A/N - Here it finally is. The last chapter before we return to Hogwarts.
Chapter 35: The Last Week
Draco's new raven egg turned out to be quite the attraction in Merlin Park even though Severus didn't allow Draco to take it down to the park to meet the Rakers.
"The egg's much too fragile to take to a Soccer game." Severus explained when Draco frowned at the news. "If you want to show it to your friends, you'll have to ask them to come up and see it here."
They'd made a nice little nest in a box Sarah had found for them and Severus had even explained the warming charm that he kept on the egg to Draco. Unfortunately it was still the summer holidays however and Draco wasn't allowed to try it out.
"I'll teach you when we're back at school." Severus had promised and with a sigh Draco had settled down to just watch the egg and dream of all the things he'd teach his raven once he'd hatched.
The younger Rakers were very excited about Draco's trip to Diagon Alley and Susie soon bugged him into telling them everything he'd done and seen there. Jack sneered and rolled his eyes at it all at first, but he probably realised that Susie and Sammie wouldn't leave it alone until Draco had told his story.
When Draco got to the part about the pet shop the others started to get interested as well.
"A kitten?" Charlie asked at once. "Did you really get one?"
"No," Draco grinned. "The kittens were all too expensive, but we found something cheaper."
"So you did get a new pet?" Beth asked sounding a little surprised. "I thought you've already got a dog?"
"That's Uncle Severus' dog and he isn't allowed to come to Hogwarts. He's too troublesome." Draco explained. "And I wouldn't really want to show up with such an embarrassing pet anyway. I got something much cooler."
"Something cool?" Mike repeated. "Then it can't be a toad and you said the cats were too expensive. Owls are even more expensive than cats, so it can't be an owl either."
"I know, I know! It's a rat right?" Susie asked excitedly. "Dragon bought a rat!"
"You can't know, you weren't there." Sammie hissed at Susie the momentary peace they'd shared while trying to convince Draco to tell his story broken. "It isn't a rat, right Dragon?"
Draco shook his head and laughed at them. "No, its not a rat. Its something much cooler."
"It could be a spider." Mary suggested. "Spiders are cool."
"No, much better than a spider." Draco grinned. This guessing game was fun.
"A snake?" Beth asked eyes gleaming. "Snakes are the best."
"You also need a special permission from the ministry to keep a snake." Mike reminded her. "And getting that probably costs a fortune in bribes."
"And you have to be at least seventeen to get it." Draco added. "Uncle Severus says they're not allowed at Hogwarts anyway, though, so it doesn't matter. And my pet is way better than a snake anyway."
"Maybe it's a dragon." Sammie suggested.
"Sammie," Jack groaned. "Nobody sells dragons in a pet shop. They're much too big to keep at home."
Draco tried to imagine a dragon living in the Snapes' flat and had to fight down his laughter. Sammie would think he was laughing at him and Jack's reaction had probably already hurt him enough. Then he remembered the little dragon Hagrid had hatched in his hut during his first year and the idea didn't seem all that ridiculous anymore.
"No, nothing that fancy. I've got a raven." he announced before anyone could annoy Jack with an even crazier suggestion.
"A raven? Just like your uncle's?" Susie asked excitedly.
Draco had given up explaining that he wasn't really related to the Snapes some time ago since he'd realised that the kids of West Hogsmeade didn't quite get his explanation. Blood relations meant little to a community where step parents were just as, if not more, common as real ones. The Snapes had taken him in and he called them uncle and aunt, so according to his friends' view he obviously was their nephew and there was no convincing them otherwise.
"Well, at the moment he's still just an egg, but someday he's going to be just as big and beautiful as Munin." he explained and was immediately rushed with requests to see the egg.
"I can't bring him out." he tried to fend them off. "He's got to stay inside until he's old enough to fly."
"Oh, come on. Just for a moment. I so want to see a real raven egg." Susie begged.
"No, if you want to see him, you'll have to come up to the flat after lunch and look at him there." Draco declared.
