"How is it coming?" Harry asked five days later when he ran across the two of them in the Great Hall practicing.
"He has produced a small amount of mist. Not enough to even slow a dementor down." Severus sighed, "I don't know what else to do for him."
"What is your happy memory?" Harry asked Draco.
"When I found out I was going to oppose you as seeker on a better broom." Draco answered.
"That's your problem, the memory isn't strong enough." Harry leaned against the wall, "You need to find something with the element of love. A time when your parents showed how much they loved you or something like that. It doesn't even have to be completely real as long as it generates intense feelings of joy or love. That is the reason really dark wizards can't do it well. Most of them lack the ability to love others enough to power the spell."
Draco looked at the other man in shock for a few moments before he sat on the floor and began to think. It took more time than he'd like to admit before he found a memory that may work. He didn't even get up, he just gathered the memory and pushed. He got a pretty solid shield but not a guardian yet.
"One last thing to try." Harry told him, "Take time with the memory the first time. Let it fill you up and encompass your being. You'll feel the warmth like a hug. Then cast. Once you get it, the next time will be easier and quicker, just practice."
Draco stood, just in case it would help, and let the memory wash over him. When he felt like he was getting a hug he cast the spell and opened his eyes. There for all to see was a white ferret. He let it go and hung his head.
"Don't be embarrassed." Harry patted him on the back, "We always knew you were a ferret."
"It's not big enough to fight off a dementor." Draco hissed, "I'm going to get kissed."
"Size doesn't matter in the matter of patroni." Harry grinned, "Luna's rabbit does just fine. It's all about the positive feelings."
"You are a good teacher." Snape admitted reluctantly.
"I know." He grinned and meandered from the room, "Now you know why we had the highest DA scores for a group."
"Practice." Snape turned to Draco, "I have no idea how much time you have."
A few days later Harry pulled them from Hogwarts, "Most of the year wasn't really dangerous because it was just Sirius trying to get Wormtail. The first dementor on the train I didn't deal with, next time was on a broom."
"Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff." Draco recalled.
"Right, but that's hard to duplicate. I could just take you up a few hundred feet and push you from the broom." Harry grinned, "But what's the point, I'd just have to save you."
"What's going to happen then?" he asked.
"We're jumping to the end of the year excitement." Harry grinned, "First run from a werewolf and then chase off over one hundred dementors."
"I'm dead." Draco mumbled with a shudder, "Or a werewolf."
"You get to the back side of the lake before the werewolf gets you, you're free of him." Harry explained, "At the lake you'll face the dementors."
"Be quick Draco." Severus pulled him into a hug.
"I won't let him get me." Draco assured the man before he turned to look at Harry, noticing the sun was down.
"Go." Harry told him and they watched Draco take off running.
"Will you stop Greyback from getting him?" Severus asked worriedly.
"Tonight, isn't a full moon." Harry grinned, "Greyback is about an hour north of here."
"Thank you." Severus shook his head; he couldn't believe he didn't realize that on his own.
"Are you coming to see him face a dementor?" Harry asked as he climbed on his broom.
"Just one?" Severus sighed.
"Maybe two, but he won't draw them all." Harry shook his head, "Not enough bad memories, I was like candy to them. They don't feed off the good memories, they feed off the depression you feel when you have none left. Souls are their greatest delicacy because they'll continually feed them the negative emotions, they know where they are. He'll feel the way they drain you, but won't lose his soul tonight."
Harry flew off before Severus could say anything else. He had to get to the lake to make sure Draco survived. He wanted to see him face off with the dragon, merpeople and the maze. He skimmed the tree tops and found Draco nearing the lake. Looking at his watch he chuckled, on another night he would have been a werewolf by now. He swooped down a bit closer.
"How did I do?" Draco was bent over gasping, trying to get his breath back.
"Not too bad. Hermione and I were about three minutes quicker." Harry grinned down at him, "Here come the dementors."
