Chrysalis

Chapter 11

Draco woke to Harry opening the door to his room early the next morning. "You don't need to get up yet," he said before Draco could ask what time it was. "I'm going down to the Ministry. I need to convince Remus to come live here with me. It's time he stopped trying to make do."

"What about my father?"

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't know," he said. "I won't be surprised it they send him back, Draco. And you shouldn't either."

Draco sighed. He knew Harry was right. His father deserved it, even. But it didn't make it any easier to swallow. "I know. But what if they decide that Lupin's still got custody of him? There are rules against us even being in the same room, let alone living in the same house..."

"We'll see, okay?"

Draco nodded, and was about to settle back down when he thought of something. "Harry?"

Harry nearly closed the door behind him, but turned back so he could face Draco. "Yes?"

"You can't leave me here alone, can you? I mean, you're not allowed, are you?"

"You won't be alone, Draco. Hermione's out in the living room. Be nice, okay? I'll be back as soon as everything's been dealt with." He turned again, and shut the door behind him.

Draco rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but after tossing and turning for several minutes, gave up and got dressed. There was obviously no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep, now that he knew his father might come to stay. Besides, he could at least find out how Greg was doing from Granger. He hoped Weasley wasn't giving him too hard a time.

Granger was sitting on the sofa, her feet tucked under her, reading what looked like an encyclopedia. Draco watched her for several minutes with her none the wiser before he finally cleared his throat. She let out a squeak, and jumped, twisting around on the couch so she could see where Draco stood. "Don't do that!" she huffed.

"Sorry. Should I have tapped you on the shoulder instead? I'll remember that next time..."

Her eyes narrowed. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"If you say so, Granger," Draco said, sitting down across the couch from her.

"Doesn't Harry have a rule about first names?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"So far that's only referred to myself and him. Not our visitors," Draco replied. "He still calls Severus 'Snape.' Why should I call you anything other than what I've always called you? I mean, I'm hardly using that other word. I'm being polite. Surely that's not something I should be getting into trouble over."

"You seem to have examined the matter thoroughly, anyway," Granger said, turning back to her book and trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

"What is that thing you're reading, Granger? It looks as though it could contain the history of the world, from the size of it."

She looked up again. "Just some research."

"On what? Maybe I can help."

She looked confused for a moment. "You'd do that? Even though it has nothing to do with you?"

Draco shrugged. "I'm bored." And he needed to find a way to keep from thinking about what was going on with Harry and his father. Not that he wanted to tell her that.

Granger nodded. "Fair enough." She shifted so that Draco could see the book which lay on her lap.

"Psychology?" Draco asked, amused.

"I've been having trouble figuring out how to approach Greg. I figured I'd do some studying up, and see if I could find anything that would help me decide how to approach him."