First Place - Action/Adventure

The dorm was unusually quiet that morning as all five dorm mates and Draco got dressed and ready for the day. Somehow, they all managed to troop down to the common room together where Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought his friends were deliberately sticking close to himself and Draco this morning, making sure they were all right after the nightmares the night before.

Hermione and Ginny frowned in concern at the subdued group. "Is everything all right?" Hermione asked worriedly. Harry's friends all turned to look at him. Even Draco looked up at him.

Harry rolled his eyes at their worry, even as he looked a bit sheepish for having woken everyone up during the night. "Everything's fine. We're all just a little extra tired this morning. That's all," Harry said with a tone of finality. He wasn't going to say anything more, particularly with Draco present.

The worry didn't lessen from the girls' expressions but they didn't say anything else. They all trooped out of the common room to go to breakfast. No one seemed particularly surprised to see Crabbe and Goyle waiting for Harry and Draco, although the other Gryffindor boys watched the Slytherins warily. Harry and Draco just exchanged good mornings with them, and then led the odd group down the hallway.

Hermione and Ginny held Ron and the other Gryffindor boys back. Harry knew they were trying to find out what had really happened the night before. Harry didn't mind as long as they didn't bring it up around Draco. Then again, he didn't particularly feel like talking about it himself either.

When they got to the Great Hall, Harry and Draco parted from the two Slytherins to have breakfast with the Gryffindors. Harry loaded Draco's plate with bacon, eggs and toast and poured him some juice before loading his own plate. Their section of the table was extra quiet as they tiredly ate their breakfasts.

Harry glanced up at Snape who was watching them with narrowed, suspicious eyes. Harry knew that Snape noticed the unusually weary group. Looking over to the Slytherin table he caught Blaise's gaze, who was also watching the group with worried eyes. Harry just gave him a smile, which Blaise returned even though he didn't look any less worried.

Harry went back to eating his breakfast, first making sure that Draco was doing okay still. They were both startled when Hedwig suddenly landed in front of them.

Draco was looking at her in awe. Harry chuckled. "This is my owl. Her name is Hedwig. Why don't you give her a piece of your bacon, Draco?" Harry suggested.

Harry untied the letter from her leg then gazed at Draco while he watched in fascination as Hedwig ate the bacon he gave her. "You can pet her if you want," Harry encouraged.

"Can I?" Draco eagerly asked.

"Sure, she likes being petted," Harry said with a smile, and watched as Draco tentatively reached out to pet her. Hedwig preened and seemed to take to the little boy. Soon, Harry shooed her off, sending her back to the owlery, promising Draco that he would take Draco to see her at some point and show him the rest of the owls. He instructed Draco to finish his breakfast and Draco eagerly tucked back in with new enthusiasm. Harry smiled, watching him for a moment, then turned his attention to the letter he'd actually received.

"Who's it from?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Snape," Harry answered absently, as he was still reading.

"You're sure getting friendly with the greasy git," Ron commented with a grimace.

Harry glared and gave a pointed look in Draco's direction, who luckily hadn't heard the insult to his godfather.

Ron rolled his eyes. "So, what's he have to say then?"

"Is it about what happened yesterday?" Hermione asked in concern.

Harry nodded absently, back to reading the letter. Once he was finished, he ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. He folded the letter and slipped it into his bag.

"Well?" Ron asked leadingly.

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes. His friends were nothing if not persistent.

"Mainly I'm supposed to watch my emotions today because of what happened yesterday. He also said I have to meet him and Dumbledore at four o'clock this afternoon and that it'll be okay if Draco comes," Harry enlightened his friends.

What he didn't tell them was that he was supposed to avoid casting any spells and be extra cautious if he did have to because he could easily lose control of his magic again. By all means, he wasn't supposed to shout out spells like a person normally would for a lot of spells. "Speak quietly" had been underlined three times. Being careful around his godson was also emphasized. They'd be going over ways to control his magic that afternoon.

Hermione was eyeing Harry suspiciously, like she knew he wasn't telling them everything, but she didn't ask for once. Having Draco around had its extra bonuses. It was certainly helping to keep Hermione from asking too many questions. Harry just sent Hermione a grin and finished off his pumpkin juice.

Draco was already finished and was staring up at the enchanted ceiling in wonder.

"Are you ready for classes, angel?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded and clambered down off the bench. Harry helped him put his bag over his shoulders and they were ready to go. Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle met up with the group of Gryffindors as they all headed outside for Care of Magical Creatures.

As they neared Hagrid's hut, Harry had a thought. "You know, Draco," Harry began conversationally. "I want you to pay attention for once in Care of Magical Creatures class today."

