance once she arrived back at her seat.
"What?"
Elise rolled her eyes, "your mum can stick to muggle sedatives."
"I would rather she didn't," he laughed awkwardly.
"Great, well that's your problem, right now, my problem is that you've stolen two of my phials!" She stared down at her now smaller collection of freshly brewed Potion for Dreamless Sleep.
"Give off- Slughorn doesn't even need them all!"
"That doesn't make stealing right!" She retorted, "give them back."
Blaise caught Draco's eye before turning back to face Elise, "can't."
"And why not?"
"Just can't Elise." He shook his head, "anyways, looks like I'll see you at the party."
"It looks like you will." She said, somehow back in the state of confusion she had been finding herself in far too frequently.