A/N:
Back to the wedding we go! And Nagini shows up again, cuter, cuddlier, and brattier than ever. I think I like Nagini.
5. The Introduction of Astoria Malfoy
Harry got up from his chair while Draco went towards a tall woman with blond hair in heavy waves down her back, like a glittering waterfall. She was dressed in a dress and not in robes. It looked like velvet, ice blue velvet, it was close-fitting down to her knees where it flowed behind her in a small train. At her throat, in her ears and on her fingers; jewels sparkled and shone in the candlelight. Diamonds and pale sapphires, if Harry was any judge at all, and he had become quite a good judge after he and Hermione looted some pure-blood's manor. After killing the owners of said manor in combat on the other side of the country. Looting was better than starving, better than freezing and better than being caught robbing Muggles on the street. Even though they had done all that, and more, several times during the war.
The first thing Harry thought of when he saw Astoria Malfoy was a Muggle fairy-tale about the Snow Queen. Astoria Malfoy was the Snow Queen come to life.
Except, the smile when she saw him and held out her hands to greet him, could probably melt any heart and any snow castle in the world, even a magical one. It was real warmth, Harry saw, not fake or sinister at all. She might be a Slytherin, and she had been an enemy until some hours ago, but that smile was not something shared with someone you didn't want to like. And she had talked Draco into trying to befriend him and she had gotten hold of Dobby and asked him to serve as Harry's personal elf. Those were two possible allies in a situation where Harry had been prepared to never see a friendly face again. It was also obvious that she herself planned to be ally and friend number three.
Of course, if Voldemort decided he didn't like that Harry had allies, even allies that were undoubtedly on his side, there wasn't anything any of them could do.
And if they should be false, if they simply want to spy on me or use me, I'm not worse off than I was this morning when I didn't believe I would have any friends or allies here, he thought.
"Harry, may I present Astoria Malfoy to you, my wife and partner in life. Astoria dear, let me officially introduce you to Harry Potter."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter, formally, I mean." Astoria gripped his hands in hers, and her ice blue, but still warm eyes, sparkled at him. "Truly. Draco has told me so much about you."
Strangely, Harry didn't mind her touch much, not when his usual response to someone's proximity was to lash out, if the person in question wasn't Hermione. He had gritted his teeth for hours during the ceremony and the bloody reception line.
"I doubt he was able to say anything nice, seeing as we were boyhood rivals and adult enemies." Harry shrugged a bit. "Call me Harry, if you would."
"I would like that, thank you, and call me Astoria, please. There were many tales of boyhood stupidity, that is true, but also some of admiration and jealousy. Even if I was there myself, I have had to hear about how you outflew that dragon during the Tri-Wizard tournament several times."
"Let me guess; both the admiration and the jealousy are mostly broom related?"
"You are not wrong!" Astoria laughed like tinkling bells and people around them turned and looked at her with smiles on their faces. Even Harry had to smile a bit at that laugh.
Astoria held out a slender hand and moments later Draco handed her a champagne flute that he got from a circulating elf. Harry realized she was a bit too perfect, if even Draco, spoiled pure-blood prince that he was, looked worn after the war, then her perfect and unmarked skin and sparkling eyes were surely misleading. He looked closer and saw the places around her face that were just a little blurry. She was under a glamour and Harry didn't find it in himself to begrudge her that. They were at the end of a long, bloody and exhausting war. If she wanted to sparkle for a night, why shouldn't she?
"Yes," Astoria murmured when she saw him take a closer look at her, before he realized that he probably was rather rude, "I have my own scars. Not as bad as some, but still … Enough for me to wish them gone, if only for a night." She didn't seem to despise him for his rudeness.
Harry nodded at her and let her eyes roam his face and notice the heavy scarring that he hadn't even contemplated hiding, not even for a night. He was too used to them by now.
"You will always be radiant, dear heart," Draco said in a low voice.
She smiled at her husband before looking at Harry again:
"How are you holding up, Harry?" she said with too much understanding in her voice. "Weddings are a stressful business, and yours is most likely not how you would have thought it would be."
"I have never thought of getting married at all, so I can't really say."
"Not at all? Not with someone of … your own choosing? Not a woman? What about Hermione Granger? She is still … well, I hope?" Suddenly she looked stricken, as if afraid she had touched an untouchable subject.
A lot of people knew that Hermione was still alive, they even knew where she was, so he said hurriedly:
"Hermi is as fine as she can be." She still couldn't speak much, even though she spoke more now than she had for months. It still hurt, but less and less. She was fast becoming a master of nonverbal magic, naturally, and she hadn't been bad to begin with. "And as for …"
"… the rest of my impertinent questions," Astoria broke in. "I am sorry I asked, it was not my place at all."
