Harry did not resist being towed along like an errant child. Except that analogy was not quite right, was it? Harry was not some child that was prone to wandering off after sweets or who was not good at listening when told to stay put. That was far too mild of a comparison. He was a client who thought he knew better than his nin guard and got himself killed. He was the soldier brought up on charges for endangering the rest of the team by disobeying orders and dashing off at the worst time. Worse, he was the soldier who tried to be a hero, instead of clever, and merely ended up another stupid name on a rock. He was the cousin that Sasuke valued more than anything else in the world, who had intentionally left the meager protection Sasuke had managed to provide, to do something that could have gotten him killed. That still might. That possibly would the next time.
Naruto was waiting by the front door, likely the real one this time and not one of his many clones. He had sent out dozens of them as soon as they had realized Harry was missing. Hopefully he had had the common sense to keep them hidden from the rest of the school, but Sasuke did not know for sure, and he did not have the mental ability right now to even care. Naruto was sometimes just as foolish and infuriating and suicidal as Sasuke's cousin was and right now Sasuke only had the capacity to manage one of them at a time. But if there was any reasonable way of blaming Naruto for this, Sasuke might be tempted to try. Harry had always liked Naruto more. Clearly, they both recognized another goddamn moron when they saw one.
And then there was this Headmaster! Sasuke knew a fucking lying snake when he saw one. The man clearly did not care at all about Harry's safety or about maintaining his protection – and worse – he had somehow convinced Harry of the same! Not just convinced, but completely exploited. Team 7 should have been the people Harry trusted most in the world. The ones he turned to at the slightest hint of need. Not this charlatan who clearly was only interested in his own agenda. Sasuke had seen this kind of thing before. At times, suspected even Kakashi of it. Commanders usually became commanders because they were willing to sacrifice others when needed to complete the mission. The fact that that was not the way Team 7 worked was an anomaly. Probably a sign of mental retardation of one or more of their members. The exception that only proved the rule. No one else had a reason to value Harry's life like that and it was clear that no one else could be trusted to even pretend otherwise.
And Harry was not a soldier. Had never been a soldier. And if Sasuke had anything to say about, or had to climb over everyone's dead bodies to make it so, Harry would never be a soldier. He was not a chess piece for someone else to play with in their game of war. Sasuke had seen this play out before. He knew what happened to the pieces in it, even when you did 'win'.
Naruto was dancing from one foot to another by the time they reached the front door. His eyes kept flickering back and forth between Sasuke and Harry, but for once in his life he kept his big mouth shut. Which was good, because as furious as Sasuke was right now, if Naruto said anything, even something Saasuke agreed with, they would still probably come to blows. The Headmaster did not spare the other boy even a glance, but he did pause when the Deputy Headmistress came hurrying out to greet them.
"Are you alright?" The woman demanded brusquely as she came to a sudden stop. Her stance was still as rigid as any clan's matriarch, but her robes were tangled at the hemline as if she had been running. At least someone else seemed to have her priorities straight! But that vindication was soured by the very real concern Sasuke heard in her voice when she made it a point to ask "Mr. Potter, do you require any medical attention?"
What the hell. Sasuke let go of the hold he had on his cousin just enough to perform another quick assessment. Nothing obvious, but head wounds could never be ruled out and there might be other internal damage or even poisoning. The woman obviously thought there was need for concern.
Even if Harry looked confused at the question. "No?"
"Professor McGonagall, I did inform you that I would have need of Mr. Potter's assistance tonight. I assure you, there was nothing that might require Poppy's attentions. Honestly! I'm beginning to feel like no one in this school trusts me with providing basic protection."
The woman flushed and pressed her lips into a firm line. "I certainly did not mean to imply as much, Headmaster. Thank goodness you were with Mr. Potter. There's been a…development I suspect you are not aware of and I've been trying to reach you since the word came in. Horace Slughorn is dead."
