"May I sit here?" He stopped at her desk and asked the messy-haired girl who was looking down at A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration amidst the sudden ringing of the bell.
Hermione looked up at the sound and saw that it was the boy named Draco. He was wearing an elegant black robe, his platinum blond hair was neatly combed, and regrettably, he wore a Slytherin green school tie at the collar.
He was regarding her with an enigmatic gaze, his face showing a mixture of pride and uncertainty.
"Of course," the girl was somewhat surprised. Her eyes flickered, and she gave him an awkward smile. "There is no one here. You may sit down."
Hermione was slightly unsure how to interact with the boy who was planning to sit beside her.
People said that Slytherin produced wicked wizards who wielded Dark magic. That was what the books said, and that was what the older students in Gryffindor said too.
Draco did not seem that terrible. Apart from his somewhat cold expression, he was quite polite to her.
Could he truly be a Dark wizard? Hermione wondered, peeking at the boy through the gaps in her thick, curly brown hair.
He pulled out a chair and slowly sat down. He sat upright, unlike other boys who slouched. His face was somewhat pale, his eyes were deep-set, and his expression became serious.
As though sensing her scrutiny, he turned his head slightly, his lowered grey eyes quickly moving from the book to her hair, keenly catching her flickering gaze.
He asked her, "What is wrong?"
"Nothing," Hermione said hastily, turning around to accept the Transfiguration matches that Professor McGonagall was distributing.
She was fairly friendly, and did not ignore him simply because he was a "ruthless, evil Slytherin." Draco could not help but think to himself as he cast a spell on the match.
"Your needle seems somewhat sharper than mine." While practicing Transfiguration in class, Hermione could not help but pick up his needle and examine it closely, saying enviously, "I still need to work harder..."
"You have done quite well too," Draco said. He lifted his eyelids and glanced at the needle on her table. It looked rather decent now, and he wondered what she was struggling with.
Ultimately, this was probably Hermione Granger's characteristic strict self-discipline. Even though they were the only two students in the class who could turn matches into needles, and even though the most exacting Professor McGonagall did not find fault, she still complained that her needle tips were not sharp enough.
Draco silently toyed with his wand, occasionally glancing at her.
This lesson was too simple and too tedious for him now. The only novel aspect was the sense of approval Miss Know-It-All had for him.
The sense of recognition was almost palpable. It had to be said, it was far more comfortable than the feeling of contempt.
Who would have thought that she could regard him with such approval? In his previous life, those brown eyes were mostly filled with disdain, wariness, and undisguised disgust.
Draco gave a mocking smirk, roughly shoving certain replaying memories of the past back into the depths of his mind.
What was the point of dwelling on all this? It was better to continue watching Miss Know-It-All and observe how else she could perfect that needle.
Friday's Potions class was the same familiar routine. The students had to prepare a potion to cure boils and experience the Slytherin Potions Master's authority.
That was an extended class that began and ended with "suppressing Harry Potter."
Just as in his previous life, Potter and his friends were ridiculed mercilessly by Professor Snape, while Draco was praised lavishly by him.
It was difficult for any student to resist a professor's open favoritism. Especially when a certain Slytherin Potions Master was so difficult to please, harshly criticizing and suppressing the potion-making skills of the entire class, yet uniquely describing Draco's method of stewing horned slugs as "perfect."
Such stark praise was an almost irresistible source of vanity and pride for a young wizard.
Professor Snape was Draco's favorite professor, and perhaps still was. The students also considered Draco to be Professor Snape's favorite student.
Even the uninformed Hogwarts students spread rumors that Professor Snape was Draco's godfather.
Professor Snape was certainly not Draco's godfather. That was all baseless speculation.
As a pure-blood wizard, Lucius never believed that his son needed a "godfather." If one were to insist on giving Draco a "godfather," Lucius, who was a staunch advocate of pure-blood supremacy—even if he admired Snape—would not permit a half-blood to be his son's "godfather."
However, it was undeniable that Professor Snape did have a very close relationship with the Malfoy family.
