Parenting Class Chapter Four

Disclaimer: Let's see...if I did own Harry Potter I would be rich. With my money, I would buy a huge Victorian style house surrounded by a large forest. I'd buy every single anime DVD my heart desired and I'd have a pool with waterfall in my backyard. But since I currently live in a suburban neighborhood with cornfields as backyard friends, we can all conclude I don't own Harry Potter.

Parenting Class

Potions, Oh My!

Sunlight poured into the bedroom, dancing, golden rays lighting upon the two figures lying sound asleep in the large bed. With a soft moan, the girl sat up, holding a hand in front of her eyes to shield them from the bright light.

"Morning already," she mumbled. "You'd think someone would have come and gotten me up. Letting me sleep in...Mom knows she's supposed to wake me." Removing her hand, Hermione glanced around the room, eyes widening in horror.

It was decorated in the familiar reds and golds of Gryffindor, the quidditch field visible from her window. Like bricks, the reality of the day hit her. She wasn't at home. She was at Hogwarts. She had classes. Like the Potions class that had started ten minutes ago.

"HAARRRYYYY!" she screamed, jumping up from the bed, the little boy beside her starting with fright and looking at the girl with wide, silver eyes as she threw open her door and tore off down the hall. "HARRRRRRRRYYYYYY!"

"What is it, Mione?" the black haired boy muttered, exiting his room, and looking sleepily at Hermione.

"WE'RE TEN MINUTES LATE TO POTIONS! WHY DIDN'T YOU GET ME UP?" she shrieked, eyes glinting angrily. "WE'RE GOING TO GET DETENTIONS AND LOSE POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T GET OUT OF BED AND WAKE ME!"

"You didn't get me up either," Harry pointed out, attempting to remain calm despite the fact that he was probably going to be given detention for a month. "We're both equally at fault."

"THIS IS THE FIRST DAY! IT IS NOT GOING TO LOOK GOOD IF I SHOW UP LATE FOR CLASS ON THE FIRST DAY!"

A smile dawned upon Harry's face and he stood there, grinning at Hermione, only causing to make the girl even more furious.

"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING FOR! GO GET DRESSED ALREADY! WE HAVE TO GET THERE AS SOON AS WE CAN!"

"You forget what we have with us," snickered Harry.

"AND WHAT WOULD THAT BE?"

"Draco," he answered simply, the name rolling off his tongue quite easily. 'I guess it's easier to call Malfoy by his first name when he's a little kid... he doesn't act like Malfoy at all.'

The same smile came upon Hermione's face and she turned back to her room. "I'll meet you outside the portrait in a few minutes," she called over her shoulder, before disappearing into her room.

Draco looked at the girl curiously, quite unnerved by the drastic mood change. "We're going to go visit Uncle Sev, okay Draco?" she said sweetly, plucking the boy off of the bed.

"Really? You mean it Hermione?" The witch nodded. "Thank you so much!" he cried, throwing his arms around the girl's neck. "I can't wait to see him again!"

"Just one catch Draco," Hermione said, setting the child down on his own bed. "When we get there, I need for you to pretend to be asleep, okay? And right after we finish Potions, we'll get you some breakfast."

"That's fine, but why do I have to pretend to be asleep? I want to see Uncle Sev!"

"Do you want to get me in trouble?"

"No..." he replied slowly.

"Then we can't let your uncle know we all slept in..."

The blond smirked, eyes lighting with mischief. "I understand," he laughed.

"Good. Now why don't you put these on," she said, handing Draco a set of clothes and a small robe, "and then go brush your teeth? Once you're ready we'll go."

Nodding, the boy took the offered clothes and Hermione left the room to go get dressed herself. Entering the bathroom after changing into her robes, she saw Draco standing on a little stepstool next to the sink, washing his hands and humming to himself.

"What's that you're singing?" Hermione asked, picking up her toothbrush and beginning to scrub at her own teeth.

"Dobby told me that I should sing the alphabet three times when I was my hands and four times when I brush my teeth. But I don't get how I can sing if I have toothpaste in my mouth."

"You have to think the song while you brush," Hermione responded, now running a comb through the child's hair, the bangs falling to rest just above his eyebrows. "Did you say Dobby?" she queried after a second's thought, remembering him mentioning the said house elf the day before.

"Yes. He's the one who took care of me most of the time. I wonder what he's doing now," the boy wondered, a thoughtful look on his face.

