This chapter has been reworked, because I'd gotten confused by Hagrid and whether or not I'd demote him from his teaching position.
Anyways, time for some Drarry goodiness and a bit of SevSiriRemi fluff (not sure what name to give the threesome). Don't worry if you don't like threesomes, nothing much happens or will be happening for quite some time. Drarry on the other hand... I also went on a bit with last chapter's theme, though the lack of reactions did disappoint me somewhat. I really want this to be more than a clichéd Severitus Drarry and for me that means diving into some 'philosophical' and ethical uses of Magic and actually detailing my changes in the Wizarding World. I will try however to focus on more than one setting from now on to incorporate the fluff you are all hoping for.
Now enjoy and review on your way out to help make this even better as romance doesn't come easy for me.
Excerpts from DADA essays and the notes beside them
I'd use the killing curse for killing off spiders, since I hate them and they should just disappear from the world. ~ Ron Weasley (Yes, but who would deal with all the insects if spiders don't eat them anymore. Nice creativity, but try to use your head a little next time.)
Overpowering the levitation spell can lead to some awesome explosions, which might be a little dangerous when preformed by a strong wizard. ~ Seamus Finnegan (Not everyone has the tendency to make every piece of magic they preform into a fire based spell. I suggest you have either your ancestry or element disposition checked.)
The Cruciatus curse acts remarkably like a muggle defibrillator, so it could be used for reanimation in small doses. ~ Hermione Granger (Excellent thinking, Granger. I only wish you had respected the demanded length, which cost you points.)
The Imperius curse could be handy for healers who handle mentally ill patients. They could prevent them from harming themselves or others. ~ Draco Malfoy (Clever insight, except the Imperius causes brain damage and addiction over long time use. For both user and victim by the way.)
The killing curse is quick and painless, has no known side effects on the user's part and requires the user to want to kill the victim. If one of my precious people was dying a slow and agonizing death, I'd want to give them a quick and painless end. Non-magicals have named this euthanasia, and though it requires the patient's permission and certain circumstances, and it is legal in many countries. These conditions includes being of legal age, have a terminal illness and suffering agonizing daily pain. ~ Harry Potter (Good job Potter. I see a marked improvement in your written work since Halloween. Keep it up.)
On Saturday morning Draco was a ball of nerves. He was busy checking the Rose Garden to make the details just perfect. A thick picnic cloth in green with gold accents was laid in the middle of the gazebo. Four plates were laid out in a square, as was the golden cutlery. Draco was now bribing the fairies with little candies to be on their best behaviour for the day, so the date wouldn't be ruined by mischievous beings.
Taking a deep breath, Draco forced himself into meditation modus to calm down. Fussing and getting agitated would get him nowhere. Everything was arranged to his liking and Dobby had promised to keep an eye on it. Dobby was also going to cook, always a treat, and Harry's favourite dishes would be served. There was nothing he could do here for now, so he'd best go to the dorms to get ready. He still had three hours before the agreed meeting time, but still!
Hastily he made his way down to the dungeon's mentally going over the suitable clothes he'd brought with him and the possible combinations he could make. On his way, he grabbed Blaise. The Italian boy had an unrivalled eye for style. Blaise spluttered a bit at the manhandling, but Draco ignored it. This was the most important day of his life. If even the smallest detail went wrong, he might kiss his chance at courting the love of his life goodbye. (Let it be noted that while Draco was indeed heavily exaggerating the severity of the circumstances, the date would be under sever scrutiny.)
On the other end of the castle, in the Gryffindor tower, Harry was leisurely taking a shower, while his female friends were going over his wardrobe. Harry was too nervous to pick an outfit himself and thus decided to hand this arduous task over to Fleur, Hermione and Luna. Mostly Fleur though, as Hermione hadn't caught up on the part of formal clothing yet, and Luna might send him off in a unicorn outfit. The boys had been banned from the room, though Cedric had stolen Viktor to help with choosing his own outfit.
When Harry entered his dorm room again, he barely recognized his bed, buried under a mountain of clothes as it was. He raised one eyebrow, (Snape style), at the girls who were still arguing. Hermione had a semi-formal muggle suit in her hands, while Fleur was holding heavy dark green robes. Luna was standing in a corner, looking dazedly up to the ceiling and for a moment Harry wished he could use her tactic to escape the inevitable argument. Alas, Fleur and Hermione had noticed him and loudly sought his opinion.
