A/N: This is the last pre-written chapter, so it may be a bit before I update again (I have some other writing & RL obligations to attend to). That said, you know what always inspires writing? Feedback! But even if you don't leave a review, I'm glad you're here and reading my little, silly tale. xx

Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter: SeaWitch25, Snaperipper (I adore your username, BTW), and Analelle!


When the Great Hall went silent at dinner that night, Sirius turned around to see what had astounded the students of Hogwarts.

His jaw dropped when he saw Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy, holding hands with Ginny Weasley. And the hand he was holding had a very conspicuous ring on a very important finger.

All eyes in the Great Hall watched as Draco Malfoy escorted Ginny to the Gryffindor table, hand in hand. There were audible gasps when he kissed her on the cheek before leaving to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table.

Even more confusion abounded when he did not sit with Hermione and Luna, but instead positioned himself between a shocked Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot.

Sirius looked at Neville, but his friend did not make eye contact with him; he was too busy watching Harry across the Great Hall. Sirius followed his gaze to where the mini-James sat, white as a sheet, mouth set in an impassive line. For being the son of two Gryffindors, Harry had certainly mastered the traditional Slytherin mask: aside from his pale coloring, there were no visible reactions to his fiancé's behavior. However, only a few moments after Draco had started on his dinner, Harry finished his pumpkin juice, dabbed his mouth with his napkin, and left.

The whole Great Hall, including the Head Table, watched him go and noise erupted when the doors closed behind him.

Sirius searched the room for reactions. Hermione looked near tears; she bowed her head and whispered furiously to Luna. After what looked to be calming words from the younger Ravenclaw, Sirius saw the curly-haired witch jump up from the table and race after Harry, while Luna stood and went to comfort a stoic-looking Pansy.

At the Head Table, the Professors Potter had eyes as wide as saucers, and Lily looked like she might spontaneously combust. She didn't openly glare at Ginny—she didn't even make eye contact with the redhead—but Sirius could feel the inferno of ire radiating from his friend.

Ginny, for her part, had started a conversation about Quidditch with Vicky Frobisher as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. A handful of students near her tried to ask about Draco, but she simply ignored them as if they didn't exist and this were another, normal dinner at Hogwarts.

She did, however, send Sirius a smug look, waving at him with her left hand in a way that showed off her ostentatious diamond.


"What the fuck did you do?" yelled Sirius, shoving Draco against a wall.

Sirius had followed the blond when he left the Great Hall after dinner that night. Draco had not headed for the library, as was the modus operandi with their group after dinner; instead, he made for the owlery. A few others had headed that way, but Sirius had warned them off with a few well-placed glares and one whispered 'Get fucking lost' to tiny, mostly confused second year 'Puff.

"Take your hands off me, Black," spat Draco. "Or I'll report you to Flitwick."

"Guess how many fucks I give," the dark-haired wizard retorted, tightening his grip on the blond's robe. "What were you doing with Weasley?"

Draco's eyebrow shot up. "What, now you want a go with her? Too late, Black. You had your chance, and your loss is my gain. Ginevra and I are betrothed. I signed the papers in Hogsmeade today."

"I'm not daft you blond bimbo. Anyone with half a brain knows what that vulgar ring on her finger means. What I want to know is why?"

Draco scoffed and looked at Sirius like he was an idiot. "I'm the last of the Malfoys, Black. I need a respectable marriage to a pure-blood girl. I wasn't going to get that with Potter. And I'm certainly not raising any half-blood bastards of that bitch."

Sirius's vision went red, and he socked Draco in the jaw. He kept hitting him and hitting him, until he heard a voice yell stop and felt strong arms jerk him back.

"Fucking stop, Padfoot!" cried Remus, while James crouched down and muttered healing charms over his son's… well, former fiancé.

When Sirius could see again, he found Draco groggy and quite bloody. James was clutching something in his hand—Sirius assumed they were Accioed teeth—as he helped the boy up.

"I'll see you expelled for that, Black," Draco sneered, though the effect was lost when Draco winced immediately after the expression.

"I knew it!" cried Sirius. "I knew you were a bloody git. Fuck you, Malfoy, and all your fucking lies. You're just like your father, aren't you? You'll do anything to move up in the world, and you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself."

Draco stood tall and adjusted his robes. "I could only hope to be the kind of man my father was, Black. Just because you're an embarrassment to your family name doesn't mean you should take your failure out on others."

James, Remus, and Sirius were left gaping as Draco walked out of the owlery and in the direction of the Infirmary.


"A spell? The Imperius?" asked James.

