AN: I can't believe it has been almost a year since I updated! I am so sorry! To make it up to you, I am posting an extra-long (for me) chapter and have one ready for posting in one week.
Now, on to the story!
Disclaimer: My wife is not JKR and I have no claim on anything Harry Potter. She just likes me enough to let me build my sand castles on her beach. Isn't that nice of her? Thanks Jo!
WARNING: Indications of child abuse and neglect!
Chapter 13
"What?"
Harry's cry would have raised half the castle if Draco had not layered silencing and privacy spells over the walls, floor, ceiling, windows, and door to the unused classroom. He knew Harry might take this poorly.
"Harry, think about it…" Draco patiently stated and waited for Harry to calm down and catch up.
Harry sputtered, "You just said your father was in service to the man who killed my parents and tried to kill ME… What is there to think about?"
Draco waited.
Harry paced the room while thinking.
"Ok, you told me this voluntarily. I did not know and would not likely have found out."
Harry stopped and looked at Draco who merely raised one eyebrow.
"Really?" Harry asked with an astounded look. "Who knew and when would I have found out?"
Draco smirked.
Harry screamed at the ceiling and shook his fists.
"So, the information is widely known and it is certain I would have found out eventually" Harry huffed. "So, you telling me now could be nothing more than controlling when and how the information gets to me."
Draco smiled.
'Big breath in… long slow breath out' Harry thought as he reigned his emotions back under control. Looking at Draco intently, he softly said, "Your father is directly responsible for the deaths of my parents. He is indirectly responsible for the last decade of hell I have lived through. You know about my parents. Let me show you what else your father is responsible for."
Harry stepped to the center of the classroom and pulled his robe off. He proceeded to undress completely at a slow and steady pace, one article of clothing at a time. Harry was not embarrassed, he was livid as he thought of each beating, each cigarette burn, each cut, indignity, embarrassment, hungry night, and the complete lack of anything approaching affection from a human being.
Draco was stunned. Harry taking off his clothes was pretty close to the last thing he would have expected when he planned this secret meeting. Draco had planned for every contingency; being discovered by a head of house, being overheard by a classmate, Dumbledore using the portraits to spy on them, Dumbledore walking in during their meeting, etc. Draco even planned for the castle catching fire; earthquake, flooding, or the return of The Dark Lord. But he did not plan for this. Never in a million years would he have even considered this.
Harry was trembling as he stood there, completely nude in the drafty old castle classroom. Draco had started to move to pick up Harry's robe and hand it back to him when he realized something was very wrong. Harry was not shaking from the cold or embarrassment or anything as mundane as anger. No, Harry was shaking in rage and the room was starting to respond. Chairs were sliding away from where Harry stood, piling against the walls as if trying to escape the storm waiting to be unleashed.
Draco watched Harry's eyes snap open, rendering him motionless as he waited for the … the… well, whatever the hell it was going to be, it would most definitely be unpleasant. No shield Draco had been taught would have any hope of withstanding whatever was about to happen; whatever that might be. Nothing to do but crouch, shield and hope to survive.
Harry saw the fear on Draco's face and recognized the survival instinct to curl up and present the smallest target possible, to attempt to protect the most fragile bits of the body while sacrificing the tougher parts to the pain about to descend. Harry saw Draco's body waiting for the agony and realized his friend, his first friend, was afraid of him. No, not afraid… terrified.
The realization snapped Harry back to his senses and the magic storm dissipated without causing further damage. What damage was done to their friendship was yet to be determined.
Harry walked to Draco, holding a hand toward him to help him from the floor.
"I'm sorry, Draco," Harry apologized. "I don't know what happened." Helping Draco from the floor, Harry asked, "Did I hurt you?"
Draco was surprisingly calm given what just occurred; perhaps it was shock? Checking his hands and face he responded, "Not a scratch."
Noticing Harry was still dressed only in his birthday suit, "Think you might want to put something on?"
Harry shook his head, "No, you need to see this. You need to see exactly what price I paid for your father's service to Voldemort."
