Disclaimer: All charactes belong to JK Rowling
Summary: War was over. People changed.
Characters: Draco Malfoy. Theodore Nott.
Note: I planned to give TheodorexDraco a shot, but I don't know who should be at the bottom.
Chapter 1: The Assignment
In a war, painful truths are exposed; egos, cowardice, stupidity. All of them are mixed together, fast and hard. Some people couldn't handle it, some people embrace it. War changed people. They became quieter.
It was summer. Hogwarts was quiet in the morning. Seventh year students came back to repeat their last year. New teachers and headmaster, DADA classes, breakfast, home works; everything seemed normal again. Or so it seemed. It had been six months, but children couldn't feel peace. There were still raging wars inside their heads; had they done the right thing? I hid instead of fight. I left him behind. They thought about a lot of things, but shared very little. Adults were doing much better, because they were adults; perhaps children shouldn't be involved in a war after all.
For Theodore Nott, the result of the war unnerved him more than the war itself. He was smart enough to stay away from Death Eaters' business during the war, unlike his father. The old man was once again locked away in Azkaban; this time forever. Their home was taken by the authority for further investigation and Theodore was forced to live in a small apartment by himself. Living like a commoner was bad, but he couldn't do anything about it.
Sighing, Theodore continued to randomly stab his omelet with a fork. He tried to block his mind from any sound, but failed. He wondered why Gyffindors couldn't shut theirs mouth while eating breakfast.
"Bad news, Nott..."
Theodore looked up and saw Draco Malfoy hovered above him, he was holding a newspaper.
They had known each other since forever. Their fathers were Death Eaters; pure bloods ran through their veins. Like it or not, purebloods children bumped into one another at adults' parties and gatherings. Theodore just happened to meet Draco Malfoy when he was four years old. The blond boy was naïve and stupid, but at least he was pretty to look at.
Without any warning, Malfoy dropped the newspaper onto the table. Theodore crooked his head a little. The headline said: 'HARRY POTTER IS GAY!'
…Again? Another headline from Potter, the third time he saw something like it.
Theodore raised one of his eyebrows; he looked at Malfoy as if the blond boy was a troll. "This is bad because?" He asked in an oblivious way. Malfoy quickly shook his head and sat beside the taller boy, "No, not that rubbish! Go to page six."
He obliged and read the paper for a few minutes.
"Merlin…" Theodore bit his lip. Daily Prophet was right this time. Their house could be taken away forever along with his father's dirty money. Everything his father had done led to disaster; from his black market involvements to his mudblood skulls collecting hobby. "Stupid old man..." He whispered without anger. Theodore loved and pitied his father, he always did.
"I'm sorry about that, Nott." Malfoy said sincerely but with little understanding. The Malfoys managed to stay away from Azkaban; they lost nothing after the war. It was sickening for most people; Lucius Malfoy killed a lot of men and got away with it, Draco Malfoy attempted to murder Dumbledore and got away with it.
"Now I am parentless and poor…I feel lower than a Weasley." Theodore dropped the paper and drank his Pumpkin juice. Draco Malfoy was apparently busy with his own omelet and it took him several minutes to catch up with Theodore. "The ministry would take all of your father's fortune and leave you with nothing at all? Don't you think that's a violation?"
Theodore sighed, "I'm a Death Eater's son, so it wouldn't be. Who wants to help a Death Eater's son, Malfoy?"
"…Our savior, Harry Potter?" Malfoy tried with a mocking smile.
There was something funny about how easy Malfoy made things look. He was still a stupid little git, although he had tasted bad times. Like everybody, he changed a bit. Crabbe's death gave an impact on Malfoy, although Theodore wasn't sure Malfoy realized it himself. He hid his deepest feelings fairly well, but Theodore caught him mumbling Crabbe's name in his sleep one night. It was rather weird and rare for a Slytherin to care about friends. For Theodore, most students' deaths didn't affect him as much as he wanted to.
