Redemption.

Potions

Stiorra's POV.

She woke up with a start the following morning, wondering where she was. She didn't like not knowing, for she always had a thought, a feeling, deep down, that she had been taken. However, she felt a lot better as soon as she noticed the golden and red colours spread out across the room, and spotted her friends sleeping in their own beds in the dormitory. She was home.
Stiorra stretched out, yawning, and put on her uniform. The skirt still fitted perfectly. She buttoned up her shirt and headed out of the dormitory. It was still really early. She stepped out of the common room through the portrait, and walked down the stairs to the Great Hall.
She was at peace here, and she wondered how she'd manage to feel okay someplace else. She let her mind wander off as she walked, imagining what her life would be like five years from now. She made up a life in her mind, where Draco never became a Death Eater. A life where her parents weren't dead. Would she ever find a happily ever after?
She walked in the Great Hall, and noticed a few people were already there. Seamus Finnigan, her dear Irish friend, was sitting at the Gryffindor table and was shoving a toast in his mouth when she sat down beside him.
She grabbed a toast and spread out some butter on top of it. She didn't realise before how hungry she was. That's what happens when you don't eat at dinner, she thought to herself.
She got up, holding her toast in her hand, and headed to the closest girls' lavatory. She came back to the Great Hall shortly after. Someone walked before her, bumping into her without looking wherever he walked. She looked up. Her eyes met Draco's. She cleared up her throat and stared somewhere else.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low voice.

"Well, don't be."

She walked back to her seat and sat back down next to Seamus, noticing Ginny and Hermione were here, too. Hermione looked at her with a brow raised. Stiorra just shrugged.
The more time passed on, the more students walked in the Great Hall and sat down at the different tables, enjoying their breakfast along with their friends. Soon enough the room was crowded with people, and the murmurs of the conversation were roaring up in the room as Professor McGonagall walked up along the Gryffindor table handing out the different time tables to everyone.
The Headmistress began with handing the 7th year students' time tables. Stiorra got hold of hers, and soon realised, as her eyes ran over the paper, that she'd have to share classes together with whatever was left in Slytherin.
She was bummed. She looked up from her paper, and noticed Draco staring at her. He looked away the second their eyes met, and she could feel a shiver running down her back.
She had Charms and Transfiguration in the morning, and Potions in the afternoon. However, she realised the shared class with the Slytherins would be on the very same day, and her heart sank low. She didn't want to see him.

The day went on, and she hadn't seen any of the the 7th year Slytherin yet. Hermione and Stiorra walked into the Great Hall for lunch, sitting down beside Harry and Ron.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked Ron.

"For what?"

"Quidditch."

"I don't know if I'll play again," Ron said.

"Why not?" Stiorra asked him, "You were brilliant."

"Come on, one Weasley on the team is enough."

"As you wish," Harry told him, looking down at his plate.

They all dug in and started eating, talking about the first day back at school. Stiorra wondered for a second what life was like for them when they were on the run.

"What do we have this afternoon?" Ron asked.

"Potions," Hermione said.

"Along with Slytherin," Harry added.

Stiorra flinched. She wasn't ready to face Draco, even though she had an entire year. She still couldn't forgive him at all. But she couldn't say a single thing to any of her friends for this was a secret.
Nobody knew what happened between Draco and herself, and it was better this way. She couldn't let them know. Or else they'd blame her for not telling someone.
She didn't feel hungry anymore, and got up, picking up her stuff and headed out of the Great Hall. Her breath was shaky, her lips were trembling. She walked down to the dungeon where Professor Slughorn's potion classroom was, and waited there, out front of the door, trying to getting it back together and calming herself down. She breathed in, and out. She stood up and rested her back against the walls as the first students started to arrive.
Soon enough they were all there. Draco was standing away from her, but she knew exactly where he was without even looking at him. She had a radar when it came to Draco Malfoy.
Professor Slughorn stepped out of his classroom and greeted everyone back, and let them all in. However, he stopped them from sitting down wherever they wanted as soon as they got in.

"Since our dearest Headmistress wants to bring House Unity to Hogwarts," Professor Slughorn said, "I decided to partner each student with a student from another house. Meaning, a Gryffindor will be teaming up with a Slytherin. Now, now, you are welcome to look at the chart and discover who your partner is."

Stiorra walked up to the chart, her heart clenched, practically sure she'd get with the one person she didn't want to be. She looked for her name, and found it beside Draco's name. She gulped down. That sounds promising, she thought to herself as she walked up to a table in the back of the room and sat down, letting her bag fall onto the ground.
The stool next to her was pulled back, and he cleared out his throat. Draco sat down on his stool, not saying a word, as the others took their seats. It was an awkward silence, and Stiorra felt like throwing up. Her hands were shaking too much.

"Come on, now, we'll start the year with an easy potion to get back into it," Professor Slughorn said, "so, please, prepare a Confusing Concoction. You have about three hours to do so, and for those who end up early, you have permission to leave."

There was a sudden roaring of different sounds such as the stools being pulled back, the jars and bottles knocking together and the cauldron being set up. Stiorra didn't move.
Draco got up, and walked up to the table where the supplies needed to brew the potion were. He gathered whatever the two of them needed and walked back to the table, sitting back down.
Stiorra started off the potion, and Draco stared at her without saying a word. She looked up, just the one time, and their eyes met.

"Are you going to ignore me?" he asked her.

She focused back on the potion, and didn't say anything. Draco stood up, picking up whatever he needed for the next part of the project, and took over. Stiorra's hands were still shaking.
She tried not looking at him, but it was quite hard. However, her eyes always laid out on his arm, where she knew stood the dark mark.
Draco sat down, and she looked away, afraid he might caught her in the act. But he didn't. She stirred the potions the number of times it was required, and sat back down.
Professor Slughorn was walking between the tables and came across their tables, finding it unusually quiet for being Draco's table shared with a girl, and took a look at their potion.

"This one's perfect," he told them, "you are free to go, I'm a man of my word."

Stiorra quickly picked up the supplies and walked over to the desk to put them back wherever they belonged, and came back to the table in a rush. She grabbed her bag and potion book, storming out of the classroom without saying a word. It was more than she could actually bear.

Hello everyone! I hope you like the story so far, and there's more to come with lots of Draco moments.
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