He expected that to be the end of it. Maybe Susie and Sammie would really show up at the Snapes' door to see the egg. Perhaps Beth would join them or Mike might take a look the next time he came over, but he didn't think there would be any more attention to his new raven.
How wrong he was!
They weren't even done with lunch yet when the doorbell rang the first time. Draco hastily swallowed a mouthful of vegetables and hurried to open the door.
Outside stood Mely and Cedric looking very excited. "Uh, we heard that you've got a raven egg." Mely started a little shyly. "Do you think we could um ... take a tiny little peek at it?"
"We've never seen a real raven egg before." Cedric added making puppy eyes at Draco.
So Draco showed them his raven egg, then tried to return to his by then cold lunch, but he'd only just sat back down when the doorbell rang again. This time it turned out to be Larry and Mary with Beth and Larry's little brothers in tow.
"Sorry," Larry grinned a little sheepishly when he noticed that Draco was still eating. "We didn't mean to interrupt your lunch, but the little ones wouldn't stop bothering us about seeing your raven."
"He's just an egg." Draco reminded them as he led them inside to see the nest.
It didn't seem to bother them as they all stared at the raven egg with wide eyes. Draco almost laughed at the thought that they were all acting as if they'd never seen an egg before, but then he had to admit that he spent a lot of time just looking at his egg as well.
When Susie and Charlie arrived only a few minutes later he finally gave up all thoughts of finishing his lunch and he wasn't even surprised anymore when Mike and Cathy showed up as well.
It did surprise him however when Sammie and Matt came accompanied by Jack. Why was he here? He couldn't be interested in Draco's raven, could he?
"It was just too boring down in the park with everybody else gathered up here." Jack explained before roughly shoving Susie and Bobby aside to get through to the raven egg.
Mike shrugged and grinned at Draco probably trying to remind him that 'that's just the way he is.'
Draco just smiled back at him wondering if he should have brought the egg out into the living room instead of leading everybody into the lab. It was getting a little crowded, but luckily no more visitors showed up. The rest of the wannabes probably didn't dare to approach Draco like that and he wouldn't have let any Sharks in anyway. For a moment he wondered what he'd do if any members of other gangs showed up, but he doubted they even knew exactly where he lived.
The weekend passed very quickly and it was already Sunday evening when Beth's sudden declaration that she had to go home early to get some homework done reminded Draco that he had only one week left to write the rest of his essays. So far he'd only finished the Charms homework and made a rather weak start on Transfigurations.
He simply didn't know what to write about animal transfigurations so he'd been pushing the essay away for a while. Now he had to get it done or else he'd never finish the rest of his homework on time. So he went home together with Beth and pulled out his new old Transfigurations book. Unfortunately most of the basics about animal transfigurations had been in his fourth year book and the ones in the new one turned out to be the ones most scribbled on, crumpled up and sticking together thanks to what might have been a spilled potion or maybe just some pumpkin juice.
Draco spent an hour just separating the pages without damaging them too much. To his surprise the notes he found scrawled into the book were either very unflattering remarks about Potter, Black, some guy called something with P or McGonagall or complaints about cruelty towards animals. In several places they suggested using humans instead of beetles, mice or hedgehogs. Draco wondered for a moment what Potter might look like if transfigured into a hairbrush before he reminded himself that Severus had been referring to a different Potter anyway.
All of that didn't help him any with his homework, though and he desperately needed help. Well, there was a teacher right in the next room. Draco gathered up his book and essay and went into the living room.
"Uncle Severus?" he asked. "Could you help me with this? I just don't know what to write."
Severus held out his hand and Draco gave him the meagre beginnings of his essay. He glanced down at the parchment then looked right back at Draco saying nothing for a while.
"Animal transfigurations?" he finally asked with a slightly pained voice.
Draco nodded. "I don't really know much about it. Wasn't really interested and might have drifted off a little during class."
"Well, I definitely wasn't interested and did my best not to hear anything Minerva had to say about it." Severus answered. "I'd most likely get you a failing grade on this essay. Maybe Sarah can help you with it."
