Chérie, parchments and quills
Chapter Nineteen – Miss Payne
Knock – Knock – Knock!
Saturday morning, the first of January, brought icy winds whistling through the empty Hogwarts corridors, and Harry found himself starting the New Year just as the last one had ended…
By hammering on the door to Draco's private suite.
"Draco! I'm not leaving this time," Harry shouted, "we need to talk about our plans regarding Silas!"
Knock – Knock – Knock!
"Draco!"
If it wasn't for the fact that Minerva and Poppy had been into see the man last night, and had assured him that the potions teacher was just fine, then he would have broken the bloody door down in fear of Draco being hurt or what not.
Draco hadn't attended any meals in the Great Hall since before his illness, had barely left his private suite, and he'd been point-blank ignoring Harry. Harry had even noticed the lack of response from 'Tau'. Draco-Tau, hadn't written to him at all, and Harry hadn't the foggiest understanding of why.
"DRA–" the door was suddenly thrown open, causing Harry to stumble mid knock, "…co."
Harry righted himself and saw that Draco was eyeing him with a strange expression. The Stoick mask of stubborn indifference was there, along with a look of indignation, but there was also something else … something that Harry didn't ponder over because his mouth was already asking – "Why are you ignoring me? We need to talk about our plans for Silas."
Harry frowned when Draco just stood there.
Draco was wrestling with his himself however. Avoidance, the best way to avoid pain, and yet… his desires were like the fog in a bathroom mirror – its existence was so frustrating, but how it incites him to wipe said mirror so that he may see clearly. The harbinger had come knocking, gifting him the basket of such perfect impossibility… the forbidden fruit that he now craved. Like Midas, his touch was a curse, he knew this, and yet, if he dared touch such divinity it would rot away to nothing… but the sweet siren's call was harder to refuse when it was only a foot away from him.
"Draco?"
Harry's voice, now coming from inside his living room, snapped him out of his train of thoughts. It had been stupid to think he could avoid the raven-haired man completely – they were colleagues! He'd given it his best attempt however, but this was just work… he could do his job and no more. Harry was also correct in that – they did have to discuss their plans for Mr Silas Avery.
After closing the door, he turned to face Harry with a sarcastic remark on his tongue about 'making himself comfortable', or 'please, do come in!' … but the sight of Harry alone reminded him yet again why he chosen to avoid the man…
How did one stand in a busy kitchen when starving, craving the food that was offered, and yet be unable to eat anything?
Draco reverted he gaze from such temptation, to the seventh-year essays that were scattered upon his small dining table. He'd been working on the last one when Harry had come pounding on his door again with his demands, but it could wait until later.
"I suppose we should collaborate our plans for Mr Avery." Draco said, sticking to his job. It was safer this way – all work and no fun. Besides, he liked his own privacy, and Harry equalled news reporters printing his life and bringing attention to his 'splendid' history. No, Draco didn't want his nefarious past rehashed in the papers either.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, appearing at his side.
Too close!
Draco hastily grabbed the now filled box, and he quickly proceeded to return it to the small box room where the students essays and homework was stored. "Yes, I'm fine Potter," he called from the small room, "I'll get some parchment and we can discuss those plans."
Draco took a moment to collect himself, and took a deep breath before re-emerging into the main room.
Harry frowned, knowing something was different. Draco was appearing cold and distance, and it hurt.
"Well don't just stand there." Draco said, taking a seat on one of his black leather, camel back sofas. He put down a wad of blank parchments, an ink pot, and a quill. "Sit down and tell me what you have in mind then."
Harry slowly went and took a seat – another sting of hurt jabbed at him from the lack of hospitality; no offer of tea or coffee, no pleasantries or general greetings. Harry really hoped that Draco wouldn't stay this way, wouldn't close off from him, but for now, all he could do was sort out their plans for Mr Avery. Yes, he'd come to talk about the boy, but he'd also hoped to talk to Draco in general… it seemed like Draco wasn't in the mood for that though.
"Well, I have some ideas for his detention assignments, and we need to go over the memories that would be the most effective to use as well." Harry said, deciding to just get on with it. He could try and figure out what had changed with Draco later… hopefully. "I Have a list of memories that I have been considering…"
"I will inform My Avery of his new schedule when he arrives tomorrow evening." Draco concluded their 'meeting', handing a copy of the plan to Harry as he stood up.