Remus shook his head. "I checked before he left the owlery. He's clean."

"How about he's a bloody Malfoy!" cried Sirius. James had poured a round of firewhiskys, throwing a significant look at Sirius when he pushed the liquor to his friend. "I told you all he couldn't be trusted. But no, I listened to you about how great Draco-bloody-Malfoy was, and this is what happens! I can't believe I fell for his shit!"

"Shut the fuck up, Padfoot," James said sharply, glaring at his friend. "What were you thinking—you'd beat an explanation out of him?"

"How about I was thinking about your kid, Prongs! Your kid—the one who couldn't stand to be in the Great Hall when he saw his fiancé with a… a new fiancée!" Sirius flopped back on the sofa and fumed. "Have you even been to see your mini-me?"

"I have." The wizards turned to see Lily step through the door. "He's… he's not saying much." Her sad look told them everything they needed to know about how Harry was doing. She walked to the trio of wizards and poured a glass so firewhisky for herself, knocking it back in one gulp.

James put his head in his hands, and Remus turned to look at Sirius.

"Look, Pads, I know this is confirming your worst suspicions about Draco, but take it from us"—he gestured around the room—"the Draco we know, that we've grown to know over the last seven years, would not do what he did today. He's never been into women, Pads; he's as gay as they come."

Sirius glared. "So what then? If not Imperius, then what? Love potions wouldn't have him talking the way he did about his father."

"But coupled with loyalty or obedience potions, they would." Lily's eyes were lit with a raging fire, and her hair was starting to cackle like Hermione's when she went on a creature rights diatribe. "And Ginny Weasley might be near failing my class, but Molly…"

"Molly is brilliant with them." James finished, a proverbial lightbulb going off in his eyes. He looked to Sirius. "She brewed all the potions for the Order during the war."

No one looked at Remus, who was staring at his knees in consternation. Eventually, he sighed and looked up.

"Molly's always been preoccupied with money and status. She married into the Weasleys before Septimus made a bunch of bad investments and practically wiped out all of the family wealth. She loves Arthur, she really does, but she's always been bitter about their financial situation. She expected a much different life than the one she has. She's nearly wiped through her trust already; Fabian says she's started hinting at him refilling it from the main Prewett vault." Remus rubbed his temples. "She's been talking to Ginny about being a princess and marrying a pure-blood prince since she was a little girl. She wants her little girl to have the life she feels she deserved."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fucking pure-bloods," she muttered. James shot her a sympathetic look and shrugged.

"But why target Draco?" asked Sirius. "It may not be common knowledge that he was engaged to Harry, but it's pretty fucking evident he's as bent as a right angle."

"Most pure-bloods won't bat an eye, Pads," said James sadly. "They'll say the same thing you've been saying, especially since the engagement wasn't common knowledge."

"Could it be a spell?" asked Lily. "Is there anything that could mimic a combination of love and loyalty potions?"

Remus shook his head. "For that marked of a difference in personality? No, not aside from the Imperius. If he's being coerced into his actions, it's through potions."

"So Poppy gives him a flushing draught," said Lily, leaning back with a look of relief. "That seems like an easy enough fix."

James shook his head. "No, Lily, it's not. Remember, Draco took his family ring—he's the Head of the House of Malfoy now. He has complete autonomy over his medical care and well-being."

Lily just blinked at him, confused, while the other two moaned in realization.

"He also cannot be questioned or held on legal concerns without his consent. He's not a student anymore, Lily, not in the same way Orion or Dorea or even Harry is. He's untouchable," said Remus. "You can't just… hell, the fact that I checked him for the Imperius without consent could see me fined heavily or even jailed. And if he's being coerced, whoever is doing it would have made sure that he wouldn't consent to a flushing draught just because of our suspicions."

Sirius looked at the people around the table—his best friends, his fellow Mauraders, and the witch who'd spent years keeping them in line—and his face broke out in a sly grin. "So we make him ask for one."


The Marauders and Lily had to wait a week to implement their plan, when the fifth years would be reviewing Shrinking Solutions. They had planned for some of it to 'mysteriously' go missing and end up in Draco's breakfast the following morning; that way, there would be a moderately plausible reason for Draco's 'accident.' Lily was a little upset at the thought she'd be purposefully poisoning a student, but her professional ethics eventually took a back seat to her instincts as a mother lion: for both her own cub and also the one she'd all but adopted as his mate.

