Brogan really wished that she wasn’t still expected to defeat the Dark Lord, there were enough problems swimming around in her head.  She needed to figure out how to get the Slytherin girls to befriend her.  Really she needed to figure out how to get Pansy to like her because so many of the other girls followed Pansy’s lead.  She could pretend (or not pretend whatever) that she was done with Draco and wanted Pansy’s help turning Blaise’s head.  But Brogan realized that even if she sent a friendly little note to Draco beforehand telling him about it, he still wouldn’t be okay with her suddenly flirting with Blaise.  And also Blaise was really nice and she didn’t want to destroy his friendship with Draco.

But why would Pansy want to help Brogan look nice for Draco?  Maybe she could say that Draco was only acting chummy with her and kept talking about how nice Pansy looked and then she could ask Pansy for help.  But then Pansy would help Brogan look more like Pansy because that’s what she was asking for and then Brogan would look like Pansy and, that seemed like an awful high price to pay just to possibly save a bunch of lives.  Brogan took a deep deep breath and tried to think of the cutest little Slytherin first-years that she possibly could. 

After classes she went back to her room and tried to find her least flattering clothes, it wasn’t that hard.  Then she studied herself in the mirror, it still looked like a stranger.  Brogan didn’t think anyone else realized how much she avoided mirrors now, avoided her own face.  She could go weeks with ink on her nose and not know about it.  Quickly she checked her nose, it was clear of ink.  Brogan didn’t think she was an ugly girl, she thought she looked kind of pathetic though.  The kind of girl that you would want to feed and make sure she had warm socks.

Her hair was as wild as ever, that actually pleased her.  It was a bit of her Harry Potter appearance that she was able to retain, the hair was a slightly different color and it was longer now but the messiness was the same.  Her eyebrows were probably too heavy for a girl, she supposed the real girls would know a spell to thin them out some and make her look less mannish. 

Mannish, Harry never reached adulthood Brogan realized.  Sure he had tried a few shaving charms with Ron and the others but that was mostly just messing around.  Dispassionately Brogan watched her eyes fill with tears for a boy who had ceased to be on the eve of his sixteenth birthday, the just-cried look would be useful.

She picked up her bag of homework and made her way to the Slytherin common room.  She had checked the map and knew that Draco was with Severus in a lab but she pretended to look around for him and then scuttled over to sit near Pansy and Millicent.  They looked at her as if she was something that Fang had dragged in from the forest.  Brogan bit her lip and shoved some hair behind an ear, “can I ask you guys for something?  It’s kind of pathetic and all so you can say no if you want but I just don’t know who else to go to.”  She tried to tremble a little.

The Slytherin faces gave nothing away but they continued to look at her, waiting.  Brogan swallowed nervously, “it’s this Hogsmeade weekend thing, Draco asked if I was going to dress for it or just roll out of bed.  Or you know, one of his snarky comments.  I mean, I know –everyone knows, that he spends more time on his hair than I do and I thought he accepted me for who I am inside but now it feels like he’s getting tired of me.  Like my novelty is wearing off, or now that he and my da are so buddy-buddy with their potion work he doesn’t need to pretend to like me anymore.

And you know how he thinks he’s so subtle and suave but he’s really just a prat?  This morning after charms he told me how nice he thought your hair looked today Pansy, and he was all ‘I believe Millicent has new earrings in’.  And there I was with my hair, you know –like this, and my ears aren’t even pierced.  And the only necklace I own is this thing,” she fingered the string around her neck, “and it’s probably going to rot away soon.”  She sighed theatrically and willed a few tears to well up if possible.

The Slytherin girls were preening a bit that Draco had noticed them but they also felt a strange sympathy growing for the odd girl who had come to them so humbly.  “I suppose I could give you one tip for free,” drawled Pansy, “buy a hairbrush.”

