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One Step at a Time
There's About to be a Bathroom War
The last two days of winter break flew by at the Burrow. Thanks to Hermione's insistence throughout the two weeks they all had very little homework that needed to be done, so they could actually enjoy most of it.
They filled the days with sledding, a snowball fight rematch (Draco, Harry and Ginny vs Ron and Hermione, of which the two strategists won after a few hours long battle), and playing games in the comfort of the fireplace.
They had a good laugh over a story in the entertainment section of the Prophet of witness accounts of what happened with their run-in with the Harry Potter Fan Club Tour group, and the sudden activity at the Shrieking Shack that had many wondering if the spirits had come back.
And now, after tight hugs from Mrs. Weasley and tearful good bye pets to Butterscotch, they were back at Hogwarts after an uneventful train ride, other than the fact they'd had the opportunity to meet up with Pansy, who had alternated between swatting Blaise and Draco and hugging them so tightly they actually turned light shades of purple.
It felt almost surreal returning to the mundane routine of school after all that had happened over the holidays. It was going to be somewhat difficult, they knew, to concentrate on history and charms when a prophecy was hanging over their heads.
Breaking apart for dinner was the hardest. Hogwarts rules still dictated that students were to sit with their own houses for the final meal of the day (breakfast and lunch were much more casual) so the Gryffindors watched with some trepidation as the trio of Slytherins made their way quite literally to a den of snakes.
Fortunately being under the watchful eye of the head table, no one tried anything and the three were able to eat in relative peace at the far end away from any other students. It seemed that none of their fellow Slytherins were privy to anything that had happened over break (although Nott seemed to be glaring at Draco the entire meal, but that wasn't entirely unexpected) and the status quo of the cold shoulder seemed to continue. They were fine with that; better to be ignored than to be a target.
While they were eating and Blaise was reaching for the roll basket, a small rolled piece of parchment appeared right next to his hand. He pulled it from the basket, figuring it had to have been something the house elves had accidentally stuck in when they refilled it and opened it, expecting it to be some recipe or note.
It was actually for the three of them. In Professor Dumbledore's elegant cursive was a request for them to meet with him and Professor Snape at the suit of armor that served as the entranceway to the room Blaise and Pansy had used during the Parenting Class. It looked like they found their new quarters for the rest of the year.
They met the two professors just after dinner ended and were given a password of "open poppy seed," that would open the armor. The entrance would be not only password but voice activated, to prevent anyone from being in there that should not. In addition to themselves they were allowed to authorize two other people to enter into their quarters. After a quick discussion, they decided on Hermione and Neville and the armor was coded accordingly.
Before the eight o'clock hour rolled around they were all moved into their new quarters; Blaise and Pansy taking their original rooms and Draco getting Neville's old quarters. He'd been in the room several times during the course of Parenting Class, and as much as he loved the quirkiness of his former quarters, he was grateful for the more somber tones of browns and greens.
"This isn't so bad," Blaise said once they were all gathered together in their common room. "And we're much closer to all of our classes now too."
"Ground rules though," Pansy said. "Namely you, Draco."
"Me?"
"Bathroom usage," she said pointedly.
Draco raised an eyebrow.
"No more than half an hour in the mornings," she said.
"But that's how long it takes for my conditioner to set!"
"Then you need new conditioner," she countered. "I've heard stories from Blaise and the other boys from Slytherin and several from Hermione. It doesn't matter that we're in a magical castle; hot water still has limits. And I will not be happy if I end up having to take a lukewarm shower. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Draco said with a salute.
"That's right," Pansy nodded. "Also, you only get half of the bathroom counter, Draco. I get the other half."
"What about me?" Blaise interjected.
"Mate, you have a toothbrush," Draco said.
"And one bottle each of shampoo and conditioner," Pansy added. "Anything else you've acquired since we were here?"
"No…"
"Then no counter space for you," she said.
"Any more rules?" Draco asked, stretching out on the couch.
"We check in with each other every night," Pansy said. "And if you're going to be later than ten, say for Prefect duty, then let everyone know. I hate to say it, but we know there are some individuals in Hogwarts that don't have the best intentions."
