The Road Home

Chap. 3 - BACK TO HOGWARTS

If there was one thing that Severus Snape hated more than the usual set of DADA's teachers, it was a female DADA teacher. A woman, for Merlin's sake! And if that wasn't enough she was also too young for the job, only twenty five years old. Erin Jones - 'but you can call me just Erin' she'd said at the welcome feast - had a short and messy light brown hair (Ally Mcbeal's type), dark blue eyes and was always wearing tight robes.

The first time they'd met, Snape muttered something like 'totally unprofessional'. Erin did not seem to care one bit for his criticisms. On the contrary, every time she was around him, she just smiled defiantly in a wild sort of way. It was almost like a challenge. Involuntarily, she made his blood boil.

'She is too young.' Snape had said right after Dumbledore hired her at the beginning of the school term.

'Ah, but she is one of the best Aurors I've ever met.' Dumbledore refuted.

'If she is that good why isn't she working for the Ministry of Magic?'

'It's a fact - a very sad and well-known fact, I shall add - that our dear Fudge is not convinced of Voldemort's return.'

'Blind, incompetent fool!' Snape mumbled with a grimace.

'Because of his stubbornness, Erin resigned her post. Lucky for us! She is a sunshine, isn't she? Lovely girl indeed! Anyway, Erin thinks Hogwarts is the best place to be right now.'

'Why? I thought she was an action type of girl.'

'Because, Severus, Harry Potter is here. And she knows Voldemort is probably obsessed with the idea of destroying Harry.'

'She wants to keep an eye on Potter, then. How original.' Snape said, full of irony.

'There, there, Severus. Try not to be so harsh with her.'

Unfortunately, 'harsh' was the only word in Snape's vocabulary at the moment.

A week after the beginning of the school year, all he heard in the hallways was how amazing and wonderful Erin Jones' classes were. She wasn't just beautiful but actually had a brain under that pretty face. What a surprise. This piece of information made him even more bitter than usual. The only students trying to make her life a living hell were the Slytherins but she was dealing with that problem just fine. Snape also noticed a very peculiar fact. She seemed to be particularly fond of Draco Malfoy.

"Ah, Severus! I'm so glad you're here." she said on a Saturday night, dragging him inside her office.

"I was just passing." Snape said trying to pull away.

"Lucky for me, then. Could you help me put these books in order?" she asked showing him a large pile of books.

"It's been a week already and you still didn't set your things in order? Honestly..." Snape made a face, showing his disapproval.

"Most of my stuff only arrived today." Erin sent him such an innocent smile that he felt himself being swept in a new and different wave of emotions.

He took a book in his hands and started helping her by placing it on a large bookshelf.

"Don't get used to this." he warned her. "I won't be a Mr. Nice Guy to you just because everyone else thinks you're some kind of an angel."

"That thought didn't even cross my mind. But it would be rather interesting, you know."

"What exactly would be so interesting?"

"You, being nice for a change. It would probably be the strangest thing that ever happens in the history of Hogwarts!"

Snape made a disagreeable face and Erin laughed.

"Don't push your luck."

"Sorry." but she didn't sound one bit sorry.

After a moment of silence, Snape started: "I heard the kids love your classes. I wonder if this admiration has something to do with your unusual robes."

"What's wrong with my robes?" she asked curiously.

"What isn't? I mean, look at you. The robe you're wearing now, for example, is so damn tight that I'm surprise you haven't suffocated yet."

"Are you insinuating the students like my classes because of my looks? That's insulting!"

"If the cap fits you..."

Erin counted up till ten to calm down although she felt like going for his throat.

"You are so unpleasant." she said calmly. Then she added. "But I like you."

They looked at each other for a few seconds then Snape looked away embarrassed.

"Do you want to hear a secret?" Erin asked to break the uncomfortable silence.

"..."

"I wish I could teach the Dark Arts to my students."

If Dumbledore had entered in the room wearing a dress and singing the YMCA song Snape wouldn't be half as surprised as he was at hearing Erin's words. "What?"

"Well, I just think they should be ready to face real danger. You know, Death Eaters. I fear for them... the students, I mean. Most wouldn't have a chance against those monsters. But that doesn't mean I approve Dark Arts. Not at all. But you know what they say: know thy enemy..."