He shrugged. "I never thought about getting married at all, no. As for woman or man; I don't have any preferences, even if I should have thought about it. What about your wedding, Draco mentioned that it isn't too far in the past?"
I'm talking small talk with enemies, with Death Eaters! What the fuck is wrong with me!
Ruthlessly he showed the thought and the following feeling of despair down, deep inside himself. He would not break his promises to Hermione this soon.
He would not.
Astoria's face softened and she looked at Draco and took his hand in hers.
"We had a beautiful winter wedding, like I always wanted," she said. "It was on the smaller side, but perfect in every way. Can you guess; I got wed in pants and not the standard gown or even wedding robes! The scandal!" She giggled like a little girl who knew she was doing something naughty and loving it. "My mother would have …" She stopped abruptly and her face hardened, she closed her eyes a moment before opening them and continuing.
"Anyway, Draco was dead set against it and told me that if I wanted to marry in pants, of all things, he could as well get married with his Death Eater mask on. I told him no, but if he wished he could have a veil, we could even find a black one for him, if he wanted." She laughed and Harry surprised himself by laughing with her. Draco was burning up beside Astoria, but he still held her hand and didn't look like he wanted to storm away.
"But it was a perfect day, it truly was," Astoria said when she was able to stop laughing. Harry waited for some barb or biting comment to erupt from Draco, after he had been humiliated in front of Harry, but nothing came. Draco just watched his wife in wonder and shook his head.
"It was a long time coming, but well worth the wait," Astoria said softly and smiled at her husband.
"May I ask what the hilarity in this corner is all about?" The voice was low, cold and surprisingly melodious. He had come from the side while Harry was laughing and had neither seen nor heard him approach. Harry started and turned his back completely to the wall again.
Voldemort watched him through red eyes, but not suspiciously, Harry thought, more curiously. His new husband was dressed in robes of black and Slytherin green, and while he still was pale and still lacked hair; he no longer looked like he had the night he had used Harry's blood to resurrect himself in that graveyard. More than a decade in the past now.
He had a complete face now, for one, with a straight nose and full lips. The face was also filled out more with prominent cheekbones. Both the deadly paleness and the hint of scales was gone, as was his gaunt look and skeleton-like fingers. It was like his whole body had been fleshed out. If he had had body hair he would look downright normal. Well, hair and a different eye colour. While he still spoke extremely correctly and old fashioned, he also didn't whisper hiss anymore and there was only a slight sibilant sound to his speech from time to time.
"My Lord," Astoria and Draco bowed low. She was still smiling when she straightened. "I was only telling Harry about our wedding day and the whole mess with the veil."
Voldemort looked at Harry and Harry swore he could see a smirk there, in his face if not on his lips. "You should ask to see the bridal photo when you get the opportunity, Harry, it is something to remember."
Astoria nodded. "I would very much like to show it to you."
Draco was blushing again, and again not lashing out, either at Astoria or towards the more likely target; Harry.
"Then I would like to see it," Harry said, and wondered if Draco really had gotten married with a veil.
"Dinner will be served soon." Voldemort held out an arm towards Harry and with an inward shudder Harry realized that Voldemort wanted Harry to accompany him to the table. Which meant that Harry not only had to stay close to him but touch him.
As fast as he could, he steeled himself and put his arm on Voldemort's, the way Voldemort had demanded they walk down the aisle after the ceremony and stand together before the receiving line started. Harry could handle shaking hands with people in front of him and he could handle a great deal of closeness when he really had to, like in combat or when helping to get people to safety or when healing people, but other than that … He loathed it. He wanted to strike out more than anything and he heard his own heart like a battle drum in his head. The world around him was blurring and dimming.
"Harry, you are not breathing." Voldemort's voice was low and almost silken while they walked into the big dining room with dozens of smaller tables. All eyes were on them. To Harry, it sounded like a threat.
"I hope you didn't imagine you were marrying someone untouched by years of war, or you," Harry said between his teeth, for the moment too far gone to consider any possible ramifications.
Enemies, danger, to many people, too much sound. He had to breathe to talk, and the world brightened a bit, but his head hurt, and his blood pounded, and adrenaline was washing through him in waves. His body tingled and trembled.
The drum was going berserk in his head.
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
"You are too damn close!" he choked out.
A moment later Voldemort let go of his arm and took half a step away, still close, far too close, but … better.
