Chapter 3
Some Schemes are Successful, Others... Not So Much
Before sending Draco home, Severus took the boy aside and explained the subject of apprentices. For three years or more, a master would take on a pupil and teach him in a certain subject, giving an underage student the ability to perform magic outside of school in the presence of the master. But more importantly, it would give Draco an excuse to spend much more time away from home and with his godfather. It wasn't a perfect solution, but one the young heir jumped on.
Severus warned him that his parents, especially his father, wouldn't be immediately open to the idea, but Draco just said he would take care of it. Severus was dubious, and he was going to try to think up his own excuses while Draco implemented his 'plan,' but he gave Draco his full support and sent him home.
While Draco was gone, Severus researched the subject of apprentices extensively, but had difficulties conjuring a reason for the sudden interest in taking Draco as one.
Two weeks later, he was faced with the fruits of Draco's labors, and was forced to renounce his former doubts about Draco's abilities.
"Thank you for coming," Lucius said when Severus stepped out of the floo, sounding much too relieved for this not to be a serious issue.
"Of course," Severus said, briefly dusting powder off his robes. "What is the problem?"
"It's Draco," Lucius said, looking tired. "He's been having… problems."
Severus arched an eyebrow, wondering how Draco could have been so successful. "Problems?" he echoed.
"Come," Lucius said, leading him toward the extravagant living room.
Inside, Draco was curled up in a ball on an armchair, his face tucked into his arms, and Narcissa was pacing across the carpet, looking lost.
"Oh, Severus," Narcissa said, clearly relieved. "You're here."
"What's going on?" Severus asked again, very confused by now. Lucius and Narcissa were acting as if someone was dying.
"Draco's been having a lot of problems with accidental magic," Narcissa explained worriedly. "It started a couple of weeks ago, and just got worse and worse. We don't know why."
"We don't want this to get out," Lucius continued. "This could be a bit… embarrassing. A Malfoy is always in control, and this extended… bout of accidental magic could ruin that image. He needs to learn to control it, but Narcissa and I haven't been able to help him."
"Why don't you just hire a discreet tutor?" Severus asked, still confused.
"We did," Lucius said, sounding frustrated.
"Draco's magic started acting up," Narcissa explained. "The tutor couldn't help. We thought that maybe someone he knows better would help calm his magic."
Severus arched an eyebrow. The coincidental timing was too suspicious for this not to be Draco's plan to make his parents believe apprenticeship was what he needed. "Well then," Severus said, striding over to Draco. As soon as he was within a foot of the child a vase across the room exploded quite dramatically, startling everyone, even Draco.
He must have an accomplice, Severus thought with amusement as Lucius gasped and Narcissa's hand went to her heart with a soft gasp.
"Oh no," Narcissa breathed. "That was a gift from my Aunt Wallburga."
Lucius, surprisingly, didn't look too broken up about the vase.
"I'm sure a simple reparo will fix it," Severus said dismissively, giving Draco a stern look.
The little blonde boy looked up at him with the most mournful eyes Severus had ever seen on him. Wow. He was really giving this his all.
"Please, Uncle Sev," Draco whispered, but loud enough for his parents to hear him clearly. "I can't make it stop."
A quick glance over his shoulder told Severus that Lucius and Narcissa had fallen for their son's act hook, line, and sinker, as the saying went.
"Perhaps… a change of environment," Severus improvised, pulling on his Slytherin skills to make up a story to corroborate with Draco's act. "Let me take him back to my home where things are less valuable and he has only memories of vacations and happy visits. It may help him overcome this strange… explosion. I'll look into it as well. My library is quite extensive."
Narcissa nodded earnestly while Lucius said, "Of course, whatever you need. And our own library is open to you should you need it."
Severus nodded. "Are you up for a move, Draco?"
Draco slowly uncurled from the arm chair, exuding caution from every movement. "I think so," he said quietly, like speaking too loudly could set off another bout of accidental magic.
Severus was quickly becoming more and more impressed with his godson. His acting abilities were admirable. Cautiously, Severus reached for Draco, expecting an adverse reaction.
Just as Severus was about to touch Draco's shoulder, something exploded, right on cue.
Narcissa squeaked, but Lucius was able to keep his composure.
