The F.E.R.R.E.T Program

Draco's chest ached as he watched Jessica wipe away angry tears.

"You are a Death Eater? Aren't you?" She walked over to his desk, eyeing his left forearm. "Show me the Mark! I want to see it!"

Draco pulled up his sleeve, exposing the faded Dark Mark. He didn't know what he could say that would help her understand that he wasn't the same person she had heard rumours about.

"He was forced to join that evil bastard!" Nathaniel interjected.

All the students looked his way, shock written on their faces. The Ravenclaw nodded. "No one told you that, did they? People only spread bad news after all."

Jessica turned back to look Draco in the eye. "You were forced to be evil?" she asked with a voice barely above a whisper, completely horrified with the thought.

Draco's gut wrenched up tightly. He swallowed hard. "Yes," he whispered, unable to find his voice. "I wasn't a nice boy. I was brainwashed into thinking that Muggleborns were beneath me, and I used to say bad things about them, but no, I never wanted to torture them, and I certainly wasn't okay with killing them."

Jessica lowered her eyes. "So you don't think I'm dirty?"

"Of course not! You're my friend, and Mr. Larson is right, I've changed, I'm no longer that bigot those rumors speak of."

"Who's Mr. Larson?" Jessica wondered, having not yet met Nathaniel.

"Me!" Nathaniel waved. "You're Jessica James— hey, like Jesse James—can I call you that?! Jessi?"

Jessica huffed, highly insulted. "Only if you want my fist down your throat!"

Nathaniel winced at her threat. "Jessica it is then."

"I am not a criminal," she announced indignantly.

"It's just a cool name," Nathaniel defended his reasoning. "That's all."

"Well, I hate it!"

"Okay. Forget I mentioned it. Sorry."

Jessica softened some. "Well, don't pout! I forgive you, sheesh!"

"Why don't you take a seat so we can get started?" Draco suggested to Jessica.

She nodded and sat next to Nathaniel who looked a bit wary of her choice to sit next to him.

"Were you forced to kill anyone?" the Gryffindor girl asked Draco. "I heard you were given the job to kill Dumbledore, but you didn't. Headmaster Snape did that."

Draco glanced at his watch. "This class wasn't created to discuss my inimical history. I'd like to begin the lesson now. We've already wasted ten minutes." He paused, adding, just for good measure, "No, I didn't kill anyone."

That seemed to put them all at ease.

"Shall I begin?"

Everyone nodded.

"We have Hans Bricket, Jessica James and Nathaniel Larson, and who might you three be?" Draco asked the second years.

"I'm Henry Handers," the Gryffindor boy said. He gestured to his fellow Gryffindor. "This is Madeline Poppers, but we call her Maddy."

"And I'm Emily Flute," the Slytherin girl supplied.

"Nice to meet you, welcome to the F.E.R.R.E.T class, everyone. The first thing you should know is that your magic is only as powerful as your confidence. How confident are you with your magic ability?"

Draco received blank looks. Especially from the first years. He expected no different, since this was their first class in Hogwarts.

"I can cast a few spells," Henry answered quietly. "But not many. We didn't learn too much last year."

"I know the disarm spell," Emily said.

"I know stupify!" Madeline added, not wanting to feel left out.

Draco nodded. "Both of those are good defense spells. In Charms, Professor Flitwick will teach you the levitation spell— are any of you familiar with this?"

Nathaniel raised his hand. "The Charms book talks about it. I tried to cast it, but I wasn't successful."

"You haven't been introduced to magic until recently, so it's reasonable to assume that you have no faith in your magic."

Jessica huffed irritably. "That sounds like an insult!"

"Do you have faith in your magic?" he countered. "Did any of you actually believe you were magical when you were first told so?"

Emily tilted her head. "It didn't take much convincing—"

"But it took some convincing, yes?"

She smiled. "Well, it was quite an unbelievable story."

"Because you were born into a society which refuses to acknowledge that magic exists. And thus brings the point of this class: every other student here who has magical parents has an unfair advantage over you. I'm going to even things up for you.

So let's take out our wands. While the first Charm a Hogwarts student learns is usually the levitation one, this morning, I'll teach you the light spell."

"I know that one!" Henry exclaimed.

"Me too!" Madeline joined in.

"Great," Draco verbally applauded. He expected no differently from three students who literally spent a year in Hell.

Emily raised her hand, and Draco permitted her to speak.

"I feel it's important to tell the first years that this is basically a magical equivalent to the Muggle's torch

"I don't know what that is, but since you do, would you like to demonstrate the spell to them, Miss Flute?"

"I'd be delighted."

"Come up here to the front then."

The first years watched eagerly as Emily made the tip of her wand light up.

"That's awesome!" Nathaniel shrieked.

"It sure is!" Jessica agreed.

Even Hans was excited to turn his wand into a "flashlight". He gripped his wand determinedly, eyes focused heavily on Emily's wand.

"Now, listen carefully. None of the classes will teach you this, this is something we usually have to discover on our own— be it through observation or experience, but this is important to know— alright?"

The students nodded. He had their undivided attention.

"Close your eyes," Draco instructed. "Focus on the energy in the pit of your stomach. Imagine this energy traveling through your body and to your wand. Allow your wand to snag it—"

Nathaniel gasped out suddenly, breaking off everyone's focus. "Whoa!"

