Transition

Harry’s face was as scarlet as Fawkes’ brilliant plumage. Mrs. Weasley appeared to have lost control of herself, and she kept bestowing kisses all over his face. Fred and George snickered at his obvious discomfort and Harry patted the witch’s back gently while she continued to blubber.

“You won’t be having any difficulty with finding a job, Harry,” Mr. Weasley said, smiling happily at him.

“Harry has already taken up a job offer, Dad,” Ron said in a flat tone.

Arthur Weasley gave his son a curious look before turning his gaze back to Harry. “Really, lad?”

“Yes, sir. I’m planning to be a teacher,” Harry replied, his verdant green eyes still watching his best friend.

“Oh, yeah,” Ron continued. “Mum, I wonder if Ginny has told you. Harry is going out with Malfoy now. They’re spending the summer together with Professor Starkmind and his husband.”

Mrs. Weasley immediately broke contact and stared at Harry with her mouth slightly agape. Her husband’s face hardened and Mr. Weasley frowned slightly at Ron’s unusual behavior.

“Good for you, Harry!” Fred exclaimed. “It must be a relief not to go back to your Uncle’s place!”

“Yeah, it is,” the emerald-eyed Gryffindor replied coolly.

“Harry, dear,” Mrs. Weasley tugged at his elbow, her face etched with worry. “Is it really a good idea?”

“I don’t know actually, Mrs. Weasley, but I’m willing to find out. Even if it takes years to know if I can trust Draco,” he acknowledged.

Mrs. Weasley looked at him dubiously. “Just be careful,” she said finally.

“You’re an adult now. I suppose you are old enough to make your own decisions,” Mr. Weasley said absently, his eyes still on Ron’s face.

“Keep writing to us,” Mrs. Weasley instructed. “You’re like another son to me, Harry. I’ll break into pieces if I don’t at least know that you’re all right.”

“Maybe we can include him in our clock. That way, we can more or less keep track of what he’s doing,” George suggested, snapping his fingers at the idea.

“Splendid idea!” Mr. Weasley agreed.

Harry saw Fred looking suggestively at George and the twins cackled suddenly.

“What’s so funny?” Harry asked suspiciously.

The twins exchanged another look and chuckled softly. “Nothing at all, Harry,” the two replied in unison. “Nothing at all.”

“Enough standing around. Let’s take some pictures. Hermione dear, do you mind asking your mother to help us?”

“All right, Mrs. Weasley.”

Hermione quickly went to her parents’ side and chatted softly to them. Harry saw her mother nodding her head and the Grangers approached the huge brood of red-haired people. Since their youngest brother was acting a little curt towards his best friend, the twins took it upon themselves to put some distance between Harry and Ron. Fred, George and Harry knelt in front of Hermione and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, while their other siblings flanked the bushy-haired witch and their mother.

After that, the Muggle-born witch whispered something quickly to her father and he nodded. She suddenly dragged Harry and Ron to an unoccupied corner of the classroom. Standing in the middle, she held each of the boys’ waists. Harry winced at her forceful grip. It appeared that she was quite vexed at their indifference. Both boys started to protest when she ordered them to stand close together and drape their arms about each other’s shoulders. Hermione merely stared at them until they gave up and did as she had commanded.

After she and the Weasleys had used up their film, Narcissa Malfoy swept Harry off to another corner of the classroom. If Harry didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that the implacable-looking witch was matchmaking him with her son, although it was unnecessary. She kept pushing both of them closer together.

“If she asks me to kiss you in front of everyone,” Draco muttered, “I’ll die.” They were already holding hands and the Slytherin’s face was red with embarrassment. Luckily, his mother had other ideas.

“Draco, go fetch your Potions Master,” she ordered.

“Bloody hell,” the couple swore.

Snape was very adamant in his protests, but Narcissa was intent on having her way.

“Stubborn witch,” the ebony-haired professor muttered darkly as Draco’s mother positioned him in between the two students.

“Put your hand on Draco’s shoulder, Severus.”

Snape reluctantly obliged. Narcissa pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.

“Looks odd. Put your hand down.”

The Potions Master did as she asked, all the while glaring at her dangerously. She took several shots of them in that formal position and then told Snape to drape his arms over the two younger wizards. Narcissa seemed unperturbed by his chilling gaze.

“You are all family, after all,” Narcissa said menacingly. “Not quite yet, I suppose, but Potter will be one once he is formally bonded to Draco.”

