Disclaimer, Author's Notes, & Warnings: SEE PROLOGUE

LEGEND:

"Normal Talk"

'Thoughts or Emphasis'

(...Parseltongue...)

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Chapter Five - What a way to start the day!

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Harry woke up in the middle of the night with one of his famous Voldie visions. He woke up in a cold sweat, but as he was in his kitten form it didn't really show. He went to one of Draco's larger wardrobes and proceeded to calm himself down. Voldemort was particularly vexed with his Death Eaters and Snape was bearing the brunt of it this time.

Fortunately there were no women called to this meeting. Harry wondered how Snape would be in the morning when he finds out that it is Harry Potter is the one that he will appear to be accompanying. The same Harry Potter he was being punished for being unable to break into the Headmaster's files, to obtain his place of residence.

Harry relaxed into his stretching exercises and then he sat down in the Lotus position to meditate. He was so relaxed after, that he fell asleep in that position, luckily he set up the snitch to sound off.

However, that night was a strange one because Draco was so excited about the trip that he was awake at almost every hour on the hour. He had noticed when Noiro was startled awake, but something in him felt that he should not do anything, but wait and see. He watched his kitten walk in a shaken gate off the bed and into one of his closets.

He grinned at the thought that being in closets comforted his kitten, but then he recalled a time that he observed his mother going into the closet and talking. At the time he was sure that his thought was that she was talking to herself debating what to wear.

Quietly he waited for Noiro to come back. He fell back into his restless sleep and the next time he woke up, which was only a couple of hours later he noticed that Noiro had not returned. Curious about his strange little kitten he made his way silently to his wardrobe and peeked into it.

His eyes widened, big time and he let out a gasp of shock. There in his closet was a person with long black hair and with his eyes closed, in dark jeans and a black T-shirt with white writing. It was written in a different language, which looked like Japanese, but just below was an English translation, When the sleeping dragon wakes, look out for his morning breath.

Draco made a little choking sound when he tried not to laugh, luckily it wasn't enough to wake up his strange guest. He looked this person over and found the collar that belonged to his kitten around this person's neck.

He then became angry that someone would willingly deceive him and such a manner. He was ready to throw every hex he knew at this person, but then Draco paused, seriously re-thinking that course of action.

'Perhaps there will be time for vengeance later; I refuse to act in haste... Think… Draco… Has this person done anything really wrong... He lied... Why??... Why would someone willingly come to the manor?... Why hide his presence from him and his mother?... No, now that I think about it, I think that mother knows, in fact I'm pretty sure she does... Again, why?... Why, hide?' There were just too many whys in his thoughts to be dealing with at this time of night.

His kitten certainly had his own story to tell, but frankly some things could just wait. 'It's not like he's going to attack me now, because if he wanted to, he could have done so many times before today. I just wonder what's up with the closet thing then again if he needed to return to his human form, a closet is a good place to hide.'

He returned to his bed and reflected on the person he found. 'Maybe he ran away, but why would he choose to come here... Who is he?... This certainly explains Noiro's seeming intelligence... How come mother never told me?... I had every right to know... Maybe he's here to protect me...' Draco snorted at that thought, how much protection could the guy give if he's a kitten. He crossed his arms behind head and lay down on them, stretching out. 'Well maybe he's the one who will be my companion on the trip, but how will Severus deal with that...' With his thoughts rolling around, he finally fell asleep with the decision to wait and see what would happen on the trip.

Harry knew that Draco had been watching him. He was ready for anything to happen, but surprisingly the Slytherin didn't make any fuss, he didn't do anything. 'Maybe I can pretend for a while longer...' he sighed. He didn't like deceiving Draco in this matter and he would have gladly come out in the open before now, about who he really was, but he didn't believe that the reaction he would receive would be all that great.

'Maybe we can come to an understanding on the trip... yeah, and maybe Snape will be nice to me in Potions...' He waited for Draco to fall asleep and when he heard the sound of evened out breathing, he morphed back into his kitten form and leaped back into his own pillow next to the blonde head and fell back into a deep dreamless sleep.

