A/N- Ok, I know I'm getting slow at updating now, but I'm trying to stay a chapter ahead of myself in writing this, so I'll be posting each chapter when I finish writing the chapter after. I just finished writing Chapter 14 yesterday, so I'm typing up 13 today. Shorter list of thanks for this chapter… Jordan, kichigai, totaloser (Well, Rita would do anything for Draco… she is his godmother, after all.). Endora (Thanks for betaing, babe!), MerlinHalliwell, Rei-Chan (Not every character… Sev and Rita are pretty much it.), Hrei-siesn (You'll find out about the range in Chapter 14, I promise!), Priestess of Anubis (I have no intention of stopping… I carry my notebook everywhere, and I write this story during class. I'm such a bad girl.), Ms. Padfoot (Sorry, but I really like Ginny. I mean, Tom had to know that Harry was the one who got rid of the real him, and he undoubtedly wanted him dead, and she didn't let Tom take her over enough to kill Harry. She's got to be one strong girl.), and Phoenix Flight. You all are the reason I keep writing and posting. If it wasn't for all the good reviews I get (Not one bad review yet! True, there are some complaints about the ship, but I am so HP/GW and RW/HG…), I would never have posted. You guys rock!
Oi, don't forget your disclaimer for the chapter.
Thanks for reminding me, Harry. I don't own anything you recognize. All things that are canon belong to Ms. Rowling. Though I do wish Draco was mine…
Hey! Why me and not Harry?
Because you're not taken, Draco. Anyways, on with the story!
Bonds of Pain
Chapter 13
In which there are musings, potions, transformations, and a good talk
It had been a long two weeks. Between tutoring Hagrid—which hadn't been quite as hard or as bad as Severus had expected—teaching his classes, disciplining students, and keeping an eye out for Lupin's huge black dog, which had taken to prowling the grounds and looked very similar to Sirius Black's Animagus form (though he had not tried to look that closely), Severus barely had time to brew the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin, let alone be jealous that Arabella Figg had gotten the Defence position this year instead of him.
Figg had been part of Potter's group during their Hogwarts years, but she had oddly disappeared after the first fall of the Dark Lord. Severus had no idea where she had been, but she had requested that an anti-aging potion be ready for her when she arrived just prior to the start of term. He had not seen her before she took the potion, but afterwards she looked just as he guessed she would, fourteen years older than when he had last seen her.
"You haven't changed much, have you, Severus?" she had asked upon seeing him. She had also started up the old joke about him washing his hair, the joke that Black had so enjoyed using to tease him. Arabella, somehow, had found out about the flyaway nature of his hair when it was not tamed with large amounts of de-frizzing potions. He just hoped that she had not told any of the students, especially not the Gryffindors.
Lupin, on the other hand, had kept to himself, much to Severus' relief. He had found out just before the Hogsmeade weekend that the large black dog was the werewolf's companion, answering to the ridiculous name of Snuffles. It seemed to have a particular dislike of him.
Fortunately, the Slytherin students seemed to have developed a healthy fear of their Head of House after the incident in the village. Word of the boys' punishment had spread like wildfire, as the first member had served his detention directly after returning to the castle. Filch had set him to cleaning the entire trophy hall, top to bottom, after confiscating his wand. Demeurt had not finished until nearly three in the morning, after over twelve hours of work. Filch had assured Severus that there was plenty of work for the handful of boys. Some of his students had obviously heard, and Ars Serpens, the Slytherin dorms and common room, was strangely quiet, as if every student was afraid of putting even a toe over the line. The other Houses were heard whispering about him "going over the edge."
At least he was finally getting some peace around the school.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunday night found the Dream Team gathered in Hermione's room again, seated around a cauldron and waiting for two guests to arrive. Harry had conjured a large pouf for himself, and Ginny was snuggled comfortably in his lap. Draco and Lavender had ganged together to tease Ron and Hermione ceaselessly in an effort to get the two prefects to admit they liked each other. Both of the targets were bright red, and Harry and Ginny were chuckling at them.
"You know, you two are so obvious. Why don't you just get it out in the open instead of agonizing over the whole thing?" Harry asked. Ron and Hermione stared at him.
"Get what out in the open?" Ron queried. Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Ginny.
"You like each other. Go have a good snog and tell everyone you're an item," Ginny replied. "We are so tired of you both moping about the other." Ron and Hermione looked at each other, shocked.
"Really?" they asked in unison. Nodding as one in response, their hands gripped each other's as if with a mind of their own.
"All right, enough already!" Draco yelled. "We don't want a repeat of their scene last night!" The blond jerked a thumb at Harry and Ginny in their pouf, and they both blushed.
~I still owe you for that one, mate,~ Harry growled mentally. However, just as he was about to continue, there was a scratching at the door. Draco got up to answer and let in a large black dog.
"Ah, Snuffles. Half our company is here, then," Harry said. The dog trotted over and put its head under Harry's hand. The dark-haired boy scratched obligingly, and something whirred. A large beetle flew from Snuffles' back and landed a few feet away before transforming into Rita Skeeter.
"Good evening, my dears," she cooed, shooting a worried glance at Draco as she gave him a brief squeeze. "You know, Snuffles is quite an odd dog. Very intelligent."
Harry gave a short laugh. "Nothing that goes on in here leaves this group without our agreement, understood, Ms. Skeeter?" He waited for the reporter's nod before continuing. "You know that Sirius Black is my godfather, but you might not have heard that he is innocent."
"Really? Then who betrayed your family?" Skeeter looked very interested.
"Who else but the fourth Marauder, Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail?" Harry scowled as he spoke the name of the traitor. He'd had a jeweller in Hogsmeade put hands in his father's pocket watch for his friends on Saturday, meanwhile having Peter's hand destroyed and his parents' hands removed and placed in a small jewel box for safekeeping.