Draco nodded enthusiastically. He was happy to be outside.

Harry grinned and just waited for the others to catch on. With Harry's conversational tone, it took the others a few seconds to realize exactly what Harry had said. Suddenly laughter broke out and sounded throughout the grounds.

"For once!" Ron guffawed.

Harry was glad to see that even the Slytherins were laughing.

"I must admit, this is the first time I've ever seen Draco looking forward to this class," Blaise said, snickering at his friend.

"It'll be good for him," Hermione said primly.

"Actually, I think he'll like this class. He seems to really like creatures. He's just never liked Hagrid. Given that circumstance, I'm guessing he couldn't allow himself to like the class even if he'd wanted to," Harry said, giving them all something to think about as Hagrid stepped forward, ready to begin class.

The lesson turned out to be fun for everyone. Hagrid had a bunch of clabberts for them to study for awhile. They were funny looking creatures, with their monkey and frog-like features. Today they were to be taking the creatures for a walk on a leash, but with their urge to hop or swing through the trees, it made for interesting "walks". Everyone learned very quickly to keep them away from the trees and stick to open areas.

They really were ugly creatures but not particularly harmful, which everyone was thankful for. They wouldn't hurt anyone. The clabberts' sharp teeth were just for being able to eat their diet of lizards and birds easier. Their defense was entertaining rather than harmful. When they sensed danger, the ugly pustules in the middle of their forehead would flash.

Draco was in constant giggles the entire class, which entertained everyone, even the ones who were frustrated waiting for Hagrid to get their clabberts down from the tree branches. Harry helped Draco take one for a walk and Draco hopped along almost as much as the clabbert did.

It was a joyful group that headed back to the castle after class was over. As they neared the Charms classroom for the next class, Harry started getting a little nervous though. How was he supposed to avoid using his wand in this class? There was plenty of "foolish wand waving" that occurred in Charms.

Harry got him and Draco settled in at the back of the classroom and for once hoped for a lesson completely filled with taking notes. He knew it wouldn't happen because if Professor Flitwick had them take notes at all, it was always during the first part of class and they spent time working on the practical during every class.

Today they did take notes for a little while. They would be working on Levitation charms again but with a slightly new twist. Flitwick had them taking notes while he described how and what was necessary to levitate much heavier objects. During first year they had started with levitating feathers. Now, they were to be levitating bricks that were magically charmed to weigh heavier and gradually they were told that they would work up to levitating the bricks charmed to weigh as much as a large person.

Trying to charm a heavy brick wasn't something Harry wanted to do when he was supposed to be cautious with his magic. Snape hadn't exactly said what could go wrong, but Harry didn't want to find out the hard way.

Harry stared at his brick for several moments, and then glanced over at Draco, checking on him. Draco had deserted his drawings that he'd been doing while the others took notes and was now watching the attempts at levitation with fascination. Harry broke out into a wide grin and turned to Hermione who was on the other side of him.

"Hey, Mione. Conjure a feather for me, would you?" he asked quickly.

She gave him a strange look but did as he asked.

"Thanks!" Harry barely got out before he snatched the feather and turned back to Draco.

"Hey, Draco," Harry said, getting the little boy's attention. "Would you like to give it a try?" Harry asked, waving the feather.

Draco's eyes lit up. "Can I?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure," Harry said grinning. "Get your wand out."

Hermione tapped him on the shoulder. "Harry," she hissed. "You're supposed to be doing the levitating, not him. He shouldn't be doing this."

"Draco deserves a chance to try, too," Harry said, "and Snape told me Draco was allowed to use his wand here." Harry turned back to Draco. For several minutes they worked just on being able to say the incantation correctly. Harry and Ron exchanged a grin when Harry had to emphasize the Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa - not Levi-osa, causing Hermione to huff, but grin as well.

Once Draco had the words down, Harry stood behind Draco and held his wrist, showing him how to do the swish and flick motion minus the wand. Then, once Draco could do the proper motion on his own, Harry let him finally try to levitate the feather with his wand.

Harry watched him closely and recognized the fierce look of determination on Draco's face. He'd seen it many times on the sixteen-year-old Draco. After several attempts Draco got the feather to move, and with a couple more tries he could get it to levitate a couple inches off the table before it would drop.

"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed, coming around and noticing Draco's levitation. "Four years old and doing a spell learned in first year. Excellent work!"

Draco beamed proudly. "Great job, Draco," Harry said, grinning just as proudly at Draco's accomplishment and giving the boy a big hug and a kiss on the forehead.