However, it was a very long week of waiting, and all of Sirius's friends were walking around in various states of shock. Pansy had glued herself to Harry's side, as both a shoulder to cry on and a protector from curious students; Hermione was alternating between comforting Harry and mourning what looked to be the loss of her best friend. Neville and Sirius focused on running interference for the three, specifically so they didn't have to come into contact with Draco or Ginny too often.

For her part, Ginny had told Lavender and Parvati that she and Draco had been betrothed for some time and that she understood his 'last hurrah' with Harry, even if she didn't approve of it. She played the magnanimous girlfriend, forgiving her beloved while he sowed his wild oats. The older girls, who were considered the gossip queens of Hogwarts, bought the redhead's story hook, line, and sinker, and Draco's picture-perfect treatment of Ginny as a pure-blood princess did nothing to dispel the subsequent rumors.

The day before the plan to shrink Draco was scheduled, Sirius found Hermione crying softly in a corner of the library. She was curled up in an overstuffed armchair, her knees bent beneath her and hidden by her skirt, her head in her hands. Sirius came up, circled around to the back of the chair, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Wanna talk about it?"

She shook her head, but grabbed his arms and held them. "No."

He nodded and simply held her. She cried and squeezed his arms, and he felt the week's frustration and anger and sadness flow out of her. He didn't offer words of encouragement or tell her everything would be OK—James was adamant about keeping their plan a secret, just in case—so she wouldn't believe any words of comfort. He imagined, however, that Hermione hadn't had much of a chance to grieve for her friend, since she'd focused mostly on comforting Harry.

"He called me a mudblood," she finally whispered between sobs.

Sirius's head jerked up at the confession. She was staring at her hands, still holding onto his arms, and he was still behind her so they didn't make eye contact. He felt his stomach clench and anger begin to boil up within him. He pushed his response down, and she continued.

"When we came back from dinner, Luna and I, we stayed in the common room to work on her Magical Creatures essay. He came in with Goldstein—they've gotten chummy this last week—and said he was going to complain to the elves that he common room was filthy."

She paused, and Sirius took the opportunity to move around her. He sat on the ground, and Hermione slid out of the armchair so they would be eye level. He held her hands and silently encouraged her to go on.

"He was glaring at me when he said it, so I asked him if he had something to say to me. As if I didn't understand the implication." She let out a half-hearted chuckle. "He said, 'As if I would have anything to say to a mudblood.' And then he and Goldstein went up to the dorms. They were laughing."

"They're assholes," said Sirius, pulling her in to a hug. Her eyes were red and puffy, and he was definitely ignoring the fact that he probably had snot on his robe from her sniffling. Though she was a complete mess, he couldn't help think that she was lovely.

"I'm going to curse his whole stupid face for making you cry like this," said Sirius, and he smiled when she let out a brief laugh.

"Could you curse his dick instead? I feel like that way we could punish both him and that stupid bint for being foul little cockroaches."

Sirius barked out a laugh and rubbed her back. "Yeah, I could do that." He pulled back a bit. "Wanna get away for a bit? Taking Lady out for a prowl might make you feel better."

Hermione wiped her face with her sleeve and nodded. "Will you come?"

He nodded and grinned. "Yeah. Padfoot's been meaning to show her who's the boss."


It was abundantly clear after a night romping through the Forbidden Forest that Padfoot was not the boss.


The next day, the Marauders and Lily sat anxiously at breakfast, determined not to act out of the ordinary. Remus had convinced the elves to lace Draco's goblet with the potion, claiming it was a matter of school security.

The elves were suspicious of the werewolf's motivations, but Remus was a professor of Hogwarts and Shrinking Solution in small doses wouldn't kill Draco, so they did it.

The professors and Sirius all feigned surprise when a commotion arose at the Ravenclaw table as Draco shrunk to the size of a first year. His cheeks were bright with embarrassment, and he pitched a fit as he left the Great Hall for the infirmary, muddling along in his oversized shoes and robes. Ginny flew from the Gryffindor table in pursuit of her fiancé.

Headmistress McGonagall and Filius Flitwick both followed at a much more leisurely pace.

Harry never once looked up from his meal.

When breakfast ended, Sirius ducked into an alcove and slipped on James's invisibility cloak. He didn't have much experience with reconnaissance—that had always been Peter's specialty, damn rat that he was—but as the smallest of the four he was nominated to use the cloak to spy on Draco.

He could tell things were going their way before he slipped through the door, left ajar in Draco's haste.

"Miss Weasley, I'm not sure why you're even here." Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and frowned at the redheaded witch who was trying to comfort an embarrassed and frustrated Draco.

