Chapter 4 - Restless and Sleepless, Part 1
The rest of the holiday break was quiet. Harry read ahead in all of his subjects, even doing as Hermione did, outlining the chapters on parchments to use for note-taking. He wrote back and forth to Ron twice before his friend returned. Ron seemed to think that, because Goyle and Crabbe were dead, everything was okay again. Harry could not find the words to explain otherwise and kind of wish Ron just understood.
The first Monday back, Harry seriously dreaded Potions. Considering how prepared he was for class, having reread the chapter again the night before, the trepidation felt very strange.
As Snape strode into the classroom, Harry kept his head down over his notes. He stayed that way until the lecture was almost over, when Snape finally called on him to answer a question Dean had failed to. Fortunately, Harry had just been staring at his notes from the reading, the next day's reading, and knew the answer.
"Correct, Mr. Potter," Snape said slowly with a hint of surprise.
Malfoy caught Harry's eye. His look was darker than Harry had ever seen it, utterly malevolent. Harry held the other boy's gaze for a long time, steady in his own anger. Unexpectedly, Snape stepped down the aisle, blocking Harry's view of the Slytherin table. Harry raised his gaze to the teacher and Snape gave him a warning look before returning to the front. Harry, insides squirming under that black gaze, returned to bending over his notes full-time.
- 888 -
Students gathered early for D.A. in the Room of Requirement and exchanged rumors about He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Susan Bones stood in a cluster with Cho and a few fifth years. Harry wandered over to them while he waited for Hermione and Neville to arrive so that they could work out dividing up the demonstrations. Susan, in surreptitious tones, said, "The D.E. have been quiet lately, according to my aunt. The Ministry is taking credit for scaring them into hiding." Susan noticed Harry had joined them. "What do you think?" she asked him.
"I usually assume the Ministry has it wrong, which would mean there is another reason for them lying low," Harry replied.
The other students shuffled nervously. Susan's news had been the first good news in a long time.
Cho cleared her throat. "Rumor has it something happened here at school over break."
Ron and Dean came in at that moment, sparing Harry from making an excuse for not answering. He stepped over to them and said hello.
"What happened?" Susan asked Cho behind him. "The Order had a big scheme going over break, I do know that."
Ron and Dean gravitated toward the other group, forcing Harry to do the same or walk off on his own. "But something went wrong, I heard," Cho went on. "Not going to enlighten us, Harry? You were here all break." When Harry shook his head, she added, "You've become as bad as the teachers for keeping things to yourself."
"Leave him alone," Ron said stiffly.
"I was only kidding him," Cho said.
"Don't kid him about that," Ron berated her in a hard tone.
"It's all right, Ron." Harry touched his friend's arm to calm him down.
"What are we doing today?" Susan asked, cleanly changing the subject.
"Defensive Transfiguration," Harry said. "Which is hard stuff and we'll probably spend the rest of the term on it, unless people really don't like doing it."
"Like what kinds of transfigurations?" Dean asked.
"Like turning a stone floor into a sheet of ice, for example." The students made noises of approval at that. Harry went on from the list in his head, "Turning chairs into attack dogs. Ants into tarantulas."
"Ugh, why would you do that?" Ron exclaimed, grimacing.
"Imagine, Ron," Harry said, "If you were being chased by a dark wizard with the same phobia as you. Ant hills are everywhere. You could send thousands of tarantulas behind you to slow your pursuer." Ron shuddered as Harry added, "I admit, that one is a bit of a stretch. We have to look up or work out some that are more useful."
"Do we also have a charm to turn our shoes into ice boots? That would make the ice one much more useful," Dean suggested.
"You can work on that," Harry said.
Neville and Hermione came in with a large group of students. Harry went over to them to discuss the session, grateful to get on with something that felt useful.
- 888 -
Malfoy stalked down the corridor, trailing behind Nott and Parkinson, who formed a kind of honor guard for him. At the top of the grand staircase, the blonde boy spun around on Harry and his friends, his jaw clenched in fury.
"If you have something to say, Malfoy, get it over with," Harry challenged, when Malfoy's mouth worked silently.