With all of the focus on Draco, Professor Flitwick never asked Harry to show him his own progress. Thankfully class was about over. Harry had gotten out of any wand work and they could go to lunch. In the afternoon it was double potions and then his meeting with Snape and Dumbledore, so he didn't have to worry about casting any more spells before he knew what exactly was going on.

Harry ended up carrying Draco most of the way down to the Great Hall because, despite his excitement at being able to do the spell, he was getting tired again. It had been a rough night without enough sleep to start with and then it had been a busy, active, morning. Harry was beginning to feel the exhaustion again himself.

Harry walked over to the Slytherin table and carefully set the sleepy boy down beside Goyle and then plunked himself down on the bench.

"Potter, you look awful," Pansy declared as she set a full plate in front of Draco.

Harry sent her a half-hearted glare. "Thanks," he said sarcastically.

Both Pansy and Blaise were glancing back and forth between Harry and Draco in concern, but Harry ignored them and filled his plate. He didn't eat much and ended up just resting his head in his hand and watched Draco for a few minutes. When the little boy started to bob his head, falling asleep, Harry gave up. They'd been at lunch barely ten minutes, and neither of them had eaten, but this just wasn't working.

"That's it," Harry declared softly, straightening up.

Draco started at Harry's movement. "Harry, I'm tired," Draco mumbled sleepily.

"I know, angel. Hold on just a minute more and I'll let you take a nap," Harry said. He stood and quickly grabbed their bags before picking Draco up and cradling him against his chest. Within seconds Draco was asleep.

"We'll see you in potions. I'm just going to go find someplace quiet for a bit so Draco can sleep," Harry said. "Oh, and could you grab some fruit or something for Draco to eat when he wakes up?" he asked.

Blaise nodded and several pairs of eyes throughout the Great Hall watched in concern as Harry walked out carrying a sleeping Draco.

When Snape rounded the corner leading to the short corridor outside the potions classroom, he came upon a very unusual sight. And unusual sound. He stopped abruptly, observing the situation. Normally, as students waited for him to arrive, there was a ton of chatter. With the Slytherin/Gryffindor combination, particularly this group, they were often engaged in some type of argument or another. But now, the hallway was almost silent and the students were standing in line, waiting quietly.

They all looked to Snape when they heard him round the corner, then looked back to the duo sitting on the floor near the doorway.

Harry was leaning up against the wall with his head sideways, his cheek resting atop Draco's head. Draco was curled up comfortably in Harry's lap and Harry's arms were wrapped protectively around Draco, his hands interlocked behind Draco to keep him in place. They were both sound asleep.

Snape closed his eyes for a few moments and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn't sure how he wanted to handle this situation. Opening his eyes again, he began to walk forward towards the classroom. "Leave them be," he commanded quietly as he unlocked the door, allowing the students to enter.

The students all quietly took their places and waited for further instruction. Snape waved his wand and tapped the board. "Notes are on the board. Start copying them and when you're finished you may begin brewing the potion," Snape commanded, and students began shuffling for parchment, quills, and ink.

"Mr. Weasley, come with me," Snape commanded, as he stalked back up to the door and out of the classroom. An ashen faced Ron followed. Ron knew why he was likely being called out of the room, but it didn't make him any more comfortable talking to the man.

Once in the hallway, Snape cast a silencing bubble around them, which didn't ease Ron's fears at having to talk to the man. Hermione had done most of the talking in his office the day before and that had been fine with Ron.

"Mr. Weasley, can you enlighten me as to why those two are extra tired today?" Snape asked, gesturing to where Harry and Draco were still asleep on the floor.

Ron swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."

"Well then, enlighten me," Snape sneered impatiently.

Taking a deep breath, Ron explained about the nightmares the night before. With Snape asking specific questions, Ron ended up telling him all of it that he could remember. That included the details of both nightmares, their discussion with Draco, what Harry had told the little boy, and what Harry had told Ron about Voldemort cutting into his nightmares.

Ron described how both had been screaming, but while Draco had woken quickly, it had taken them several minutes to wake Harry. When asked, Ron admitted that he had no idea how long it had taken Harry to fall asleep after each incident, but that Harry had been able to ease Draco's fears and the boy had fallen asleep again fairly quickly each time. Eventually, Snape seemed to be satisfied that he knew everything.

"Attempt to wake Potter without waking Draco," Snape told Ron, dropping the silencing bubble. Ron raised his eyebrows but moved to do as he was told.

"Harry," Ron called softly near Harry's ear. "Wake up, Harry." Ron tapped his friend on his cheek, trying to get his attention and wake him up.