The next thirty minutes were uncomfortable for them both. Some might think Harry's nudity was the main reason. It was not even a minor reason. Harry held out his right arm and started at the tip of his index finger. He labeled every scar, described every broken bone, and gave the approximate date and circumstances of each. Turning his arm as necessary, he proceeded up the arm to his chest before holding out his left arm and repeating the process. Harry then uprighted a chair from the mass against the wall and crossed his legs, right over left, showing the sole of his foot as he continued. He continued up the right leg to his torso before returning to the bottom of his left foot and repeating the process until he had listed and dated every injury on both legs. Harry stood and faced Draco.
Draco was physically ill. No dark wizard would subject a child to this. Children are too rare, too precious. Kidnap? Yes. Kill; if you must. But to torture a child in such a manner for such little reason? No. His thoughts were interrupted as Harry started labeling and dating each scar on his chest and abdomen.
When he finished, Harry turned around.
"I can't see those, so you will have to touch them. Touch each one and trace the length of it, from top to bottom and I will tell you how I got it."
Draco was lost to the necessity of completing this bizarre ritual. He stepped forward and starting at the top right he traced every scar one at a time and listened to the litany of dates, times, and 'sins' associated with each. He traced and listened until each was accounted for. Then he listened as Harry described the injuries which could not be seen; broken bones, beatings which had somehow healed without scarring.
Harry, lost in the catharsis of the moment, began listing the more serious injuries, the ones that left no visible scars but never healed. He spoke of every moment he tried to earn his aunt and uncle's love, then their approval, then their acceptance, before just hoping for their tolerance. He spoke of his 'normal' chores and then the chores assigned for punishment. The irony of some of those punishments drew a dry, mirthless chuckle from Harry.
"My favorite example of irony… was being punished for blood splatter on the walls and ceiling after Uncle Vernon whipped me with a belt for telling my teacher my name was 'Freak,' not Harry. I embarrassed him in public. That never ended well for me."
Harry walked away from Draco, toward the pile of clothes in the center of the room, strangely unmoved by the earlier eldritch tempest. He began clothing himself as though in his room, without embarrassment. Nudity was nothing after what Draco had seen.
Draco had no words for what he had experienced vicariously through Harry's tour of his history with the Dursleys.
"You should have been Gryffindor," Draco couldn't believe he said it and more so he couldn't believe he meant it with respect.
Harry turned, still smoothing the folds of his over-sized cast offs, raising an eyebrow in question.
Draco continued, "You had no friends. You should have been withdraw, quiet, sullen. Hufflepuff should never have been a choice. You were beaten for excelling at school, so hid your intelligence. There is no way your mental skills could have blossomed to their fullest living with your 'family'. So, Ravenclaw was out. If you were Slytherin material, the Dursleys would have met an unfortunate accident when you were old enough to arrange it. Instead you stayed there. You endured. My God, how you endured! Every day you woke and went through another day with those… 'people'… was a display of courage beyond measure. And you are still, basically, a good person! How? How can you be," Draco waves his hand up and down Harry's body, "THIS when you went through THAT?"
Harry shrugged and grinned at confusing Draco so thoroughly. "Maybe I am a freak?" he said sardonically with a little quirk of his eyebrow.
Draco shook his head violently, shaking the last half hour loose before addressing Harry, "I still need to talk to you. After all this… I NEED to talk to you! Fortunately, it is Saturday and still an hour until breakfast. We won't be missed for hours yet."
Grabbing an overturned chair, he sat it up and sat upon it. "Have a seat Harry, this is going to take a while. Please listen to all of it before you storm out. Trust me. There are advantages to be had here."
Raising both eyebrows, Harry pulled his chair over and prepared to listen.
****************** Draco's Tale ********************
"Ok, let's start with some basics; this is going to get very complicated," Draco began.
"Most of the old families are known for something. Your roommate, Longbottom seems to be a genius with plants, but House Longbottom is known for spell creation. This means heir Longbottom will one day have access to some rather interesting spells the average witch or wizard will never even hear of. Everyone knows this." Draco paused for the inevitable comment.
"I didn't," Harry said as if on cue.
