It's been a while, I'm not who I was before…Had to grab my heart back, God knows something had to change …It took a long, long road to get here…I've taken one too many excuses, one too many lies… I'll never be perfect, but at least now I'm brave. I know my heart is open, I can finally breathe. Don't be mad…I found a brand new kinda me…

Alicia Keys

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Three weeks had passed since the first day of school and Draco had, thus far, survived his position. Donating the essence of dittany from his first round of classes had proved to be a good move. The staff were slowly, but surely, acknowledging Draco's presence and were treating him with a fair level of respect.

Of course, Parvati and Cho were still spreading the gossip of his involvement in the death of Hermione's parents and still making up tales about his time in Azkaban, but there wasn't much he could do to prevent that. They would always find something to gossip out, their topics changes as frequently as the weather. Draco was hot news for them right now, and he was sure they would eventually become bored and quit talking about him once something more interesting came about.

Eventually everything would become normal for him here.

The sixth and seventh year students were Draco's favorites by far. They listened attentively, followed instructions, demonstrated competence, and always treated him with respect; especially the Slytherins, who seemed to look up at him like an idol or role model. It was an admirable and proud attention that Draco had always craved, but had not yet earned for the right reasons until now.

The four and fifth year students were alright and he enjoyed teaching them, for the most part. Many of them were approaching that awkward cusp of puberty and he couldn't help but find many of them slightly repulsive and annoying. Self-expression, as well as hygiene, were turbulent and unstable things amongst this age group, in addition to rapid mood cycling which Draco didn't have patience to find out about. He wasn't the type of professor to go out of his way and find out why a fifth year girl was crying. He already knew the answers; boys. He didn't bother himself by investigating petty teen dramas. He expected his students to show up sane and level headed to his classes so they could learn and get out.

It was for many of these reasons that he could hardly stand teaching the second and third year students, who were just starting to figure out how to act like decent, miniature human beings on a regular basis. He had to constantly remind himself to be patient with them in order to manage getting through their classes in one piece. Even with the frustrations they presented him, they weren't the worst of the lots.

It was the first years that Draco truly detested. They were loud, messy, obnoxious, ignorant, and self-righteous. They cried too much, spoke too loudly, and laughed at every inappropriate thing imaginable. On top of it all, they all thought they were cute and adorable despite their plethora of flaws; which was most irritating to Draco.

On top of it all, today's classes were especially nerve wracking for Draco. Hermione would be observing him for the entire day, taking notes on his teaching methods so that she could give him feedback and report his progress to the board of governors. As if being in a room with her wasn't nerve wracking enough without knowing he was being judged on top of it.

Luckily, on the plus side, the presence of the headmistress was enough to tone down the usual rowdiness Draco typically had to suffer through and deal with. All of his students were on their very best behavior with Hermione there, and Draco felt an immense sense of relief for it. He couldn't imagine having to reprimand a pupil under the gaze of her watchful eyes.

Eventually, he nearly forget she was there. The entire day she had remained quietly stationed in the back of the room, occasionally writing down a note, or leaving for a brief break. It wasn't until the seventh years came in for class that Draco really felt the thick, undeniable, presences of her in the room.

Sophia greeted her mother with a small smile and a quick nod as she settled into her potion's station, and then waited for instruction along with the rest of the class.

The muscles in Draco's neck seemed to tense up out of nowhere, making it difficult to swallow or speak all of the sudden. Feigning a normal composure, he ban writing notes on the board with his wand. The lesson plan for today called for the making of calming draughts.

'How relevant' thought drop as he force-gulped his nerves down his constricting throat and tried to decrease his own anxiety with a deep, shuddering breath.

"Now, I realize that this potion seems too simple for your level, but know that it's not. Although the ingredients are simple enough, easily acquired, and there are few steps in the process; you have not yet been asked to brew a potion like this before. At least not in any class. Calming draughts are directly affected by the mood of the brewer themselves. There are a few potions like this that we will be working with this year where you will be required to exercise a sort of mental discipline before you can successful concoct the project before you. Know that if you are not in a calm state yourself, then the potion also will not be in a calm state and will therefore transfer your anxieties to the person who takes the draught."

A Ravenclaw student raised her hand. "So does that mean you could make an anxiety draught with the same ingredients and instructions? Is your mood the only changing variable that could affect the desired end result?"

