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 23: REPETITION
Hermione and Ron returned from the prefect meeting about an hour and a half into the journey, accompanied by Draco and the rest of the Slytherins in Harry's year, except for Theodore Nott, who was considered to be a Slytherin in name only. Harry knew why the Slytherins accompanied his friends, as did Ron, from the looks of things. However, Harry's other friends looked distinctly confused when Draco and Zabini followed Ron and Hermione into the compartment, whilst the rest stood outside on guard duty. Neither Slytherin sat down.
"Do you trust them?" Zabini asked sternly, gazing around the compartment as if to assess Harry's friends. His gaze lingered on Ginny for a few seconds longer than on anybody else.
"They're my friends. This summer has not affected that whatever Ginny thinks about you," Harry replied firmly, standing up to receive what the two Slytherins were about to give him. Again Zabini's scrutinising gaze fell upon Ginny, who made no reaction to it.
"You must not tell mention what is about to happen here to anyone, until Jason says that you can, not even to another person in this compartment. Jason's safety depends on your silence." Zabini said sternly, not shifting his gaze from Ginny. The redhead looked to Harry for guidance.
"Go on," he said with deadly seriousness, conveying the importance of both the forthcoming event and the promise she was being asked to make. After Harry's prompting Ginny did not hesitate to agree to the Slytherin's demands.
"OK then," she said calmly, feeling a little put out that the Slytherin had singled her out.
Her feelings were eased though, when Zabini calmly nodded and then shifted his attention to Luna, who despite giving the impression of being lost in her own little world agreed to the same request without the need for it to be repeated. Neville and Hermione followed suit the moment that the elf's serious gaze fell upon them, until he surprised all of Harry's friends by turning to Draco. Neither Harry nor Draco were particularly surprised that Zabini wanted his housemate to give his word, even if some of those present didn't trust him simply because they knew that Zabini didn't want to take too many chances.
"I have given you my word twice already, as has Leo," Draco stated simply, in the same solemn tone that Zabini had used. Once again, the response was made without the question being asked.
"As have I," Ron continued when the stern, searching gaze fell upon him. He was the last person to be asked, as it seemed that Zabini was willing to let Draco speak for his brother. But then, it may have been the fact that Harry seemed to at the centre of what was going on that meant that Zabini felt no need to ask him to keep quiet about the meeting. Instead the elf stepped forward without a word and fiddled with his belt, unhooking an invisible object from it and handing it to Harry, who appeared to attach it his waist. Given that it was invisible none of Harry's friends, except for Ron who had been told by Zabini, had any clue of what the object was. Despite the rather ceremonious way Zabini extracted promises of silence, the hand-over of the mysterious object handed without any sort of formality. He simply gave it to Harry and them left the compartment, without even saying a word. Draco followed, as did the other Slytherins who had been standing outside. They left all of Harry's friends bar Ron utterly confused. Despite this confusion nothing was said because of the promise they had made. Instead, the conversation between the friends was about Ron's new elfin appearance until it inevitably turned back to Harry's rather eventful summer. Not that they had time to say much, because about ten minutes after the gang of Slytherins had left, the compartment door was thrown open in dramatic style by three less welcome Slytherins.
Harry's immediate reaction upon seeing Theodore Nott, Silvanus Melchitt and Andrew Jackson was to stand up and reach for his wand. His friends followed suit. Having six wands shoved in their face seemed to faze the three boys slightly, but it didn't stop Nott from speaking.
"Haven't you stopped pretending to be a Malfoy yet Potter?" Nott sneered hatefully, his floppy hair failing to cover eyes filled with immense hatred. In many ways they reminded Harry of Voldemort's eyes, the colour was different but the same evil was plainly visible.
"There is only one pretence around here Nott and that is your pitiful attempts at impersonating a Slytherin," Harry replied darkly. Compared to Nott Harry's attempt at a hateful tone come out only as mild righteous anger.
