Draco Malfoy and the Alcoholic's Wish

Sunshine and rainbows

A week had passed. After Snape and I had let what happened sink in many cups of tea later, we called Dr P.H.Anxious back in for another chat, and this time Snape actually joined, though he still didn't look comfortable. At least he wasn't wearing those awful jogging bottoms anymore.

"Draco, Severus, I understand that a lot has happened since we last met?"

"I don't believe I truly ever met you" replied Snape sheepishly, offering a hand. "I ran out as fast as I could. I'm still not used to this whole parenting thing, especially dealing with all the emotions that come with it."

"Me neither" I admitted. "I mean, I'm not a great fan of emotions to begin with, but I think that may have stemmed from the fact I didn't have much experience with good ones."

"That's depressing" Snape smirked.

"Sorry, I forgot your childhood was all sunshine and rainbows" I fired back. Josie raised an eyebrow.

"Are you two friends?"

"Don't start" Snape sighed, while I giggled guiltily. "We still haven't entirely decided. We've tried a teacher, friend and parent, though nothing quite seems to fit."

"Then why are you trying to put a label on it? People hold different positions in our lives depending on the occasion, nobody ever just holds one label. He's your son in the home and on documents, your student in the classroom and your friend in the rest of the world, and even then they're pretty interchangeable."

"It's my fault" I butted in, trying to save my guardian from another telling off- he'd already received one from McGonagall, one from Pomfrey and even one from Mrs Weasley for some reason- I think she just liked protecting vulnerable children. "I went off in this whole spiel about not being able to trust anyone because I'd seen them in so many different lights, and I didn't know which one to believe, so I just didn't trust anyone."

"And how's it going now?"

"Better" I admitted, and Snape almost smiled in encouragement. "Sev made an anti-psychotic potion that actually works, and I'm on that for the moment, and I'm on the AA program, plus I'm now seeing you, so in all, it's getting better. Now that the hallucinations are getting less extreme, I'm trying to ignore the old memories and focus on the new ones."

"I'm glad to hear it. How's school?"

"He's making substantial progress, though he's still not quite up to the work in the eighth," replied Snape. "He's missed out on two years of schooling, so we're setting him back two years, to the sixth, though he'll be two years older than his classmates, they'll have fewer memories of the war, having not been of age, and shouldn't be met with as much resentment."

"I'm also moving dormitories" I added proudly. "The eighth year one is going to turn back into storage, and I'm moving to the seventh years. They seem nicer- they don't have a problem with my sexuality, which is something I haven't met before, and they said they're not going to judge me by my name either, which is certainly a change."

"I may have had a word with the Slytherins before you went in" admitted Snape sheepishly. "I don't think they helped your predicament, so I've re-taught them the values of the Slytherin house, and told them to learn from the mistakes of those before. I don't know how much of it they took in, but I've noticed a change in how they talk to you, although maybe that's because I'm stood behind threateningly."

We giggled again and chatted lightly about a few other things (I believe Snape at one point stopped me mid-anecdote to ask what a hoodie was- a term I'd learnt from Harry after he explained what on earth the hooded cardigan was. I assured him that they weren't very cool) until Josie left, and Sev and I had to go back to class.