The first time Draco saw the name on his class roster, he felt shock unlike anything he'd felt in years roll through him.

Elijah Dean Potter.

Not that daunting of a name, really. It surely suited the dark haired eight year old boy who'd soon be joining his third grade class.

After trying and failing to find any kind of work in the wizarding world, Draco had turned his back on it all, as they had turned their backs on him, leaving all his painful past and memories behind. He went into the muggle world instead and had taken a two year course in college, attaining a degree as a Primary School teacher.

Draco hadn't expected to ever hear the name of Potter again and he certainly never expected to be teaching one.

The blond twenty-five year old set aside the roster with the boy's picture and information in it on his desk and went to the window that overlooked the playground. Frost still clung to the exterior corners and he could feel the coolness radiating through the pane.

Outside, the bell hadn't yet rung and children were clambering over the swings and jungle gym. Winter scarves flew in the breeze and boots crunched over the crispy skiff of snow scattered across the playground. Despite the cold, they were enjoying the last few minutes of freedom before they had to settle down into their seats.

Draco couldn't remember the last time he'd felt as carefree as they looked. Which wasn't strictly true, he could probably pick the exact date on the calendar when he'd stopped feeling that way.

"So, why didn't you tell me the news?" The chipper female voice drew his attention to the doorway of his classroom.

"Hey, Dee," Draco responded. "What news?"

"The news about your new student and his handsome, single father."

Deirdre Crowder was the primary six teacher, and at five foot nothing, was about as big as a minute. Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief.

"If it were the week before Christmas rather than Halloween, I'd consider him to be our very own Christmas present!"

Dee was Draco's very first and best friend in the muggle world. She had no idea that the blond was a wizard, but she knew more than anyone else about him, even more than his friends back in Hogwarts. She was the only one in either world that knew he was gay, with the exception of one other.

Draco had years of practice under his belt at keeping his true thoughts to himself so he didn't look the least uncomfortable as he spoke to his friend. "Go for it," he said with a nonchalant smile.

"He's my new student's father, and you know I don't get involved with my kid's fathers."

Dee's eyebrows lifted as she sauntered into the room. Her shoulder length sandy brown hair seemed to crackle with the energy that kept it curled in loose ringlets.

"As far as I can tell, you don't get involved with anyone. What's with you?" She joined Draco at the window.

"If I had your looks I'd be dating every available man that wasn't straight in town and maybe even those that are."

"There's nothing wrong with your looks," Draco countered.

"Deputy Tommy thinks they're about perfect," he teased.

"Oh God, Tommy," Dee sighed, shaking her head dismissively.

"Unless he was going to arrest me for something, or wants to spread a little gossip, that boy moves about as slow as molasses in winter. He has no ambition."

She pushed up the sleeves of her bright red sweater and pointed out the window.

"Since it might as well be winter, with all that snow on the ground, you can just imagine the snail's pace I'm talking about."

Draco's lips curved into a smirk.

"You're the one who moved to a small town, Dee. You could have stayed in London where the pickings were more varied.

Dee pressed her nose against the cold windowpane, looking not much older than the children playing outside.

"Have you met him? I heard he comes from Little Whinging."

If Draco hadn't been prepared to see that name on his class roster, he definitely wasn't prepared to discuss his new student's father.

"He left a long time ago."

"Did you know him?" Dee questioned.

"A lifetime ago," Draco responded his throat tightening.

He was spared any more questions when the bell rang, sharp and shrill.

"To the salt mine," Dee said, heading for the classroom door.

"Want to grab a drink one night this week? See if there's anything new happening at the club?"
Draco nodded.

The children outside had scattered like leaves on the wind when the bell rang, and now he could hear footsteps ringing on the tile floor in the corridor. "Sure, call me," the blond agreed.

Dee swivelled, deftly avoiding a collision with the first trio of kids bolting into Draco's classroom.

Draco began passing out the workbooks he'd corrected over the weekend as the tables slowly filled.