Harry concentrated on breathing and got his heart rate under control, even if the adrenaline still made his body tingle. He turned slightly to look at Voldemort. Voldemort looked back without much of an expression.
Harry looked away again, taking a couple of deep breaths and completely ignored all the people looking at him, at them, standing there in the middle of the floor. When the world righted itself completely and the battle drum was fading, he looked at Voldemort again and gave a nod. They proceeded towards their table, Harry getting a clue from Voldemort's direction.
It looked at bit as if Voldemort considered taking his chair for him, but even before Harry realized that and began to stiffen with the thought of Voldemort behind, Voldemort moved his hand, and the chair drew itself out from the table. Harry gave Voldemort another nod and sat down with his new husband on his left at the head of the table.
The rest of the table began to fill in, with Astoria to the right of Harry and Draco right across from him. Harry barely managed to conceal his frown. It seemed that the friendliness those two had showed him really was part of a bigger plan. They were his age and even if they had never been remotely friendly before, it wasn't such a stretch to imagine him getting along with them, probably easier than with Voldemort. And with them at his side, Voldemort would always know what Harry was up to.
He didn't like that thought, not at all, but again; he couldn't really do anything about it. It would be too troublesome to keep them away if they insisted on staying close, and if he always remembered that they answered to and followed Voldemort, and always would, he could consider them friendly associates.
The rest of the table filled in. Severus Snape had survived the war too, as had Madam Amelia Bones. The three others at the table were not known to Harry, even if he had seen them before. He spotted Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy at another table and for the very first time that day he was grateful that Hermione wasn't there. She would have gone for Lucius' throat, no questions asked. It was hard enough for Harry to remain seated. He looked down to hide his scowl.
"Wine, or something else, Harry?" Voldemort asked.
"The beer Dobby gave me earlier was good, thanks."
An elf served them both with a snap of his fingers and went on to take the drink orders for Astoria and the rest of the table.
"You don't like wine? No kind of wine?" Voldemort asked, because that is apparently what crazy bastards ask their new spouses during the wedding dinner. He took a sip of his own red wine.
"I like it just fine, but I have unfortunately made it a habit of drinking too much of it at once and therefore I have some less than good memories of drinking wine." He didn't mention that it was wine he and Hermione always drank in commemoration of lost friends and allies. "And beer gives me a better … sense of when it's enough, before I cross that line." He lifted his glass towards Voldemort. "It's safer for everyone this way, and I really do like beer."
Voldemort hesitated and then saluted Harry with his wine glass.
"The colour of your robes suits you," he commented.
What the fuck is going on?! More small talk! A compliment! From the fucking Dark Lord!
"Thank you," he said slowly, "it's Hermione's doing. I wanted something I knew I would like, and I didn't actually realize that you had something else planned."
He wasn't going to apologize for wearing his own choice of robes. It was one of the other rules he had promised Hermione to live by, to the best of his ability.
"The colour reminds me of dried blood," Voldemort said, and Harry almost choked on his beer.
You would know! You crazy murderous bastard!
He actually managed to not say it aloud, but he couldn't stop the dark chuckle that escaped him after he had stopped coughing. Harry knew very well how close the colour came to that of dried blood, he had worn that colour plenty of times, and seen it on people he had killed himself.
He might not have started out crazy, but he was far from stable now.
He had killed his first man at the age of eleven, in self-defence, but still, it hadn't gotten much better after that.
As for bastard, a lot of people called him that, along with a lot of other, even less pleasant, epithets.
"That was funny?" Voldemort asked silkily, but when Harry looked at him, he didn't really believe it had been a threat. The curiosity was back in Voldemort's red eyes.
Weirder and weirder.
"No, not unless your humour is really dark and damned twisted."
"Yet you laughed; you would say your own humour is dark?"
"Oh yes."
The first course showed up on their plates and Harry began to eat.
The last few weeks he had been eating better than he had in years, on strict orders from Hermione. Both to fatten himself up so he had more energy than he usually had, and to get used to richer food. He didn't look as starved anymore, but it would take a long time before he would look anything like healthy. He had almost pilfered the canteen and the kiosks at St. Mungo's daily in a way he hadn't before, in addition to steal Muggle money on the street to be able to eat at home too. And he had built up a cash stash of Muggle money for Hermione so she would be able to live more easily when St. Mungo's released her. He didn't want her to overdo her use of magic the first few weeks on her own, or to break any laws after the treaty was signed.
"I wanted to say thank you for finding Dobby, Astoria," Harry said between the first course and the main course. "That was … kind of you, and totally unexpected."