So Draco took his problem to Sarah who actually invested two hours into searching her old Transfigurations books for any helpful information and managed to provide him with another inch of meaningless dribble to write, but after that she too had to give up.
"It was just too long ago." she told him. "I work with potions and medicines, not Transfigurations. I might still be able to turn a mouse into a hat, but I have no idea of the theory behind it. I just have no use for that information. Maybe you should ask one of your friends for help. Both Cathy and Mike are good students according to their parents."
Draco thought that over while putting his Transfigurations book and homework away and getting out the History of Magic book Mike had lent him and a new roll of parchment instead. His first impulse was to ask Cathy to get the chance to be alone with her, but he wasn't entirely sure that that would be a very efficient solution. He had a habit of getting distracted when Cathy was around. He could have afforded that two weeks ago, but now he just didn't have the time left to waste. Mike had the additional advantage of being a year older. He had to have already learned all of this, while Cathy was in his own year as far as he knew and would only know the basics.
That decided Draco concentrated fully on his History of Magic homework. For once Binns had managed to assign an essay that wasn't hopelessly boring. He was to write about a wizard, witch or group of wizards and witches that had greatly influenced the history of the magical world.
Somebody who'd caused a big change in history? Voldemort, of course. Even though he was officially dead and defeated nobody could deny that the Voldemort war had changed the life of everybody in the wizarding world and they were still feeling it's consequences.
He started to write about Voldemort's rise and ideology when a new thought occurred to him. Wasn't this what Voldemort wanted? Was calling him an important influence on history not spreading propaganda for him?
His father would want him to do that, no doubt, but wouldn't Uncle Severus be disappointed? Voldemort couldn't be the only important wizard that had ever lived. There had to be more appropriate people he could choose. Yes, Draco decided, it would be better to write about somebody who had changed the wizarding world for the better, a hero of the light.
Suddenly he remembered the lesson when Binns had assigned this homework. Both Gregory and Vincent had immediately decided to write about Voldemort as well, but Pansy had announced that she wanted to do something different and choose an earlier dark wizard. Maybe she'd write about Grindelwald, she'd said and one of their Hufflepuff classmates who'd heard that had wanted to write about Dumbledore who'd brought Grindelwald down and thus saved the world for the side of the light. That had prompted another Hufflepuff to choose Harry Potter, who'd defeated Voldemort and yet another had announced that she'd write about Bartemius Crouch senior, who'd seen to it that all of Voldemort's death eaters went to Azkaban and that the world was once again safe for average wizards and muggles to live in. Crouch, she'd said had been one of the most important fighters on the side of the Ministry during the Voldemort war. Susan Bones had claimed that Cornelius Fudge had influenced history by becoming minister and that that qualified him as well.
Draco immediately pushed aside all the suggestions made by his so called friends. Writing about Grindelwald would be no different from writing about Voldemort, only that he knew less about him and would have to do more research. The Hufflepuff's ideas however were worthy of consideration. Draco wrote them down on a small piece of parchment he'd kept for his notes. They were all true light wizards and as such appropriate to write about, he thought at first.
Upon closer inspection however ...
Harry Potter was the first name Draco crossed out. He was fully qualified of course, but Draco would never write an essay singing the praises of the boy who'd so rudely refused his offer of friendship back in their first year.
The next name to go was Cornelius Fudge. That guy might have managed to become minister, but that didn't mean he'd done anything truly noteworthy. If ordering raids on Merlin Park was the best he could do to fight back against dark wizards, he was not worthy of even a footnote in a history book, Draco decided.
That left Crouch and Dumbledore. And maybe the option of writing about one of the earlier ministers of magic, but Draco couldn't think of any that stuck out enough. There had been good and bad ones of course, but none that he considered truly great and he was by now determined to write about somebody he looked up to, a true hero.