He lifted off just a bit and two dementors glided in. Draco lifted his wand and after a moment the ferret emerged. He sent it at the two of them and one was stopped by it. The other changed directions and came from the side. Harry let them pull on Draco's memories for a bit but he stopped them from taking his soul. Harry then levitated him back to Severus.
"Not bad, he would have been bitten and lost his soul but he did manage to stop one dementor until the other got him." Harry flew off to the school.
Severus levitated the young man off the ground and headed to the infirmary. He would get some hot chocolate for Draco and coffee for himself. Draco woke up part way to the castle. Severus stopped and set him on the ground.
"That was the worst feeling." Draco stated, "Worse than the basilisk."
"Really?" Severus asked as he helped Draco to his feet.
"I remembered everything." He shuddered, "I was an ass wasn't I."
"We both were, but he also knows we didn't know half of what happened to him." Severus headed into the school with Draco leaning on him, "That's the reason I'm here to patch people up and you're getting to experience it all, I'm sorry."
"Merlin, what else is in store for me that I didn't know?" Draco wondered aloud.
"No one has made it through fifth year alive and sane." Severus shrugged, "Fourth year he does the tournament, and fifth year he made some of them write with a blood quill, and then all of them have to race through the department of mysteries."
"He's able to get into the ministry?" Draco gasped.
"Not any more. Percy Weasley was the last one." Severus shrugged, "Now he has a mock up with traps somewhere in the dungeons."
"Weasley died there, didn't he?" Draco asked.
"Pushed through the veil." Snape shuddered, "Penelope Clearwater pushed him. Harry proved to her that Percy was just using her as a bed warmer. He's put up a trust fund for her and the baby."
"Are all Weasley's idiots?" he asked.
"No." Snape sighed, "Arthur and the twins tried to stop the order when they found out Harry was innocent. The older two were left alone, provided they didn't seek revenge, but Arthur has let them know what happened."
"They haven't, have they?" Draco wondered how idiotic they were.
"No, they haven't." Snape shook his head, "They stay at their jobs in Egypt and Romania. Harry owns part of the twin's shop, he funded it. They're getting ready to open stores in France, America and Canada."
"I actually almost feel sorry for those countries." Draco sighed as they reached the doors.
"Get rest." Harry met them in the entry way, "Tomorrow you get to meet your dragon."
"Is it… I mean which…" Draco stuttered.
"You'll get to meet Henrietta." Harry grinned and turned away from them and headed down the stairs, "Another alliteration, Henrietta the Hungarian Horntail."
"I'm so dead." Draco sighed.
"Just remember, don't make deals." Severus turned Draco to face him, "Just hide for ten minutes."
"Right." Draco nodded.
The next morning as Draco was locked into the enclosure with the dragon, deals were the last thing on his mind. He honestly didn't even hear Harry offer to let him go if he got the egg. He was frozen in fear. He briefly wondered how Potter was able to move when faced with this monster. At one point he actually passed out from lack of breathing. When he came to, he was out of the enclosure. He sat up and felt for his head, arms and legs and only then breathed a sigh of relief. A chuckle from behind had him turn to find Potter standing there.
"I did the same thing when I got to the medical tent." He grinned, "But I got the egg so I win."
"You can have it." Draco's voice squeaked, but he ignored it.
"Next is the lake, but not until February." Harry told him and turned to leave, "You'll get a bit of a break unless December turns colder."
"What?" Draco still wasn't completely back to normal.
"Swimming in the lake to retrieve something from the merpeople." Severus said from his other side.
"I know how to swim and I can do the bubble head charm as well." Draco stated, "That should be fine."
"You'll have gilly weed on you too." Severus told him, "Incase he takes your wand or limits you to fourth year spells."
"That's a good idea." Draco agreed, "How did you think of that?"
"It's what he used." Severus indicated Harry as he made it back to the doors of the school.
"Really?" Draco looked confused for a moment, until he saw a person in the greenhouse, "I suppose Longbottom helped him."
"He did." Severus agreed, "Harry knows he's on side. He also lets him come and go because he knows the ministry is unwilling to touch Longbottom. They know Harry would eradicate them if they did."
