Spoiler Warning: This story is a sixth year fic that follows on from the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As a conseqeunce this story contains *major* spoilers for book 5. You have been warned.
SNAKE HEALER: THE MALFOY MUGGLE LOVER
CHAPTER 18: FRIENDS
There were seven elves in total, of which Harry recognised three, namely Ron and his biological parents. He presumed that another of the elves was Olessë, the husband of Ron's mother. Which of the two tall blond haired elfish men, both of whom seemed to be ignoring the whisperings of the startled crowd and holding a conversation in elfish, was Olessë and which was the father of the other elfish boy Harry didn't know as judging by the similarity in their appearances the two men could have been brothers. As for the other elfish women, her black haired son who appeared to be of a similar age to Ron, appeared to be pointing things out as if giving her a guided tour of Diagon Alley in elfish. The only was paying any attention to the reaction of the shocked shoppers was James, although Harry was sure that Ron, who was leading the way, was enjoying the attentions of the crowd immensely.
"Elves in Diagon Alley! Zabini never told us about this!" Draco cried as he leapt up from his seat to get a better look.
"Zabini? Is he an elf then?" Harry queried, looking again at the second young elf as the elf talked to his mother. The elf certainly could be Blaise Zabini, there was certainly a familiarity to the tall, dark haired creature, which he couldn't place the source. It certainly amounted to more than the small resemblance in looks between the unknown elfin student and Ron's elfin appearance caused by their being of the same inhuman species. Before Draco could reply to his previous question, he added another, vocalising his suspicion: "Is he the one on the right, talking to the taller of the two women?"
It is a question that caused Draco to pause for a moment, as the Slytherin studied the elf Harry had pointed out. Then, for an instant the elf in question looked in their direction and something happened. Harry didn't know what transpired between the elf and Draco, but suddenly the Slytherin moved off, calling for Harry to follow. The Gryffindor, letting his curiosity get the better of him followed, knowing that Draco would do nothing to harm him in public.
"I haven't seen his true appearance before but that's him alright, I'd recognise those eyes anywhere, they're unique, even more so than yours." Draco said hurriedly once Harry had caught up with him. Despite the urgency of his tone he walked slowly, in the direction of Gringotts. It quickly became apparent why when Draco asked his Gryffindor half-brother if he had his Gringotts key with him. It appeared that the Slytherin wanted to catch a private word with Zabini in the chaos of the Gringotts foyer, without being seen to do so. Why he didn't want to be seen talking to the elves was a mystery to Harry, although not wanting to tar the elves with the current bad reputation of the Malfoys may have had something to do with it.
The party of elves reached Gringotts just before the two Malfoys and walked up a free Goblin Cashier in the middle of the hall. Harry followed them in and walked up to the goblin at the adjacent desk allowing Draco to exchange a few words with Zabini, or more precisely with Ron who passed on a message telling the two boys to head to the twins' joke shop, where they would be joined in fifteen minutes by the two elfin boys. This was accompanied by a stern warning from Zabini to tell the twins that Draco was there on his request.
Thus, ten minutes later, after informing Lucius of where they were going and why, Harry and Draco found themselves in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Much to Harry's surprise Draco was keen to browse the twin's products. He even picked out a few to buy, claiming that, "Lucas is in desperate need of some cheering up, he's been rather depressed since his father died."
"Is that for us to use on him or for him to use on us? Besides, would he approve of this stuff? You know what he thinks of the cheap tricks they sell as Gambol and Japes, is he going to think of these as any more original?" Harry asked in response. He was very wary of giving Lucas anything, which might potentially result in a prank being directed at him, especially anything concocted by Fred and George. Whilst the twins' pranks were better, you could generally spot them in advance, unlike with Lucas' pranks where escape from humiliation was impossible. To combine the two was a horror not worth thinking about.