Yes, that wasn't too bad – Draco thought, just work… but now he was desperate for Harry to leave. Each of Harry's idiosyncrasy and habits were driving him slowly to insanity. Harry fidgeted consistently with his lips – biting, licking, sucking – and every time he ran a hand through his messy raven-hair, it made him look as though he'd been thoroughly shagged into the mattress. He didn't even want to think about those bright emerald eyes, and the way they had been looking at him…
"Draco?" Harry frowned, standing up but making no movement to actually leave.
"I am busy Potter, and I need to finish grading. I'm sure you have work to do likewise," Draco walked over to the door and held it open, "don't let me keep you." Draco knew his words were cold, plain, and he knew they'd hurt Harry, but it was better for both of them this way.
The look Harry gave him was akin to a beaten puppy not understanding why its owner was abandoning it – Fuck! He turned his head, suddenly remembering the pain that had flashed in Harry's eyes as they'd briefly discussed the memories they planned to use in the pensive with Mr Avery. That look was almost identical. Did his rejection really hurt Harry as much as the man's past traumas did? Surely not! The man would get over him…
"Why are you avoiding me?" Harry asked, almost too causally, but there was hurt there.
"I'm not. Did I imagine the last two hours Potter?"
"That was just work," Harry scoffed, "necessary! Did I imagine the last four months Draco?" Harry raised his eyebrow in a silent challenge.
Silence.
"Just leave!" Draco pointed with his index finger.
"Why?" Harry asked, moving closer to Draco. "The students won't be returning until tomorrow evening, and you've been hiding in here for long enough that I'm sure you've already graded everything. If you really want me to leave, at least be honest with the why."
By now, Harry was so close that Draco could feel Harry's breath against his face. He panicked - "It was a mistake!" Draco growled, hoping his expressed anger would mask how much those words hurt him to say. "I don't want you here! Get OUT!"
Harry almost stumbled with the force of such cutting words, with the pain of such blunt rejection, and in a bid to cover it … he did as Draco wished – he left.
Draco slammed the door behind him, telling himself that he did not see Potter's perfect green eyes turn glossy!
It took Harry far longer than it should have to realise that Draco had lied.
It took a long shower, and those pressing, unwanted thoughts that plagued you the moment you wanted to sleep. Why did his mind do that – become the most active when he wanted it to shut the fuck up?
It was in his bed as he tried to get comfortable, that he realised, Draco was pushing him away for some reason… but it wasn't because the man regretted their friendship and blooming emotions for each other. Harry berated himself for the fool he'd been.
He sat up in bed, looking at the draw that held the Le'Amortentia parchment and frowned.
There had been no reply to his last message. Draco was obviously ignoring 'Padfoot' too... but why? What had changed that Draco would no longer talk to him or 'Padfoot'? Surly Draco hadn't figured out that they were the same people… right? No, that wasn't possible… was it?
His mini panic quickly abated when he imagined the reaction Draco would have had, if that had been the case. Draco would have killed him, or at very least, he would have brought him up on it with some very loud words. No, it couldn't be that, he was sure of it now, and it wasn't the Snowflu either… although, Draco had said some very interesting things during his illness.
Harry was almost positive that Draco liked him, but he just didn't understand why he wouldn't admit it. Why wouldn't Draco allow himself to open up to that possibility? What had change?
Harry resigned himself to the fact that It was going to be a very long night, but he also decided, he wasn't going to give up on Draco.
Wednesday the 5th January
After dinner, Draco waited in his potion's classroom for Miss Briana Payne's remedial lesson to begin, along with Mr Silas Avery's detention.
Miss Payne arrived first, at half past seven, and she started brewing the Murtlap Essence that she had struggled with before. It was a very simple potion for a fifth year, mostly made up of strained pickled tentacles of Murtlaps, but the girl had managed to screw up the order and the stirring. He hoped that she would gain confidence by completing this easier potion successfully.
"Don't forget to grind your dried Hycanitade leaves into a fine powder, Miss Payne." He reminded the girl. The last time she had attempted this potion, she has simply crushed the blue leave into flakes. "Can you tell me the correct colour of Murtlap essence if brewed correctly?"
"Blue sir." Miss Payne answered confidently.
"You are correct," he started, not wanted to dash her confidence, "but remember that any colour has a very wide, and maybe even an infinite range of shades. Blue, while correct, doesn't tell me much." Draco summoned a transparent glass vial, and added plain water with the Aguamenti charm. "Observe!"