Severus pulled back and settled for motioning Draco toward the fireplace. "Come along, Draco. To Spinner's End. Let's see if we can't fix this problem then, shall we?"
This was going to be interesting.
.o.0.O.0.o.
As soon as they arrived, Draco dropped his act and gave Severus a huge grin. "I did it!"
"Indeed you did," Severus said with amusement. "Want to tell me how?"
"Oh, that was easy," Draco said superiorly. "I started little. With a few things happening that made Mother and Father very pleased. But then I just went bigger and bigger until they got really worried and called that tutor bloke. And I made sure he couldn't help me at all. And then I made it happen more often, until they called you!"
"Yes, yes," Severus said with a little bit of impatience. "But how did you manage these acts of accidental magic, Draco. You don't have a wand yet, and I doubt your parents would have been oblivious to their own missing."
"Dobby," Draco said proudly.
"Dobby?" Severus echoed, trying to remember who that was, it sounded like a –
"House elf," Draco explained. "He promised he wouldn't tell, and he's very sneaky. We made a plan for how much and how many times, and then he did it."
Severus nodded in approval. "Very clever."
Draco grinned widely again.
"I think we'll give it about a week, maybe a day or two more before we call your parents with the option of apprenticeship," Severus told his godson. "So you'll be able to get your wand early and start learning now. Not only will it be advantageous to your education, but you will be able to spend plenty of your time here."
"Yay!" Draco exclaimed. "Can we go see Evan now? I don't think best friends are supposed to be apart this long."
"Oh, hush, Draco," Severus scolded. "It's only been a few days."
"It feels like forever!" Draco exclaimed.
Severus snorted. To Diagon Alley it was.
.o.0.O.0.o.
Sometimes, Sirius felt like he had the worst luck in the world. Other times, he felt like the luckiest man alive.
When he opened the door to his room at the Leaky Cauldron and saw Severus Snape, he was so glad it was one of those lucky times. He and Harry had been preparing to head out for another day of wandering Diagon Alley and so were fully glamoured. Of course, Sirius wouldn't have opened the door if they weren't, but it was nice not to have to come up with an excuse for the wait.
"Ah, Snape," Sirius greeted, trying to sound happy. Based on Snape's raised brows, it probably sounded a bit forced, but Sirius continued to force it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"White," Snape returned the short greeting. Sirius tried not to laugh at the irony of his fake last name. Maybe he should have picked something plainer… like Smith or something.
"Hi, Mr. White!" a much younger and actually honestly happy voice piped up.
Sirius looked down and smiled at Draco, who grinned up at him and asked, "Is Evan here?"
"Of course he is," Sirius answered, swinging open the door and calling, "Evan! Draco's here!"
"REALLY!?" was Harry's reply, followed by a heavy thump and then the pounding of feet.
Snape snorted and rolled his eyes as Harry appeared and ran straight for Draco. "We came," he drawled, "to invite the two of you to come and spend the day at my home."
"How nice," Sirius said, immediately against the idea of a play-date at Snape's house.
"Can we please, Bryan?" Harry begged, seamlessly switching into what he had dubbed Code Mode.
"Of course we can," Sirius replied, more as a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. Sirius frowned. That was worrying. Maybe he should be saying 'no' every once and a while.
"Yes!" Draco exclaimed, grinning widely. "Let's go now!" He grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him between the two adults and out the door, leaving the two adults to stand in the doorway.
"Er, shall we?" Sirius said a bit awkwardly, motioning after the boys.
Snape rolled his eyes and swept out of the room. Muster up all his tolerance for snooty behavior, Sirius followed.
The short journey consisted mostly of Harry and Draco chattering non-stop about anything, everything, and Quidditch while Sirius and Snape followed silently behind. Once they were through the floo and into Snape's house, however, the chatter abruptly stopped.
"Uncle Sev," Draco said gravely.
Sirius bit his tongue really hard to keep from laughing at the endearment. Snape didn't notice.
"Yes, Draco?" Snape prodded.
Draco paused, seemingly for dramatic effect, and then proclaimed, "We need a broom."
Harry's eyes went impossibly wide, and he ratcheted the adorable puppy-begging factor up several notches.
Snape huffed but, to Sirius' astonishment, had to suppress a smile at the two boys. "You know where they are, Draco."
