Draco Malfoy and the Last Year

Level 2.9: The Younging Potion

Potter seemed to accept Persephone as quickly and completely as Draco had predicted. Daphne was baffled by Harry and Persephone's suddenly acquired habit of taking long walks together and holding hands and private conversations. Victoria and Thomas were used to keeping each other company, so Draco locked himself away in the potions lab. Snape spent much of the time in the room with him working on his own projects, but they did not talk more than necessary.

Draco wondered if Snape was experiencing the same odd jealousy that he was. As much as he had pushed and prodded Persephone to reveal herself to Potter, now that she had, he regretted it. He missed his little sister and could not help feeling that he had lost her completely now that she had her real family back.

Within a day, Harry seemed to have become her world. Now even when they did see each other at meals or before bed, Harry seemed to be all she wanted to talk about. At least she's happy Draco thought, trying to console himself with the thought that is was the right thing to let her go.

Two days after Christmas, Potter cornered him in an empty hall. Draco had half been expecting it, but he was no longer looking forward to it. "Malfoy! Hey, Malfoy!"

Draco stopped, bit back a sigh, and turned to face Harry.

"Persephone told me that you were the one who rescued her," said Potter. "She said you tried to bring her to me which is why you were at Privet Drive. Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I'm not looking for thanks," Draco drawled.

"I wasn't trying to thank you," Potter said stiffly. Draco could not help frowning. "I want to know what you're up to."

You've got to be kidding me. After all he had been through, Potter was still going to treat him like the enemy. Draco felt a flash of anger. "It's all part of this wonderfully sinister plot I've concocted. So brilliant, even I don't understand it."

Potter continued to give him an unflinching stare as though he was taking Draco's words very seriously. "I don't understand it either."

Draco wanted to bang his head against the wall. His or Potter's either one. It did not matter at this point. "For pity's sake, you Gryffindors wouldn't know sarcasm if it walked up, shook your hand, and introduced itself."

"Malfoy, you wouldn't know how to not be sarcastic, if I had Hermione write out instructions for you," Potter retorted.

Draco felt his anger leak away. "What do you want, Potter?"

"An explanation," said Potter. "I am grateful that you saved Persephone. That is I would be if I was sure that's what happened. How do I know this isn't some ploy to gain my trust?"

"Do you trust me?" Draco said, raising his eyebrows, because the answer was quite obvious.

"No," Harry said.

"Then it wasn't a very good ploy was it?"

"That's the part that confuses me," said Harry. "If you wanted me to trust you, why wait so long? Why didn't you tell me what was going on yourself?"

"You said it yourself," Draco said. "You don't trust me. If I had told you who Persephone was, would you have believed me? Didn't think so."

Harry was looking at Draco as if he had never really seen him before. It was not a flattering look, but it showed he was thinking. "That still doesn't tell me what you want. How do I know you're not working for Voldemort?"

Draco pulled up his sleeves and showed Harry the white of his forearms.

"All that tells me is that you haven't taken the mark," Harry said.

"Good point," Draco said flatly and pulled his sleeves back down. "If you don't trust me, and you don't trust Persephone, then I guess you don't know I'm not working for him. But I can tell you what I want." Draco took a few steps to close the distance between him and Potter. "I want out of it. I don't want to work for you, and I don't want to work for him. All I want is out of this whole bloody mess."

If Potter was bothered by Draco's proximity he did not show it. He met Draco's grey eyes with his green ones. "Where's Voldemort?" he asked.

Draco looked back at Harry in amazement. Potter was trying to use legilimency, and he was quite possibly the clumsiest legilimens Draco had come across. "I already told you all I could," Draco said softly. If Harry could not figure that out, he was not intelligent enough to handle the information anyway. "But even if I spelled it out for you, it wouldn't do you any good. I'm not going to be your spy, Potter. I said I want out, not in more deeply. You've got your aunt back. Be happy with that." Draco stalked past him, and Potter did not try to stop him.

He got five steps before he thought of something and turned around. "Persephone has a bit of an issue with animals so don't be stupid and try make her hold Granger's cat or something."

"I know," Harry said.

Draco nodded and meant to walk off again, but he thought of something else. "And she's a bit sensitive about her hair, so I'd be careful how you talk about it....and I think she has a myrtlap allergy, so no potions with the essence in it."

Potter smirked and crossed his arms. "Do I need to take her on walks and check for flees?"

Draco scowled. "Just take care of her, Potter."

"You really like her, huh?"

"I like her a hell of a lot more than I like you," Draco said.

Potter actually smiled. "Funny, I could say the same."

"Cute," Draco muttered. He turned his back on Harry and walked away.

****************

The discussion with Harry had not gone anything remotely like the way Draco had planned it, but he was not keen to try again. He kept to himself for the rest of Christmas break, avoiding Daphne even though the loneliness was starting to get to him. He was so overjoyed to see Crabbe and Goyle again that he did hug them when they returned from the train.

Once that they had assured themselves that he was still in his right mind, the seventh year boys gathered in their dorm. After the other boys had recounted their holiday adventures or lack thereof, Nott steered the conversation to girls. "Start of term survey," he said. "Best looking seventh year girl?" Nott loved these conversations.

"Daphne," Crabbe said reluctantly.

"If you don't count personality," Nott agreed. "Daphne. Draco?"

"Pansy," Draco said, opening up the new Quidditch magazine Goyle had brought with him. He was lying on his bed with his head on the foot end and the curtains open. His fantasy Hermione was stretched out on the bed beside him. She had been keeping him company for the past few days, and he was having trouble getting rid of her.

Crabbe and Nott were sitting on the floor and Goyle sitting on the end of Crabbe's bed. Zabini was stretched out with a book on his own bed.

"You always say Pansy," Nott complained. Draco shrugged. "Goyle?"

