Only Time

Chapter 3 - The truth behind the lie

It was morning. The Great Hall was filled with a few students who were eating breakfast.

"You never recognize when you're wrong, HERMIONE," yelled Ron Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Don't you dare yell at me, Ronald Weasley," notified Hermione, "If you didn't act like such a child you could see it for yourself."

"I am not a child or stupid," said a disgusted Ron, "If he is so marvelous like you're saying, why don't you go over there and sit with him?"

"Do you ever stop fighting, hm? Will you even tell me what it is your fighting about now?" asked Harry, sitting down at the table.

"Malfoy," they answered in chorus.

"Oh, ok. And what did he do that was so horrible now?" questioned Harry without any real interest.

"HE SMILED!" ranted Ron.

"He did nothing, Harry. That is my point. For the first time in five years, we had a civilized conversation," said Hermione, "AND that is irritating Ron."

"That is not what is irritating me. What is irritating me is the fact that you don't see that he is plotting something. It's obvious he is up to something," said Ron, as though it was the most noticeable thing in the world.

"He smiled to me too," commented Harry.

"Did you hear that Mione? It's like I said! He is plotting something!" exclaimed Ron with a victorious air while he looked for Draco at the Slytherin table

"That doesn't mean anything," said she to Ron, "When was that, Harry?"

"Last week, shortly after the game. You told me to go speak with him, and I was."

"At least someone listens to me when speak," sighed Hermione, "sorry, please continue."

"And when I was in the Hall, and they entered. He was with his mother, Madam Pomfrey and your mother, Ron," he completed, while his friend did grimaced at the rival table.

" My mother?" asked a horrified Ron, "With Narcissa Malfoy?

"Yes, she helped support Draco. He still looked half dead," said Harry sadly. "I was going to speak with him, but I gave up, when I saw that he was not in a condition to. Then when he looked in my direction... he smiled." completed Harry.

"He is plotting something. I know it", stated Ron, convincing only himself.

"And what cause you to come to that conclusion?" asked Hermione, extremely irritated.

"Hn?" answered Ron eloquently.

"But I still said the strangest part," said Harry, calling the attention of the two friends glaring each other, "The night before the game I got up to go to the kitchen."

"Then was that you that was making all the noise in the dormitory? I thought I that had dream," interrupted Ron, earning a rough look from his friends, "Sorry."

"Then, continuing... when I was almost at the entrance, I heard someone coming, I hid... and when I looked at the map, it wasn't Filch but who?", asked Harry, leaving his friends chewing their nails, "Draco I. Malfoy."

"He has a middle name?" asked Hermione, while Ron looked with distrust at his plate, "Do you think he poisoned the food?" asked Ron, looking the plate with distrust written all over his features.

"If it had been poisoned, you would have died already. After all, it was a week ago that he was there," said Hermione with tone of superiority.

"And the most interesting thing was that he was wearing colorful socks," commented Harry annoyed, trying come back to the matter.

"And my socks are blue! What does Malfoy's taste in socks have to do with anything?" asked Ron.

"That's not what I meant. What I was trying to say is that his socks are like the ones that Dobby always gives me, you know one of each color, with weird drawings on them."

"Then Dobby is helping Malfoy, he's plotting something too?" asked an extremely confused Ron.

"Oh enough Ronald Weasley! You always think that he is getting ready to do something to us. Sure sometimes you're right, but you cannot deny the fact of that since the beginning of the year he hasn't done anything to us!" said Hermione in a elevated tone, causing the Great Hall to stop and listen.

Hermione stayed extremely red when she noticed that everybody at the tables looked in her direction as if she had two heads. Then she noticed a wide eyed Draco was listening to the whole thing from the Slytherin table.

"I'll ...see you in class," said Hermione, getting up from the table and heading towards the exit of the Great Hall.

"She gives me the shivers when she acts like this," commented Ron soon after Hermione left, " She reminds me of my mother."

Ron and Harry laughed and they finished their breakfast. Shortly afterwards they got up and also went to Potions.

"Are you two finished yet?" Draco asked his friends, "Class is going to start soon."

"Just some more cakes and we're going," answered Crabbe with his mouth full.

"Hurry up Crabbe. And don't speak with your mouth full, it's disgusting," grumbled Draco, " I'm seeing your food and it looks like its screaming for help," Draco said looking nauseous.