"So that's who you meant at the end of the Tournament. I imagine he faked his death and was responsible for the deaths of those Muggles, then?" At least the reporter instincts were good for something.
"Yes. You see, Wormtail, my father, and Sirius were like you: illegal Animagi. Wormtail is a rat. My father, Prongs, was a stag. And Padfoot you've already met. Right, Sirius?" The question was directed at Snuffles, who became his godfather in an instant. Skeeter squawked briefly and placed a hand over her heart.
"Dear me. I'm sorry, Mr. Black. Force of habit." She held out a hand, and Sirius gave it a quick squeeze.
"Call me Sirius or Padfoot, please." The woman nodded and took a seat beside Draco.
"I take it you can guess why we've asked two illegal Animagi here?" Draco asked, sounding slightly amused. Sirius snorted from his seat by Harry and Ginny's pouf.
"I'd guess Prongs left you a few of our books somewhere, and you're working your way through the Animagus book." Harry smiled and handed Sirius the blue volume.
"Spot on. He and Mum left a trunk in the vault, buried in a pile of Galleons." Sirius sniggered as if it were typical of the couple and passed the book to Skeeter. She read the title page and then looked at Sirius, one eyebrow raised.
"Since you're Padfoot, the traitor is Wormtail, and James was Prongs, I take it that Lupin was Moony because of his lycanthropy?" Sirius nodded, and she paged further through the book. "If I had known the three of you were interested…"
"If we'd known you knew how, we'd have managed it before our fifth year."
"And then you would have driven all the professors over the deep end, Sirius," Harry interrupted. "Can we get on with brewing the potion?"
"All right then, Prongs Junior. Keep your skin on. Which potion are you starting?" Sirius had the book back and was flipping through the first section.
"We're up to the initial transformation, the one aided by the potion," Ron said. Hermione smacked the redhead's arm.
"If you did this much studying on your classes, you wouldn't have to worry so much about your OWLS." Ron simply snorted and waited for the experienced Animagi to give instructions. Rita, with a look at Sirius, cleared her throat.
"First, you need to dissolve the powdered mugwort in the boiling water…"
As the evening passed, the liquid in the cauldron changed both colour and consistency several times, and each student eventually had a beaker of violet goop to drink. Hermione had taken out a quill and parchment to record their changes, and Ron bravely went first. When the changes began, he looked decidedly feline, his hair turning a dark red and whiskers sprouting from his face. His skin was covered in a golden fuzz for a few moments before the potion wore off with a pop.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Not only did the purple gunk taste positively diabolical, it also took a lot of energy out of one. After his swig and partial transformation, Draco was completely beat. For his part, his skin had turned into a layer of yellow and white scales, and Harry had commented that his eyes had had slits instead of round pupils, much like the eyes of a snake.
Harry had grown a full coat of sleek black fur and pointy ears, while Ginny and Hermione had both sported feathers the colour of their hair. Ginny's feathers had been brown as well, but she didn't seem to mind. Lavender's ears had become long and narrow, and she had been covered in a soft fuzz the same colour as her hair.
Before the group split to head for their respective beds, they had arranged to meet for another practice session Friday night. Sirius had left as Snuffles, but his Aunt Rita had stayed a bit longer just to talk to him. Hermione had been polite enough to leave them alone for a few minutes.
"Lucius really did all those awful things to you, Draco?" she asked, a bit panicked. He nodded slowly.
"Yeah… He chained me in one of the storerooms. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to the Manor." He shuddered. That place was full of bad memories.
"I'm here for you, dear. And I'm sure Severus is, as well." He could feel his godmother rubbing his back in an effort to comfort him. Silently, he reached up and pulled his tee over his head, baring his torso and the scars he bore. The woman gasped, and Draco felt gentle fingers tracing the marks.
"Oh, Draco… I wish I could have been there for you."
"It's not your fault, Aunt Rita. Besides, you and Uncle Sev are better parents than Lucius and Narcissa ever could have been. You're the reason I'm not like him." Rita would know he spoke of both his father and the man's "Master." They had had this discussion quite a few times over the past year.
"Shh. You never have to go near either one of them. Lucius is locked away, and the other knows you'll never serve him. You're free from their expectations." Rita had wrapped her arms around him, and he leaned into the embrace. He could never get enough of the reporter's embraces. He got far too few at the Manor.
"I missed you, Aunt Rita."
"I'm here now, dear. I'm going to help you and your friends get Mr. Black acquitted so that Harry can have a home other than this school. From what you both said last night, those Muggles actively hate him for who he is. And you don't have to go back to that cold Manor. You could come stay with me next summer."
"Thanks, Aunt Rita. Those Muggles… They do hate him." He looked up at his godmother. "If you could see what I saw him go through at the beginning of the hols, you'd know. They… they locked him in a cupboard. They didn't feed him and barely gave him water. I'm fairly sure he was beaten daily, as well." His throat constricted, and he could feel tears starting. "He had the flu when we got him, and he didn't even weigh as much as a normal first-year. Even in the state I was in, I could carry him that night."
"Dear Merlin. Now I really regret those articles I wrote about him." His aunt gave him a warm hug and pulled him up from the floor. "Now get to bed, dear. You have Sev first thing in the morning, I believe."
Draco nodded. "At least Uncle Sev is starting to drop the whole House rivalry business." With that, his Aunt Rita transformed into the beetle, and Draco headed to the dorms to get his beauty sleep.
What animals are the members of the Dream Team becoming? Will the Slytherins stay so subdued? Why is Severus so grumpy? Find out in the next chapter!
Please review!
Beth Weasley