Sasuke did not know who the hell Horace Slughorn was or why he mattered but Harry was suddenly returning Sasuke's firm grip like he was trying to hold on. It was the most afraid Sasuke had seen Harry since the night wizards had attacked them in Konoha. Harry started to ask something, his eyes fixed on the old man and his face pale, but the Headmaster intentionally cut him off.
"That's enough discussion for now. This is not the time nor the place."
Harry flinched but nodded and Sasuke seriously considered jabbing a kunai in the old man's throat.
But wizards were apparently oblivious to killing intent, or else this bastard thought he had nothing to fear. He started up the stairs, calling out behind him as he went. "Professor McGonagall, if you would join me in my office. Mr. Potter, I assume you can find your way back to your dorm room immediately." He did not give any instructions for Sasuke or Naruto. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as he seemed.
In a moment, it was just the three of them standing in the dark and the flickering torch light in front of the castle's main doors.
"Sakura's on her way," Naruto offered quietly. "She's been trying to wheedle information out of the servants."
Sasuke nodded once.
"You okay, Harry?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
Harry had not let go of Sasuke's arm. He did not even seem aware that he was clasped on to it.
"Harry?" Naruto repeated when he got no response.
"What? Oh. Yes. I'm – I'm fine. I guess. Just…"
Upset. Surprised. Afraid. "Who is Horace Slughorn?" Sasuke demanded. Harry had been worried before on the walk up. Unhappy with Sasuke and stubbornly reticent on what the hell was going on, but still responsive and confident. Whoever this person was, hearing of their death had shaken him greatly. Sasuke gritted his teeth, feeling like everything was suddenly spiraling out of his control.
"I don't know," Harry demurred. It was a fairly decent attempt at lying, but Sasuke had spent an entire summer watching every tick of his cousin's. He knew his unhappy faces, his nervous looks and every fake mien he used when he did not want someone to know the truth. Beyond that, a person did not look like that when someone they did not know died. Sasuke knew for a fact that Harry was no stranger to death. So it wasn't a stranger's demise that did this to him.
"Harry," Naruto chided. He had not missed the lie either but he looked more disappointed than infuriated the way Sasuke was.
"I don't want to talk about it," Harry muttered and pulled away. He seemed to suddenly realize he was the one holding on to Sasuke not the other way around and he let go with a jerk. "Can we go to bed now? I have classes in the morning."
"No."
It was the kind of ultimatum that Sasuke had never been able to issue without sending Harry into a fit of denials and stubbornness. But instead of pushing back, or even rolling his eyes at him, Harry just sighed.
It was not a sigh of agreement or even capitulation.
Sasuke had just barely managed to keep his frustration to himself. He wanted to shake his cousin. Physical grab him and push and shove and smack him until he had to pay attention to what Sasuke was saying. That was how people learned things – really learned them. They had to feel it in their bones and the bruises that lasted afterwards. Maybe Sasuke had been too soft on his cousin. He had thought they had come to an understanding about this kind of thing. Harry was not allowed to keep secrets from Sasuke. Secrets got people killed.
Naruto seemed to take Harry's uncharacteristic lack of response as a much better sign than Sasuke and Sasuke had just enough control left to let him take point on this. Harry responded so much better to Naruto's ridiculous notions of cooperation and friendship and fidelity. "Come on, Harry-kun" Naruto cajoled. "You can tell us about it. We just want to help."
Harry had a clear preoccupation with how friends were supposed to help each other. He insisted constantly on offering his assistance with anything he thought he could do. And more than once Sasuke had indulged it just to please him. And that had proved a useful exchange since more than once they had managed to persuade Harry to go along with something they wanted him to do based on the criteria that they were trying to be helpful friends. At the very least, such an appeal to sentimentality ought to have made Harry feel guilty about spurning such an offer.
But the opposite happened. Where before Harry seemed lost and not ready yet to push the issue, now his expression hardened. It was all of the little tells, a clenched jaw, direct eye contact, the slight shift to move his feet shoulder width apart. All the indicators of a Harry ready to argue a point into the ground.