Draco used a simple colour changing charm to turn the water a pastel blue colour. Then sky blue, cerulean blue, sapphire blue, maya blue, azure blue, midnight blue, and steel blue.
"Each one of these colours, Miss Payne, were blue yes? Yet, I can assure you that none of those would have been the correct colour for Murtlap essence. Can you now tell me what colour the Murtlap essence should be?"
"Dark blue?" She bit her lip in thought. "Like a navy sort of colour sir."
"Well done! Yes. I would say, navy blue with a slight lean toward indigo. Maybe you should familiarise yourself with a more extensive range of colours, it will help you with your homework when you need to state the given colours of a potion at various stages of brewing."
"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." Miss Payne smiled and nodded, before returning to her brewing.
Draco continued to watch her until Mr Avery arrived at five past eight... he was five minutes late.
The brown haired, sixth year Slytherin delinquent, brought with him an eerie cloud of dread that seemed to pervade the entire room. He sneered at Draco; his obvious feelings of indignation made apparent, but Draco forced himself to react professionally.
As much as Draco was loath to admit it, he still wanted the boy to suffer for what he had done to Har– to Potter. He didn't like the boy, and it was obvious the feeling was mutual.
He gestured for the boy to take a seat near the front, to the side opposite Miss Payne, and just as he was about to rebuke Silas for his tardiness, a loud sound of stone hitting the floor echoed in the silent room.
Miss Briana Payne had dropped her Mortar and Pestle.
Draco spun around to face young Hufflepuff girl. Miss Payne looked like a deer caught in a Lumos, her face pale, her breathing ragged, and her eyes filled with such fear. He quickly started to approach her but she suddenly fled the room.
"Miss Payne!" He called after her, running into the corridor. He'd have chased after her, but with a curse on the tip of his tongue, he remembered Mr Avery.
When he returned to his classroom, a cold shiver ran down his spine when he observed the cold smirk that Silas wore on his face – it was there for just a second before it morphed into a sneer of hatred, but it had definitely been there.
He'd bet his wand that Silas had done something to put the fear of Merlin into the girl. This was not good… not good at all.
Three days the students had been back, and already Harry had so much homework to mark. He had tried to forget about Draco for the time being, burying himself into his work, grading with a furious dedication, but he could not stop his mind wandering when things reminded him of the man.
And everything seemed to remind him.
He was currently marking the fifth year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff homework that had been handed in today. He'd set them homework before the holidays – to list three counter jinxes and explain them and their function – and he was currently reading Miss Briana Payne's.
Her work was good, an easy Exceeds Expectations grade, but it reminded him that the girl had remedial potion at this exact moment.
She would be with Draco.
Then he remembered, Draco also had Mr Silas Avery for the boys third detention tonight as well. The boy had detention every night for the next three weeks, and Draco was going to be assigning the boy work that made him think about his beliefs and morals. It was what they had planned, to make him question everything he thought he knew. Draco had also decided to quiz the boy on the history of both wizarding wars regarding Tom Riddle, to see what Silas thought had happened.
Harry rubbed a hand down his face, sighing deeply. He needed to get back to his work, stop thinking of Draco for now, and stop thinking of the past… but then a house elf popped into his room loudly and startled him.
"Sorry to be bothering you Master Harry Potter sir, but Potions Master Draco Malfoy be requesting you. He is sending Cloval to tell you, that he is needed you urgently in the potions classroom." Cloval explained.
Harry was out of his chair and out the door like a shot, a hastily thrown, "Thanks Cloval," over his shoulder as he ran.
Was Draco hurt, in danger, unwell? Had Silas done something?
He panted as he burst through the corridors and flew down the stairs, ignoring the mutterings of portraits as he flashed passed them. A few students must have given themselves whiplash as their heads turned his way in shock and curiosity.
When Harry finally reached the door to the potion's classroom, he was greeted with a raised eyebrow from Draco. Draco was standing outside the classroom, waiting for Harry to straighten out his breathing, and It didn't evade him that Harry had literally come running the moment he'd asked for him… but he tried not to think on that.
"What – what's wrong?" Harry panted, eyes roaming every inch of Draco's body to check for injury or distress.
Draco was starting to berate himself for sending the house elf to get Har-Potter. The feelings Harry's presence and focus on him elicited…
"I need you to find miss Briana Payne. I'd go myself, but I can not leave Mr Avery." Draco explained, forcing himself to remain focused on the student in question.