--

The following morning was chaos. Noiro was fussing in his carrier, Draco's mother was late in coming down and for some reason he felt that he had the wrong clothing for the trip and had decided to re-pack a few of his belongings.

All in all it felt very rushed by the time they were able to activate the portkey provided by the Lafayette Hotel that they were going to be staying in. As soon as everyone was finally ready, Draco and his mother touched the hotel portkey and were pulled into the receiving room.

Waiting for them was Professor Snape, looking a little worse for wear considering the events of the night before, but surprisingly waiting with him was Remus Lupin.

"Professor Lupin what are you doing here?" Draco asked and when Remus turned to look in their direction, he continued, "I didn't expect to see you here." Clearly surprised, but delighted to see the werewolf again.

Remus chuckled, "The Headmaster wanted me to accompany our sour Potions Master for the trip and as I will be returning to Hogwarts as the DADA teacher this year, I figured that a little holiday is just what the medi-wizard ordered."

"Really?" Draco asked, excitedly, "Would it be all right if I continued to ask the questions I had before you left in third year. Maybe back at school, if not now?"

"I have no problem answering anything that you might wish to know," Remus said. "By the way who it this little guy?" He asked pointing to the little pet carrier with the fuzzy black kitten inside.

"This is Noiro, he'll be staying with the Hotel's pet services, while we're here," Draco explained.

"Noiro," Remus said. "Suits him."

Snape was in the process of escorting Mrs. Malfoy to her rooms and seeing the delay of the other two he barked, "Would you two mind coming along, I'm sure that the staff have other guests to receive in here."

"I have the keys to our rooms Draco, dear," Narcissa said. "Why don't you hand Noiro's cage to Severus and he'll see to it that Noiro settles in properly. I'm sure that you would like to visit a few stores before they close today and then we'll discuss our itinerary for next few days."

"Yes mother," Draco said. He turned to his kitten and said, as he handed the carrier over to the professor, "Now behave for Severus and don't mind his snarky ways, it's better then always having people kissing up to you, yeah?" The kitten blinked and mewed sweetly, almost like a reply.

Snape was surprised that Draco was speaking to the creature as though it understood. Narcissa did say that he would be given something that will make his reason for being here all the more valid and true.

Remus laughed at the expression that Severus had on his face when Draco was talking to the kitten. He hadn't felt better in a long while, as the loss of his best friend, Sirius, was still present within him. No they were never lovers, but still it was a blow when the last of his true school friends passed away. He felt lonely.

That's why Dumbledore requested his assistance to accompany Snape on his two weeks holiday with the Malfoys. The Headmaster wanted to make sure that the two Professors could work together and possibly solve the mystery of Harry's letters.

The Headmaster was convinced that they were too plain and there hasn't been anything written about possible visions that Harry must have been receiving. It looks like Harry was clamming up and refusing to speak to anyone again. Remus sincerely hoped that Harry had not fallen into a depression over the events at the department of Mysteries.

The two professors walked to their shared room and set about releasing the kitten. "Severus you can stop making that face," Remus said. "Draco's right you know. You are snarky and can be very mean."

"Stuff it Lupin, I don't want to hear it. Why did you have to come along again?"

"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to test a theory, although I don't know what he means by that," Remus explained. "Something about Harry's letters being too, plain. I mean you were with the GIT last night and Harry didn't even report that. Honestly I don't even know if Harry would really want to report your torture. You did say that the GIT didn't even you ask any new questions."

Severus snorted every time Remus referred to Voldemort as the GIT. He walked over to the nearest bed and opened the carrier to release the kitten. He watched as the kitten shot out from the confined space and began to explore his surroundings. Remus was watching too, the kitten's actions were kind of strange.

Harry in the mean time was happy to be out of the carrier and took to wandering around the room seeking out, with all of his magical instincts, for listening devices or spells that the snoopy Headmaster had a tendency to rely on. Using the new abilities he gained and using the knowledge from the time he and Narcissa the explored the Manor, Harry was able to find a couple of them and avoid them.

