Ok, wow, thank you so much for your reviews, I really appreciate them.
i have an idea or two: Wow, thank you so much, I think that is the best compliment anyone has given me. I'm really glad you like it so far.
lilz54: I'm glad you liked that letter, I was debating on how to introduce them, but I liked the thought of Hermione offering the 'olive branch'.
hana-to-mame, destruction destiny, randy 13, cascol3 and TalaDentro: Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you guys like it and hope I don't disappoint.
Draco looked up from the cauldron he was leaning over, checking his work and at the same time taking in the man who had been assigned to watch his progress. He was older, maybe in his late twenties and definitely a Weasley, this one named Bill, he had to wonder, did they ever stop breeding? The man sat at the back of the room, looking bored out of his mind as he leaned his stool back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. Over the last week that he had become the official potions master for the castle, he spent a lot of time in the dungeons and sometimes Hermione and the two boys joined him, keeping his watch dog occupied. Other times, like now, they sat in an uncomfortable silence, one wishing he was not there and the other wishing the other wasn't there either.
"So what did you do to earn this watch?" Draco asked, stepping back as a puff of violet smoke rose from the cauldron and he nodded in satisfaction before turning to the group of vials he had ready to bottle the potion.
"What do you mean?" the other man asked, not looking at him.
"Can't imagine you volunteered to sit in this dank dungeon and watch an ex-Death Eater," Draco said, waiving his hand slightly, watching the redhead closely as he used his wand-less magic to quickly fill the vials.
"I didn't, I'm somewhat proficient in potions, so they think that with me watching, I can keep an eye on you and you can't try anything to tamper with them," the older man said, leaning forward, placing all four legs on the floor.
"So sitting at the back of the room, where you can't watch every move I make, is keeping an eye on me?" Draco asked, an eyebrow quirked, setting the used cauldron aside and turned to another, pulling it over the fire.
"Something like that," the man said, leaning forward, resting his arms on the table and watching Draco for a long moment. Ignoring the man's stares, Draco walked to the store room, the familiar feeling of the spell passing over him as he went and grabbed a bottle of camel spider legs. As he left the store room, the door opened and Hermione walked in, a tray of food with her and Draco smiled.
"You missed lunch again," she scolded, placing the tray down on the table, placing her hands on her hips.
"I've been busy," Draco said, walking past and taking a roll before walking to the cauldron and placing the spider's legs on the table next to it.
"You know, if I weren't around, you'd let poor Bill starve to death," Hermione said, taking a seat at the second table after taking Bill his plate.
"Well, if it's too much trouble, I'm sure that we could get a house elf to bring us food," Draco said, opening the bottle of legs, he pulled out three and started to cut them up into small slivers.
"No, don't worry about it," the girl said watching him closely and after a moment, got up to watch what he was doing.
"Did you ask?" he finally asked her after she stared at him for several long moments and she sighed in annoyance.
"He said no," she replied before sitting on a stool next to him. After watching him since he started she found potions to be interesting and had voiced a desire to learn. Bill, who had been there, had suggested before he start teaching her the basics, they should run it by Potter and Dumbledore. Dumbledore had thought it a great idea, thinking that they should have more potion makers but James had shot it down from the get-go.
"He's a moron," Draco said, cupping half of the spider legs and placing them into the cauldron before setting the fire low.
"That's my dad you're talking about," a voice said and they looked up to see Harry and Ron walking into the room, a light scowl on his face.
"That doesn't mean he's not a moron," Draco said, returning to the cauldron.
"Well, that 'moron'," Harry said, using his fingers for quotation marks replied, "just authorized you to teach anyone who wants to learn, potions." At this, Draco stopped and blinked before looking up.
"What?" he asked.
"He's decided to let anyone who wants to learn, learn," Harry said, crossing his arms and Draco closed his eyes.
"He's just trying to piss me off isn't he?" he asked no one in particular and he heard Bill snort.
"Oh come on, at least this way you can teach Hermione," the older man said and Draco sent a glare his way.
