Chapter Thirty-Six: Finding Answers
"Anything?"
"Not yet."
Draco kicked at a chair, sending it skittering across the room.
"That's not helping." Sasha's tense tone made no dent in his ire. The seventh year's wand was beginning to tremble from the strain of keeping the spell up so long.
"Blaise?" The tremors were growing worse. As one, Sasha traded places with the boy, sagging to her knees once Blaise was in place.
They had retired to one of the warded workrooms once Harry had come back from his 'detention'. Once Draco had explained what was going on with their former Gryffindor, most of the House had seen red. Pansy and Millicent had taken Harry to his appointment and had waited outside the entire time. They had not been pleased by Harry's pallor or trembling when he had left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Once they had settled Harry into bed, along with a handy drowsy potion that Draco had knicked from Severus' cabinet, the rest of the sixth years and Sasha had moved into the workrooms.
Draco wanted whatever curse it was off. Immediately. But he also wanted proof and a record of the curse breaking, so they had been forced to do things the hard and long way.
A formal circle had to be called. The four corners were set as anchors, their sole purpose was to record the events inside the circle. They'd been forced to bring in more than their core group of friends for help. Neville, Pansy, Millicent and Daphne Greengrass held the corners. Sasha and Blaise were the two strong enough to hold the technically Dark spell that would find the curse and tell them how to break it. Finding the bindings on Draco's memories had been easy enough, but they were running into a problem with the curse itself.
Blaise was a bit pale. It was late and their four anchors were starting to droop where they stood. There would be no sleep for them that night.
"Anything?" Draco was confined to the center of the circle, unable to access his magic while their spell was working.
Blaise's shoulders were hunched. "I can see it. It's purple and it surrounds your brain, but the spell can't tell me what the curse is."
"Damn it."
"We've been at this for hours," Sasha pointed out from her place on the ground. "We're apt to make stupid mistakes at this point. Let's break, nap and try again tomorrow." She made a face. "Later tonight," she amended.
"But…"
"Draco," Blaise cut in.
He took one look at his friend's face and sighed. "Yes, fine. Let's do that."
All the anchors sagged to their knees after Blaise cut the spell. Neville bent over, touching his forehead to the cool stone of the workroom floor.
"She's not powerful enough to create her own curse of this power," Sasha watched as Blaise helped Neville to his feet. Daphne had already fled the room on shaky legs. Millicent had Pansy's arm over her shoulder.
"A spell we can't break," Draco felt his jaw clench. "I doubt that."
"No…" Sasha had a fine line furrowed between her brows. "No, I think I have an idea."
"You do? What?"
She shook her head. "Let me check some things out in the Library. I'll let you know what I find tonight."
"But…"
"Draco," she gave him a flat stare. "Go get some sleep."
He made a face at her and helped her to her feet. "Bossy, bossy girl. Poor Seamus." He had to dodge a swipe. It had the others leaving with tired chuckles instead of defeat.
Draco bore that emotion alone as he crawled into bed. He didn't know what to say to Harry. He would have to figure out something.
qpqpqpqp
Harry blinked, staring at his hands. They were buried in the fine powder dirt of the glowing Path he was kneeling on.
He glanced around, noticing the close walls of the Dark that lined the edges of the Path.
"All right," he said. "I'm either dreaming or this is a different sort of dream."
"Surely you know the difference by now," the tri-toned voices came from behind him.
He turned, careful to keep his hands buried in the dirt and his body in the exact center of the Path. Three women stood in a row, blocking one end of the Path. As he watched, their faces and appearances changed, sometimes young, sometimes ancient. Some pale skinned and fair haired, some with ebony skin and hair the color of pitch.
It was enough to make anyone's head spin.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"We are," they said. "You've come to a strange place in time."
"A…what?"
The woman in the center tilted her head. "Surely you've figured it out by now."
Harry woke with a start, hands buried in his covers, his heart racing. He blinked up at the dark canopy. What should I have figured out by now?
He still hadn't figured it out by the time his alarm went off and it was time to get ready for the first class of the day.
qpqpqpqp
Sasha found the girl after afternoon classes had ended. The books around Hermione were familiar to the Slytherin girl.