Hermione inwardly laughed with glee. 'We could take Draco down to the kitchens to meet Dobby! Of course we'd have to make him believe Dobby was visiting the castle for some reason, but it would be nice for him to see someone he knows besides Snape.'

"Can we go visit Uncle Sev?" Draco asked, tugging on Hermione's robes impatiently.

"We're going, we're going," she laughed, scooping the boy into her arms. "Now remember, pretend you're asleep...once we've been in the room for a few minutes you can 'wake up.'"

Obediently, Draco closed his eyes and tucked his head into the crook of Hermione's arm, his face relaxed and arms hanging limply at his sides. Leaving the bathroom, Hermione slung he book bag over her shoulder and left through the portrait hole.

"You're running late," called Leviculus as the Hermione joined Harry and they set off down the hall at a steady pace. "Better hurry!"

"Is he still asleep?" Harry whispered, looking at the Slytherin.

In answer, Draco cracked open one eye and Harry jumped in surprise. "He looked like he was asleep!" the boy exclaimed.

"You'd make a good actor," commented Hermione, smiling down at the child. Draco smiled back before closing his eye again, once more the impression he was sleeping looking like the real thing.

The trio descended the stone steps leading down to the dungeons, a cold draft racing to greet them. "It's-c-colder then l-last year," chattered Harry, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm.

"We s-should be b-better once w-we get by our c-cauldron," Hermione chattered back, her teeth clacking loudly together. Draco didn't move a muscle, though he dug himself deeper into Hermione's arms.

A few minutes later they all stood before a large, formidable looking wooden door, a polished black handle shining faintly. Taking a deep breath, Hermione opened the door and let them all in.

Eyes immediately turned to face the small group, some Gryffindors holding pity while Slytherins narrowed maliciously. "Would one of you care to explain why you are twenty minutes late?" Snape hissed, coming to stand before Hermione.

"We're very sorry, Sir," she murmured, glancing down at Draco. "But Draco didn't want to get up and we didn't really want to wake him...we finally ended up just brining him down."

Hermione saw the man's eyes flicker with a glimmer of happiness as he looked down at his godson, but when his eyes met hers once more, they were endless tunnels of black. "I see," he said softly. "In that case, please take your seats although you will lose twenty points for arriving late."

Murmurs rose in the class before the Potions professor glared at the student body and they immediately fell silent. "As I was saying before we were interrupted," Snape continued, throwing a glance at Harry and Hermione, "a Sleeping Draught is not hard to make for the average student, but be sure to follow the directions exactly. Instructions are on the board. Copy them onto parchment before you begin."

Hermione set Draco down on the child sized chair that Dumbledore had put in every class, the boy thankfully remaining unresponsive to any of the movement, Hermione's words firm in his ears.

Taking a quill from her large bag, the brunette began to copy down the instructions in flowing cursive, carefully dotting each 'i' and crossing each 't'. Next to her, Harry scribbled down the words in scratchy print, the letters blurring together in his haste.

"Ready to start, Hermione?" he asked softly, not wanting to attract Snape's attention.

She looked up at him, surprise on her face. "You mean you finished copying the instructions already?" He held up his paper. "Then go gather the ingredients please," she said, "if you can read what they even are," she said under her breath as Harry squinted at his list.

A slight noise to her left made the girl turn to see Draco slowly sitting up, his hands rubbing his eyes. "Good morning," he murmured, placing a hand over his mouth to hide the yawn. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around the rather dark room.

"Good morning to you too sleepyhead," Hermione giggled, completely amazed at the boy's acting. "We're down in Potions..." Curious, the boy looked towards the front of the room, a large grin feeling his face as he caught sight of his uncle.

Sliding off of the chair he wove between cauldrons, students smiling warmly at the boy as he softly apologized for bumping into them. He was so much different from the stuck up jerk they normally had to put up worth, hard feelings had been dropped almost instantly. And of course the fact they wanted to see what happened when the boy reached his godfather.

Sneaking up behind the man, Draco tugged on the black robes, smiling cheerfully up at the face of his godfather as Snape turned around. "Good morning Uncle Sev!" he bubbled, reaching his arms up towards the man.

Snape sighed, remembering what that meant. Bending down, he scooped his godson up in his arms, a bright flash illuminating the dully lit room, temporarily blinding everyone. The Potions master blinked several times, eyes lighting on Hermione who smiled back innocently, the only one who wasn't dazed.