"But this opens the door to anyone," he said, placing the remainder of the spider legs back in the jar.
"Is that such a bad thing?" Ron asked, taking one of Draco's rolls, which got him a slap on the hand from Hermione and a glare from Draco.
"Not everyone can do potions Weasley," he said, "it's an art form."
"Right," Ron said, taking the roll when Hermione turned her back to him and taking a bite.
"And with that attitude, I'm going to say that you are not welcome in my class," Draco said, slapping the younger man in the back of the head, receiving a startled yelp.
"Didn't want to anyway," the redhead muttered before slinking out of the room.
"I'm going to talk to Potter, there is no way I'm letting anyone and everyone in here," Draco said, pulling the cauldron from the fire.
"This should be interesting," Bill said, placing his fork down next to his plate. "I think I"ll join you," he said, grinning.
"I think we should too, damage control," Hermione said, also standing, "you remember last time you two had a 'discussion'." Draco had needed access to the library that had been closed off, to say the least the discussion had led to Draco lashing out and hitting the older man.
"Great, we'll be one happy troupe," Draco said sarcastically, waiting for the others to leave before following them, feeling the room seal shut behind him. Taking the lead, he made his way up to the headmaster's office and walked right in, not caring who or what was behind the door. James, Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus were all there, looking like they were having an afternoon tea and all but Dumbledore stood when they entered.
"Malfoy," James said, his voice low, "what a pleasant surprise."
"I am not teaching just anyone," Draco said, glaring at the older man and he heard Hermione sigh in exasperation behind him and James cocked an eyebrow.
"You wanted my permission to teach Hermione, you now have it, but you will teach anyone who wants to learn."
"I will not be held responsible for a fools who thing they know a few things about ingredients to blow us all into oblivion," Draco said through clenched teeth.
"That is my decision," James replied, turning back to the other men in the room, a clear dismissal.
"What about this?" Hermione spoke up, seeing Draco's clenched fists and the intent to murder in his eyes, "what if he has a trial for anyone who wants to learn, if they pass, he'll teach them, if not, he won't." James turned back to stare at the girl, then Draco, as if thinking it over for a long moment. Maybe he recognized the hate and anger in Draco's eyes or his angry posture, or maybe it was Hermione's worried expression that made him give his decision.
"Fine," he said, "but I want to know who."
"Thank you James," Hermione said, pulling on Draco's arm.
"Just a moment," the older man said, standing, "Malfoy, can I speak with you for a moment?" Draco turned back, an eyebrow cocked. "Just for a moment," James said, pointing to a door to the left, leading to a smaller room. Draco shot Hermione a look and turned to follow the older man into the room where he shut the door and leaned against it.
"What do you want Potter?" Draco asked, tense at being in a room alone with the other man.
"I want you to stay away from Hermione, Ron and my son," the man said, crossing his arms and Draco blinked at him before laughing out right.
"You want me to stay away from them?" he asked and James glared.
"They seem to follow you around, I want it to stop," was the firm command and Draco almost doubled over in laughter.
"No, Hermione follows me around, the other two seem to follow her because Weasley wants in her pants and, well I'm not sure why Harry does, he must be bored."
"You'll discourage them from doing so in the future," was the reply, his tone threatening and Draco sobered quickly.
"Can't do that," he said and James stood straight, his hand flexing as if he wanted to reach for something and the younger man shook his head. "You, yourself just authorized me to teach anyone who wants to learn potions, and Hermione really wants to learn potions." James pursed his lips this before turning around.
"Fine," he said going to open the door, "but you will stop seeing them outside of the classroom, do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," was the sarcastic response and Draco wished he had his wand, just to hex the older man, just once.