Family? Harry glanced at Draco in bewilderment. Bonded? His boyfriend winked slyly and whispered that he would explain the witch’s comment later.

“Why wait?” Snape replied silkily as he hesitatingly placed his hands on the two teenager’s shoulders. “I am Draco’s godfather, Potter.” Harry gazed up at the formidable wizard incredulously. “Narcissa’s idea of a joke,” he said gruffly.

“You Slytherins are weirder than I thought,” the Gryffindor mumbled.

“Don’t remove yourself yet, Severus,” Professor Starkmind said gaily. He had quietly come up behind Narcissa with his husband in tow. Bluestone tried hard not to snicker as he watched Snape giving the once-Defense professor a sour look.

“Do you mind?” Bluestone asked Narcissa sweetly as he handed her his camera. His blue-grey eyes looked pleadingly at the witch.

“Of course.” Even Draco’s mother was flustered by the Veela’s charm. Bluestone immediately gave instructions on how to work the Muggle-oriented device and Narcissa was able to take a picture without much help after that.

The Veela studied the assembly and decided he did not like the odd-numbered group. “Wait for a moment,” he told Draco’s mother and headed straight for the group of redheads and extricated a puzzled Remus Lupin from the Weasleys. The Veela rather absently pushed the tired but cheerful-looking professor in between Draco and the Potions Master. “Much better.” Still in an absent-minded state, he combed his blue-black hair back with his fingers.

Harry quirked an eyebrow questioningly at Starkmind; the half-Veela was shuddering with restrained laughter. The Gryffindor dared not gaze at Snape and wisely smiled at the camera instead.

“All right, remarkable one.” Starkmind tapped his shoulder once their photo-taking session was over. “Time for me to introduce you and Draco to your mentors.”

“You invited him?” Snape said abruptly.

“Yes, I did,” Starkmind answered calmly. Then his eyes gleamed. “Who else but him?”

“Don’t say it,” Snape said threateningly.

“He’s the best.”

“I know.”

It was bright outside in the courtyard when two figures approached a solid gray bench. Vine, the mentor assigned to Harry, ran his fingers through his fawn-colored hair as he sat down. His peculiar amethyst-colored eyes shone brilliantly, giving the thirty-odd year old professor a slightly boyish look. He had only a few wrinkles on his face but his low-pitched voice contradicted his youthfulness. His smile was like the sun peeking through a bunch of storm clouds and Harry’s apprehension of being with the wizard melted away.

“Did you really help train your friends in Defense, Harry?” Vine asked curiously, once the other wizard was feeling comfortable with his presence.

“I guess so,” the Gryffindor replied shyly.

“Chaotic?”

“Not all the time. Only when we tried practicing the advanced spells … like the Patronus Charm and pain-blocking spells,” Harry mentioned, smiling a little.

“I beg your pardon?” Vine interrupted with wide eyes. “Pain-blocking?”

“It’s a series of spells my friends and I thought of. We went to Professor Dumbledore for help – to see if the spells had any chance of working,” Harry explained, squirming slightly at Vine’s shrewd gaze. “It helps when you’re hit with the Cruciatus Curse.”

“You mean you created spells?” Vine exclaimed.

“Well, not on my own certainly,” the Gryffindor amended quickly.

“Bloody hell! There’s not a lot in my generation who could do that, you know. And when I say my generation, it actually includes Severus Snape.” Vine tilted his head to one side and studied Harry’s face. “Maybe we can expect more spectacular spells, hexes and such in the next ten years,” he mused. “Don’t you want to work in the Ministry?”

Harry shrugged, not knowing how to reply to his mentor’s question.

“No worries. Teaching is a good, solid career. If you need to take a break, you can always fall back to experimenting with charms. Back to what really matters – your internship will start after the summer holidays.” Vine placed the tip of his finger on his lips as he pondered. “You’ll be helping me out in a centre – a school rather, full of orphaned witches and wizards. Sometimes, when parents need to take a break from their children, they’ll send the youngsters to the school. It’s near Inverness, so if you are intending to buy a house, buy one somewhere in that area. However, I don’t think you have to worry about lodging since you’d be staying with Elaviel and Bluestone.” Then he grinned slyly. “It’s the same school where the other one will be trained.”

“Oh…” Harry smiled. “Was Snape trained by Professor Reed?” he asked, remembering the conversation between Starkmind and the gloomy Potions Master.

Vine let out a hearty chuckle. “Oh yes,” the wizard answered. “Aran was the one teaching us Potions back in my younger years. Sometimes I wonder how much those grave expressions of theirs are truly genuine.”