He had seventeen kids in his class this year...correction, eighteen now.
They sat two to a table, usually, though he had enough room for them to all to sit separately if need be. Some years were like that, where he would have to split up feuding cliques. This year though, had so far been peaceful.

"Thanks, Mr Malfoy." Bright eyed Chrissy Tanner beamed up at him as she accepted her workbook.

"Are we having science today?"

"Yep," he answered lightly and continued passing through the room.

Draco's attention, however, kept straying to the door.

Sooner or later, Elijah Potter would be there. The blond's gaze flicked to the wide faced clock affixed high on the wall and noted the boy would have three minutes before he'd be tardy.

Not that Draco would enforce that rule with a brand new student on his very first day. He wasn't that much a stickler for the rules, not like he had once been. That suddenly struck him as incredibly ironic, considering who the boy's father was.

The last workbook delivered, he walked back through the tables, heading to the front of the classroom where he picked up a piece of chalk and finished writing out the day's lesson plan on the blackboard.

The sound of chatter, laughter and scraping chairs filled the room. It was familiar and normal. Ordinarily those sounds, sounds he had heard during his own childhood, felt safe to Draco, but not today.

Would he bring Eli?

Between his fingers, the chalk snapped. Squelching an impatient sound, Draco picked up the broken half from the floor and rapidly finished writing as the final bell rang. No Eli Potter.

As he'd done every morning at the beginning of the school day, Draco moved across the room and closed the door. Regardless of his feelings about his new student and the boy's presence, or lack of it, he had a class to teach.

He turned back to his students, raising his voice enough to get everyone's attention.

"How many of you saw the double rainbow yesterday?"

A bunch of hands shot up into the air and the lessons of the day began.

__________________

"Why do I hafta go to school?"

"Because..... " Eli sighed mightily.

"But you said we were going to go back to Devon to see Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione."

"Not for awhile yet."

The young boy scowled at his father as Harry opened the passenger door of the police car he'd be using while working undercover for the
Ministry. The Ministry had also provided him and his son with a small bungalow while he was here and they were already late thanks to a floo call he'd had to take about his case he was assigned to.

After destroying Voldemort, Harry had become an Auror as he had planned. He was currently tracking down one of the last Death Eaters that had managed to disappear without a trace.

Harry had specifically asked for this one, but so far his former Potions Master had continued to elude him.

He was here now, in a town he swore he would never set foot into again on a shaky tip. It was the only one he had had in quite some time, so he couldn't just ignore it even if he was sure that nothing was going to come of it.

"Come on, get in."

His son, Eli, made a face, but tossed his brown bag lunch and dark blue backpack inside before climbing up on the seat.

"Fasten the belt," Harry told the boy.

"Why can't I just wait until I go to Hogwarts to go to school," Eli complained.

"Because you need to learn other things as well as magic, besides you know you can't go to Hogwarts until you're eleven,"
The-Former-Boy-Who-Lived explained, yet again.

This earned Harry another pulled face. He shut the door and headed around to the driver's side. As he went, his eyes automatically scanned the area around them, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Just bare branched trees, winter dry lawns not quite covered by snow and a few houses lined neatly along the street. It surprised him how much this street looked like Privet Drive. He wondered if all the streets in Little Whinging looked the same. Harry's breath puffed out around his head in white rings and cold air snuck beneath the collar of his dark brown jacket.

God he hated the cold.

"I could have stayed at the Burrow with Grandma Molly," Eli continued the minute Harry's rear hit the seat.

"What's wrong with being here with your old man?" Harry asked as he made a U-turn and headed down the short hop to Main Street.

Eli hunched his shoulders. The coat he wore was a little too big for him. Harry had picked up the cold weather gear on their way here. There hadn't been a lot of time for fine fitting.

"Nothing," his son muttered gazing out the window.

Harry turned onto Main Street, driving for about three minutes before turning once again, this time onto the street leading to the school.

