AN: Alright, here is the next chapter. Another Harry/Draco interaction. BTW, I will warn you, my dear readers, that our favorite characters will not get together in the nearest time. There will be some complications. So, no jumping for Draco, but the guy can dream, can't he? ;)
NelliGirl, well, I haven't exactly thought out their glorious return in detail, but I do believe that Riddle may keep his old name. Not the pseudonym though. Can you imagine Dumbledore's reaction? :D Oh, and I will write more on Dumbledore, he is such an exploitable character, but I won't make him overly evil or manipulative, but... Ok, I am rambling. Anyway, Draco having fun chasing Ryan… Well, I don't know, I think I am a closet sadist, as I am planning to make his life miserable. :P
DramoSkye, what would be scary? If you refer to jumping… No, no, I close my mouth not to spoil the surprise, but as I said above – not happening anytime soon. Poor Draco.
Arieru-chan, thank you. The sneakiness will be present, and naivety too.
Haljaruna, thank you. I appreciate your review. That was high praise, indeed.
Tarkemelhion, I think I'll put up the pairing in the summary. A book about apprentices and masters! Yummy! Can you by any chance tell me what book was that? And you like new Harry! I am glad. About my mistakes, I am sorry about them, I hope they don't overshadow the story though. I can't really help oit, English is not my mother-tongue.
RRW, Ah! And here we come to the crucial question, what do you yourself think? ;) Ok-ok, I'll answer, if I understood what you mean correctly. Firstly, I despise bottom Draco (I cannot picture it) and read it in very rare cases, if the story plot line is really-really good. I like him dominant or top/bottom, Harry though either bottom or top/bottom. So, their sexual relationship will be somewhere along these lines.
disgruntledfairy, wow, thanks, I am glad you liked the chapter. I'll try not to disappoint in the future too.
mizelissa, Thank you.
Anon, well, when I was writing a summary I meant 'obligatory' in jest, but I guess not everybody understands my subtle sense of humour. Grin But you are right in a way, I should write in the summary more about the story, not on the why I am writing it.
Chapter 16
It was tricky having two apprentices at the same time, especially these two that even without their memories couldn't keep their hands off each other for longer than an hour. That was in no way beneficial for academic environment he tried to impose.
"Alpha, Beta…"
Bella and Tom sprang away from each other. Ryan despite his fury couldn't help but feel bad about interrupting such a heated make-out session, even if his library table had to suffer.
The mage had to admit they made a nice pair. Tom, as he had already noted at their first official meeting, had somehow acquired his handsome looks back, bar the red snake eyes, and Bellatrix looked quite good too, if you were into the whole gothic emaciated thing. Well, Azkaban was a tough place, and using the Dark Arts continuously after her escape certainly didn't help. Now, due to the peaceful environment the woman already looked healthier, though in no way in top form. Yet.
"How is your meditation progressing? And no, by meditation I do not mean your engagement in carnal activities."
It was fun seeing the two fearsome people cringe at his disapproving tone as little children. But, they certainly weren't children. Ryan thought it was high time to buy some contraceptive potions. Pregnancy wasn't something he wanted to deal with during this Apprenticeship, or any Apprenticeship for that matter.
"Have you reached your magical core yet?" the mage purposefully kept his tone light.
"No."
"Me either."
"What seems to be the problem?"
They both looked guilty and chastised.
"Not enough time? I guess I'll just have to provide you with it. From now on, you will be secluded into two separate rooms of this house, and provided with food and water and study materials on a regular basis. Curfew is at ten. Disobey, and I will know. When you reach your core, you will be released from your seclusion and regain your freedom of movement unless you disregard my instructions again. Am I UNDERSTOOD?"
"Yes, Master."
The sulking ex-Dark Lord presented a funny picture. In retrospective. Now Flhoyer was jus plainly angry. Here he was, offering them once in a million chance to improve themselves, and his Apprentices didn't appreciate it. At all. And he knew that Tom Riddle was a brilliant student at Hogwarts. Maybe, Bella was a bad influence.