"There's nothing to talk about," Harry announced and Sasuke did not believe him for one moment but it was clear Harry thought that was how things were going to be.
"Where were you?" Sasuke countered.
"Nowhere."
"Nowhere where? You were not on the compound, so you had to be some place."
Harry shrugged in perfect nonchalance. "Nowhere. I'll talk to you in the morning," he added suddenly, moving to go up the stairs.
Sasuke stepped in front of him to block his path. "Who is Horace Slughorn and why do you care if he is dead?"
Harry scowled. "A man's dead. Isn't that enough? Or do you not care when people die?"
"Harry," Naruto chided but Sasuke could not care less. He didn't care when people died. He cared about his cousin. He cared about his team. Maybe a few other people. And he very much personally wanted to be the one to make Itachi dead. Beyond that he did not give a damn who died or when or how.
"What did that man ask you to do?" Sasuke demanded, switching gears. There were too many unknowns. Far too many. But maybe if he pushed at enough of them, one of them would get a reaction out of his cousin. Harry was not good at controlling his emotions or how he expressed them, as much as he was managing to be stubbornly obtuse at the moment. Something was bound to get a reaction – or lack of reaction – out of him, and that would at least give Sasuke a place to start.
"We had tea," Harry drawled, in what he clearly thought was a clever response. He moved once more to step around Sasuke and Sasuke pushed him back. Harry frowned – and there! Finally. A reaction that was not controlled. Except it wasn't the emotion Sasuke would have expected. That was not an angry Harry frown. He wasn't pressing his lips together tightly the way he did when he was fuming and trying not to yell. It was some other kind of frown, one Sasuke was not sure if he knew or understood exactly. Guilt, maybe, but clearly not enough to be useful. Sad, maybe? Almost like he did not see the point in being angry about something. As if he had given up on it making a difference. Somehow it was worse than the temper Sasuke was used to. But there wasn't time to get distracted by such things. Sasuke was not a fool. He had to make use of whatever worked. Find a weakness and exploit it. That's how these things went. And something about Sasuke forcing the issue was enough to get Harry to actually respond.
Sasuke shoved at him again. This time without prompting, just to get a reaction out of the other boy that was not part of some script.
"Hey!" both Naruto and Harry yelped. The shove was not nearly as hard as Sasuke could have managed but it was enough to send Harry stumbling back down the couple of steps he had gained. He caught himself at the bottom and glared back at Sasuke. "What the hell! Why did you do that?"
"Why are you lying?" Sasuke countered, because it ought to be fairly damn self-evident why he had done what he had. "That old man tell you to lie? Or was it this Slughorn?"
"You're being ridiculous," Harry muttered, shaking his head. He glanced over at Naruto like he expected him to make sense of what Sasuke was doing but Sasuke doubted he would find much help there. He better not. Not this time.
"Did you kill Slughorn?"
"No! Merlin! How could you even ask that?"
Because it was a possibility. Maybe not a very good one, but Sasuke knew enough to know that if that bastard of an old man had Harry wrapped around his finger enough to make him lie to Sasuke's face like this, then who knew what else he had been able to convince Harry to do?
"Did the Headmaster?"
"No!"
Most likely the truth, and Sasuke supposed it made him feel a little better to know that his cousin had not been turned into a killer or following a confirmed one blindly. But that still meant that there was something else Harry was hiding and the endless possibilities of what that could be did not reassure Sasuke. Because while there were plenty of possibilities, he had a sinking feeling in his gut that this would not be one of the less unpleasant ones.
"God, Sasuke, it was nothing like that," Harry continued, sounding genuinely distressed. Good. Sasuke should not be the only one.
Sasuke followed Harry down the steps, forcing his way into Harry's space. "Then what was it like exactly?"
Harry shook his head. "I – I'm not talking about this with you," he said and tried to step back and then around Sasuke like he was some kind of simple inconvenience. Like he could end this conversation as easily as that.
