Disclaimer: Please don't sue me.
The next time they spoke, Potter demanded Draco's assistance for revenge on Snape. Apparently, he'd upset Potter by blowing up at Granger when Potter called him 'Sev'. Draco felt very proud of that particular plot and was perfectly willing to lend some assistance to Potter, as long as he didn't get caught.
Though to be honest, Potter didn't really need help. He was small and practically invisible when he didn't want to be noticed, and had more than once sent Snape into an apoplectic rage that had no outlet, as he was careful enough not to get caught at his machinations.
Case in point: Today's Potions class. Draco was partnered with Pansy and attempting to brew a very complicated healing potion, when Potter popped up unexpectedly between them.
"Hello, Potter," Pansy said, and continued crushing thestral teeth. Draco glanced down at Potter and gave him a brief smile. He was standing up on his toes and peering at their workstation curiously.
"You're doing it differently than Hermione and Ron," he said. "Ron didn't crush the teeth."
Pansy snickered. "They don't even need the help, Draco," she said. "Weasley will fail them both just fine on his own."
This was very true, but Draco didn't think there was any reason to lose half the fun of Potions class. After all, sabotaging Gryffindor potions was what had gotten them little Potter, and Draco considered him a particular success.
"We're actually doing it right, Potter," Draco said, aiming his words at his elbow. He glanced over at Weasley, who was scratching himself like a mutt, and wrinkled his nose. Disgusting. He looked back down at their teeth and frowned. "Though…those are a bit too fine. We'll have to add some sea salt to round it out."
Pansy huffed and set the pestle down. "Potter, you can read, right?"
Potter nodded.
"Go into that closet over there and find the jar that says 'unrefined sea salt'. Bring it back here."
Potter turned to leave, but Draco caught his shoulder. "Snape is very particular about his supply closet," Draco warned. "Be careful not to touch anything else."
Potter's face brightened, and he slipped away with a short nod. Draco watched him go.
"He's up to something," he said after a moment, stirring the contents of the cauldron precisely.
Pansy bent her head over the crushed teeth and smiled. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
And they did. Potter took a bit longer than would be expected to bring them the sea salt, and he was very insistent about returning it after they were finished.
For the rest of the double lesson, Draco and Pansy watched Potter move between the supply closet and Granger's desk, escaping Snape's notice completely. It was almost awe-inspiring. Draco couldn't wait to find out what he was doing, but he didn't want to spoil it by calling attention to Potter or the closet.
At the end of the lesson, as everyone bottled up their potions and brought them up to the front, Potter was sitting quietly and contentedly on his stool toward the back of the room. Snape stood from his desk and walked toward the closet, and Draco couldn't help himself. He glanced at Potter, who had begun swinging his legs back and forth on the stool, examining Granger and Weasley's potion, and generally looking anywhere but at Snape.
When Snape returned from the closet, his face had gone a terrifying white colour.
"All of you, back to you seats right this instant," he hissed. The entire class jumped, startled at the venom in Snape's voice, and no one moved for about ten seconds. "Now," he growled, and they all scrambled for their desks.
Snape moved to the front, his furious gaze sweeping over each of them in turn. Draco saw that Potter was avoiding looking at Snape by looking up at Granger instead, as though confused. She had a comforting arm around his torso.
"I want to know which of you did this," Snape said, his voice so low and quiet that Draco had to strain to hear it. "Or both Houses will lose one hundred points each."
Had Snape not been so clearly livid, there would have been an uproar at this proclamation. As it was, even the Gryffindors stayed quiet, their displeasure expressed as a frisson of fidgeting through the group. Finnegan actually made a small noise of indignation, and Snape swooped down on him.
"Do you have something to say, Mr. Finnegan?" Snape's eyes bored into the restless Gryffindor.
"No, sir," he said nervously. Snape's eyes narrowed.
"I believe you were the last to procure your ingredients for this particular potion, is that incorrect?"
Finnegan swallowed nervously. "No sir, but-"
Snape's scowl was fierce. "One hundred points from Gryffindor, Mr. Finnegan, for disrupting the critical organization of potions ingredients in a volatile environment. Detention for the next three weeks. You will reorganise that closet, and you will learn exactly why each ingredient must remain in its place, and the consequences that would have transpired had you been less fortunate."
"But sir!"
"Would you like to lose another hundred points?"
