You Remind Me…
"Of someone I know…" Remus murmured to the long white ferret in the small cage beside his chimney. It was a cute creature, but that hardly explained why someone would take the trouble to leave a ferret underneath his chimney on Christmas Eve. It also hardly explained how someone got into his well hidden and cursed bedroom in the first place.
Nevertheless, the ferret was not entirely unwelcome. It reminded him of a particularly rebellious young Slytherin who had come to his office once, while he was teaching, and had a very passionate conversation with him…
"What makes him so special?" Malfoy screamed, slamming the door to Remus' door closed behind him. "What makes him so special that everyone thinks he's infallible!" Malfoy grabbed a book and threw it at Remus, the older man ducking to avoid being hit with the thick tome. "He's not perfect, he's like all the rest of us!" Remus watched as Malfoy grabbed a jar of specimens and threw it out the window. " I'm better than him! I work hard! I get good grades! I'm a seeker too!" Malfoy had been ransacking the office and Remus watched silently, face impassive and gaze watching as books and trinkets. He never once tried to stop the boy, though. "But just because I'm not The One Who Refused to Die I get pushed aside!"
Remus grabbed Malfoy as the boy screamed wordlessly, collapsing into the older man's arms. Remus pulled the struggling Slytherin to his chest, Malfoy pounding his fists against his professor's chest weakly. Once Malfoy was calmed down Remus sat him down on the nearby chair.
"Here." Remus pulled out a bar of chocolate from his coat pocket. He handed a large piece to the pale boy with his slightly flushed cheeks and mussed blonde hair. "It helps."
Malfoy looked at the square and began to nibble on the corner, not looking at Remus. The boy flicked his eyes around the room in a paranoid manner and Remus smiled kindly.
"Don't worry about the room, everything can be fixed or replaced." Remus sat on his desk, smiling at his student scowled at the floor. "Now, do you mind telling me why you decided to come ransack my office?"
"Professor Snape would have taken points away." Malfoy stated calmly, as if it was the most logical reason in the world. "You won't. You'll just give me chocolate, tell me to talk to you about my problem then send me off as amiably as you can."
"You seem to have me all figured out."
"I have everyone figured out." Malfoy stated. "I know a lot more than people think." He nibbled on the square some more, looking at it before nibbling again. He seemed to be eating it into a certain shape. "I know that Snape has a cat named Cosmic Creepers*, I know that Crabbe has dyslexia, which is why he takes more notes than most people, I know that Millicent is allergic to cats, but she has one anyway. I even know your secret." Malfoy looked up at Remus. "I know why every Full Moon you get sick and can't teach class."
"And why is that?" Remus asked with a smile.
"You're a werewolf." Malfoy stated calmly, looking at his piece of chocolate. Remus stiffened, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
"And?"
"And what? I don't have anything to gain from telling the school you're a werewolf. At least not right now." Malfoy frowned. "You think I'd rat you out for no reason? You're the most fascinating teacher we've had since I came here." Malfoy snorted. "You're also loads smarter than that dimwit Lockhart."
"Thank you."
"I'm just stating facts." Malfoy sneered. "Nothing personal."
"Well, that you hold me in high enough regard that you take the time to tell me these facts makes me believe you care." Remus chuckled. "And you know that Harry just wants to be treated as normal. If you were the boy who lived there would be a lot of attention on you."
"I suppose." Malfoy toyed with his chocolate piece before looking up at Remus. "You won't tell anyone about this. Not even Dumbledore?"
"Cross my heart, Draco." Remus crossed his fingers in an "X" over his heart and Draco paused before giving a soft, genuine smile.
"Thanks… For listening." Draco chuckled. "And the chocolate."
Remus sat stroking the ferret gently, recalling the young blonde. He remembered when he had met Draco after Dumbledore's death. It had been quite by chance and by all logical reasons Draco should have been arrested on sight if not killed… But Remus hadn't been able to do such a thing. Not to the boy, not then and certainly not now.
He was quite a sight. Sitting on a park bench in a muggle park, staring at the empty swingsets and junglegyms. His rich, dark green coat was pulled tight around his shoulders as he sighed and allowed his eyes to droop slightly.
"Never thought I'd see you around here." Remus stated as he sat beside the boy. Malfoy glanced up at him and shrugged.