Ginny stamped her foot petulantly. "I'm his fiancée." She elongated the final word as if Madam Pomfrey was slow on the uptake, which only cause the older witch to frown more. "And he wants me here, don't you darling?"

Sirius shivered at the saccharine tone of her voice.

Draco still looked angry about his petite state, but when Ginny lifted his chin and made eye contact, his eyes shifted. They both narrowed on her to focus and became a bit cloudy with confusion. After a moment, he smiled at her and nodded.

Madam Pomfrey huffed. "Be that as it may, Miss Weasley, you are not a healer. Lord Malfoy has not lost his mental faculties in this accident, and, as such, he does not need your approval for his course of treatment. And as his healer, I need you to leave. I will let you know when he can have visitors."

"But… but… you need to consult Regent Malfoy! She should be in charge of his care!" cried Ginny.

"There is no more Regent Malfoy, now that Draco has claimed his House ring," Flitwick explained to the fuming girl. "There is only the Dowager Malfoy. If Draco wants to take the flushing draught, Miss Weasley, then Madam Pomfrey will administer it."

Ginny began to argue again, until Madam Pomfrey lost her composure. "Miss Weasley, I must insist that you remove yourself from the infirmary this instant, before I stun you and levitate you to the hallway myself!"

"Come, child, I will walk you back to the Tower," said the Headmistress, wrapping her arm around Ginny shoulders. The younger witch looked lost and confused and furious, but she allowed herself to be herded out of the infirmary with a final, longing look at Draco.

"Now, Lord Malfoy, I still believe a flushing draught is your best course of action." She glanced at Flitwick, making sure there wasn't some reason for Ginny's opposition to the draught that he might know of. The half-goblin nodded his agreement with her, and she continued. "We do not know how much Shrinking Solution you ingested, or how long it might have an effect on you. With the draught, I can guarantee you're back to normal for your classes this afternoon. Without it, it may take weeks to wear off."

"Are there any other options?" He asked, his eyes still clouded from his interactions with Ginny.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "I"m afraid not. You wouldn't need to wait here for the Shrinking Solution to wear off, if you didn't want to; you'd be able to attend classes and play in Quidditch matches. However, we have no idea how long it would take for you to return to normal."

Draco sighed, took the offered vial from Madam Pomfrey, and knocked it back in one gulp. He pulled a face as he handed the empty vial to the matron. "I don't know why she's so upset about the draught. I just want to be back to normal so I can wrap her in my arms, and I can't do that looking like a first year. Is that a crime?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. If there was any doubt Draco been dosed with Amortentia, it was gone in Sirius's mind. Run-of-the-mill Malfoy evilness or Slytherin duplicity toward the Potters, he would buy. Being besotted with Ginny Weasley? Not a chance.

Unfortunately, the draught prevented Madam Pomfrey from giving Draco a sleeping potion, although she looked like she was ready to knock the boy out with her wand. Draco waxed on and on about Ginny's fiery red hair and beautiful freckles and broom-flying skills.

After about twenty minutes, Madam Pomfrey frowned and ran another diagnostic. "It shouldn't be taking quite this long. Do you have any other potions in your system, Lord Malfoy? A nutrient potion or a contraceptive potion, perhaps?"

Draco shook his head, and the matron shrugged. "Then we wait. Tell me if you start to feel different."

After another ten minutes, the praise of Ginny Weasley subsided. Draco groaned and leaned back on the hospital bed, closing his eyes. Sirius watched as the boy's body slowly started growing—his white-blond hair growing longer from when he started growing it out over Christmas, his facial features took on a harder edge, his shoulders broadened, and his chest filled out—not much, the boy was very much a Seeker, even in his build, but certainly enough to indicate he was more man than child.

When Draco started growing taller, and his face took on a confused and wistful expression, Sirius slipped out into the hallway, shed the cloak, and sent a Patronus to James.

Infirmary. Now.

Sirius tucked the cloak under his arm and waited a few minutes until he heard low chatter coming from inside. He politely knocked on the door. "Madame Pomfrey? I was hoping to check in and see how Draco was doing?" He held his breath and waited to see how the Ravenclaw wizard responded to his presence.

Draco, looking just like the wizard Sirius had met at Yule, turned to meet Sirius's eyes. At the sight of dark-haired wizard, relief flooded the blond's face.

And then Lord Draco Malfoy, Head of the House of Malfoy, broke down in tears.


A/N: I know it seems like the potioning of Draco moved fairly quick, but TBH it's not really the main conflict of the story. There will be fallout-oh there will be fallout-but I couldn't have my boys separated and Harry pining away for too long. I adore them too much to do that to them :)