DISCLAIMER: nothing is mine.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: well I opened my e-mails and when 'holy shit' when I saw the sheer volume of response my (previously) poor neglected fic got. Wow, ten all at once. Yeay, I am loved. Thank you so much for reviewing (the result being this chapter is up way sooner than planned – I was inspired!) There were several reviews this time which really made me think about this and where it was going and stuff so please read the responses (do people do this? I always do but I'll mention it anyway) because … well they'll explain some things. And also at the end I've got a little request to make. Thanks.

Here's chapter ten.

Enjoy.

Chapter Ten: Starting Over

When Draco ran across the classroom and embraced Harry all four students received a not inconsiderable shock. Dumbly they watched the interaction between the two, unconsciously gravitating towards each other.

When Harry revealed his bruises all four started both at the sight of the small stomach so discoloured and at the implication that this was a regular occurrence. When Draco proceeded to heal Harry, again as if it were a normal thing to do, Hermione let out a small gasp of surprise and Pansy moved closer to her, muttering "I take it you did not know about any of this.

"Not at all. Did you know Draco's a healer?"

"He's not," at Hermione's sceptical expression she elaborated, "at least I'm ninety-nine percent certain he's not. It's not the kind of thing you can keep secret and he would have used it to help."

Again Hermione just stared at her sceptically.

"Well, to help us at any rate," Pansy amended smiling slightly. "You don't know him, not really at all."

"And I'm beginning to think I don't know Harry either. This is odd."

"You're telling me! The stuff about Narcissa is definitely odd."

Before Hermione had the chance to ask her what she meant she heard herself mentioned by Harry and was being introduced to a five year old Draco Malfoy.

"Hello Draco, nice to meet you. I'm Hermione and these are Seamus, Pansy and Blaise."

She shook hands with the grave little boy before her, wondering how he could be so easy with Harry one minute and then so formal the next. She watched her friend hovering at his … rivals? shoulder as they stared at each other, not one of the six sure what to do next.

Hermione was desperately searching her mind for something to say when Seamus broke the silence, grabbing the beaker of re-aging potion off the desk and holding it out to the two boys.

"Hey Harry, would you like a drink? Draco too?"

Hermione watched what happened next in confusion. Harry's gaze never left Seamus' face even as Draco reached out for the beaker, but at the last moment Harry caught Draco's hand.

"No," the coldness in his voice was such as you would not expect to hear in a child's voice, "no thank you. Draco come with me."

As the two children moved away from them to the other end of the classroom, distrust shining in Harry's face, Hermione's mind was working furiously, trying to understand what prompted Harry's actions.

***

"Great work Finnigan," Blaise snorted derisively, "now you've sent them into hiding."

"Didn't see you trying anything Zabini. Just stood there mute."

"Because your attempt at communication worked so well."

"You stuck up…"

"Blaise, Finnigan, shut it," Pansy hissed, "this really isn't the time to start throwing accusations around."

"She's right," Hermione laid a hand on Seamus' arm in an attempt to restrain him, "somehow we've totally lost any trust we might have built. And if the Harry I did know didn't trust easily, I have a nasty feeling that this Harry is equally slow to trust."

"No, I don't think so," Pansy said slowly, still thinking things through, "I mean he took to you fairly quickly right? It was only when Seamus offered him the potion…as if he knew…but he couldn't have."

"That's it," Hermione exclaimed, "Seamus why did you offer him the potion. No," as Seamus began to defend himself again, "I mean what did you hope to achieve."

"I wanted…I wanted to get him back to himself and as far away from Malfoy as possible," he flushed slightly, shooting a guilty glance at the Slytherins, "sorry."

"Can't say I was thrilled about Draco hanging off Potter," Blaise replied, smiling slightly.

Pansy and Hermione were more focused.

"So that means that, somehow…"

"…Potter knew that Finnigan wanted…"

"…To take Malfoy away. And Harry wasn't going to let that happen."

"But that still leaves us with a shit load of problems and two five year old boys hiding under a desk."

"If we are right, then maybe you might be able to talk to them, you or Zabini. I mean you were the first people Draco saw, and I was with Seamus."

"It makes sense apart from one thing. If you think Potter is slow to trust then Draco is damn near impossible. He's very…I don't know how to put it really. This Draco, the five year, is like a transition. The Draco Malfoy you know is Malfoy, the Draco Malfoy we know is Draco. This kid is like an amalgamation of the two. He's turning into Malfoy."

"That's…confusing."

"Not really Granger," Blaise interjected, "Draco's changed a lot since he's been at school but the changes have been hidden. When he started he was Lucius' son, totally. Now he's…"

"…Narcissa's son." Pansy finished.

"I'm not going to even pretend I understand any of this on any functional level," Hermione began, "but maybe, hopefully we could maybe talk later," she flushed slightly, "I mean we're going to be spending a lot of time together, I guess, and maybe…well what I mean is…friends…"

"That would be nice," Pansy smiled shyly, "because we are going to be here a long time, I think, and … and it would be nice."