"What?" Jessica snarled, annoyed that he had interrupted her concentration.

"I felt the pull!" He was in awe. "Guys! My wand was controlling me!"

"It just harnesses your magic, Larson. It doesn't control you. Bricket?" Draco suddenly directed at Hans. "Do you remember the brooms?"

Hans was listening to Draco intently, taking this lesson very seriously. He nodded.

"The wands need a charge up, just like the brooms. A weak charge means a weaker spell," Draco explained. "Mr. Larson, you charged yours up, go ahead, cast the light spell— do you remember how?"

Nathaniel grinned with excited eyes. "Yes!" He took in a breath. "Lumos!"

They had to shield their eyes, the light was incredibly bright.

"Nox!" Draco put Nathaniel's light out. "Okay, you don't have to put too much power into it. You're not trying to light up the Earth. That's something you're going to have to learn to control through practice."

They practiced for a bit before Draco took a box out from under his desk and heaved it onto his desk. "I'd like to introduce you to your new addiction, class." He removed a bottle from the case and popped the cap up with a spell.

"Butterbeer." He smiled, and opened up six more bottles. Then he had each student come up and get one.

"Is it real beer?" Jessica asked warily.

Draco scoffed, slightly amused with her precaution. "Do you think I'm going to get you pissed? No, it's just a fairy drink."

"Hey!" Hans cried out after he had a sip. "This is great!" His peers agreed in unison.

Shortly after that, there was a shatter of glass, and a God-awful noise, as if someone was coming out of the lake after holding their breath for several minutes. Draco slammed his bottle down when he saw Nathaniel bent over, gasping for air.

"What is it, Larson?" Draco demanded out in a panic, but the boy didn't respond, he fell onto his desk, going limp.

"What happened?!" Emily wailed out in horror.

"Class dismissed!" Draco said in a rush, hauling the boy up into his arms and scurrying out the room. Nathaniel needed to get to the infirmary.

Draco ran up a case of stairs before a crowd of seventh years emerged into the hall. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he hollered out, pushing through them.

"Shove off, Malfoy!" Zabini snarled out, pushing back at him, nearly knocking Draco off his feet.

Draco looked down at Nathaniel's face, and noticed his lips were going blue.

Oh, Merlin. I've poisoned him! I've poisoned a Muggleborn! They'll think I've done it on purpose!

"Nathaniel?" Draco squeaked out. He was panting now, and his arms ached terribly. His lungs were burning from the extreme workout he was putting them through. "You better well not bloody die in my arms, you little twit!"

"Malfoy?!"

"Not now Granger! I've got an emergency!"

"What happened?" she demanded, catching up to him. Her face paled at the sight of Nathaniel's status.

"I don't know!" Draco frantically admitted. His voice was shaky and he was near tears. "I gave everyone a butterbeer and he stopped breathing! Oh, Merlin, Granger, I think he's been poisoned!"

"The other kids are fine?"

"Yeah!"

"Lie him on that bench!" She pointed up ahead.

"Are you mental?! He needs to see the mediwitch!"

"He's in anaphylactic shock, Malfoy! There's no time! Get him over there to that bench, now! That's a directorder!"

Draco set Nathaniel on the bench and stepped back as Granger conjured up a potion and forced it down the boy's throat. With a spell, she made his throat swallow.

Draco stood back, trembling in fear. He dragged his sweaty hands through his hair and clutched fistfuls of hair, staring at Nathaniel's still body.

"Come on, Nathaniel!" he pleaded with the unconscious boy. "Your time isn't up yet, you can't go now, you've only just learned one spell! You've got many more to do!" He stepped closer to the boy and began shaking him aggressively. "WAKE THE BLOODY HELL UP!" he shouted. "WAKE UP NOW!"

Granger pushed his hands away "Malfoy! That isn't going to help him!"

And, as if Nathaniel was wanting to make a liar out of her, the Ravenclaw sucked in one noisy breath, heaving his chest out.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" Draco cheered as Nathaniel started panting in quick, short breaths. "Damn you, boy, you stole a decade off my life with that mess!"

Nathaniel smiled weakly. He then saw that Granger was standing over him who was just as relieved that he was breathing again.

"How did I get so lucky to be saved by Hermione Granger?"

She chuckled softly. "Luck it was, Nathaniel. We should still get the mediwitch to look you over."

Granger and Draco helped Nathaniel up to his feet so that they could finish the journey to the infirmary.

"No more butterbeers, understand?" Granger said scoldingly.

"Do they have butterscotch in them?" Nathaniel asked curiously.

"Yes, they are flavoured with butterscotch," Draco said.

"Oh, I'm allergic to butterscotch," Nathaniel informed sheepishly.

"Why didn't you say something before you drank it then?!" Draco demanded. He wanted to wring his neck!

"I'm not allergic to butter. Thought it was a buttery drink."

Granger sighed. "I do advise that you ask what's in something before consuming it. That would be the smart thing to do, Mr. Ravenclaw."

He smiled. "I will. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"This probably won't be your last near-death episode," Draco muttered, hating how dangerous Hogwarts was.

Granger laughed, remembering her own dangerous encounters in her youth. "You can say that again."