Theodore walked faster as he tried to get to Potion classroom. Hogwarts was still a shrine to some people. There were flowers and candles in almost every corner and broken walls. McGonagall planned to keep it that way for some time. Theodore thought it was a useless thing to do, but he didn't complain.
Other students passed him by, they didn't notice him. Theodore was used to be invisible. Mundane interactions weren't necessary, he liked to talk business.
He entered the classroom and saw many students. Mohammad Slater, the new potion teacher, decided to allow students with A and E grades to learn as well, which was annoying to Theodore. Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini were present; they sat next to each other. The Golden Trio was also there; Potter looked unhealthy in particular. Yawning, Theodore sat beside Draco Malfoy. Goyle was sitting alone behind him.
"I heard he's a mudblood." Malfoy said in great dislike. Theodore raised an eyebrow.
"Pity." He replied flatly.
Slater was a good teacher; he was very patient and meticulous. But no one could ever replace Snape.
"It's great to see you again, my students. Today I have a very special announcement, so you better listen carefully- Please put that Quidditch magazine away, Mr. Weasley." Slater said and rubbed his hands together. He looked so overjoyed it made Theodore cringed. He looked at Malfoy, but the blond boy was busy doodling.
"Alright, as you might not know, I am working on developing a new potion.
This potion, if I managed to develop it, will bring change to all of the Wizarding world community…Children, I am talking about Reviving Potion." Slater grabbed a small bottle and showed it to the gasping students. A potion to bring someone back to life; it was enough to make some of the students to lean forward, even Malfoy forgot about his sketches. Slater loved the effect he just gave and smiled to himself.
"Well, of course for only limited time. You can't really bring the dead to life again." He quickly put the bottle inside his pocket again.
"I will need some help from you. Some of you here are the most talented students I have ever seen. It would be hard to pick just two of you to be my assistants…So I have decided to make a little contest. Remember, my children, this is a rare and important opportunity. Being a Potion Master assistant will benefit you in the future."
Theodore raised his eyebrows. He was definitely interested.
Slater's smile widen, "you will work with a partner and the two of you will have to create an advanced level potion. I will give you three weeks to finish this project. I will judge your potion based on its difficulty level and overall quality…"
"…I think everyone got the point, so now you're free to find a partner and discuss this assignment."
Students scrambled around the room to find a partner. Granger was with Potter, they were the only team who had a good chance of winning. Theodore decided to sit still. Malfoy was good at Potions, very good, perhaps. Unlike Granger, he had natural talents. If Malfoy knew how to be more patient and keep his self confidence in check, they could compete well.
"What are we going to make?" Malfoy asked half-heartedly.
Theodore looked at him, "you don't seem interested in this."
"I don't understand why this will brighten our future." Malfoy explained, but he grabbed his book and opened it anyway.
"It will brighten mine, actually." Theodore cut him short. He was thinking about how good it would look on his resume.
Looking at the pages carefully, Theodore spotted some of the recipes. They were hard to do and the last thing he wanted was searching for a black widow with pink stripes all night long in the Forbidden Forest. He knew Granger would try to make Wolfsbane Potion. He planned to do something different.
"I won't accept this!"
A first year Hufflepuff turned her face and stared at the two Slytherins. But she quickly ran away after the blond one glared at her. Theodore rolled his eyes; once again Malfoy couldn't control his emotion. The library was rather empty; students were having dinner in the Great Hall. He decided to talk in whisper,
"Why not? This potion will make us win for sure."
Malfoy looked mortified, "can't you read? They said we have to continuously stir the potion for five days at 170'C. We would be dead by Monday."
"That could be true. But do you have any suggestion?"
Malfoy flipped the pages carelessly. "This one." He put his finger on a particular page. The title read 'Amortentia'. It was enough to make Theodore remembered Granger and Slughorn's silly interaction. He had to shake his head just to get the image of Granger jumping up and down away from his mind. Theodore read all the instruction, he wasn't skeptical. The only hard part was the finishing. "It will take us almost two weeks, so we only have one shot."
Smiling, Malfoy closed the book, "I'm not worried."
Malfoy and his self confidence. Joy.