He wandered into the nearest wardrobe and noticed that it had no revealing spells or listening charms on it. It was strange that these things seem to create pockets of safety from nosy busybodies. Going inside, he waited for a moment then morphed into his human form. Remembering where the devices were he stepped out of the wardrobe quickly and disabled them with small pulses of wandless magic.

Both professors quickly drew out their wands out and were about to cast spells to bind and stun him, but Harry moved quickly out of the way casting a couple of silence spells to stop them. Then he locked the door from intrusion and added a couple of other silencing charms to prevent anyone from listening at the door.

He flipped his long hair out of his face and was nearly strangled by Remus, who had smelled his honorary godson. He was about to ask some questions, but realized that he couldn't due to the spell on him. He stepped away and frowned at Harry, tapping his foot.

Severus watched all of this and suddenly realized what Narcissa meant when she said that he would be meeting the student as soon as Draco gave him something. He crossed his arms and waited too.

Harry smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry about that, but you two had some listening and revealing, actually I think they were scrying, devices in your room. I had to disable them, before a certain nosy old coot could find out that I'm here."

He released the spells on the two professors and waited for the verbal explosion. They didn't disappoint.

"Harry what are you doing here? Why are you with the Malfoys?"

"What do you mean by devices and where's the kitten?" Snape asked venomously. "I don't want Draco getting worried about the little fleabag."

Harry was indignant and said, "Noiro does not have fleas and my guess either the hotel or Dumbledore planted them in order to monitor the activities in this room."

"How would you know about that, Potter?"

Harry stepped forward and said, "Don't take that tone with me Snape! If you want answers to your questions, then ask, but you don't have to be snide about it."

"Harry," Remus began, "Severus is not in the best of moods right now..."

Harry raised his hand to stall him, "I know Remus, I know... How is it that you are able to walk after what he did last night?" He turned his intense gaze to Professor Snape and the poor Potions Master realized that Harry saw the full extent of the torture. Snape turned away, but Harry went up to him and just placed a hand on his shoulder. He whispered, "I know."

"Then why didn't you report it to Dumbledore?"

"Because that meddling, old bastard doesn't care about the minor details. He only wants to know when and where the next attacks will occur, he doesn't want to know about how the details get to him or what some people have to go through to get them," Harry explained. "The GIT wasn't asking you any new questions, just the same old summer babble looking for my whereabouts."

Remus, with his sharp hearing, caught every word. 'Minor details,' Remus thought. Thinking further, he realized that it was true, the Headmaster didn't even inquire about Snape's injuries or health. He only asked about what the GIT could possibly want now. "Harry..." when the youth turned around to pay attention to him, hoping to change the direction of the talk, he asked, "what did you mean by listening and revealing devices?"

Harry walked over to point out a very ugly statue in one of the corners, then to the desk where there were a few pretty little bobbles and then to the mirror in another corner of the room. "I don't know if the Headmaster gave you any of these, but they are all spelled to listen to everything in this room and to reveal or show events too. They appear to be on a time delay so that the will activate intermittently or when specific names are uttered in this room."

"How did you figure these out Potter?" Snape asked.

"Narcissa showed me how, when I was at Malfoy Manor," he explained. "It was in order to prevent me from wandering into areas that were traps, but I also had access to a few of their libraries and found the spells that would allow me to detect and disable these."

"Harry, why did you leave the Dursleys?" Remus asked, wondering what could possibly prompt Harry into leaving the blood protection. "Weren't you treated better after we confronted them?"

"I was treated like I normally was Remus," Harry sighed. "Although my aunt was a bit different in her attitude, but then again I think that she was lonely. She actually took me shopping with her a few times, under the strict impression that I was to be the designated pack mule to haul everything back for her."

He smiled and then continued, "She allowed me to purchase a few books that I found at an antiquities dealer. These books helped me to complete my summer work in record time. I even had the chance to absorb my books from my previous years, all except the garbage from Lockhart and Umbridge."

Snape choked on a cough that was a poorly hidden chuckle. Remus didn't bother hiding his chuckles.

