Aurors

The next few days went by without much happening. The Headmistress came by their office one afternoon to look at how they were doing but other than that she mostly talked only to Orion during meals. He was the only one who continuously ate his meals at the teachers' table and it seemed she had no interest in talking with any of the others. Which worked for the rest of them. Artemis was still suspicious of Burns and what she was doing back at school. But so far the two women had only glared at each other when passing in the hallways from time to time. Cyril had offered to follow Draco to Defence in her place seeing the history the two of them had, which Artemis gracefully accepted. Surprisingly, Draco had not asked any questions about it and the female Auror was not going to put questions in his mouth so she did not give him an explanation when it seemed to not be required.

What did not change however was Draco's nightmares. Ever since the first night, Artemis had been awoken by Peeves telling her the boy was vomiting up his guts again. It was now Saturday night and once again the ghost silently appeared before the witch. This time she had not bothered going to sleep at all and was laying on her bed reading a book.

"Same as usual?" She asked the ghost. Peeves nodded sombrely to her.

"It seems to get worse Little One." Artemis sighed while getting out of bed. She kept her shoes right next to her bed now for convenience. The brunette wondered why she even bothered changing into a nightgown at this point while she draped an everyday cloak over herself. All of them had sent one set of their uniforms to the house elves for cleaning earlier that evening and there was no point in wearing it down to the dungeons now anyway.

As she had done for several days now the witch headed into the office and picked up a Dreamless Sleep and an Anti Nausea potion. Orion was now making bigger batches of both of them as multiple students were requesting them in the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey had almost begged him for his assistance. Professor Slughorn could have course do it, but the nurse had insisted that Orion's potions worked better than the Professor's. Ever the people-pleaser Orion had of course accepted.

Artemis Apparated directly into Draco's room, after the second time she had straight up told him that she could do it. It saved time and people asking questions if someone saw her enter his room this late. It was better to stay discreet in this instance.

The scene was the same as it had been the previous nights, the bedsheets were a mess, cover and pillow were on the floor like he had run over to the bathroom in a hurry. She flicked her wrist and the candles in the room came to life throwing a soft light around the room. No evidence of vomit on the floor this time at least she thought. Retching noises could be heard the closer she came to the bathroom, she sighed again when she saw him. Clutching the toilet bowl like his life depended on it, not noticing her entry. If someone else but her ever found him, he would be a sitting duck like this.

Carefully she approached, the witch had figured out the hard way that surprising the boy was not a good idea. Her right shoulder still arched slightly where he had hit her last time.

"Draco? Can you hear me?" The boy stilled for a second but continued to retch.

"Your stomach was empty a long time ago Draco. You have to stop." Artemis leaned down and put her left hand flat on his back starting to stroke up and down soothingly. This night it had seemed that he had forgone the nightshirt, a smart choice seeing as it would just get dirty anyway. With her right hand, she pried his right hand off the side of the toilet bowl, slowly making him lean backwards. The witch then sat down fully on the floor making him lean fully against her.

The position was strangely intimate but it had worked the previous night and Artemis hoped it did the trick tonight as well. She had figured out quickly that the boy was not to be underestimated, he had numerous ways of reacting to the nightmares. The first night he had been scared which was to be expected but he had also reacted in anger as she had been the victim of the previous night. She could never blame him of course.

Draco calmed down from the soft touch almost immediately and let himself be moved easily. He looked up at her with half-lidded eyes. His normally stormy grey eyes resembled more of a calm silver pool.

"Will they ever stop?" He asked quietly, voice sore. Artemis looked down at him before stroking his cheek softly, another thing that had seemed to be effective in calming the blond.

"Yes, but only when you accept that they are a thing of the past. Even painful memories will fade with time." It felt silly to say when she thought of all the painful things she had experienced in her life. But it was true nonetheless.

The blond did not answer but instead placed his own hand over her hand that stroked his cheek. Artemis looked at him in surprise as he squeezed her hand, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Thank you." His voice was so soft she almost didn't hear him. The witch smiled in return then took her hand out of his grip and started to push him off herself.

"Let's get you back to bed before you freeze to death on the bathroom floor, hm?" Draco moved to a sitting position and watched as she got up on her feet. He looked at her with the same silver pool eyes as before, stretching his arm towards her to take. The witch complied and took his hand, helping him up. The blond was more steady on his feet this time and shook his head in refusal to the question of needing support. Instead, he walked over to the sink to wash his face and brush his teeth.

Artemis studied him quietly while leaning on the door frame. The blond seemed more comfortable around her now which was a good sign. Since the first night he had not covered his scar in front of her either, obviously understanding the point of her showing hers. His eyes met hers in the mirror while he brushed his teeth, the blond raised his eyebrow at her in question. Artemis just smirked at him and went into the bedroom again.

