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Chapter Eighteen—Behold the Truth
Narcissa walked slowly down the corridor of the Ministry, letting as many people as possible see Venus padding beside her, the silver color of her familiar's fur, the exquisite cut of her robes that were nearer a gown than the usual workaday vestments of the Ministry. Of course, most people knew the color of her familiar and her wealth already, but it couldn't hurt to remind them.
Not with the delicacy of the ploy she would have to pull today.
She settled herself carefully in the chair outside the door of the Department for the Protection of Magical Children, a separate division, despite its bland name, from the ones that oversaw restriction of underage magic and the like. This one was for special children, those born to the silver and into wealthy bronze families, the ones who might need more care and guidance.
Narcissa could have walked straight in; she had an appointment. But let others observe her waiting here like a humble supplicant, knowing and accepting her place. Narcissa bowed her head so that her pale hair shielded her face and the slight smile that might not be humble.
The door flew open soon enough, and a delicately-modulated woman's voice floated through. "My dear Mrs. Malfoy, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting! Please follow Lijana inside."
Lijana, the speaker's silver muntjac familiar, stepped through the door and knelt in a quick motion that signaled deference without obsequiousness. Narcissa did let herself smile this time and stood, following Lijana while laying a hand on Venus's ruff to keep her from an unfortunate attack.
"You didn't keep me waiting long, Madam Hollow," she said, as she moved into the office. The smell of hot tea, a special kind brewed in dragon eggshells, increased the size of her smile. The door of Hollow's office was charmed to prevent the smell from creeping out and tempting those not worthy of it. It was the sort of fine magic you could wield when you were born to the silver. "And a chance to taste your tea is worth waiting for."
Hibiscus Hollow smiled at her. She had red-gold hair, a lovely shade nothing like a Weasley's, piled gently on top of her head, and small diamond drops in her ears. She was taller than Narcissa thought suitable in a woman, but slender enough to make up for it. "Then please, Mrs. Malfoy, sit down and let us begin."
Narcissa nodded and sat, while Venus sprawled next to her chair and closed her eyes. The idea of going after Lijana might be too much otherwise, Narcissa knew. Hollow cleared her throat and poured the tea first. Narcissa sipped it and let her problems flow away for a while. Hollow was an old ally.
"I was surprised that you approached me over the matter of Harry Potter at first," Hollow began, when the clock on the wall chimed a soft ten minutes, the minimum interval to enjoy tea such as this. "But then I realized that while Augusta Longbottom technically holds his guardianship, in a larger sense he of course belongs to all of us."
Narcissa nodded. The important thing now was to create a cordial conversation that would stand up to viewing as a Pensieve memory or during Veritaserum testimony, if it came to that. "And we must remember, too, that Mr. Potter is currently unique in our society as far as the color of his familiar and his level of power goes, while before he might have had the companionship and protection of Albus Dumbledore. That makes it even more important for him to be raised in the right environment."
Hollow nodded. "That is so. I understand Augusta Longbottom has a bronze familiar? An eagle, I believe." She made a show of looking at her paperwork.
"Yes." Narcissa frowned a little. "And one child to look after already, which makes me concerned that poor dear Mr. Potter might not be getting the care he deserves."
"Of course, Mrs. Malfoy, one might say that you also have a child already to look after."
"Our house is much bigger than the Longbottoms', however, and we have many more house-elves. We have the resources to spend time with both children. Not to mention the influence of a wizard in the house, which is so important for an impressionable young man."
"There is that," said Hollow with another nod, looking through the papers in front of her. "I believe I am also correct in saying that Augusta Longbottom hasn't had a male influence in the house with her since her son contracted that unfortunate case of insanity."
Narcissa bobbed her head slowly. "Even her familiar is female. And while her grandson has a male familiar, he is only Mr. Potter's age and cannot be expected to act as a big brother to him."
Hollow sighed. "Well, of course, there is the matter of the boy's parents specifying that they wanted Augusta Longbottom to take charge of him..."
"Pardon me," Narcissa said, leaning forwards a little, while beside her Venus's purr mounted higher. "Did the wills specify Augusta Longbottom, or Frank and Alice Longbottom? From what I know, James Potter and Frank Longbottom were Aurors together, and it would make sense that Mr. Potter's parents would leave him to people they knew well. Whereas I do not think they would have had much contact with a conservative pure-blood a generation older than they were."
"Well, that is true," said Hollow, with an expression of surprise so smooth Narcissa would honestly have been fooled by it. She made a note to herself not to spend much more time around Hollow without a method to keep her under control. "But one thing you need to understand is that Mrs. Longbottom would challenge you were you to try to remove Mr. Potter from your control. And with the sympathies of the Wizengamot on her side, she might win."
Narcissa tucked a hand beneath her chin and nodded thoughtfully. "Why would the sympathies of the Wizengamot be on her side?"