"Stay away from Nott," Draco ordered. "We've all seen what he's capable of." Everyone thought back to the few run-ins with him in the late fall that had ended with duels, illegal spells, memory charms and Pansy being assaulted
"I'll be so glad when he's gone next year," Pansy said, rubbing her arms at the sudden goose bumps that had broken out.
"We won't let him near you," Blaise assured, draping an arm about her shoulders and giving her a side hug. "Promise."
"And if he tries anything, anything, Pans, you tell us or a professor right away," Draco said.
"You two," Pansy said, with a watery smile. "Of course."
After a moment of silence, Pansy spoke again. "One final house rule. Again, at you Draco."
"I feel like I'm being picked on."
"Now that you and Hermione are together… well, you two can do whatever you'd like, but if you wake up me you will regret it. And no hanky-panky on the common room couch."
Draco actually turned a light shade of pink. "Hey!"
"Just saying," Pansy said, spreading her hands as Blaise snickered.
"You guys know it's not like that," Draco said, although his blush had deepened.
"Not now it's not," Pansy countered. "Who knows, maybe now that you've got your own little place away from the eyes of adults…"
Draco just groaned into his hands.
"In fact, maybe we should have the talk," Blaise smirked. "You know, just in case."
"I can even give you a few pointers from the womanly side of things," Pansy said with an impish grin.
"Gah!"
The blond now resembling a tomato fled from the common room and into his own before Pansy could continue, the sound of the bedroom latch locking rather firmly behind him.
The two dark haired students caught each other's eyes before they burst into laughter.
Hey, they were still Slytherins after all.
xxx
The End
Author's Notes:
I'd like to thank you all so much for your support of One Step at a Time. A special big thanks to those of you who have been here since the beginning and patiently (or not so patiently xD) waited for me to come back to this fic. I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have! I'll be moving on to some other projects now; concentrating on my Voltron fic and maybe even some Fairy Tail or a good Avatar: The Last Airbender and… oh. Wait. What? You mean the story isn't over? But we hit chapter thirty-eight, which is when Parenting Class finished and that right there is quite a milestone! You mean I promised over sixty chapters? Huh. I guess that would explain why I feel like there a still a few loose ends here. I'll carry on then, I suppose. See the actual end of chapter thirty-eight for the real author's notes!
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Things settled into a rather monotonous but welcome tone for the next couple weeks. After all the excitement it was nice to go back to just learning and homework.
Harry was true to his word and every Tuesday he and Ginny would sneak away for a "date night," somewhere in the castle. Ginny's favorites were when Harry would get the room of requirement set up to resemble a little log cabin, complete with dinner provided by an always eager Dobby.
They would study, talk about each other's day or week, depending on what had happened, snog, eat dinner an dessert, snog some more and then cuddle on the couch in front of the fireplace. They'd also make an effort to meet up during downtime between classes a few times a week to just walk around or grab a quick snack from the kitchens. Harry really wasn't sure how he survived without the knowledge of the kitchens before.
Being that Ginny was a fifth year, she had the joy of being stressed out about her impending O.W.L.S. while the rest of them remained much more calm since sixth year didn't have any exams. Blaise had shown himself to be a surprisingly adept tutor at helping Ginny prep for the exams (as Hermione's color-coded notes just "weren't doing it, sorry, Mione.") and Hermione decided that he would be a great addition to her tutor program she was working on arranging.
Blaise and Harry had weekly sessions with Snape under the guise of their assigned potions classes. Harry felt pretty confident that he could block anything at this point, but Snape advised that practice was the only way to keep up the skill.
He had started having Harry take a sleeping draught and then trying to access his mind and memories while he was more vulnerable. Harry had provided surprisingly adept though at waking himself up at the intrusions and then working his way to remove the influence and so far had only fallen for one once, when he convinced himself that he forgot to complete a major assignment for Transfiguration and McGonagall had told him the only way to make it up was to make her a new tea set.
Otherwise it was just constant practice he needed to keep himself sharp. Snape was of the opinion that Voldemort would not try such a tactic again given in so short a time frame, but it was always better to be vigilant. It would certainly help, he thought, if Voldemort could clue him in on things just a little more, but at the moment he was just being used for his ears and in Voldemort's mind that meant he did not need to know anything.
He had, however, received a summons from Voldemort individually, and after sending a brief message to Dumbledore in case something went horribly wrong, Snape had answered.