"So, Harry came to you with his problem," Sasha folded her arms over her chest. Hermione shot her a foul glare. "Well, he could have done worse."
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I'm sure you don't, just like Harry kept insisting that there was nothing wrong to Draco, even though there clearly was."
"Don't interfere," Hermione's brows drew together. "You'll just make it worse."
"You mean the curse we're not supposed to know about?"
"He can't have told you."
"He didn't, Gryffindor. We figured it out on our own. We're intelligent like that, unlike most Houses."
"A bit late on the uptake, though."
"Well, Harry's more Slytherin qualities mask his stupidity for the most part. He should have known we would help."
"He did. That's why he didn't say anything. Speaking about it can kill Malfoy."
"If Harry speaks about it," Sasha pulled out a chair across from the girl. "We were able to determine that much. We're not sure if even writing it down for us would be enough to trigger it, so Harry wouldn't even try."
Hermione watched her with wary eyes. "You've determined what curse it is?"
"No," Sasha made a face. "But we've determined some of the parameters. It's a two-part curse, linked in with Draco's memories of the curse."
Hermione straightened in her seat. "A two-part curse?"
"You've heard about them?"
"They're a select category," Hermione pushed a stack of books away, hands flashing through the accumulated piles of information.
"You've really been looking into it."
"I have a lot to make up for," she came up with a handful of tomes. "Here, these are the ones I set aside. There's more in the Restricted Section, but I had to return them. Madam Pince was rather irritated with me."
"I can take care of that."
"Good, there's the list," Hermione's papers were spread across the entire desk. A much-rumpled piece of parchment was thrust at Sasha. "Cross off the books we have."
"Of course."
"Just go." Hermione's eyes narrowed to slits. Sasha's hand itched for her wand.
Harry had better appreciate what I'm willing to do for his skinny arse, she stomped away towards the Restricted Section, allowing the Gryffindor to win the round for once.
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Severus had suspected that something was amiss with his students – namely Harry – for some time. It wasn't until a delegation of his sixth years came to see him that his worry was verified.
He found the boy studying at one of the tables in the common room. Pansy and Blaise took themselves elsewhere as he approached. They had the common room to themselves. He would have preferred talking to the boy in his office, but he did not want Harry feeling trapped.
The child has enough of that attitude with Black. Severus did not want to add to Harry's stress any more than necessary.
The boy's pen skittered across the page when Severus stopped at his side. Green eyes, far too dull and marked with heavy bags underneath, stared up at him.
"Sir?"
Severus paused, and then pulled out a chair near Harry to sit. There was a small distance between them, but some of the wariness in the boy's eyes had faded at Severus' choice.
"I have heard of a delicate situation that concerns you, Harry." He held up a hand to forestall the panic he saw flashing across the boy's face. "You need not deny it. Something has been verified, but you cannot speak about it. I can and you will listen."
"…Yes, sir."
"Very well." Severus settled his hands in his lap. "First of all, Harry, when one thinks one is boxed into a corner, you are."
"Huh?"
"The imagination is a limitless place that can come up with a veritable multitude of possibilities."
"…Huh?"
He gave the child a flat stare. "I believe the muggle phrase is think outside the box, Harry."
Harry set his quill down with nervous fingers. "You mean, about…the thing that's not wrong with…a boy in my class."
"Exactly."
"Well," Harry blinked a few times. "All right then."
"We are Slytherins, Harry." He had that odd twisting sensation back in his chest. He ignored it. "Given enough time, we can, have and will again find solutions to problems that most would despair under."
"I just…didn't want anyone to worry about…anything," Harry's bangs fell forward, hiding his face.
"That is our choice, Harry." Severus could not help the soft tone. "You would not take that freedom from us, would you?"
"Of course not!" The boy's head came up, eyes bright.
"Then you will have to accept that we care, Harry. And you must be willing to care for yourself just as much." He shook his head. "Hurting yourself hurts us as well."
"But…I haven't…"
"The school should offer seminars in communication," Severus frowned at the boy. "Talk to us, Harry. We cannot help if we do not know what hurts."
"I…can't," misery twisted the boy's mouth into an unhappy line. "If I talk…" He glanced towards the dormitory halls.