Bartemius Crouch's name was scratched off the list with one quick stroke at that realisation. The guy had cleaned up after Voldemort, yes, but his attempts in the war had been too clumsy to be considered truly important. He was just another politician who'd claimed the glory for the deeds of others. The one who'd truly made a stand against Voldemort had clearly been Dumbledore and not any of the ministry's glorified secretaries.
Dumbledore. That was the last name left on the list, up there for his defeat of Grindelwald, but that was the topic for a Hufflepuff's essay already and she had completely overlooked that the same wizard was just as worthy of recognition for his part in the Voldemort war as he was for his defeat of Grindelwald. Nobody had been more effective in the battle against Voldemort and his army of death eaters than Albus Dumbledore and his circle of spies who'd risked their lives to supply the light side with vital information. Spies like Uncle Severus. Of course the ministry's own unspeakables, people like his Cousin Edmond had done similar things.
Draco grabbed the beginnings of his essay once again. He knew what he had to write. His essay would be unique, politically correct and would give tribute to the ones it was really due.
Rereading what he'd written so far he realised that he didn't even need to throw it away. He could continue right where he'd left off. He quickly finished his outline of Voldemort's ideology and added a very short account of what he'd achieved.
'Voldemort,' he wrote. 'Certainly set out to make great changes in all the wizarding world and even though he did not reach his ultimate goal his legacy is still quite obvious in our world today and will continue to be for a long time. Thus he would certainly meet the topic of this essay, but much has been written about him already. Though Voldemort is an important figure in our history others are just as deserving of our attention.
The first person that comes to mind is of course Harry Potter the cause of Voldemort's fall, but again much has already been written about him. Harry Potter certainly received his due recognition and perhaps even more than that, but there are others whose contribution to Voldemort's fall is often overlooked.
One could argue that the minister of magic or several famous aurors had a great part in this fight. They certainly made great and honourable efforts, some more successful than others, but all worthy of recognition for the good intentions and effort behind them at the very least.
What is often overlooked however is that Harry Potter might never have been born to defeat the dark lord, if his parents hadn't learned of Voldemort's intention to have them murdered and gone into hiding. That warning, like many other similar ones at that time, came from Professor Albus Dumbledore, one of the, if not the most powerful defender of the light against Voldemort.
Dumbledore too has received some recognition for his efforts and Harry Potter was not the only one he saved, but what of the people who gave him that information?
Dumbledore could only be the one who passed on the warning. He had no way of obtaining the information by his powers as they were much too well known and feared by Voldemort and his death eaters. Who were the people who risked their lives to inform Dumbledore or the ministry of Voldemort's plans? Who snuck into the death eaters' well guarded headquarters to steal or copy their death lists and plans making all the warnings Dumbledore passed out, all the actions of the aurors possible?
Their names aren't even known to the general public. It is unknown whether even the ministry was ever informed of the name of the witch or wizard who gave the the warning that made it possible for Harry Potter to be born. Maybe we will never know who discovered the death eaters' plans for the attack on the Leaky Cauldron which aurors like Alastor Moody so gloriously defended, but had that person not sent that warning all the aurors' bravery would not have stopped the death eaters that day.
The information obtained by the unnamed spies of both the ministry and Dumbledore was vital for the survival of the entire wizarding and the muggle world for without it Voldemort would have won. There is no telling where Voldemort would have stopped the killing, if he had won or if he would have stopped at all, but it is safe to say that all muggle borns and all wizards and muggles who stood up to defend them would have died.
The spies of the light side during the war changed history and we do not even know their names.'
Draco sat back to stare at his finished essay. It had taken him only a little over an hour from the time he'd pulled out a piece of parchment not knowing what to write to the moment he finished an essay that even slightly exceeded the length requirements. And for once he was perfectly satisfied with what he'd written. This essay was unique. He only hoped that Binns would appreciate it.
"Are you still up?" Severus asked from the door. Draco hadn't even heard him enter. "You really should be going to bed. We're going to the market again tomorrow."
"I just want to reread my History of Magic essay once more then I'll sleep right away." Draco promised.