"Mips!" Mips showed up quickly.

"Yes, Misses?"

"The usual please." Mips nodded and started the tasks of changing the bed and cleaning the bathroom. Within a few minutes, the house-elf was done, she was getting more and more used to it now. Draco walked over to the newly changed bed and sat down on the edge.

"Thank you, Mips. Again." Artemis had to hide her grin when the little creature puffed up like an angry bird. She knew what fate laid before the young blond.

"Missters! This is the fifth night in a row that Mips have to clean up after you! You have to take care of yourself! What if Misses gets sick while taking care of you, or worse! Misses doesn't sleep because of you! I will have you know that Misses needs her sleep so that she can be a good Auror!" Mips paced back and forth in front of the blond.

Draco looked to Artemis for help but she held her hands up in defeat, he was on his own on this one. Before he had time to respond Mips continued.

"Missters need to think about his future! He can't keep taking potions for the rest of his life, they are bad for you. The elves in the kitchen said so and there is so much washing to be done. Mips should have Missters do his own washing!" The elf pointed a strict finger at the blond.

Artemis was trying hard not to laugh but in the end, gave up. The little elf looked at her dumbfounded for a second before pointing her finger at the witch instead.

"This is no laughing matter Misses! Mips is being serious! Master would not stand for this sort of thing!" Artemis just laughed harder at the thought of Severus seeing this. Mips was right on the accord that he probably would have gotten the boy to do his own laundry and the thought seemed too humorous not to laugh at.

The elf and the wizard looked at her like she was going insane. Which she probably was, with the lack of sleep she suffered from. After getting a worried look from Mips she calmed herself and bent down in front of the elf.

"You have to forgive Draco this time okay? He is suffering from very bad nightmares. Remember when I had a nightmare when I was at school? What did Master usually make you do for me then?" Mips stood still thinking for a little while before her ears perked up.

"Master made me make you honey tea! Will that help Missters?" Artemis nodded at her.

"I bet it will, so go make a cup hm?" The elf bowed politely and disappeared. Draco was looking at Artemis with a question on his lips. The witch rolled her eyes and shushed him to get under the covers.

Once the boy was settled she sat down on the end of the bed, tucking her feet underneath her for warmth. Before asking however he took a hold of the end of his cover and placed it over her knees. He mumbled something quietly and she suddenly felt a kind magic wash over her, warming her up. She smirked at him.

"Practised wandless warming charms have you?" He shrugged.

"Potter taught me since I seemed cold all the time he said." He grinned to himself before turning serious.

"'Master' is Severus Snape, isn't it? It has to be seeing as Mips was his elf. Why would he send her to give you honey tea? Were you that close?" Artemis bit her lip. She was regretting reminding Mips about that now, as Draco did not know exactly what kind of relationship she had with the late Potion Master.

"He was a more attentive Professor than most people give him credit for. But I guess you knew that." The blond nodded, a thought seemed to cross his mind as he looked at her worriedly.

"Did he heal your scars too?" He touched his chest to make sure she understood. Artemis swallowed hard, should she just tell him? The witch was given a saving grace by Mips showing up with a tray with two teacups.

"Here Misses! Missters! Enjoy the honey tea, I put in lots of honey for you both!" Draco smiled at the elf while taking the cups and handing one over to Artemis.

"Thank you, Mips. You are our saviour, again." The elf glowed with pride before she bowed and left leaving the room in silence. The witch took a few sips of her tea, it was horribly sweet just like Mips used to make it. She never could get the amount of honey right no matter how much she tried, some things never change.

Artemis could feel the wizard's stare while she looked into her cup. Still thinking frantically about how to answer him she took another sip.

"Yes, he did heal them. I was lucky the first time, Peeves happened to be near and Severus was the closest Professor at the moment. I owe multiple lives to that man." Tears threatened to fall when she thought back to that night in second grade.

It was the first time the other Gryffindors had surprised her, it was an abandoned classroom on the second floor and Peeves happened to find her unconscious on the floor bleeding heavily. How the students knew that curse was something she had stopped thinking about a long time ago. In a panic, the ghost had screamed his head off to get the attention of the closest living person, which happened to be Snape.

Draco looked deep in thought for several minutes, sipping his tea occasionally. The more time passed the more nervous Artemis got, her cup was now empty and without thinking about it made it float softly over to the nightstand. The soft 'clink' sound when it landed was the only sound in the room until the blond cleared his throat.

"I tore open some closed scars by making you come here, didn't I? I can talk to McGonagall to let you go back to London in the morning." His look was filled with sorrow and pity, Artemis hated it and anger started to flow through her. She pointed a finger at him angrily, not unlike Mips had done.