"Then tell me about something else."
Harry blinked at him. "But…I don't understand."
"You have put off meetings with Auror Rayne for some time."
"Ah, yeah…I…had to."
"Because of…"
"Yeah."
"He would be bound to the code of silence of your sessions."
"I'm not sure if that would count. For the, you know, thing."
"Ah, I see."
They regarded each other for a long moment.
"Is there anything else, Harry?" He studied the pale face, the haunted eyes. The boy was losing weight again. The thin traces of scars across his neck still made Severus' stomach tighten into a hard ball.
"…No. I'm fine."
"I see," he rose, wanting to reassure the boy somehow, but coming up blank. "Please, do trust us, Harry."
He was at the door when he heard the child's answer.
"Thank you, Professor. I do."
qpqpqpqp
The winter break was days away. Harry knew there was a flurry of activity going on in his House, and felt awful for adding to their stress. Reports from America had no sign of the girl or her parents. Pansy's cousins in the Ministry had come up empty handed. It was as if the girl and her family had never existed.
It was enough to make Harry shiver every time he thought about it.
His relations with Draco were improving. There were still cracks here and there, but some part of Harry was relieved at the fighting and the aftermath.
He won't leave, was the small voice that whispered in the back of his mind. You pushed and pushed and pushed and you found the limit. He didn't leave and he didn't yell. He didn't leave.
A part of him was ashamed at his reaction. Another part of him felt like it was relaxing for the first time in forever. Most of the rest of him wanted to curl up and sleep for a week. With Draco. It took a lot of will power to keep the flush from exploding across his face at that thought.
Harry also did not want to leave the castle for the winter holiday. Even if it would get him away from the sadistic Umbridge and her "detentions." The mood of the wizarding world was vacillating between hate for him, suspicion and those who were indignant on his behalf. The perpetrators of the London Massacre were still at large. Scrimgeour was being bombarded on all sides by the press and those who had legitimate concerns about the state of their world. And the Temple's building had been delayed. The goblins had extended the date for its opening until the solstice, which had sent the more monotheistic of their population wild with speculation about evil rites and devil worship.
Harry wanted to strangle the lot of them. The winter solstice was the rebirth of the sun, the rebirth of the world, the exit from lengthening night and the return to the land of the sun.
He wondered how much a full-page ad would cost.
"Note for you, Harry," Neville passed him on his way to his seat. Dinner was about to start and for once Harry had his appetite back.
"Thanks," he took the folded scrap from the other boy.
"Came for you at the dorms," Neville reached for the teapot as the food appeared.
"Oh, damn," Draco spoke from behind them. "Shove over, Neville."
"I got here first."
"Blaise, please. Control him."
Harry swatted at the blond as Neville squawked. Draco settled next to Harry with a strain-free smile.
Harry studied the boy's face, feeling something tight around his heart loosen. "You've figured it out, haven't you?"
Draco made a shushing motion, but from the proud faces around them, Harry could guess at the reason for their elation.
"It will take a while," Draco murmured to him. "Probably not until after the hols –"
"That long?"
"Yes," Draco's brief scowl was directed at his plate. "There are…things we need to get."
"Oh."
"But, more to the point, we have something to celebrate." Draco's hand brushed Harry's hip, causing him to blush and look away. Draco watched his reaction with delighted eyes. "Will you come to the Manor with me, Harry?"
"I…yes," he said without thinking. "I would love to."
"Harry!" Ginny's cry turned his attention to the younger girl. She was frowning at him from her seat across from him. He had not seen her arrive. "You can't!"
"…eh?"
"Father wants both of us to come home for the break."
Harry exchanged a glance with Draco. "I…don't think I can, Gin. Sirius isn't my guardian."
Her face broke out into a smile. "Yes, he is! He got the paperwork yesterday, didn't you get a letter from him?"
"…No." Harry remembered the note in his hand. He unfolded it and read the contents.
"Harry?" Draco touched his shoulder.
"I have to see the Headmaster after the meal."
He saw the few pauses around him. He knew they were remembering when other notes came, just like the one he held in his hands.