In the end, he had eleven people to teach, twenty seven had tried, but only those few had made it. Hermione had made it, not surprisingly, Bill had signed on for the course, though Draco planned to use his knowledge of potions to help those who needed extra attention. There was an older man in his late sixties who had once upon a time, before the war started, been a high healer in Germany, and now wanted to know the other side of the process. Most of them were in their thirties, Hermione, surprisingly Harry, and the Weasley twins were five of the youngest, a young boy who was only ten, an almost prodigy when it came to potions, the only other young person in the room. Draco had to wonder how badly it irked the older Potter to know that Harry would be spending a lot of time with the one person who he had threatened to stay away from him and it made him smile every time he thought about it. He had also not stopped eating meals with the trio, even after the threat, half of the time, he took his meal in the potions room, sometimes his pupils joined him as well and he found himself enjoying their company.
He still wandered the school at night, though he was exhausted by the end of the day, sleep eluded him and found the quiet of the castle calmed his nerves.
One night, as he walked through the fifth floor hallways, he found himself being followed and had to wonder who was out that late at night. Quickly turning the corner he stopped and waited for someone to come around but no one did. Drawing his brows together, he looked around the corner but saw no one, but he had sworn someone had followed him. Shrugging, thinking he was being paranoid, he turned to resume his meander through the corridors when he caught a flash of something that stopped him. Reaching out, lightning fast, he grabbed what looked like air but felt like silk and pulled, revealing a very disheveled-looking Harry Potter who looked very surprised.
"How did you know?" he asked and Draco looked down at the slippers he wore on his feet.
"Next time, make sure you're fully covered," was the reply and Draco turned to the thing in his hand and his eyes grew wide. "An invisibility cloak," he said, gently running his hands over the cloth and noticed Harry fidgeting next to him, looking nervous. "Worried about something?"
"That's my dad's, he'd kill me if he knew I took it," the younger boy said, reaching out as if to take it but stopped halfway and dropped his arm.
"I'm not going to keep it Potter," he said gently, pressing the fabric back into the others hands.
"Thank you," Harry said and Draco took a moment to study him. He could see right off that Harry had dark circles under his eyes, the irises ringed by red as if he hadn't slept in some time, the pallor of his cheeks pale, everything screaming 'exhausted'.
"Don't sleep do you?" Draco asked, turning to walk and a moment later, Harry joined him.
"Bad dreams," Harry said, running a hand through his messy hair, making it worse and Draco chuckled.
"Have you had them often?" he asked, turning to lead the way down the stairs, Harry following him.
"No, they only started about a month ago."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Draco asked, hesitantly.
"What? Oh, no, no, thank you, but no," Harry said and Draco let out a inaudible sigh of relief, he liked the younger man, but was no head doctor.
"Have you tried talking to your dad?" he asked a moment later when the silence stretched between them and Harry chuckled humorlessly.
"Right, it's not like he doesn't have a lot on his plate already, he doesn't need to deal with the boogey man under my bed." By this time they reached the stairs leading down the the dungeons and Draco didn't stop and Harry didn't stop following him.
"Have you tried a dreamless sleep potion?" he asked, walking into the potions room, to the back and into the office where he pulled one down from a shelf.
"No, they need those for patients in the hospital wing," Harry said, looking around the room from the doorway.
"Here," Draco said, pushing the small vial into Harry's hand, "it's a mild one, we'll see how this works and if you need something stronger, let me know." The younger boy stared down at the potion then back up at Draco.
"Thank you," he said after a few minutes.
"You're welcome," Draco said and they stood staring at each other for a long moment before Draco cleared his throat. "You should get back, its getting later and you need to get as much sleep as you can."
"Right," Harry said and turned, almost reluctantly before moving to leave the room.
"Like I said, if you need something stronger, let me know," Draco said, leaving the room after him, "or, if you want, you can join me in my wanderings," he offered, and kicked himself after. Harry turned to look at him for a long moment, a smile forming on his lips.
"I'd like that," he said, a slight blush forming on his cheeks, before he hung his head and turned, wrapping the cloak around himself and disappearing and Draco couldn't help but smile as he heard the soft footfalls leave the corridor. That night was one of the first he went to sleep without waking up every few hours from his own bad dreams.
Ok, wow, that was cheesy as hell. Let me know what you think please :). This is the first of a few interactions late at night I'm going to have those two have. I'll get around to the Harry/Draco lovin' soon, it's just a process. :)