They all looked away, unsure exactly what to do now they were 'friends.'

***

"Harry what are we doing?" Draco whispered as Harry settled under the desk, glaring at the adults as they talked.

"Keeping away from them."

"Why? They seemed ok."

"Yes they did," Draco heard the disappointed tinge to his friends comment and hugged him quickly, saying "it'll be ok Harry. At least I found you again."

"Where did you go?"

"Father wanted me and maman said we couldn't come anymore."

To most people the explanation would have been woefully inadequate but Harry had long understood that he only saw Tante 'Cissa and Draco while they could hide it from Draco's father. Tante 'Cissa had told him lots of stories about his parents, his godfather, Draco's godfather and their friends but about Lucius he heard nothing. He was someone mentioned in the abstract, someone whose presence was hanging over them, waiting to separate them. He was never the subject of any anecdote or joke. He was 'Father,' an ominous being that Harry never wanted to meet, someone whom Harry somehow knew he could never meet as Draco's friend.

"What have you been doing?" Harry was genuinely interested, wanting to know what took his friend away but he could not fail to see the dark expression of Draco's face when he replied.

"Learning things. Not nice."

"So did you miss me?" It was an obvious subject change but it lightened the mood. And even though he knew the answer he wanted to hear Draco say it

"Yes. Of course. You're my best friend. How could I not miss you?" He frowned slightly, "and I was worried about you. With him."

"It's not so bad. We go to school now so…it's ok. School's fun."

"Muggle school?"

"No, a wizard one."

"Really?"

"No idiot, of course it's a muggle one. I couldn't go to a wizard school."

"'Course you could. Maman's told us both about your parents, remember. We're both off to Hogwarts when we grow up. No more Dudley."

"Maybe," Harry frowned slightly, it seemed too good to be true, going away forever. Being with Draco and maybe Tante 'Cissa. "Tell me what Tante 'Cissa said."

It was almost a ritual with them by now. Narcissa loved talking about her friends just as much as Harry needed to hear about his parents and both he and Draco knew all the stories by heart. They settled down under the desk, leaning against the table leg, sitting side by side and Draco began to talk.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl called Lily," he began as if reciting a catechism. But before he could get any further another voice cut across his.

"Hello Draco, Harry. Are you alright down there?" Pansy was sitting cross-legged on the floor near them, but not too close. Draco looked to Harry but he was studying Pansy and did not answer.

"Hello Pansy," Draco once again adopted the manner his father advocated for talking to strangers, cool and haughty in tone. It sat oddly in the speech of a five year old boy. "We are fine thank you."

"Do you think maybe you could come out? It can't be very comfortable down there."

Still Harry did not speak and Draco was uncertain as to what to do. He wanted to come out, he felt that these people were ok, but if Harry didn't want to…

"Ok," Harry spoke, pulling Draco out from under the desk with him. "Who are you?"

"I'm Pansy and these are…"

"No, I mean, where are we? Who are you to me?"

"Um… we are friends. Or we would like to be. If you could give us a chance, trust us," she saw Harry's eyes flicker to Seamus briefly and she changed the subject quickly, "and this, this is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and we are students here."

"Hogwarts," Draco looked slightly sceptical, "and we got here how?"

"Um…well. Your mother bought you here because we wanted to meet you." Pansy lied quickly, hoping that using Narcissa would work.

Draco looked at her in disbelieve. "If this is Hogwarts then I want to see Professor Snape."

"Um, maybe that's not the best idea," Pansy looked decidedly flustered at the suggestion, much to the shock of the two Gryffindors, "I mean he's very busy and…and…maybe we should…"

"Why can't we? I want to see him."

"Well," Pansy was at a loss and looked around for help.

"Don't you like him?"

"We…don't like each other," Hermione offered as Pansy was looking appealingly at Blaise.

"Really? Why not? Maman says everyone likes Uncle Severus, well," he paused for a moment, thinking, "well except for Uncle Sirius but Aunt Lily always used to say that Uncle Remus liked him enough for both of them. They are best friends. Like me and Harry," he smiled at the boy next to him. "So can we go see him?" He made as if to leave but was stopped by Pansy's shout.

"No!"

***

"Um Pansy," Hermione muttered, "why not take them to Snape, it makes sense."

"No we can't. Oh god, I can't believe you don't know…someone should have told you…and Potter, especially Potter," she looked over at Blaise who nodded briefly. "He's a death eater."

"Oh," Hermione looked relieved, "we know."

"What?"

"It's ok. He's…well you should know, I mean, if you have a problem with Snape then I guess you aren't too fond of death eaters."

"Um no," Blaise stated, "we're not exactly fans."

"Well he's a spy, Snape I mean. Since forever. Harry said so."

"Oh, that's…nice," Pansy looked a little shocked but further explanation was denied by Draco pulling on her robes and she realised that he and Harry had been listening to their debate.

"So can we go," Draco looked up expectantly, "because we want to see him."

"Ok then," Hermione replied, smiling slightly. Even at five Draco Malfoy sucked up to Snape, "let's go."

