An Old Friend

Professor's Concern

              The next day Morgan doesn’t have the same schedule as his Gryffindor friends and tells them bye after breakfast heading to transfiguration with Draco at his side and sits with him at a table turning to talk to him before class starts “Hey Draco… can I ask you something?” Draco blinks looking curious “Sure. What is it?” Morgan swallows nervously “Well… until yesterday you’ve treated me like I’m dirt ever since I got back from France. What made you change your mind?” Draco sighs “Honestly I was angry at you. A couple months after you left I figured out I was gay. I told my parents and my mother was indifferent about it, but my father… well my father began beating me. As you obviously know he’s extremely homophobic and couldn’t bear the thought of having a gay son. So he tried to beat it out of me. It obviously didn’t work but he’s tried very hard. And when you came back I could see that you had had an amazing few years in France. Your mother had accepted you and still loved you the same if not more than when you left, you hadn’t been beaten, and you just looked so happy. I just got so mad and jealous of the good life you’d had that I acted like a complete arse. And I’m sorry for that.” Morgan blinks and hugs Draco quickly before letting go “Draco I’m sorry all of that happened to you but you’re avoiding my question. What made you change your mind?” Draco sighs before speaking again “Honestly it was a couple things. When you protected me from my father was the start of it but I didn’t know how to react so I just treated you the same, which I admit wasn’t smart. Then when you stood up to me in the common room you earned my respect with how much you can control yourself because I could tell you were mad enough to hex me into oblivion. And then the next morning when I told Crabbe to dump water from the lake on you and you just calmly stood up and broke Crabbe’s nose and made everyone in Slytherin either fear or respect you.” Morgan blinks “So ultimately me breaking your friend’s nose made you decide to treat me like a person again?” Draco winces “Well I sound like an arse when you put it that way…” Morgan snorts “You are an arse.” Draco pouts for a minute before looking at Morgan again “They aren’t my friends anymore you know.” Morgan blinks “Crabbe and Goyle?” Draco nods “Yeah. They said to choose you or they and you’re more of a friend than they were.” Morgan blinks “So five years of friendship down the drain just because you think I’m a better friend?” Draco shakes his head “No. it’s because I know you’re a better friend.” Morgan blinks at him and opens his mouth to respond but just then the cat that had been sitting on the teacher’s desk turned into Professor McGonagall and she called class to order “All right class! Today we will begin with harder transfigurations. If you’ve noticed there is a cage on each desk with a rat in it. You will attempt to turn that rabbit into a pair of slippers.” The students all look a little nervous but try their hardest most of them getting close after a few tries ending up with either a glass rat or a hairy teacup with a tail instead of a handle. Morgan and Draco are the only ones that manage to get an actual teacup but even though it takes those most of the class period they still grin and hi five proudly. It’s almost time for the bell to sound for class change and Professor McGonagall raises her voice to be heard “Mr. Winchester! I would like to see you after class!” Morgan blinks and looks at Draco “Did I do anything wrong?” Draco shakes his head confused “Not that I know of. Guess you’ll just have to find out.” Morgan nods and gathers his things walking toward the Professor’s desk as everyone else heads for the door “You wanted to see me professor?” McGonagall nods “Yes Mr. Winchester. Please sit.” Morgan sits in the chair beside the professor’s desk looking nervous and McGonagall smiles “Oh don’t worry you’re not in trouble. I just wanted to ask you some questions.” Morgan blinks but nods “Ok professor.” McGonagall looks at Morgan “I see you have befriended Mr. Malfoy.” Morgan blushes and nods “Yes Professor” McGonagall smiles “Don’t give up on him yet Mr. Winchester. Give him time. Just be careful when you both go back to Malfoy Manner. We wouldn’t want a repeat of when you arrived here. It was obvious Lucius had beaten you badly.” Morgan sighs and nods deciding to trust her “Yes he did Professor. But I’m glad it happened to me and not Draco. Lucius went to hit him with his cane and I jumped in the way so I got hit instead of him. This just made him even madder and even though the first hit broke a rib he just kept kicking me while I laid in the floor.” McGonagall’s lips form a thin hard line looking angry and Morgan turns pale “Professor please don’t tell anyone. If Lucius finds out I told you he’ll kick me and my mother out of the manner and we’ll have nowhere to live.” McGonagall sighs “Alright Morgan. But if it gets any worse you will tell me or professor Snape and something will be done.” Morgan nods looking at the floor “Yes professor.” McGonagall smiles and hugs the young wizard for a moment before letting him go “Run on to your next class now young man. If they ask just tell them I had to talk to you.” Morgan smiles saying “Thank you professor.” And runs off to his next class as McGonagall sits at her desk with a sad sigh, neither of those boys deserved what they were getting from Lucius but she would keep her promise to a degree. She would tell Severus so that he could keep a watchful eye on them whenever they came back to the school from breaks or when he visited the manner.