The three intruders tensed at Harry's remark, their hate filled faces becoming darker and angrier. Unable to say anything constructive in reply, Nott made to curse Harry, but Jackson, his seventh year companion, stopped him by stepping forward and rolling back the left sleeve of his robes to reveal the dark mark burned ominously into his flesh. It was a far from pleasant sight. "Do not let Malfoy fool you, Potter. This is the mark of a true Slytherin," Jackson said vocalising his wild-eyed fanaticism and indicating to the dark mark, "All those that disobey the dark lord and refuse his mark are traitors to Slytherin and to all wizard-kind. You can try and corrupt our brethren all you want, Potter, but they will soon learn that the dark lord is their rightful lord and master. Soon they will learn and you will die at the feet of your rightful master, begging for mercy." The seventh year's fanaticism and complete conviction in the truthfulness of his terrible views was as disturbing as it was repulsive. Harry found it quite pathetic too, in the same way he found Wormtail's cowardliness pathetic, even if in both cases such feelings were drowned out by the anger he felt towards both men. Whilst, Jackson had been trying to scare and intimidate Harry, he had the entirely different effect of goading the Gryffindor's volatile temper. Harry's immediate reaction to Jackson's comments was to laugh bitterly at the sheer idiocy of the comments, the anger that overcome his following words was nonetheless clearly evident in his humour. He wasn't the only one to find Jackson's fanaticism funny in a twisted sort of way, he recognised the malicious snigger of Draco, although his brother was nowhere to be seen.
"Voldemort is nothing but a psychopathic megalomaniac and you are his slave. Even I am more of a Slytherin than you or him can ever hope to be." Harry replied irately, choosing to respond to Jackson's comment about Slytherin rather his rabid prediction of Harry's fate, knowing it would annoy all three death eaters immensely.
It worked like a treat, as Jackson's rage blossomed into his face as a rather alarming shade of purple and a trembling fury. It was a posture and expression that reminded Harry of Uncle Vernon at his angriest, not that Andrew Jackson looked anything like Vernon Dursley. None of this disturbed Harry, but the source of Jackson's anger did – it seemed that he objected to Harry using Voldemort's name.
"How dare you befoul the sanctity of the dark lord's name, Gryffindor! You have no right to speak it you are not his equal," Jackson shouted maniacally, his wand now pointed at Harry. It was obvious that he was about to curse Harry, something the other two death eaters had been on the verge of doing for several minutes. Fortunately, Harry, Draco and their friends were quicker to the draw.
A few seconds of absolute chaos ensued as curses and hexes flew towards the three servants of Voldemort leaving the familiar sight of three Slytherins lying on the carriage floor covered in the effects of various curses. Of course, this time Nott, Melchitt and Jackson were the victims rather than Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and the three antagonisers were far worse off this time, as well. Both Nott and Melchitt looked as though they had been the victims of some very nasty and extremely painful curses, although they appeared to be unconscious, Jackson on the other hand appeared to have borne the brunt of the assault and looked in an extremely serious condition.
"Is he dead?" A fourth year Slytherin said, asking the question that was on everybody's lips. His voice and his expression showed an intense sadness that was in marked contrast to the angry and determined scowls on the faces of his housemates who had gathered around the unconscious death eaters. He had good reason to be sad though, as he was the younger brother of Andrew Jackson.
A seventh year knelt down to examine Jackson and check his pulse, "We haven't killed him, although some of his injuries are permanent. Not that that means anything given his current life expectancy," the seventh year replied, standing up and taking his place in the circle that surrounded the three unconscious Slytherins.
The news that Jackson was alive did not alter the expression on the fourth years face, although Harry noticed Ron's face lightened slightly, presumably because the elfin boy did not want to be responsible for Jackson's death, irrespective of the Slytherin's loyalties or tenuous mental stability.
"Is it possible for me to have a few words with him," the fourth year asked seriously, stepping forward to take the seventh year's place beside the unconscious body of Andrew Jackson.