"Did you tell Dumbledore about this?"

"No! I don't think he would approve. But I did ask him if I could start a duelling club."

"And what did he say?" Snape now had a full concentration on her.

"He said that you'd be perfect to help me with that."

Snape's mouth twitched in what appeared to be an almost smile.

"What do you think?" Erin asked anxiously.

"I think... that I'm almost starting to like you."

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Ever since he was back at Hogwarts, Draco couldn't sleep. His mind kept playing the same scene over and over again. Did Harry Potter almost kiss him? Or was it just a dream? His heart didn't seem to mind the answers to these questions though. All he knew was that Harry had showed some emotion towards him. And it hadn't been hate, he was sure of that.

He hadn't seen Harry since that fateful day. It he didn't know better, he'd thought Harry was avoiding him purposely. This could be a good thing. It could mean that the other boy was actually worried about what almost happened between them. Then again, this also could be really bad.

In any case, he tried to behave just like always. Like a total prick. This, he had to admit, wasn't that difficult. He was a Malfoy after all. Everyday he got up, went to classes, talked to his Slytherins' colleagues (because they weren't exactly his friends), made fun of Weasel, the mudblood Granger or any other person that was considered persona non grata among the Slytherins. But he never mentioned Harry's name. He just couldn't. At least no one seemed to notice this except perhaps Goyle, who have been looking at him in a funny way.

One night, Draco was walking through the dark corridors of Hogwarts, thinking about his insomnia problem when he saw Harry. He quickly hid behind an old statue and waited, not sure of what to do.

When Harry passed by Draco, the silvery blond boy followed him. He silently watched Harry entering the library and wondered what he was doing there so late at night.

Harry stopped walking suddenly and turned around to see if there was someone following him. He'd heard a noise of very light steps from behind his back but there seemed to be no one beside himself. He was supposed to be wearing his Invisibily Cloak but Ron had borrowed it for a date. How he'd managed to find a date so soon Harry had no idea but Ron had promised to tell him everything in the morning. Because of that he had to be extra careful not to be caught either by Filch or Snape.

Cursing under breath, he went looking for the Dark Arts section. When he found it, he took a heavy volume out of the shelf and carefully sat down on the floor. He was leafing through the book when he heard the noise again. His heart started to beat faster. Someone was hiding in the shadows. When he looked up, he saw Draco Malfoy staring down at him with a bemused grin on his face.

"Well, Potter, we meet again."

"Jesus, Malfoy! You almost scared me to death. What are you doing here?" Harry asked furiously standing up with the book still clutched in his hands. "Were you following me?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't do such a thing." Draco lied shamelessly.

"Oh, really? Let's rewind the tape, shall we?"

"Rew...what?" Draco asked but Harry didn't bother to explain and kept on talking.

"Back in our first year, who had the ferret face pressed so hard against Hagrid's window? YOU! And who is always trying to get me into trouble? YOU! You are always at my back, Malfoy, in one way or another. Why can't you just leave me alone? Or maybe your Death Eater father asked you to keep an eye on me. Am I right?"

"No, you couldn't be more wrong." Draco bit his tongue. He shouldn't be here, standing before the object of his desire. He should not be coming closer to Harry. But he couldn't resist talking to him when they were alone. "I'm not the one you have to worry about this year." And he certainly shouldn't have said that.

"What are you talking about?" Harry questioned, taking a step back.

Draco closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. What am I doing?

"Someone else is keeping an eye on you this year."

"What?" Harry's mouth fell open.

"You heard me the first time, Potter." Draco said angrily. "And before you ask me who it is, I have no idea."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I have my reasons, ok? I just wanted you to know that you are in danger. That's all."

"Oh, come on. I don't believe you are giving me this information for free. What do you want?"

That question, Draco thought, opened up an enormous list of interesting possibilities. But before he could say something stupid like 'I desperately want to kiss you', he said: "You surely make it easy for your enemies to catch you, Potter. Honestly, you are walking around the school all by yourself at night when Dumbledore specifically forbid this... how dumb is that?"

"Look who's talking. You're not supposed to be here at this time of day either. Since we cleared that out, why don't you go away?"