"Why are you in such a hurry Draco? We have potions and Snape doesn't care if we get there late," said Goyle.

"I know, Greg. It's just that I have a feeling that today's class in going to be interesting," she said with a malicious smile stamped on her face.

"Anything you say boss," said Crabbe, while he stood up.

"I already told you not to call me that," said Draco, also getting up, followed by Goyle.

"As you wish, boss," agreed Crabbe, behind Draco, laughing with Goyle.

"You're both lost cases," sighed Draco while hitting his head with his hand, causing her friends to laugh more, "Come on. Let's go class."

Class had already started. Everybody was present, with the exception of some Slytherins. Snape was in the worst mood ever and had already taken 30 points away from Gryffindor for the stupidest reasons, such as breathing deeply, scratching your head, or even yawning. Snape was about to explain today's potion, when three students entered the room.

"Sorry for the delay, professor," said Draco quickly upon entering the room.

"I see that you're better, mister Malfoy," commented the professor, without any show of the previous bad mood, "Please pair up, Malfoy and Goyle, Crabbe and Zabini," he said pointing to places in the room. "Ok now class can start, and take it easy today Draco," he said to his favorite student.

"Did you see that? If that were you or me, he would have given us detentions!" grumbled Ron, after hearing Snape, to Harry who was at the table nearby working with Hermione.

"Five points from Gryffindor for talking in class," stated Snape, with a crooked smile, "Today's potion is extremely difficult to make. Therefore, I believe that only a few students will be able to make it," he said looking toward Draco. " It is a de-aging potion. If you make the potion correctly, you should become around 6 years younger. On the contrary, some of them will probably be poisoned," Snape completed looking in the direction of Neville Longbottom, who trembled under the professors gaze. "The ingredients are on the chalkboard. You can begin."

"Relax, Neville. We're gonna make it," said Ron forcing a smile for his friend.

The class went by normally. And for the first time in his life, it looked like Neville had gotten the potion right.

"The potion is the right color, Neville," said Hermione with tone of approval, earning a shy smile from Neville.

"Of course, he had me for his partner," completed Ron convinced.

Draco, who hadn't removed her eyes from the Gryffindors for the entire class, nudged Crabbe, and pointed to the table in front of them and nodded her head toward Ron.

"Throw that into the caldron," said Draco, while she passed a small bat wing, stealthily, under the table to her friend.

Vincent Crabbe took advantage of the Gryffindors still discussing the potion of Ron and Neville. Quickly the new foreign ingredient was added, the potion bubbled, which called the attention of Harry. However, the professor interrupted them.

"Time is up. Choose who is going to take your potion. And Longbottom, I expect that your potion is correct," commented Snape.

"The potion is correct, professor," established Ron, earning a furious look from the professor.

"Then I believe that you not opposed to testing it, mister Weasley?" called Snape, with a triumphant air.

"Of course not, sir," answered Ron, irritated.

"Gryffindors!" exclaimed Snape, and the Slytherins laughed, "Therefore, mister Weasley, what are you waiting for? We don't have all day".

Ron, threw a pleading look to Hermione, while he put some of the potion into the cup, and when he was drinking he noticed a despaired Harry swinging his arms frantically over his head, hissing DON"T. However he wasn't sure if he really had said it, but soon after he drank the potion, he felt severe pain in his stomach, which made him fall to the ground moaning.

The class erupted in chaos, all of the Gryffindors ran to Ron, while the Slytherins rolled around on the ground they were laughing so hard. Snape, unconcerned, looked at the potion.

All of a sudden, the shouts stopped, and in a blast, Ron disappeared. On the ground they remained only a pile of Ron's clothes.

"RON!" yelled Harry, while looking puzzled t the pile of clothes on the ground. "You'll pay for this, Crabbe," he said, trembling with rage, while glaring at the Slytherin.

Some students tried separate them, however they weren't successful. After watching his class turn into total chaos, Snape yelled, "SILENCE!"

All of the students froze in their places, except Crabbe and Harry who were still fighting. Without any alternative, Snape walked to the two of them and pulled them apart before anything worse could happen.

Hermione heard crying coming from the pile of clothes. "Will he be ok?" she asked more for herself than for the others, while she approached the pile.