Harry smiled at them and continued, "I had written several letters to the Order, Ron, Hermione and few of my other friends, but none of them replied. Dumbledore's only reply was "You are safer with your relatives, young Harry. It would not be advisable to encumber your friends this summer. I don't think that you will be able to return to Grimmwald Place, either. The Order feels that you should recover from your ordeal in peace." The Order, my foot! It was his decision and it was still not the right one. I haven't even been able to receive any news and Mrs. Figg has kept her mouth shut about the upcoming events, she has not even allowed me to look at any wizarding newspapers. This was, and I'm positive, under the orders of Professor Dumbledore."

Snape was standing there looking that Harry Potter as though it was the first time that he had ever seen him. Still feeling a bit weak from the night before he sat down on the nearest bed. Potter's thoughts and explanations were rational, but to leave the blood protected environment. He frowned thinking back on a previous conversation he heard between Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley.

--

"But Albus, couldn't the protection be moved?" She had asked.

"No my dear Molly," he said. "It requires that he remain within the wards in order to the blood protection to remain with him."

"What wards, Albus? The blood protection does not set up wards," she said.

"You know that the Order has added several wards in order to protect the boy," he explained. "It is triggered by his presence and magic. If he were to leave or be in danger the wards would alert us. Now leave it be Molly, he is safer there."

--

"That man may be meddlesome, but how did you escape without his knowledge? As far as I know the Order is still receiving regular mail from your owl," Snape said and Remus nodded.

Harry smirked here and then fully secure in the knowledge that the room was free of scrying equipment, he briefly morphed into his kitten form. Turning back into himself, he said, "I can't really tell you all the other details, but just rest assured that the blood protection is with me. I have ensured the safety of my mother's sister by allowing those wards to remain active, for the remainder of this summer, anyway. I have made other plans for next summer."

"Why Harry?" Remus asked.

"I can't remain in the dark about the wizarding world, Remus. I can't remain sheltered and hidden away, when my other friends are constantly exposed to the very danger that everyone wants me to save them from. Even the muggle born in my year know more about what's going on, than I do. They always let me know on the train about it. I feel lost everytime that happens.

I am sick and tired of feeling left behind and feeling out of the loop. Besides they always have a tendency to talk down to me when I don't understand something about the magic studies we're assigned because I haven't been allowed the chance or opportunity to grasp the instructions from my summer studies.

I know nothing of the wizarding world events, but almost all of the other students do. My uncle thinks that I'm a freak and during my past summers I was only able to study after my chores were finished, those never got finished until late in the evenings."

"Chores? Didn't they do everything for you, Potter?"

"Professor if I were a pampered little wizard that had never done a days work in my life and was waited on hand and foot, what do you think I would look like? What would my hands look like?"

Snape was stumped; this was not a direction his thoughts had ever entertained. "What do you mean?"

"Professor Lupin, do you recall what my cousin looked like, at the train station when they picked me up at the beginning of summer?"

Lupin chuckled remembering the fear that the Order had instilled into the Dursleys at the beginning of this summer. His caught on to Harry's point and told his sour colleague, "I remember. Your uncle and your cousin were quite round about the middle. Your aunt was doting on him and wasn't he whining at the time for sweets or something? What was she calling him, anyway?"

Harry snorted, "Diddums. He's mummy's little Diddums and daddy's little man."

"What did they call you?" Snape asked out of curiosity.

"Boy or Freak, depending on their mood or whatever they wanted me to do at the time," he said. "If I had really been the spoiled brat you took me for, I'd probably be competing with Dudley in the over weight category. As it was I was lucky to have something to eat at least once a day." He then showed his hands to the Potions Master, they presently had a strong concealing charm on them, but once he revealed the truth, both Professors gasped at the sight.

Harry's hands were rough, callused, nicked and scarred. Perhaps the worst was that fact that Harry didn't have a pinky on his right hand and his hand was smaller, like a sharp object had cut it, taking the right side of the hand with it. His left hand still had the pinky finger, but it was missing the two joints and was stubby looking. The ring finger of that hand was missing the first joint and his thumb was out of place, like it had been broken and never properly set. The location of his thumb was reminiscent of their gorilla cousins.

