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Chapter Six: So Who Are You, Anyway?
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Harry had finally gotten around to writing to his friends, so he was not surprised to find Hedwig waiting for him with a letter from Hermione and Ron a few days after he received the Order's reply. It'd taken him a little while to burn off the worst of his anger at being kept in the dark again. It finally came down to a matter of options. There was too much about the wizarding world that he loved to give it up to Voldemort, and too much he loved about Hogwarts to leave despite Dumbledore's heavy-handed treatment of him. That didn't mean he would forget or forgive this. Surely being an integral part of the prophecy of Voldemort's possible defeat would give Harry some kind of leverage he could use?

Harry hadn't realized quite how much he had missed hearing from his friends this summer, and because of that was able to read their letter from headquarters without being reminded his godfather's loss. He was even able to find quite a bit of amusement at the two arguing with each other on paper. Ron was complaining bitterly that the Greasy Git was staying at Headquarters to avoid Voldemort's wrath, and that for some reason no one would explain Malfoy was there, too. Hermione (Harry could just see her rolling her eyes at Ron) insisted it was silly of Ron to complain so much when the Professor and their classmate were almost never out of their rooms, and those were on the far side of the house from everyone else.

Harry wrote them a brief reply, mentioning the Order wizard stationed next door and responding to Hermione's inquiry about how far he'd gotten on his summer homework. He was tempted to tease them that he knew why Malfoy was at Headquarters, but as they'd all been warned repeatedly that owl post was not a secure method of communication, he decided against it. Besides, Harry didn't feel too bad for getting a little payback for them not telling him anything last summer, so let them wonder.

After he headed down and had breakfast, before Harry could even think to ask his Aunt for something to do, she scowled at him and chased him out of the house, telling him to at least try and behave like a normal boy for once. So Harry found himself wandering Privet Drive aimlessly. As usual, several of the neighbors peered out at him disapprovingly from their windows. Harry briefly contemplated going up to the door of number six and checking out the occupants, but he dismissed the notion fairly quickly. He hadn't recognized the older wizard and certainly didn't know the boy. While he was still angry at Dumbledore for keeping yet more secrets, the pain of what had happened the last time he investigated something Dumbledore hadn't seen fit to tell him was too much to bear again.

Harry found himself abruptly sitting on the curb as it hit him all again in a wash of horror that he'd really never see Sirius again. These several weeks later, at times he could almost forget. With Sirius on the run, it hadn't been that often he'd been able to communicate with his godfather, and he'd sometimes forget and feel like it was just one of those long silent times in between letters. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, it would suddenly hit him that Sirius was gone.

Harry didn't really know how long he'd been sitting there, lost in his regrets, when he sensed someone standing behind him. Turning around slowly, he saw the boy his cousin had befriended before Dudley had known he was involved in Harry's world. Harry was curious, however he refrained from saying anything, waiting for the other boy to speak. Besides, Harry wasn't really sure what to make of the assessing look being leveled at him. Finally, as Harry was just about to get up and walk away, having had enough of being stared at, the other boy spoke. "So you're the famous Harry Potter, then?"

Harry remembered their last brief conversation and volunteered, with a bit more sarcasm than was probably strictly warranted, "Yeah, and according to the Prophet, I'm not an insane criminal. At least not this week, anyway. I don't think you've introduced yourself?"

"Derek Jones, wizard. Dumbledore asked my uncle to move here as a favor to keep an eye on you, suppose he figured a family would fit into the neighborhood better than most of his Order. We were supposed to impersonate muggles," the other boy winced before admitting, "but you saw me botch that."

Harry looked at the other boy enquiringly. If the boy lived with his uncle who was an Order member and therefore obviously trusted Dumbledore, why would he not go to Hogwarts? When the boy didn't provide any further information, Harry asked just that.

The other boy turned away from him and added in a flat tone, "My mum. She was diagnosed with a rare disease at St. Mungos when I was 10, and they didn't think she'd live for more than a few years. My dad died in the war with" he paused, "You-Know-Who, and my uncle had been helping her raise me. Since they both had good NEWT scores in all the core subjects, Dumbledore and the school board agreed that I could be taught at home until she…"

As the other boy broke off, Harry felt a brief flush of embarrassment for having asked what had turned out to be such a personal question. "Er, I'm sorry to hear about your mum. I didn't mean to pry, but you know I was raised by muggles and I thought everybody went to Hogwarts…" Harry replied awkwardly, trailing off into silence.