Brogan blushed bright red, and cast her eyes down.  She started counting in her head: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… 

“Now now Pansy, there’s no need for that.” Millicent scolded softly, she raised her arm and waved Daphne and Astoria Greenglass over.  Reaching out for Brogan’s hand and turning an excited smile to the other girls she almost squealed, “makeover time for Brogan!”

“Really?” asked Astoria.  “No offense Brogan but we’ve been waiting for you to ask.  Every girl, well not really every girl, but some of us, fancy ourselves a bit talented in makeovers and we were hoping you might ask some day.”

“But it’s one of those things where you can’t ever bring it up first, you know?” finished her sister Daphne.

Millicent pulled the smaller girl up to stand with them, “so,” she said, “our room or yours?”

Brogan looked at them in shock and stuttered her reply, “I-I guess it better be your room,” she turned to Pansy and confessed, “I don’t actually have a hairbrush in my room.”

Even Pansy had to roll her eyes at that, but then she flounced herself in to the lead and led the little parade to the Slytherin sixth year girls’ dorm.  It was a pretty nice room and the girls were all obviously very comfortable together in it.  Brogan shyly wandered around peering at their mirrors and dressing tables, for a moment she felt bad that she didn’t live there with friends.

Daphne noticed her wistful looks and gently suggested that if Brogan wanted to she was welcome to get a bed in the dorm too.  Pansy glared at her behind Brogan’s back but Brogan blushed and shook her head, “I-I couldn’t, I have a sleeping disorder and my da needs to be close by at night.  That’s why I always look so tired you know, and why I fall asleep in your common room when I do manage to visit.”

The girls nodded sympathetically, their Slytherin minds processing the information.  They led her to one of the chairs and then settled down on the beds and flat surfaces around her.  Astoria took up a position behind Brogan, she spun her around so they were both looking in the mirror and put her hands on Brogan’s shoulders, if she felt how tense Brogan was she didn’t say anything.

“Well,” she started, “the first thing is that you don’t actually want to try and brush hair like this, it’ll just poof out –what you need is a wide tooth comb.”  Daphne passed one over that had magically appeared from somewhere and the tutorial began.  Brogan tried to pay attention to their words but it was hard, so much of herself was trying to zone out and run away.

After they had washed and combed out her hair, it still looked messy but artfully so, after they showed her how to use eyeliner and mascara and blush and gloss, after they had indeed trimmed her eyebrows, and after they had pierced her ears (Pansy volunteered for that) they turned their attention to her sorry outfit.  “I have nicer clothes, really I do.  Do you want  to come to my room and see?  I can get a house elf to bring us a snack.”

She didn’t need to bribe them with biscuits, of course they wanted to see her room.  Her da was still in his lab so they paused to look around the little sitting room for a moment and Brogan was able to dash ahead and hide her Hedwig doll.  It was really the only incriminating thing –she hoped. 

They loved the settee, the snacks from Dobby were brilliant and her boy short pants were horrifying.  Brogan surprised herself by having a really good time.  Draco and Severus came by when they were done in the lab, they were bearing another experimental potion for her –it looked like grey sludge with flecks.  It was the sight of the potion that they honestly expected her to drink, that erased all of Brogan’s guilt about not warning either of them about her plans for the evening.

Draco’s eyes had quickly scanned the room, checking out who was there but also sort of looking for Brogan, he didn’t recognize her straight off which was rather a shock.  When his eyes did settle her hair looked a bit sleeker but still pleasingly rumpled, her eyes were smoky and piercing and he wished fervently that he could cancel the charm and see her real green eyes blazing out from the charcoal smudges.  He noticed her face was a touch lighter and brighter and realized they had trimmed her eyebrows too, and there were even tiny glints of gold peeking out from beneath her hair –he could now buy her earrings for Christmas, excellent, that was on his list too.  He really couldn’t help the soft smile, it pleased Brogan and Millicent and Daphne and Astoria but Pansy was undelighted.

