Chapter 12
Minerva McGonagall
„You can stop looking for a new teacher, under one condition.”
Minerva looked up from her tea in surprise. “You’re going to stay?”
“Under one condition,” Devon repeated with a smile.
“And what would that be?”
“I may have an apprentice next year. I was thinking of letting him teach the first and second years, which will give me enough time to invest into his apprenticeship. He’s perfectly capable of that.”
She smiled knowingly. “I thought you didn’t want to bother with another apprentice? What did Mr Malfoy do to change your mind?” That was at least what he had told her after his last apprentice, who had been rather disappointing.
“Nothing in particular,” he replied with a shrug. “He has a unique understanding of the workings of ingredients considering he hasn’t even finished school yet and he’s creative and that can’t be taught. You know we’ve been working on a potion together for a few months now and he has come up with very good ideas. I also enjoy working with him.”
She nodded. It didn’t particularly surprise her. “I’m glad Slughorn forced me to fire him. Even if he had done what I told him to do, he would never have done more than absolutely necessary. You’re the best thing that could have happened to him and others who struggling right now.” He had taken the time to get to know Draco Malfoy, found a way to productively spent time with him and while working together had gained his trust. That had ensured that Draco had talked to him when he hadn’t been doing well instead of trying to deal with it by himself. That and the time Draco had spent with his new friends had given him the best chances to make a recovery. His mind-healer had assured Minerva that he was doing exceptionally well, considering it had only been half a year. And it wasn’t just Malfoy. McNair was a wonder, being the Head of House for Slytherin (or the other Houses for that matter) was not easy this year. Many students had lost relatives or friends, the parents of some students had been Death Eaters and were serving time in Azkaban, some of them a life sentence. Those children were both dealing with the loss of their parents and prejudice against them.
Devon was there for his students and in addition to that he was a good and popular teacher. The students liked him and were generally doing well in his classes. “And to Hogwarts. I’ll gladly keep you for a few more years.”
“I didn’t think I’d enjoy teaching so much,” he admitted.
She nodded. While she did enjoy some aspects of being a headmistress, she did miss just being a teacher. “But are you sure Mr Malfoy wants to teach classes? I don’t object, I have no doubt he’s skilful enough to teach the first two years.”
“Well, I’ll have to ask. But he’s good at explaining how he came to certain conclusions. Maybe he can have a trial run with the current first years. We’d tell the class that I have an appointment and Mr Malfoy is taking over one lesson for me. You can sit in and see how he’s doing. If he agrees.”
“Alright. Ask him. I’d be willing to try.” The only thing she wasn’t looking forward to was convincing the Board of Governors.
Draco
It was the last Saturday before the holidays were over. He had spent the morning with Hermione, but his girlfriend had gone to Hogsmeade in the afternoon and so he had spontaneously asked McNair, if he could help him with something.
“Sure, I know we wanted to wait until next week, but we can start with the new Wolfsbane mixture you came up with.”
Draco lifted an eyebrow at his teacher. “You think that could work? It was just a thought.” He had almost completely dismissed everything they had done before in favour of just adding two extra ingredients to a mix of the original Wolfsbane Potion recipe, combined with a common Anti-Pain Potion. The first of these ingredients should enhance the properties of the ingredients to counter pain, the second was there to lessen the negative effects the first ingredient would have on the wolfsbane leaves. He had made a few more adjustments to the quantity of the other ingredients.
“It was a very good thought. I think it could work. I just added another Murtlap tentacle to the recipe, because the dragon horn powder you added may mess with the properties of the tentacles just as much as with the Mandrake leaves.”
Damn, he hadn’t thought of that. “That makes sense. Ok, let’s try.”
They worked in silence for a while, but when they were done mixing the first few ingredients together and the potion was bubbling on the fire, McNair looked at Draco, who was cleaning up the working space.
“Have you any plans regarding potions for after Hogwarts?”
Draco smiled. “I do. I’d like to start an apprenticeship. I think my father won’t mind, if I neglect my duties as the future Lord Malfoy for a few more years to focus on that and afterwards I want to work on potions development and improvement. That’s easily compatible with political work and family business because I won’t have any deadlines.”
“That sounds good. So I’ve been thinking … If I’d offer you an apprenticeship, would that be interesting for you?”
Draco looked up in surprise. He knew McNair hadn’t taken an apprentice in years and he had once said in an interview that he wasn’t really interested in that anymore, so Draco hadn’t even dared to hope that this was something his teacher would consider. “Of course I’d be interested! I thought you weren’t accepting apprentices anymore?”