"Could he?" Draco asked.
"Yes." Severus nodded, "If they don't behave, he will. He's gutted the county of the ill behaving buffoons. If the rest prove to be cut of the same cloth, he'll gut them as well. If you survive and are released, you must do your best to keep them all out of his hair and not make any stupid moves. If you piss him off, you'll be lucky if he just kills you."
"Would it do any good for me to admit he's better and I was an idiot?" Draco asked as they entered the building.
"I don't know." Severus gave him a small grin, "But it would be the Slytherin thing to do."
"You still have three things." Harry said from the stairs where he sat just to the side of them, "You're not getting out of the lake nor the maze and you will get to do lines with a blood quill."
"I suppose of all of that, the lines I deserve the most." Draco agreed, "I was such a little copy. I tried so hard to be just like him. I should have listened to my mother more."
"She's a smart woman." Harry agreed, "She is a true Slytherin. Its uncanny how she knows what to do to survive."
"You haven't brought her here, have you?" Draco asked with real panic in his voice.
"I'll not hurt your mother." Harry smiled a genuine smile, "She saved my life and lied to Voldemort's face. She did it to make sure you were alive but, she knew at that point I'd basically won."
"She actually hated the Dark Lord." Draco agreed, "I know she told father several times that his loyalty to the man was an idiots dream."
"As I said, she's a smart woman." Harry grinned and turned away.
Draco couldn't decide if it was fortunate or not that December took a cold spell and on a clear day Harry hauled him down to the lake. He was standing by the water shivering, disliking the idea of swimming, but immensely glad that he wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.
"I'm putting a monitoring charm on you. If you fall unconscious, or your body temperature drops too far I'll pull you out." Severus explained, "He lets me do this to everyone. Stay out of the weeds, remember the mervillage is in the center at the bottom. Has he given you any restrictions?"
"None." Draco shivered again, "I'm going to use the bubble head so I can apply heating charms."
"Good luck." Severus gave him a hug and stepped away.
"I got back in an hour and ten minutes." Harry explained, "But I arrived before the others. This is about who gets there first. I made it to the village in forty minutes. I have a ward that will tell me when you arrive. There are no tricks or traps, just like there wasn't for us. Just the lakes inhabitants and your hostage."
"Who?" Draco asked.
"I didn't know who until I got there." Harry grinned manically, "And neither will you. Get ready. Go!"
Draco dove in, popped up immediately and yelled, "Merlin's balls." He then applied the both a heating charm and the bubble head before diving back down. He swam until he thought his arms would fall off, but he finally reached the village. He had no idea about the time. There in the middle of the square was his mother. He swam as quickly as he could and sent a cutting charm at the rope holding her down. He relaxed a moment when he found her warm. At least he had made sure she wouldn't get sick. He swam straight up and broke the bubble head as he surfaced. His mother woke up as she also made it to the top. She looked around before giving him instructions.
"I'm going to summon the shore line." She told him, "Put your bubble head back on."
"Let me do it." Draco grimaced, "I want to finish this."
"Very well Draconis." She gave him a smile and applied her own bubble.
Draco did as well and within a few moments Severus was pulling them out of the water, wrapping them in warmed blankets and forcing them to drink something hot.
"How did I do?" Draco asked.
"About ten minutes slower than me." Harry smirked, "You should have taken the gilly weed. It may taste terrible but you get flippers and webbed fingers to get you through the water a lot faster and you don't feel the cold as much."
"I have no idea how you swallowed that stuff." Draco shivered, "My stomach turns just thinking of it."
"There is a lot you'll do, that you wouldn't normally do, when your life, or that of your loved ones, are on the line." Harry pointed out.
"I suppose I understand that." Draco thought back to sixth year, then the battle and the aftermath.
"Your mother gets to stay through breakfast tomorrow to make sure she stays healthy." Harry turned his back on them, "Don't waste the opportunity to rest as well. The maze will be next week."