Sasuke yanked on his arm hard, grabbing it just above the elbow and jerking Harry back in front of him with a bit of shove as he released him. Naruto shifted in place, his weight rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet before making the smart choice to stay the hell out of this. Harry meanwhile hissed in pain, a quiet cut off noise of weakness that was as good as blood in the water for a nin. "Sasuke!"
Sasuke ignored it. "What are you ashamed of?" he continued his barrage of questions. He could do this all night if necessary. Process of elimination alone ought to work if he was given enough time. It was not the most effective interrogation process, but it was certainly one of the less bloody ones Sasuke knew of.
Harry's eyes were wide and for the first time he seemed to finally realize that Sasuke was not taking no for an answer on this. "Nothing," he said automatically without thinking about it and he did a good job of hiding the slight flinch when he did. It would probably have been enough to let him get by when dealing with civilians. Clearly, Harry did not have as much experience lying to nin.
"Too ashamed to tell us?" Sasuke demanded.
"It's none of your business, Sasuke!"
Sasuke shoved him again. He kept it one handed, just shy of knocking the other boy off of his feet but still enough to leave him struggling to keep his feet under him as he slipped in the gravel.
"Whose business is it then? That old man. The old woman? This Slughorn?"
"I'm done with this, Sasuke. You can't just – just hit me when you don't get the answer you like."
"If necessary."
Harry stared at him wide eyed for a moment before looking over at Naruto, then back at Sasuke. "You don't mean that."
Sasuke did not bother to argue it. "Were you there when Slughorn died?"
Harry shook his head and tried once more to move around him, this time with his body angled, ready for the attack. Sasuke let him get close enough to grab, then waited just a heartbeat longer until Harry was hindered by the stairs, until he thought he was in the clear, before grabbing him from behind. Harry had to have expected something, however, and tried to duck and jerk out of his grip just like they had shown him how to. It was only enough to make Sasuke's task more difficult to do without hurting the other boy. But Sasuke got a good enough grip on him to yank him backwards, maybe a bit harder than he should have. It was enough that when Sasuke let him go, Harry's feet slipped out from under him and he skidded down into the gravel on hands and knees. He was good about twisting around and getting back on his feet again, though. His grappling lessons had paid off some at least. Harry did have good instincts and reflexes, just not enough power to back them up with real force or withstand what a nin could throw at him.
"Sasuke!" Harry yelped, and it might have made someone else hesitate to stay the course but Sasuke had been trained by the best.
"Why was Slughorn killed?"
Harry stared at him again, some kind of understanding finally sinking into that stubborn, reckless brain of his. He shook his head slowly, not even trying to answer any more.
Sasuke feinted forward and watched as his cousin flinched back. He would not need to hit the other boy if he thought Sasuke would. "Did the Headmaster get what he wanted from you?"
Harry's breathing had picked up, primed on adrenaline and trying to brace for what he had to know by now was coming. He was not getting around Sasuke without answering his questions. Sasuke did not care how long they had to spend out there or how many times he had to go after his cousin to make him answer, and Harry knew it. If this was what it took to get Harry to tell him the truth - to be able to protect Harry the way he needed to - then Sasuke was going to do it. If it was necessary to keep Harry safe, then Sasuke would do it. Naruto could wring his hands all he wanted. And maybe when this was all over and Harry was safe and Sasuke did not have that panicked feeling suffocating him like a living thing clawing its way down his throat - maybe then Sasuke would have nightmares about this night. But right now, all he could think about was those terrifying seconds, minutes, almost a full hour, that he could not find his cousin, did not know if he was alive or dead like this Slughorn person, and it was every worst fear he had had about coming to this place.
And Harry, his foolish, suicidal, stubborn cousin had that look on his face. The same look he had had the night he pulled his weapon on Sasuke rather than tell him the truth. Scared and furious and resigned to die on this hill come what may.
"I'm not talking to you about this, Sasuke," Harry finally said, quietly but firmly. "I can't."
And finally, the heart of the damn problem.
"Can't?" Sasuke snarled. "Why can't you?"
Harry shook his head and between one movement and the next Sasuke was there striking him across the face.