“Let’s say you’ve impressed me.” Draco couldn’t believe his ears. “I think you can go far. And it’s a joy to work with you. There’s only one thing to consider. I was planning to teach for a few more years. If you’d be willing to teach the first and second years, including marking their homework, I would have enough time left to focus on your apprenticeship. You would have to work on some weekends, sometimes just a few hours, and I will take your plans into consideration. Another thing is, I would have to ask you not to take holidays during school holidays because that would be the time I can solely focus on your work, but I’m not making you work on Christmas or New Year’s. If all that is acceptable, you can start after graduation.”
Draco considered this. He didn’t mind working on some weekends, potions was fun for him, relaxing, and he didn’t care about when to take holidays. It would just be for three years, too. “It sounds great. I just don’t know whether I’d be any good at teaching.”
“I didn’t either before I tried.”
Draco grinned. “So is there a way to try before I commit for three years?”
“I already talked to Minerva, she’d be willing to let you try teaching a class of first years when school starts again. I’m not going to tell them it’s for testing whether this would be something you could do for a while. We’ll just tell them that I have an appointment and asked you to take over this once. Minerva would sit in. She’s not going to interrupt unless absolutely necessary and you’ll be completely responsible that all you teach is correct. She just wants to see how you’re generally doing with the children and that you have an eye on their safety. If all three of us decide it’s a good idea, she will do that for the first two or so weeks of you teaching so she can give you some practical advice afterwards and then you will be on your own. Also, I think it will be good for your own practical knowledge. Even first and second years come up with interesting questions sometimes and when they hand in potions which are not correct, it’s a good exercise for you to find out what they did wrong. And maybe you’ll like it. You’re good at explaining, it’s worth a try.”
Draco nodded slowly. He had never considered teaching, but an apprenticeship with McNair was definitely worth giving it a chance. “Alright, I’ll try.”
Hermione
She hadn’t wanted to stay in Hogsmeade for long, but to her surprise she had been confronted with some familiar faces in the Three Broomsticks: Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Gregory Goyle, Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson. Theodore waved cheerily at her when he saw her.
Well, she didn’t have the best history with them, but she also didn’t with the Malfoys, and here she was, in regular correspondence with both Lucius and Narcissa and in a relationship with Draco. And they were his friends, so she would have met them sooner or later anyway.
With a smile she approached their table. “Hi.”
“Hi, Granger. We were hoping you’d be here today. Come, sit with us. You’re invited.” Blaise made an extravagant gesture towards the free chair.
Surprised, she sat down. “You were waiting for me?”
“Yep.” It was Daphne speaking now. Her voice was soft and now that she didn’t sneer at her, she looked extremely pretty. “Draco told us that you two are together, so we thought it would be a good idea to clear the air between us, so to speak.”
“Yeah, we were pretty awful to you.” Greg looked genuinely sorry. “And we’re sorry.” Even Pansy Parkinson nodded along. “We just … you know … don’t want you to think Draco’s friends are just pricks. Well, we were, but I guess we just believed what our parents told us and went with it. We shouldn’t have.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t stop these pricks.” Theo gave her a winning smile.
“Yeah, Theo never believed in blood supremacy, he sometimes gave us a pretty good scolding when he thought we went too far. Which was often.” Daphne shrugged. “But we thought it was great of you to help Draco when you really had no good reason to. And when he told us of the two of you … Well, we don’t want it to be weird. We’ve been friends since early childhood and …”
“Why are you guys so bloody awkward?” Pansy looked at each one of them, before settling her gaze on Hermione. “What they’re desperately trying to say is that we are sorry, we want to start over and since you’re obviously important for Draco, we think it’s a good idea to get along.”
Madam Rosmerta came to their table and Hermione ordered a Butterbeer. When they were alone again, she gave the others a smile. They were right, it would be easier, if they’d at least get along, because if the relationship with Draco would last, which she hoped, because she was ridiculously happy with him, they would be parts of each other’s lives. And who knew, maybe they could even become friends. They couldn’t be all bad from what Draco had told her about them. They had, for example, faithfully kept his hairy little problem to themselves last year and they had helped Draco when he had tried to keep students from harm when the Death Eaters had been the real power in Hogwarts.
She accepted their apology.
xxx
She hadn’t expected that, but they sat together for more than three hours before she had to leave because she would have to be back at school by dinner time.
After the first half an hour of awkwardness, it had been fun. Maybe the Firewhiskey Theo had eventually ordered for all of them had helped lighten the mood and soon they had been deep in conversation, which had gone from funny stories about Draco, current events and their respective interests. Daphne and Pansy told them about Beauxbatons and Theo had taken his rightful place as Lord Nott, as his father was in Azkaban. Blaise had moved to Italy, where his family owned vineyards, but still came to Britain very regularly. Greg didn’t really know what to do yet, but at least he wasn’t locking himself away anymore and had enjoyed spending Christmas with his friends. Pansy and Daphne bemoaned that there had been no traditional New Year’s Eve ball at Malfoy Manor.
