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 24: RECOVERY
Harry, Ron and Draco were left alone for the remainder of the trip to Hogwarts, presumably on the orders of Madam Pomfrey. Not that Draco stayed with the two Gryffindors throughout the trip, choosing to spend long periods with his housemates before popping back to see how Harry was faring as well pass on any news and rumours that had arisen as a result of Harry's second survival of the killing curse or his status as a Malfoy. It seemed that the former had had little effect on the negative reaction that had apparently been generated by the later. One rumour floating around, started by a student with an immense grudge against the Malfoys, claimed that Harry's heroism was a set-up to win back the support for him that had followed the public revelation of Voldemort's return and to disguise his betrayal of the light side. It was a rumour that Draco had simply laughed off, but to Harry the accusation of being a dark wizard was infuriating, in an all too familiar way.
Once the train had arrived Harry was taken to the hospital wing for a more thorough examination than had been conducted on the Hogwarts Express. This resulted in a salve being applied to his scarred knee, on the spot where the curse had hit him, and a potion being forced down his throat to 'restore his magical balance.' An explanation of what this rather alarming statement meant or how his magic was imbalanced was not given, although Harry suspected it had something to do with the magic he had absorbed from the curse. He'd already seen the curse residue itself being removed, but he suspected he'd absorbed some of Jackson's power, in the same way that Voldemort had transferred some of his power to him as a baby.
Harry's more immediate concern, however, was the fact that he was missing the welcome feast. Madam Pomfrey had explicitly forbidden him from attending, but had had some of the food from the feast sent up after she had finished examining him. He wasn't the only one to miss the feast either, Nott and Melchitt, the two death eaters that had been with Jackson, were being treated for the after effects of the spell damage they had received after being hexed and cursed by Harry, Draco and their friends. Unusually for such cases they were being treated in full view of the rest of the ward rather than behind a curtain, presumably for the benefit of the two other students that were missing the feast. These two were not patients, but a pair of imposing looking seventh-years who seemed to be watching over the two traitors to their house, preventing them from doing any harm to anyone. Not that either death eater was in any position to do anything in their current state. Madam Pomfrey ignored the two guards completely, acting as if she hadn't noticed them. Harry didn't speak to them either and judging from the expressions of the two Slytherins any such interruption would be most unwelcome as Professor Dumbledore found out when he entered the hospital wing to visit Harry once the feast had finished. The headmaster's cordial greeting was completely ignored by the two Slytherins.
Harry knew why Dumbledore was visiting even without being told. He had expected the headmaster's presence because, unlike Ron and Draco, he had not yet been asked to describe his version of the incident on the Hogwarts Express. On the other hand, he had not expected the pleasantries that preceded the interrogation as Dumbledore normally dispensed with such trivialities.
"Ah, Harry," How was your summer?" the headmaster asked, his eyes twinkling madly.
"Eventful," Harry replied, sitting up in his hospital bed. His answer was curt, evidence of his dislike of such small talk.
A ghost of a smile crossed the headmaster's face upon hearing the reply, for reasons that Harry could not comprehend. He suspected it was caused by the tone of the voice in which he had responded.
"And you friends? How was their summers?" the headmaster continued, ignoring the show of hostility. It wasn't until long after the conversation had ended that Harry realised Dumbledore's ulterior motive for asking the question – he wanted to know Harry's opinions of his friends without directly asking Harry for his opinions. As it was the old man couldn't have gleamed that much from Harry's short reply.
"They enjoyed their summers, even Ron, who had similar problems to me," Harry answered, not offering a further explanation because he thought such news was none of Dumbledore's concern.
"Good, good," Dumbledore replied absently, a warm grandfatherly smile accompanying the apparent lack of attention. That this was merely a deceit covering a deep interest was exposed in the way the headmaster suddenly switched from bored disinterest to keen intent within a second. His attention snapped back to Harry as he asked the next question, "Have the press been causing you any problems?" It was clear from the way that the question was asked that he already knew about the crowd of reporters that had awaited Harry on Platform 9¾.
"There were about fifty reporters waiting for me at King's Cross, but I was expecting them anyway and dealt with them easily enough. About from that I haven't had any problems since the Triwizard Tournament." Harry responded honestly, giving a lengthy reply on an issue that Dumbledore had right to know about. It wasn't his intention to sound as though he was trying to put a brave face on a serious problem, but that's how it came out, causing Harry to cringe internally. He had enough problems without accidentally persuading Dumbledore that a minor irritant such as the attention brought upon him by his celebrity status was a significant problem too.
"Was there a particular reporter or group of reporters who caused more problems that the rest?" the headmaster asked with evident concern, taking Harry's statement exactly as the Gryffindor had feared. Dumbledore's rapt attention and piercing glare made Harry feel as though he was being interrogated.