Despite Harry's apparent gaff, he just shrugged. "Most everyone does, it's harder to arrange the OWLs and NEWTs if you don't attend one of the main Wizarding schools. As it was, they didn't expect me to miss more than a year or two at most," he added in an even tone. Then slightly more somber he said, "She lived longer than they ever expected and just passed away earlier this year, so I never did go to Hogwarts. Now with my uncle busy doing Order work, it's possible I may start there this year. I just took my O.W.L.s a few weeks ago."

"Oh. That'd put you in my year. Any idea what House you'd be in?"

"Well," the other boy paused, and after hesistating a moment took a seat beside Harry on the curb, "Uncle and Dad were both Slytherin, I think, and Mum was a Ravenclaw. Definitely not Gryffindor or Hufflepuff," the boy said slightly disdainfully, "I'm not the type."

Harry watched the other boy eye him, waiting for a reaction, and wondered how long he'd have to put up with random strangers expecting him to have fits because of the idiots at the Prophet. In the end, he decided to just ignore it. "Oh. Well, I'm in Gryffindor, and I've got a couple friends in Ravenclaw, but I don't really get on with any of the Slytherins."

The other boy gave him a speculative look, as if trying to decide something, and then added, "Uncle said Gryffindors think all Slytherins are evil, so I'm not exactly surprised."

"Well, I doubt they're all evil, but quite a few of them in my year have Death Eater parents, so you can imagine that doesn't exactly promote warm fuzzies between us," Harry shrugged.

"So if you found out that one of your friends had almost been sorted into Slytherin, you wouldn't automatically trust them any less?" The boy asked suspiciously. Harry felt a bit bad about prying so deeply into the other boy's personal life unwittingly. Since he was really quite eager to have someone here on Privet Drive that he could actually talk to, he decided to divulge a personal detail of his own to try and put the other boy at ease.

"If I did, I'd be a huge hypocrite since I had to talk the Hat out of putting me there," Harry replied, then smiled slightly, though as the other boy was staring intently at his hands, Harry doubted he saw. "But since we're all convinced Slytherins are evil maybe it'd be best if you didn't tell any of my Gryffindor friends about that if you do come to Hogwarts," Harry said jokingly, which did cause the boy to give him a wan smile. Encouraged, Harry decided to change the subject, asking, "So who's your quidditch team?"

That evening, as Harry wandered back into Number 4, he thought that maybe spending the summer with the Dursleys wouldn't be so bad this year with someone his age from his world to talk to. Granted, the other boy seemed a bit strange and standoffish and he certainly wasn't Hermione or Ron, or even Neville, for that matter, but they'd had a fun, lively conversation about quidditch teams. It was such a relief after all those years of going stir crazy waiting for the next owl with no one to really talk to.

.x.
Weeks ago, at the end of term, as he left Hogwarts, if anyone had told Draco Malfoy that he'd be spending his summer attempting to befriend Harry Potter for any reason, even potential blackmail material, he would have hexed them. Several times. In particularly sensitive spots. Yet that was exactly what he found himself doing. For all that he knew Potter was a stuck up prat, he found the other boy surprisingly easy to get along with. Then again, Draco told himself, it was likely that he was just so desperate for non-muggle company even Potter started to seem like an acceptable companion.

At first, Draco tried to hide what he was up to from his godfather, but unfortunately, his lack of complaint in itself seemed to clue the man in to the fact that Draco was hiding something. Though his godfather didn't forbid him from spending time with Potter, he did make him sit through yet another session of dire warnings about what would happen should he slip again and Potter make an issue of who they were.

Draco took it as a personal challenge to keep Potter completely clueless as to not only his identity, but also his feelings towards the other boy. Though sometimes it almost hurt not to make fun of Potter, Draco really wanted to avoid another stern lecture from his godfather. If Potter suspected anything was amiss from the occasional awkward silences in their conversations, he certainly didn't let on.

After he'd spent a week off and on talking with Potter, he even invited the other boy over to 'his' house. His godfather was spending the morning brewing some rather complicated potion or other in the kitchen and didn't even notice when the two boys entered the house and made their way upstairs. While he knew he probably should have warned Severus in advance, Draco couldn't bring himself to not invite the other boy over. Potter made a passing comment about always losing to his friend the Weasel at wizard's chess, and all but jumping at the chance to finally beat Potter at something, Draco had immediately suggested they use his set to play a few games.