"What?" Ginny asked Pansy. "It's probably paperwork or something, right?"
"Of course," the other girl said and looked away.
"I'll come with you," Draco said.
"Thanks." Harry refolded the note and slid it into his pocket. His earlier appetite was long gone.
qpqp
"Ah, Mr. Potter." The Headmaster looked up from the stack of papers that were covering his desk. "And Mr. Malfoy, of course. Do have a seat."
Harry plopped down in the right hand chair that sat in front of the imposing desk. Draco folded himself into the chair next to him with more decorum.
"I have some news, Harry." The Headmaster regarded him over the rims of his glasses.
"It's about Sirius, right?"
"Did Ms. Black inform you?"
"She said Sirius got guardianship of him."
"Yes and no." Dumbledore's eyes were bright. "He has some of the power of in loco parentis, which is not a completely binding guardianship. You have been guaranteed the right to decide if you wish to terminate the contract and leave the person's control."
"Why didn't Sirius get complete guardianship of me?"
"Ah, well," Dumbledore smiled at him. "The government works in mysterious ways."
"You blocked it, sir?"
"I have, but I can remove my influence, if that is what you want."
Harry bowed his head to stare at his hands. Did he want Sirius to have full guardianship of him? Did he want his godfather to have complete control over him until his legal majority?
"…No, thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore. In loco parentis is enough."
"…I see, Mr. Potter. I am sorry."
"Don't be," he rose and met the old wizard's gaze. "Was there anything else?"
"You will be joining Ms. Black at the family manor over the holiday."
"I see." He knew Draco was angry, tense and silent at his side. "Thank you, sir."
"I am sorry, Harry." Dumbledore said again. "I had hoped things would be different."
"They are what we have made them to be," Harry shrugged. "Your choices and mine haven't made the situation, though I'm sure they helped. You cannot take the blame for all of it."
"The same goes for you, Harry."
He let out a quiet laugh. "I'll try to remember that, sir." He glanced at Draco, offering up a hesitant smile. "I've got people who remind me of that, now."
Draco's answering smile lit the room.
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Winter break would officially start Friday evening when the Hogwarts Express pulled out from the station with its students in tow.
It was Friday afternoon when Harry got the note to attend to a matter with Professor Umbridge, immediately.
His Housemates had argued against his going, but he couldn't refuse. He couldn't and he knew they knew why. Blaise and Neville were the ones to escort him to the dreaded classroom – they'd long since decided that Umbridge getting any sight of Harry with Draco during these meetings was a bad, bad idea.
Umbridge was waiting for him when he entered the room. Her scowl created lines in the heavy makeup she slathered across her face.
"Mr. Potter," she began without preamble. "I am most disappointed in you."
He tripped and almost fell, catching himself on the back of a chair before he could face plant into the flagstone floor.
"I…what did I do?"
"You know the penalty of tardiness."
"I…couldn't leave right away."
"Why, Mr. Potter, were your friends suspicious?"
He flinched away from the vile glint in her eyes. "No, ma'am. They just wanted to know what was wrong."
"Your detention, of course, Mr. Potter. That is what is wrong. Did you tell them that?"
"No, ma'am."
"Perhaps you will learn yet," she pursed her lips. "I am not satisfied that you have learned your lesson, Mr. Potter."
"But!"
"Our little meetings will continue after Christmas," the shine in her eyes dared him to protest.
"But – you said –!"
"Is that insubordination I hear, Mr. Potter? What would the Malfoy family, as sinful as it is, do without its only son?"
Harry slumped, knowing she had the upper hand. "Please don't hurt him."
"You know what you must do then, Mr. Potter."
"…Yes, ma'am."
"I'm so glad we understand each other, Mr. Potter," the simper was disturbing to see on a woman of her age. And with the amount of rage she carried in her eyes. "Do have an enjoyable Christmas, Mr. Potter. Make sure you remember all that we have…talked about."
"…Yes, ma'am."
"You may leave."
"Yes, ma'am."
He couldn't tell Blaise or Neville why he was shaking the entire way back to the dorms. He had a horrible feeling growing in his gut.
It was going to be one hell of a winter holiday.
End Chapter Thirty-Six