Goyle frowned with concentration. "Daphne, I guess," he said. Draco smiled. Not because he was enjoying the conversation. He hated conversations like this, because he knew what his mother would think of them. But his fantasy Hermione was giving her own running commentary on the boys' conversation.

"I think Indigo's gotten rather pretty," Blaise said, not looking up from his book.

"Indigo's always been pretty," said Draco. "She's just stopped trying to hide it."

Nott made a face. "She's flat. Okay, next question, best breasts?"

"Millicent," Goyle said happily, though Draco thought it would be unwise for anyone to agree with him.

"If you're just going by size," Nott said. The word pig was starting to come up a lot in fantasy Hermione's commentary, and Draco had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

"Daphne," Crabbe said again with a sigh.

"Hm, Daphne," Nott nodded sagely. "Though Eloise Midgen's got a decent set if you can get past her nose. Come on, Malfoy."

"Pansy," he said.

Nott laughed. "As you like. Best legs?"

"Daphne," the three boys said together.

"They're not the best," Draco said. "She just shows them off more."

"Something for which I think we're all grateful," Nott said. "Who's got the best then?"

"Pansy," Draco said, mostly because she was his safe answer for all of it, and it would make the other boys laugh.

"Oh, I don't know. I think Granger's are pretty nice," Blaise said, grinning mischievously at Draco.

Draco had been trying to figure out how he felt about Zabini all last term and now he knew. He hated him. His fantasy Hermione was looking a bit too pleased with herself.

Zabini closed his book. "Why don't you ever do this with more interesting features, like best laugh or best eyes or something?"

"Fine," Nott said, sounding annoyed with the interruption but intrigued that Zabini was actually participating. "Best hair then?"

"Pansy," Draco said.

"Daphne's," Crabbe said in a resigned sort of way.

"I liked Indigo's hair when it was long," Goyle said.

"And it's proper color," Blaise agreed. "But it's cute now too. I think she's letting it grow out again."

"Good," Draco said.

"Hm...I can't decide," Nott said. "Malfoy, why do you always say Pansy?"

"Why do you never say Laurel?" Draco retorted.

"Well, she's a sixth year for one," Nott said. "And Laurel doesn't have the best of anything so much as she has good everything." Draco thought this was a crude but fairly accurate assessment of Nott's girlfriend.

"Best smile?" Zabini asked, clearly trying to raise the tone of the discussion.

"Tracey Davis," said Draco promptly, and fantasy Hermione fell into fit of giggles.

****************

Pansy was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs when morning came. Her arms were folded over her chest, and her eyebrow was cocked dangerously. "Goodmorning," Draco said as though he did not notice her posture.

"Morning," she said coolly. He was almost past her when she added. "Why did you lie to me?"

Draco raised his eyebrows innocently.

"There are no witch hunters in Canada," Pansy said pointedly and not very quietly.

"That's good news," Draco said lightly.

Pansy did not look amused. "Why won't you tell me the truth?!"

Draco leaned against the stair rail and looked her straight in the eyes. "Because, love, it's none of your business."

"If it involves--" Pansy began, none too quietly, but Draco grabbed her arm and jerked her forward, spinning her and pulling her in so she fell with her arm around his neck and he caught her about the waist. Some people passing through the common room giggled at the scene. Pansy placed her free hand on his chest to steady herself. Her expression was completely bewildered.

"It involves people and things that won't effect you, if you can keep your pretty nose out of them," Draco said quietly. "Stop trying to be the inquisitor, love. I thought we were supposed to be enjoying our last year in school." He put his mouth beside her ear and whispered. "If I could tell you the truth, I would, but I can't. So if you care about me at all, let it be."

Pansy attempted to steady herself, though she made no effort to get away from him. She pulled her head back so that she could meet his eyes. She still looked rather bewildered, but her brown eyes were shining with unshed tears now. "You didn't have to lie to me."

"Yes," Draco said. "I did." He released her hand and waist and put his hands on her shoulders. "But let's forget about it. Did you have a nice Christmas? How is Rose doing?"

Pansy looked rather indignant at the change in subject, but Draco offered her his arm. She visibly forced herself to become collected and took it his elbow. Rather stiltedly at first and then more fluidly she recounted the highlights of her holiday.

****************

The new year brought a change in the seating arrangement. Most significantly Blaise and Pansy switched places, so that Blaise was settled between Daphne and Indigo. Pansy took the place on Draco's left, and unlike Blaise she was not willing to move aside when Persephone came. Pansy clearly resented not being let in on the secret, but she seemed to understand that simply knowing there was a secret gave her a certain amount of power over them. Blaise looked very pleased with himself, and Draco was developing a rather deep loathing for him. Daphne seemed less thrilled by the new arrangement, and the next day seated herself beside Pansy again. Millicent moved in, and Weatherby took advantage of the empty slot to talk Quidditch with three of his players.

"Poor Professor Snape," Daphne remarked. "He looks so sad."

"You know, Daphne, Dumbledore's still single," Pansy said.

Daphne made a face. "Ew, I like them mature not geriatric, besides he's got a beard."

"You don't like beards?"

"Hate them."

"He does seem a bit less enthusiastic this term," Zabini said, staring up at the staff table.

"Probably had a lousy holiday," said Crabbe, who had not had the best one either.

"He already approved the new practice schedule though," Jonathan said cheerfully.

Weatherby had just begun describing the new training schedule when the arrival of the owls interrupted him. Draco had sent Oberon off with a letter to his mother just before Christmas and had not seen him since. So he had a mixed sense of relief and trepidation, when the owl landed on the table with a letter tied to his leg. Draco opened it while Pansy was distracted with her own package. The letter was three pages long, describing a holiday that Draco believed was largely fictitious and laced with sentences about how he was very cruel not to have joined her for Christmas. When Draco's thumb touched the third parchment, however the real letter appeared.