"You listen here, Draco. I will have you know that I was going to refuse this job, but in the end, I came anyway. Do you understand why? Just because I have horrible memories of this place, at least I could make you have some good ones before you left. Oh, yes another thing. Stop apologising for everything and to everyone. Don't think I haven't heard you! It is driving me insane. You are a Slytherin for Merlin's sake. Be proud of it! Fuck all the nonsense that all Slytherins end up as Dark Wizards. Have you forgotten that the other Aurors here are all Slytherins? The day I see Orion Silver, the former King of Slytherin apologising for anything is the day I eat my uniform! Got it?!" She was borderline screaming at the end of her rant, panting heavily as she looked straight into the eyes of the blond sitting in front of her.

He was looking at her dumbfounded but nodded quickly when she sent him another angry look. Artemis untangled herself from the cover and slid down from the bed, fishing the potion bottles from her cloak she placed them down on the nightstand with a huff.

Suddenly a Patronus in the shape of a dove flew into the room, landing on Artemis' left shoulder. It opened its beak and Septimus' voice flowed out of it.

"I observed your empty bed as I returned from my round, forward me a butterfly, please." The wizard sounded curious but the brunette could hear the hint of worry in his voice. The dove then vanished in wisps of smoke after the message was done. Sighing the witch manifested her own Patronus, grey eyes never leaving her palm as she blew on it and opened it to reveal the butterfly.

"I'm fine. Go to sleep. See you in the morning." The butterfly flew out of her palm and vanished out the door. Brown eyes met surprised grey ones.

"Auror Zouch's Patronus is a dove?" The witch tilted her head to one side before nodding.

"Yes? Why?" Draco shook his head.

"No reason, not what I had imagined that is all." She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, a Slytherin having a sign of peace as a Patronus is indeed ironic. Now you seem better so I'll take my leave now. Take the potions only if you need them. Good night."

~𓆗~

"Wait!" The word left his mouth before he could stop it, the Auror looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Stay." Draco looked into the surprised eyes of the witch. He could feel the blush creep up his neck, but at that moment he could not care less. Auror Blackmoore turned fully towards him, crossing her arms in the process.

"Pardon?" His mouth felt like a desert and the words got stuck in his throat. She waited patiently for him to say anything, looking at him with a calculating look in her eye.

"Stay." He croaked out again. The Auror in front of him did not move just continued to stare.

Draco removed the covers off himself and set one foot on the floor but as he was going to place the other foot down it got tangled in the sheets and he fell to the floor with a grunt. Blushing even harder now he looked up at the woman before him. Auror Blackmoore had moved immediately when he hit the floor making sure he was not hurt anywhere. When she deemed him unhurt she sighed and stretched out her hand for him to take. He grabbed her hand firmly and let himself be pulled up, stumbling slightly he grabbed her shoulders for support. She flinched a bit when he squeezed the shoulder he had hit the night before. The wizard let go as if bitten.

"I… I'm sorry." They were standing so close that he could smell the perfume she used. It was a subtle flowery scent, not something he would have expected of the woman. Their eyes met then and Draco was mesmerised by the witch's eyes. He knew that they were brown but he had never noticed the small specks of gold that seemed to float around, never staying still. Maybe it was the light from the candles that did it he thought.

"Don't worry about it." Her voice was a whisper almost as if she wanted to hide the pain in her voice. It only made the wizard feel more guilty.

"Can I?" He hovered his hand over her shoulder wordlessly asking for permission to touch with a look in his eye. After a few nervous heartbeats, she nodded.

Draco carefully slipped the cloak and nightgown underneath down her shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw the bruise that was starting to form. It was a little bigger than a snitch and it was starting to turn an ugly black colour.

"Why haven't you healed it?" He looked into her eyes again, shrugging she pulled her clothes up.

"I didn't deem it important." The wizard frowned at her and straightened up to his full height, just like Auror Silver had done earlier in the week. He looked down at her with a serious look on his face.

"But I do and since it was my fault I am taking responsibility. Understood, Artemis?" It was the first time he had used her first name but it had felt right on his tongue when he said it. The Auror looked at him with a look of understanding. She winked at him and placed her left hand over her right shoulder. A soft glow started to shine around her hand and after a few seconds, she removed it.

Artemis motioned for him to pull down her clothes as he had done before. Carefully he did just that and looked surprised at the now fully healed skin.

"What are you?" He mumbled fascinated then registered what he had said. Her eyes were cold when he looked into them and he could have sworn that the gold specks had grown bigger. It seemed like they were growing bigger as the seconds passed. He shivered but he could not bring himself to look away. Artemis placed a finger on the start of his scar and then, dragged it slowly along to the end.

Draco had stopped breathing the second he felt her touch, blood was rushing in his ears. Nobody had touched his Sectumsempra scar before and it felt different from when he did it. Suddenly he felt extremely exposed in front of the witch even though this was not the first time she had seen him shirtless.