Before Malfoy could respond, someone grabbed Harry from behind by the back of his robe. "If you are on your way to lunch, Potter, keep moving," Snape ordered harshly, releasing Harry immediately with a shove away from Malfoy.
Harry couldn't stop the wounded look from reaching his eyes as he glanced up at his teacher. Snape raised his chin and turned to his student. "What did I tell you, Mr. Malfoy?"
With hurt pride Malfoy retorted, "I didn't say anything to him."
"No invitation to a confrontation," Snape said, as though repeating himself.
"What?" Malfoy asked him sarcastically. "Don't want him killing anyone else?"
Every student in the crowded hallway stopped and turned to them. Ron and Hermione shifted in front of Harry. Dean, Ginny and Cho moved in closer as well from the other side of the corridor. Harry stepped sideways to stand behind Hermione so he could see. From Snape's flat expression, Harry could tell that Malfoy had crossed the line.
"They got what they deserved," Ron muttered quietly. Harry poked him hard under his ribs to make him shut up. No one but Harry and Hermione seemed to have heard him.
"My office, Mr. Malfoy," Snape stated in a totally level voice. Harry never imagined such a normal tone could sound so menacing. Snape's eyes narrowed at his student, then he spun on his heel and stalked off with a glance at Harry as he passed. Harry's heart raced a little, wondering if he were in trouble as well. As soon as the Slytherins had followed Malfoy away, Harry chastised himself for his concern—he shouldn't care if he were in trouble with the Head of Slytherin House.
The other students in the corridor still mingled as Dean and Ginny offered Harry a few words of support.
"Who'd he kill?" Justin Finch-Fletchley asked suddenly, loud enough to carry up and down the corridor. The other general murmuring stopped.
Ron stepped over to the other boy. They were almost the same taller-than-average height. "Two Death Eaters who had abducted him over holiday."
"What's the problem with that?" Justin asked.
"Crabbe's and Goyle's fathers," Hermione explained softly.
"That's why they're gone, I suppose," Justin said. "Good riddance to them, really." He looked at Harry, who wished he felt more defiant—Harry felt raw only, exposed. "Be careful, Harry," Justin said grimly and stepped away. The other students took this cue and moved along as well.
- 888 -
The new term rolled on. Harry studied quietly during most of his free time. With Quidditch cancelled for security reasons, there wasn't much else to do. Ron and especially Hermione didn't interrupt him with games or much conversation—they simply joined him when they found him in either the library or the house common room. Even a month into the new term, Harry found himself obsessing over Potions. He completed his assignments with much more care than previously. He also found he couldn't bear the thought of not being able to answer any question that might come his way during class.
"Can you quiz me on Potions?" Harry asked Hermione as they sat studying in the commons room on a Sunday night. Ron played Wizard chess with Dean as he and Hermione sat before the fire.
"Sure, Harry." She took out her notes and flipped through them. Quietly, she said, "Harry, are you all right?"
Harry chewed his lip a moment. "Don't I seem all right?" He really had been working hard to act normally.
She lifted a shoulder in lieu of a shrug. "You are much quieter, and you act differently around Professor Snape."
Harry hadn't told them precisely what had happened, just an overview—an almost misleading one, in fact. "He makes me nervous."
"He's always done that. You've been downright obedient lately. It's really odd." Now that the topic was open, Hermione looked to be going for the truth.
Harry re-stacked his textbooks more neatly beside him. "I don't want to talk about it," he stated evenly. He didn't want to think about how undone he felt. How vulnerable. How if Snape wanted to destroy him, as he had seemed to try to do before, how easy it would be now.
Hermione watched him as he fell silent. Very quietly, she asked, "Did he hurt you, Harry?"
"Who?" When she huffed like a laugh and rolled her eyes, Harry added, "No." He felt his face heating up and that bothered him too.
"You just seem frightened of him, is all. Cowed," she commented as she went back to her notes. "And you are working really hard in his class," she added as though that were the strangest part of it.
Harry fidgeted with his empty hands before taking up a quill to make it stop. He didn't reply. She waited a long time, as though to give him a chance to speak, before she started quizzing him on the next few Potions readings.