The closer they got to the brick building, that hadn't changed a hell of a lot since the days when Harry had walked the halls, the more morose Eli became. If his boy slouched any more in his seat, he'd hang himself on the seatbelt.

"Look at the bright side," Harry said, trying to be cheerful.

"You won't be bored."

Eli's eyes so much like his mother's, rolled. "Rather be bored back home than bored in there," he stated as he jerked his chin toward the building.

Harry pulled into the parking lot and stopped near the main entrance.

"Don't roll your eyes," he admonished half heartedly.

The school secretary had told him to come into the office that was just inside the front doors when he brought his son; a different location than he'd remembered from his days there.

"Don't forget what we talked about," Harry stated as they walked towards the doors.

Eli heaved a dramatic sigh. "I know - no magic. I won't forget."

There was a few seconds of silence and then..."I hate it here."

Unfortunately, Harry couldn't say much to change his son's opinion. Not when he remembered all too clearly feeling exactly the same way.

He reached over and caught Eli behind the head, tousling his dark, slightly kinky hair.

"It's only for a little while, until I can finish some work."

At least, hopefully, Harry would have concluded his final bit of unfinished business soon, but he didn't tell Eli that. He wasn't about to leave Little Whinging until he was absolutely sure that Snape wasn't hiding out here somewhere.

"I'm already late, you know," Eli grumbled as he dragged his backpack over his shoulder. It rustled against his slick coat. "...and on my first day. The teacher'll probably be mad for the rest of the year."

"I seriously doubt it," Harry drawled. His son had inherited his red headed mother's dramatic streak as well.

"Is it a lady or a man?" the young boy questioned.

"Who?"

Eli started to roll his eyes again, but stopped at a look from Harry. "The teacher."

"I have no idea."

Eli made a sound of impatience. "You didn't ask?"

Harry felt a pang of guilt. He'd been more preoccupied with this unexpected tip about the missing Hogwarts Potions Professor than with the identity of Eli's temporary muggle teacher. The dark haired wizard nudged his son around the corner into the office.

A young woman he didn't recognize from his time at the school smiled at them the moment they came into her view. "The new student," she said cheerfully. "Welcome."

Harry heard the gritty sigh that came out of Eli and hoped he was the only one who heard it. He didn't need his son having trouble at this school. He needed everything to go as smoothly as possible. With no distractions, Harry could finish his investigation as quickly as possible, and they could get the hell back to their real home. Little Whinging held no great memories for him.

"Mr. Potter," the girl at the desk greeted as she stood from her chair.

"I'm Donna. It's nice to meet you in person. You, too, Eli. I'll just let Headmaster Gage know you're here."

"He already knows." An elderly balding man approached from behind them, hand outstretched.

"Harry, good to see you, it's been a long time."

"Headmaster Gage," Harry shook the man's hand, surprised that the old muggle was still here. He would have thought he would have retired years ago.

"I hope you don't hold a little thing like blowing up the science room against a man," Harry joked.

The Headmaster laughed. "I'm still not sure how you managed it. Very odd that, I'm sure we didn't have anything explosive in the classroom."

"Whoa, Dad," Eli whistled, sounding impressed.

The old man continued to chuckle.

"Come on. I'll take you down to Eli's class."

He looked at the boy as they stepped into the corridor once more.

"Mr. Malfoy will be your teacher. You'll like him."

Harry's eyes opened in shock and he almost stopped in his tracks.

Malfoy, now there was a name from the past, but surely this teacher couldn't be his Malfoy. Harry's eyes opened in shock and he almost stopped in his tracks.

Malfoy, now there was a name

from the past, but surely this teacher couldn't be his Malfoy. It wasn't that uncommon a name, was it?

The Headmaster stopped in front of a closed classroom door. Through the big square window that

comprised the top half of the door, Harry could see the rows of tables, situated in a sort of half

circle, all occupied by kids about Eli's size.