"You really were lucky." Her voice was still a whisper but it was somewhat different. Colder, distant, but it did not scare him. On the contrary, it made him even more fascinated. Swallowing down his cowardice he placed his index finger on her heart.

"Can I see that again?" He was sure the gold was spreading now, it was now more gold than brown in her eyes. She was giving him a curious look before she pulled down the nightgown enough to make the brand come into view.

Draco started to trace it as she had done with his scar, goosebumps were erupting over her skin as he went. It felt different than what he thought, it was sunken down into her skin like something had been pushed into it and it was smooth to the touch. Not the usual rough skin that scars usually were. It sent shivers down his spine. The raven seemed to study him as he touched it and he wondered if her Master could feel it if she even had one. He looked into her eyes again as he retreated his hand. They were still looking at him curiously and he shivered again.

"You should get back into bed, Draco." The way she said his name sounded familiar in his ears. It sounded just like the way his father had said it when he wanted him to do something without making it sound like an order in front of guests. But in reality, it really was one and it would not end well for him if he did not listen. But it was not the way the Auror said his name usually, which was more softly, caring. Draco somehow got his feet to move as he climbed back into bed and jumped slightly when a cold hand was placed on his forehead.

"Seems like you have a slight fever. You should take the Dreamless Sleep. I'll stay, I promise." He did not feel like he had a fever, his head was a little fuzzy but that was probably because of the late hour of the night.

A potion bottle was placed on his lips and he drank it down without much thought. The last thing he saw before the world went dark was a pair of golden eyes looking at him from the chair in the corner of the room.

~⚡︎~

Harry was sitting cross-legged in his bed looking at the different names walking around the castle on the Marauder Map. It had become routine over the last couple of weeks, somehow it calmed him down knowing that his friends were located in their rooms safe and sound. It was different having his own room after sharing it with the other boys for so many years. He actually missed Ron's snoring now, something he would never say to the other boy of course.

Neville had come by after the first week and given him a plant, to keep him company he had said. It now stood on his desk and had started to crawl over it. The other Gryffindors had promised it was not a dangerous one and just to snip some of the vines off if they got too long but Harry didn't have to heart to do it. He kind of liked it that way.

The ravenhead frowned when he saw the name of Auror Blackmoore move from the Auror office and what he assumed was towards the dungeons. She had done so every night since she got here. He had asked Malfoy of it one day but the blond had just dodged the question. Harry assumed the other suffered from nightmares as they all did but it had been over a year already and he wondered if the blonde had it worse than most. Voldemort himself had lived in his house after all.

He followed the nameplate of the Auror as it entered the Slytherin common room and up to what had to be Malfoy's room. This was always the interesting part, some nights she had stayed longer than others. She walked over to where Malfoy's nameplate was located which Harry had deduced had to be the bathroom seeing as all of the rooms they were in were identical, at least that is what he thought.

He leaned his head in his hand while he watched the names stay almost on top of each other. They had to be really close to each other he thought. A blush crept over his cheeks as his mind drifted to the possibilities of what they could be doing. Some time passed as he checked what other people were doing around the castle.

Auror Zouch was walking down the hall of the second floor, probably finishing his round for the night. It was reassuring that they were doing it, but somehow Harry thought it was just for show. He thought it was weird of McGonagall to suddenly announce that some Aurors were coming to stay at the school almost a month after the year had started. On top of it all to bring all Senior Aurors and some of the best in their fields even seemed quite excessive to Harry. Of course, the rumour of Malfoy getting one of them as a protector had spread around the school like Fiendfyre. Again Malfoy had shrugged all questions about it off, but in the end, everyone had accepted it.

Harry looked back at the nameplates of Auror Blackmoore and Malfoy again, they seemed to have moved into the bedroom. The ravenhead frowned yet again when the Auror seemed to be leaving but walked back again. They stood incredibly close to each other for a long time before they moved apart.

The wizard took out his wand and cast a Tempus. It showed that it was just past five in the morning. She had never been there this long before. Suddenly her nameplate disappeared from Malfoy's room. Harry looked confused at the map as he turned it over and looked around for the Auror's name. In the end, he found it back in the Aurors' office, frowning he thought about how she had gotten there so fast.

The office was on the third floor and he had been staring at her name all along. Malfoy was still in his room he noted, so the map was not wrong there. Raising his eyebrow in surprise Auror Blackmoore's name vanished from the Aurors' office again, quickly Harry turned the map over to the dungeons again and saw it reappear in Malfoy's room. It was like the woman was Apparating inside the castle. But that was not possible, was it? The ravenhead took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He had to ask Hermione about that in the morning, it would get him a long lecture probably but it was easier than to look it up on his own. He pointed his wand at the map.

"Mischief managed."