Fortunately for himself, he was not being summoned to be punished for treason. No, Voldemort had finally decided to fill Snape in on some of the more recent happenings and had the gall to ask him if Draco was acting differently around school.
During the entire conversation Snape could feel Voldemort poking at his mind (he may be powerful, but he had not quite grasped subtlety) and Snape had graciously shown him scenes that he wanted to find.
Snape had reported as truthfully as he could regarding Draco: that he and his friend had been moved to a separate living quarters that not even he could access, and he seemed to be behaving normally. He did look a little more wary, but given the story Voldemort had told him, he could see why.
Voldemort had pressed for more information: did Draco seem to be meeting with Dumbledore or other professors to confide in? Did he act like he knew something?
Nothing at all, Snape assured him. He'd even taken the initiative to scan the boy's mind and the largest thought was a fear of the other Slytherins attacking him and his friends, or his father managing to gain access to him. Voldemort seemed pleased at that and told Snape to continue reading Draco's thoughts when possible and report back anything that was suspicious.
Unfortunately, Voldemort did not reveal any type of plan that Snape could relay back to the Order. He was starting to feel like a rather useless spy, as there was nothing new. He'd tried offering his expertise to uncovering the prophecy, as he did have a penchant for riddles, but he had been denied due to his close proximity to Dumbledore. The only useful thing he managed to get was that Lucius, Bellatrix and that rat Wormtail had been assigned to find the meaning as they had successfully done so previously. That did give him some hope though; as if the Order was as stumped as they were he doubted those three would have any brilliant insights. At least, he hoped so.
The Order was working to figure out the prophecy. Miss Granger may be a brilliant mind, but it was unfair and unwise to put this burden on her shoulders alone.
So far they had had little luck though. All they'd really been able to figure out though was the obvious: the speaker was likely Draco as he told the chess pieces were roles that various members of each side would play, but the question was who went to which role. Most of the Order had already cast Harry as the knight, but Snape was hesitant to jump to such a conclusion because of what Harry had previously done in his life. It was a possibility, of course, but then who would be considered the king, the most important piece in the chess game? After all, the king was to be protected at all costs in chess, yet the prophecy said it was the sacrifice of the king that would save lives. You sacrificed pawns and sometimes bishops, knights and rooks, but never the king.
And assuming the word sacrifice was literal, would someone have to die? Snape was well aware of the finished prophecy that he had fatefully overheard and he had the cold sense of foreboding that Harry was slated to be the king who sacrificed himself. After all, one cannot live without the other, according to the first prophecy, so it would make sense that to kill Voldemort that Harry would have to die as well. When Snape had suggested as such he'd been met with rebuke as many refused to believe that Harry needed to die. But Snape had seen the resigned understanding in Lupin's face and he knew the werewolf at least gave his theory credence.
Even with that to go on, it was completely unclear how the king, whoever he or she was, was supposed to sacrifice themselves (or hopefully sacrifice something other than their life) to stop Voldemort. Snape was more concerned with that part of the prophecy than trying to attribute which role to which person. What did it matter? A war was bound to happen and did it really mean anything if someone was fated to fight another?
There had to be a deeper meaning to the prophecy, something hidden within the words. He'd tried breaking up the verses by line and word and juxtaposing them in different arrangements to see if a certain word in a spot reflected something. So far he had not yet located anything that many any sort of sense or seemed like it could hold any meaning. He hadn't had as much time as he would like either to look over it, as he still did have a responsibility to Hogwarts and its students, which meant mass amounts of grading and classroom preparations.
Still though, he was doing what he could to assist. Miss Granger had been very surprised when he'd discreetly slipped his notes, charmed for her eyes only, into her latest potions essay and she had later thanked him just as discreetly with a small note slipped into her homework assignment.
Truthfully, it seemed as though most of the Order had pushed the prophecy to the back burner, so to speak. Seeing as nothing had yet come to pass and the danger from obtaining it had all but faded, they were focused on more present matters, like the small attacks the Death Eaters seemed to be doing almost at random. Snape hadn't been able to glean any information from Voldemort about the attacks either, but he personally thought that it was the Death Eaters striking back at the mockery that had been made of their Dark Mark above Diagon Alley. There had already been six deaths - five muggles and one witch - reported with the mark floating above, not to mention the property damage, since Christmas.
