Chapter Text
It was glorious. Watching Potter and his gang trying to move on and somehow accomplish something in their normal daily lives as Hogwarts students after they had somehow successfully beaten the Dark Lord and his army was glorious. Draco had for the fifth time only in this hour shared an amused glance with Pansy and Blaise when Potter had flinched because of even the smallest noise.
Professor Snape also hadn’t been the nicest to them, as they were doing an explosive potion. One wrong ingredient and the whole cauldron could literally explode. Draco had already a bet running with basically everyone of Slytherin that either Potter or Finnigan would be exploding their potions today. Other people were betting on Longbottom or Granger, while others thought that Weasley looked a little too confident.
Not even half an hour in and Draco had carefully added some dried Unicorn blood, when a loud noise – sounding almost ten times worse than when a house elf would appear – made everyone look back and see Finnegan staring at his potion. In the dim light of the dungeon’s light source, the Gryffindor looked as if he had seen a ghost for the first time in his life.
“I have no idea what just happened” he said wide eyed. Draco grinned, while Potter stared down at his now wet clothes. He was dripping wet and shook his head to get some of the fluid out of his hair. It did look a little straighter, not that it was wet. Draco smirked.
Potter turned to his fellow Gryffindor with narrowed eyes. “Seamus, what the fuck are you doing?! Do you even know what you’ve just drenched me with?!”
Severus walked through the lines, shaking his head. “Language Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor. Mr. Finnigan, fifty points from Gryffindor for the cauldron. Clean up your mess.”
Draco smirked and turned back to his own potion, not wanting it to end up just as Finnigan’s had, when he heard a few people arguing. When he turned back, he saw his godfather frowning at Potter, who had turned a little whiter.
Severus turned to Finnigan with raised eyebrows. “Care to explain why you would add Granian Hair to this potion?”
Blaise next to Draco scoffed and grinned at him, when he added some more Unicorn blood. Draco however frowned. Granian Horses had the ability to instead of getting older, getting younger. If they weren’t happy with the life they had lived, they could simply return to a point where they thought everything went wrong and start anew. It made it easy for the Department of whatever it was called to see whether or not a breeder was doing a good job.
Finnigan shrugged his shoulders, though seemed a little bit scared or unsure. “It said Thestral hair, Professor, but there were none left. So I though another horse’s hair would do and…”
“Do you honestly believe that, should that have been the case, it would have specified it to be Thestral hair?”
Draco turned to look at Theodore who had snatched all the Thestral hairs as fast as he could after all the Slytherins had gotten their share. Some Gryffindors had still gotten some hair, but apparently the worst person in potions hadn’t been so lucky.
Before Finnigan could answer Severus, another noise tore everyone’s attention away from them and towards Weasley who groaned in frustration as he stared at his broken cauldron and wet table. It was absolutely stunning: his book was dripping wet and all of his ingredients and the ones from Granger were now unusable. “Bloody hell! This damn thing is impossible!”
“Language, Weasley! Twenty points from Gryffindor!”
Draco chuckled as quietly as he could, turned back to his cauldron and started adding the Thestral hair one by one. He caught Pansy walking over to Theodore and asking somewhat loudly for another Thestral hair, since she apparently ‘hadn’t gotten one’.
Suddenly, there was silence from the back and the Slytherins turned around to look at Potter looking a little shorter than usual. Severus stared at him and when the Gryffindor looked up there was something like panic in his eyes.
“I see” Severus said somewhat quietly and looked at him a little weirdly. It had happened a few times already. Ever since the war, they looked as if they had bonded over something and Draco was sure that something had happened when only the two of them were together. However, Severus refused to tell him and he couldn’t really go and ask Potter.
Their professor turned back to the class and said loudly “Class dismissed. Leave now!” He cast a protective spell over each cauldron and motioned them all to leave. Draco shrugged his shoulders and followed his friends to their Common Room. Since it was their last lesson of the day, they could now wait for dinner to arrive.
When he looked back before he had turned around the corner, he saw Severus motioning Potter to walk towards the Hospital Wing. Apparently, there actually was something in Finnigan’s potion that wasn’t supposed to be there. Draco smirked as he entered the Common Room and accepted the money from his friends.
At dinner, neither Potter nor Severus showed up. Neither did McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey. The staff table looked a little empty that way, though Draco didn’t care much. The food was delicious, the company fine and not having to see Potter during dinner made him grin widely. Most Slytherins were just talking about stupid things and Draco only listened with one ear when Severus suddenly stood in front of him.