"In a way, Yes. You would successfully give the drinker your feelings of anxiety. However, what causes you anxiety could be entirely different than what makes them anxious, and so the affect may not be what you desired. Some people get jittery when anxious, other people get sweaty palms, other nauseous, and so on and so forth. If you your objective is to make the drinker as anxious in possible, in their own state and in their own way, then there are a few alterations that need to be made to quality it as an anxiety draught. But, in a way, I suppose you could make an anxiety drought of sorts with these instructions. Great question. Yes?"

Another hand had shot up.

"What if we're not feeling very calm right now? I mean, you are judging our work. That kind of observation in itself causes anxiety. Plus the headmaster is here," commented a Hufflepuff who was looking back at Hermione, who returned her remark with a kind smile then waited patiently for Draco's response.

Draco tapped the board with his wand and the words 'Sedatio Animus' scrawled themselves out above the potions instruction.

"For those of you who need assistance quieting your mind and entering a calm state, you may use this charm. Use it carefully because you don't want to become so calm that you feel sedated, cannot focus, or cause yourself the temptation to fall asleep."

A few students took out their wands and the charm could be heard about the room. Suddenly, through the misted noise of working students, there was a loud thump as a student hit the floor.

Draco rushed over to where Terrance Davenport, the bulk Slytherin quidditch player, lay snoring with his head under the desk, his body sprawled out haphazardly. A few students had gasped and were peering over to see what had happened.

Draco bent down to make sure he was alright, and that he had not injured himself when he had fallen. He could feel Hermione looming over him as she walked over to inspect the situation for herself.

"Is he alright?"

With moderate struggle, Draco began to turn Terrance over so that he was laying on his back. "Yes, he just got a little enthusiastic with his charm, is all."

"He was really nervous," said a thin girl who was Terrance's lab partner. "I think he thought that if he concentrated extra hard it would over compensate for how he was feeling."

"Yeah, I figured as much," agreed Draco.

"You make him really nervous," she continued to his dismay. "Being the head of Slytherin and all. I think he really wants to please you and make you proud of his work. Which is odd because Terrance usually doesn't care what teachers think of him. You're special, I guess, being a Slytherin and all. He's going to be so embarrassed about this when he wakes up." The girl crossed her arms, leaned her weight onto one hip, and looked at Terrance expectantly with a bored and slightly smug expression on her thin face.

"I see. Thank you…for that background information…." Draco didn't know what else to say to that. Why would a student be nervous because of him? It wasn't like he was anything like Severus Snape had been; a looming, broody, mysterious and quietly judgmental man. For the most part Draco spoke his mind openly, and provided his students with ample feedback that wasn't all criticism. He acknowledged good work when he saw it, regardless of the student who produced it; and, so far, he thought he was disrupting house points immensely fairly.

He took out his wand and waved it over Terrance's massive, snoring face. "Exsuscito!"

Terrance awoke with a start. "Wah-What happened?"

A few students giggled at the hazy, dumb-struck look on his face as he looked around and realized he had been asleep on the potion's room floor.

"Just an overly successful charm is all." Draco stood up and extended his hand to help Terrance up off of the floor.

"Thanks professor," mumbled Terrance and he began to flush red with embarrassment.

"No problem at all. Just do your best with the draught," Draco clapped a supportive hand on across Terrance's back, "and try not to worry about it too much."

Terrance nodding in understanding and set back to work, keeping his focus firmly set on the roots he was grinding so that he wouldn't have to pay attention to the whispering voices and curious stares about the room, especially the giggling coming from his lab partner.

"Well done professor, you handled that well, and very calmly," complimented Hermione. "A lot of new professors would have panicked."

"I've never been one to panic without adequate reason, Ms. Granger."

"I suppose that's true." she agreed before retaking her seat at the back of the room without another word.

As Draco passed through aisles of desks, looking into cauldrons to inspect the students' progressing work, he could feel Hermione's eyes following him across the room. Doing his best to ignore her watchful brown eyes, he made as many suggestions and critiques as possible in an effort to avert his attention.

Then out of nowhere came an ear-splitting shriek, the kind of scream that makes your heart skip a beat and float in your chest before you can ground it to become aware of what's occurred.

By instinct Draco rushed over, without a moment's hesitation, to where the scream had emitted and found Sophia panicking as she frantically moved away from her cauldron.

Hermione shot up as well, alert at the sound of her daughter screaming and rushed over. The moment she reached the desk, she pulled her daughter into her arms and tried to calm her down. Sophia was nearly hyperventilating.

"What's wrong?" He couldn't see what the matter was. Her potion was the correct color and consistency for the stage it was at, nothing seemed broken, and no one was bleeding.