"History of Magic?" Severus came over to stand beside Draco. "I thought you were still working on your Transfigurations homework and now you've finished History?"
"Aunt Sarah tried to help me with Transfigurations, but we didn't really get anywhere and I decided to ask Mike to help me tomorrow and start on History of Magic instead. Somehow I managed to finish it in one go." Draco held up his parchment. "I think it even turned out pretty good. Do you want to see?"
Severus took the essay and started to read. He shot Draco a quick glance. "Voldemort." he said with a slight sigh.
"No, not Voldemort. Just setting the scene." Draco corrected.
Severus read on. "Potter?"
"I couldn't avoid mentioning him along with Voldemort and the rest, but it's not about him. Nor is it about the ministry or the aurors or even Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore would really deserve it, you know." Severus remarked.
"I know, but so do enough others as well. Somebody is sure to write about him. I chose to write about people who everybody else will definitely forget."
Severus read the rest of the essay then looked back to Draco. "Spies have to stay unknown to all except the people they work for. That's the only thing that keeps us alive."
"So? I didn't mention any names. This is just a little anonymous recognition."
"You'd better not show this to your friends at Hogwarts." Severus warned him. "They might start to suspect you."
Draco hadn't thought of that. Vincent and Gregory had definitely been raised to become death eaters just like he had and Pansy's family was no better either. He still didn't know about Blaise, but he'd never trusted that boy anyway. Now he began to wonder about the others as well.
What about Millicent, for example? She was pretty close with Pansy even though her grandfather was an auror. Draco didn't think that her parents were death eaters, but could he be entirely sure? Just because his father had never mentioned them as supporters of Voldemort didn't have to mean they weren't.
What of the kids in other years? He knew some of them to be from death eater families, but hardly anything about the others. Slytherin had produced as many aurors as it had dark wizards and just how many had become spies like Uncle Severus? Slytherins had a perfect position to start from as dark wizards tended to trust in the prejudice that all Slytherins had a tendency towards the dark. The Slytherin aurors were simply overlooked.
Until now Draco had always made his allegiance known openly, but now he began to realise that that was probably not the wisest thing to do. Making friends with those in his house that didn't support Voldemort would probably be impossible by now.
The market seemed even busier than usual the next day and Draco wondered whether that was due to the approaching end of the holidays or the fact that the weather had gotten a little colder already and the people were no longer bothered by the heat as much. Or maybe it was all just Draco's imagination?
He and Mike went to buy fruits and vegetables again and tried to spot some of their friends in the crowd. They watched Charlie and her ballet class dance one last time and then Draco managed to drag Mike off to a last visit to the muggle shop. With a touch of surprise Draco realised that he'd miss all the noise and excitement of market day. Would he get to come back and shop here the next summer? Somehow he doubted that whoever took him in would do their shopping themselves.
Mike rolled his eyes at his request for help with his Transfigurations essay, but he did come over that evening to help.
Draco showed his friend what he'd written so far. "Think you can help me make something of that?"
Mike read the essay over twice ignoring Draco completely for a while then finally pushed it aside with a little shake of his head. "That's five inches of nothing, Dragon. It'll be easier to just start over and write a real essay."
And he wouldn't be satisfied with a halfway decent essay either. Draco had to use quotes from both his and Mike's book and add details about all the exceptions to the rules he wrote down before Mike was satisfied.
"McGonagall will never believe that I wrote this." he groaned after he reread the finished essay. "This looks like one of Granger's essays."
"You can always tell her that you were so bored during the holidays that you spent a whole week working on your Transfigurations homework." Mike grinned.
"She knows I didn't even remember the assignment until Uncle Severus asked her last week. She'll probably think he did it for me."
"Oh, I doubt that very much." Severus laughed. "She remembers my own Transfigurations homeworks too well. She'd never believe that I could write anything like that."
"Tell her to ask you questions about what you've written, then." Mike advised. "She'll have to accept that you wrote this if she sees that you know all that you've written about."