"No, you didn't. You should have, but someone hid your heritage from you. Allow me to rephrase that statement," Draco said in a lecturing tone. It was clear he had delivered extensive lectures to his private instructors as part of his own training. "Everyone raised in the magical world, who lives in Britain or has significant contacts inside Britain, knows which families are associated with what areas."
Draco paused again, waiting for the obvious question, but Harry remained silent.
Draco pressed on, "What everyone knows is a lie."
Draco paused again, but only got the now standard raised eyebrow. On Harry, this translated to "Oh Really? Tell me more."
With a smile Draco continued, "The lie is what the family wants the public and society at large to believe about their family. And, as always, the best lies have some truth in them. The Longbottom family has significant skill in spell creation and, to maintain the lie, in every generation or three a family member will specialize in spell creation. The last war hit all Houses hard. Many lines were ended. Many others have only the very young, our age, or the elderly. Again, House Longbottom is an excellent example."
Draco paused and waited, hoping Harry would see the advantage presented.
Recognizing the look, Harry considered the information Draco just presented. Where was the advantage to House Potter? Seconds drifted into minutes as Draco waited, before the lightbulb lit. Harry nodded to himself.
Watching Harry attempt to put the pieces together, Draco began to wonder if he expected too much of Harry. After all, Harry was new to all of this. But when Harry nodded his head, Draco dared hope Harry was up to the task.
"Well?" Draco asked.
"We have an opportunity," Harry replied.
"Well, of course! I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise. Tell me something less obvious. What is the opportunity?" Draco huffed.
"With the lack of candidates to run the scam positions, we can determine what each House really does. They must continue to train the remaining family members to assure they do not lose generations of advantage in their specialty area," Harry summarized.
"Indeed," Draco agreed easily. "But even these observations must be tempered with caution, as it is assumed most Houses have at least three 'associations' going at any given time. There is the one they allow people to know, grudgingly. House allies will know this level, as will non-aligned Houses via espionage. Another 'association' lies beneath this, usually something dodgy, but not blatantly illegal. The purpose of the second layer?"
Harry thought for a moment before responding, "If one assumes there is more to be seen, they will dig until they find something, the juicier the better. Therefore, the second layer exists to give those who dig something to find."
"Exactly!" Draco crowed. "But most Houses will have at least one more layer, the layer they REALLY don't want anyone to find. For example, take House Weasley. What do you think their specialty is?"
Harry thought carefully. Everything with Draco was a test on some level and he never asked questions where the answer was obvious.
"Well," Harry began, "there are so many of them and so few children in most pureblood Houses, an obvious guess would be spells or items that improve the odds of getting pregnant and/or having healthy children. But, as I said, that is obvious. So, perhaps their secret is something that requires blood relatives?"
Draco smiled broadly and nodded. "As close as we can determine at this time, the Weasley's cover secret is fertility magics. Those are different from magics designed around sex, which appears to be House Weasley's second layer. Sex has been a major component of magic rituals since the beginning. Sex based rituals can be used to increase harvests, change the weather, and so on. Just juicy enough for someone digging to think maybe they have found The Truth. Instead, we believe they are a practicing blood coven, which would be their third layer 'secret'."
Harry made a gurgling sound followed by, "Uh… what?"
Draco's lazy smile indicated he understood and expected Harry's response.
"A Blood Coven is a group where all its members are closely related by blood. It does not mean they practice blood magics, although in their case we think they do. Blood magics are ridiculously powerful. So much so they are termed 'dark' by the Ministry. Being caught practicing blood magic will earn you a short stay in Azkaban and a hefty fine."
Harry looked confused, "If these rituals are so powerful, why are the Weasleys so poor? Surely there is some way to use this magic to increase wealth, even if it is only selling the effects of the rituals."
