"Today student's, you will be taking care of a toddler, but these won't be just any toddlers, it will be a copy of yourselves." The teacher said making most of the student's look up in shock. In particular Mr. Malfoy in the back of the class snapped out of his deep thoughts of his mission he was given by the Dark Lord and looked up.
"Now, this spell will only last a week. So the next time I see you again, you will return the toddlers to me before the spell ends. Any questions?" Draco heard and he snarled. That's just what he needed a kid bugging him. He had actual work to be doing!
"You said they will only last a week, what happens?" one boy asked.
"Yes Mr. Goodin. The day you return to class there will be a spell on the doorway. So when the children walk in they will become sleepy. They should fall asleep and then I can cast my spell and they will disappear the same way they appeared." The teacher said answering his question.
"Will anything that happens to the kids affect us now?" one girl asked from the front of the class thrusting her hand in the air.
"No, the toddlers are just copies of you. In no way will it affect your past." She said with a huge grin. Of course she was excited about this assignment. "Come up one at a time to pick up your toddler." She said picking up her wand ready to start some magic. Draco sighed and just waited for the rest of the students.
The little boy had a head full of light blonde hair and bright blue eyes, which surprised Draco considering his were grey. He shrugged it off thinking maybe they changed as he got older. The kid was slow, which annoyed Draco a lot, taking into consideration he had to wait for the kid to catch up as he walked around the school. He was standing at the doors to the great hall waiting for the kid to catch up. He had lost him somewhere in the crowd walking down the stairs. Slowly he grew more irritated as he waited for the kid. He was hungry.
He spotted the little him in the arms of a fellow classmate. She was also a Slytherin but he didn't talk to her much. She held a little girl who was talking to the little Draco, who had his head down on the girl's shoulder. She made a bee-line straight for Draco.
"You must be mental Malfoy!" She said in a hushed voice glaring at him. "What kind of person just lets a kid get lost in the crowd? He's still bawling his eyes out." Draco had just rolled his eyes.
"Carry him for me." He said simply. The girl huffed but followed him anyways. Draco sat at the table, where she sat little Draco beside the 16-year-old Draco. He reached over for some pumpkin juice when he felt a hard smack to the back of his head.
"What the bloody hell was that for!" he shouted turning back to the girl.
"Because you have to take care of yourself." She said her fist clinched. "I don't know if your father constantly told you he was busy and left you behind, but that's not how you treat a child." She said and be felt his blood begin to boil.
"How dare you talk about my father that way!" he snarled. "How do you know how to raise a child anyways?" he said looking down at the toddler him.
"It's called motherly instinct." She said before picking up her toddler and walking away. Draco was still looking down at the toddler version of himself. He had managed to crawl under the table where he bawled. Draco felt a stab in his chest where his heart should be. Did he cry like that? Did his father actually neglect him like she said? Draco suddenly felt sheepish. He leaned down on the bench and reached his hand out to the boy.
"Hey, how about we eat and we can go play outside." Draco said to the boy. The boy started taking deep breaths, rubbing the tears away. He nodded as he started sniffling. He crawled over to Draco's hand and let him pull him out from under the table.
He sat the boy on the bench beside him, looking at him for a minute. His eyes were red and his little nose was too. Draco couldn't help but notice how cute he was with a cocky smile. The little boy examined the table, which was at his eye level.
"I wanna apple!" he said pointing to the green apple in the fruit bowl. He grinned grabbing the apple, polishing it on his sleeve, and handed it to the little boy. He turned to put food on his plate when he felt a tug at his sleeve. He looked down to see the little version of himself holding the apple up.
"Peel it?" he asked quietly. Draco's first instinct was to be annoyed, but he had a flash of himself asking his mother for a peeled apple. He took it and grabbed a knife and began to peel it. He remembered biting into the core when he was just a little older than the little boy beside him, so he started to cut the apple up into quarters.
"I'm a big boy! I don't need it cut!" he said reaching for the apple. Draco shrugged handing the little boy the apple. They ate in peace and when Draco finished He got up and about walked off, but stopped. He waited as the little boy jumped off the bench and took Draco's fingers. He felt the corner of his mouth turn up.
It was the middle of the week and Draco was worn out, little Draco was so hyper! Draco changed into pajamas and was ready to pass out when he saw the child jumping on the bed giggling. Draco sighed. Every time he got on a bed or sofa he'd jump on it.
"Stop jumping" he ordered. The little boy stopped letting himself bounce a little as he sat on the bed. The little boy gave a grin and his bright blue eyes smiling at his older self.
"Big brother, can we play some more. I'm not sleepy." He said sitting up on his knees. Draco sighed. Little Draco was convinced that Draco was his big brother. He wasn't going to argue with him, he didn't want to explain everything to him.