Finnegan fell silent, glaring angrily at his table.
On the way out of the classroom, Draco glanced into the closet, and found himself full of pride for their pseudo-Slytherin mini-Potter.
Nothing was where it was supposed to be. Nothing was even near where it was supposed to be. Looking closer, Draco whistled under his breath. Potter had even quietly managed the higher shelves, which was probably one of the biggest reasons why Snape hadn't even considered blaming the astoundingly short eight-year-old.
Minutes later, Draco discovered Potter walking between Vince and Pansy, effectively shielding himself from view as they made their way to the Slytherin common room. Draco stopped, and looked proudly down at Potter.
"I," he told him, "Am extremely impressed." Potter grinned at the compliment.
"So you'll definitely help me get revenge on him, then?" he asked, and Draco did a double-take.
Blaise laughed, but it was Pansy who spoke. "That wasn't enough?" she asked.
"Why do you even want my help?" Draco added. "You're doing perfectly brilliantly on your own."
Potter shrugged. "Sev deserves it," he said in a very matter-of-fact tone. They all laughed this time. Draco was very pleased with himself for thinking up that name, and magnanimously allowed Potter to avoid answering his question, which was clearly the intention.
After all, Potter didn't mind assisting Draco, as proven by Weasley's distraction today. He had spent the entire class period scratching himself furiously, courtesy of Itching Powder smuggled to Potter under the pretence of returning a dropped cloak. It was one of the reasons Potter had been able to sneak off so freely in Potions and now, with the Slytherins.
Apparently Potter had a bit of a vicious streak, as he had plainly used the entire bottle on Weasley's pants. When asked why, Potter was taciturn, citing 'revenge' and refusing to elaborate. He was bizarrely vengeful for an eight-year-old, though Draco was content not to pry. It was enough that Weasley would be miserable for several days.
As they neared the Slytherin common room, Draco wondered what, exactly, Weasley and Granger would do if they discovered Potter there. They clearly had some method of keeping tabs on his whereabouts, even if it wasn't the traditional tracking charms Draco would have preferred. They would probably throw a fit and accuse Draco and the other Slytherins of trying to hurt Potter, or take him to the Dark Lord.
In all honesty, Draco hadn't really come to any sort of decision about that yet. He knew his friends were all waiting for him to decide; even Daphne and Theo, who were generally more independent, had agreed to leave the choice up to Draco. It only tricky part was making sure he didn't reveal his real motives to anyone but Pansy and Blaise, both of whom he was certain he could trust to keep quiet, if nothing else.
In any case, Draco reasoned, he couldn't do anything to Potter right now even if he wanted to. Weasley and Granger were bound to be aware that Potter was missing already, and were probably on their way to Slytherin at this very moment. There would be no time to get him out of the castle or hide him.
"Potter," Draco said, as they reached the entrance to the common room. "As much as we enjoy your company, I'm afraid you aren't allowed in here."
Potter glanced at the wall, then up at Draco. His eyes were big and beseeching, and he tilted his head in a way that made his hair fall against his glasses. Draco raised an eyebrow at him.
Pansy, on the other hand, fell for it completely, bending down to brush Potter's hair out of his eyes and smiling at him. "Oh, come on, Draco," she said. "What's a few minutes? It's not like he's not Slytherin enough."
Potter beamed up at her, and Draco rolled his eyes. "That's exactly it, Pansy," he said. "He'll hear the password, and then, Slytherin that he is, he'll be in and out of here whenever he wants, doing whatever he wants."
"Please, Draco," Pansy said. "Be reasonable. He doesn't have to hear it."
Draco scoffed. "But he will, Pansy. You and I both know he will."
Vince and Greg watched the interaction uneasily. Draco glanced at them, daring them to question his methods. They both looked away.
Draco turned his attention back to Potter, who had apparently decided that a pout was in order, focused like a laser on Draco. Had he been a weaker mortal, or perhaps less distracted by the whole problem of Vince and Greg's divided loyalties, he probably would have fallen for it: It was a first-rate pout.
Fortunately, Draco didn't have to overcome much more of little Potter's 'I'm adorable' brand of manipulation, because Granger and Weasley finally showed up, tearing around the corner and coming to a halt right in front of Potter.
Granger snatched him up and settled him on her hip, ignoring his weight and glaring at the lot of them.