"I like doing the unexpected." She smiled and sipped her wine. "Draco gave me the idea, of course, when he told me the story of how you tricked Mr. Malfoy to release Dobby. You should have been in Slytherin, with that kind of cunning as a twelve-year-old."
"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin at first, but I begged it not to. It put me in Gryffindor instead, I always felt that was the right place for me."
"Why would you do that?" Astoria blinked.
"I had met this prick of a boy on the train, he did not give a good first, or actually second, impression, and I didn't want to be in the House I had already seen him been sorted into. In addition … according to … someone, all Slytherins were evil and the wizard that killed my parents had also been in that House. For an eleven-year-old with no information on the Wizarding World whatsoever, that was more than enough to want to go anywhere else than to Slytherin."
Astoria nodded. "I can see that."
"Looking back now, I recognize that a lot of people, including the Headmaster, were extremely prejudiced against Slytherins, but then again; you lot didn't always make it hard, either." Harry's eyes went towards Severus Snape who was talking quietly to the witch next to him.
Astoria was slowly nodding now, with an uncomfortable look on her face and Harry wanted to change that look.
"What are you going to do now, or what have you been doing that you want to do more off, now that I assume it will be easier?" he asked.
"Oh, I have been studying to become a Healer. We don't have as many Healers as we did, and healing is always a necessary profession. I know I don't actually have to work, but I want to, so I will. Despite what some might say …" She cast a dark glance at Lucius Malfoy and then looked back at Harry. "I haven't chosen a specific aspect to Master yet, but seeing as we are at the end of a war, I'm contemplating curse breaking relative to the human body and the removal of scars, both from curses and not, or mind healing. Both aspects of healing seem useful and fascinating."
Harry felt himself nodding to her as she talked about the two paths she was considering, while now and then bringing Draco into the conversation for a while. Voldemort sat next to Harry and just … watched and listened, Harry presumed, without making much of himself at all.
They got through the main course and were waiting for the dessert before Harry felt a chill go through him. He had listened to and talked to Astoria for far too long for it to be natural. After less than a day of knowing her, he was actually smiling at her and thinking that he liked her, and Harry didn't like people. That was the general rule now. It had been the general rule for years. Harry didn't like people. And yet … he liked Astoria Malfoy. Nothing romantic, but still far too much.
That wasn't good, and it couldn't be natural.
"Astoria?"
She broke off mid-sentence and looked directly at him. He met her gaze.
"What are you doing?" His voice was low, but still, he could hear the growl in it.
Draco and Voldemort quieted their conversation, and Voldemort leaned a bit closer to Harry.
"What?" Astoria blinked.
"I don't like people," Harry said, still with the growl.
It was hard not to grab her and shake the truth out of her, but he realized that he didn't have any proof of anything, and both he and Hermione worked hard to keep their paranoia in check. Considering where he was right now, he felt he was allowed a certain amount of paranoia, but not enough to lay hands in Astoria.
Yet.
Her eyes narrowed, and then they went huge.
"But you are inclined to like me and that doesn't seem natural to you, so you think I'm doing something?"
Harry nodded once.
"Oh, I see." Slowly she drew her wand and made a movement with it, a nonverbal truth binding spell. "I swear on my magic that I do not do anything at all to make Harry Potter think well of me, besides being myself with the charisma, personality traits and conversational gifts I have naturally gathered and sharpened through my life."
Harry thought about her words while watching the spell stay a steady golden.
"Do you have anyone doing anything for you to that effect? Or anyone that already has done something?"
"No one has helped me win your good will, and no one is helping me now."
The steady gold colour of the spell stayed until det spell faded.
Harry didn't think the words made it possible for her to twist her meaning, and he was still Harry Potter, even after the wedding. Voldemort hadn't so much as mentioned giving Harry another name, and Harry was satisfied with the one he had, even if he should have liked it to be a bit less famous. But that was going to get worse now, he was sure.
"Right." He looked at Astoria when she tucked her wand into her sleeve again. "Thank you."
"Think nothing of it. I have been told that I have a winning personality and that I'm easy to like; you wouldn't be the first one to find yourself liking me when you don't think you should. If you seldom have any reason to like or trust people, it won't be the work of a moment to change that. I hope you do not think me ill-advised that I have decided to try, anyway?"
"Keep out of easy reach and be prepared for a lot of hostility, and who knows, maybe you will even succeed, in twenty years or so." He emptied his second glass of beer and asked for water in addition to a third glass, just to be sure.
Astoria laughed and raised her glass towards him. "Challenge accepted, Mr. Potter, challenge accepted."