~

Dear Draco,

Why didn't you come home for Christmas? And what were you doing at Potter's house? We have assured V. of your good intentions, and he's willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But you must do something to prove yourself, my love. Stay out of trouble but be ready to act when the time comes.

Look out for S. I fear the danger that I warned you of may have taken hold of him.

~N.M.

~

Draco folded the letter and tucked it back into the envelope. A cold feeling spread through him as he looked at the Slytherins seated around him. It was one of them. One of them was reporting back on him.

It created an icy, hollow sensation to think one or more of his friends had betrayed him, but he was not confident that he would not have done the same if the situation were reversed. He decided the only thing he could do was try not to give the spy anything worth reporting.

****************

He tried to act as though he enjoyed Pansy's clinging, but he found himself watching Hermione even more than usual during classes. Unless he was imagining it (and it would not surprise him if he was), she was looking his way more often as well. These looks were still cold and suspicious, however. Potter and Granger had accepted Persephone, but they had not accepted him along with her.

Draco decided to tell Snape about the part of the letter which pertained to him, because he was pretty sure his mother was right and thought it might be important. Snape simply nodded as though Draco was confirming something he had already suspected. Draco was slightly annoyed to not get more of a reaction but felt too much empathy with Snape to stay that way.

There had been a few odd rumors floating about before Christmas, but since the students had returned, they were gaining full force. Persephone was not fairing well in most of them. The strangest one Draco had heard involved Persephone being some sort of vampire/veela hybrid, but thankfully no one seemed to be taking that too seriously. Most students did however seem to be under the opinion that Persephone and Harry's interest in each other was of the romantic sort. Draco did not have the energy to combat this image. He denied it when asked, but no one believed him. They simply thought he was bitter over having been dumped. No one seemed able to understand what had bridged the gap between Slytherin's darling and Gryffindor's prize son.

Draco might have found the gross information amusing, if Snape's name had not crept into some of the rumors as well. Persephone had not spent much time in Snape's office since Christmas, but the gossip mill suddenly remembered how much time she had been spending in their the previous semester. Snape was not helping matters. His good mood had dissipated over the holidays. Bitter girls who were struck by Potter-fancy themselves had started throwing around words like "slut".

Harry and Persephone seemed completely impervious to the gossip. Draco suspected that Hermione and the Weasleys had something to do with that. They had set up a rather vicious and effective guard around the Potters. Persephone still seemed to have a loyal following among the sixth year girls and surrounded herself with them during meals at the Slytherin table.

Even though he was surrounded by friends, Daco was feeling rather alone and abandon. He stood with the other Slytherins outside the door to the courtyard after classes the following Monday, admiring the fresh snow and the clear sky. The others were talking, but Draco was watching Potter on the far side of the courtyard. Potter seemed to be waiting for someone. His usual entourage was nowhere to be seen. As Draco surveyed the courtyard though, he noticed Lavender Brown and the Patil twins were occasionally looking up and watching Harry as well. I wonder if he realizes.

"Here she comes," Alice whispered. Draco looked up to see Persephone hurrying out from the castle. She was clutching her books to her chest and looked like she had been crying or was about to cry. Draco wanted to go to her, but he suspected that she was the one Potter was waiting to meet.

"What's wrong, P?" Pansy called rather loudly. "Did you have a fight with Professor Snape?" Pansy smiled as Persephone stopped in her tracks, but the others seemed unable to find anything funny about the clearly injured look the Silver Child gave them.

Draco felt something come to a boil inside him. "Shut it, Pansy," he snarled at her. "You don't know anything." The wide-eyed stares of the others turned from Pansy to him, and he was vaguely aware that Persephone had slipped away.

Pansy tossed her head in an unconcerned sort of way. "You ought to be nice, Draco, or I won't let you take me to the dance this year."

Draco stopped. "What on earth makes you think I'd want to go to the dance with you?"

Pansy gave him a challenging look. "Who would you take then?"

"I already told you," Draco snapped, giving her an equally defiant look. "It's not my fault if you weren't paying attention."

Pansy's eyes narrowed as she searched her memory. She seemed to decide that he was bluffing, and her features relaxed again. She glanced in the direction that Persephone and Potter had gone and gave Draco a mock sympathetic look. "I don't know how she got her hooks into you so deeply, but she's not coming back to you, Draco. I don't know why you're helping her, but it won't do you any good. The slut's worked her way through Snape, and now she's onto Potter. I think I know why she had to leave her old school now, and she'll been seen for what she is eventually here too. I'm just sorry you got caught up in it." Pansy drew herself up and adjusted her scarf. "I'm still willing to forgive you, when you're ready to come around. I can see you're upset right now, so I'll just see you at dinner." She turned and took a step back towards the school.

"No, you won't," Draco said coolly. Pansy stopped and turned her head to look at him, raising her eyebrow questioningly. "You won't see me at dinner."

"And why's that?"

"Because," Draco said, taking a single step towards her. "You're a conniving, self-absorbed bitch, and I'm sick of you." There was a definite gasp from the other girls and shock on the boys' faces.

Pansy was trembling with anger. "How dare you talk to me like that. My father--"

"Oh wake up, Pansy, your father abandoned you!" He could see that he had cut her and felt a grim satisfaction.

"How dare you," she hissed through clenched teeth. "My father--"

"Hasn't so much as sent you a Christmas Card has he?" Draco said acidly.

"He's busy!"

"Or maybe he's just as fed up with you as I am!"

"Stop it, Draco!" Daphne said, stepping up beside Pansy and clasping her friend's arm. "You have no right to speak to her that way."

"I'll speak to her however I please," Draco retorted.

"Yeah, back off, Greengrass," said Goyle said taking a step closer to Draco.