It sickened Snape to know that he had once been so eager to please and be accepted that he would have stooped to the killings and likely torturing that was happening. It made him ever the more grateful that Draco had stopped trying to follow in his father's footsteps and for the seemingly hundredth time Snape offered up silent thanks to the ingenious idea that was Parenting Class. Even if it had resulted in him dancing in a ballerina tutu on the Head table.
His godson still was not entirely able to move on from that past life though, made all the more worse by his abduction and torture at the hands of his father. Most probably would not notice, although he was certain Miss Granger could and he was infinitely thankful that Draco had someone like her by his side, but he was on constant edge. Even when he was seemingly relaxed, Snape could see it in the way his hands constantly flicked to his wand or a sudden noise would have him stiffening in his chair.
He had tried to broach the topic, but Draco had both surprisingly and unsurprisingly shut it down before it could even start.
Draco had confided some in Hermione though. Not all, but she was in incredibly good listener and never judged him or offered pity; just understanding. Like when he mentioned that he could no longer drink out of the goblets provided at dinner because they had the same taste as the one Pettigrew had forced on him, she had requested Dobby bring Draco a disguised goblet that was made out of glass instead and did not have the faint hint of metal.
Or when he'd confessed that he couldn't look at himself in the mirror anymore as he always saw Lucius' eyes glaring back at him and it summoned the stabbing pain of when his father had twisted the dagger. Hermione had then proceeded to tell him what she loved about his eyes and that she would stare into them enough for both of them. Besides, she'd teased, he did spend an unhealthy amount of time gazing at himself in the mirror anyway, which had led to a tickle fight until they were both gasping with laughter and Draco couldn't even feel the tingle of fear that crept up so easily now.
They all tried to keep each other busy enough that there was no time to dwell on such thoughts anyway. Hermione noticed that the Parenting Class and the 24/7 hands-on that it required for the most part helped him from falling into the depressive state that she'd seen rear its head at times during the summer following Sirius' death, and thought that if they could all just be engaged there wouldn't be time for fear. Her tutoring plans were keeping her busy (to her sadness not everyone shared her passion for it, although she had gotten a 'yes' from Blaise that he would help out), but she was not the one that needed to be kept busy.
So despite the fact that it was still winter and thus cold out, they had gone out to the Quidditch pitch a few times to play a game with their group. Hermione had even participated in one, but otherwise kept watch from the ground. Pansy was a rather adept Chaser and they could even get Dean and Seamus to play with them when they were free. Neville joined Hermione though and said it was remarkable they got her up in the air, but if they didn't want to be going to the Hospital Wing every game he'd remain earthbound.
There were also plenty of snowball fights (which would only at most last the afternoon) that sometimes turned into giant wars as other students joined in. All of Hogwarts houses were represented when that happened, except for Slytherin (other than Draco, Blaise and Pansy). It seemed that no one wanted to (or was allowed, perhaps, Hermione thought) to join in an inter-house unity project. She had seen some younger years pass by during their games, and once a small brunette had even formed a snowball before her friend knocked it away. Now that she knew about how Slytherin was run with their court, she believed that the upper class Purebloods were the ones who told the younger students that they could not talk to or befriend the other houses (although she did see the occasional Ravenclaw and Slytherin friend) and then it just carried on up over the years.
Otherwise they kept each other entertained with homework and classes, chess and gobstones matches, of which Blaise and Ron had created a competition between the two of themselves and it was rather amusing to watch them both go at it so intensely each time (for the record Ron was in the lead by one game).
Even though all the sixth years had some spare time since Parenting Class was over, the other classes seemed to have more than made up for it.
Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed to have finally found a nice, normal person in Professor Skura, so the only thing remotely noteworthy of that class was insane amount of work being put into their research projects from the previous semester. Hermione had been assigned the (much too easy in her opinion) topic of life-saving healing spells, so while she was soaring through the project her friends were having a little more difficulty. Neville had already asked for help again with his judgment spell assignment, as now they had to find moments in history that each of their previously identified spells had been used and the origins of why. Finding lifesaving healing spells was easy, finding Neville's more ancient ones were trickier and would require a good bit of reading.