Just at that moment though, the door to the Potions room burst open again and one person entered. "I'm sorry we're late Professor," said Blaise Zabani, a Slytherin. "But Pansy didn't want to come."

"I DON'T WANNA GO TO THE STINKY CLASS!" screamed a child, voice bouncing off the walls. Into the room came Neville carrying a little girl in his arms, the child flailing and hitting her guardian.

Her hair hung loose, seeing as neither boy knew how to fix it, and her robes were ripped in several places, the result of trying to pull them over her head. "Pansy!" exclaimed Draco happily from his perch in Snape's arms.

At once, the other Slytherin stopped moving and turned to look at the front of the class. "Draco! Put me down you idiot!" Neville all but dropped her, the girl kicking his shin. "DON'T DROP ME YOU STUPID OAF!" Neville only glared, nursing his shin.

Sweet once more, Pansy skipped up to the front of the room, students holding their breath to see what was going to happen now. Snape gently lowered Draco to the ground and backed away, not wanting to be in range of the girl.

Both children stared at each other, silver eyes meeting brown before suddenly Pansy launched herself at Draco, tackling the smaller boy in a hug. "Thank Merlin you're here, Draco," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face as she continued to lie on top of the boy, arms wrapped around him in a hug.

"Pansy...I...can't...breathe," Draco choked out, his attempts to push the girl off of him in vain.

"Oops, sorry Draco," she laughed, happy once more. She sat down on the floor next to him, Draco gingerly pushing himself up. "Do you have guardians too? Mine are really mean," she added, sticking her tongue out at Neville and Blaise. "They wouldn't fix my hair!"

"Hermione could do your hair," Draco offered. "She's one of my guardians...she's really nice." Hermione blushed while Pansy smiled at the girl.

"Could you please? I don't like it down like this."

"Ummm, sure. Come over here." Pansy got off the floor and trotted over to the Gryffindor, scrambling up into her lap and sitting perfectly still while Hermione pulled it back into a braid.

Draco meanwhile crossed the room over to Neville and Blaise, giving them each a solid kick in the shin. "That's for being mean to Pansy! And this," he added, kicking them once more, "is for coming to class late."

The whole class burst into laughter, the red faced expressions Neville and Blaise were displaying from being hit by a five-year old quite funny. "Settle down, all of you," scolded Snape. "Pansy and Draco, you can come sit over here by-"

Draco took off from glaring at the two boys and was by Snape's side a second later, smiling adorningly up at his godfather. "Can I stay by you Uncle Sev? I want to watch!"

A small smile tugged on Snape's face, and he picked his godson up, setting him down on his lap as he sat at his desk. "Well? What are you all looking at?" he demanded, all of the students watching him and Draco, smiles on their faces. "Get back to work!"

"Harry...can you start the potion? I have to finish Pansy's hair...please don't mess anything up..."

"Sure," Harry said agreeably, reaching for the dried spiders to put in.

Back at the front desk, Draco was twirling a small bottle of red goop in his hands curiously. "What's in here, Uncle Sev?" he asked, unscrewing the cap.

"Jellied rat eyeballs," the man said, mouth turning up at the corners as Draco promptly dropped it, eyes widening in horror. Unfortunately for the Slytherin, the bottle had been unscrewed from the cap and the contents spilled out onto the boy's lap.

"AHHH!! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!!" Draco screamed, bouncing out of Snape's lap and running around in circles, the mixture clinging to his robes.

"Accio Draco's robe!" Hermione called out above the din of Draco crashing into shelves and potion ingredients spilling onto the floor. The garment flew over the boy's head and into Hermione's hand, Draco stopping his wild running when he realized he no longer had the jellied eyeballs on him.

The whole room was deathly silent as Draco slowly approached Snape's desk, head hung down. "I'm sorry," he whispered, eyes fixed firmly on the ground. The thud of Snape's footfalls made the child quiver, though he remained standing.

Kneeling down on the floor before Draco, Snape pulled the boy into his arms. "I'm not mad at you, Draco," he murmured, tilting the boy's chin up so he was forced to look at the man's eyes. "Just an accident."

"Don't punish Hermione or Harry," Draco begged, "it wasn't their fault either." That had been the exact thought running in Snape's mind, but he bit it off. He wasn't going to punish the people who were watching his godson. And strangely enough, it appeared Hermione seemed to care about the boy quite a bit.