Severus had a faraway look on his face too and Brogan supposed he was thinking of her mum.  Even Pansy had to feel a little smug about moving her head of house so deeply.  He smiled benignly at all of them and tried to sneer but failed, he walked over to Brogan and tipped her head back so he could look more closely at their work. “Ten points to Slytherin for this most judicious use of beauty potions –each.”

Predictably Brogan blushed like mad, “Da,” she screeched, “are you actually giving them points for being nice to me?  Words can’t express how humiliating that is!”

The other girls all laughed but were pleased anyway.  “Draco, please escort your housemates back to the dorms, curfew approaches.”

There was a chorus of goodnights and some more teasing of Brogan before Astoria actually plucked up the nerve to ask her Head of House if he could, if he had time or anything, if he could possibly transfigure another pair of shoes like the gray ballet slippers but in a size seven?  The sneer came easily to Severus in that instance and they all scarpered out.

He was still standing next to Brogan so he pulled her in to a tight hug as soon as they were alone.  “I apologize for the points, I knew it would offend you but,” he paused to make sure the others were all the way out of his chambers, “it’s how things are done with Slytherins.  I’m sure you had to make it worth their while to play doll with you.”

“Actually it wasn’t that hard, they apparently enjoy doing hair and makeup things and had been waiting for me to ask.  And we let Pansy pierce my ears, I think it was cathartic for her and we’ll be better housemates now.”

“Excellent.  Is all your homework done?”  Brogan nodded.  “Then get ready for bed and we shall see if this latest potion helps you tonight.”

When Severus was updating his potion notes the next morning he had to admit the side effects were definitely two strikes against the potion but Brogan was so exhausted after dealing with the hives and the not breathing that she did in fact sleep the rest of the night through.  So, he tapped his quill, not only were ingredients losing their efficacy much too quickly for his comfort but she was developing sensitivities too; the bad was getting worse.  How many curses were on his child?

Brogan was pale and shaky at breakfast but she had combed her hair and it looked as though she had dressed with extra care.  Snape stood and felt her forehead, checked her pulse along her throat and generally fussed like an old lady.  “You don’t have to go to classes today Brogan, at least go back to bed and skip the morning ones.”

She swallowed gently, still nervous about breathing, “No, just let me get some juice into my blood stream and I’ll be good.  I actually slept pretty well after.”

“There is a difference between sleeping and being unconscious.”  Severus sneered even though he had just written the same thing.

Brogan smiled, “yes, when you’re unconscious you don’t have any bad dreams.  Plus I told the girls that I have a sleeping disorder, if they see me all pathetic today they’ll feel even more protective of me and it will show them I wasn’t lying.”

“Is Draco in all of your morning classes?”

Brogan nodded, her mouth was full of Danish pastry.

“Alright, you may attend but I will talk to him first about your adverse reactions so he knows what to look for during the day and at lunch.”  Brogan shrugged, mildly amused that her da was acting like a nursemaid.

Time was short, as it so often was for Brogan in the mornings, so Severus ended up writing a note to Draco and trusting her to deliver it.  She slid into the seat next to Draco in potions and dutifully handed the scroll over.  Then she sat and watched as he paled and started glancing between the scroll and her as if she was going to asphyxiate next to him.

Brogan put it out of her mind until it was time to gather their ingredients for the day.  “Stay here, I’ll get them.” Draco ordered.

When he returned she had her knife out and reached for the daisy roots to start shredding them.  “No, don’t touch them,” Draco admonished putting his hand over hers and studying the ingredient list carefully.  “You can cut up the bat spleens but don’t touch anything else.”

“What?!” Brogan spluttered, “Why do I have to do the disgusting slimy bit?”

Draco looked at her extremely seriously, “Brogan, we’re brewing a mild sleeping potion today, if you want I can do the spleens too but after your reaction last night we don’t want you to touch any of the ingredients from that potion and the only thing here that wasn’t in there is the spleens.”

“Oh,” said Brogan blushing.  “Well, you could have fooled me, it tasted like it had bat spleens.”  She looked around awkwardly for a bit, “Really I can’t even touch things?”