"And how would you keep it a secret then? Would you kill the person you sold it to? That would probably keep the secret, but would be bad for repeat business." Draco laughed. "Also, the Ministry keeps a blood magics detector. It is not very accurate, but will notify the Ministry if a blood magic ritual is used. So, each time they use their blood magics, they run the risk of being discovered. Our best guess on the last time they used their real magic for a major effect was about eleven years ago. Remember I told you there is a young Weasley girl? She was conceived shortly after your defeated The Dark Lord. What I did not make clear is, the Weasleys seem to have a curse on them to produce only male children. It has been that way as far back as our genealogy on them goes. Then suddenly, poof, a girl is born."
Harry pondered a moment, then spoke, "If their family magic could negate the curse, why didn't they do it before eleven years ago?"
Draco laughed, "And there is where your ignorance of the wizarding world is most obvious! If the curse had caused them to produce only GIRLS, they would have risked it almost immediately. But male children can inherit, continue the family name, and all the other things traditional families find important. You might have figured out by now, the Weasley Matriarch is a bit… well… let's just say she wears the trousers in that family. She wanted a daughter. I am certain Arthur put her off as long as he could; promising to try again after each son, hoping to get lucky and beat the curse. Best guess, after the sixth son Molly had enough and wanted her daughter. The night of Ginevra Weasley's likely conception, there was a powerful blood ritual detected. It was so powerful it destroyed the detector. Nine months later, a 'miracle' occurred and a daughter was born to Molly and Arthur Weasley."
Harry was hanging on every word, trying to evaluate the story and determine the gotcha moment. All fairy tales have a 'gotcha', right?
Draco nodded to the unasked question, "Yes, there was a price. With magic there is always a price. The little magics they teach us here have small prices. Do too much, you get tired, maybe sleep a little longer. Blood rituals require an offering, usually blood sometimes a lot more. The largest and most powerful rituals require lives to be sacrificed."
Draco reached over and gently closed Harry's open mouth.
"But if a sacrifice is needed, then what or who did the Weasleys sacrifice to end their curse?"
"An excellent question!" Draco agreed. "Our best guess? They sacrificed their ability to reproduce. Either Molly, Arthur, or both gave up their ability to have more kids. But they have seven, so I'm not sure how much of a sacrifice that was! In case it crossed your mind, no, we do not suspect them of engaging in human sacrifice."
Harry holds up his hand to prevent Draco continuing, "You keep speaking in the plural: 'we', 'our', etc. Why? Who is 'we'?"
Draco nods sadly, "Again, something you should know. "We" is House Malfoy. As the heir, I am given routine security briefings. It is required, so if my father were to meet an unexpected demise, I would be prepared to take my place as Head of House as seamlessly as possible. This is not something unique to my House. Almost all Houses practice something similar."
"Anyway," Draco waves his hand to prevent more questions, "all this is to underscore all Houses have secrets within secrets within ad infinitum. My House has a secret which I will share with you IF you swear to never reveal it to another." Draco paused and waited.
Harry mentally shrugged, 'in for a penny', and removed his wand, giving the oath with the associated light show, before putting it away again.
Draco nodded in acceptance. "I have never told anyone this. Those scars have earned you the right to know." Taking a deep breath Draco began, "The Weasleys are not the only House which has been cursed. It used to be 'the thing to do' if you had enough power and someone annoyed you enough. You would curse their bloodline. Most of the old families are cursed in one way or another. The worst are those which seem the most benign. House Longbottom's deeper secret? They are natural born leaders with the ability to blunt their pain responses. It makes them lethal on any battlefield. Their curse? They cannot lead. Vicious curse, that was! It was intended to neuter their House. Instead the Longbottoms discovered a loophole: as long as they serve another, they can lead in the name of the other."
Harry nodded, then asked, "But you strongly implied House Malfoy is cursed also. What is your curse?"
"The Ancient House of Malfoy is cursed to increase its power."
Harry looked confused, "That's it? Something you would want to do anyway? You have to gain MORE power?"
Draco smiled sadly and shook his head slowly, "Remember, the more seemingly benign, the nastier the curse. Think about it. Follow that line of reasoning to its logical end."
Harry sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, considering House Malfoy's 'curse'. 'Where is the catch? Why is this considered a curse?'