"Enervate should keep him awake for a couple of minutes. Only cast it on him once though, if he stays conscious too long he'll die," the seventh year answered even as his housemate took his place at the side of the death eater.
"Enervate."
It took a couple of seconds longer than usual for the spell to work, but Andrew Jackson stirred with a soft groan, causing the Slytherins in the circle to glare harder at Jackson than they had been doing. Harry doubted that Jackson noticed because the moment his eyes snapped open the death eater focused on the boy who was kneeling at his side, who appeared to be an unwelcome sight judging from the hateful look in his eyes.
"You… Traitor… Shame on my blood," Jackson croaked with the most hatred that he could muster, which wasn't that much given his weakened state. Despite his evident lack of strength, which caused him to hesitate between words and not speak in full sentences, he still got his meaning across. His fanatical support of Voldemort meant that he hated his own brother. The look of horror and heartbreak on the fourth year's face was noticed by all, especially Jackson, who gave a vicious, if weak, grin at the pain that he had caused. It was look that seemed to energise Jackson, his evil delight feeding off the pain he had caused to his master's enemies. He made no attempt to move but the renewed vigour in his eyes was unmistakable as was the meaning of his next words which were spoken without the hesitation and semi-incoherence of his opening words to his brother.
"Avarda Kedarva," he voiced hatefully.
Every single onlooker was caught everyone completely by surprise, they had not expected Jackson to attempt to harm anyone in his weakened state, especially not with the killing curse, but then they hadn't even noticed that Jackson had crashed to the ground with his wand pointing at exactly the same spot that the fourth year now occupied. Judging by his gleeful expression, Jackson on the other hand was well aware of this and knew exactly what he was doing, leaving over twenty five Hogwarts frozen in horror and fear as they watched the beam of horrible green light leave Jackson's wand and hit the leg of one of their classmates. Several screamed, whilst others closed their eyes as they watched the unmoving Danny Jackson, the fourth year brother of the spell caster look on in pure terror as he awaited his impending doom. It never came. At the last moment, Danny felt himself being barged out of the way by a blur of black robes. He turned to see the growing beam of green light hit the left knee of a fellow student and bounce back onto the chest of his gleeful looking brother. He didn't even hear the panicked cries of the boy's friends, who watched in a horrified trance as their best friend took the killing curse on behalf of the Slytherin. For a few terrifying moments Danny felt intense guilt sweep through him as he saw the other boy take the killing curse on his behalf. Then he saw the face of his saviour and the guilt was swept away. He had been saved by Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, a boy that no killing curse could harm, a boy that no dark wizard could kill and above all a boy that was clearly alive and in immense agony.
Harry had acted on pure instinct, he moved the moment Jackson spoke the first syllable of the dreadful curse that had killed his parents, knowing that the Slytherin would be too afraid to act on his own. He hadn't intended to take the curse himself, because he hadn't been sure whether he would survive it, whether his blood protection, if it was still active, would shield him. As it was he'd got lucky, Aunt Petunia's death had not destroyed the protection offered by his mother's sacrifice, although he suspected the week spent living with Maria, who had been his mother's cousin as well as his father's sister-in-law, may have helped. He didn't dwell on the causes behind his miraculous survival of the killing curse though, there were more important things to be thinking about, like the crippling pain in his left knee. He suspected the cause of the pain was a lightening shaped curse scar, as was revealed to be the case, when he pulled up his robes and rolled up his trousers to examine the cause of his agony.