"Shut it, fatty!" Daphne spat.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Millicent roared, looking every bit as livid as Pansy. Daphne gave Millicent a look of disdain and managed to convey a retort with a tilt of her head.

"Come, Daphne," Pansy said tersely. "Let's go in." She turned on her heels, and she and Daphne marched up to the school together. Alice and Indigo gave the boys uncertain looks before trailing after them.

"Good riddance," Crabbe said, stepping up to Draco's side and crossing his arms over his chest.

****************

The rift that formed between the seventh year Slytherins seemed to be of the permanent kind. Blaise decided to sit with the girls, and they fawned on him. Draco suspected this was mainly their attempt at revenge as Daphne and Pansy had never given Blaise so much as the time of day before. Blaise did not seem to mind. Draco was pretty happy with the arrangement as well. Nott was sympathetic but preferred to sit with his girlfriend, so there were only four in their clique now. With just Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent, it was a bit like being back in third year. Draco suspected Millicent missed the other girls company, but Crabbe and Goyle seemed more than happy with the arrangement. The conversation was infinitely more relaxed.

Persephone seemed to be more worried about the split than Draco was. "I heard what happened," she said that night in the common room. "Are you sure you can't patch it up?"

Draco gave her a patient look. "Maybe if I wanted to, but I don't want to. Didn't you hear what she said about you?"

Persephone frowned. "I got the gist of it. But you've been friends with her a lot longer than you've known me. I don't want to be the reason you split up."

Draco shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's been a long time coming. You're not the reason. I've just had enough."

Persephone considered him. "Are you sure? Are you sure it's...safe? You're the one who said I should stay on Pansy's good side."

Draco sighed and collapsed back on the couch. "Oh, that's what this is about? For a moment I thought you were worried about me."

Persephone sat down beside him and took his hand. "Of course I'm worried about you. I'm sorry I've been spending so much time with Harry lately. We just have a lot to catch up on. But I miss spending time with you. You're more like my brother than he is, or James ever was."

Draco squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile. "I think Oliver misses you more than I do," he said quietly. This apparently was the wrong thing to say, because Persephone left out a soft gasp and her eyes threatened to fill with tears. "What happened?" he asked, remembering her earlier tears and drawing her a bit closer.

"I went to see him today, and he told me I should forget about him," she sniffed and buried her face on Draco's shoulder. "But I can't, I can't forget. I don't want to." Draco patted her back awkwardly, aware of the blatant stares from others in the common room. "I don't understand. He said he loved me, and then he told me to go away."

Severus Snape, master of romance. "It'll be all right," Draco said quietly. "Just give it time."

"I hate time," Persephone whimpered. "I hate it." She recovered though, wiped her eyes, and sat back up. "Have you had any luck with G?" she asked to change the subject.

"Only the bad kind," Draco said.

****************

A few days later, Persephone asked Draco to meet her in the library the next Friday. "I think have an idea that might help both of us," she said but refused to explain any further. Draco wanted to get back in the habit of tutoring sessions with her anyway, so he met her in the library at the requested time.

"So what's this about?" Draco asked after they had secured a table.

"Well, magic caused the problem, so I thought there might be some kind of spell to fix it," Persephone said, looking around. "I suppose I could look myself, but I thought it might be faster if I had help. I asked--oh, here she comes."

"What's he doing here?" Hermione said as she approached their table.

"Oh, hello, Hermione," Draco said brightly as if he had not heard her. So that's what Persephone had meant by helping him out.

"Draco's going to help us look," Persephone said. "He's in on the secret."

Hermione made "humph" noise and sat down.

"I'm really glad you came," Persephone said. "I've heard your very clever at, well, everything."

Hermione dropped her schoolbooks on the table. She opened one so that they could make a pretense of looking at it. Their conversation dropped to a whisper, which was not too suspicious for a library. "What are we looking for exactly?" Draco tried his best not to look guilty.

"I don't know exactly," Persephone said. He wanted to check and see if any of the other Slytherins were watching. "A spell to make me older or reverse time or something."

There were a few other students in the library, but they were focusing on their own homework, whispering their own conversations. So far no one seemed to have noticed that Draco was sitting with the mudblood he had shown the most disdain for over the past six years. Hermione herself was ignoring Draco and speaking to Persephone as if he was not there.

"Time travel is tricky and very dangerous," Hermione said. "If we could get you back, it might throw things completely off."

"Voldemort could kill you along with the rest of your family," Draco added. It was not a pleasant thought but he wanted her to be realistic about this.

"Say you warned Lily and James about the attack," Hermione continued, not reacting to Draco though he was sure she had heard him. "They escape and survive, but since Harry isn't attacked then Voldemort doesn't lose his powers. Or even if you could resist warning them and just went back to be with your friends. Snape wouldn't have to go look for you, and Dumbledore would loose his spy. Or..."

"I get it," Persephone said. "Bad things happen when you meddle with time." She crossed her arms and settled back in her chair. She tapped her foot, thinking, and Hermione began looking over the page she had open. After a moment, Persephone leaned back into the table and spoke again. "What about the other thing? Something to make me my right age."

"Those do exist, but..." Hermione began.

"Do you remember in fourth year, when the Weasley twins took that Aging Potion to get their names into the Goblet of Fire?" Draco interrupted.

To his surprise and delight, Hermione laughed. "Fred and George grew beards! But it didn't help much."

Persephone's silver eyes looked back and forth at them and grew wider. "I don't want to grow a beard," she said worriedly.

"Of course not," Hermione said, still giggling. "But honestly I don't think they mixed it properly."

"You won't grow a beard," Draco assured her.

"Well, how does an Aging Potion work?" Persephone asked. "Is it difficult?"