"Not a chance. Besides, it's my turn to ask questions now. What are you doing here?" Draco grabbed the book Harry was holding and read his title. "A Hundred Evil Curses - how to make your enemy's life as miserable as possible. Why, I'm shocked." He said, leaning on the shelf.

"Give it back, Malfoy!" Harry tried not to raise his voice too much.

"I'm impressed, really. If you want me to, I could help you. I know a bunch of books even better than this one."

"I don't want your help. In fact, I want nothing to do with you. So just get the hell out!"

"Are sure of that? Because that wasn't the impression I had the other day at Madam Malkin's."

Harry shivered at the memory. "I don't know what you are talking about." he whispered.

"I don't believe you." Draco put the book back on the shelf, moving closer to Harry and started talking softly into Harry's ear. "In fact, I doubt that. You were nervous that day, Potter, just like you're now. Look at your hands."

Harry looked at them and realized they were shaking. He tightened his fists and bit his lips.

"Get away from me." Harry said in a low growl.

Draco laughed bitterly. "You are free to go, Potter." he stepped back and pointed out the direction of the front door. "What are you waiting for? Just go! Isn't what you want? Don't you want to stay as far away from me as possible? This is your chance to get rid of me forever. If you walk away now, I promise you I'll never even glance in your direction."

Harry didn't move. He was too busy fighting against the little voice in his head that wanted him to take the opportunity to run away. Harry Potter wasn't a coward though. Besides, he realized with surprise, he didn't want to go away.

"I don't have all night, Potter. Just make up your damn mind!" Draco was almost shouting. His heart was aching too much for him to care. "What do you want!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Harry shouted back. "I don't know what I want. I... All I know is that I don't want you near me because of who you are, but at the same time... I just... I don't know." Harry said confused.

"That's a start." Draco said with a grin. Harry looked at him amazed. He'd never seen him smile like that, so honest and open. "Do you want to know what I want?" Harry shook his head. "I want to help you. In anyway I can."

"The problem is, Malfoy, that I don't trust you. You are the enemy." Harry pointed out.

"Am I?" he said with a mysterious tone of voice. "Look, I know I haven't been very nice to you and I'm sorry." Harry frowned and Draco looked at him offended. "I'm serious, Potter. I don't want to be a Death Eater. I don't want to lick Voldemort's ass. Ugh. That sounded disgusting..."

Harry couldn't resist laughing. Draco smiled back at him.

"Why do you want to help me?" Harry said after a moment of silence.

"Just because."

"That's not a good answer."

"It's the only one I can give you, for now at least."

"How can I trust you, Malfoy? You haven't been anything but a pain in the ass all these years."

"I'll give proofs, Potter. I could tell you that I was the one that saved your ass from being killed at the beginning of the holidays. I even saved the Weasels. But you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't." Harry was astonished at the revelation. "You're lying."

"Yeah. I would have the same reaction if I were you. Actually, sometimes I don't believe it myself."

"Would you be against your father?"

"Yes." Draco answered quickly. Too quickly for Harry's taste.

"You don't seem so sure."

"Well, Potter, what did you expect? Even if he is a bastard he's my father after all."

Another moment of profound silence, then Draco started. "This is how it'll be from now on. Every time I receive important information about Voldemort and the Death Eaters..."

"You said his name!" Harry interrupted him.

"What?"

"You said 'Voldemort' instead of 'You-Know-Who'."

"So?"

"Nobody does that except for me and Dumbledore. And perhaps Sirius. And Remus. And I think Snape..."

"Ok, I got the picture. Look, it's no big deal, all right? What matters is that I'll report you anything I find out about their movements. What do you think?" Draco waited for an answer but Harry seemed to have his tongue cut off. "Come on, Potter. Say something."

"I don't know what to say. I'm too surprised. The idea is good. The question is: will it work once put into practice?"

"I hope so."

Draco walked slowly towards him and stopped only a few centimeters away.

"Don't." Harry said suddenly out of breath.

"What?" Draco asked puzzled.

"You are too close." Harry looked at him with such confusion that Draco's heart stopped.

"Why do you care?" this time Draco slightly touched Harry's lips with his. Harry sighed.

"I don't." Harry's eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. He tried to get back to their previous conversation . "How do we keep in touch?"

"I don't know." And I don't care, Draco thought. All I care for is this moment.