Sophia was bright red, as she buried her humiliated face into the bend of her mother's shoulder. "A spider crawled out of my fluxweed and I freaked out…I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scream like that, but I'm terrified of them and it crawled onto my hand!" She shook her hands as the residual feeling of the spider creeping cross her fingers came to mind.

"I don't see it. You must have scared it away," said Draco as he peered around her station looking for the creepy crawler.

"I'm not using that station unless I know it's dead," stated Sophia adamantly. For a quick second, it largely reminded Draco of himself when he was being irrevocably defiant with his mother as a young child.

Instead of interrupting the process, Hermione just looked at Draco expectantly to see how he was going to handle this situation. Although her instinct told her to intervene completely and take care of her daughter, she wanted to see how Draco was going to handle this situation as a teacher.

"It's not going to hurt you Sophia. Fluxweed is known to attract garden spiders but not anything remotely dangerous. The only thing these spiders could harm is a fly or mosquito. I promise you have no reason to be afraid." He tried to reason with her, but she seemed set on remaining afraid no matter what he said.

Most of the students had realized what had happened by now, were bored of the situation, and were diligently working at their potions; but there remained a few watchful eyes peering at the situation with nosey excitement. Even though they were making calming draughts, this had been of the more exciting classes they'd had in a while

Draco did his best to remain calm and supportive as he reasoned with Sophia. He'd always found the fear of spiders to be irrational and silly, but he could see that Sophia had been genuinely terrified by the situation. The flush of her cheeks were slowly starting to calm down, but instead of regaining her normal tone, her skin now appeared pale and she still seemed shaken by the closer encounter.

"You can work at my station if you'd like?" Draco offered. There wasn't much else he could do to accommodate her. It wasn't as if he could promise there would be no more spiders in the room ever again. There were few reasons accommodations for unreasonable fears. "We can transfer your cauldron over there, and get you new Fluxweed? I'll even double check it for spiders for you because we bring it over."

Sophia seemed to consider this as she pursed her lips and stared hesitantly at the bowl of Fluxweed, as if she were expecting an army of hidden spiders to crawl out from the center of the dark, damp bowl. "I supposed, but I don't know how I'm supposed to make a calming draught when I feel this way now."

"You can use the charm I suggested. Just be careful that you don't get too enthusiastic about it. You saw what happened to Terrance." Draco said this with a small smile as he tight to lift her mood a little. It didn't work. Sophia still look terrified, but she did seem willing to move stations and keep working on her potion despite her current feelings.

"Right," said Sophia with a nod. Her hands were still trembling as she raised up her wand and cried out, "Sedatio Animus!"

Without warning, Sophia's body cascaded towards the floor. Reflexes kicked in as Draco lunged forward and caught her in his arms before she was able to hit the floor.

Hermione gasped out and attempted to reach out and catch her daughter as well, but she was already secure in Draco's grasp before she could make contact.

"She's alright. She's okay. She just knocked herself out." Draco assured Hermione immediately before she too began to panic. Although Draco had never known Hermione to be the panicking type, even in grave situations, he didn't know what to expect from her now. It had been so long since they'd interacted like this and it was, after all, her only child who was unconscious. Unlike snoring Terrance, Sophia had clearly passed out completely. The terror she had felt from the traveling spider had transferred to her charm and caused her to vastly over use it.

"I'm going to take her to hospital wing. Even if I awaken her here, I'm sure she's not going to be in a state to participate after that," offered Draco in a low hush directed to a mildly shaken Hermione. The entire class was watching them again and he didn't want to make this any more of a scene than it already was.

"I can take her," offered Hermione as she began to slide her arm around Sophia, but Draco didn't let go of her and they both stood there awkwardly grasping onto the passed-out student between them.

"Let me help you get her into the hall at least? I don't think you can carry her alone," insisted Draco, refusing to relinquish his grasp on Sophia.

It was true. Although Hermione's motherly instincts shouted that she would be capable of carrying her own child, Sophia was practically a woman now and it would have been difficult for Hermione to get her out of the classroom alone, even with magic.

Without waiting for an answer, Draco pulled Sophia in towards his chest and lifted her up in his arms. Hermione followed closely behind him as he carried Sophia out of the room and into the hall.

"Keep working on your draughts! They should be nearly finished when I get back!" Draco called out from over his shoulder as he left the room. He wasn't worried about leaving them unattended for a spell of time because both head boy and girl were in this classroom. If any student acted out, they would be more than capable of handling it. He reminded Hermione of this as they made their way towards the hospital wing.

"I really hope this won't reflect too badly on my review here," added Draco, trying to lighten mood between them as Sophia dangled unconsciously in his arms.