"Don't try mother." Draco whispered and kept her from raising her wand at Harry's back, "It won't do anything but piss him off."
"He's right." Severus pulled them along, "His magic protects him. Even spells at his back are blocked without him doing anything. I believe it's a product of his insanity. His fractured mind is able to process multiple things at once."
"He's not let me die when I should have." Draco added as they walked, "He just wants me to see what he went through while I was being an idiotic child."
"I suppose I can't argue with that." She chuckled, "Sometimes I wondered how you weren't in Gryffindor."
"I know." Draco chuckled, "I figured that out the first day. When I kept trying to beat him, I realized a Slytherin would lose a lot quicker when he knows it's to his advantage."
"Your father never figured that out." She huffed, "He was an idiot but he didn't deserve to die that way."
"Father gave an eleven-year-old girl a diary with a soul piece of Voldemort in it." Draco pointed out, "It caused a twelve-year-old to face a thousand-year-old basilisk and have to kill it, alone. It bit him and he only survived because a phoenix was nearby. I think Potter was actually kind to kill him so quickly. The mess was just dramatics I think."
"A basilisk that old could have swallowed him whole." She tried to wave them off.
"The skeleton is still there." Draco shook his head, "It was huge. I think it could have swallowed me whole now."
"I've tested it, it was a real skeleton, no magic. I've also seen the market for basilisk parts. There has been more basilisk venom sold in the last three years then was in the market for the last four hundred years combined, worldwide." Severus added, "I believe Lucius got what he deserved."
"Maybe so." She gave in.
Later that evening Narcissa was talking with Severus after Draco had taken a dreamless sleep potion.
"How did he do with the dragon?" she asked.
"He was very Slytherin." Severus stated proudly, "He hid in the corner and didn't try to take it on. You know Ron Weasley made a deal with Potter and got eaten by the dragon for his trouble."
"What was the deal?" she asked.
"If he defeated the dragon, he'd get a thousand galleons and be set free." He explained.
"Did Draco get that offer?" she asked.
"I don't know, but I told him about Weasley." Severus answered.
"He was wise not to take it." Harry entered, "Madam, you should be proud of your son. He's used the opportunity I've given him to mature. At this point he is more mature than your husband ever was. I believe he'll use his power with more intelligence as well."
"Thank you." She answered and glanced over at her sleeping son, "I'm sure he will, if he survives your test."
"I think he will live a long and prosperous life." Harry turned and headed from the room only to look over his shoulder at the door, "As long as he doesn't try anything stupid."
After she was sure he was gone she turned back to Severus, "I assume something stupid would be anything against Potter."
"Or the friends he has left." Severus added.
"Longbottom and Lovegood." She agreed.
"And whatever Weasley's are left." Severus agreed, "Those still alive didn't cross him."
"Did they really silence him and seal his mouth shut at the trial?" She asked.
"Dumbledore did." Severus shook his head in disgust, "He wanted him to appear defiant to the on lookers."
"That worked." Narcissa sighed, "Is Draco the last?"
"I doubt it." Severus shook his head, "I'm sure there are idiots that will come here and try and take him. Or idiots in the government who will try and take Hogwarts back or arrest him."
"Idiots indeed." She agreed, "Draco tells me you're working on a secret project."
"I doubt it's really a secret." Severus grinned, "I'm trying to create a time distortion potion. I want to go back in time and stop the Dark Lord from killing the Potters or at least stop Dumbledore from driving him to this."
"Do me a favor, get Lucius convicted and possibly killed as early as you can." She glanced at her son again, "Without his influence Draco would be a different person. Maybe more like he is now rather than the clone he was."
"I'll do my best. His defense of imperious curse may be too difficult to overcome." Severus sighed.
"Just tell them to ask him what he was imperioused to do." She chuckled, "Taking the mark wasn't it."
"He was imperioused, but not to take the mark?" Severus raised an eyebrow, the only thing to convey his surprise.
"His father imperioused him to say disgusting, every time someone said the word muggle." She grinned nastily, "His father was a Slytherin and did this to save him should he ever be caught."