Harry suspected that Dumbledore had a particular reporter in mind when he asked the question and answered accordingly. "No, Lucius asked Rita Skeeter to be my press secretary. An interview for the Sunday Prophet was part of the deal. She'll probably owl me for my side of the story when she hears of what happened on the train. As for the rest, they were more annoying than anything else."
He had been extremely uncertain of how the headmaster was going to respond to the news of his deal with Rita Skeeter and was consequently pleased to see a positive reaction. From the marked increase in the twinkle in the old man's eyes and the warm smile that he offered it appeared that Harry's reply met with approval. "An excellent idea," Dumbledore said happily, "Although I would appreciate it if you could tell me what happened first. There are few inconsistencies which I believe you are best placed to resolve."
The retelling of the entire incident didn't take long, even though Harry described the confrontation that preceded it as well as the incident itself. Not that a long explanation was needed, because the whole episode had taken no more than several minutes. Harry managed to keep emotion out of his expression as he reported what he had seen and done in the seconds that had led up to his second survival of the killing curse. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was expressive as ever. The headmaster's twinkling eyes momentarily betrayed his true emotions at various points during the story. A fleeting look of delight would flash across Dumbledore's face every time Harry recounted a moment when Draco and his Slytherin friends stood up to Jackson and his death eater cronies, culminating in the brief look of triumph that accompanied Harry's description of the vicious hexing the three traitors received at the hands of the Slytherin sixth years. Harry guessed it was the first time that Albus Dumbledore wanted to hear of someone using the dark arts, because true Slytherins only used such powerful and deadly curses against their enemies, never against friends or allies. Consequently, in cursing the three death eaters Draco had proved their loyalty to the light side.
"It is disappointing that among your friends, only yourself and Mr Weasley noticed the assistance of the Slytherins in your dispute with Misters Nott, Melchitt and Jackson," Dumbledore commented once Harry had finished his story. It sounded like an idle comment, but Harry knew better.
"They're too blinded by their prejudices to notice. In fact, I'm surprised that Ron even noticed," Harry responded bitterly, briefly annoyed by his friend's blindness to the truth.
"Mr Weasley expressed mild surprise at how much assistance you received from Slytherin House. He seemed to be under the impression that only a small minority would consider helping you," Dumbledore replied, in the same idle tone. It was the sort of expression which gave the impression that the headmaster knew everything, a state of affairs Harry knew clearly not to be the case.
"That's a start," Harry remarked with pleasant surprise, "If Zabini can change Ron's attitude that much in a week there's hope for him and everyone else yet. All we need to do is make everyone give the Slytherin's a chance." As positive as he sounded, Harry knew that in reality actually persuading everyone to give the Slytherins the benefit of the doubt would be next to impossible. After all, unlike Ron, most people would not be willing to take Harry's word for it as the previous year had shown. What the Ron example had shown though was that significant improvements in inter-house relations could be made if people actually wanted such improvements. Harry didn't mind that much that Ron hadn't completely overcome his prejudices because Ron's expressed belief that only a minority of Slytherins could be trusted had been accurate at the start of the summer. Besides Ron didn't have the same guarantees of friendship with Slytherin house that Harry possessed simply by virtue of being the son of Lucius Malfoy.
"Having the support of both the Daily Prophet and the Minster should help you up to a point," Dumbledore replied, knowing and sharing Harry's concern, "I shall give you my public backing too, but I fear my influence is limited these days." He didn't look saddened by this state of affairs, in fact his expression remained unchanged and his twinkling eyes undimmed as he acknowledged the limitations of his support.
Harry didn't respond to the headmaster's concern, if only because he knew it to be broadly true, even after the ministry's belated admittance of Voldemort's return. However, he also knew that those people who were influenced by Dumbledore, tended to trust the headmaster implicitly. He knew that without Dumbledore's backing there would be no chance of persuading a large minority of people of the trustworthiness of the Slytherins, including almost all of the DA. Of course, his pride meant that he was never going to admit this to anyone. Instead, he offered a polite thank you and turned his attention to another issue that had been bothering him, "Why is my magic out of balance?" he asked curiously.
He didn't expect a straight reply, not after the evasive answers that the headmaster that had served as responses to Harry's previous questions over the years. Therefore, he was caught by surprise when Dumbledore smiled one of his all-knowing grins and answered the question.
"It appears that Mr Jackson transferred some of his powers to you, Harry, much like Voldemort did fifteen years ago. Your body is merely taking the time it needs to ingrate this new power with your magic," Dumbledore responded calmly, confirming a suspicion that Harry had previously held. Nonetheless, having his suspicions confirmed came as a shock. Not that he was particularly distressed to learn that he had absorbed a portion of the death eater's powers, after all, nothing could be worse than the link with Voldemort that had resulted as a consequence of his previous survival of the killing curse.