"I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. You can't know what your students are afraid of," offered Hermione as she walked on the side of Draco, but retained a healthy distance between them. She did want to walk so far away though that she would feel separated from her knocked-out child.

"I can't imagine when the last time you had two students pass out in a single class was though. That can't look terribly impressive, can it?"

"Just last week, Ginny had five students knock each other out in her defense against the dark arts class. It happens more often than you'd think," assured Hermione.

"Ah, well that's comforting to know, I guess." said Draco with a playful smile edging on this lips.

They turned the corner and approached the hospital wing. "Here we go."

Hermione held the door open for them to pass through then helped to get Sophia situation on a bed before they awoke her with bag of smelling salts frequently used during the school quidditch games to awaken players knocked out the bludgers.

"Did I pass out like Terrance?" groaned Sophia as she fluttered awake.

"You did sweetie," answered Hermione apologetically.

Sophia groaned in respond. "Great…I'm going to be the laughing-stalk for the rest of the year now."

"No, you won't. Did you hear the way Terrance was snoring? He sounded like a bull frog being stepped on by a Hippogriff. Way funnier. Everyone is gonna talk about that instead." offered Draco.

Sophia gave a small chuckle and smirked at the thought. "I guess he did look pretty stupid."

"That he did. Plus, as long as your mother doesn't scold me for it, I'll give anyone who taunts you a full month of detention. You just let me know if anyone gives you trouble?"

"Thanks professor. I will."

"Thanks for helping me get her down here Draco," said Hermione with an edge of finality as she began fixing the pillows behind Sophia's head.

Draco was about to correct her and remind her that she was the one who insisted on using the titles of professor and headmaster, but decided to let it go. It had been nice to hear her use his name for once, even if she hadn't realized that she had done so.

"It's was no problem. I'd better get back to class though. There's probably more unconscious students waiting for me," said Draco, giving Sophia a teasing wink.

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I'll be back for your last period to finish my notes. I just want to make sure everything is alright here."

"I'm fine mom," insisted Sophia as she pushed her mother's hand away from her forehead.

"Right. I'll see you in an hour then. " Draco excused himself from the hospital wing as Sophia tried to convince her mother that she was okay and that she was over reacting by making her stay there for the rest of the day.

"Terrance passed out and he's still in class!" It was apparent that Sophia was trying not to whine, as it was inappropriate for her age, but it was still clear through the strain of her voice that she was whining in protest to her mother's worrying.

"Which is fine. Terrance isn't my son, now is he? You're my child and as long as you're at Hogwarts, I decide what's best for you. Besides you only have one more period left today. What does it matter? I know you're doing well in all of your classes."

"I have quidditch tomorrow! You can't keep me here-"

"Fine! Then I'll let you leave by tomorrow, but you're staying here for the rest of the day."

Draco couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he shut the door behind him. They sounded exactly the same when they argued; two stubborn, brown-eyed, bushy-haired Grangers.

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A/N: Wow, I am overwhelmed by the amount of reviews for this story so far. I feel grateful for each and every one. It's such a motivator and so many of you are informative and supportive in your reviews. Thank you so much! My goal is to his 1000. That would be a huge FF milestone for me! Think it's possible?

Your craziest pairings were hilarious! My friends and I had many laughs and received many strange looks from the muggles we converse with.

My favorites (as in most twisted and hilarious) were Dobby/Sorting Hat (Sorting Hat: Put me on your head Dobby. Dobby: But sir, my ears are so long and pointy. Sorting Hat: Mmmm, I know. That's what I like about you. If I can take the sword of Gryffindor then I can surely handle your big, pointy elf ears Dobby. Dobby: If Dobby puts you on, will Dobby receive clothes? Sorting Hat: Clothes are the last thing I'm gonna give you Dobby...) Lmfao and for some reason the sorting hat has this smooth, low, slow-jams voice in my head. Omg, Lmao! FAV

Okay, *whew* the other disturbing pairings were Dumbledore/Socks...o_0 and most disturbing was Hagrid/Hedwig...which is nothing short of traumatizing. *shudders* The feathers...

I'm a little surprised no one mentioned Drapple. But, I supposed Draco eating an apple (Draco doing anything that draws attention to his mouth, really) is incredibly sexy so I understand.

Okay, so I have spring break this week and I want to read a few FFs. I don't read as much anymore because I'm always writing. What is your all time favorite Fanfiction recommendation here on FF? I will accept any Hp pairing, Thor, Hunger Games, Supernatural (No Wincest, please), and (do people still care about this?) Pirates of the Caribbean

Thanks!

See you next chapter!