When she approached, the pile of clothes moved, causing them to jump backwards. The cloth moved, revealing a baby of not more of 8 months, with flaming red hair. She looked at him amazed, them picked him up off the ground, and covered him with his clothes, since he was naked.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor, Potter! For fighting without a cause in my classroom," hissed the professor.

"For no reason? Look what he did to Ron!" shouted Harry.

"You do not have any proof against Mr. Crabbe, and your friend is fine, in case you haven't noticed, Potter," said Snape, looking towards Hermione who was holding the red headed baby tightly in her arms.

"But that is Ron."

"Exactly, Potter. Now I believe that you must apologize to Mr. Crabbe," continued Snape, pulling out some laughs from the Slytherin.

"Never," answered Harry, approaching Hermione and the baby.

"A week of detention, Mr. Potter! Class dismissed."

After potions were done, the classes ran more normally than he had expected considering the situation they were in. Ron took the potion to restore him to his proper age, but the effects were slow. It took 6 hours for Ron to age a year.

After supper, the students headed to there respective common rooms, while Harry went to dungeons, to fulfill his detention.

As punishment, Harry would have that clear Snape's room daily, beginning wiht the cupboard of ingredients. It took him hours to remove the dust off of everything and put back the ingredients in their right places, alphabetical order of course. While he was impressed with the organization of the professor, it made him think of a film that he watched at the Dursleys: Sleeping With the Enemy. In the film, the husband of the main character was so psychotic that he arranged the tins from the kitchen in alphabetical order. Perhaps Snape also went psychotic.

After the work done, he felt starved, however he dragged himself up to the Gryffindor's Tower , since he was dirty and without his invisibility cloak. Upon his arrive in the common room, he found some students still studying, and the Weasleys watching their brother, who still wasn't three years old.

Harry took a bath, and got his cloak and the Marauder's Map. Upon checking the map, he noticed that the name Draco I. Malfoy was found in the kitchen. And without delay, he ran back into the common room.

"Hey, Ron, what about some biscuits?" he asked the infant who started smiling from one ear to the other.

"Give me! Give me!" aid Ron, lively, opening and closing his little hands in the Harry's direction.

"Ok how about this, if I go to the kitchen and bring you a hill of biscuits, you have to promise that you will stay here and be quiet until I get back, agreed?" said Harry to the boy.

"'k. But I want of chocotale," the little Ron said.

"The correct is chocolate, Ron," said Hermione with air of disapproval, while Ron stuck out his tongue at her.

Harry laugh while he walked towards the portrait of the fat lady.

It didn't take long for him to arrive in the kitchen. Consulting the map again, he verified that Draco was still there. So he made sure the cloak covered himself, and entered the kitchen.

What he saw astonished him. Never in all his life had he imagined to see Draco so at ease, and he had expected to never see him surrounded by House Elves. He laughed and talked while eating candies and more sweets. And the strangest thing was who brought him all of the candies, with tear filled eyes, Dobby.

"Young mistress brought a coat for Dobby, sir. Dobby does not know how to thank you," said Dobby.

"It's not necessary. Besides, the coat is nothing compared to the socks that you gave me," answered Draco sincerely. "I think that I should be going now," Draco completed standing up[.

" Would young mistress Draco like more biscuits for friends?" asked Dobby, indicating some little bags filled with biscuits.

"I don't think I'll need them, they'll probably be down in a little to raid the kitchen," she said smiling and saying good-bye.

Harry watched everything with his mouth open. Draco? Being nice to those lower than him? He had to tell Ron about this after he recuperated. However, when he was Draco walk through the door, he decided to act. He grabbed some biscuits and followed him.

Draco walked in the direction of the Slytherin's common room when felt like someone was following her. She stopped suddenly, but didn't see anything. She looked in vain but still couldn't see a thing. So she gave up, convincing herself that she should stop being so paranoid. When suddenly a figure rose in front of her, leaving a cloak on the ground. With a look of horror, she realized that the person who had followed her was none other than Harry Potter.

"I know who you really are," he said without missing a beat, while Draco stared at him with wide eyes.

End of chapter 3

AN - This is the english version of the fic that I originally wrote in portuguese. English is not my first language, and all I know of grammar is the basic. I don't have a beta or anyone to translate it for me, so if you find any error please let me know so I can correct them.

Thank you all for reading ^^