Acceptance
Chapter 5
Busted?

I picked up the fallen pillows and placed Draco back under the covers. Remembering that he was still having a stomachache, I placed my hand on the part of the blanket covering his tummy and rubbed it gently. Draco sighed contentedly in his sleep as I repeated the process. I was still berating myself in my mind for getting him worked up when he was already in pain, and also for bringing up what seemed to be a touchy subject for him.

I sniggered, imagining the look on Snape's face if he saw his star student sleeping in the same room as his most hated student. Oh crap, potions class, there's going to be a test tomorrow! I haven't studied at all despite the reminder Snape gave us about it a month ago. Damn, I better start now. But what about Draco? If I'm taking the test tomorrow, who's going to take care of him when I'm gone? Then again, I can't be skipping classes for the rest of the year can I? This was going to pose as a huge problem. Maybe I should have listened to my friends and inform a professor about this. I doubt any of the professors would let me off for missing today's lessons, let alone lessons I'm about to miss if I don't settle Draco's care-taking issue. There's only ONE logical thing to do now…

"RON!" I whisper as I tap on the window outside the potions classroom. "Ron, Ron, Ron! Over here! Not there, you douchebag. This window HERE."
"Harry, Dwayco needa go pottyyy!"

Yes, I had snuck Draco along with me out of the Gryffindor common room and decided to go along with my brilliant plan of asking Ron to be Draco's babysitter for tomorrow. Besides, all he had to do was skip potions for one day like I did, and he's skipped it before last year. So there I was, outside the classroom, with the firm mentality that if I didn't tell Ron now, I would never get a chance to tell him later. Although I wasn't quite sure why I didn't want to wait for him to return to the common room and instead chose to take this terrible risk… Anyway, I failed to get Ron's attention, but someone at the front of the classroom seems to have noticed. I hope it's Hermione, she's the only other person I can trust in that room. Wait…Tall…Dressed in black…Greasy hair…Oh joy, it's Snape.

I grabbed Draco, hid him under my cloak, and was about to make a run for it until my feet were frozen in position. Snape had caught me with some spell.

"Why stop, Harry? Dwayco needa pee. Potty is THAT way."
"Um, Draco…In case you haven't noticed…"
"Busted?"
"Busted."

Severus Snape strode towards us with a furious gleam in his eye, "Well, well, Mr. Potter. Finally deciding to show up for class I see. Well you're 50 minutes late, so 50 points from Gryffindor."

"That's not fair, professor. I was caught up with something really important."
"What could be more important than potions class? 10 more points for making up silly excuses."
"Oh I don't know, maybe it's something to do with your favorite student."
"Where are you going with this, Potter? 10 more points for not going straight to the point."
"What the HELL?"
"20 more points for swearing."
"Oh my god, you just enjoy taking away points from me don't you, you son of a-"

SLAP!

…

Thanks Hermione. Without that slap, I would probably have reduced Gryffindor's points to below negative.

"Miss Granger, I hope you have a perfectly good reason for interrupting our little conversation."
"As a matter of fact, I do," she said smugly, then pulled my cloak open, revealing Draco hiding under it. Snape's eyes were bulging. A series of gasps from the class followed soon after.

"Hermione!" I shouted. "I thought we were going to keep this a secret!"

She ignored me and tried to explain to the astounded professor about me having to take care of Draco, but he would hear none of it. He turned to the rest of the class that were all sticking their heads out of the windows and doors, observing the frightened Draco. "Class dismissed."

"Potter, my office now."

Snape walked into his office and muttered a counter curse, freeing my legs. I was thinking about escaping but Hermione shot me a death glare before leaving, making me decide that my life would be at more risk if I had left with her than if I had left with Snape. With that, I held Draco tightly in my arms and took small footsteps after the professor.

The room was darker than I remembered, carrying a more unfriendly atmosphere with it. Snape didn't look pleased at all, and I braced myself for all sorts of insults and attacks, but only to be shocked by Snape's soft voice asking," when did this all begin?"

"At the start of the year, sir. I found him alone at King's Cross and took him to Hogwarts with me."
"Well, Potter, you should know very well that you are incapable of caring for Mr. Malfoy-"
"NO. I think you don't get the picture here at all. He was ALONE and DE-AGED, mind you. Would you rather me leave him there to get kidnapped or raped or something? I know I'm just a teenager, okay? But what else can I do? I HAVE to take care of him, he's defenseless and scared. Sure, maybe you're right about me being incapable, but I will do the best I can to protect him! I'm not going to let you talk me into abandoning him again, because I'm telling you, NOTHING you say is going to make me leave Draco, NOTHING!"

A cold, eerie silence had enveloped the room. I wasn't sure what came over me, but I had become very defensive and protective of Draco. I was certainly not ready to leave him.

"Wow." Snape said, still in shock. "That was a rather impressive speech, Mr. Potter. But I never intended to make you abandon Mr. Malfoy. What I was going to say was 'you should know very well that you are incapable of caring for Mr. Malfoy alone, and I would be more than willing to help you handle him as well as find some sort of antidote to bring him back to his teenage self.'"

"Oh" was all I managed to say. Damn, I must have sounded like a retard. What was I thinking? Of course Snape would want to help Draco, he was his favorite student after all.

Then Snape did one of the weirdest, rarest things ever. He. Smiled.

"Hello, Draco," he said, bending over to stroke Draco's cheek. Draco wasn't that frightened somehow, maybe it was some sort of 'Slytherin-bond' or whatever. He smiled at Snape and waved.

"So, Potter," Snape shifted his focus to me again. "What do you think? Are you going to accept my offer or not?"

"I guess I can't say no to someone who's going to take away more points if I did, so yes," I shrugged.
"Good choice potter, good choice."

Then I felt a tug on my shirt, "yes, Draco?"

"Dwayco peeded on Harry."

Damn. How could I have missed that…

…

Snape laughed- he ACTUALLY laughed. "Looks like you need more help with this than I expected. Come along, you two."