Draco shook his head no, “You must have scared the crap out of Severus.”

“I suppose I did, he was right there at least.  As soon as I drank the potion my throat started to close, it was kind of madcap because he wanted to get me this other potion to fix it but he didn’t want to leave me I guess, you know not able to breathe and all, so he picked me up and ran with me to the potion cupboard.  Which totally worked, but you know, wizard –accio and all, I think he might have been panicking or something.”

“I’m sure you could have pointed that out to him if you’d been able to breathe.  Hmm?”

Brogan smiled smugly, “of course.”

By then all of their ingredients were chopped up and Draco allowed Brogan to levitate them into the cauldron.

Draco was hovery but charming all day long.  He carried her bag and checked over her lunch selections like a mother hen.  “I hardly think they’re serving bat spleens for lunch Draco.”

“You forget my dear, you are allowed to eat bat spleens.”

Blaise gave them a very curious look as Brogan put her head down on the table.  Draco leaned over and brushed a bit of her hair off her plate, tucking it safely behind her ear.  “Brogan had an allergic reaction to an experimental potion last night and we haven’t had a chance to figure out which element it was.”

“Ah,” said Blaise.  “Was there chocolate in the potion?”

Brogan peeked up to see Draco’s response, “it sure as hell didn’t taste like chocolate.” She supplied helpfully.

“No, there was no chocolate.”

“Excellent,” said Blaise, “then this should be perfectly safe.” And he passed her a large dark chocolate bar, receiving a blinding smile in response.

“How did you know?” she asked Blaise as she tore open the wrapper.

“When I saw Draco carrying your bags and you letting him.”

“You are wise beyond your years Mr. Zabini.”

Pansy was checking them out and Brogan broke off a huge piece and passed it wordlessly to her, she gave Pansy a sly look and then turned back to Blaise who was boggling at that transaction, “did my da see you give me chocolate?” She craned her head to check out the head table, “because maybe he’ll give you points if he did.”

Pansy screeched with laughter and decided maybe Brogan wasn’t a complete waste of space.

By the end of the day Draco was carrying Brogan on his back and Blaise had everyone’s bags.  Draco led them slowly to Snape’s quarters and whispered the password to let them all in.  Blaise followed to Brogan’s room and helped get her shoes off, the poor girl was so soundly asleep that Draco was even able to find the Hedwig doll and stick it under her arm while he and Blaise snorted.  Blaise was patient while Draco smoothed out Brogan’s hair and gave her a quick peck on the forehead too.

They didn’t linger much longer, there was quidditch practice in half an hour.  Brogan would be upset that she missed it but she was in no shape for flying and she didn’t need the practice as much as the rest of the team anyway.

They were actually surprised to see her at the Halloween feast  that night, they weren’t as surprised that she looked like she had just rolled out of bed.  “Hey sleepyhead,” Draco greeted her, shoving her gently to the side so he could sit down and then pulling her right back against him.  Brogan cuddled right back to him.

“Hey,” she yawned, “how was practice?”

“It was cold,” Blaise announced while Draco helpfully slid a hand around her neck to show her. 

“Oh, that’s nice, can you put it here Draco?  My head is pounding.” And she pulled his hand up to her forehead.

“Pounding how?” Draco asked hoping it wasn’t a vision.

“Had juice for breakfast and chocolate for lunch pounding I guess.  That’s why I’m here now, some house elf tattled on me to Da.”

“Oh, well as long as you brought it on yourself through your own foolishness,” started Draco pulling his hand away.

Brogan wrapped her hands around his wrist, “no please.” She moaned, turning desperate eyes on him and burrowing more into his side.

Draco happened to glance up to see who was watching her scene and found Ron Weasley glaring at him from across the room.  Ron looked large and angry.  Draco sighed and tried to reassure Brogan he was only teasing.  He also took it upon himself to fill up a plate for her with his other hand, plonking down lots of protein and vegetables.