"Regretfully he would approve of them, which is why I have no intention of ever letting him get his hands on these goods. They are only to be used on him, although, if a few were to backfire on to you, it would be such a terrible tragedy." Draco replied firmly, although his mood shifted as a subtle smirk and sarcastic tone appeared as he made his final remark. It appeared that Draco's attempts to cheer up Lucas were going to have a nasty habit of 'accidentally' backfiring on to Harry. Knowing that he would have to have some ways of getting back at his rival and half-brother he picked up a few products of his own, to supplement his existing stock of prank materials. If only, as he made clear to Draco, to provide an incentive to ensure his pranks did not affect Harry.
Harry was just making his purchase from a grinning Fred, when Zabini and Ron walked in and headed straight for the counter. James followed, but he ignored the two Malfoys and went straight to browsing the shelves.
"We're here the meeting, as are those two," Ron told his brother, once Harry had finished his transaction. Harry wondered what this meeting was about.
Fred's eyes widened momentarily in shock, before he recovered his composure and called for his mother and for Lee Jordan, both of whom must have been waiting in the back room. Mrs Weasley took a quick glance at the four boys, to confirm that they were supposed to be at this meeting.
"Hello dear, how are you?" Mrs Weasley said pleasantly to Harry, "I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to speak to you earlier. Ron and I had so much to catch up on and then we had to come straight here for the meeting, there wasn't really time." She sounded genuinely apologetic.
"It's Ok," Harry replied dismissively, "Dumbledore wanted to see me and we'd arranged to get our school supplies, so I didn't really have time anyway."
"Oh, if it's alright with you then." She responded, before turning to Draco. "Hello dear, I'm Molly Weasley." Harry saw Ron stiffen out of the corner of his eyes. Harry's best friend was obviously expecting Draco to say something spiteful or nasty, as Harry expected though, the Slytherin turned on the charm and acted the perfect gentlemen.
"Draco Malfoy, it's a pleasure." He replied with a charming smile. Zabini introduced himself in much the same way. After the hellos had been made, Mrs Weasley led the four boys into the backroom and up some stairs.
Ron took the opportunity to hurriedly explain to Harry what was going on, "I'm sorry for dumping you into this at such short notice, but I thought we might as well take the opportunity to explain our situations whilst everyone's here. Zabini's the one who organised the meeting, at the request of the elders, to promote links between elves and humans and he invited most of the DA and a few Slytherins, he thought he could trust. We didn't invite you because I could just tell you everything in private and Malfoy because he obviously can't be trusted. Merlin knows why Zabini suddenly changed his mind about Malfoy though." Harry could feel the butterflies that suddenly took residence in his stomach at that explanation, the thought of seeing his friends, especially Hermione and explaining everything made him feel very nervous
At the top of the stairs Harry and Ron parted from the two Slytherins, who were directed to the meeting room, whilst Harry and Ron were directed into the twins' kitchen, where Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them. "Uh … Hello Hermione, Ginny," Ron muttered nervously once the door had closed behind them, his previous confidence drained by the sight of Hermione. Harry just stood there ignoring the suspicious look that Ginny had directed at him and the curious glance of Hermione before her eyes settled on Ron.
"Ron, Who's that?" Hermione asked, directing the question at the elf. Her visible calmness offsetting Ron's equally visible nervous. Harry, who was equally as nervous, couldn't quite understand what his best friend was so concerned about, after all the bushy haired girl was hardly going to reject someone just because they weren't human. On the other hand she might reject him for being a Malfoy…
"That is eh… was Harry. He changed his name a few weeks ago due to, eh… circumstances." Ron ventured, his demeanour had brightened when Hermione had addressed him by name, but he still seemed nervous. Harry wondered whether it was because Ginny hadn't said anything yet.
"What circumstances?" Hermione queried, her eyes widening when told that the boy who could have passed for Malfoy's brother was in fact her best friend.