Draco wasn't so sure about that, but at least he finally had a Transfigurations homework to hand in. That left Astronomy, Herbology, Ancient Runes and Potions. After a little consideration he decided to do the runes translation next. It didn't require any searching for material or much creativity and would therefore go fastest. Astronomy would take a lot more time as it included drawing a star chart and he just didn't feel like doing Herbology.
Luckily Draco wasn't the only gang member who still had some last minute homework to do and the Rakers' meetings were shorter than usual during that last week and usually at least one gang member was missing.
He managed to finish Ancient Runes on Tuesday evening and got a good head start on the star chart and accompanying essay, but didn't feel like drawing at all on Wednesday. So he just finished the essay and started to search for material for Herbology.
And it turned out that there was a lot of material to be found in the Snapes' book collection. Most of the Herbology books he found had something to do with Potions of course, but that wasn't a problem. He'd just concentrate on plants that were used in potions as Professor Sprout hadn't specified any particular species. She'd only said to write about the special needs of magical plants that required a tropical climate.
On Wednesday he finally finished the Astronomy chart, but didn't get any Herbology done at all. Still things were looking up. He still had three days left and only two homework assignments to go and Uncle Severus had promised him an unofficial extension, if he couldn't get Potions done in time.
Thursday was filled with frantic preparations for the start of school at West Hogsmeade and most of Draco's friends were busy and in a bad mood. Susie danced around more than ever happy and excited over starting at her new school while Jack was in such a black mood that even Mike didn't want to go near him.
Mike was also the only one who was behaving normally so Draco decided to follow him home and help him pack his bookbag for the first day of school.
"Do you really think you'll need all your books on the very first day?" he asked when he saw how full Mike was stuffing his bag. "You can't have every subject tomorrow."
"But I don't know which ones I'll have and it'll please the teachers. Anyway I can leave the ones I won't need at home over the weekend in my locker already." Mike explained.
"Your what?" Draco asked completely confused.
"My locker." Mike repeated. "You know that little cupboard in school where you keep your things in?"
"You've got your own cupboard in school?" Draco asked incredulously.
"It's really small, of course, but I can always put a spell on it to make more room, if I have to. Don't you have lockers at Hogwarts?"
"No, just our trunks, which we bring with us from home. Does everybody have their own locker at your school?"
"Well, first years are usually assigned lockers until they run out. The rest either have to wait for the next year or convince a fellow student to share until they get their own."
"Isn't that a little unfair? How do they pick the ones that get the lockers?"
"By alphabet. They think using the alphabet is always fair, because it isn't playing favourites. Of course, if you have a name like Snape, that's really bad luck." Mike grinned. "But that's just the way life is."
"Poor Billy."
"Ah, I'm sure Billy will go to Hogwarts anyway, so he won't need a locker at West Hogsmeade." Mike tried to cheer Draco up again.
"No, he won't. Uncle Severus said they couldn't afford Hogwarts for Billy and that he'll go to West Hogsmeade with all his friends."
"They're paying the school money for you this year, though." Mike pointed out.
"Well, I guess my family will pay that back later and it's only one year. Billy would need them to pay for seven years."
"But by then Aunt Sarah will be working again, so they'll have more money and there's always Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore? What's he got to do with it all?"
"Well, he's your headmaster, right?"
Draco nodded still wondering where this was going.
"And he's Uncle Severus' friend." Mike continued as if that was a fact everybody knew. "He even was his best man at the wedding."
Draco gaped back at Mike for a moment. "Dumbledore? Best man? But ... But Aunt Sarah hates him. She's always going on about how he's using Uncle Severus and getting him involved in things that don't concern us and ..."
"Yeah, well, she hates the dog, too, doesn't she?" Mike shrugged it off.
"No, she doesn't. She only just complains about him all the time but ... Oh." he finished lamely. He should have learned by now not to judge Sarah's feelings by the things she said.
Friday morning Draco watched his friends walk off to school in their beautiful green uniforms from the lab's window and almost wished he could join them. It would be a boring day without them.