Speaking of the witch, she had tears in her eyes and her lower lip quivered.
Ryan remained stern.
"This is not the end of the world. Alpha, follow me. Beta, remain here until I come to escort you to your quarters."
Hopefully, this will speed up the process. He didn't plan the Apprenticeship to extend to his school year. Well, he would prolong it, if he had to, but it would be bothersome. Besides, Ryan considerably limited the reading material. It shouldn't take a lot of time for his Apprentices to go through it, if they weren't constantly distracted. He left the bookshelf with grimoires on inborn languages, everything that dealt with Dark and Light magic, and about thirty grimoires that helped to improve general knowledge and historical background. Some information he would teach them the old-fashioned way, face-to-face. He didn't want to share the whole Sohhare's library with them. After all, they were enemies before, and it was not a given that they wouldn't turn on him when they earned their Callings. He didn't think so, but wanted to keep an edge, nevertheless, if this scenario came to pass.
And they still were insane, thankfully passive insane at the moment. And it couldn't be helped before they acquainted themselves with their magical cores.
Ryan stepped out of the Floo with barely a hint of losing his balance. That was certainly an improvement over his usual hurtling out of the fireplace and landing on all fours on a good day. It would seem that his morning training sessions with Moony had paid off after all.
The werewolf took his proposition to wrestle unexpectedly seriously and immediately informed him that there would be no wrestling until he acquired more muscles on his bones and trained up a bit. And, wouldn't you know, Remus turned out to be more than qualified to teach martial arts. Flhoyer now regarded the deceptively haggard academic with the new-found respect. It appeared, that the years of travelling the world after Ryan's parents death were not spent in vain. The werewolf learned a lot of knowledge, dangerous knowledge and received some high quality training in martial arts. He returned to England more than ready to avenge his deceased friends and protect his cub. But with finding out that Sirius was not the traitor and further distractions artfully created by Dumbledore he diverted from his path and continued to play the usual part of a good submissive wolf. Now he was slowly shedding the assumed persona, but still would not fully open up to Flhoyer. Well, the mage himself had his fair share of secrets, so he would let his godfather keep his own. In any case, the werewolf still provided great companionship and an intelligent company.
Shooting another smug look at the fireplace he exited, Flhoyer looked around.
The parlour was, as expected, both richly and elegantly decorated in blue and white colours. Cold colours, cold welcome, but he guessed it fitted the image of an icy pureblood house the Malfoys chose to project.
The man didn't have to admire the surroundings for long. A house-elf popped in front of him and informed that Master Draco would be along shortly.
Sure enough, Malfoy showed up in a minute, even at home dressed in fancy robes – grey with silver trimming. Ryan on the inside felt a bit uncomfortable. He himself was dressed in ordinary black robes with simple cut black trousers and shirt and must have looked underdressed in comparison.
"Ryan! Welcome to Malfoy Manor!" The mage was shocked by the sincere teeth-shining grin that was bestowed upon him. He even had the impression that he would be hugged, but no, they simply shook hands.
"Good afternoon, Draco. I hope I am not late?"
"No, just in time. Would you like a tour?"
"A tour? That would be interesting. How long would it take, though?"
"Well, the Manor is rather large. Does the time matter?"
"Yes, at the moment. But, if it is possible, I would like the tour some other time."
Malfoy looked disappointed.
"It is. Next time, then. Let's go to the library. Do you want anything to drink?"
"Earl Grey tea would be fine."
The wizard snapped his fingers and ordered an elf to bring the requested tea and some coffee to the library, then he motioned his guest to move along.
Ryan followed the host into the Manor, listening attentively to the comments about the surroundings that they passed. The house was huge, it rather resembled a castle than a mere manor. His attention was soon turned to the vast corridor they were crossing, its walls decorated with beautiful tapestries, magical and moving. He paused in his walk, mesmerized by one of them. This particular tapestry illustrated a Desert Dragon, whose golden scales shone in the sun highlighted with splotches of red along its ridge, tail and wings. The creature roared soundlessly and dug its silver sparkling claws into the heated sand between the dunes. Magnificent.
