Harry held in a grin at that last sentence, and wrote on another scrap of parchment, And you call Hermione a show-off... I don't know any avian charms in Parseltongue, all right? And like I said, term's almost over. He tossed that one over, too.
Draco didn't reply again, but his eyes were narrowed as if he still had plenty to say.
"Pair up, now," Aran announced when he'd finally finished lecturing. Harry moved to work with Ron, only to hear the teacher order, "Oh, no, no, that won't do. Potter, you're with Zabini."
Uh-oh... It was bad enough being paired with Ron, who did his best to throw only the mildest spells Harry's way. Harry did his best to steer clear of the Slytherins in Defence. Well, except Nott, who'd been trying to get on Harry's good side. The other Slytherins, in contrast...
Zabini was grinning ear to ear.
Draco threw Goyle an I'll-explain-later look and said, "If you want Inter-House pairs, sir, I'll work with Harry--"
"I think you'd be better off not," said Aran with a dark look at Harry. "Well? Begin!"
Knowing it had to be faced, Harry walked to the far end of the classroom where Zabini was waiting. The other boy was twirling his wand. And practically leering in delight. Harry felt his stomach drop, even though he told himself that Zabini's antics were intended to scare him.
"Ready, Potter?" drawled Zabini. "Awww, what are you, worried? All you have to do to stop me is conjure some caninae. You remember the incantation, right? Canis horribilis... how hard is that?"
"Shut up," said Harry, holding his own wand out. This was going to be bad, he could tell. Even if he broke Aran's stupid rules and spoke Parseltongue, he hadn't had a chance to figure out the spell, yet.
"Jinxes only," cautioned Aran as he began to walk around. "Remember, your partner will need a few times to practice the caninae spell. Hexes and curses are too dangerous to begin with, so I'll expect to see none today..."
Apparently it really did take practice. At the far end of the room, Ron had managed to get a large, shaggy dog to appear, but it was laying down at his feet, apparently asleep. Off to Harry's side, a tiny translucent poodle was yipping as it scampered in circles around Luna. She sighed in delight, then scooped the puppy into her arms and gave it a hug.
"It's supposed to attack me," said Parvati impatiently. "Come on, Luna, get rid of it so we can try again."
Luna just crooned.
Zabini laughed scornfully. "Potter, you'll soon wish you could make so much as a poodle. So, jinxes. How about this?"
A blue cloud launched itself at Harry. Uh-oh, the Jelly-Brain jinx. Harry waved his wand and said the spell they were supposed to practice--said it in Latin, like Aran wanted--but the cloud just kept on coming. It surrounded his head and soaked through his skull and after that, it was like the whole room started to wobble. But it felt wonderfully warm, and so nice...
Harry fell to his knees and began wondering what the Great Hall would be serving for lunch that day. Carrots sounded good. Yeah, with that honey glaze the elves sometimes made...
"Finite Incantatem," he heard someone say, and looked up to see both Ron and Draco standing over him. He wasn't sure who had ended the jinx, but it was Draco who extended a hand and pulled him to his feet again.
"Should have known you'd have Malshite here to protect you," sneered Zabini. "Or the hero of Hogsmeade, take your pick." He raised his voice. "Professor Aran! Draco Snape won't let me practice!"
"You hurt Harry and you'll get yours," Draco said in a low voice. "Count on it."
"Just get back to Goyle," said Harry, giving Draco a little shove. He didn't want Draco getting kicked out of classes again.
"Yeah, go work with Goyle," laughed Zabini. "And good luck learning the spell, Malshite. Goyle's not going to jinx you, is he now?"
In the next moment he was already casting another spell. "Diffindo," Zabini said, lazily flicking his wand. Harry stepped back and cast Canis horibilis again, not that it did him much good. His robes still ended up torn.
"This could be rather amusing..." Zabini moved forward and flicked his wand several more times, until Harry's robes were in ribbons and his shirt beneath was torn, besides. "Think I should strip you naked?" menaced Zabini. "Or will Malshite run over here to protect you?"
Draco was watching, Harry saw. His brother looked like he was on the verge of deciding to come back over.
"Diffindo isn't much, though. Maybe a finger-removing spell... or no, better... Furnunculus!"
Zabini's spell didn't hit Harry, though. A shield charm blocked it when it was still more than a foot away. "That's it," yelled Draco from across the room. "You aren't covering Harry with festering boils. And while we're at it, Reparo!"
Harry's clothing repaired itself.
"Ruin my fun, will you?" yelled Zabini, immediately casting a Blasting Curse. Not at Harry, though.
"Ha! Canis horribilis!" Draco called back.
A huge black dog with enormous teeth sailed out of Draco's wand to launch itself at Zabini.
As it flew past, Harry could almost see through it. Not quite, though.
It knocked Zabini flat on his back and held him down. When Zabini tried to move, the dog growled.
Draco made his way across the room and knelt down next to Zabini. "And just think," he lightly snarled. "I can't even get in trouble, not this time. All I'm doing is the assignment."
"Fuck you, Malshite." Zabini shoved again at the huge dog pinning him down, but stopped when the conjured animal opened its jaws wide and set its teeth around his throat.
"Well done, well done," said Aran. "Your father said you were a quick study."
Draco blinked. "He did?"
Aran took a sudden step back. "Er... well, yes. But he didn't want me to tell you, so you'll keep it to yourself. There's a good lad. Now, if you'd just remove your caninae?"
Draco still appeared a little stunned. "Finite," he said, waving his wand toward the dog holding Zabini down. It turned transparent, then vanished into fog.
"I think that's enough practical for today," said Aran. "Return to your desks and re-read the chapter."
"Re-read?" Ron groaned.
Harry, on the other hand, was quite relieved to go read some more. Defence practicals for him were nothing short of target practice, with him as the target. All in all it hadn't been too bad, he supposed.
"Sorry I didn't get ahead of that Furnunculus," Ron glumly whispered once the class had settled down again.
"Don't worry about it. Draco had me--" Too late, Harry realised that wasn't going to help Ron feel better.
"Yeah, Draco. The only one who could cast a decent caninae..."
Harry sighed. Snape had been right; Draco did have an intuitive grasp of magic. There was no sense in being jealous of that.
"Did you notice how his caninae looked a bit like--"
"Yeah," interrupted Harry, not wanting to talk about it. He made a show of burying his nose in the book so Ron would get the point.
"Do you think he tried to make it look like--"
"Ron, I'm trying to read," Harry hissed.
"Detention, Potter," announced Aran from the front of the class. "No talking."
Harry almost slammed his book shut, he was so frustrated. Instead, he slouched down in his seat and kept reading.
Until, that was, Draco began talking to Goyle in a loud voice. "This class has certainly gone downhill since I've been gone. Aran assigns detention for chit-chat but completely ignores the fact that he said jinxes only and one of his students started casting curses instead? A Blasting Curse, even!"