Draco smirked. "About time you two showed up," he said, and leaned against the entrance, breathing the password and doing a passable imitation of a ventriloquist. Weasley had his wand drawn, but Greg had stepped forward menacingly, allowing the rest of them to go inside with little trouble. Draco stayed, for a moment, and eyed Potter. He didn't look like he'd seen, but one could never be completely certain.
"Keep a better eye on him," he told Granger. She glared back, clearly interpreting it as a threat. Stupid bint. Draco gestured to Greg and they followed the other Slytherins into the common room, Draco resolving to change the password once the Gryffindors had gone. He might like little Potter, but he didn't trust him a bit. There was a reason he wanted inside, which only firmed Draco's resolve to keep him out.
It was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Draco made plans with his year mates to go en masse, something they rarely did. They jaunted around the small town, Pansy on Draco's arm, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey and Theo around them, and Vince and Greg following.
At Honeydukes, Draco contemplated a purchase of several chocolate frogs, remembering Potter's delight when Granger first introduced them to him in Transfiguration. He eventually decided against it on the grounds that even entertaining the thought seemed unacceptably sentimental.
"Oh, by the way Draco, how's little Potter doing?" Blaise asked as they left Honeydukes, sweets in hand. Rolling his eyes, Draco answered and considered that he might as well have bought the frogs, if Blaise was going to be like that.
Though he might have only been curious. The rest of the Slytherins were just as intrigued by Potter's behaviour as Draco was, and he had been keeping them updated as to Potter's movements over the past few weeks, to the general enjoyment of the common room.
Snape was still having difficulty coming up with an antidote, in large part because Draco had set little Potter to sabotaging his attempts as the insisted-upon revenge. Draco had still not made his decision on whether to bring Potter to the Dark Lord, and he didn't want the opportunity to pass before he could decide whether to grasp it. Draco hadn't even written to his mother about Potter's condition, and had no idea if the Dark Lord knew about the situation or not.
He had specifically asked all of his fellow Slytherins to keep mum on the subject while he 'set plans in motion'. As he had significant influence over most of them (not to mention the blackmail material he'd been gathering on all his House mates since first year), and considering that he had always laid a particular claim as Potter's rival, he assumed they had kept their promise.
Besides, all of them knew that little Potter was loads more fun than teenage Potter, and sentencing him to torture and eventual death as a clever little kid seemed wrong, somehow.
Speaking of Potter...
"Hey, Draco, look," Daphne said, pointing down the street. Draco looked, but the movement was gone so quickly he nearly missed it. He glanced back at Daphne.
"Potter?" he asked.
"I think so," she said. Theo nodded.
"It was a tiny, stealthy blur," he confirmed, and Tracey and Pansy voiced amused agreement.
"Definitely Potter," Draco agreed.
They watched the street, waiting for Granger or Weasley to materialise and chase him down. Nothing happened.
"He's snuck off again!" Draco exclaimed. Pansy laughed.
"He is a devious little brat, isn't he?"
"He really is," Draco agreed. "He can't just go wandering around in Hogsmeade, though. It's different from Hogwarts."
"Aw," Blaise cooed. "Is Draco worried about ickle Potter?"
"You know," Pansy said, with a casual air that was anything but. "Now would be the perfect time to sneak Potter away to the Dark Lord. No one would even know it was you if you got back in time, Draco. Weasley and Granger would have no one to blame but themselves, for losing him again."
The entire group went silent, staring at each other. Draco wasn't one hundred percent on any of them, excluding Blaise and Pansy. But if there was ever a time for action, it was now.
"Be right back," he said and started walking in the direction he'd seen Potter go. Vince and Greg fell into step behind him, and Draco's heart raced. He hadn't the faintest clue of what he was about to do.
They rounded the corner and found themselves in an alley, and there was Potter, at the very end, playing with a small dog.
He looked up when Draco approached, smiling, though he faltered somewhat when he saw Vince and Greg flanking him. They did look menacing when they fell into step like that.
"Draco?" he asked, looking at them uncertainly. Draco tried to make himself look friendly despite his nerves, and Potter's expression took on a shade of alarm. It must not have worked, then.
"Hi, Potter." Draco gestured for Vince and Greg to stop, and stepped closer to Potter, holding out his hand. Potter took it, still frowning at him.
