The morning the Hogwarts Express was due to leave for Christmas break, Draco walked quickly and, as sneakily as possible, down to the greenhouses. He put on earmuffs before entering Greenhouse Three. Spotting the Mandrakes, he quickly walked over and grabbed a leaf off of a depressed looking adult Mandrake. Stuffing it into his mouth, he then left the greenhouse and snuck back up to the school. Removing his ear muffs, he headed to his dorm to check that he was completely packed and then headed down to breakfast.

No other Slytherins in his year were around, either choosing to sleep in on their first morning of the break or already off doing something. He sat in silence and chanced a glance toward Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors at her table. She met his eye and raised her eyebrows, knowing that he had planned to get a Mandrake leaf this morning. He moved his mouth slightly and then looked away.

When he looked back a couple of minutes later, Hermione was smiling as she listened to her friends. She made eye contact once more and smiled a little wider. Hermione then quickly averted her eyes and returned to concentrating on Harry's story.

Later, on the train, Draco chose to sit in a different compartment from the rest of his classmates. He brought a book and tried to read it as the rest of the occupants, mostly older Hufflepuffs, talked and joked.

When the train arrived in London, Draco set his shoulders. He had meant what he said to Hermione, it didn't matter to him if his mother found out about trying to become an animagus. He was a little worried that she would think he was too young and try and get him to wait a little longer. Hopping off the train, Draco spotted his mother, alone and looking positively delighted. What a change from when he left her in September. Smiling at his mother, Draco walked forward into her waiting arms.

After a long hug, Narcissa charmed Draco's trunk invisible and then again to follow them and they headed to the line up to leave platform nine and three quarters. During the wait to leave the station and their subsequent walk to the closest floo, Draco remained silent. Narcissa glanced at her son, several times, wondering why he wasn't speaking to her.

When they reached the floo, Draco realized that he would have to say the words "Malfoy Manor" in order to get home. When his mother handed him the bag of floo powder, he sighed. Walking into the flames he mumbled "Malfoy Manor."

Draco was surprised that he did, in fact, arrive where he meant to be. He quickly turned from the fire, intending to head to his room. Unfortunately, his mother arrived right behind him in the fireplace.

"Wait just a minute, Draco," Narcissa said softly. "I'd like to know what is going on." Draco turned toward his mother and shrugged. Narcissa raised her eyebrows. "I know you officially became a teenager this summer, but I do not remember such behaviour then. Is something the matter?" Her eyes began to fill with tears. "I am worried about you."

Seeing his mother upset because of him broke Draco's heart. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

Narcissa's eyes stopped filling and narrowed. "Why are your words all garbled? I taught you better diction than that. Do you have something in your mouth?"

Draco sighed. Half an hour in his mother's presence and he was already found out. "I do have something in my mouth. It has to stay there." Although he attempted to speak those words, what came out was a garbled mess. He swallowed and moved the Mandrake leaf to the side of his mouth, trying to stash it in his cheek like a chipmunk.

Narcissa bit her lip as she listened to her son. And, as she watched the mound move into one of Draco's cheeks, she laughed. "Did you have to grab such a large leaf, Draco?" Draco's eyes widened and Narcissa shook her head. "Don't worry, I knew someone who tried this as well. He tried it a little later in school than you are." She paused, thinking. "I hope you know what you are doing." Draco nodded and smiled at his mother. "Okay, I won't make you speak a ton this break. Luckily for you, you'll be more than half done by the time you get back to the castle. I suppose you chose to do this after I wrote that your father wouldn't be home?" Draco nodded again and Narcissa sighed. "Here I am thinking, we'll have a great holiday alone and my son just wants to sit in silence."

Draco hung his head and Narcissa laughed. "I'm teasing you, my love. Head up to your room, relax. I want to do some muggle lessons tomorrow if you're up for it." Draco nodded once more and headed off to his rooms.

The rest of the break went by so quickly, Draco was amazed. He and his mother had a lovely time, going on muggle excursions and celebrating the Christmas season. They even decorated their tree themselves, instead of leaving it for the elves to do, as was usual in Lucius' household. Draco tried to speak to his mother, but his words were often too garbled for her to understand. Despite that, Narcissa commented that it was the most wonderful Christmas she'd had in a long, long time. Draco wholeheartedly agreed.

The morning Draco was due to return to school, Narcissa asked how much longer he needed to have the Mandrake leaf in his mouth. Draco garbled through his explanation of a month and the moon cycle and how the leaf had to be fresh before dropping his head and muttering that he had chosen to have it in longer and it would be ready on the full moon. Narcissa laughed and said she was so happy that his little project wouldn't interfere with school too much.

When they arrived together at King's Cross, Narcissa sighed. "I know you are where you need to be and you are learning so much at Hogwarts, however, if I could keep you here with me, the whole year." Narcissa trailed off and Draco looked stricken. Narcissa took one look at his face and immediately corrected herself, "Oh! I don't mean to be with your father or as a protector or anything. I just meant, when he isn't around, I love how happy and carefree you are. This break was such a joy, it will keep me full of happiness for quite some time." Draco smiled sadly at his mother, knowing that his father was due home within the next week.