These dragons were now extinct and only few pictures and paintings remained.
The mage extended his hand, his fingertips stopping an inch short of the surface of the fabric and not daring to touch.
He then came out of his daze and searched for his companion. Malfoy stood just two feet away from him and waited for him patiently.
Ryn blushed, embarrassed at his own actions.
"Excuse me, but this tapestry is one of the kind. You should treasure it. It is beautiful."
The blonde gave him an intense look and smiled.
"It is no trouble, now I am sure you would like that tour the next time you come around. They are many works of art and unique artifacts in the manor, that you will appreciate."
"I am looking forward to it."
On that their small talk ended and they entered the Malfoy Great Library.
Ryan was understandably in awe. Never in his life he has seen a library of such parameters. The Little Whinning Library was pretty modest, Hogwarts' – rather big, but the Malfoy Great Library was truly great. The mage had to physically restrain himself not to go on the rampage in this heaven. He was a knowledge seeker, and who knows what treasures this room entailed, after all he had already seen the Desert Dragon tapestry casually hung on the stone wall, and that was a priceless item.
Flhoyer discreetly pinched himself on the arm and chanted in his head a litany of "potions-potions-potions…" That seemed to help. Marginally.
Not the ones to procrastinate, they got straight to business. Malfoy questioned him on his knowledge brutally and came to the conclusion.
"You seen to know the recipes well enough, but lack the background knowledge about the properties of ingredients and their proper preparation. A recipe does not include all the details."
"It doesn't?" Ryan was honestly surprised. Malfoy merited him with scathing glance.
"No, it does not. I am of course going to instruct you and supply you with the materials to fill in your gaps of knowledge, but right now, I am going to introduce you to the two methods of brewing and the secret of success."
His tutor then led him to the potions laboratory a story below. It was unsurprisingly neat and ordered.
"We are going to start with a first year potion as an example. Bruise Balm. The ingredients are already prepared and on the worktable. And you better change your robe into the working one, there is one behind you on the hanger.
Ryan smiled at Malfoy in gratitude and silently obeyed.
"Let's begin. First of all, start the fire and fill the cauldron with gallon of water… Good. Now put two middle sized ivy roots on the board and start cutting… Stop, this is wrong, to bring out the soothing qualities of the roots you have to cut them at an angle and at 2mm thickness max. Correct. Now set them aside and take rabbit's liver…"
The instruction continued as followed, Ryan cutting, chopping or grinding and Malfoy cutting through with precise and emotionless advice. He proved to be a remarkably efficient teacher.
In half an hour the potion was ready, its grey colour only a few shades off. The brewer was proud of himself. For him this was an accomplishment, even if it was some low-grade first-year potion. Almost perfect quality.
"That was the first method," Draco supplied to Ryan, who was still marveling at the contents of the cauldron. "It is the most widely used one and is a clinical in its nature. In order to perfect it one has to be intimately familiar with the Potions Preparations Compendium. If one minor detail of instruction is missed, you'll get only a satisfactory potion in the best case scenario. With this technique, acquired through hard labour, one can become a successful brewer but never a Potions Master. Masters are the ones that have an intuitive knowledge of the subject. I do not know if you are capable of it, but I'll guide and test you. Bottle the balm (it is quite good) and prepare the cauldron and the ingredients anew."
Ryan nodded, suddenly distracted from his observation of the torches' fire reflecting in quicksilver eyes. The view was entrancing.
"Where are the ingredients?"
"A cupboard on your left."
The Malfoy heir on his part was casually sitting up on the writing desk and watching his student shuffle around. The look of concentration and seriousness on his charge's face was compelling. He never expected Ryan to be such an avid listener, but then he still didn't know much about the guy, being the mystery that he was. A smile flickered on his face briefly. Draco was looking forward to unraveling the personality of his chosen mate. It would take some time, but if everything went to plan he would have a lifetime to solve the puzzle, so there was no hurry in that aspect. The initiation of the bond was another matter.