"Do you want to meet Scruffy?" Potter pulled Draco toward the dog. Draco grimaced.
"Er, not particularly," he said. "Is that a stray, Potter? What if it has rabies? Or fleas?"
Potter glanced at him, nonplussed, and patted the dog on the head. Right. He lived up in Gryffindor with Weasley. If he was going to catch fleas or rabies, he would have already.
"Right," Draco said. "What are you doing here by yourself? Why aren't you with Granger and Weasley?"
Potter shrugged. "I wanted to explore," he said, confident of Draco's usual reaction, which was one of amusement.
He did not get what he was expecting.
Draco glared at him. "I know you do that all the time in the castle, Potter, but it's different out here." Little Potter looked taken aback, and tried to pull his hand free of Draco's grip. Draco would not let him go. "Remember how Weasley and Granger said I'm dangerous and you shouldn't just go wandering around talking to people they haven't introduced you to?"
Potter nodded and opened his mouth, but Draco cut him off, lowering his voice to a more menacing octave. "Outside the castle, they're exactly right. Potter, I am dangerous. Everyone is dangerous outside the castle."
"But you're nice," Potter said. "And you help me play pranks on Ron and Sev."
Draco opened his mouth to disabuse Potter of the notion that he could manipulate his way out of this, but he was interrupted.
"We're not taking him, are we," Vince said. Greg turned his head and stared, followed by both Draco and Potter. "You don't want to join the Dark Lord, do you?"
Greg stepped forward, closer to Draco and Potter, and adrenalin coursed through Draco's veins. He should have known this wasn't going to turn out well. He picked up Potter, who seemed to understand that something worrisome had just happened and stayed silent.
"We wondered," Greg said. Vince looked back at the entrance to the alley. It was empty.
"Fuck," Draco said. He pulled out his wand with his free hand and clutched Potter. "Greg, Vince…"
"We didn't think we had a choice," Greg said. "We thought you would do it, and we'd follow. But we do have a choice." Draco felt a surge of hope.
"We can go alone. Give him here." He jerked his head at Potter, who clutched at Draco more tightly.
Vince cut in. "We'll leave you out of it, Draco. We won't give the Dark Lord any reason to doubt your loyalties. You'll still have a place, if you change your mind. We understand about your mother."
"You two have been talking about this, then," Draco said, taking a step backward as they moved closer. Greg had his wand out, and Draco held his steady. "Did it occur to you that there's another option, too?"
Greg shook his head slowly. "We act stupid, Draco," he said. "But we're not that stupid. You're throwing in with a kid. Potter won't give a damn about you when he grows up."
"It's not just Potter," Draco said, though he was privately hoping they wouldn't ask who else it was, because he honestly didn't know himself. This whole endeavour was beginning to look like a monumental mistake. But little Potter was still there, clutching at Draco's collar, and he couldn't just hand him off.
"Just give us Potter, Draco," Vince said. "We'll leave you out of it."
"Fuck," Draco said weakly. He had backed up to the alley wall, and Vince and Greg were blocking the only way out. He had no doubt that they were lying about letting Draco go free. Greg's expression was too resolved, too determined, and Vince's eyes had taken on a brutal light that usually meant some Hufflepuff would be in the Hospital Wing by the end of the day.
Draco could take one of them, but not both, not when he was hindered by trying to protect Potter. He had really fucked up now. He set Potter down on his feet, and Potter hid behind him as Draco raised his wand more firmly. This was the stupidest thing he'd ever done, and he still wasn't entirely sure why he was doing it.
"Draco!" Vince looked away for a split second, back toward the entrance to the alley where the call had come from. Greg kept his eye on them, but it was enough. Draco used the opportunity to attempt a nonverbal spell.
Greg was upended, his wand falling uselessly to the ground. Levicorpus was one of the more useful spells Snape taught the Slytherins. Vince turned back as Greg was flying into the air, but Draco was already casting frantically. "Stupefy." Vince dropped heavily to the dirt. Draco repeated the spell on Greg, and let him drop as well.
Draco gasped once and sat down abruptly in the dirt, and looked up to see who had saved him. It was Theo and Daphne. They were both pale as they approached. Draco really hoped they weren't about to demand Potter from him too. He'd probably just give in at this point. Slytherins just weren't built for this kind of thing.