Suddenly Harry sat upright and his eyes snapped wide open, "It is a death sentence for your House! You can't always increase. There will be setbacks. Or if no setbacks, there will eventually be no more power to grab. Even if you acquire all the power in the world, then there is nowhere to get more. And by acquiring more power, you attract people who want to take it from you! You are so screwed!"
As if only just realizing what he said, Harry tried to apologize, "I am sorry for saying it that way. But that is right, isn't it? Your family is doomed… eventually."
Draco nodded, "Eventually. So, every generation tries to increase our power. My father thought The Dark Lord was the next big thing and serving him would gain House Malfoy more power. When you killed The Dark Lord, House Malfoy teetered on the brink of triggering the curse. My father worked constantly for years to correct our decline before that happened. Without The Dark Lord, he had to play to our House's 'surface ability'; politics. My father is an accomplished politician. He knows where the bodies are hidden, sometimes literally. With gold for bribes and threats to reveal secrets, he managed to stay out of prison and eventually move us back to a stable position in society. He is so subtle and vicious in playing The Game and politics is such a dirty game to start with, few consider looking for a secondary layer to our secrets."
Standing, Draco began to pace the room, "If all stayed as it is now, House Malfoy would continue. We have recovered our place in society. We have more power than we did when my father was my age. The curse will not trigger."
Draco stopped and turned to face Harry fully, "But we are talking about the fate of my House. Contingencies must be made in case the worst should occur."
Continuing his pacing, Draco began again, "My father began training me to be his successor almost immediately after The Dark Lord's fall: I was a toddler, like you. My entire life has been training for this. Politics, Economics, Assassination, Contracts, Intrigue… these were my bedtime stories, my first lessons. I was taught to read using contracts and legal documents. I have been beaten, tortured, and starved. The fate of my House will one day rest on my shoulders. My father had to know if I was strong enough to bear the burden or if he had to 'start over'."
Harry sat back in surprise and some horror, "That is cold blooded. They treated you like the Dursleys treated me!"
Draco smiled and it was an evil smile. "Yes, but it was needed. And there was a major difference between how I was treated and how you were abused. There was a doctor standing by to treat me immediately if needed. I bear no physical scars because of that. I also knew it was a training exercise, that it would end and I would receive aid. You didn't. My father has a heavy burden, but I know he loves me. He and my mother had terrible arguments over how I was trained. They both love me. I know this with the same certainty that I know water is wet. My father has also given me exact instructions on how to kill him should certain conditions occur. He knows I love him and fully expects me to fulfill my obligation to our House, should it be required. House Malfoy must survive."
Looking Harry straight in the eyes, Draco asked, "Do you now understand how and why my father was serving The Dark Lord?"
Harry sat stunned at the revelations of the inner workings of House Malfoy.
Draco prompted, "Harry? Do you understand?"
Harry nodded, "I thought my life sucked. I just have to live long enough to escape the Dursleys. For you, there is no escape, is there?"
Draco sighed, "Probably not. Most curses have a loophole. This has several, but we have never been desperate enough to use any of them. We always look for others with fewer risks. One day we may find one we are willing to use before the curse triggers. But, my parents love me. It gives me hope."
"But the curse is simple. You must increase power. Where are the loopholes in such simple statement?" Harry asked.
"Oh Harry", Draco laughed, "you have so much to learn about magic. The day, time, season, year, to name only a few, all affect the strength of magic; including curses. If we knew enough about when, how, where… we would have broken this long ago."
Harry nodded understandingly, "So, do I have a part to play in your plans to escape the curse?"
"Escape? Probably not. Avoiding triggering it? Absolutely. Just as I am my father's contingency plan, you are mine," Draco smirked.
"Ok, I know you want to increase my power base without it appearing I am 'dark' or 'light'. I assume you are the reason I now have eleven vassals to House Potter?"
Draco's smile broadened as he nodded happily.
"And how exactly did you manage to get eleven people to pledge themselves to my House?" Harry enquired carefully.
Draco shook his head suddenly, "Nope, can't tell you. What you don't know, you can deny knowing. Besides, I did not have a direct hand in it. That would be crude." Draco laughed. "Did you notice anything your new vassals have in common?"