Harry blinked blearily and slowly lifted his head. He looked at Ron, and then noticed Snape. Glancing around the corridor he realized that class must have already started and his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, sir," Harry said quietly.

"Mr. Weasley, you may return to class," Snape said dismissively. Ron shot Harry a sympathetic glance and went back into the classroom.

"Mr. Potter, this afternoon we will be discussing when to begin your Occlumency lessons again," Snape said decisively, in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, surprising Snape. Harry hung his head. "I wanted to talk to you about that as well. I just can't afford not to learn it. I've already failed once and I have even more reason to learn it now," Harry said quietly, stroking Draco's hair in a tender gesture.

Harry felt at a distinct disadvantage sitting on the floor with Snape towering over him, but he looked up anyways. "I apologize for going into your pensieve before. I will not invade your privacy again. It was horribly wrong of me and I have no real excuse. I can only apologize and say that I haven't said anything to anyone."

Harry paused and Snape remained silent, staring down at him contemplatively, eyes narrowed. "I trust you, sir, and whether you believe me or not, I respect you. Unfortunately, it took a lot of soul searching and some growing up the last few months for me to figure that out and I paid a huge price for not trusting and believing in you last year." Harry's arms visibly tightened around Draco. "I won't make the same mistake again. If you're willing to teach me, then I'll do my best to learn it. I can't afford not to," Harry repeated softly.

Snape was quiet for several moments. "Very well, Potter. For now, it is time you went to class. You may copy the notes from Ms. Granger on your own time."

"Yes, sir," Harry answered quietly. As Snape watched, Harry shifted Draco and shrugged out of his robes. Throwing their bags and his robes over one shoulder, he cautiously rose with Draco still asleep in his arms.

He paused inside the door and realized that Hermione and Ron were working together and Pansy was working with Millicent, but Blaise was at a back table by himself and was waving him over. Harry threw his robes out on the floor against the wall behind them and Blaise got the idea. Blaise spread them out and cast a Cushioning charm on them before Harry laid Draco down, then folded the robes around the sleeping boy.

Finally sitting down at the desk, Harry realized that the room was unusually quiet as everyone was watching him. Harry just shrugged off the attention and began following Blaise's whispered instructions for their potion.

It was a completely different class than it had been two days before. The sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins had a new working relationship, if not new friendships. They were getting along for the sake of their two leaders, Harry and Draco.

Admittedly, it wouldn't have been the same if Harry had been the one de-aged, but with Harry so adamantly speaking on Draco's behalf and his gentle care of the little Slytherin, he bridged the gap between the two sixth year houses.

So now, in a classroom which was normally filled with taunts, insults, and sabotaged cauldrons, the students were quiet in deference to the sleeping child. Students were working diligently so that hopefully no accidents would occur.

With eyebrows raised in surprise, Snape walked the classroom and realized that the potions were coming out correctly. Snape had thought that the unusual start to class would be a huge disruption. Rather the opposite appeared to be the case. Harry himself was diligently working with Blaise rather than simply allowing Blaise to do all of the work.

While they worked, Harry quietly told Blaise basically what had happened the night before. He didn't tell Blaise about having Voldemort show up in his mind and he didn't explain how he'd never gone back to sleep after his own nightmares, but he did tell him that he'd had trouble getting back to sleep after Draco's nightmare. Blaise looked worried, but just commented that their night shouldn't be that surprising considering all the revelations the day before.

With forty-five minutes left in class, Draco finally woke up. Harry handed over the stirring to Blaise and gathered up the little boy, sitting back down on the stool with Draco on his lap.

"Feel better after your nap?" Harry asked smiling gently.

Draco nodded and gave Harry a sweet smile. Blaise handed the stirring spoon back over to Harry and Draco watched in fascination as Harry stirred the aqua colored potion. Blaise rummaged in his bag, popped back up holding an apple and offered it to Draco with a grin.

"Thank you," Draco said with a shy smile, taking the apple from Blaise.

"I'm sure you're hungry since you fell asleep during lunch," Harry said. "Eat your apple for now and I'll get you more to eat after class."

Harry moved an extra stool over to the end of the table and let Draco sit there. Draco happily crunched on his apple and watched quietly while Harry and Blaise finished their potion.

Shortly before he dismissed class, Snape came by their table and informed Harry that he was to wait after class and they would walk to Dumbledore's office together. With Harry's protest that he needed to get Draco some food first, Snape simply said that he was sure Dumbledore would take care of that.

Malfoy's Child - Chapter 3

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