Chapter 12 - The Social Riot Machines.

An unsettling, restless feeling began to overcome Jake as he searched for the lesson plans he had prepared for his classes. He knew they were somewhere, he just couldn't remember where. It unnerved him because the papers he had spent hours on weren't in the place that he thought they were. He paced listlessly around his living room, wracking his brains for the location of the elusive documents. Now that he had actually thought about the situation, he wasn't even sure if he had brought the lesson plans with him. It wouldn't surprise him in the slightest if he had in fact left them on his desk in his mother's house. Frustrated with the lack of forthcoming memories, he threw himself onto the sofa and glared at the ceiling. As annoyed with himself as he was, he found it rather dissatisfying to just sit still and do nothing. Despite how urgently he needed his lesson plans for the following day, he knew that as soon as he started working on something else, he would remember exactly what had happened to them. At that particular moment in time, the only pressing matter -to him personally- was the fact that he was sporting his natural sandy blonde hair.

With a new sense of purpose, he retrieved his cauldron from a box -he hadn't unpacked yet- and the case full of flowers, berries and leaves that would form the basis for his first batch of homemade hair dye. He didn't actually know what kind of shade he wanted, but it would be fun to create his own colours. He moved the cauldron into the kitchen and set it down on the table. His first priority was to open the kitchen window, so that the room wouldn't fill with steam as he brewed. Jake read through the instructions that Professor Snape had given him and looked for the correct ingredients. He also wanted to get back into the habit of brewing before he had to attend a Potions lesson, as he hadn't since he was a student five years beforehand. After half an hour of careful preparation, his ingredients were ready, and all he needed to do was add them to the cauldron in the right order. As he understood it, all colours had the same base and the actual pigment was added once the brew had cooled off. He definitely wanted some blue in his hair.

Once the base was done, he put out the flame and turned to the dyes. After some deliberation, Jake had finished choosing his colours, and put the first into his mortar. As he began grinding, he heard a knock at the door and stood up. He hurried through the living room and opened the door, hoping his slight wheeze wouldn't be too noticeable.

He recognised the student that was stood in his doorway, but couldn't remember their name, but it was definitely someone that was at the defense meeting the previous evening.

"Harry isn't here, I think he's down in the music room right now," he offered.

"I was hoping he'd be here to be honest, I just wanted to chat for a bit, a nice calm conversation," the student explained tiredly.

"Yes, Harry can be a little energetic at times. You're more than welcome to come in and wait here if you like," he trailed off, hoping the student would supply his name.

"My name is Draco by the way."

Jake was very thankful for the reminder, his memory wasn't exactly his strongest point -it often felt as if his brain was deliberately tormenting him.

"I'm not doing anything too interesting, just crushing some flowers right now. Would you like a drink?"

Draco shook his head and followed Jake back into the kitchen. The Slytherin took in the sight of the many flowers.

"I saw a picture of you, you had green hair," Draco suddenly revealed, obviously realising what Jake was doing the multitude of coloured plant matter.

"Did you really? As you can probably see, I'm using orange and blue this time."

"Are you allowed to do it?" Draco asked curiously, and Jake wondered where their conversation would end up.

"I asked Dumbledore about it back in September whilst the preparations were still in motion. He actually told me there aren't any rules regarding having coloured hair because the teachers don't believe it would affect education. I dyed my hair back in year nine when I was fourteen, and in my exams I achieved the Muggle equivalent of outstanding in every subject."

"What colours have you had in the past?" Draco questioned, staring intently at Jake. It was a little strange in Jake's humble opinion.

"Hmm, well I dyed it every eight to ten weeks for the last four years so I've had a few. I think I've had various shades of blue, green, red, purple, pink -oh yes you heard me correctly- and orange," he thought about it for a few more seconds. "I have also had a few monochromatic shades like black and white."

"Why did you start doing it in the first place?" Draco seemed a little confused as to how someone could possibly get into something as obscure as colouring their hair on a regular basis. At least, that was how it appeared to Jake.

"Well my younger brother was in hospital, my mum was visiting him and my sister was with our grandmother, I was at home alone, bored out of my fucking mind, so I decided to go out and look around the local department store, found the hair dye, thought it looked kind of fun, and bought it."