An hour or so later, while the two boys were engrossed in a game, out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Severus stride into his room and stop short at the sight of Harry Potter chatting amicably with him while being thoroughly trounced at wizard's chess. It was just as well that Potter was facing away from the door, as Draco didn't know what he would have made of the flabbergasted expression on his godfather's face. The man quickly regained a neutral expression, however, and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Derek, I'll be spending the better part of the evening at Order headquarters. I trust that you can manage to stay out of trouble for a few hours at least, this time?" Draco flushed slightly, realizing that he was going to get another lecture about endangering them by spending time with Potter and potentially revealing their identities later. Which did slightly irk Draco, as they'd made trips to Headquarters and used several very complex spells to convince Potter's friends that he and the Professor were actually staying there, and as such couldn't be living on Privet Drive. Between that and his being civil to the Gryffindork boy-wonder, it wasn't exactly going to be the first thought to enter Potter's head!

While Draco was feeling embarrassed and annoyed for being treated like a child, his godfather turned to the other boy and added, "Mr. Potter. I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Derek's Uncle Steven. We were originally meant to contact you after getting settled in to our muggle identities. However, Derek's indiscretion at the Dursley residence occurred first. The Order asked us to move here to insure your safety against such attacks as the one that occurred last year. Though perhaps with your record, you might feel you don't require such protections?"

It was decidedly strange to Draco to watch his godfather speak levelly to the boy-who-lived-to-annoy, and even more so to hear said boy reply, in a friendly tone, no less, "After almost being expelled just for keeping my soul from being sucked out? No, thank you, sir. After last year it's good to know that there is a wizard in the neighborhood if something else happens, though I would have liked it if Professor Dumbledore had just told me you were here. It would have been comforting to know, and I wouldn't have gotten worried after that dinner."

"Be that as it may, perhaps your guardians would prefer that you were not here without supervision?"

Draco watched as Harry blinked, and replied, "Sir, if you'd prefer I not be here while you're out, I'll go, but frankly I don't think the Dursley's care where I am or what I do so long as the neighbors don't find out about my 'abnormality'."

Snape gave the other boy a questioning look. Potter sighed, and said, "I guess neither Derek nor Dumbledore told you? My relatives did take me in, but they don't like me very much. They hate magic and their worst fear is that anyone will find out that they're related to 'those people'."

The man sniffed in disdain, though whether it was directed at Potter or his relatives, Draco couldn't tell. After looking more intently at Harry for a moment and raising an eyebrow, Severus asked, "Is that why you insist on wearing rags, to embarrass them?"

Potter's brow wrinkled for a moment, before he gave the man a half-smile, "No, though you would think they'd be embarrassed about me dressing like this. These are Dudley's old clothes, I'm not fit to spend money on." At Derek's astounded look, Harry gave a depreciating laugh and added, "Hey, at least since I got my Hogwarts letter I get decent uniforms for school. I even get to sleep in an actual bedroom now that they're paranoid about being spied upon. My room was the cupboard under the stairs before Hogwarts so Dudley could have a second room."

"You must be joking. Surely Dumbledore..." Derek asked, appalled, despite himself, that the wizarding world's darling was being treated like an ill-trained pet by a couple of muggles.

"Dumbledore knows all about it, of course. I think the general feeling is that at least with my Aunt and Uncle I'm still alive." Harry shrugged, though Draco did detect a clear edge of bitterness in his voice. Draco saw Snape nod curtly at them both, and stride out of the room. After a moment, the two boys resumed the chess game that the Professor had interrupted.

When Harry left a few hours later, Draco let himself be distracted by what he'd just learned about Potter. He'd known even when they were just first years at Hogwarts that there was something off about the relationship between boy wonder and his muggle relatives. When he'd tried to tease Potter about being unwanted and left behind over Christmas that year, Potter hadn't even responded. Even then, a tiny part of him couldn't help but think it was despicable muggles could get away with treating any wizard like that, even Potter. He wanted to think that Potter was just feeding them a whole tangle of lies, but after the crazy night at the Dursleys Draco had trouble believing that was the case.

The worst part was that despite having learned all these horribly embarrassing things about Potter, there was no way he could use them at Hogwarts. Not because he felt bad or any hogwash like that, but because he'd never convince anyone they were true! Stupid Potter couldn't even have proper, believable embarrassing secrets.