"Now do you understand Professor Snape. I was never spoiled and I may seem arrogant, but then again don't half of the Slytherin students in your house seem that same way in order to hide their true feelings or their fears?" Flexing his hands, curling and wiggling his fingers to show them that they still functioned. He turned them over for Snape to examine the palms and calluses. He replaced the concealing charm soon after the professor was finished examining them.

"Why hide them, Harry?" Lupin asked clearly upset to having found this out. 'How was Harry able to hide these for so long?' Sirius and Harry's parents would be royally pissed off that such a thing has occurred.

"No one knows about them except maybe Dumbledore, but he told me to never reveal them. I have always been able to conceal them; even the muggles that I went to school with didn't see them like they really are. Personally I don't want anyone's pity with regard to them. They function like they're supposed to and maybe when the GIT," he smirked at Lupin, "is gone, I can go and just be myself. Just be… Harry, a young man, with bad eyes, messy hair, ruined hands and someone who is good at flying a broom."

"Well I must assume that you are the student that I am accompanying here, but why didn't Cissa tell us Lupin?"

"Maybe she wanted to see your reaction, Severus," Remus said. "I think that this is a good thing, but Harry what are you going to do here?"

"I will be accompanying you and the Malfoys, as myself." Harry smiled and then modified his cat collar into two chains. One was a hemp choker with jade spacers and the fluttering pewter snitch in the middle; the other was a slightly longer chain of round crystal beads with platinum dog tags at the end. "Do I have time to shower and change before you have to meet up with them? Where will I be staying?"

Professor Snape and Lupin had similar smirks on their faces, which was quite disconcerting to Harry. He didn't know that these two were getting along. "Follow me Potter," Snape said and led him down the hall. He stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.

They both heard a familiar drawling voice, "Come in." Harry face dropped in horror and he was shaking his head no, when Snape opened the door and shoved him in.

"That's where you'll stay and behave yourself or I will contact the others," Snape said and stalked away from the stunned Malfoy and a worried Harry.

"What the..." Draco began, but Harry quickly silenced him and began to check out the room for similar devices, after finding them and disabling them, he removed the charm and back away from the outraged Dragon. "How dare you? How dare you silence me?"

Harry locked the door and cast other silencing charms, knowing that now was the time for explanations. "Listen Malfoy, there were devices, things, in your room that record sound and reveal the people, by way of scrying, anyone who comes to your room."

Malfoy frowned at this, "What do you mean?"

"Seems that Dumbledore doesn't really trust the letters that he has been receiving from me. I have to send letters every three days to tell them that I am fine and that my relatives are treating me all right." Harry explained. He was getting very tired of repeating himself and said so. "Perhaps when we go shopping I'll find a mini-pensieve that will allow me to extract a couple of memories for you to look at. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like you have something up your sleeve, but I want to enjoy my holiday here and I don't want you mucking it up. I suppose that you're the student that Snape has to watch over." Harry nodded. "Great, well then I have chosen this bed, you can have the other."

"All right then," he said making his way into the bathroom.

"Where are you going Potter?" Malfoy asked annoyed that the dark hair youth was not in a fighting mood.

"The name is Harry and I need a shower, see you in fifteen," he said shutting the door to the bathroom. There he washed away that awful flea dip that he had to have before coming here, it was itchy and there for the first time in a while he was able to have a real shower. Pulling on a simple pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt he was out of the bathroom at the time he said he would.

"The name is Draco and it's my turn. Don't forget to remove the spells on the room in case my mother wants to come and see me," he said going in there himself to primp before they headed out.

Harry remembered the key that the goblin had for Malfoy and he decided to make it part of one of his dog tags so that should anything happen in regards to Lucious their advance warning would actually be visible. Not that he needed it, because he was able to charm it to ring just like his mini snitch, should it be activated.

As soon as Draco was ready, they all headed out to meet in the Lobby of the hotel. On the way there, Harry and Draco came to the reluctant agreement to pretend that they don't know one another and that way they would get to know each other away from any outside influences.