Not to mention that the Malfoy family tradition was to recruit talented wizards. Even within Slytherin, the reverence of capability was a common practice.
Draco recalled that, as Head of House, Professor Snape was quite popular within Slytherin, and most Slytherin students and their parents respected him.
Even Lucius, who was always proud, felt that entrusting his son to Snape was a reassuring arrangement.
Professor Snape's excellence was beyond question: the youngest Head of Slytherin House in history, a Potions professor, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Second Class, and proficient in many disciplines including the Dark Arts and Defense Against them, Potions, Charms, and Occlumency.
The fact that a half-blood wizard was recognized by a wizarding community that revered pure-bloods was, to some extent, proof of his absolute capability. Draco's thoughts drifted as he ground the snake fangs into powder.
However, everything changed after the Malfoys fell to their lowest point and Lucius was imprisoned in Azkaban. Many Slytherins distanced themselves from the Malfoys, which was understandable. It was simply self-preservation.
If Professor Snape had merely distanced himself from the Malfoys, while Draco would have been extremely disappointed, it would not have been enough to puzzle him. What puzzled him was Snape's ambiguous attitude.
He never pleaded for Lucius before the Dark Lord, and remained indifferent to all the oppression the Malfoy family faced. Yet he did not distance himself from Draco, but instead closely approached him, actively probing what Draco's mission and plans were.
What a terrible dilemma it would be to ask a sixteen-year-old boy to kill Dumbledore.
Draco knew, naturally, that Snape's help would make things far easier. However, to prove his abilities to the Dark Lord and regain his trust in the Malfoys, he had to complete that terrible task alone, without "leaking" anything or having his credit stolen.
Draco dared not trust anyone, especially Snape, who was eager to discover his plans. The more Snape inquired, the more suspicious Draco became, suspecting that Snape had ulterior motives.
At that time, in order to protect himself, he had to emerge from the well of naivety and ignorance and begin to think about reality.
On a darker note, how much of Professor Snape's preferential treatment of Draco was due to his personal relationship with Lucius, and the exchange of benefits behind that relationship, and how much was out of genuine appreciation for Draco himself?
Since he stood by and watched the Malfoys suffer before the Dark Lord, how could one expect him to suddenly have a change of heart and genuinely help?
Yet it was this enigmatic person who saved Draco when Potter's Sectumsempra curse nearly killed him.
Snape could have stood by and done nothing, if he were the sort of person who would allow someone to die.
By the end, Draco was full of questions and had no idea how to deal with Snape.
At this crucial moment in the preparation of the boil cure, Draco temporarily ceased thinking. He focused intently on adding porcupine quills into the extinguished cauldron. Pink smoke immediately rose from it.
Judging from the expression on Professor Snape's face, he was quite satisfied with the result.
Perhaps because of everything he had experienced in his memories, the once willful and reckless Draco Malfoy had now learned to read people's expressions.
He had learned to calmly observe the expressions and actions of those around him, and even to deduce their true thoughts.
Just as Draco could perceive the faint approval on Professor Snape's face when he encountered a well-made Potion, he could also observe that Snape's emotions fluctuated more than usual when he encountered Potter.
Professor Snape was usually far more composed and even detached. Draco understood this quite well. One would rarely see a master of Occlumency losing control daily. They tended to keep their emotions locked within their minds.
But observing Professor Snape's state when he suppressed Potter, snapped at Hermione, and roared at Longbottom... it seemed that he harbored an extraordinary aversion to Potter and his friends, and even Occlumency was not particularly effective.
Draco did not believe that this outburst was entirely due to the students' poor academic performance.
Goyle and Crabbe were both Potions disasters, exploding cauldrons as frequently as Seamus Finnigan of Gryffindor. But Professor Snape responded to them with a cold laugh and indifference, at most a few sarcastic remarks, rather than a furious outburst.
Most of the time, Professor Snape would ignore students who did not possess much talent for Potions, as long as they did not seek trouble. To deliberately approach a student he disliked and lose his temper was, frankly, somewhat immature and abnormal.
At this moment, Draco selectively ignored the fact that he used to be the one who most enjoyed provoking Potter and his friends.