“It’s the highlight every year,” Pansy gushed. “Narcissa organises the most amazing balls. We were just old enough to attend and then this noseless arse came along and ruined everything for everyone.”
They were all a little drunk at that point and Hermione giggled along with them. With the right amount of alcohol, it was the funniest thing that Voldemort had ruined balls for everyone.
When she had to go, Theo paid and they all hugged Hermione goodbye – Greg had a very strong hug – and Hermione slowly made her way back to Hogwarts where she walked into Draco who was just on his way to the Great Hall for dinner. “Hey, I was already wondering where you were. I was with McNair the entire afternoon and thought you’d already gone to the Great Hall. Did you just come back?” He kissed her cheek and Hermione hugged him, also for support. The alcohol really began to kick in after her walk.
“Yes. I met your friends. Well, your friends met me. They waited for me. We had a great time.” She beamed at him.
He stared at her. “Are you drunk?”
“A little? Is it obvious?” She gave him a worried glance. “Theo bought Firewhiskey for everyone. Really good Firewhiskey. Do you think the teachers will notice?”
“If they’re not suddenly all blind and deaf, probably.” He had the nerve to grin. “So you met my friends?”
“Yeah. They were nice. Apologised to me and invited me for a drink. Well, I’m not really used to drinking, I guess.”
Draco chuckled warmly. “I suppose not. Come, we’ll ask McNair, if he has a Sober-Up-Potion.”
“Oh, he’ll be mad.”
“I don’t think so.” He had an arm around her now and led her to the dungeons. “Better him than McGonagall.”
“I guess.” She bit her lip nervously. She hadn’t thought she’d ever have to ask a teacher for Sober-Up-Potion.
They met him at the door to his office, which he had just left, presumably to also go to dinner. “Did you forget something?”
“No. We were wondering, if you had any Sober-Up-Potion. Hermione met my friends in Hogsmeade and one of them thought it would be a good idea to order Firewhiskey. She’s not really used to drinking.”
Hermione gave him an apologetic smile, which probably didn’t look like a sober smile, because McNair couldn’t help but grin.
“I think I still have some. Come in.” They went into the office and watched as McNair searched through some vials. “Ah, here it is.”
He handed it to hear and about a minute after taking it, she felt herself sobering up. Her embarrassment grew tenfold. “Thank you,” she said. “And I’m sorry. I usually don’t do that.”
Both Draco and McNair were still grinning and that brought her back to herself. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad,” she said primly.
“You seriously asked me, if the teachers would notice while trying not to fall on your face.” Draco was laughing now.
Hermione just rolled her eyes.
xxx
McNair, with a little warning not to repeat that, had kept it to himself, so except for Draco and him, no one had found out.
“That was so embarrassing!” Hermione was still not over it when they entered the common room, which they wouldn’t have for themselves anymore by Sunday afternoon or evening, depending on when the others would return.
Draco just grinned and pulled her into his lap as he sat down on the sofa. “It’s not that bad. I’m pretty sure you weren’t the first one to require that potion after a Hogsmeade trip. There’s a reason he has it. At least he knew you wouldn’t do it again without taking points or giving you detention. It’s a pity he didn’t take points from Gryffindor.”
“Hey!” She gave him a stern look, but had to grin, too. “Alright, it could have been worse,” she conceded and leaned onto him. “And it was nice in Hogsmeade. We got along surprisingly well.”
“I’m really glad to hear that. Was Greg there, too?”
“Yes, he looked well.”
“That’s good.” He kissed her cheek. “And I have some news, too.”
There was a tone in his voice that told her that this was important news, at least to him. She was surprised at how well she knew him already. “What is it?” She asked with genuine interest.
And he told her all about his potential apprenticeship and the teaching arrangement. Her smile grew as she listened. She was so happy for him! “That’s amazing, Draco.” She kissed him and was pulled closer into his embrace.
“It is. I still can’t believe it. I mean, working with him is great, but he said once that he wouldn’t take apprentices anymore, so I really didn’t expect that. I just hope I’ll manage the teaching part.”
She smiled at him. “I’m sure you will. You managed to explain wormholes and black holes to Ronald, although he wasn’t even interested.”
“Yeah. I always kind of enjoyed it. I helped Greg and … Vince with classes. It wasn’t like they were too stupid to understand, I know everyone thought so, even their own families, but they just had trouble with the explanations used in class and it was a bit too fast for them.”
Hermione felt a bit bad. She had been absolutely convinced of their stupidity once. In class, she had seen their puzzled looks and when they had had decent grades in tests, she had thought they had cheated when in reality Draco had taken the time to help them understand what they hadn’t been able to understand during the lessons.
Today she had seen a different side of Gregory Goyle and while he wasn’t as articulate and well-spoken as his friends, he was most certainly not an idiot or a brute.