"Harry, please tell Fleur that you feel far more comfortable in this suit than heavy robes!" Hermione exclaimed while glaring at the tall French girl.
"'Arry, this ees your first date. It is important that you are dressed just so for the occasion. This colour flatters you excellently and will accent your eyes just so." Fleur was not to be outdone by her younger friend. She was French after all and British people couldn't do anything right, from food to clothing!
Harry could only stare at the two options in front of him. The suit was indeed utterly inappropriate, but at the same time the robes were way too heavy and the decorations far too much. At last Luna seemed to take pity on his deer-in-the-headlights-look and pulled a bundle from … somewhere. She had selected a dove grey tunic shirt with dark trousers and a black belt. Over it went a dark emerald robe with delicate embroidering in silver and gold.
"I really like this Luna." Harry told her as he hugged her.
"Hmm. I suppose this is indeed the better option. It remains traditional without giving up on comfort." Fleur seemed a bit put out at being bested by Luna in clothes, but she took it reasonably well. Hermione on the other hand decided to take it as a sign to study more.
Once dressed, Fleur put Harry in front of a large mirror that had popped up out of nowhere. She combed through his, by now dry, silken locks, before braiding part of his hair so his bangs were out of his face.
All in all, getting ready had taken most of the morning and it was nearing noon, so Harry headed to the Great Hall were was going to meet Draco and the chaperones.
Severus looked dour as he patrolled the High street in Hogsmeade. It was his turn to chaperone the students visiting the little village and make sure they behaved. It was also a duty he despised, but all professors had to take a turn and he had signed up for this weekend. Thankfully Aurora Sinistra was a tolerable witch, who took her duties seriously.
Still, he had more productive things to do instead of making sure that a bunch of teenagers didn't get into more trouble than they might be able to handle. The Weasley Twins especially had a tendency to go searching for opportunities to play their pranks and sell their more experimental stuff. Severus had to hand it to them though: they were geniuses what with some of the concoctions they had managed to invent, based on an education of merely 5 years.
"Hello Severus."
Severus turned, startled at the sudden greeting. He was even more surprised to see Sirius and Remus. He knew they would seek him out more, but he hadn't expected to see them this soon. It warmed his heart really: Remus knew how boring and unpleasant Hogwarts's weekends were as a former teacher.
"What are you two doing here, except of course reliving your old Hogwarts's days?" Severus wasn't about to hold back just because they were courting him. Sarcasm was in his blood and besides Sirius particularly gave back as good as he got.
"Helping you with your chaperoning of course. We convinced Dumbledore that two extra pairs of eyes would help in curbing certain students' …enthusiasm." Sirius gave a cheeky grin to go with his cheeky words and Severus smiled involuntarily. Neither commented on this, knowing it wouldn't help their case.
The trio walked on towards Madam Rosmerta's pub, the Three Broomsticks. It was slightly before noon, but this way they would evade the midday rush and have a few moments to themselves. Or more for Remus had had the foresight to reserve a private room.
Draco felt like fidgeting, but repressed the urge since it was unbecoming of an Heir. Instead he brushed off some imaginary lint of his icy blue robes with gold details and stood a bit straighter. Thank Merlin that Pucey knew how to dress and behave himself, otherwise Draco would be even more stressed out.
Just as the clocks began to sound, Harry descended the staircase flanked by Cedric Diggory. And boy did his intended take his breath away. His emerald robes complimented his skin and eye colour to perfection and the subtle details enhanced the glowing quality of the robe. The cut was decidedly feminine and made Harry look even more androgynous than usual. Draco was willing to bet his whole inheritance that Harry was a natural bearer, no way a boy could look so feminine otherwise.
Draco was only vaguely aware off the formal greetings exchanged between the chaperones. They were registered by his subconscious however as he managed to get through the traditional procedure with no trouble.
Formalities over he led the little group back up the stairs to an out of the way passage on the fifth floor. A muttered "Oh l'amour" (Oh love) to a portrait of a pair of lovers saw them to the little garden. Harry breathless gasp of wonder was a balm to Draco's nerves.