END CHAPTER TEN

Well that was chapter ten. Hope you liked it. And hope the speech was ok because I was uncertain about that (see end of notes).

This chapter was based around a mini ficlet type thing I was working on which I realised was too similar to this one to continue (actually that's why this has the child bit as well as what happens later (circa chapter sixteen)). I didn't want to loose most of it though, so I tried to slot it in here - here's hoping it works. Sadly I did have to loose some very cute (adult)Harry/(child)Draco/(normal)Snape interaction.

Anyway…

Now for review responses:

Kimmy: well that would be telling. But all will be revealed in the next chapter. Well not all, obviously, but more. Glad you like it, thanks for reviewing.

Esaure: an addiction. Aw you're so sweet. Am so glad people like this though. I was worried I might have to abandon through lack of interest. But yeay it still has mileage.

TigerBlak: yeay. Sounds like you like the story. Which makes me smile J

Anne: thanks. Little Harry and Draco are going down well. Yeay.

the crazy ladies: thanks for the explanation. Sorry there are no more mini Harry's and Draco's in stock. One pair only and I've collected both (sorry, excerpt from other fic I'm playing with). Anyway, when I've finished I'll send them to you, slightly worn but in good condition. And now I'm being odd.

momma-dar: uh oh, maybe the Seamus thing is getting out of hand. As this chapter hopefully shows its not that its Seamus, more his intentions. Hope that's not too off what you were expecting. Your comment made me think a lot about where I was going with this though, and also the implications of following my first instinct and having Ron be there instead of Seamus, but this was made hard by my plan for later chapters. You'll see. Anyway, thanks for the comments and glad you like it.

the_true_silver: well yes and no. Children for a fair few chapters I think but eventually they'll be back cus slash as five year olds? Yuk!

Silvrei: right, this review was another I loved because it really made me stop and think about what I had written and was going to write so thanks straight off for that. First, Snape's reaction you'll see in maybe the next chapter or the one after and I don't thinks its exactly what you were expecting. Second, well I've done the 'adults' so done that. And yes they are somewhat shocked but it hasn't really sunk in, at least that was what I was going for. They're dealing with the kids now and the implications later. Third, no, totally and completely not remembering but you'll see. I have this bit all worked out, believe it or not! So again, thanks and thanks again for making me think about what I was writing and what I was telling you. Keep forgetting that you all don't know where I'm going cus that's in my head!

Sparkler: everyone loves little Harry and Draco. Yeay.

Shinigami: as with Silvrei, your review really made me think about where I was going and where I'd been. First, remembering each other. I'd kinda tried to drop hints, but suffice to say they're not remembering back to being one year olds. I don't know much about kids but I guess that just wouldn't happen. This will be clarified later by someone else but I tried to hint. Poorly, it would seem. Oops! Second, trust issues are hard, as this chapter showed but as with the remembering once re-aged I have that bit worked out too, believe it or not. Thirdly, I will be bringing Narcissa in because I love fanon Narcissa because she can be so cool and stuff. She's kinda my Hermione in that she will know everything and stuff (saw interview with JK Rowling where she said Hermione can know everything and that makes her useful. And I'm rambling. Focus!) And as for Moony and Padfoot, Moony I've kinda thought out, but not sure when to bring Padfoot in so any ideas welcome. How soon should he be in here?

NayNymic: as you can see, I saved the 'adults' reaction for this chapter because … well it worked better that way. Again with the uh-oh on the not trusting Seamus. Oops. Total misdirection I think. 'Twas just meant to be a very perceptive Harry (and I hope I'm not totally giving everything away in these responses). And the sleeping together thing. Again, you really made me think. I wanted to make this a two-day thing and had a really cute mental image of them sleeping together all cute and curled up but then I thought eek what does that mean. Again, what do people think? Is it icky or can I get away with it?

Right, so that was the responses and now I ask for some help.

1. Have I totally screwed up the Seamus thing? I so didn't realise what I was writing, I think. Or at least, not the effect it would have. Does this still work (and I know I'm still stuck in kiddie land a bit but have I totally misdirected you?)

2. Is it ok with the kids talking normally? I really don't know how five year olds as a rule speak, though I can kinda justify any slight advancement of development. Plus, I decided Lucius is not the kind of Dad who would put up with baby talk. His child would communicate properly at an early age (have you read What Katy Did Next? With the nine year who was well grown up? There you go then).

3. As I said above, how soon do we want to see Sirius? And I need a blummin good reason/excuse for bringing him into kiddie world. Help!

4. Can they sleep together in nice, non sexual way or is that slightly odd?

5. Also, do little boys hold hands (like little girls do?) Can I get away with it? I really do not want to even hint at slash between five year olds because once again with the yuck!

6. Other relationships you want to see – Ron/Hermione a given and I have two others in my head but am open to suggestions. I have a full year list worked out, five of each sex in each house so 40 in the year and you've kinda met the missing Gryffindors.

Right, that's about it and I hope this doesn't put you off reviewing but you really made me think, all of you, so thank you so much.

I await answers J

Louise