Then again he had to finish his Herbology essay and do his Potions homework and he finally had time to spend with Billy again. After all he'd have to say good bye to the baby on Sunday.
He smiled at the sight of Susie hopping excitedly around a very annoyed looking Sammie and Charlie trying to get her to hold still to straighten her robe.
Mely and Beth were a little ahead of them with Mary and Larry and his brothers, the little ones all wearing grey robes and yellow hats, which seemed to be the uniform of their primary school.
Draco waited until the park was entirely empty before he went back into the living room and picked up Billy and his Herbology homework. It was a little distracting to have a baby in your lap while writing an essay, but at least it kept him from getting too bored with Herbology even if he could have been done a lot sooner, if he'd just put Billy down to play on his own once he started squirming around and grabbing for the ink pot.
As it was Draco finished just in time to help Sarah cook lunch. After they'd eaten and Draco had put Billy to bed and done the dishes he went in search of material for his potions essay. Sarah and Severus were in the lab working on the werewolf cure again when Draco came in and started digging through the Potions books.
"What are you up to?" Sarah asked him looking up from one of those odd Chemistry tools she often used instead of her Potions equipment.
"Researching for my Potions homework." Draco answered putting one of the books back onto its shelf. This one was still too complicated for him, but it didn't matter. He'd already found three others that would do just fine. It was hard to believe how hard it had been for him to use any of the Snapes' Potions books when he'd first arrived. Now some of them felt like old friends to him and he almost resented the thought of being stuck with only the school book in Potions class when he returned to Hogwarts.
"What about your other assignments?" Severus asked sternly, but didn't look up from his cauldron.
"All done." Draco reported happily as he snatched one more book off the shelf. He couldn't possibly do his homework without this one. After all it was the first one he'd learned to use. He picked up the five books he'd chosen and was about to take them back into the living room when Severus finally looked up.
"Any one of those books will do fine, Draco." he remarked. "You don't have to read all of them for a simple school essay."
"I want to." Draco told him with a grin. "I want to give you the best homework essay you'll get this year and beating Granger takes extreme measures."
"Hermione Granger is very unlikely to have any of these books available, you know." Severus commented. "Even though I admit that she'd probably make use of them if she did."
"Well, I have them right here, so I'll just do that." Draco smirked and left.
"He's still a little extreme about his studying, you know." Sarah remarked once the door had closed behind him.
"Somehow I don't mind that as much when it's directed towards Potions. Maybe his example will inspire the rest of his class at least a little."
"Didn't you say that Granger girl was very hard working as well? If she doesn't inspire them, why should our boy?" Sarah reminded him.
"They think Hermione Granger is just unusually talented." Severus explained. "She's top of almost every class and everyone knows it, while only very few students have noticed just how good Draco is. They consider him average, so if he can do it, they'll know they can too."
"He seems not to be very good at Transfigurations." Sarah observed.
"Yes, and that's probably what makes him appear more human than Hermione to the other children." Severus confirmed. "And he's better at Transfigurations than I was, so there's no need to worry. If I made it, so will he."
"If he showed a little more interest, he'd probably do fine."
"It's a Gryffindor subject. The Gryffindor subject, actually." Severus shrugged. "Few Slytherins do well at it and none of us like it."
"Like Divination?" The way Sarah said it it wasn't quite clear if it was a question or a statement, but Severus supposed the first.
"The future isn't for us to know and the results are highly unreliable anyway. Logical deduction will lead you to as good a prediction as magic, so why bother?" Again he shrugged. Slytherins liked hard facts to build their plans on. That was why Arithmancy and Ancient Runes just suited them better than Divination. "Transfiguration's a different matter for most. They might actually like it, if they had a different teacher, but they just don't get along with Minerva and that dislike transfers to her subject. Things won't change until we get a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff to teach Transfigurations."
"Is that likely?"
"Not anytime soon." Severus answered. "Did you take the fly wings? I'm sure I left them right here on the desk."