Harry had been so nervous, he had been surprised when he managed to make it down the stairs without tripping. Only to nearly trip at seeing Draco in his formal robes. The icy blue brought out Draco's eyes and the fit emphasized his athletic figure. He was glad that Draco had decided to ditch the slick backed hair this year. His hair looked very soft and Harry wanted nothing more than to run his hands through it.
It was with a lot of willpower and concentration that Harry managed to get his wits together so he wouldn't mess up the formal greetings that had to be completed as per tradition. His only comfort was that Draco seemed as much out of it as he was.
When Draco led them back upstairs, Harry had been very confused. He had expected some sort of expensive high-end restaurant, which admittedly would have made him too uncomfortable to properly enjoy the date. When Draco revealed the indoor garden behind the portrait, Harry had been stunned and immensely pleased at the same time. Draco was going above and beyond what was required for a first date.
Blushing when Draco took his hand, Harry followed him to the gazebo covered by roses and sank down on the soft, yet firm cushion. Draco sat himself on the opposite side of the blanket and Cedric and Pucey took the other two places. The glasses filled themselves with Butterbeer and several dishes appeared in the middle. There were several salads, a quiche, and even a small dish of steak and kidney pie.
Conversation began to flow easily after a few minutes of eating. There were of course traditional topics that had been found acceptable for a first date and that had to be discussed. The First Date was meant for the two participants to get to know each other better. Thus they discussed like, dislikes and the general information that seems so important in the early stages of any relationship.
Before they realized it the main dishes were cleared, dessert — treacle tart, what else? — had been served and it was time to part ways again. Both Harry and Draco were rather reluctant to end the date, but Pucey had no such compunctions. While friendly with the Malfoy heir and not a general stick-in-the-ass, he was very firm in observing the Old Traditions. (His recent courting turned betrothal might have something to do with it as well. Because if he had to bear with the strict rules, so had the younger generation.)
After they had handled the formalities and three-fourth had left, Draco began to clean up. The plates, glasses and cutlery had vanished together with the remains of dessert, so he shrunk the blanket and cushions, thanked the fairies and left for the kitchens. In the kitchens Draco thanked Dobby heartily for his help. The house-elf was nearly in tears at this appreciation for his hard work.
Severus nearly dropped into his armchair after dinner. While Remus and Sirius' help was extremely appreciated and he enjoyed their company, he still had his old doubts nestled in his mind. Abuse was a terrible thing to recover from and unfortunately he had had more than his fair share, as had Harry. Tomorrow he'd have to bring up the possibility of a mind healer for the two of them. Naturally he'd wait until Harry had told him everything about his First Date.
It was a milestone Severus hadn't expected to cross for several years, but his Lord's orders and his drunken foolishness had sped things up. Draco was very lucky that he was obviously in love with Harry, or Severus would have found a way to nullify the agreement before the Malfoys had time to act on it.
That reminded him, he should bring up the surprise Dumbledore had organized for Christmas. The old coot was far too naïve if he still believed in cooperation between the schools on a large scale. The champions had united, yes, but only because of Harry's unexpected participation. Too bad that his Lord hadn't regained his sanity sooner. On the other hand, he would never have gained a son, if things had gone different. That at least made the whole mess a little better.
Thankfully he and the other Heads of Houses had finally managed to demote Hagrid from his teaching position. It had taken far longer than necessary in his opinion and if he had to see the old coot twinkle his eyes once more, he was going to gouge those blue eyes out. and Hagrid wasn't even the worst in the bunch! Half a semester ago, he had taken the honorable position as worst professor, only outdone by Quirrel and Lockhart. Getting Binns and Trewlaney out was going to be next to impossible, to say nothing of Burbage.
Severus bolted upright at the idea that crossed his mind. Why not go all the way and ask for a thorough inspection of Hogwarts? It played right into their cards and surely they would be able to press Fudge enough to ensure a capable person on the job? Forgetting his tiredness, Severus lighted his fireplace to call his Lord and inform him of the idea.
For those of you bothered by Fleur's once again noticeable accent, I will remind you that people have a habit of falling into their mother tongue when agitated. Fleur doesn't go that far — mostly because my French is horrible —, but her French accent will be much more distinguished.