He believed there was something weird about the way that Draco kept asking questions, however he did faintly remember Harry mentioning something about the blonde asking a lot of questions about things he was interested in trying.

"Do you want to give it a go?" Jake asked calmly, serenely grinding his ingredients once more.

"Kind of," the Slytherin admitted sheepishly, "I'm not sure if my housemates would approve though."

Jake had already thought of a suitable response to that conundrum.

"Be a trend-setter, a leader not a follower."

The hope that simple statement sparked in Draco's features was pleasant, he had probably managed to convince the boy. It was never difficult to influence someone to do something they wanted to do regardless.

"What colour do you fancy?"

"You pick," Draco offered, he sounded rather incredulous, which Jake found to be quite adorable. He knew that voicing his thoughts wouldn't be the best thing as Draco would probably find it patronising.

"There's a spare mortar over by the sink, go get it and help me turn these into paste," Jake instructed, resuming his own work and contemplating the colours before him.

He believed that a dark colour would suit Draco better than a bright one, and personally wanted to use a burgundy tone, but was aware that would probably be a little too 'Gryffindorish' for Draco's liking. Finally, he had an idea of what to do, not that he had any intention of telling Draco, he wanted it to be a surprise, there was less chance of him backing out.

When they had finished turning the plants into mush, he divided the base potion up, and then added the colours to each part.

"Lean over the sink please Draco and close your eyes, I'm sure this stuff will sting if it gets in them."

Jake draped a towel over Draco's shoulders so that the dye wouldn't stain his clothes and then placed the bowl of hair colorant beside him on the counter. According to the instructions Professor Snape had given him, the product was to be used in the same way that a shampoo would be, and was therefore much easier to use than Muggle dyes. He poured some of the solution over Draco's hair and began massaging it in.

Once Jake deemed the dye to be evenly distributed through Draco's hair, he began rinsing the excess out. In his opinion, it looked rather good. The result was a littler darker than he thought it would be but he assumed it would be lighter once it dried properly.

"There you go, it just needs to dry now." He paused, wondering how best to voice the idea he had whilst he was in the process of colouring. "Do you want to try something else? You never know, you might like it," he offered slyly. To his own ears, he sounded a little creepy.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Just having you in some Muggle clothes, you might look good," he guessed that flattery was always an option.

"As long as it's nothing too ridiculous, I might try," Draco eventually answered.

Jake nodded and slunk into his bedroom, already compiling outfits in his head. He pulled open his wardrobe doors and analysed the few items of clothing he had actually put away. He decided on a black blazer which had the sleeves slightly rolled up, a short sleeved white shirt, and a pair of navy plaid trousers. As an afterthought he grabbed a plain black tie.

He returned to the kitchen to find Draco trying to see what colour his hair was by pulling it down in front of his eyes. He had no idea whether or not Draco would like the result, but Jake thought the result was rather good.

"There's a mirror in the bathroom, you can take a look if you want," Jake offered as he arranged his dyes by the sink.

Draco walked as calmly as he could towards the bathroom, both excited and scared by the prospect of this alternative style. The clothes provided for him didn't look too offensive, however he still didn't know much about the Professor/student, knew almost nothing about the way the man behaved and thought other than the few anecdotal snippets he had heard from Harry. What he did see quite clearly was that the two were complete opposites. It seemed to him as if Jake wasn't exactly quiet, but more laid back than Potter, apparently took life slower. How true his observations were, he had no idea, but that was what he could perceive. Ultimately the thing that caught his attention first was his hair. It was just so different to what he was used to seeing reflected back at him that he couldn't help but stare. The cold November sunlight illuminated the rich, dark blue, almost the colour of blueberries. Draco was shocked by his own appearance, it suited him, definitely, he liked -no loved the contrast of his pale skin and darker hair. He had always found the combination quite alluring, as he thought pale hair and flesh made a person seem ghostly, ephemeral even. He continued to stare at his reflection, now struck by his dilemma. If he continued to sport this oddly coloured mop, he could get into trouble. His father wouldn't be best impressed by such an obscure Muggle amusement, and neither would his housemates for that matter. He didn't want to wash it out though. If he was entirely honest with himself, he rather liked it. Draco supposed he could just see how everything went, if any issues arose concerning his father and some tall-tales he would simply wash the dye out and claim whoever ratted him out to be a jealous liar that wanted to humiliate him. Yes, that would appeal to his father's vain nature and pride in the Malfoy name. In Draco's humble opinion, the plan was simply foolproof. Hurriedly, too excited to take it any slower, he removed his shirt and replaced it with the one provided for him. He could see the sense in the action, the jacket that he had been given appeared to be quite snug on the arms, and he doubted his shirt would actually make it through the sleeves. Quickly, he slipped his plain trousers off and replaced them with the others, he recognised the rough feeling of the fabric as the sort Potter wore with an annoying frequency. He paused, slightly distracted by the thought of those white jeans once more. At least, he believed that was what they were called. Jeans. He didn't know, he supposed he'd have to ask about it.