"I won't." Several students gasped, astonishment clear on their faces. Snape not punishing Gryffindors? Hell must have frozen over... Turning to the class, Snape said, "leave the potions for the day and please pick up the spilled potions. We'll finish this lesson on Thursday."

"Did I just hear Snape right?" Ron murmured to Hermione, bending down to pick up a still sealed bottle. "He said please...and he didn't punish either you or Harry."

"Draco's a good influence on him," Hermione smiled. "And since Draco asked Snape couldn't really punish us...his godson would be devastated."

"Can't believe I'm going to say this but...I wish I had Malfoy as my charge. Terry is a little pain in the," -Hermione glared at him, -"neck," Ron finished quickly. "I swear, I'm seriously going to be in the Hospital wing for part of this time. He's a little horror!"

"Draco's a unique child," said Hermione. "His mood can change rather quickly..."

"I still think Pansy beats all mood swings," said Neville, coming into the conversation. "She's as bossy as my gran! And she's five! Keeps going on an on about how Zabani and I aren't eating with proper manners and then she swichtes to crying because her potatoes got cold, and then she goes to laughing when Zabani stabs his hand with his fork! He got sent up to the hospital wing last night for emergency care," Neville added.

"Poor Neville," Hermione murmured sympathetically, giving the lanky boy a hug. "She really is a sweet girl...said thank you to me when I finished braiding her hair."

"Think you could teach me? Being kicked does not feel good...and Malfoy's got a pretty hard kick too!"

"Look at this," Hermione said, rolling up her arm sleeve. A small set of teeth marks were embedded in her arm. "Draco bit me last night cuz he didn't want to take a bath!"

"Zabani has a similar mark too," chuckled Neville. "That girl refused to take a bath...so she's getting one tonight whether she likes it or not. Say! Could we drop her off with you? Maybe you could gentle her out for one night? Please Hermione?"

"What do you say Harry?" Hermione asked, turning to her partner. "She could even play with Draco while we did our homework!"

"I guess so..."

"Great!" said Neville enthusiastically. "You can bring her back with you after dinner and then Zabani or I will come pick her up...where's your portrait?"

"Down the charms corridor behind the portrait of the jester. He'll let us know you're there, just let him know you're there to pick up Pansy. Oh, his name is Leviculus! He likes to be addressed..."

"Gotcha," said Neville. "Thanks so much, Hermione!" He gave the girl a kiss on the cheek and then went back to cleaning, Hermione smiling her pleasure. Several minutes later the room was clean, all the broken ingredients having been thrown out.

"For the remainder of the hour, read chapter one of your Potions Guide," instructed Snape, catching himself from saying please. It seemed having his godson around was beginning to run off on him...

"What are you doing, Uncle Sev?" Draco asked, peering into the cauldron Snape was brewing a potion.

"Creating a batch of Dreamless Sleep Potions for Madam Pomfrey," he replied, stirring the cauldron in slow, steady strokes.

"Can we help?" asked Pansy, clambering up on a stool next to Draco. These were the only two children who even had the nerve to get so close to the scary looking man. Terry was quite content to sit between his guardians, occasionally pinching Ron and laughing softly to himself, an innocent expression on his face when ever Lavender would look over at him.

"It would be best if you just watched," said Snape, watching the potion bubble.

"Can't we just put in one ingredient, Uncle Sev?"

Semi-reluctantly, Snape handed Pansy a jar of dried cockroaches. "Dump those in," he ordered fear for himself, the girl, and his potion brewing. But the bugs were put in safely, no bad things happening.

"Now Draco, put in the seagull feather," Snape said, feeling slightly light-hearted that nothing had gone wrong. The boy leaned over on his stool, the legs of the stool picking up off of the ground.

The feather had almost made it over the rim when the chair buckled from beneath him. SPLASH! Draco fell headlong into the cauldron with the feather, several students crying out in alarm.

Snape plunged his arms into the bubbling liquid and came out with Draco. Quickly, he checked for a pulse, relieved to find one. "Is he okay?" Hermione asked worriedly, fluttering next to the limp child.

"He'll be just fine," growled Snape... "might sleep for a few days, but he'll be perfectly fine." Hermione looked up at him, open mouthed while Harry chuckled.

"Looks like our job just got easier."