"It's reasonable and I know that I really don't know anything about you, other than what you project in school," Harry said, refusing to show all the things that he had learned about Draco while he was in his kitten form.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Project?! How would you know that what I'm projecting is not the real me?"

"Pulease, Draco," Harry said. "I don't even show my real self at the school. You don't expect me to believe that everyone there does, do you? It's secondary school, we're only going to be there for seven years of our life and then we move onto adult education, marriage or jobs. We either make lifelong, trustworthy friends or none at all. Friends can be made later and right now there is good reason to hide away our true selves, especially with Voldie and his Gits on the loose."

Draco smirked at that and said, "I think that I would like to get to know you outside of the school ground, Harry. It would certainly be preferable for me to be myself without worrying that I'm going to shock you. It would seem that everyone has something to hide."

Harry thought about this for a moment and then made a decision. "You're right everyone hides something, but I won't hide from you, if you don't from me. Just for this trip. What do you say?"

"I say you're on, Harry." Draco nibbled his lower lip and then released the concealing spell he had on his neck and face. Draco had three long parallel scars across his right cheek like scratches made from a large beast. His neck had similar scars, smaller and on his left side.

Harry's eyes widened. "Whoa, what happened?" He asked as he released his own spells from his hands. Draco's own eyes widened at the sight of Harry's hands.

"Father wanted to teach me a lesson about how dangerous some creatures of our world could be. This was the attack from a few animal cubs, which were crazed from lack of food. As if I didn't know that my father had deliberately starved the poor creatures first, in order to teach me that lesson. I'm not stupid." Draco snorted, but continued to try not to stare at Harry's hands. "What about you?"

Harry smirked, "This was from my uncle, his own way of teaching me a lesson. My aunt and cousin don't know about it because somehow I was able to heal the wounds and hide the injuries when I was young, pre-Hogwarts. My uncle wanted to teach me how dangerous muggles power tools could be. You can stare at them all you want. I just wanted to share this with someone who isn't going to want to pity me... Or have me pity them..."

Draco smirked back, "All right, we're agreed. Feel free to return the no pity favour."

They walked into the Lobby of the hotel and Draco stopped. He looked at Harry for a moment and Harry returned the look. They both genuinely smiled, Draco held out his hand, "My name is Draco and I am from England."

Harry took the proffered hand and said, "My name is Harry and it's very nice to meet a fellow countryman." The silliness of this exchange had them in giggles and smiles by the time the reached the adults that would accompany them on the trip.

Remus was smiling at them. Snape was scowling, though not as bad as he usually does in school. Narcissa swept into the room like a new woman. It took her son a few moments before he realized that the happy go lucky woman with her hair tied up messily, but stylishly and in a vibrant sundress was his mother.

"Mother?" He gasped questionningly, his jaw dropping as he stared at her. The he looked to her arm where the tattoo of the Dark Mark was supposed to be. "Mother..." he continued to stare at her arm.

"Draco, I see that you have met your companion. Harry… It is wonderful to finally be able to meet you properly. I am hoping that Draco can persuade you to return with us at the end of the trip. I really would like for you to see our world and it would be nice have someone around for the rest of summer to keep my son out of trouble. Leave the rest be for now my son." She said smiling with mischievous joy, ruffling his hair. "Boys it time for us to go out on the town. That includes you Remus and Severus. We have some serious shopping to do."

Draco tried to replace his hair the way it was, but Harry stopped him. "You know you look better without it looking glued down." Draco just continued trying to primp when the words finally hit him.

'Glued down,' he thought. 'It has never looked glued down.' He glanced over towards Harry catching the mischief in those fascinating green eyes. Eyes just like... 'Noiro!' He thought, his eyes widening, 'I believe that it will be interesting to find out...'

Severus, meanwhile, was horrified at the prospect of shopping with this woman, but at least with the time difference her enthusiasm should be curbed a bit. Remus wasn't comfortable, but he did promise to come along for the ride. Harry and Draco were stunned by the woman's antics, but Harry was secretly pleased to finally be able to have the chance to acquire proper clothing.

--

TBC...