“Do you mean they have the reputation of looking so somber?” Harry questioned warily. “Is that to be expected?” I don’t think I’d care to imagine how my life would be like if Draco suddenly starts trying to be menacing and condescending.

“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see how much that silver-haired teenager is willing to be molded into a shape that Aran finds pleasing,” Vine replied cheerfully. “Who knows? Maybe Draco Malfoy is intent on creating a new kind of Potions Master.” The corners of his eyes wrinkled with mirth. “Merlin help Aran and the students then.”

It was two hours after noon when Harry met up with Draco at their usual haunting ground. They did not go into the classroom where the Slytherin tutored Harry but stayed on the balcony that overlooked an open space. Both boys leaned on the railing, their hands clasped on its broad surface.

“What’s your mentor like?” Draco asked, glancing sideways at the teenager beside him.

“He seems nice. Very much like Remus, really. He can be different when he’s irritated though,” Harry replied thoughtfully. “How was Reed?”

“Imposing,” Draco smirked. “He’s like Snape – or maybe the other way around – but Reed’s more waspish. A very shrewd man.” Then he sighed pensively. “Seriously, I don’t know if I’m brave enough to withstand him. He gives me the impression of someone being able to turn you into dust with just one glare, if he gets extremely pissed.”

“That fierce?”

“Hey, Snape was his protégé,” Draco pointed out glumly. “My hearing is on the fourteenth of July, by the way.”

“Are you nervous about that?” Harry asked, patting the pale hands sympathetically.

“Of course I am. I’ve never gotten myself into trouble and had to attend court,” the Slytherin replied with a sneer. He winced slightly when Harry managed to poke his waist. “You seem to have quite a problem with Ron Weasley.”

“Considering that you’re the main cause, of course it’s a big problem.” Malachite-green eyes gazed out gloomily. “It hurts,” Harry said quietly and his tone brought out a reaction that was protective from the other wizard. Draco immediately wrapped his arms about the sorrowful teenager. “It isn’t the first time that we’ve fought with each other; we usually make up in a couple of weeks. But…” his voice trailed off with a choke.

“He’ll come round,” Draco reassured him. “He’s your best friend. Maybe when he realizes that you’re intent on sticking to me for life, he’ll put aside his dislike for me and concentrate on having you back as his friend.”

“Compassion and understanding from a Slytherin isn’t really becoming, you know,” Harry said, smiling a little.

“Slytherin or not, I’m still human, aren’t I? Do you want to sit with me during the train ride tomorrow?”

Harry shook his head. “I won’t be seeing my friends for quite some time, so I think it’s only fair if I be with them tomorrow. Is that all right with you?”

“It is. I’ll be having you for a lifetime, remember?”

“Aren’t we cloying?” Harry turned his head and considered his boyfriend with amusement.

“Just feeling very much in love, I guess,” Draco replied flippantly.

They fell silent and their gazes were drawn to a group of girls arranging themselves into a circle before they began to dance.

“Draco, why did you, Crabbe and Goyle dress up like a Dementor, that time when we were third-years?” the Gryffindor asked inconsequentially. “Don’t you think that you three were being a little childish?”

“Excuse me!” Draco sounded injured.

“Really. Didn’t you know that there is a charm to conjure a shadow? Ginny did it once last year and it looked very much like a Lethifold. Flying fifty feet high above the ground, I would still have mistaken it for a Dementor all the same.”

“All right, love. Don’t belabor it.”

“Seriously.”

“I said, ‘all right’!” Draco tightened his arms about Harry’s chest, his cheeks coloring rapidly.

“Really, Draco. I didn’t expect you to volunteer to do such a prank, and in front of the whole school, too. What on earth possessed you to stand on Crabbe’s shoulders? Or was it Goyle’s?”

With a growl, the Slytherin bit his exposed neck and pressed his palm on Harry’s crotch. Startled, the latter yelped but it quickly changed into a moan. “You want to go on commenting how childish I was?” the blonde wizard threatened.

“Okay! Okay! I yield!”

Smirking to himself, Draco slipped his hand into his boyfriend’s trousers and continued his caresses.

“Draco!” Harry gave a strangled shout. “Not here!” He was panicking rather quickly. The girls dancing below had heard his cry and were looking in all directions for the source. “Draco!” he muttered pleadingly.

Laughing, Draco removed his hand but pulled Harry into the direction of the classroom. “Transfigure something into a couch, love. I think I would like to be intimate with you.”