A/N: Here's chapter nine. The third test, and a big surprise.

This is Harry/Draco, post-Hogwarts, though the slash content is extremely light. There are very vague suggestions of other relationships as well.

I've got this all written out, and am posting one a week. There will be 23 chapters total. All that's left is the editing.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Dedication: To Foodie, who still betas me despite my predilection for slash, and for FionaFawkes, who read and reviewed every single chapter, and gave me such excellent feedback. Also, for everyone who's read and loved my Harry/Draco. This one's for you.

-----9

They heard nothing more about Lucius before Draco's next test, and Harry seemed to be worrying about whatever Draco's father might be up to enough to bother Snape again the night before they went to the Ministry again. Snape's visit helped not at all, though. He'd learned nothing about what Lucius was currently up to.

"He has appealed his sentence, but the Wizengamot turned his plea down flat." Harry had relaxed a bit at that, but Severus had scowled at him. "Don't think that will be the end of it," Snape told them. Harry hadn't at all been pleased with the idea that Lucius might try something else, but Snape had refused to tell him anything more. "If you don't mind, I'd rather visit with my 'godson,' Potter," he'd smirked. Snape had been quite amused by the idea that the Ministry believed he was Draco's godfather, and brought it up often, usually to Harry's displeasure.

Snape had ignored Harry for the rest of the evening, and Draco, feeling a bit guilty at the treatment Harry was getting from Snape, decided he would make it up to Harry later that night.

After Snape left, he hurried into the kitchen, and began pulling out food for dinner.

"Draco?" Draco turned to look at Harry, who stood at the door, looking at him oddly. "What are you doing?"

"Making dinner, of course," he smiled, turning back to the vegetables he'd pulled out. He was proficient enough in cooking now that he was able to make a passable enough meal for the two of them himself. In fact, he took a great of pride in his new talents. It wasn't really much like Potions, but it wasn't so far from it as to be utterly foreign to him either. He actually found the process rather calming, to be honest.

Harry sat at the table that night while Draco prepared dinner, even setting the table himself, now that he could reach the cabinets on his own. It felt wonderful to be so self-sufficient. And Harry seemed pleased with the results as well. It ended up being a very nice evening, and when Draco settled to sleep that night, he was sure that he couldn't imagine things being too much better than they were right at that moment.

Waking up after a growth spurt was something Draco was becoming accustomed to, though it was never a particularly comfortable thing. It always left his muscles feeling rather like what he expected taffy felt like—wobbly and weak. Not to mention achy.

When he stretched out that morning, trying to relieve some of the pain, he found that remembering the night before helped take away some of the ache from the sudden growth. Harry appearing in the door with a breakfast tray made things even better.

"Morning, Draco," he grinned, setting the tray in front of him. There was a mild pain potion on the tray along with his breakfast, and Draco couldn't help but be pleased at Harry's thoughtfulness. Really, Harry wasn't such a bad bloke, once you got to know him. Sure, they hadn't gotten along well as kids, but even so, they seemed to have gotten over that little hurdle.

"Thank you," he said to Harry after downing the potion, and sighing with relief. "That really does help."

"Snape said it would. I'm glad he was right. You ready for this today?"

Draco nodded. "Can't be any worse than the last time, can it?"

Harry looked a bit worried though. "Actually, Draco…"

"What? What's wrong?" A spike of fear went through him. Had Harry figured out what his father was up to? Or had the Ministry decided to discontinue the experiment?

"It's okay, Draco. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that, well, if you all pass today, the program's going to start full-force. They've already chosen a new set of candidates. So the reporters will probably be out en masse."

Draco groaned. Great, just what he'd wanted. The entire wizarding world seeing him de-aged. At least he wasn't eight any longer, but really, eleven wasn't much better. He'd just be much happier when this was all over. "So, should I dress up?"

Harry snickered. "You're such a ponce, Draco…"

"I'm a ponce because I care how I look to the public?"

"No. You're a ponce because you spend three hours getting ready to appear in public," Harry snorted.

Draco scowled at him. Just because he didn't want to look like a ragamuffin… He polished off his waffle, then shoved the tray aside, and went over to the closet. "Yes, well, you did provide me with all these lovely clothes, Harry. I do have to take advantage of that fact. Did you have a 'ponce' with you when you chose them? You seem to have done a pretty good job for someone whose favourite clothes always look like you pulled them off the floor."