"She is considered something of a heroine for surviving the violent loss of her son and daughter-in-law and committing herself to the care of her grandson. Taking on another child will only make some see her as all the more heroic."
"I am afraid that I bring some bad news for her reputation, then." Narcissa lowered her voice conscientiously.
"Really, Mrs. Malfoy? You surprise me. What could that news be?"
Narcissa smiled.
Harry didn't exactly feel the attack coming. But he had the training that he needed to survive it anyway, when it happened.
He and Golden were on their way back to the Hufflepuff common room from the library. Hermione had said that she had found everything she could in the library on the Forbidden Arts, and nothing so far that could reverse the sacrifice of a familiar and turn it back to its first color and form.
Harry had tried to reassure her that there probably wasn't something like that, but Hermione had glared at him.
"What can be done can be undone," she said, her hand on Regina's back. "And I have to believe that something can be done to correct this. It's so awful."
Harry was thinking about that, and the determination on her face, when the air around him turned hot, and he whirled around and grabbed Golden and his wand and raised the best Shield Charm behind him that he could.
The fire that was racing towards him slammed into the shield and curled around the edges. Harry gasped and ducked his head, pressing his face into the scales along the side of Golden's neck. He could feel Golden rearing up and his tongue flickering out, but he didn't manage to look up.
The hair on the back of his neck was flaring. It hurt. Harry shivered and wondered if his magic was really strong enough to withstand this.
"You have to hold steady," Golden said abruptly. "If your spirit falters, then my magic cannot protect us."
Harry stiffened his spine. He thought of how Golden would be hurt if he was, and what would happen to his friends if they couldn't depend on him. He was the strongest. That meant he had to be the strongest.
Maybe not forever, he admitted to himself as he managed to raise his head and concentrate his magic on the bond between him and Golden, which he felt better now than he had ever before. But now he did.
The brilliant magic around him was a circle of fire that made it impossible for him to see down the corridor and be sure who was casting the fire spell. But he did stare straight down at the cone of fire and managed to gasp, "I'm not afraid of you."
There was a shriek, and then the power breaking out of him and Golden, which was bright yellow, like light instead of fire, won. It streamed past them, and the fire disappeared and there was a sound of running footsteps. Harry found himself sinking down, trembling. Golden wrapped around him and licked his cheek.
"They left alive but drained." Golden paused for a long moment. "I should have been able to tell who they were from sensing their familiars."
"But you couldn't?" Harry whispered, stroking Golden's face. He felt so tired that he could have sunk through the floor. He wondered hazily if he should be speaking in Parseltongue in public, or if saying the words in English was more dangerous, but his head was spinning so badly right now that Parseltongue was beyond him.
Golden shook his head. "I couldn't sense any spirit from their familiars. I think the people who attacked us were entirely artificial."
Harry sighed. There must be so many more of them than they realized, he thought. And he didn't think all of them were Hogwarts students. Not all the students would be powerful enough to use fire like this, or would want to murder him. Probably some of them were Medwyns from outside the school who had come and tried to kill him.
They'd tried to kill him.
Harry closed his eyes, and he didn't know if he was crying, but he was pretty sure that he was doing something similar to it when Golden hissed a greeting and arms went around him and Professor Snape murmured his name. Harry turned and held onto his robes and whispered, "Can you get me out of here?"
If that was in Parseltongue, maybe Professor Snape understood anyway. He scooped Harry up and carried him away.
Severus paced back and forth, and ignored the way that Poppy scowled at him for disturbing the peace of her hospital wing. He had more to worry about right now than whether Poppy was upset with him or not.
They had tried to kill Harry in the middle of bloody Hogwarts!
"Severus, if you cannot be calm then I am going to insist that you leave!" Severus spun around and opened his mouth in outrage, but both Poppy and her bronze wolverine, Comfit, were staring straight at him, wand and muzzle respectively aimed at him, and Severus's mouth snapped shut. "You are disturbing the magical currents around Mr. Potter, and he's sensitive enough to pick up on that! If he was bronze or below, maybe it wouldn't matter."
"Even if he was silver, it wouldn't," Severus muttered, but he was ashamed. Magical currents were something that most people trained as Healers or mediwitches for years to feel, but of course Harry would be sensitive to them since his familiar had drawn on them in the past to defend him with "accidental" magic. "I—I need to know how he is."
"He'll be fine, although the exhaustion is severe and I'm going to insist that he be excused from classes tomorrow." Poppy eyed him one more time and then turned back to her patient, while Comfit continued to watch him and Shadowstriker. "He wasn't burned at all except for a little singeing in his hair. That'll grow back soon enough. I already used a spell to stop it from smelling burnt."
Severus exhaled and closed his eyes. "Thank you."
