A/N

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just got really side tracked. Hopefully I'll be updating more consistently in the future. Anyway, none of this belongs to me except the story line etc. you know the drill. Happy New Year!

~oO0Oo~

Draco walked into potions, having regained his confidence and gotten used to the stares that he was getting. He sat down at the front of the room, away from where his old friends usually sat, and pulled out his book, ready to begin. He was eager to see how the lesson would go, now that he could concentrate on doing well in a subject that he enjoyed, rather than thinking about people seeing him as nerdy or something.

The room was filling up quickly, until the seat next to his was the only one left empty. This was because they had potions with the Gryffindors, who wouldn't sit next to him because of his past treatment towards them, and the Slytherins no longer associated with him.

Professor Slughorn bumbled into the room, greeting everyone as he made his way to the front. He managed to hold himself back from gaping at Draco's changed demeanour, and resorted to staring a little longer than usual, which Draco was grateful for. At least he wasn't bringing extra attention to him. Neville was not so lucky.

He had burst through the door, out of breath and red in the face seconds after Professor Slughorn had made it to the front of the room.

"Ah, Neville! Good to see you made it lad. Take a seat, take a seat. We were about to begin." Slughorn called cheerily, before turning around to write something on the board.

With an embarrassed expression, Neville looked around, paling upon the realisation that the only seat available to him was next to Draco.

Draco was about to plaster his usual snarky smirk onto his face until he heard a rather loud cough that no one else seemed to notice. He looked across to see Loki nonchalantly leaning back in Professor Slughorn's chair, balancing it on two legs, looking pointedly at Neville.

Draco sighed, then did his best to look his least threatening as Neville took his seat. He then resorted to spending his time listening to Professor Slughorn's cheery instructions on how best to make a shrinking solution, taking down notes as he spoke.

Professor Slughorn told them to pair up and start working on a shrinking solution, and Neville looked around the room desperately searching for someone else who he could work with, anyone but Draco. But no one was to be found, so Neville turned slowly and fearfully back towards Draco, who was inspecting his nails as he waited for Neville to come to the same conclusion that he had, that they would have to work together.

"I'll grab the daisy roots, shrivelfigs and caterpillars if you grab the rat spleen, leach juice, cowbane and wormwood." Draco offered, and then got up out of his seat to get the required ingredients before the Gryffindor could respond, which was just as well as Neville seemed to be lost for words. He then realized that he should get the ingredients before Draco got back, and almost knocked over his chair in his haste to do so.

Draco took his time collecting the ingredients, as he wasn't looking forward to working with Neville while he obviously feared him, so he resolved to talk to the boy in attempt to lessen his fears, even a little. He sighed and made his way back to the table, where the other boy was already sitting with the ingredients he collected ready.

When Neville saw him approaching, he immediately reached for the Shrivel Figs to begin juicing them, but Draco reached out his hand to stop him. Neville flinched, then looked confused as to what he could have done wrong before they had even started.

"Hey Neville, hold on, can I talk to you for a moment?" Draco asked wearily, painfully aware of the conversation about to take place. Neville nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak.

"Look, I know that I've been quite harsh to you in the past, and I understand that you don't trust me. I honestly can't blame you. But I really think that it was all just a huge misunderstanding on my part. Would it be alright if we could, perhaps, start over?"

Upon seeing Neville's incredulous look, he hastily added, "I understand if you don't want to. I mean, really I haven't given you any reason at all to trust me and I'm really, really sorry for that and-"

Draco stopped mid-sentence upon the realisation that he was babbling. He looked at Neville pleadingly. Neville looked at him suspiciously, but eventually broke into a nervous grin.

"Alright then" Neville agreed, stretching out his hand for Draco to shake "Hi, I'm Neville"

"Hi Neville, I'm Draco" He replied as he shook his hand gratefully. With that out of the way, Draco began chopping the daisy roots as Neville began juicing the Shrivelfigs. And so they worked like that, in a comfortable silence, broken only to help each other with the steps, slowly but steadily making their way through the steps until finally, the potion was complete, giving off an acid green sheen that indicated that the potion was complete.

By the time the bell went to indicate the end of the lesson, they had organized to do the essay set as homework together in the library on Wednesday night, and agreed to work together in future lessons.

Walking out the door, Neville was quickly whisked away by the other Gryffindor's, promptly putting an end to the conversation they were having about which ingredients worked best in a draught of living death. Neville sent Draco an apologetic smile, which Draco returned with a friendly wave, then made his way down to the dungeons with Loki skipping by his side. Draco looked around the corridor to make sure that it was empty before he addressed Loki.

"What makes you so happy?"

"Nothing. It's just good to know that you actually listen to me." he grinned, "Isn't being friendly so much better than being an ass all the time?"

"Hey! I wasn't that bad." Draco exclaimed defensively

"Care to be reminded of the time Granger hit you in the face for being an ass? Which was caused by the time that you were an ass to a hippogriff… That also reminds me of the time that you were an ass to Potter, which lead to…"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! Jeez." Draco whined to stop him from listing off every mistake ever, which he didn't doubt that Loki knew about. Wait…

"How did you know about that?"

"I'm a god, it's in the job description"

"Huh…" Draco mused, and with that they arrived in the dungeons.