"Moderately," Hermione said sobered. Draco noticed she was flicking her eyes occasionally to him now. "But are you sure you want to use magic to work out this problem you're having with Snape? I mean, you missed growing up once, do you really want to do it again?" Persephone looked down at her books glumly. "It's just that you'll be out of school in a year and a half. You can do as you please at that point."

Draco thought Hermione had a point, but Persephone was not willing to give in so quickly. "It's just-" She looked up, her face very somber, her eyes pleading. "Everyone I grew up with is near or in their forties. My mind didn't stop while I was in the painting. I didn't really have any new experiences, but I did a lot of thinking. I don't feel sixteen anymore. I do, but I don't. It's just so unfair! I've spent twenty years wondering if he'd forget about me, if he was still looking for me, or if he had found someone else. Wondering if he felt the same things for me that I did for him. And then I get out, and he's not attached, and he has been looking for me. And he still wants me. I know he does. But we can't be together, because I still look so young.

"And Severus is right, even when I get out of school, I'll still look twenty years younger than him. People will look at us funny. They'll know he was a Professor when I was student, and it could still cause a scandal. Maybe, I wouldn't use an Aging Potion until I got out of Hogwarts, but it's driving me nutty not being able to do something about this." She let out a huff and rested her head on her hand. "I don't really want to skip being twenty, but this would all be so much simpler if we were the same age."

Draco touched her arm to comfort her, but it did not seem to help.

"I wish..." Persephone paused looking slightly guilty. "I wish he were seventeen, and we could try all over again."

Hermione got a curious look as if she were half-remembering something.

"What is it?" Draco asked.

"Maybe he could be seventeen again," she said in such a low whisper that Draco had to strain to hear her. When she saw that both of them were looking at her, Hermione spoke more clearly. "I remember something in Most Potente Potions. I checked it out in my second year for-" she glanced at Draco. "Anyway, it was a sort of fountain of youth potion. I didn't really read into it. It looked ghastly complicated."

"Well, where's that book?" Persephone asked.

"In the restricted section," Draco said. He saw Hermione's surprised look but chose to ignore it. "I've got a copy at home, but it might be hard explaining why I would want it."

"You've got a copy at home!" Hermione repeated. She kept her voice down, but Draco could tell it was a struggle. She sounded almost as awed as indignant.

"We've got a library about a quarter this size at the manor," he said, taking the chance to play on Hermione's love of books. He guessed it worked because her eyes goggled. "It's not an illegal book. Just hard to come by. Anyway, it would probably be easier and faster to get a teacher's note and look at the school's copy."

"Which one of us should get the note?" Persephone asked.

"Maybe all three of us should try," Hermione said. "If we each ask a different professor, we'll stand a better chance. Persephone, I think you have the best chance with Professor Snape."

"I don't think he'll do it," Persephone pouted. "He doesn't want to look like he's doing me favors."

"You're in his Advanced Potions class aren't you?" Persephone nodded. Hermione gave her a "well then" look and Persephone mouthed an "oh".

"I'm in it too," Draco said.

"Yes, but if you both ask him, it will look suspicious."

"I guess I can ask Professor Sinistra," Draco admitted slowly.

"The Astronomy teacher?"

Draco shifted uncomfortably, "I'm her golden boy. She'll do anything if I put enough 'please' and 'thank you ma'am's around it." Hermione rolled her eyes in disgust. Draco decided to point the matter back at her. "Come on, Granger, who do you have in your pocket?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts would make the most sense after potions class, but Dumbledore would know something is up." It was her turn to shift uncomfortably. "I could probably get a note from Professor Flitwick. He trusts me." She sounded sick to be misusing that trust.

"Look, we're just trying to help Persephone," Draco said. "Nothing underhanded." Hermione did not look comforted, though she did glance guiltily at P.

"Let's meet back here next Friday at the same time," Persephone said.

They agreed to that. Hermione left, and Draco and Persephone headed back to the Slytherin common room.

****************

When they met again the next Friday, the girls were empty handed. "I couldn't do it," Persephone said. "I couldn't ask him."

"Me neither," Hermione admitted. "I was hoping one of you two...If you don't have it, I guess I could ask Snape."

Draco gave them both a disgusted look and pulled out his slip from Professor Sinistra.

"How did you manage that?" Hermione asked, sounding more indignant than impressed.

"Teachers like it when you remember their birthday," Draco said. "Point is I got it. I'll be back in a minute." He returned a few minutes later with the library's copy of Most Potente Potions.

Hermione took it from him and quickly looked up the potion. "Here it is. The Younging Potion. Oh my...this has to be most difficult potion I've ever seen."

"Do you think we can do it?" Draco asked.

"Probably," Hermione said. "But it'll take three months at the least. I haven't even heard of some of these ingredients."

"Let me see," Draco said, taking the book from her. "That looks familiar, but this one. We've got the book for three weeks. We'll just have to look this stuff up."

"I can help," Persephone said. "Just tell me where to start."

"Wait," Hermione said. She had taken the book back and examining the next page. "This is no good."

"Why what's wrong?"

"The potion must be drunk within twenty four hours of maturity. It can return the drinker's body to any previous point in time, but every aspect of the drinker will revert to that stage, including their memories and personality." She looked up. "If Snape drinks this and goes back to being seventeen, he'll forget everything that's happened to him since then. He won't remember who he has become or what he went through. He'll lose everything he's learned, everything he is."

"Another dead end," Draco said, closing the book. "I guess we could look for something else." Persephone however pulled the book over to her and opened it again, fingering the pages thoughtfully. "You're not considering it are you?" Draco asked her. "Professor Snape would be gone. It would almost be like killing him."