After he had filled his own plate too he jostled her out from under his armpit and made her eat.  Regretfully he had to remove his hand so he could cut his meat.

When they had finished Blaise noticed Madam Pomfrey staring at them quite hard and talking earnestly to Professor Snape.  Professor Snape looked uneasy.  “Brogan!” hissed Blaise.  “I think Madam Pomfrey is trying to get you admitted to the hospital wing.”

“Whu?” Said Brogan but the jolt of adrenaline had her sitting ramrod straight in an instant.  “I hate the infirmary.”  She tried to see without craning around too much, “does Da look like he’ll let the witch take me?”

“No, they seem to be discussing it still.  Keep your chin up though.”

“Draco, can we go now?”  Brogan asked after she had eaten about half her food, grabbing his hand under the table and squeezing it really hard.

Draco looked over at her and could just glimpse through her hair that her scar getting redder.  “Sure thing Princess, let’s go.”  He put down his fork with a bite of food still on it and climbed to his feet pulling her up next to him, their hands still clasped tightly.

Draco tried to angle his body to block their hands as he led her out of the room, Blaise and the other Slytherins had never seen Draco leave a feast quite like that.  As soon as they were out of the hall Draco turned to pull Brogan up into his arms, her legs clamped around his waist and her arms were like bands around his chest.  Draco was no longer chilly from the practice but she ground her scar into his neck anyway.

Draco looked once over his shoulder to make sure no one was there but even as he looked Ron Weasley was cracking the door open and slipping through.  He didn’t say a word but started leading Draco back down to Snape’s quarters.  Ron stood aside while Draco whispered the password and then they were darting through to Brogan’s room, but once they got there neither was sure what to do next.

Ron approached the mess of hair gently, “Harry mate, how’s it going?”  He brushed back sweaty bangs and put his hand over her scar, his hands weren’t that cold but her scar felt burning hot against his palm.  When it became too hot for him he pulled his hand away and went to her bathroom to get a wet washcloth with a strong cooling charm.

They arranged the washcloth and Draco could see that Ron’s arms were itching to take over for him.  “There’s a rocking chair in the sitting room, can you bring it in here?  Over the summer she seemed to like it.”

“Yeah sure,” said Ron.

They got Draco and Brogan arranged in the chair and she seemed to relax a tiny bit.  “Do you think Professor Snape will come soon?” Draco finally asked.

“No actually, it looked like Pomfrey was hovering too close and there’s that prefect meeting tonight.  I don’t think he’ll leave unless we call for him.  Pomfrey seemed really suspicious and it was pretty clear that he was disagreeing with whatever she was saying.”

“I don’t think Madam Pomfrey knows about Brogan being Harry.” Draco replied.

Ron snorted, “well I guess good luck with keeping Brogan out of the infirmary.”

“First year I didn’t go until the very end of the term.” Brogan piped up hoarsely from the area of Draco’s neck.

“Yeah, well your speccy little self should have gone first thing, she would have set you right on nutrient potions.”

An arm unclenched from Draco’s robes to shoot Ron the bird.

Ron laughed, “Well I guess you’re going to survive the night.”

Brogan shrugged a bit.  “Don’t move for a while,” Ron warned, “maybe you won’t spew if you can just keep still.”

“Oh that’s reassuring,” drawled Draco.  Ron grinned at him and saluted as he wished them good luck and  made his way out to the prefect meeting.

“I like Ron,” said Brogan sleepily.

“He wasn’t too horrible just then I suppose.”

“Don’t worry, I like you too.”

“Oh that’s a relief, I was about to drop you on the floor and fetch my gauntlets, but I guess we’ll just sit here and rock instead.”  Draco was delighted when he could feel her cheeks shifting against his neck and knew she was smiling.

“Poor Princess has had an awful day haven’t you?  And you looked so pretty last night, what on earth brought that about?”