"I found out a few things about James Potter, which made me want nothing to do with him. Namely that he's a heartless bastard that couldn't care less about me or about anyone else and that he's alive," Harry said angrily, his eyes hardening at the thought of the man his mother married. He ignored Hermione's gasp of shock, "Thankfully, I am not his son, that misfortune is reserved for Ron here. Although, having Lucius Malfoy as my father isn't much better, but at least he actually cares about his family and friends, if nothing else."
"So what, he's still a death eater." Ginny retorted. It was the first words she shad spoken and their tone was more hostile than pleasant. Harry 's heart sank momentarily, but Hermione's intervention soon raised his spirits.
"Ginny!" she cried indignantly, "What's that got to do with anything? If Lucius Malfoy truly cares for his family he wouldn't do anything to hurt Harry, whatever his loyalties."
"Hermione, she has a point. Lucius has done plenty of evil things and he was a death eater, none of which I condone and many of which he regrets doing too. He's not the nicest person in the world and he is an arrogant prejudiced git, but he's not evil nor is he still a death eater. Still he cares about me and trust me, even that's an improvement on the Dursleys." Harry countered wearily. His nerves had all but evaporated at the show of support from his best friend, even if it had been unhelpful.
Ginny, however, remained far from convinced. "How do you know he's not a death eater? Or, are you simply taking his word for it." She responded sceptically, her distrusting glare not diminishing.
"I know because Draco and I had to rescue him from Voldemort's lair last night after I had a vision of him being unmasked as a spy. I saw him attack Voldemort myself. He meant every word of that speech he made at Janus' memorial service, I know that because he said virtually the same thing to Voldemort's face." Harry replied calmly.
He ignored the sound of Dean, Seamus, Neville and Luna entering the room, just as he ignored the fact that the first thing Dean did upon entering the room was to walk over to Ginny and give her a kiss. An action which meant that Harry's words did not gain an immediate response, as everyone except the oblivious Dean, waited for Ron, who had stiffened visibly at the sight of Dean kissing his sister, to explode with anger. Even Seamus and Neville seemed to pick up on the elf's tension. Fortunately, the situation was rescued by Seamus, who asked a question about what Harry had been saying when the foursome had entered the room.
"Who were you talking about?" he asked, in a manner which betrayed the fact that he had said the first sensible that he had thought of, in an attempt to diffuse a difficult situation.
"Lucius Malfoy, I was explaining how I knew that his defection from the death eaters is genuine," Harry replied, "No doubt, Draco will mention during the meeting."
"Draco? When did you become on first name terms with Malfoy?" Hermione queried disbelievingly. It was a question that Harry had not been expecting, mainly because Ron hadn't asked the same thing. He should have known to expect it from Hermione, who could read volumes into the smallest detail.
"I can't really call him Malfoy, because technically that's my surname too, even if I don't always use it, and I don't think Lucius would approve of 'Ferret Face' or 'evil git,' which means that I have to call him by his first name. He's still as annoying as ever, although he's bearable if he keeps his mouth shut." Harry explained off-handedly. He was more concerned by the strange look that Neville appeared to be giving the seat he had taken at the end of the kitchen table.
Ron was also looking at Harry strangely, as if he had gone mad, but Harry guessed that was because of his last comment. It was a suspicion that was soon confirmed. "That may well be true, Jason, but have you ever known Malfoy to keep his mouth shut?" He exclaimed, sounding shocked by the thought.
Harry did have to admit a point, which explained the grin that appeared in response to the question, "I suppose," he answered with a chuckle, "But he has been making an effort ever since last night. He sees me as part of the Malfoy family now, so he's stopped trying to provoke me. I know it sounds strange but I suppose something good has to come out of being related to that git."
"Surely it still doesn't make up for being his half brother though, if anything it makes it worse. To be related to him must be bad enough, but to be part of his family too would be horrible," Ron replied, ignoring the puzzled expression on Hermione's face and the obvious fact that the bushy haired girl was dying to ask Harry a question.