Persephone winced. "I like him the way he is," she said softly. "But he's not happy. I want to change that for him. I don't want to change him, but he's had so much unhappiness." She pressed her lips together. "Maybe he wouldn't have to go all the way back to seventeen. Maybe I could take an Aging Potion, and we could meet in the middle. Oh, I don't know. That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

Draco neither nodded nor shook his head. He was thinking about Professor Snape, who he had always liked but would never had described as happy. The man had worn severity as a cloak as long as Draco had known him. It really had not occurred to Draco that Snape could be happy until last term. He certainly was not happy now. Sending Persephone away seemed to have affected him even more than her. He was not angry or even irritable as he usually became when something displeased him. He was distracted, absent, and this worried Draco more than anger would have.

"Maybe we should ask him what he thinks?" Hermione suggested. "It's a pretty drastic thing to do without consulting him."

"She isn't planning on slipping it to him," Draco said. "Are you?" Persephone shook her head.

"She couldn't if she wanted to," Hermione said. "The drinker has to be willing. It requires them to focus on the point in time they want to return to. It would be very hard to trick him into it."

"I wouldn't trick him," Persephone said quickly. "But I don't know if I should ask him about it just yet."

"It would be rather frustrating, if we couldn't figure out how to work it," Draco agreed. "And I think he's got enough on his mind right now. Maybe we should wait and see if this is doable before we ask him."

"I suppose that makes sense," Hermione agreed reluctantly.

They spent the remaining Fridays in January researching the ingredients and processes for the Younging Potion. Draco stopped trying to talk to Hermione during Astronomy, but he felt like the silence between them was an easier one.

****************

In February they changed their meetings to Saturday, which led them to collect in the library on Valentine's Day. Draco suspected this was intentional on Persephone's side. She was using the potion and research as an outlet for the feelings that she could not express. He also suspected she was trying to give him an excuse to be with Hermione on the holiday dedicated to romance. Draco thought it was far too corny to make a profession of adoration on such an obvious day, but he could not help making some gesture.

He transfigured a dead branch into a fresh white rose. The color was important. Red was too obvious, too overt. He just wanted to make her wonder a little. He sat back down across from the two girls who were comparing Arithmancy notes. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said, presenting the flower to Hermione. She looked at it with a shocked expression. Her hand lifted mechanically as though to take the flower but paused almost immediately. Her shock turned into a suspicious scowl, and Persephone started giggling furiously.

"Oh, I forgot," Draco said lightly, pretending to be oblivious to Hermione's scowl. "I have one for you as well." He pulled out a second rose from under the table with his free hand presented it to Persephone. She took it immediately with both hands.

"Thank you," she said, putting the rose close to her face and sniffing.

"Thanks," Hermione said coolly. She took her rose with two fingers as though she feared it might be laced with poison. She turned it about suspiciously, and not finding anything wrong, dropped it onto her stack of books. Draco satisfied himself with the small victory that she had taken it. He was in a remarkably good mood. He had even transfigured a rose for Professor Sinistra and blown her a kiss on his way out of the classroom. She had tried to frown unsuccessfully and shook a finger at him.

****************

The next weekend Slytherin played Hufflepuff and beat them by a substantial margin. Draco felt a lot better about himself after he caught the Snitch. Indigo risked Pansy's ire long enough to tell him that he was brilliant, and even Persephone put aside her feelings on Quidditch long enough to congratulate him. Pansy and Daphne watched from a corner for most of the after party. Draco was in his favorite spot, surround by admirers, when Pansy decided to step forward. "That was a well played game," she said with a cool smile.

"Yes, it was," Draco returned with a coldly happy smile.

Persephone put her hand on his in what might have been a placating gestured, but Draco wrapped his fingers around hers and smiled a bit more widely at Pansy. She glanced at their hands. Her smile left, and she walked away. Daphne gave them both a slightly baffled look and followed Pansy.

Draco managed to feed off the general good will inspired by the Quidditch win to do what repair he could to Persephone's reputation. He ignored the Harry issue but laughed off the more absurd rumors, particularly the ones closer to the truth.

He felt that he managed to leave the general impression among the Slytherins that, whatever Persephone was doing with Harry, it was part of some game she and Draco had cooked up, which left her free to sit with him now and again at meal time.

****************

Persephone had kept her forum going this whole time, though Draco was unsure of how successful it continued to be as he had been avoiding meetings. "I know the forum is a bit public," Persephone conceded in a low voice. "But Harry has this sort of club, and I was wondering if..."

"I'm not interested," Draco cut her off.

"But Draco-"

"Look, I know about the D.A., Persephone," he said. "And if I do, it's possible someone else does. I just can't risk it, until I've figured out who's spying on me."

She crossed her arms and looked rather disappointed. "That's just it. I don't think anyone is spying on you."

"You saw the letters," he said.

"Yes, but that's just Narcissa."

Draco sighed. "Even mothers aren't that omniscient, someone's watching me. Persephone, you have to understand. I don't want to get involved. I don't want to fight the Dark Lord. I just want to live and joining the D.A. would be counterproductive to my personal goals."

"You could help, you know," Persephone told him. "It would mean a lot if you came."

"Which is exactly why I won't come."

Persephone made a few more attempts before dropping the subject.

****************

Crabbe and Goyle seemed willing to tolerate Persephone, and Millicent loved having her sit with them. The two girls had begun to whisper like conspirators, when Professor Snape stopped by their group and put one of his hands on the table. He had traded his distant air of late for one of strained patience as he looked at Persephone. "You made friends with a boggart?" he asked in a sharp, measured tone as though fighting a headache.

This question effectively stopped the conversation, and Draco was not the only one giving the two of them his full attention. Persephone smiled sheepishly in response.

Snape drew a breath and looked as though he wanted to start a rebuke but decided it would be fruitless. "In the future would you kindly keep it away from my office," Snape said in the same fighting a massive headache manner.