Harry sighed and stood up. "Just get dressed, Draco. And be quick about it." He took the tray and left the room just as Draco's nightshirt hit the floor.

He made sure that he only took an hour and a half to get ready that morning, just to prove to Harry he could.

The Atrium was packed when they arrived, and Draco was pleased to see that Blaise and Pansy had not yet gone into the examination room that morning. Pansy hurried to his side and settled under his arm as the three of them chatted for a bit before Shacklebolt appeared.

"Welcome back, all of you," he said, eyeing Draco just a fraction of a second longer than the other two. Draco squirmed under his inspection. "As all of you know, or at least should know, this program has gone particularly well, so we will be increasing the number of participants. They are on their way here as we speak, so we can have a proper press conference with all of you in attendance. You are not to speak to any of the reporters independently, and not without specific permission from the Ministry or one of its employees, are we understood?"

The trio nodded, and he led them each into separate rooms to take their tests, quickly grading them once they were done, then leading them once more to the Atrium, where Harry, Andromeda and Seamus were waiting for them.

Harry looked a bit strained, though. At first Draco thought it might be from the media circus setting up shop only yards away. But then he had a shock even nastier than the one he'd had only a month before. There, standing in between Remus Lupin and Pansy Parkinson's mother, was Lucius.

An eight-year-old Lucius.

Draco felt all the blood drain from his face. His father had been chosen as a candidate? How had that happened? He turned to Harry, who hushed him. "We'll talk about it with Snape later, Draco. Let's just get through this, all right?"

Draco nodded, but he couldn't help noticing how Lupin seemed to be unusually attentive to Pansy's mother. Pansy didn't seem much better pleased. Her father had died in the war, but her mother had never taken the Mark. Had she really chosen to spend her time with a Werewolf? Even if he was a hero of the war, it seemed quite odd to Draco.

Lucius didn't look much younger than Draco, now that he looked at him. The two of them could almost be mistaken for twins. Lucius's chin was broader, and his nose less turned up, and of course, his long hair, lank from Azkaban, had been pulled back from his face, while Draco's was still quite short. He supposed there must be other differences as well. He wondered, slightly amused, how much taller he was than Lucius now. After years of having the man tower over him, that idea at least was rather pleasant.

Another thought occurred to him while they waited for the reporters to settle down and the Minister to appear to answer and direct their questions. He was now officially older than his father. And he would be for quite a while. A year per month? And his father was forty-seven… He did some quick calculations in his head. More than three years. Oh, this would be priceless…

The reporters' reactions told Draco that Minister Scrimgeour had arrived before he saw him. Draco glowered at the man. If Fudge had been an incompetent boob, at least he'd been someone who could be negotiated with. Scrimgeour seemed to take offence at anything he couldn't personally understand or control. He heard Harry snort as the man welcomed the press. Apparently Harry didn't like him much better. Draco sighed. Politicians. Sometimes he wondered if the world wouldn't be better off without them.

As soon as the Minister finished his remarks to the crowd, the questions began coming fast and furious. "Are you really going to let both Malfoys go free, Minister?"

Scrimgeour chuckled. "I don't know about free, but if they prove they have been rehabilitated by the end of their program, they will be allowed to become part of Wizarding society once more."

Draco glowered at the back of his head.

"Mister Potter!" another reporter called out.

Harry stepped forward. "Yes?"

"Has it been difficult dealing with the younger Malfoy being in your home on a daily basis?"

Draco narrowed his eyes, but Harry answered calmly, "Actually, Draco and I have been getting on quite well since he arrived to stay in my home. We still have disagreements, but I think everyone has those with the people they live with, don't they?"

Another reporter was quick to jump on this. "Mister Potter, I heard that you and young Mister Malfoy did not get on particularly well when you attended Hogwarts together, isn't that so?"

"It's true enough. But I like to think that was more because of the roles we'd been forced into because of the war. The war is over, and we've both put it behind us."

Several more reporters tried to catch his attention, but Harry purposely ignored them, draping an arm over Draco's shoulders. Draco couldn't help but look to see what his father made of that. Lucius was pointedly ignoring him. Draco felt a pang at that, and leaned further into Harry's embrace.