The two boys were gone in a split second.
"They'll need supervision," Snape began.
"Say no more," Sirius said, not bothering to hide his own excitement. "I'm your man."
Snape rolled his eyes and muttered something about Quidditch fanatics, but it was lost on Sirius, who was already following the sounds of excited laughter.
Not ten minutes later the four of them were outside, armed with two brooms. Just as Sirius expected, Harry took to flying like a bird. Before long Draco and Harry were zooming around the yard (but no higher than six feet, thank Merlin).
Sirius watched him proudly, remembering how much he and James had loved to fly and how naturally good James had been. He turned and saw Snape eyeing him with a gleam in his eye. He arched a questioning eyebrow.
Snape shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever quite understand you Quidditch types."
Sirius grinned. "Quidditch is life, Snape."
Snape snorted. "Right," he said sarcastically.
Sirius continued to grin as he turned back to watching Harry and Draco, occasionally calling out tips and corrections for both the boys.
After Sirius and harry spent the entire afternoon at Spinner's End, they were invited to return the next day, and the day after, and the day after, etc. Draco insisted on having "Evan" over as much as possible, and all Harry had to do was turn on the puppy-dog eyes and neither Snape nor Sirius could deny them.
Sirius and Snape hardly ever talked beyond some stilted conversation here and there, which was fine by Sirius. Most of the time, Snape would retreat indoors, saying he had to work, and leave the boys under Sirius supervision. Other times he would bring Draco in (which meant Harry came too) for a few lessons, which were part of their cover for the apprenticeship story that allowed Draco to spend so much time at Spinner's End. With frankly disturbing ease, Harry quickly convinced Snape and Sirius to work out a similar allowance for him so that he could get a wand and learn alongside Draco.
So, during one of the days Draco spent back home (supplementing his story for the 'need for further apprenticeship, of course), Sirius and Harry headed over to Olivanders. The old wand maker had a knowing look in his eye that Sirius resolutely ignored while Harry remained oblivious.
Sirius didn't know what to think about Harry's wand being a 'brother' to Voldemort's wand, but decided to compartmentalize that information aware for use when it became relevant—hopefully never. Harry didn't seem to care at all, beyond being momentarily curious, and was overjoyed to join Draco in learning a bit of magic early.
During the last week of summer, Harry and Draco even managed to convince Snape to let "Bryan and Evan" stay the night. Snape's agreement sent both boys on a victory lap around the yard, which Sirius openly laughed at while Snape suppressed his smile.
Sirius wasn't laughing the next day when Snape took the three of them down to a small creak because Harry and Draco wanted a picnic. After they had eaten, the boys wandered off a little, promising not to go out of sight, and Snape started talking.
"I used to come here often," Snape said suddenly, surprising Sirius.
"Uh, you did?" Sirius said uncertainly, unsure how to handle a reminiscing and nostalgic Snape. They were civil, mostly for Harry and Draco's sake, but it was still weird.
"Yes, with a dear childhood friend of mine," Snape continued, looking expectantly at Sirius.
"Uh, that's nice," Sirius said, wondering who could possibly have wanted to be Snape's 'dear childhood friend.' Lily did, his mind reminded him. Alarm bells started to go off in his head and Sirius sat up a little straighter. "What happened to her?"
"I never said she was a girl," Snape said sharply.
Sirius held up his hands and tried to respond calmly. "Or him, I was just guessing."
Snape stared another second before going on. "She was killed."
Sirius was almost 100% sure they were talking about Lily now, but he wasn't entirely sure why. "I'm sorry," he responded, not knowing what else to say.
"Are you really?" Snape challenged, standing up.
Sirius got to his feet too, stomach twisting.
"Give me one good reason, Black," Snape sneered. "Not to call the Aurors right now."
A/N: heheheh, look, guys. I'm alive. Nor do I have Alzheimers. Sorry for the wait but *shrug* it's life. What can you do?
I think I responded to everyone who had an account (and thank you again!) but to the anonymous reviewers:
adenoide: Well, he and his father will have many problems, but Evan/Harry won't be one for awhile. Don't worry though, they'll fight plenty about other stuff.
Amy: well, here you go.
Jasmine M: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it :D