"No we're going to bed." He said grabbing his sheets and climbing into bed. He lay on his side, his arm stretched out and the little boys head on Draco's arm. He did this every night. He waited until the toddler when to sleep and then he snuck out to work on the Dark Lord's mission. He hadn't worked much on it this week. Little Draco would sometimes go right off to sleep and sometimes stay up talking. Tonight he was lucky because Little Draco went right to sleep. He slipped the pillow under the child's head and jumped up.
Draco managed to get to the right hallway without getting caught, but he swore he heard footsteps following him. He didn't see anyone so he continued to the Room of Requirement. He stopped in front of the doorway waiting for it to appear when he hears a small voice behind him.
"Wow!" he heard the small voice said and he turned to find the kid looking at the doors with wide eyes.
"Why aren't you in bed?" Draco said loudly. The little boy looked up worried.
"You got up and I wanted to see where you were going." He said getting quieter as he finished. He was playing with his fingers and averted his eyes down.
"I have things to do. You should have stayed in bed!" he said growing more annoyed. The little boy pouted and his eyes began to water. Draco sighed seeing that he upset the child. The little boy turned and made a mad dash down the hall. Draco cursed to himself and ran after the little boy.
He found the little boy sitting behind a suit of armor. Draco felt bad and even worse knowing that he was technically doing this to himself. He knelt down by the boy.
"You know father works all the time. I had to play alone a lot growing up." He said as the little boy turned to him, his head on his knees. "I guess I've been acting a lot like him." Draco said looking down at the ring on his finger. Draco knew he was just following in his fathers footsteps, but he always knew he didn't want to. Especially now, he knew he didn't want to follow the Dark Lord, but he had to. He clenched his jaw and shut his eyes. He felt a pair of small arms wrap around his neck, which surprised Draco. His eyes shot open.
"It's okay, you're a good big brother." The little voice said. Draco felt like the weight on his heart was shifted. He felt the tears well up in his eyes as the boy hugged his neck tight. He squeezed the boy tightly as he started to cry.
"Big brother why are you crying?" little Draco said in the older boys eat. Draco caught his breath and finally stopped his tears.
"I'm just worried." He said lifting the boy up in his arm. "It's okay though." He said still holding the boy against his chest.
"Hey big brother, can I have some ice cream?" the little boy asked. Draco nearly chuckled.
"No we should go to bed." he said as he made his way back to his bed.
Draco returned to class at the end of the week with a feeling of sadness. He walked with the little boy holding his fingers tightly. He was babbling about something he saw in the lake yesterday. Draco walked towards class seeing a few students standing outside still playing with their toddler-selves. He felt like it took forever to reach the door. Draco walked into the class room and Little Draco gave a big yawn. He tugged on Draco's sleeve, making him turn down to him.
"I'm sleepy" the little boy said rubbing his eyes. The teacher stepped out of her office.
"Oh Mr. Malfoy, both of you come on up." She said waving them into her office. The little boy made his way up the stairs with the older boy behind him. The teacher stopped Draco as he reached her.
"He'll probably fall asleep soon." The professor said letting Draco enter her office. She followed him inside and took a seat behind her desk. Draco walked in to find the little blonde boy was lying on the couch, kicking his feet off the arm. Draco took a seat at the end of the couch and the little boy flipped from his back to his stomach to look at the older blonde. He crawled up and sat on his knees facing Draco.
"So how has your week been Mr. Malfoy?" the teacher asked politly.
"Eventful" he answered shortly. The little boy tugged on the shoulder of his cloak.
"Big brother can I take a nap?" he asked tilting his head to the side, making his blonde hair fall into his face. Draco gave a small smile and brushed the hair out of his face.
"Yeah that's fine." He said before the little boy tackled his neck, surprising Draco yet again with another hug.
"I love you big brother." The little boy said in Draco's ear. Draco felt his heart stop for a second. He felt his face flush for a second.
"Yeah…Love you." He said softly to the little boy. The little boy then turned, plopped onto the couch and hugged the pillow at the end. It wasn't long before he had fallen asleep.
"Okay Mr. Malfoy, you can wait in the class room now. The final part of your assignment is one the board, so you can so ahead and start on that." She said rising and opening the door for him. He muttered something and walked back into the classroom. He passed the girl that found the little Draco earlier in the week. Her eyes were red and her cheeks wet. She sat with her arms crossed with a parchment with a few sentences scribbled on it. She was thinking, probably about the toddler. Draco thought about his week as he found his seat in the back of the class. He looked up and read that the assignment was to write an essay on how this week has changed the person. Draco thought and felt his stomach flip.
He knew he was in over his head before this week, but this week just made it even clearer.