Dumbledore wasn't Harry's only visitor that night. About an hour after the headmaster's departure from the hospital wing, Crabbe and Goyle entered the ward to relieve the two seventh years of guard duty. Harry was not surprised to see Draco accompany them, on the other hand he had not expected Danny Jackson, the boy he had saved, to be with them too.
The fourth year looked extremely nervous as he approached Harry, despite his subtle attempts to cover this with a mask of Slytherin arrogance and aristocratic pride. It was also clear that he didn't want to be there.
"I want to thank you for saving my life. I owe you a life debt," Danny said formally and with gratitude. Despite his nervous appearance, he was successful in keeping his obvious nerves out of his voice.
Harry smiled in response, "I couldn't have stood there and let the curse hit you," he said softly. There was also a hard edge to Harry as he spoke these words, caused by the horrific memories of helplessly watching Sirius and Cedric die in front of him in previous years. It was an experience would do anything to avoid repeating, "so, I did the only thing I could…."
"…You took the curse for him, like a brave heroic Gryffindor, who couldn't resist an opportunity to put himself in grave danger," Draco commented dryly, causing Danny to smile and Harry to smile faintly despite being interrupted. Without the veneer or arrogance and hatred Harry found his half-brother reasonably funny, even if he was normally the butt of the joke.
"I didn't intend to get hit by the curse, Draco," Harry protested good-humouredly whilst responding to the point behind the sarcastic delivery "I was simply trying to push him out of the way. If I had intended to take it I would have made sure it hit somewhere in a better place than my left knee!"
"You would have preferred it to have hit Malcolm Baddock then?" Draco queried with a sly grin that his question was intended purely to wind up Harry. The Gryffindor was well aware of this, but couldn't help but react with complete horror.
"What? Of course not," cried a shocked and wide-eyed Harry, before realising what exactly Draco meant. The shock dissipated as Harry figured out what Draco meant, his horror did not, "I didn't think of the people standing behind Danny. I just reacted, it was instinct," Harry responded with a momentary shudder of guilt. Mentally he berated himself over the fact that his intended reaction to Andrew Jackson's killing curse would have killed the boy who had been standing directly behind Danny. When pushing Danny out of the curse's path he had considered only himself and the intended target as Draco appeared to have guessed.
"Of course you didn't think, you're a Gryffindor," Draco taunted his sly grin turning into a mocking smirk. Harry merely rolled his eyes at the Slytherin's repetition of an old stereotype, which nonetheless managed to generate a few giggles from Danny as well as Crabbe and Goyle.
"It's lucky I didn't otherwise I wouldn't have had time to react and the curse wouldn't have hit me," Harry retorted. It felt odd to be thinking that it was lucky to be hit by an unforgivable, but in this instance it was the truth. Harry suspected from the momentarily lack of response that the Slytherin's who were with him found it odd too, although he suspected that they found his insinuation that it was lucky he acted like a stereotypical Gryffindor even stranger. He never found out if this was the case though, for a previously unnoticed figure responded with something else that had occurred to Harry.
"And it's even luckier that you are still protected from the killing curse," Snape said with the same snide tone he always used to address Harry. The Gryffindor glanced towards and spotted the Potions Professor standing there with Lucius Malfoy. He had not seen either man enter.
"Indeed," Lucius agreed, after shooting Snape a quick glance to show his disapproval of his companion's attitude towards Harry, "I had wondered whether your blood protections would survive the death of Petunia Dursley." It was a comment that made Harry want to ask his father how he knew so much about the protection Harry gained from his mother's sacrifice.
"I had too," Harry responded, "but Dumbledore said that as long as there is a blood relative of my mother alive the protections will hold." He had asked Dumbledore about the reasons why he had survived the killing curse for the second time before the headmaster had departed the hospital wing. The old man had smiled in a grandfatherly when asked and given the answer that Harry had just repeated for his father's benefit.
Lucius considered Harry's answer for a moment, before responding with a hypothesis, "If that's the case, then if Maria were to live with is next summer the protections would hold for another year," he replied, it wasn't voiced like a question but Harry knew an answer was expected.
"You'd have to ask Dumbledore. I only know what he's told me," Harry answered. It was not a response that pleased Lucius in the slightest, because the last thing Lucius wanted to do was speak with a man that he hated almost as much as he hated Voldemort.
In case you've forgotten Harry is 'Jason' and 'Leo' whilst Ron is 'Caranthir'.
Thank You to all those who reviewed chapter 23, 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.