"Were all of them done that way?" Severus asked with a sneer.
"He told all the important families and they did it for their children." She replied, "Even Bella was imperioused to say lovely if anyone said murder. It wasn't brought it up at her trial because no one would believe it after her actions and it would have thrown doubt on the rest."
"I'll make sure they know to ask." Severus nodded, "Sleep well."
"You as well." Narcissa took the dreamless sleep potion and downed it before laying back.
Severus was nearly back to his room when he ran across Harry, "Thank you for what you said about Draco."
"It's the truth." Harry shrugged, "Who knew life endangering situations could make someone mature."
"You did." Severus grinned.
"I did know." Harry agreed, "I had hoped he would, maybe he can lead the world to succeed. But still, I did enjoy beating the crap out of him."
"I figured you did." Severus shook his head as he moved on. His potion needed attention.
"Are you ready to head into the maze Draco?" Harry asked from his broom that hovered over the top of the hedge.
"No, but let's do this anyway. I'd like to get it over with." Draco pulled his wand and readied himself, "I am glad you don't have it over the pitch."
"I can leave it up all the time this way. I'll start the timer when you enter the maze. I reached the center in eighty-seven minutes." Harry told him, "You'll have the same number of obstacles as I did, though they aren't the same. The spiders are gone and I don't have a sphinx."
"What happened to the spiders?" Draco paused.
"I burned out their nest." Harry grimaced, "I hate those things."
"Good." Draco turned and headed into the maze. He took ten steps in and sat down.
"Not going any further?" Harry asked.
"Nope." Draco smiled up at him, "I'll gladly admit you are much better at mazes than I am."
"How Slytherin." Harry smiled down at him, "You have to stay for eighty-seven minutes and the obstacles move around, they may run across you."
"I'll stay vigilant, but I'm staying here." He told him.
"I'll give you the maze as a win." Harry told him eighty-seven minutes later, "I should have done the same thing you did."
"You had too many people messing with you." Draco offered as he stepped out of the maze, "I wouldn't be surprised if you were under compulsions to get to the middle."
"Probably." Harry admitted, "If Junior didn't do it than Dumbledore did. I'm pretty sure he knew what was going on and wanted it to happen. I think he thought I would be blamed for resurrecting Voldemort."
"I guess the blood quill is next then." Draco sighed, "Are we doing that today?"
"Sure, why not." Harry agreed and led the way, "I'm getting tired of your presence anyway."
"That's a lie." Draco acted shocked, "You can't possibly be tired of me. Everyone loves me."
"Keep telling yourself that and maybe someday you'll believe it." Harry chuckled.
"How did you stay as sane as you have?" Draco asked, "I mean sure you're crazy but you're a functioning crazy."
"Actually, I think I have you, Neville and Luna to thank for that." Harry said slightly amused, "I know you hate me and I'm fine with that. The part of me that is sane appreciates the honesty of it. Just like I appreciate the honest friendship with Neville and Luna."
"I don't hate you anymore." Draco admitted, "I still don't like you, but I don't actively hate you."
Harry grinned and looked at the ground before he returned his gaze to Draco, "You're still writing with the blood quill."
Harry let Draco out and locked the gates behind him. He walked back up to the castle and made his way to the kitchen and found Remus getting a snack.
"Ha, caught you." Harry grinned as he entered.
"Will Draco be joining us?" he asked.
"No, he just left. I let him say goodbye to Snape after he wrote with the blood quill." Harry asked for a snack and sat down.
"What did you have him write?" Remus asked.
"I was a pretentious twit." Harry chuckled, "I offered him to just write I am a pretentious twit, but he opted for the extra letter."
"I would to." Remus chuckled.
In the quiet of that moment something in the bowels of the school exploded and caused the whole castle to shake. It lasted several moments and when it finished Harry went back to his snack. Remus looked at him for several seconds before talking.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Severus blowing up another cauldron." Harry huffed taking a drink of his hot chocolate, "He'll run out soon if he hasn't got it right this time."