It wasn't long before Draco wandered out of the lab. "Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound terribly apologetic. "I'm not in the best mood. Turns out brewing's a lot easier with a wand."
Harry smiled. "I thought it was pretty funny when we finally got to use wands in Potions class," he admitted. "After all that there will be no wand-waving in this class business."
"Oh, wonderful. Make me feel like a first-year, Harry."
"I wasn't trying--"
Draco cut him off. "I know. Can you do me a favour and not mention my experiment to Severus? He'll just yell at me that I should have been following the class outline he gave me."
Harry had a feeling Draco had been getting yelled at a lot. "All right. Though if he asks me outright I don't know as I can lie to him, Draco."
"Gryffindor."
"Slytherin."
"Ha, not any longer." Draco seemed to make an effort then, though, and shrug off his morose thoughts. "So how is it, being back in classes?"
"Oh, Aran's as useless as ever," said Harry, though he thought better than to complain about the Parseltongue thing. It was bad enough that Snape sticking his nose into Harry's Charms class. He didn't need any more interference.
"Aran's class was the best place to get all your other homework done, though," Draco sighed. "Well, when he gave us bookwork. His would only take ten seconds."
"Yeah, but I'd still rather have a decent Defence programme in place here. I can't figure out what Dumbledore thinks he's doing!"
"Yeah. I wish Severus wanted the job. He'd be great."
It seemed odd to be having a normal conversation with Draco, Harry thought. The other boy didn't seem to be trying to provoke him at all. Draco's mood did worsen after Snape arrived and they all sat down to dinner, but even then, he didn't make a point of throwing insults around. He just went quiet, hardly saying anything, keeping his eyes on his plate.
He seemed to be using an awful lot of salt on his food.
Snape tried drawing Draco in as he and Harry discussed plans for the spring holiday, but Draco just didn't seem interested. After a while, Snape decided to just let him be.
Later, when Snape was walking him back, Harry decided it would be all right to ask the question that had been on his mind all evening. "Has Draco started working on his lines yet?"
Snape shook his head, his black hair swaying lankly. For one insane moment, Harry wondered if Draco might have been working on brewing a shampoo for their father. But no... Draco wouldn't be in the mood to do Snape any favours, would he? On the other hand, maybe Draco would whip up a shampoo as a deliberate insult.
But that didn't seem to fit his thoroughly subdued mood, either.
"Maybe you should give back his wand," Harry ventured as they made their way through the deserted corridors. "I mean, I understand you had to make a point, but you made it, don't you think?"
"Considering he continues to defy the punishment I set him? No, I don't think so."
Harry frowned. "I know, but taking his wand... that's really rough. I mean, I could manage without magic, but I grew up differently."
"I do wish you would stop calling it his wand," Severus said in a hard voice. "It is not his wand, Harry. In fact, he is not allowed to own a wand at this point. It is my wand. My grandfather's wand, and it is my choice what I do with it."
They walked down a long hall and turned a corner before Harry figured out what to reply. "I know. It's not his, but you were letting him use it..."
"Which means that should he choose to misuse it, I will be held to account for his actions." Snape sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as they walked along. "You must allow me to do as I think best for your brother, Harry. I won't countenance your interference."
"Yes, sir."
Snape gave him a look, but said nothing more.
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Harry managed to pop down for a brief visit on Thursday, though he might as well not have bothered. Snape was out somewhere--Draco either didn't know where or wasn't saying--and Draco was still caught up in his personal experiment, whatever that meant.
He was mincing clover blossoms when Harry walked in. Thinking of all the times he'd seen Draco do that with magic, Harry felt a little bad to see him working without now. "Here, I'll chop those for you," he said, coming alongside his brother and reaching for the knife.
"No thanks."
"Oh, come on--"
"No, Harry!" shouted Draco, swinging his whole body to the side to yank the knife out of Harry's reach.
"I just wanted to help," said Harry, a little hurt.
"Well, you can't."
"Why not?"
"Because you're..." Draco went red in the face, and blurted, "Because you're not a pureblood, all right? It's an experiment, I told you! You might mess it up!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Yeah, well, deal with it," Draco rudely retorted, before shouldering Harry away from his work table. "Now if you don't mind, I've got some critical phases coming up, so it's not the best time to chit-chat."
Harry stood there, sort of dumbfounded for a minute, then turned away. "Fine. Enjoy your brewing."
"Oh, I will," drawled Draco. "I will."
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"That's it, everybody to bed," Hermione announced at eleven p.m. that night.
Groans and complaints greeted her pronouncement.
Hermione glanced around the common room. "None of that, now. It's not my idea to impose a set bedtime on us. McGonagall insisted on it at the prefects' meeting. Eleven on school nights, one a.m. on the weekend."
One a.m... Harry ground his teeth together. It wasn't enough that his father had to make extra sure that Flitwick punished him for skiving off class... now the man had to see to it that Harry went to bed on time, too!
Even if it meant interfering with Harry's entire House!
"Hermione, I need to finish my Herbology questions," Harry complained. "I'll be up after I do the last four."
"Oh, no. McGonagall said--"
"Wait," exclaimed Ron, his forehead wrinkling. "What did she say exactly? Tell the House.. Well, you did tell the House, Hermione!"
"Yes, and I noticed you didn't make any effort to, Ronald!"
"Stop calling me Ronald like that!"
"Stop it, both of you," interrupted Harry. "Look, Ron's right. McGonagall said to tell us and you told us, so you're off the hook. She didn't say to enforce it, did she?"
"Well, no..."
"There you are, then." Harry turned back to his Herbology, winking at Ginny who had packed up her things to go to bed, but was now sitting back down.
"Harry, I'm sure she meant for us to actually go to bed!"
"Ha." Harry looked up. "In six years she hasn't cared how late we stay up. I'm sure she just wanted to be able to tell my father that she set a bedtime. He's in a snit that I stayed up all night."
"Oh." Hermione looked around at the common room, and shrugged. "Never mind, then."
Ron started laughing. "I bet McGonagall knows we're going to ignore it. I bet she'll tell Snape with a straight face that of course the Gryffindors have been given a bedtime, and all the while she'll be snickering behind his back."
"I think she just didn't need his interference," said Harry. Snape really had a nerve, in a way, insisting that Harry not interfere in Draco's discipline, when all the time he felt free to meddle in Harry's other House!
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During lunch on Friday, Harry started trying to figure out what to say to his father about the bedtime thing. They were all supposed to Floo to Grimmauld Place that evening, Apparating from there to Devon for their holiday. Harry wasn't so sure he wanted to start their time away together on a negative note. But on the other hand, he did want to get the matter settled.