Hermione insisted on examining the wound too, despite some half-hearted protests from Harry. She fussed over him in a way he associated more with Molly Weasley than his best friend, ignoring Ron when he intervened and told her to lay off. The rest of Harry's friends rushed over too, clearly in shock. Neville and Luna just stood there, whilst Ginny began lecturing Harry on how stupid he had been, in the moments Hermione wasn't fussing over him like a mother hen. He ignored both of them as much as he could, much to Hermione's disapproval and took to looking at the scene around him as he lay on the ground unable to get up. He noticed that the Slytherins had closed around a shocked Danny Jackson, attempting to console their housemate in a show of solidarity that made Harry smile, not that he could hear what they were saying. Although he couldn't see Draco among the huddle of Slytherins, or anywhere else around for reasons that soon came clear when he returned not long after Harry had noticed his absence– he'd gone to get help, something neither Hermione nor Ginny mentioned. He hadn't notice the train stop moving to let them on, but Draco returned with Madam Pomfrey as well as Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape. Whilst Snape walked over to Danny Jackson after taking a passing glance at the dead body of Andrew Jackson and Harry's wound Draco, Pomfrey and the other two Professors immediately went over to Harry. The mediwitch began by chasing away Harry's fussing friends amidst much protest and the crowd that had gathered around him, much to his relief, before conjuring up a stretcher and asking Draco and Ron to carry him into his compartment, neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall followed, presumably because they would only be chased out by a rather annoyed mediwitch. She attempted to chase out Draco and Ron too, but both boys stayed resolute.
"We're his family," Draco replied crossly in precisely the same tone that he had been spoken too, when asked to leave, "In case you hadn't noticed I'm his half brother and he is the son of James Potter." Despite his obvious shock at the fact that Draco was standing up for him, Ron nodded in agreement. His surprise deepened when Pomfrey reluctantly backed down.
"Very well but if you get in the way you're out of here," she said irately. Both boys had no choice but to agree to her demands, not that they intended to get in the way anyway. As a con sequence they took seats on the opposite the row of seats that served as a makeshift bed. After conjuring a curtain to cover the compartment door, Madam Pomfrey set to work cleansing Harry's wound of dark magic.
She set about casting a complicated web of spells on Harry's wounded knee, which at first succeeded only in increasing the pain coming from the wound to levels that made the cruciatus curse appear positively pleasant. He barely succeeded in preventing himself from screaming in agony. The pain subsided substantially, however, when she began to chant another spell repeatedly, while drawing the residue of the killing curse from Harry's body into a small ball of sickly green light attached to the end of the mediwitch's wand. After a couple of minutes of drawing out the residue of the killing curse, Madam Pomfrey stopped the spell and called Draco over.
"Seeing as you're here, make yourself useful and absorb the residue of the curse. It should be safe, the fatal element of the curse was reflected back onto Mr Jackson," She commanded, explaining why she wanted Draco's assistance.
Draco hung back nervously, not fully trusting the mediwitch's assurances. "Who absorbed the residue last time?" he asked.
"Alastor Moody, who is alive and suffered no harmful reaction to the residue," Pomfrey responded less than happily, not taking Draco's reluctance particularly well. With that news Draco moved forward and placed his wand tip to tip with Pomfrey's, who then moved her wand away leaving the ball of dark magic attached to the tip of his wand. With a muttered spell it disappeared completely.
In case you've forgotten Harry is 'Jason' and 'Leo' whilst Ron is 'Caranthir'.
Zeldarose: Harry's comment in chapter 4 is explained a couple of paragraphs further on - he is referring to Lucas' Narcissistic tendencies. As for Lucas' relation to Harry they are both cousins (through their fathers) and second cousins (through their mothers) in Chapter 4 neither boy is aware of the former relationship. In Chapter 11, Harry disappointing Potions result is expected, so doesn't affect him that much and is countered by results that are otherwise good, besides I suspect he's relived simply and slightly surprised to have passed Potions. Finally the prophecy merely specifies that Harry's parents defy Voldemort three times, it does not specify how or that Harry's parents must always defy Voldemort. I haven't worked out the how, but they all involve protecting people Lucius cares about by openly standing up to Voldemort, who responds with a heavy punishment.
Uten: I haven't changed my mind - there will be no pairings. It will take several generations of Hogwarts stundents to fix the rift fully. In this story I am limiting myself to (a) fufilling the sorting hat's warning and uniting the houses against Voldemort and (b) changing the attitudes of the people around Harry.
Thank You to all those who reviewed chapter 21, 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.