"Are you okay, Draco?" Daphne asked. Pansy appeared at the end of the alleyway, and she hurried over as well.
"Blaise and Tracy went to figure out where Weasley and Granger ran off to," she told them. "Draco, gods, are you alright?"
Draco shook his head and looked up at the sky, still trying to calm his heart and lungs. Potter had knelt down next to him and was holding onto a piece of his robes, watching the whole spectacle with wide eyes.
"What did I just do?" Draco asked them in a high pitched voice. "I…why did I do that? I almost got myself killed, why did I do that? What was I-"
"Draco, breathe," Pansy said firmly, placing a hand on his arm. "Vince and Greg wouldn't have-"
"I don't know about that," Theo interrupted. "They were looking pretty ready to do whatever they had to." He glanced down at their unconscious bodies and cast a binding hex on them both. "What are we going to do?"
Draco rubbed his face. "With them, or in general?"
Daphne lowered herself into a seated position next to Potter and looked at him thoughtfully. Potter stared right back, forgetting his charm. He just looked scared. Draco imagined his own expression wasn't very different. "What if we Obliviated them?"
Draco closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe.
Draco and Theo left the alley together, carrying Potter with them. They met Blaise and Tracy near the pub.
"Granger and Weasley are inside," Blaise said. "The fools haven't even realized he's gone yet."
Draco took a moment to sneer, and glanced at his reflection in the window. He looked mostly normal. Passable, and not as though he'd nearly died in a dingy alley twenty minutes ago for a stupid, stupid reason which he was now dropping off in a pub with people who hadn't even noticed he'd gone. He made his way through the crush at the entrance, Potter clinging closer to him and hiding his face in Draco's neck. He seemed incredibly tiny. The further Draco moved into the pub, the wearier he felt.
When he reached the table full of Gryffindors, he cleared his throat.
"Next time you decide to bring an eight-year-old Boy-Who-Lived to Hogsmeade, I suggest you put some manner of tracking spell on him," he said harshly, settling Potter down on the empty chair next to Granger. She was staring at him with her mouth hanging open. Weasley had half risen out of his own chair and froze at Draco's words, also staring. "There's this thing called a library, Granger. I think you've heard of it."
"What did you do to him, Malfoy?" Weasley snarled, having recovered quickly. Draco glared at him and left. There wasn't anything more to be said. Weasley and Granger were appalling in their incompetence, and Draco didn't need this kind of stress in his life.
The whole fiasco at Hogsmeade meant Draco spent the next several days in a state of mingled irritation and serious apprehension. A trip down to the kitchens Sunday morning had him nearly undone when the Fat Friar popped out of a wall unexpectedly in front of him.
The only consolation was that the memory charm had worked and Vince and Greg were oblivious. Potter didn't seem to have spoken up either, as Granger and Weasley hadn't yet descended wrathfully on the Slytherin table, despite spending most of their time glaring at it.
Despite these good tidings, the letter that arrived two days after Hogsmeade from Draco's mother confirmed his bad mood. He watched the owl wing toward him, feeling his heart sink. Kidnapping Potter had been his only idea to keep his mother safe, and now Draco would have to read more about how the Dark Lord was destroying Malfoy Manor. He would have to read between the lines to learn anything more specific about his mother's welfare.
There had to be something he could do to keep her safe, especially now that he had essentially chosen his side. He schooled his face into a blank mask and read the note quickly.
Between the lines of his mother's letter, Draco found something that stunned him.
The Dark Lord didn't know.
He had no idea about Potter's change, about the mere existence of this weakness, let alone its longevity. He was still concocting a plan meant to lure Potter - the teenage Potter - away from the castle.
No one had told him.
Draco had sworn all the Slytherins to secrecy so that he could work on it himself, most of them under threat of serious blackmail. It was true that most of them didn't really have a line to the Dark Lord anyway, but he would have expected Vince and Greg at least to have let some hint slip. There was solidarity among the Slytherins, but not this much. He hadn't really thought they could get away with the Dark Lord not knowing. It should have been impossible.
He was supposed to have other ears in Hogwarts, after all. Why hadn't Snape immediately informed his Lord? Everyone knew he'd been a Death Eater, and anyone who paid attention knew that he was a double agent at Hogwarts in addition to his teaching position. There had been nothing to cause the Slytherins to suspect his loyalties.
Until this.