Anna already knew that this year was going to be....interesting, to say the very least, especially with Snape as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Secretly she wondered if it was really going to be defense, or teaching of the dark arts. Professor Slughorn seemed a little bit eccentric, and Anna didn't know if he had everything all there. He approached her after dinner, when she was on the way back to Gryffindor Tower with Ginny.
"Miss Potter, a word?"
Anna looked at Ginny and mouthed 'save me'. Ginny giggled a bit. "I'll catch up with you later Anna." She said before walking off, and Anna huffed a bit at being left with the Professor by herself. She turned to look at him, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Can I help you with something Professor?" She asked.
"I had your mother in my Potions class you know." He said, which actually caught her attention. "You did?" She asked, always wanting to know more about her mother. Slughorn nodded his head. "Indeed. She was quite the witch, I was saddened to hear of her death. But I've heard that you don't quite have the same knack for Potions."
Anna flushed a little bit as she shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She answered. "Although it didn't really help that our Potions professor seemed to hate my brother and I."
Professor Slughorn shook his head. "Well, maybe now that I am teaching Potions, that can change hm?"
Anna gave him a small grin. "Perhaps professor." He seemed pretty all right. A bit eccentric yes, but fine to be around. "See you in class professor."
"How did it go?" Ginny asked when Anna finally entered the common room. "It actually went really good." The Potter girl replied. "He just talked about how he had my mother in his Potions class. She had a knack for Potions, it would seem."
"And he thought that you would be the same way?"
"Apparently. He did seem a bit disappointed when I told him that Potions wasn't one of my best classes, and he seemed determined to change that." She laughed a bit. "Honestly, I think that the only reason I'm so bad at Potions is because Snape seems to hate me."
"Of course he does, it's because you aren't a Slytherin.."
"That's probably why Draco does so good at it..." She trailed off. Something had seemed off with the Malfoy, but Anna couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly. Had he and Harry been fighting? She didn't know, but she was going to find out.
According to Harry, there hadn't been anything that the two lovers had been fighting about. "He does seem rather off though." Harry admitted. He and Anna were sitting in the courtyard. It was a Saturday, and unseasonably warm for September. "Anna..." Harry bit his lip. "You don't think that he's cheating on me, do you?"
"Of course not!" Anna shook her head vehemently as she took her brother's hand. "I may not have liked Draco in the past, but one thing I know is that he loves you, Harry. Look, I'll talk to him, okay? I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, I promise."
Harry nodded, and Anna gave him a hug. "Hey, you still have dad's invisibility cloak?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just grab it, we're gonna go and have some fun to take your mind off of things."
When Harry left to get the cloak, Anna sighed softly. "What's going on with you Draco?" She murmured. If he wound up breaking her brother's heart, she was definitely going to kill him.
"What are you skulking about for, Potter?"
Anna sighed as she turned to face Pansy Parkinson. "What the hell do you want?"
Pansy smirked. Millicent Bulstrode was by her side, as well as Daphne Greengrass. "I want to know what you were talking about with Draco when you two were talking in the hallway of the Hogwarts Express."
"And what business is it of yours?"
"Stay away from Draco, Potter. Things won't end well for you if you don't."
Anna scoffed. "Pansy, do you honestly think that I'm scared of you?"
"Well, you should be."
"I would sooner be afraid of a Flobberworm than of you." Anna laughed a bit. "You're pathetic Parkinson. You hide behind your friends because you're too cowardly to take care of a situation yourself."
Pansy withdrew her wand. "Keep talking, I dare you."
Anna took out her wand as well. "You aren't going to be able to beat me, Parkinson, and I think you know that. You haven't been able to before, and you won't be able to now. I suggest that you run along before you hurt yourself."
"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall strode up, along with Professor Flitwick.
"Potter threatened me without reason Professor." Pansy said immediately, which caused the older woman to raise an eyebrow. "Really? Because I believe that the chances of Miss Potter threatening a student needlessly are very slim Miss Parkinson." McGonagall turned to Anna. "What is your side of the story, Miss Potter?"
"Pansy came up to me, and basically threatened me unless I stayed away from Draco, Professor."
"I see..." McGonagall frowned at Pansy.
"You're going to believe her over me?!" Pansy cried in disbelief. Obviously she was always used to getting her way, which may have been why she was angry at Anna. Did she think that she and Draco were a thing? Anna internally gagged at the thought. Since Draco was dating Harry, he was essentially like a brother to her himself. "She's lying Professor! She was going to attack me!"
"Really?" She looked down at Flitwick. "What do you think Filius."
Professor Flitwick shook his head. "What I saw was Miss Parkinson withdrawing her wand, and Miss Potter raising hers in self defense."
"Detention with me tonight Miss Parkinson." McGonagall said. "Along with your friends here." If Anna didn't know better, she would almost say that McGonagall was happy to give Pansy detention. Anna couldn't blame her, though. No one liked Pansy. She didn't have any real friends, only minions who followed her around because they wanted to be a part of the popular crowd. Pansy turned on her heel and stormed off, Daphne and Millicent right behind her.
"Toodles!" Anna called out, which caused Pansy to flip her off before going inside the castle.
"You certainly know how to tick people off." Harry said. He had watched the whole thing from afar, as he didn't want anyone to discover his invisibility cloak. Anna laughed lightly. "She had it coming. But you should have seen the look on her face when McGonagall gave her detention. She looked ready to kill me."
Harry frowned a bit. "Be careful Anna. She may not do anything outright, but she'll think of something."
"I'll be fine Harry. Let's go." They draped the cloak over themselves and Anna led him into Hogsmeade. They removed the cloak and Anna stuffed it into her satchel before leading Harry into the Three Broomsticks. "I thought that you could use a drink."
"But we aren't of age yet." Harry protested. and Anna wagged a finger at him. "See, this is why you try to stay on Rosmerta's good side." She grinned when the proprietor of the Three Broomsticks brought them each some Firewhiskey. She sent Anna a wink before leaving the two alone.
Three Firewhiskeys later, Harry was sobbing in Anna's arms. "I love him!" He cried, and Anna stroked his hair, trying to soothe him. "I love him, but he won't even talk to me! He's probably cheating on me. I bet that it's with Zabini-"
"Okay, let's get you back." Anna said, and she hauled Harry out of the booth. Somehow she managed to get him back to the castle, and up into Gryffindor Tower.
"What on Earth happened?" Hermione had been on one of the Gryffindor couches, studying when Anna had essentially dragged Harry in.
"He's fine, he's just had a little too much to drink." Anna explained. "You mind helping me get him upstairs?"
Together, the girls managed to get him up the stairs, where Ron said he could handle things. Anna and Hermione then went back downstairs, and Anna sighed as she collapsed on the couch.
"Mind telling me exactly why Harry was drunk?" Hermione asked.
"I thought that he could use a break from things. He's been worried because Draco seems to be avoiding him lately and frankly I am too, which is why I'm going to be confronting Draco about it tomorrow."
The girls talked about things for a few more minutes before deciding that they should probably get some sleep as well. Anna quickly got her pajamas on and got into her bed, falling asleep almost immediately.