“Draco, follow me please.”
Frowning, he got up and followed his godfather’s quick paste towards the Hospital Wing. “Severus, what’s going on?” he asked curiously. He never received an answer and he also hadn’t thought that his godfather would be answering him. He seemed somehow deep in thought.
When they reached the hallway that led towards the Hospital Wing, Draco frowned. Was there a baby crying? It was loud, annoying and he generally hated it. Yet, Severus walked forward as if he hadn’t heard it and Draco decided to follow him, mentally trying to think about whose child it could be.
When Severus opened the door, Draco found a large group of Adults trying to calm down the crying baby, of which Draco hadn’t gotten a good look. McGonagall turned around and seemed relieved at the sight of Draco.
“Mr. Malfoy, thank you for being here. I thought we would never calm him down.”
Draco shook his head, not really understanding. “I’m sorry, what? What is going on?”
Severus sighed, as the baby slowly calmed down. “You see, Finnigan’s potion hit Potter from head to toe. Since it had Granian Hairs inside, it reversed Potter’s age and he’s now…”
Madam Pomfrey interrupted Severus and walked over quickly to Draco who was first of all surprised why they would tell him that and second of all… loving everything here. Potter was a baby!?
“Mr. Potter’s age is reversed to when he felt his life fall apart. Unsurprisingly, it was when he was fifteen months old and he is now around ten months old. However, his mind is still working fine and didn’t get any damage” she explained.
Draco frowned slightly. “O…kay? Why would you tell me that? Isn’t there someone else who would need this information? His friends maybe?”
McGonagall walked closer and seemed a little upset. She was holding a scroll and magically opened it in front of Draco. “Madam Pomfrey did a ‘Magical Guardian’s Test’. His magic chose you as his guardian.”
Time seemed to stop, while Draco tried to process this new information. “You’re kidding right? This is all just an elaborate prank of some sorts and…”
“The test is genuine. No one could interrupt it and it was his magic that chose you. I doubt Potter would want to be raised by you voluntarily” Severus said and Draco thought he had heard a small amount of accusations in there, though nobody seemed to hear it.
McGonagall agreed with his godfather and added: “I would have gladly given Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley the obligation to look after their friend, however, the Magical Guardian’s Test has the highest power. So, until he’s reached his actual age again, you’re his guardian.”
Draco raised his shoulders somewhat in despair. “I don’t want to be his guardian! I don’t even want children! How am I supposed to take care of something so…”
“Watch it, Draco” Severus interrupted him and Draco sighed. Yes, there was no other choice. He had to take baby Potter and somehow take care of a baby.
Madam Pomfrey came over and handed him a small booklet. “Here are some handy spells for taking care of a baby. Changing diapers without having to smell, look or touch anything, the right temperature for any kind of food, food and drinks working for what ages and what he should be able to do on what age.”
Draco stared at the booklet and then back at the baby who was by now asleep. He groaned in defeat. “Okay. How long is this going to take?”
“Since he went back over sixteen years, you have your work cut out for you, Mr. Malfoy” Madam Pomfrey explained. “The first month is going to be an adjustment for both of you. He will only age one year during this time period. If you’re doing a good job, the speed accelerates and he ages one year in one week. If he doesn’t feel save, he will take one month to age a year.”
Frowning slightly, Draco calculated. “So… If I’m doing a good job in… raising Potter” he closed his eyes, shaking his head about the sentence he had just said, “he should be his normal age in twenty two weeks or… almost half a year…”
Everyone in the room was silent for a few moments and Draco felt himself tense up. WHY?! Why did something like that happen to him?! That was absolutely stupid!
“Exactly” McGonagall said, though clearly she had heard this information for the first time today. “Madam Pomfrey will need to have him checked regularly; she’ll tell you when you have to be back with your ward. For now, I have enlarged your room and tasked the elves with putting a crib in there. Maybe you should spend a little time with your ward and try to get to know him.”
When Madam Pomfrey handed him the sleeping baby Harry, Draco could see Severus narrowing his eyes. As he left the Hospital Wing, he knew that his godfather was following him. Sure enough, as he turned around, Severus stood there, frowning at him.
“Do not hurt him, Draco.”
“Why do you even care? What’s in it for you here?”
Not answering any of Draco’s questions, Severus looked a little tense. “Do not hurt him.”