He turned his head sharply when he heard the tramp of feet behind him, but it was Minerva and Malkin, no one else. She came rushing into the hospital wing and stopped herself with a gasp when she saw Harry. She sat down hard on the chair not far away, and Malkin curled himself around her feet.
"Who did this?" she whispered.
"I don't know their identities," said Poppy. "But it had to be several people, and there was at least one adult wizard involved. Only an adult would have the necessary experience in coordinating several attacks together like that."
"I sensed nothing, even though I'm in control of the defensive spells on the school."
Poppy sighed and holstered her wand, absently touching a coil of Golden's body that dangled off the hospital bed. "Minerva, not that I mean to disparage your senses, but the spells on the school are old. They were also under the control of someone who was very deceptive for years. I think you need to check them and maybe update them."
Minerva made a shocked, wounded noise. For a long moment, she sat there, staring at nothing, and then nodded. "You're right, of course, Poppy. I'll check them right now." And she stood up and walked out of the infirmary. Severus scowled at her back.
"She didn't even ask how he was," he muttered.
"She can see that I'm treating him," Poppy snapped back at him. "Which she knows means that he's in good hands."
Severus felt an intense desire to leave the hospital wing and find some corner of the school where she couldn't scowl at him. He controlled the impulse, and he thought his voice only slightly strangled when he asked, "What happens next? Can you find out anything about the people who attacked him besides there being several of them?"
Poppy frowned at him. "I told you not to talk about that, Severus Snape."
"I'm not talking about it." Severus stared imploringly at her anyway. He had learned something about her by accident when he was a student in the hospital wing long ago, a special talent that her Comfit had that not even full Healers often did. "I'm just asking you if you can learn something."
Poppy was silent, stroking Comfit's back. Comfit stared up at her and seemed ready to act, but then, from what Severus knew, she always was. There was a reason that Poppy's familiar had manifested herself as a wolverine.
"I would need absolute silence and calm," Poppy said abruptly, looking away from Severus. "That means no one can be allowed to disturb me. Are you up to allowing that, Severus?"
Severus nodded. He would do far more than that for Harry, but Poppy didn't need to know about his oath. Not right now, anyway. "I'll guard the door."
He turned around and braced himself with his face towards the corridor and his back to the door. He heard Poppy take in a breath, and then she began to murmur. The sound was soft and raced all around the edges of the room as if it was a chorus of rustling leaves. Severus controlled his own reaction, and the way that Shadowstriker wanted to dance around his neck. That might interrupt the calm Poppy needed to cast.
There was a glow from behind him like a falling star. Severus kept his head resolutely turned. Poppy had been embarrassed when he learned about her ability to create images of wizards or witches who had caused a patient's injury. It was a special talent, which meant it was supposed to belong to someone who was silver or gold. Poppy had grown up in a world that told her over and over again that bronze witches weren't supposed to possess it, and now she barely used it.
From the way she caught her breath, though, Severus thought she wouldn't regret using it now.
"There was an adult," she said grimly, and the light dimmed from behind him. "You can turn around now, Severus."
Severus did, and looked as impassively as he could at the four forms of light hovering next to Poppy and across from Harry's bed, as if Poppy didn't want even the illusions to get too close to him. The tallest was a woman with a wispy form of a horse near her shoulder. He snarled as he recognized her. She was a former student, Claire Jordan, graduated from Hogwarts several years in the past. The other three were all teenagers, at least from the size, and two of them wore Slytherin house ties.
"You know who they are?" Poppy asked quietly.
Severus nodded abruptly. They were from families who had married into the Medwyn family, which meant he would have to investigate whether their familiars were artificial. He glanced at the third teenager, who wore a Ravenclaw house tie. He frowned. "This one I don't know."
"No." Poppy breathed out slowly. "My magic can only create images of the attackers as they looked like then. That means that if someone was wearing an illusion or Polyjuice at the time, my magic would reflect that appearance."
Severus closed his eyes. He felt as though someone had submerged him in freezing water. "So basically, it could have been anyone. Even another adult or someone who's not usually in the school."
"Yes," Poppy said quietly. "We—we need to set up a constant guard on him, Severus, but I don't know how to do that."
"While he's here, the hospital wing's wards should be sufficient. I don't think whoever did this will be eager to try again so soon." Severus hesitated. "I can set up wards that will dissipate any Polyjuice or illusions the minute someone enters the same room as Harry, but they could be intrusive to other patients."
"I don't care." Poppy's eyes were glacial. "You do whatever you have to do, Severus. They thought they could get away with this. Attacking that sweet boy."
Severus nodded and drew his wand to begin the casting. He glanced towards Harry's bed and found Golden awake and watching them. He frowned a little. If the snake was about to forbid them because this wasn't something Harry would like—
But Golden only put his neck flat on the bed and watched them in a clearly expectant way. Severus smiled grimly as he began the spell.
At least Harry's snake might have better sense than he did.