Brogan carefully shifted around so that her cheek was on Draco’s chest and she could talk clearer.  “I wanted the girls to like me more so I told them that you kept dropping unsubtle comments about how nice Pansy’s hair was and how Millicent had new earrings.  I didn’t think it would work at first but then Astoria and Daphne came over and apparently they’ve been frothing to give me a makeover.

The clever bit…”

“It all seems clever so far Princess,” Draco murmured, not at all fussed about what Brogan had made up about him.

“No this part was really good, I let Pansy pierce my ears and it really hurt.”  Brogan could hear the rumbly laugh starting low in Draco’s chest and she smiled to herself.

“Well, I’m sorry it hurt but that was well done, and now I can buy you earrings.  Can I buy you real jewelry too?  With actual precious metals and gemstones?”

“Maybe,” Brogan replied softly, “just don’t propose or anything.”

“In sixth year? That would be scandalous.”  Draco lapsed into silence for a while, one hand gently stroking up and down her back, the other combing through her hair.  After he had finger combed her loose hair behind her ear he peeled off the washcloth to look at her scar, it was an angry red and looked very painful.  He was frankly afraid to even touch it; it looked like it might start seeping blood any minute.  Awkwardly, because he was unwilling to stop rubbing her back, he flipped the washcloth around until a fresh still cool side could be pressed against her forehead.  He got a happy sigh for his troubles.

They were quiet for a few more moments and then Draco noticed the tears trickling down Brogan’s face.  “Will you talk to me Dray?” she asked, “Just babble about stuff so I can think of other, other things.”

“Of course, well I presume you saw my face when I came back last night and saw all those Slytherin girls in your room.  Did you notice how long it took me to realize that was you?

I’m still a little mixed about this new look, you were very brave and open minded etc. etc. but I prefer you being my secret.  I definitely liked it best when I could pretend that I was the only one who knew how beautiful you are under your jeans and sweats, behind the wild hair.

Of course I can see how the other girls would believe your story about how I might want you to look fancy, but it honestly doesn’t bother me.  I was raised to care a lot about appearances but I’m realizing more and more that I was raised by fools.”  Draco broke off his musings when he heard a soft moan from his lap.

A fat dribble of dark blood was seeping out from under the washcloth and Brogan’s eyes were squeezed tight.  It also looked like she was about to bite through her lip.  Draco quickly tried to get her to stop biting, tried to get her to squeeze his hand instead, tried anything but then it passed and she went limp in his arms.  Shakily he flipped the washcloth around again and gingerly dabbed at her scar.  Brogan sat up then, she was very white and looked like she might be throwing up soon.

“Shhh,” he said, “I’ve got you.  Put your head down again, shhh, put your head down and cry a bit.  I won’t tell.”

When Snape returned much later that night Draco let him hold Brogan just long enough for him to visit the loo and brush his teeth.  Then he crawled into her bed; shoes, belt and oxford off everything else still on; and Snape settled her down in his arms for the rest of the night.  He wasn’t thrilled about the arrangement but there was no way he could give her a potion until he did more research into her latest reaction.  Plus she was too out of it to fool around, plus Draco would whine and carry on and end up sleeping in the rocking chair or scrunched up on the settee, then everyone would be miserable the next morning...

Draco woke up early planning to sneak back to his dorm, shower and maybe get to breakfast early enough to do a little homework but the girl sleeping peacefully beside him on the pillow was mesmerizing.  Snape had transfigured a nightshirt for her, poor Severus had tried to make it as unattractive as possible but the soft flannel brushed against her collar bones and a pulse fluttered in her throat like a small bird.  Even in sleep she looked troubled though, he smoothed the wrinkle between her eyes over and over and over until it stayed away.  Then his hand trailed down the side of her face and all by itself crossed over to her lips.  They seemed pursed or puckered even in sleep and Draco traced them once or twice before he absolutely had to lean over and press his own against hers.  And then he got up and started searching for his shoes.

Draco wasn’t normally a very early riser but he was determine to get the heck out before his professor woke up.