"I don't like the silence, but Grayback is at my home." Remus understood that. Fenrir was notorious for his unspoken but well known attraction to young boys and girls. Remus recalled the night he had been bitten, barely seven, if that. "I don't like him. Him and his filthy paws."
Remus felt his heart sink. After a moment he realized that Draco was indeed covered in Fenrir's scent, it clung not only to his clothes but to his very skin. The urge, the gut-wrenching pull, to remove that scent from the boy was nerve-wracking. But the werewolf merely sat there, watching the empty park with the boy.
After a few moments he stood, offering his hand to Malfoy.
"Come on, up you get."
"What?" Malfoy found himself being pulled up, the werewolf leading him towards the swingset. "What are you doing?"
"When was the last time you played on one of these things?" Remus asked with a smile. Malfoy snorted.
"Never."
"It's incredibly fun, amazingly." Remus gestured to a swing seat. "Sit."
Malfoy rolled his eyes but sat, clutching the chain link ropes as Remus pulled the seat back before pushing Malfoy forward.
Malfoy jerked at the sudden movement, feeling himself swinging back and Remus planting his hands firmly at his waist to thrust him forward again. After a few moments Malfoy found himself smiling slightly warily as he felt the wind whoosh past him, ruffling his hair as the world swung back and forth. It wasn't anything like flying, but it was still fun.
After a few moments Remus stopped pushing and Malfoy smiled up at him, wind-ruffled blonde hair falling into his silver eyes.
"Thank you, Professor Lupin."
"It's Remus, Malfoy." Remus chuckled and Malfoy smiled back.
"Well then you must call me Draco."
"As you wish, Draco." They stood like that for a few minutes, a bare foot of air between them, their eyes searching each other's faces. Draco leaned forward slightly, lips meeting Remus' halfway as the werewolf leaned down. Draco shifted his hands to the older man's long, sandy blonde waves of hair, combing his fingers through it gently before pulling away, looking down at himself shyly.
"You know when we go back that we'll be enemies again."
"I know." Remus murmured. "But when we meet and we're not on missions… Then we're just ordinary people." Malfoy nodded and pulled completely away.
"I had better get back." He murmured and with that departed with a soft whoosh of displaced air.
Remus felt his eyelids droop as he recalled Draco as he had been. The young boy folding paper cranes and enchanting them to fly across the school campus. He remembered the story Harry and Ron had told him about Malfoy being turned into a ferret. He remembered finding Draco in the school library once, arm curled around his old copy of "Monster Book of Monsters" like it was a teddy bear.
Remus' eyes drooped closed and he sighed, still stroking the ferret gently.
Remus jerked awake hours later, blinking as he felt something stroking his shoulders, massaging old scars that were still slightly tender, easing the pain. He groaned and rolled his head slightly, trying to look up at whoever was. He caught a snatch of pale skin and white blonde hair.
"Draco?"
"Hello, Remus." Draco chuckled, leaning down to capture Remus' lips in a firm kiss, Remus' nose pressing against the column of the boy's throat as their upside-down kiss continued for a moment.
"Thought I'd never see you again." Draco murmured against thin lips, nibbling the werewolf's lower lip gently before pulling away.
"You still reek like him." Remus growled, Draco coming around the chair with a smile.
"I thought for sure the ferret smell would cover that up." Draco laughed, nuzzling Remus' face.
"Ah… So that's how you got in." Remus looked the boy over. He was still the same slender, pointed child he remembered, older now only in the sense that his shoulders were slightly larger and he didn't wear the Hogwarts uniform. His slicked back blonde hair shimmered in the firelight and Remus stared happily up into liquid silver eyes. "Always wondered if you were part veela." Remus sighed, smiling at the boy.
"Very watered down, if it's there." Draco chuckled, straddling the older man's lap. "Though between you and me…" Draco leaned down and whispered in Remus' ear. "I really wouldn't mind if it was there…"
"I hear the mating seasons are intense." Remus murmured.
"Again, I wouldn't mind." Draco grinned. "Especially if it meant that I could ravage you to my hearts content."
AN:
Footnotes:
1: Cosmic Creepers is the name of Ms. Price's black cat from the Disney live-action movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".