"I think I put them back on the shelf along with the beetle eyes. What do you need them for anyway?"
Draco had originally planned to spend all of Saturday saying good bye to his friends, but most of the day was taken up by packing. It wasn't only his own trunk that needed to be prepared, after all. Severus was moving back to Hogwarts again as well and carefully packing away all the potions ingredients and books he wanted to take took a lot of time. And then there was Sarah who didn't want to be left without brewing supplies.
It took several minor arguments before they finally agreed on which ingredients Severus would take and which were to be left at home for Sarah's use.
In the end they had Draco's trunk, two large bags, one containing only potions supplies, the other Severus' personal belongings and Draco's backpack. 'That Dog' raced around and over the luggage excitedly, while the cat had given the commotion one condescending look and stalked away to sulk on the windowsill in the bedroom. The only reason he hadn't just left the flat was probably the rain that had been falling all day. The noise of packing humans was bad, but getting wet was worse. The living room was where the bags and trunk stood and 'That Dog's' barking was loudest, in the lab Sarah and Severus had their arguments and Draco was moving out and packing up all his belongings. Even the bathroom door stood open most of the time with people going in and out.
"Did I already pack my hairbrush, Sarah?"
"How would I know? Just look if it's still in the bathroom cupboard."
Clang! The bathroom door had just slammed shut again.
The bedroom occasionally got invaded as well, but at least there was some room to avoid the humans in here and they didn't shout as much as they did in the lab. They just opened and closed cupboards and dug out clothes. Stupid humans! The cat rolled up tightly and decided to pretend he didn't hear them. Instead he stared out the window at the rain. Stupid water! Behind him 'That Dog' raced once through the room barking out his joy at all the commotion. Stupid dog! No self respecting cat should live in a place like this. But life on the streets had been bad, he remembered and he'd have to leave his witch. And they weren't always as noisy as this.
Sunday morning Draco dressed in his Hogwarts uniform, went through his usual hugging ritual and after a quick breakfast put on his shoes and grabbed his trunk. "Come on, Uncle Severus, or do you want to miss the train?"
"Draco?"
"Yes, Uncle Severus?"
"There is no train from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. We'll just walk and we've only got to be there before the sorting. We'll leave after lunch."
"Oh." So Draco took off his shoes again and went to play with Billy, then helped cook lunch one last time and even found time to do the dishes before Severus decided it was time to go.
Once again he quickly put on his shoes and grabbed his trunk. Severus looked him up and down critically.
"Draco?"
"Yes, Uncle Severus?"
"Didn't you forget something?"
Draco looked down at himself. He was wearing his school uniform and shoes. His school things and spare clothes were in his trunk along with the Math book. He'd done all his homework and put it in the trunk as well. Cuddly, the teddy, and the light rain cloak they'd bought at Diagon Alley were in his backpack, which was on his back and Severus had taken the 'nest box' with his raven egg claiming that it was safer if he carried it while they were dragging all their luggage along.
"What?" he asked Severus feeing a little irritated at the laughter in his uncle's eyes.
"You can't wear your Rakers cap to Hogwarts, Draco."
Draco grabbed for his head and indeed he'd put on his cap out of pure habit. He tore it off and raced back into the lab where his forgotten wizard's hat sat next to the couch that had been his bed for two months. Sarah had already removed the bedding this morning and the room seemed strangely empty without it.
He grabbed the hat and put it on, but then stared down at his cap unhappily. He'd only be able to wear it on weekends from now on. It wasn't easy to put away the Rakers' gift and symbol of his belonging at Merlin Park, but he had to do it. After a moment's hesitation he decided to put the cap into Cuddly's soft, loving paws. The teddy would watch over it whenever he couldn't wear it.
A/N: How would the Slytherins react, if they find out about Draco's History of Magic essay? Will they find out? And what will Draco name his raven?
In the next chapter: We come back to Hogwarts, Draco meets his friends and finds out what happened to his Hogwarts letter.