Persephone winced apologetically. "Sorry." Her expression became mildly perplexed. "She spoke to you then?"

"Yes," Snape said. The words seemed to taste bad to him. "Kagome says the answer to your question.is Harry Potter."

"Really?" said Persephone, her interest clearly piqued.

"Really," Professor Snape said flatly and continued on to the staff table.

"That's good," Persephone said to herself as he left, her brow creasing thoughtfully. "I think that's really good news. I'll have to tell him."

"Tell who?" Draco asked.

"Well, you know who," said Persephone. There was an audible in take of air from Crabbe and Goyle, and Persephone rolled her eyes. "Not him. If I meant to say Voldemort, I'll say Voldemort or Voldewart or something, but I'll make myself clear."

Draco felt like he was catching Snape's headache. "Persephone..." he began in an admonishing tone but decided it was best to just change the subject. "What did Snape mean when he said you'd made friends with a boggart?"

"Do you remember the boggart that we met at Halloween?"

"Met?" Draco echoed. He had been trying to push the incident out of his mind.

"Well, encountered," Persephone amended. "I decided to find her later and try to talk to her."

"Her?"

"Oh, well, we're not entirely certain as to the actual gender. Kagome's memories of life are a bit fuzzy, but she looked like me, so she decided to use a girl's name."

"Memories of life?"

"All boggarts were alive at one point," Persephone said. "That Riddikulus charm really doesn't do them any favors. It disperses their mental as well as physical presence. They come back together quite confused. We're pretty sure she was Japanese at one point. She looks like me when I go talk to her, that's why she picked the name Kagome."

"Naturally," Draco said, not making much sense out of what Persephone had just said, but Persephone smiled in a satisfied sort of way. Crabbe exchanged a look with Draco that said he thought she was quite mad, and Draco gave him an acknowledging half smile.

****************

It had been easy enough to disguise their research attempts into the Younging Potion, as they all had their own Potions projects to research for class. Draco discovered Hermione was not above helping him take items from the Potions cabinet under the pretense that they were needed for their separate experiments. They had divided up the list so that Snape would not become suspicious, but Draco doubted he would have noticed. Snape had drawn further into himself, which several students seemed to find a relief, but it concerned Draco. Just looking at Snape these days made him feel sad, and he could offer no consolation other than to help Persephone.

By the end of February, they had finished their research and collected their ingredients. "It will still take three months," Hermione said. "And that's after we mix it."

"If we time it right," Persephone said. "It will mature right at the end of the semester. I'd have time to talk to him about it."

"Persephone, where are we supposed to be brewing this?" Draco asked. "I'm assuming the Room of Requirement is out." He caught the somewhat startled look Hermione gave him but chose to ignore it.

"Yes," Persephone agreed, not the least bit perturbed. "It's out, but I think I know the place." She led them to a second floor bathroom with an out of order sign hung on it.

"Isn't this the bathroom where..." Draco began.

"Yes, it is," Hermione answered before he finished the question. "But it's sealed," she added as Persephone tried the handle.

The door offered no resistance however. "Well, it was sealed when I found it last term," Persephone said as she pushed the door open. "I guess no one's checked it since I got it open."

Hermione check the hall and then hurried them all inside. "Persephone, why were you breaking into sealed restrooms?" she asked suspiciously.

"To visit Myrtle, of course," Persephone said quietly. In a louder voice she called. "Myrtle? Are you in here?"

A ghost girl in pigtails poked her head through one of the stall door. "Persephone, is that you? I thought maybe you'd forgot me again," she said in a rather sniffy voice. "You brought a boy in here?"

"Hello, Myrtle," Hermione said dryly.

"Hmph," Myrtle said, turning up her nose at Hermione. "I know that you forgot all about me." She glided over to Draco and gave him a coy smile. "I've seen you before."

Draco was about to ask where Myrtle had seen him, when Persephone interrupted him. "Myrtle darling, I need to ask you a big favor. You see, we need a safe place to brew a potion, and I was wondering if we could do it in here. I thought maybe you could keep an eye on it for me."

"I suppose I could," Myrtle said vaguely and then gave a dramatic sigh. "No one ever comes in here anyway. They don't even clean anymore. Look at the mirrors, they're all dirty."

"Poor Myrtle," Persephone said sympathetically. "Let me give it a try. Scourgify!" The line of mirrors above the sink shattered spectacularly. Draco and Hermione raised their arms to shield their faces, though none of the shards made it that far. Persephone let out an angry grunt and stomped her foot.

"OH! I'm sorry, Myrtle. I'm so sorry! It had been behaving lately." Draco and Hermione had been momentarily stunned by the unexpected result of what was normally a cleaning spell. Persephone was turning pink with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Stupid wand," she said, letting the offending item drop to the floor, and gripped her hair with her hands so that her arms hid her face.

"It's okay," Hermione said carefully. "I can fix it."

"I always make a mess of things," Persephone continued dramatically as though she had not heard Hermione. "I thought it was working." From the choked way she was sniffing, Draco decided she was crying and put his arms around her shoulders.

"It's all right," he said gently. "Hermione can fix it." He gave Hermione a questioning glance. She nodded and walked along the line of mirrors, casting "Reparo."

Myrtle watched the scene with what struck Draco as mild amusement. "Well, at least they're clean now," she said when Hermione had finished repairing the shattered mirrors. Hermione sighed and returned the questioning glance Draco had given her, her eyes indicating Persephone. Draco shrugged. Persephone was still hiding her face, though her breathing indicated that she had calmed.

"What was that?" he asked with a chuckle, hoping it would help to make light of the whole thing. He pushed back Persephone's shoulders so she would have to look at them.

"I'm sorry," Persephone sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "It's my wand. I told you it was temperamental, but it had been behaving lately. I thought it would stop doing things like that. Oh! You both must think I'm such a baby." As though to prove this point, she gave another grunt of frustration and fell down to a kneeling position.