Harry and Ron had been assigned tracking spells and shield spells, respectively, and were both actually doing well. It helped when the DADA professor actually wasn't trying to kill you or carve lines into your hand and actually had interesting things to teach. Hermione wished Hogwarts had employed him last year rather than Umbridge, as maybe then she would not have been so stressed over her OWLS.
Other classes were just as busy. McGonagall had them continuing to do more advanced transfigurations (like bunnies into sofas and candles into picture frames) and Snape was pouring on them high-level potions. Herbology was a bit quieter, what with the winter, but Sprout kept them occupied with repotting and harvesting seeds and bulbs for future use. Charms was as fun (and slightly dangerous) as always, although the unit they were doing on various singing and musical charms was absolutely hilarious. Who knew Ron could sing opera so well?
Hermione had somehow found time despite the classwork for a quick stop to Leviculus to carefully inquire if the jester was aware of any tales involving knights, kings or bishops that he was personally the creator of. She'd been treated to quite the regaling epic of Sir Cadogan's days as a knight, but otherwise nothing that seemed to suggest a connection to the prophecy. She'd received word from Snape that he too had tried questioning the portrait (complete with a memory charm as it was a bit more odd for him to be conversing with the jester) with no luck either.
As the weeks carried on the danger from the holidays slowly started to sink from their minds as all of the other activities and obligations that people their age should be worried about took precedence.
And that's why what happened next caught them all by surprise.
Deadly surprise.
Author's Notes: Mwahaha, any guesses as to who is getting caught up in the cliffhanger?
And the real author's notes! I wanted to make sure we all took the moment to realize though that OST has hit the chapter length of Parenting Class and surpassed it in word count a while back. Wow! I never thought I'd write something longer that PC, yet here we are! Seriously though, thank you to all who have stuck with me this long. I would never have been inspired to come back and finish this without all of you.
That theme goes along with the Review that Made my Day submitted by Queen of Elba. Your review practically had me in tears (the happy kind). I think we all need something to help us combat stress in our lives, and writing fanfiction is it for me and I think reading it is for many others like yourself. I'm sorry you've been having such a trying time at work (I hope it get better soon!). And I completely agree with yoru assessment on the quality from PC to now. At that time I thought my writing was at its peak (as a 15-year-old high school student you always think you're the best xD) but I love going back and seeing how far I've come, especially from a fic I still am proud of and don't cringe at (and there are a number of those I still have on my profile). Just wanted to say thank you so much for inspiring me and your dedication to the fic. Hope to see you around!
Last note before a few Q&As – I have created a p atreon account ( does not like that word for whatever reason, so delete the space between the 'p; and 'atreon'( p atreon dot com slash icypanther) for my fanfiction. It's sort of a test at this point, but does have the option of seeing chapters in advance, snippets and blurbs, and more goodies. If you are interested please do check it out :)
Question and Answer:
Where do you live? I am United States based in the lovely state of Illinois. I say "Chicagoan" as I am up there, but I am not a true city-dweller. Looking out my window I see cornfields after all :D I've lived in this area my entire life, although right now as we go from 70s one day to 40s and wet the next I still question why I have not upped and moved to my desired dry heat climate of Arizona or New Mexico. Some day, maybe.
What are your other favorite ships (besides Dramione?) Oh goodness, I have so many OTP (some canon and some not). These are a few of my main ones that I particularly seek out either in writing or art: Gajeel x Levy (Fairy Tail), Malcolm x Inara (Firefly), Sanji x Namie (One Piece), Zuko x Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Naruto x Hinata (Naruto) and Roy x Riza (Fullmetal Alchemist). Other favorite Harry Potter ships (of which I've written or enjoy but don't necessarily seek out) include: Harry x Ginny, Dean x Luna, and Blaise x Pansy and Ron x Pansy.
Black Butler? I have seen the first and second season of the anime, but as you stated I didn't care much for season two and lost my interest after it (Grell is my favorite character though too!). I have friends who insist I need to see the Circus arc, so maybe it is in my future :D
And that's all, folks! Please do drop a review below if you enjoyed the chapter, if you have any questions or suggestions, etc. I'd love to hear from you!
Updated: April 30, 2017