Maybe she wasn’t as free of prejudice as she would have liked to think.
“I’m sure you will do great, both as a teacher and in your apprenticeship.”
Draco
Father,
Mother,
I have news!
Father, do you think you could wait three more years with introducing me to my duties as your heir? You won’t be bored. Hermione is currently trying to figure out how to start her political career and I’m sure she’d love to have your advice to boost said career.
I have been offered an apprenticeship by Professor McNair and I’d love to accept. The Potioneer apprenticeship takes three years and I’ll be pretty busy because I will also teach first and second year students so Professor McNair has enough time to have an apprentice in the first place. I will not live at Hogwarts, I’ll floo home every day, but there will be some weekends on which I will have to work as well. Next week I’ll have a trial run with a class of first years, so Headmistress McGonagall can see whether I would be fit for teaching. If it goes well, I can sign the apprenticeship contract with a side contract for teaching.
I’ll take my seat in the Wizengamot whenever I have the time, but I don’t think there will be much room for anything else during those years.
I hope this is acceptable for you, Father. I will of course support you in the family businesses and politically once I’m done.
How are you doing, mother? I hope all is well.
Love,
Draco
Right before curfew, Draco brought the letter to the Owlery. He wasn’t worried, he didn’t think his father would mind. He had run everything by himself for long enough, three more years wouldn’t really matter. Also, when he was finally out of confinement, he’d be relieved to have something to do.
And if he was right, if it all went as well as he hoped, his father investing time in Hermione’s career would also mean investing time into having a Malfoy family member in a high political position. She was brilliant and Draco had no doubt she would go far. If he was completely honest with himself, while he didn’t mind leading the family businesses, he dreaded being too involved in politics. The Malfoys had always been strongly influential in politics, but while his father enjoyed it and Hermione certainly would, too, Draco would be perfectly content to mainly focus on potions for the rest of his life. But that was something he didn’t want to tell his father. He would be the first Lord Malfoy or future Lord Malfoy to have no political power; he didn’t want to be a disappointment.
Lucius Malfoy
After patiently kneeling next to his wife on the bathroom floor while she was sick, he led her back to bed and sat with her until she was asleep. He didn’t like how pale she was, how tired she seemed in the last few days. Of course he knew that all that was still in the range of normal for a pregnancy, but considering how it went last time, he couldn’t help but worry.
Careful not to wake her, he gently brushed some hair out of her face before silently leaving the room to let her rest.
“Bimsy?”
The house elf popped up next to him. “Yes, Master?”
“Have an eye on Narcissa while she’s asleep. Don’t disturb her. I’ll be in my study.”
“Yes, Master!”
Lucius didn’t have much time to focus on his correspondence before Hermes arrived and stared at him from outside before he was finally let in. He gave the owl a treat, but told him to wait to see what his son had written. He may answer immediately.
The eagle owl sat down on one of the backrests of the armchair in the corner and Lucius sat back down behind his desk to read the letter.
He couldn’t help but smile at what he read. It was easy to imagine how excited Draco would be to be offered an apprenticeship by a man he had admired since childhood. For months he had gushed about his work with McNair and how much he was learning from him during their mystery project.
Lucius didn’t mind waiting three more years. The family businesses wouldn’t go anywhere, neither would the Ministry. If it made him happy, he could have this time. His own father, Abraxas, would never have allowed Lucius to pursue any career path that didn’t have to do with pushing the family’s wealth and influence, he had been lucky that politics suited him and that he had a hand with investments and finances, but he had never wanted to be like his father, especially not when it came to Narcissa and Draco. His own mother had suffered from his father’s often cruel treatment before she had died young. Lucius had been seven when Rosalyn Malfoy had taken her own life. Officially, it had been an accident, of course. On the day of his mother’s funeral, he had sworn to himself that he would never treat his future wife and their children the way his father had treated his family and that at least was a promise he had kept. He couldn’t imagine hurting Narcissa or raising Draco and his future sibling the way he himself had been raised.
Yes, his son’s happiness mattered to him, especially after what he had been through during and after the War.
And Draco was right. Hermione showed considerable political ambition. She was still a little undecided on how to start, but she would doubtlessly go far, no matter the exact path she would eventually choose. Also, judging from the letters they both wrote, she would probably be a Malfoy eventually, so even if Draco did not develop any more interest than he already had (and that was precious little, Lucius was in no habit of fooling himself), there was still her.
Draco,
Congratulations! This is great news and an extraordinary chance for you and of course I want you to take it. I have no doubt you will do well. Let us know how teaching went.
Your mother was a little tired and is sleeping right now. Nothing to be concerned about, just the usual pregnancy symptoms so far. I’m sure she will write to you as well once she’s awake and I show her your letter. And I have no doubt she will be just as proud of you as I am.
Your Father
~tbc~