Narcissa bade Draco farewell and Draco boarded the train. He, once again, sat away from his classmates, this time sitting with a bunch of Slytherin first years. They glanced at him, nervously, throughout the train ride, but Draco did his best to ignore them. He stuck with their group, trying to seem aloof and uncaring about who he was with, for the carriage ride back to the castle. Once there, he headed immediately to the empty classroom that he and Hermione met in. He didn't expect to see her there, but he did want to avoid talking to anyone for the next ten days, if possible, so hiding was his best option.

When he entered the room, Draco was taken aback to see Hermione there. He glanced at his watch, it was automatic now to check the time so that they could plan what time they were able to travel back in time to. Tucking his mandrake leaf into the side of his mouth, he walked over and sat down beside her. "I didn't expect to see you here, I was coming to hide."

With the mandrake leaf in his mouth, his words didn't come out with perfect diction, but Hermione was able to understand. She smiled at him and pushed her mandrake leaf to the side to answer back. "I'm hiding too."

Draco laughed. "You did it too! Did you start at the same time?"

Shaking her head, Hermione glumly explained, "No, I decided to start right after Christmas day."

"What happened?"

"Well, Harry got a Firebolt for Christmas," Hermione explained how she had gone to McGonagall, to tell her about this insane present and how she suspected it might have been from someone intending to do harm to Harry. "Of course, Harry and Ron are livid that I would value their safety over a dumb broomstick and haven't spoken to me since."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Are you kidding? They haven't spoken to you since Christmas?"

Hermione shook her head again and fell silent.

Draco let the silence stretch for a few minutes and then cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sorry that your friends are being so rude, but at least you are able to get away with a mandrake leaf in your mouth, without them being suspicious."

"There are upsides, I guess," Hermione said, bitterly. "Thank you for not mentioning the dumb broom as well. It's like I took away the most precious thing on Earth, according to them."

Laughing, Draco shrugged. "I would love a Firebolt but I would enjoy being alive more. Who do you think sent him the broom?"

Hermione's eyes dropped to the floor. "Sirius Black."

Draco shook his head and sighed. "I asked my mom more about him. She said that he was best friends with James Potter and, while he loved to break the rules, he was, as she put it, a typical Gryffindor. She said he was wickedly smart, very brave, incredibly noble and unquestioningly loyal. According to her, he was the best person. I can tell she misses him a lot." He smiled at Hermione, who still looked rather guilty. "I know I'm not convincing you at all and that, like with this dumb broom, you'd rather be careful than allow someone to get hurt, but I just can't believe he's a bad guy. But, I am not going to argue with you. We'll just see who is right in the end."

"It's going to be me," Hermione said, with a smile. "I love being right."

"I know you do." Draco pulled his pack closer and opened it to get a quill and some parchment. "So now that we both have mandrake leaves, we have to plan when to do the potion. The full moon is soon. Will your mandrake leaf be ready in time?

"Yes. You will have your leaf in an extra couple of days but mine is ready the exact day of the full moon."

Counting forward, Draco wrote down the date of the full moon, for the third week of January. "We have all of the ingredients. Mother took me shopping and just looked away when I bought double of everything we needed. But we still need the tricky elements, the moonlight, and the dew. We're going to have to sneak out that night."

"Wait, your mother knows that I'm doing this too?"

Draco paused and then glanced over at Hermione. "My mother doesn't know about you."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? I thought you had told her everything. And you even did occlumency training with her."

"Remember how I said I have a natural talent with that?" Hermione nodded and Draco continued. "I kept her away from any memories I have of you. You're too important for even my mother to know about. I know that she can defend herself against my father, through a mental assault, but . . ." Draco trailed off. "I just worry that one day, somehow, she could let it slip, even unintentionally. I was proud that I was able to keep you a secret from my mother, it proved that I was really good at occlumency." Draco chanced a glance at Hermione, to see her just as stunned as before. "I want to protect you. From even my mother."

Hermione shook her head. "But there is no reason to protect me from her. I think you're just being paranoid."

Draco laughed. "Isn't there a muggle saying about pots and pans or something? And they're both black?"

Hermione sighed. "The saying is about the pot calling the kettle black. I'm not being paranoid though."

"What about the dumb broomstick and my mother's innocent cousin?"

Pressing her lips together, Hermione pointed at Draco's parchment and attempted to change the subject.

Later, when Hermione was pulling the time turner out and preparing to fling it over both of them, Draco stopped her. "Can we not go back in time? I'm exhausted and I just want to sleep. You also look like you could use some sleep, you've yawned at least ten times. Instead of going back in time, let's just go back to our rooms."

"What if Harry was checking his map and saw us together?"

Draco shrugged. "Isn't he mad at you? Why would he be checking his map?"

Hermione considered this and then agreed. "Fine. Bed, I guess." Tucking the time turner back underneath her robes she smiled at Draco and leaned in for a hug. "Thank you, for everything. Have a good start to term tomorrow."

"You too."

Hermione strode off in one direction and Draco headed the opposite way. He wandered toward his common room and into his room. His classmates were also preparing for bed and a couple of them called out greetings. Draco nodded in their direction and flashed a quick smile, before heading to his bed. Behind the privacy of his curtains, Draco closed his eyes and did his meditations about becoming an animal. He fell asleep thinking about the potion they would need to prepare soon to become animagi.