"You could pass a note to Dobby."

"Who?"

"Dobby." Harry repeated. "He was you're house elf."

"Really?"

"I can't believe you don't know Dobby!" Harry backed away. "And why am I surprised? As you said earlier, you are a Malfoy after all."

"Gee, Potter! You're ruining the moment because of a house elf?"

"Shut up! I thought maybe I was wrong about you, but no. You still think you're better than anyone else. God, how could I be so stupid?"

"WHAT!?"

"And what is this about a 'moment'? There was no moment. Not between us! If you're so willing to help because of some sick, twisted thing you have for me, just forget it!"

"I hate you, do you know that? I - hate - you!"

"The feeling is mutual."

"You bloody..."

They were ready to sock each other in the face when they heard a soft voice from behind their backs.

"Boys, knock it off."

They turned around stunned and saw professor Erin Jones standing next to them with her arms crossed. "Explain yourselves."

"Well, we were just..." they started all at once.

Erin shook her head and hid a smile at their embarrassment. "Spare me all this. You do realize you shouldn't be out of bed so late at night. I guess I'll have to take five points each. Cheer up! You're lucky Snape didn't catch you."

They had to agree on that.

"Mr. Malfoy, you can go back to the Slytherin dorms. As for you, Mr. Potter, I want to have a word with you."

Draco shot one last murderous look at Harry and went away.

Erin grinned at Harry, pulled out a chair and told him to sit down.

"Now, Mr. Potter, may I call you Harry?" Erin started, using all her charm to make him as comfortable as possible in her presence. Harry nodded as she continued. "Don't worry about Draco. I'm sure he will get to the Slytherin dorms safe and sound. But if Snape catches him, well, I think he deserves some punishment. He's been so nasty to everyone and it's only been a week since the classes started... He is quite fascinating though."

"I didn't say anything! Why would I care if he gets caught?" Harry said defensively. "But if he really does, I doubt he will receive a punishment of any sort. He is Snape's pet."

"Really? I didn't know that. How interesting."

"Besides, I'm not Malfoy's friend. Why should I care about what happens to him?" Liar, said a little voice inside Harry's head.

Erin looked at him with such intensity that he felt like his soul was being pulled out of his body for a circumstantial examination. He felt almost... naked.

"All right, Harry. The reason I want to talk to you is because I want to make you a proposal."

Well, Harry thought with a grimace, it seems like everyone has a proposal for me today.

"I know how you'd been spending your nights, Harry. Here, in the library. And don't try to deny it, because I've been following you since day one."

"But how..."

"I also know you have an Invisibility Cloak. I'm a good detective. I wasn't an Auror for nothing, you know. For example, I can tell you that your friend Ron is at the Astronomy Tower at the moment, with a very pretty girl. I'll have to check on them later. The thing is, I know what you are planning. I saw the books you've been reading. They are not for a light reading, are they?"

"Well, I..."

"No excuses, Harry. I'm not here to lecture you though. In fact, I want to help you. I can teach you everything I know about the Dark Arts, Harry. Things I couldn't possibly teach you in class. Of course, I'll be very careful about this, because Dark Arts are difficult and, well... dark. Very dangerous subject indeed."

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Well, Harry, I thought that was obvious. You are Voldemort's number one target. When the time comes - and it will come, you can be sure of that - I want you to be prepared."

"And in exchange?"

"In exchange I need you to stop wandering around school after nightfall. It's not safe."

Harry looked startled. The opportunity was great, but it was a fact - a well-known fact - that all the Dark Art teachers kept some sort of a secret. A bad secret. He wondered what Erin's secret was. Still, he was willing to accept.

"Ok. When can we start?"

Erin smiled. "Whenever you want. I'm free every day after classes except for Fridays. You can come to see me on Monday after dinner for our first lesson."

"Ok, then."

"You are free to go, Harry. Have a good night."

"Goodnight, Professor Jones."

"Call me Erin, please? Jones sounds so... serious. Like I did something wrong."

Harry smiled and nodded. "Ok. Bye... Erin."

Harry was almost at the door when Erin said something that made him shiver.

"Oh, and one more thing, Harry. This thing you have with Draco... If at some point it feels right... just go for it." she winked.

That thought haunted him all night long.