"I am ready."
"Good. Now prepare the roots… Yes, take the knife and close your eyes. Touch the ivy root and remember in your mind to concentrate on the soothing sensation, call up the magic and let it guide the process…"
Ryan did as he was being told. 'Concentrate on soothing' – no problem with that, his Dreamer training made him adept at mastering emotions and dividing them up. His mind was more strong and ordered than that of any Master Occlumense. Calling up the magic and letting it be the guide was more difficult but still went along the same lines. He submerged his subconscious part with magic and granted it limited control of his body and began cutting. Malfoy's voice and his instructions disappeared into the background. That didn't deter his progress. The Dreamer's conscious part of mind remembered the instructions from the previous brewing well enough, so he continued chopping, grinding, cutting, tossing and stirring as meant to, periodically tweaking the leash on his subconscious self to keep him in the right direction.
In half-an-hour, the potion was finished and Ryan returned his consciousness to the forefront of his mind and opened his eyes. The brew was perfect. Perfect shade, perfect smell, perfect colour and perfect texture.
Draco was, mildly put, shocked. It seemed that Ryan not only had the natural ability but was some kind of a prodigy in the field at the same time. Even in the case that his student proved to be gifted, the wizard was still expecting some fumbling along the way, right and wrong moves mixed. Nobody was that good at their first intuitive brewing, not even himself, and Draco's talent in Potions was widely acknowledged.
"I don't have the intuitive ability," stated the Potions prodigy a bit disappointed.
His tutor spluttered in outrage, which was unbefitting for a Malfoy, but Draco didn't care at the moment.
"Then what do you call this?!" he gestured at the cauldron.
"Oh, that… That was actually cheating on my part."
"Cheating?"
"Well, I do have this ability that helps me imitate the natural ability of intuitive brewing."
The young veela closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
"I don't understand what you are trying to say. From where I stand, you do have it."
"Well, maybe I'll explain it to you some other time. Just know that I have a way to perform intuitive brewing without having a natural gift."
Draco snorted, still miffed at the proceedings, but reigned in his anger reminding himself that he will have a whole lifetime to get to the bottom of this, if he didn't screw up on the earlier stages.
"Who needs natural ability, when your mimicking is accomplishing more."
"I don't think it is. I know I won't be able to invent new potions or easily make adjustments to old ones, and though I can try, I won't be on the same level with any Potion's Master.
"We'll see," Draco acquiesced a bit satisfied. He admitted, if even to himself, that he felt threatened by the ingenuity of his companion. He prided himself on his talents and didn't like anyone surpassing him. He wasn't obsessive about others more successful than him, but he still was a little jealous, rationally jealous. It only pushed him to try harder and accomplish more. For one to undermine all of his hard work in such a casual manner, even if it was not intentional and came from such a gorgeous guy, still hurt. "You still have to study the Potions Preparations Compendium in the end. Neither clinical, nor intuitive brewers are exempt from it, if they want to be successful. Whichever type of brewer you are, you will benefit from this knowledge…"
"Wasn't going to argue," Ryan butted in.
Draco glared at him half-heartedly at the interruption, but continued.
"In our lessons I will talk about the ingredients required for taking OWLs and further if we have time and you wish it."
Ryan beamed.
"Thank you. I think I would love to."
Ryan left shortly after, in a hurry to check on his own Apprentices. Alpha raised the automatic alarm he set on the sealed rooms, which meant that his student finally reached his core. That was actually pretty quick, but the mage should have taken into account that Voldemort was Master Legillimense and Occlumense, it obviously sped up the process.
Still, he was reluctant to leave. Malfoy… No, Draco was so interesting, and smart… and intriguing… And… Was it selfish to point out again that the Malfoy Library was truly great? He simply couldn't wait for his next visit!