Naturally, once the reporters determined that Harry would no longer answer their questions, they turned to Lupin. "Mister Lupin, why have you, one of the greatest heroes of the war, decided to take in Voldemort's right hand?"

Lupin blinked for a moment before responding. "Lucius Malfoy, like all of us, deserves a chance to redeem himself. I know how difficult that can be, so after seeing how well his son was doing in Harry Potter's care, and knowing that he was on the list of those to be reformed, I applied to help him." His voice was slightly sullen, as though he were a child who was being scolded for being out of bounds.

The reporters then moved on to the others who had chosen to take in Death Eaters, and Draco was startled to realize that Hermione Granger now stood beside Greg Goyle. He hadn't even noticed them, so caught up in his horror that his father had managed to get into the program.

He was also rather surprised to see Theo Nott standing with a woman who looked about his father's age, with long brown hair and a bit too much makeup. She seemed familiar, and he was startled when the reporters called her Madame Brown, and asked her why she had taken in one of the Death Eaters when her daughter had died at their hands during the war. What had that girl's name been, he tried to remember now? Periwinkle or something? He remembered it was a colour. Pansy had hated her in school, so he'd heard about her endlessly.

Daphne Greengrass (who he knew had been directly under the wing of his ever-lovable aunt, Bella) was there as well, with a couple he didn't particularly recognize, as was Ernie McMillan. He'd heard about how McMillan had spied for their side, but he was startled that Justin Finch-Fletchley, one of the more prominent Muggleborns in their year, had actually been willing to take him in.

Finally, the Minister called out that they should all be allowed to settle into their new homes, and thanked all the reporters for coming in. Draco was so relieved it was all over, that he hadn't even noticed his father approaching with Lupin.

"Draco," Lucius said with a smirk that didn't quite fit on his far-too-young face. Harry turned to look at him, then turned to Lupin.

"Remus, what—"

Lupin scowled. "Did you think you were the only one allowed to take a Malfoy in, Harry?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "Remus…"

"No. Lucius deserves as much of a chance as Draco, Harry." He turned to Pansy's mother. "I think it's time we left, Camilla."

She nodded, putting an arm around Lupin, and leading Lucius away by the hand. The last image Draco had of his father was of his now-young form glancing back at him, eyes narrowed, a wide smirk on his face.

When Draco turned to Harry, he was horrified at the look on Harry's face—it was almost as though Harry were looking at Voldemort himself. Even worse, he was shaking. "Harry?"

"Come on," Harry managed through clenched teeth. "I need fresh air."

They walked along the Muggle streets outside the Ministry for a long time before Harry turned to Draco. "Do you mind side-along apparition?" Draco shook his head, and Harry's arm wrapped around his shoulder. "Hold on." And then they were home.

Harry turned to the fireplace, and floo-called to Severus. Draco supposed it made sense that this was what his father had been up to, but why Lupin? That part made no sense. Why not Severus? After all, he was a half-blood…

Severus appeared in the room a moment later, dusting his clothes off from the quick trip in the floo. "Whatever was so vital that I had to leave several of my potions mid-process, Potter?"

"Lucius is free."

Draco would have laughed at the shock on Severus's face, if the circumstances hadn't been so worrying. "How?" Severus asked.

"Remus. I'm not sure how, but he convinced him to 'adopt' him."

"Worse," Draco chimed in. "Pansy's mother is in on it as well. I think they're together. Lupin and her, I mean. And you know her feelings about half-bloods, Severus. Even more, about him when she found out what he was—father's orchestrating this. I'm sure of it."

Severus scowled. "And, what, exactly, am I supposed to do about this?"

Harry sighed. "Snape, we've never gotten on, but I know we're both on the same side. Do you honestly want to see Lucius get away with this?"

"How do we know that he is 'getting away' with anything? Surely he deserves as much chance as Draco when it comes to a chance to change, Potter."

"And how much do you think father will even be listening to Lupin, Severus? You know he's probably orchestrated this so that he has as little contact with Lupin as possible."

"Then it would show in his test scores, Draco. I see nothing to be concerned about."

"You don't think, if he can pull this much off, that he'd stop now, do you? I'm quite certain he's got a way to trick the examiners as well. Please, Severus."

Severus sniffed. "Very well. I will see what I can discover." And he was gone.