As he sat back down at the kitchen table, he noticed the Professor's hair for the first time, and nearly did a double-take. It was so vibrant that it nearly hurt his eyes, but it was good. No, more than good, in Draco's opinion the absurdity of the boy's hair made him very attractive all of a sudden, not that he could do anything more than sigh and daydream. It was highly unlikely that Harry and Jake would break up. It didn't even occur to him that he was still wearing the Muggle style clothing as he departed, absolutely certain that his face –and more importantly his flush- would give his thoughts away, as it had a habit of doing so traitorously.

He wandered aimlessly through the corridors, completely unsure of what to do with himself. It was too frosty to even consider going outside, and in the end, he decided to go and see his godfather.

He was the subject of more than odd looks as he made his way down to the dungeons, and he couldn't figure out why, until he ducked into the bathroom to check his reflection. He didn't even bother trying to stop the sigh that escaped him. Of course he was receiving some strange looks, he himself looked rather strange. A sly little part of his brain managed to convince him that Professor Snape was going to be in hysterics when he saw the changes, but he knew that wouldn't really be the case. The Professor had said he'd support Draco in anything he did. Well, Draco supposed he might've found a calling, a new one, and a much nicer one than the Dark Arts at that. Would the Professor approve? Draco reasoned that he might.

Apprehensively, he knocked on the door to the Professor's office, filled to the brim with more and more doubts about the recent choices he had made.

The door swung open several minutes later, revealing the surly Professor. Under the close scrutiny of the Potion's Master, Draco felt very uncomfortable indeed. After a few minutes of bearing with the intense stare, Draco began to shift from foot to foot, hoping the Professor would say something, or let him in at least, it was certainly embarrassing standing there, more than a little aware that he probably looked utterly ridiculous to the Professor.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting this," Snape eventually commented, and stood aside, allowing Draco to gratefully step into the office.

"Is that a bad thing?" Draco asked nervously, interested in his guardian's opinion.

"Not particularly, though you really need to find some balance between the way you want to be and the way your housemates expect you to be. If you don't, they're going to get suspicious. I think you'll be okay with your hair being like that, but the recent civility you've had with Potter is not okay, and I'm not saying you need to be a dick, just don't be quite as friendly. Also, the puppy eyes at the boy is completely unacceptable, I am quite honestly astounded that no one else has noticed, much less Potter himself," the Professor lectured. Draco couldn't help but grimace. It was his own fault, but Potter already knew. Was that something the Professor needed to be told? Draco didn't know if Snape would be annoyed if he didn't say anything about the incident.

"I did something dumb, he already knows I..." he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. Admitting something like that verbally made it concrete in his mind, if he didn't say something so shameful, then it didn't exist and he could ignore the way he felt. Nothing would ever come of his stupid thoughts, so it was better to just bury them in some dark recess of his brain. He could feel the disapproving gaze on his skin, and he knew his mind was going blank. When it got to the point that he was sure he was going to implode into nothingness or cum -at this point neither would surprise him- he knew he had to distract Snape.

"I don't want to be a Death Eater! I want to be a musician!"

DUNDUNDUUUUUUUUUUN

Oh man, so tough to write, I knew I wanted to introduce Jake more, but I didn't want him to be the entire chapter as he's getting a hefty chunk of next chapter too!

See you next time guys, hopefully next week ;)