At the head of the class, he caught a glimpse of the teacher.

Slender as a reed, short pale blond hair, dressed in an emerald green shirt and black slacks, a little taller than average, but not taller than Harry himself and definitely young.

The teacher's arms waved around him as he spun in a circle, almost as if he were acting out some play.

Harry started to smile.

Then the blond man stopped, facing the door with its generous window head on. Through the glass,

his silver grey eyes met Harry's green ones.

Harry felt the impact like a sucker punch to the gut. There could be no mistaking the person looking

back at him. Harry wouldn't have been able to forget that face if he'd tried.

The Headmaster pushed open the door.

"Pardon the interruption, Mr. Malfoy," he said, ushering Eli

inside.

"This is your new Student, Eli Potter. Eli, this is Mr. Malfoy."

Harry stood rooted to the floor outside the doorway. 'Draco.'

The former Slytherin was no longer looking at him with those eyes that were as translucent as a winter sky, but at Eli. His smile now was warm and slightly crooked, endearing.

It made Harry wonder if he'd
imagined the frigid way his former lover had looked at him through the window just a moment ago.

"Eli," Draco greeted.

"Come on in. Take off your coat, can't have you roasting to death on your first day here." The blond gestured at the line of coats hanging on pegs.

"We only do our roasting on
Wednesdays."

Eli shot Harry a studiously bored look, but the young Auror still saw the twitch of his son's lips. A good sign, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about the boy's behavior after all.

Harry looked back at Draco again. What the hell was he doing here? ...

A teacher at a muggle school

of all things. When they'd been involved...He cut off the thought.

Draco gave him no more attention that he gave the Headmaster as he showed Eli where to sit, and after assuring himself that the boy had the usual school supplies, the blond moved back to the front of the class. Without a glance their way, he
picked up right were he'd left off.

"Okay, so if the tornado is spinning to the right...," he turned on his heels, his body language reminiscent of a certain Slytherin head of house, and went to the chalkboard to write.

Harry started when Headmaster Gage headed out of the classroom and pulled the door closed,

cutting off whatever else Professor Malfoy was imparting.

"He's a good teacher," the old man said.

"He's strict, but really cares about his kids."

Harry headed back up the corridor with the Headmaster.

"How long has he been here?" he asked curiously. He had never found out where Draco had
disappeared to and had been left wondering about it on many occasions.

"This will be his fifth year. So, anything I should know about Eli?"

Harry could have asked a dozen more questions about Draco Malfoy.
He asked none.

"Eli doesn't need a lot of care. He's pretty independent and a smart lad. Thinks he's all grown up," the brunetsmiled ruefully.

"He's annoyed that I took him out of his regular school to come here."

Headmaster Gage smiled.

"That's not too surprising." He stopped outside the office. "Do you have any questions?"

None that he intended to ask Mr. Gage.

Harry shook his head and stuck out his hand. "Good to see you again."

"Don't worry about Eli," Headmaster Gage told him

"He's in good hands." 'Draco Malfoy's hands,' Harry thought, as he headed out to his vehicle.

It might have been seven

years, but he still remembered the feel of those particular hands.

Harry got back in the car and started it up, only to notice the brown bag sitting on the floor; Eli's

lunch. 'Damn it.'

He grabbed it and strode back inside, right on past the office, around two corners, to the third door. He knocked on the window.

Once again, inside the classroom, Draco stopped and looked at him.

The glass protected Harry from the fallout of that glacial look. He definitely hadn't imagined it, then.

The blond moved across the room and opened the door.

"What is it, Mr. Potter?" Draco questioned evenly.

Harry held up the lunch sack shifting from foot to foot, feeling like he was eleven years old all over again.

"Eli forgot this."

Draco's eyes seemed to focus
somewhere around his left ear, rather than on his face. He snatched the bag from Harry's fingers and turned away.

Harry started to say the blond's name, but the door closed in his face.