"Just because he's family it doesn't we have to like each other, but we do need to at least get on, if only for Lucius' sake. Besides, I'd rather him as an ally than an enemy, for all his boasts and nastiness he is a talented wizard." Harry countered amiably.
"But his OWL results were worse than yours!" Ron stammered, looking flabbergasted at his friend's last comment. Hermione, however, it appeared agreed with Harry.
"Harry's right," she commented, "I don't know about his OWL results, but in previous years he was among the highest in the year." He let Hermione's use of his old name slide for now, although he did shoot her a disapproving glare. Instead he let Neville, who seemed not to have noticed Hermione's reference to him as Harry Potter, say what he knew about the situation.
"Malfoys results were low because the Ministry Education Committee downgraded the results of all of the Slytherins, because their parents are death eaters. According to my Grandma, Matilda Marchbanks was furious." He explained. Harry didn't detect the hint of disapproval in Neville's voice. Even if he had it wouldn't stopped his scowl of disapproval.
He certainly, however, picked up on Ron's muttered approvals for the education committee's actions. "Serves them right, the damn death eaters," the elfin boy muttered to himself under his breath.
Harry, whose temper had already been strained by the earlier encounter with the Ravenclaws, the discussion which had followed it, Hermione's reference to his old name as well what he had just been told, snapped upon hearing his best friend's words.
"Most Slytherins are not death eaters!" Harry roared at Ron, his anger overcoming him in a fit of red-hot rage provoked by the outrageous unfairness and extreme prejudice that his friend was justifying. On his part, Ron was utterly flabbergasted by the enraged reaction his overheard comment had generated, "And even of they were, nothing could justify the systematic prejudice and discrimination that you seem to think they deserve. Nothing can justify the mindless abuse and torture that you and your kind inflict on them. At least Voldemort doesn't preach self-righteously when he proposes doing the same things to muggle-borns that you want done to Slytherins."
"Harry! Ron does not want to kill every Slytherin." Hermione screeched indignantly. The injustice and falsity of comparing Ron's dislike of Slytherins with Voldemort's attempt to eliminate muggle-borns had outraged the bushy haired girl.
If there was one thing that could increase Harry's anger it was the use of the name chosen for him by James Potter. Upon hearing Hermione addressing him as Harry, he turned towards her his eyes blazing with renewed fury and slammed his fists on the table in an effort to release his pent up aggression. He didn't even respond to the point Hermione had made, because he was so fixated on what she had called him. "Do not ever call me that name ever again. My name is Jason! Use it." He snapped viciously, scaring even himself by the amount of hostility in his voice. The stunned silence that followed and the shocked look on everyone's faces was broken when Harry slammed his fists on the table for a second time. Again it did nothing to help his temper, nor did not help the anger that had awoken within Ron in response to the rage of his best friend.
"You know, perhaps, James is right, perhaps you are a death eater," he yelled, blinded by the fury at seeing Hermione treated so harshly, "Why else would you treat Hermione so harshly and why else would defend them?"
It took every bit of Harry's self control to prevent himself from punching Ron in the face. A desire awoken by Ron's libellous words and that would forever afterwards be a source of immense guilt, simply because he felt it so intensely. Even with his anger blinding all rational thought, the prospect of getting into a fight with his best friend was enough to prevent him from following through with it. Instead, he did the only other thing he could: he ran straight back to Malfoy Manor, knowing full well that by remaining in the same room as the elfin boy he would not be unable to prevent the immense satisfaction of beating his best friend senseless.
If you don't like the ending then the next chapter should be sometime next week hopefully.
In case you've forgotten Harry is 'Jason' and 'Leo' whilst Ron is 'Caranthir'. If you were confused by the timeline in the last chapter don't worry it's not important, all you need to know was written in the previous sentence.
Thank You to all those who reviewed chapter 17, your reviews were most appreciated. If you want me to e-mail you when I update this fic leave your e-mail address in your review.