"Cloval said it was urgent." Harry frowned, almost breathing normally again.
"It is. I believe that Avery may have done something to Miss Payne. The girl was about to have a full-blown panic attack when Avery entered the classroom. I tried to talk to her, to calm her down, but she just ran off. Avery had this look on his face, and I just get a bad feeling." Draco paused, almost shuddering when his imagination ran wild with possibilities. "Please just go and check on her."
"I will… but why me? Why didn't you call Neville, or even Minerva?" Harry asked.
Draco certainly wasn't going to admit that Har-Potter, was simply the first person he'd though to call for assistance. "You've already expressed the desire to deal with Mr Avery yourself, so I thought you'd want to know. If you wish to tell her head of house, or Minerva, then by all means, but I'm serious Potter, the girl was in a right state and may even need to visit the hospital wing."
"Alright! I'll let you know." Harry said, realising the urgency to go and find the girl. He turned and rushed off toward the Hufflepuff common room, sending a patronus message to Neville asking him to meet him there.
Draco sighed in relief – for the fact that Harry would check on Miss Payne, and because Harry was no longer in his presence – and opened the door to return back into his classroom.
"I've given her a calming draught. She won't tell me what happened." Madam Pomfrey said.
"Thank you, Poppy, we'll talk to her." Neville said. "Can she return to her dormitory?"
"Yes, she seems much calmer now, but she is obviously still worried about something. It's important that you try and get her to speak up." Madam Pomfrey then disappeared into her office.
Harry and Neville then went to talk to Miss Payne. Neville sat down at the end of the bed Miss Payne occupied, and Harry sat on the empty bed to the left.
"Are you feeling better now Briana?" Neville gently asked.
"Yes sir," she nodded, "may I go now?"
"Well, we do need to talk about what made you panic like that first. Once we've had a chat, then you'll be free to go." Neville tried to smile encouragingly.
Miss Payne looked nervously between her head of house and her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. "It's nothing. I-I thought I'd made a mistake with the potion I was brewing and d-didn't want to disappoint Professor Malfoy. I-I thought he would be angry at me."
Neville looked as if he believed the girl – at least to some degree – but Harry wasn't fooled at all. Miss Payne was obviously lying… the girl was hiding something.
"Miss Payne." Harry spoke up before Neville could. "Your friends, Miss Munson and Mr Garland, they said that you were inconsolable. They had another student fetch Madam Pomfrey because they were very worried about you. You were having a very nasty panic attack, and your friends tell me that you were extremely afraid of something… or someone. Are you implying that Professor Malfoy scares you that much? Are you trying to say that Professor Malfoy has hurt you–"
"NO! No, he didn't – he would never–"
"Then what are you trying to say Miss Payne? The state you were in, that doesn't happen just because one is afraid of disappointing a professor, or making a mistake with a potion. Your reaction was one of pure fear and panic." Harry let that sink in before continued, noticing that Neville was now frowning. "I'd like you to tell us what really happen, Miss Payne, the truth. I can assure you that you will not be in any trouble."
"I-I can't." The girl started to cry, holding her knees to her chest. "He said – He said he will do worse to me if I told. Please don't make me!" Brianna started to sob into her knees.
"Who?" Neville asked, glancing up at Harry in worry before trying to comfort the distraught Hufflepuff girl.
Harry's mind was screaming as the pieces of the puzzle slotted into place. The girl's words – 'do worse to me', the fact she bolted from the potions room when Silas entered it… he needed Poppy to do a medical scan.
He shot off the bed and went to fetch Poppy.
"Poppy! I need you to preform a spell that shows Miss Payne's medical history for the last couple of years."
"What on earth for?" Poppy asked, but she was already following him back to the girl.
"Please! Just do it." Harry begged… he just hoped he was wrong.
Poppy and Neville both shared a look of confusion, and Briana Payne continued to sob into Neville's robes as Poppy did the spell.
The parchment that Poppy had linked to the spell, started listing the girl's injuries and illnesses. Poppy ended the spell when she had two years' worth of data. She sighed, returning her wand to its holster before reading the parchment. She had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for – the girl had a short list, minor injuries, flu, a slight cough…
Poppy suddenly gasped, her eyes widened in shock.
There on the parchment, dated Saturday the 26th June 2010 (A few days before the summer holidays), were the following words:
Six full seconds under the Cruciatus Curse – no medical care received.