"Oh, you mean that they are all first generation magicals? Yeah, that did cross my mind."
"Yes! Exactly! The older Houses consider the first generation witches and wizards to be worthless, so many have not understood the magnitude of what is occurring, yet. Houses with half-bloods and 'first generation' witches and wizards are certain to have noticed by now. They will be cautious until they know what you intend. But eventually everyone will notice. We must have you ready before they notice too much."
"Notice too much? You mean like my ring?" Harry holds up his hand to show the Head of House ring which had appeared on his finger when he accepted Hermione as his first vassal. "Speaking of, how did it appear? Why did it appear?"
"Yes, exactly like your ring." Draco grinned. "Your ring appeared because you are Head of House. I know, you were claiming to be Head of House, but when you accepted Hermione as a vassal you ACTED as Head of House. Magic recognized the ritual and your standing. It then 'balanced the scales' as they say. The Head of House must have a ring. You are the Head of House. You don't have your ring. It acquired and provided your ring, right out of your vault."
"Wait, hold up…" Harry raised his hand to stop Draco speaking, "You are saying Magic is alive and thinks for itself?" Harry looked somewhat disturbed by the concept.
Laughing, Draco waved his arm at the castle, "Maybe? Maybe not. We don't know! We know it is 'something'. Maybe it is no more sentient than a worm. Maybe it is a global super-intelligence and we are so far beneath it, it barely notices us. No one knows and, believe me, people have been trying to answer that one for a long time!"
"Ok, ignoring the question no one can answer, what do we do next? Regarding your grand plan that is," Harry wondered aloud.
"First, we continue to increase your power. You may not have noticed, but inside Hogwarts, House Potter has more effective manpower than any other House. You will continue to accept vassals from the first generation witches and wizards. Soon we will start confirming existing alliances Potter has with allied Houses and forming new alliances with others, always balancing dark and light. You must remain neutral in all this light/dark crap."
Draco gave Harry a very evil grin, "Oh, and there is one other thing…"
***** Later in the Hufflepuff common room****
Harry is juggling in the common room, as usual, but he is not performing. Usually he engages the crowd, tells jokes, changes patterns to fit the preferences of the observers. Today he is throwing the balls through a complex pattern no one has seen before, but seemingly without effort or concentration. His mind is definitely elsewhere.
Tonks liked Harry. He was a really fun kid to talk to and, if she admitted it to herself, to flirt with. She was pretty sure Harry was not interested in girls yet, which made some of the flirtation even more amusing as it flew over his head.
"Hey Harry!" Tonks called as she walked across the room to him.
"Harry!"
"HARRY!" Practically yelling in his face, she finally managed to get his attention. "What's up?"
Harry caught the balls as they descended, "Thinking. Have a lot on my mind," he said absently.
Tonks giggled and flipped her hair with one hand, "Harry, I know life can seem bigger than it is, but you're eleven. What can you possibly have on your mind that is that distracting?"
Harry looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Oh, hi Tonks," he said absently before turning toward the boy's dorm rooms entrance.
"Harry! Seriously, what's up? You know we'll help you if we can. That is what 'Puffs do!" She questioned earnestly.
"Don't know if you can help me" he said distantly as he pulled open the door and stepped through.
As he pulled the door closed behind him his last statement left the common room in shocked silence.
"I have to get married."
AN: I would love to blame my lack of recent updates on my muse abandoning me. Truth is the opposite. I have too many ideas, but they lack cohesiveness. I should also explain, I really LOVE reading HP fics. So much more than writing them. Because of that, I tend to get drawn into a fic and can't put it down until I finish it. And if I don't write some more before finding another, the cycle repeats!
So, I will share the titles of some of the fics that have distracted me from serving your AVDHP needs…
Harry Potter: Dark Memories… by Blueowl
On a Pale Horse… by Hyliian
To Fight the Coming Darkness… by jbern
Harry Potter and the Four Founders… by Darth Marrs
Lord of Caer Azkhaban… by Rorschack's Blot
Harry Potter – Three to Backstep… by Sinyk