"Nonsense," Myrtle said, suddenly looking sympathetic. "You're just upset. It's always been worse when you're upset."

"She's right," Draco said encouragingly, though this was all new to him. "You just take a minute. Hermione and I can set up." He looked inquiringly at Hermione, and she nodded.

"Sure, we're supposed to be the experts anyway," Hermione said with a forced laughed.

Persephone made a few weak protests, but Myrtle distracted her. Draco and Hermione set up the cauldron and started measuring out the first ingredients. Within a few minutes, Myrtle had Persephone laughing about something and chatting contently. Draco could not help thinking about the story he had told Pansy and wondering if there had been a bit more truth to it than he intended. He wanted reassurance from Hermione that they were doing the right thing, but her brow was creased in a thoughtful way and her eyes were flicking from her work to Persephone. When her eyes turned to him, she studied him for a moment, but nothing in her expression encouraged him. "Could you pass the moon dew?" he asked, mainly because he felt like he needed an excuse for having looked at her.

Hermione handed him the small bottle and finally gave voice to the question that had been forming on her lips for the past several minutes. "Why are you doing this?" she asked Draco in a whisper. "Why are you helping Persephone?" Draco thought he could read other unspoken questions but decided to stick to the ones actually presented.

Besides it was a fair question and one he had given quite a bit of thought to over the past few weeks and had a ready answer. "Because I believe true love is a rare and precious thing," he said and glanced at Persephone who had Myrtle giggling now. "However disturbing a form it takes." When he looked back at Hermione, he thought, she looked skeptical. "Is that so hard to believe?"

She raised her eyebrows in a way that said yes, very. "It's just weird hearing you talk about true love."

"Why?" Draco asked. "You don't think I know about love?"

Hermione seemed to consider that. "No, it's just strange to hear you talk about it. A little hard to think that's the only reason."

Draco shrugged. "I like Snape, and I like Persephone. Why are you here then?"

Hermione face softened as the question was turned back on her. "I guess I feel guilty," she said. "It wasn't fair what happened to her, and I didn't help. I was so sure she trying to hurt Harry. I was paranoid, and if I hadn't jumped to conclusions...I guess I'm punishing myself."

Hermione was avoiding looking directly into his eyes, but Draco looked at hers steadily. "Is it that bad for you? Associating with Slytherins?" With me?

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. Her tone conveyed that he had completely missed the point. "I just meant I want to help her. To make up for the trouble. I can't help Snape. He won't even accept an apology, so I'm helping Persephone."

"I'm sure she appreciates the help," Draco said. "But you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. It's an easy thing...to be wrong about people."

Hermione looked at him, considering. "I suppose it is," she said. She took a moment to search through the ingredients before choosing a small pouch. "I take it Persephone told you about the D.A."

"She tried," Draco said. "I'd already figured out that you were meeting again."

Hermione made a tsking sound. "People aren't as careful about secrecy since the administration isn't fighting us anymore," she said. She seemed to take their lack of discretion as a personal affront. "I suppose it doesn't matter. Harry thought Persephone would bring you in. He was a little surprised when you didn't come."

"Was he?" Draco asked. For some reason it lit a small ball of warmth inside him to know that Potter has expected him.

Hermione gave an affirmative nod. She dumped a packet of baby teeth into a mortar. They made tinkling sound as they hit the bowl, and Hermione made a disgusted noise. "I don't even want to think about where these come from. I was honestly shocked that Professor Snape had them in the store cupboard."

Draco laughed at her. "You make it sound so underhanded. Nothing shady about buying baby teeth. That's how little wizards get their pocket money." Draco poked his finger at the contents of the mortar. "Actually that one there looks like it might be mine," he said with a grin. Hermione smirked, or grimaced, he was not sure which. She sat with her pestle hovering over the mortar, apparently disgusted by the thought of having to crush human bones into powder.

"I can do that," Draco said, reaching for the mortar and pestle. Hermione gave them up willingly. Their hands brushed in the exchange causing a peculiar sensation in the area of Draco's stomach. Hermione seemed unaffected. She wiped her hands perfunctorily on her skirt and reached for the next ingredient.

"Why don't you come?" Hermione asked. "I think Harry would like to see you join."

"What about you?" Draco asked, trying not to sound too interested.

"Well, yes, of course, I suppose, I'm not so sure," she let her words tumble over each other. She had gone back to not looking at him. "I spent all last year trying to get a Slytherin to join. But in your case, I thought it might create a conflict of interests." She gave him a shifty glance, looking for his reaction.

Draco looked down. He pressed the pestle into the mortar, grinding mechanically. His stomach did another happy little flip at the thought that Hermione understood him, and then quickly sank as the counter thought that she probably assumed she was working for the Death Eaters settled over him. "I'm not working with Death Eaters," he said to clarify.

"Then why won't you join the D.A.?" she asked.

"What's the point?" Draco said. "You don't really want me there. I don't really want to get involved."

"Well, if Persephone's right, not being involved isn't really going to be option for long is it?" Hermione said huffily.

"Think I'll give it a shot anyway," Draco muttered. "Figure I'm safe at Hogwarts until the school year ends, then I'll run for it." Hermione was looking at him straight now. Her eyes wider than usual as though what he had said surprised her. "I never claimed to be brave. That's you Gryffindors' job, right? I just want to stay out of the fighting. It's not just about me. He has my--What?"

"Do you mean Persephone didn't tell you?" Hermione asked in a shocked whisper.

"Tell me what?"

"I thought she would. I was certain she would have told you about it."

Draco was starting to feel annoyed. "Tell me what?"

"She had a flash, a sort of vision," Hermione said seriously. "She thinks Voldemort is going to attack the school."