Harry saluted her with his fresh glass and turned away from her to glance towards Voldemort. Nagini had partly curled up on his lap; partly because she was so big, she wouldn't be able to fit all of her on his lap. Draco struggled to not look at her while he talked to Snape. Voldemort was stroking her head and neck while listening to her telling him about what she saw and scented when Draco and Harry had talked earlier that night.
"Are you gossiping about me, Nagini?" Harry asked in Parseltongue. "It truly was none of your business."
Voldemort's hand stilled on her neck for a moment and Harry looked at him, a bit worried that he accidentally had broken some taboo by talking to his familiar in front of him, but he couldn't for the life off him interpret the look in Voldemort's eyes as any kind of hostile. The look could maybe be surprise or interest or curiosity, it sure was something, some kind of emotion, but Harry couldn't guess what. Voldemort partly lowered his eyelids and Nagini turned towards Harry.
"My Master should know when his consort needs help, how else can he know to help him?"
"And again, none of your business, Nagini."
"I think otherwise." She stuck out her tongue at him in a way that made Harry believe that she wasn't catching his scent. A very human gesture.
"Then we will have to agree to disagree."
"I'm right, young consort, and you are in the wrong." She sounded unbearably smug.
"Charming snake you've got there," Harry commented snidely, still in Parseltongue.
"Indeed, I think so." Voldemort stroked her head and watched Harry from below his half-lowered eyelids. There was a definite smirk in his tone and dragging at his lips. Nagini butted her head happily against his hands.
"How long is she, anyway? I have always just gone with 'enormous'?"
"Just above three and a half meters."
"A bit big to be petted then, maybe?"
Nagini turned so fast and hissed irritably that he just sat there, staring into her mouth, watching venom drip from her fangs.
"I like it when the Master pets me!" she hissed.
This is so weird, Harry thought while stretching out his hand and poking Nagini lightly on the nose, right above her deadly fangs. I should be absolutely terrified. She is a man-eater, literally! Why aren't I terrified, and why am I touching her?! This is bloody weird! It's official; I have cracked!
"You shouldn't hiss at me on my wedding day, Nagini, I'm certain that it's impolite. And if you like to be petted, just say that. There is no need for threatening displays. I might not agree with you putting your cute nose into my business, but I will respect your opinions as they concern yourself and your preferences."
Cute! I called her cute! What the hell is going on?!
The chuckle that came from Voldemort was dark and smooth and Harry wished that he shivered only out of fear. There was fear, but it was also more … There was something … else. He didn't like it. Not one bit.
"He is right, my dear, do not hiss at him on our wedding day."
"Yes, Master." She moved across the table towards Harry. "You may pet me, if you wish, young consort."
"So, you are going to make up for your bad attitude by demanding pets that you prefer?" Harry could feel his own amusement stretch to his lips, even while he got his lap full of enormous snake and began petting her smooth, cool scales, like he had done it all his life.
"Dobby!"
"Yes, Mister Harry Potter sir!" Dobby stood by his chair, stiff as aboard and looked with big yellow-green eyes at Nagini that slowly wound her way around Harry, all the while being petted.
"Please take the rest of my beer and give me more water. I'm not to have any more alcohol tonight, other than butterbeer, and not before it has gone an hour. You are to say no to me if I should ask and tell the other elves, please. I think I must have gone over my limit, without noticing, even though two and half glasses of beer never should have made any difference at all."
And I'm still not panicking while a bloody big snake has me in her coils. Why aren't I panicking!
It was too weird, too not normal, but even as he watched Dobby take away his beer and felt Nagini coil around his shoulders and put her head atop his, he didn't really mind. He who couldn't stand to be close to people, who could hardly tolerate touch, was now pretty much incapacitated by a deadly snake. Had allowed himself to be caught this way, without as much as a protest.
This was not good; this was not right. And the panic that now was setting in was because he knew something was wrong with him because of his reactions, not because he was rolled into a snake, and that made it even worse.
Suddenly Nagini more or less fell off him, slithered to the floor and came up again with just her head in his lap.
"No need to be afraid, young consort, Nagini would not hurt you." She reared higher and looked him in the face. "Nagini would not harm you." She smelled him. "There is no need for that kind of fear, is it Master? The young consort need not be afraid?"
"No, Nagini, there is no need for him to be afraid," Voldemort said softly.
Harry noticed he didn't say anything about reason.
"Harry, is this a performance in Gryffindor courage, or something else?" Draco asked while he watched in fascinated horror while Nagini slid against Harry's body and lay still against his chest, with her head and neck around his neck. Her head and big teeth was very close to Harry's jugular. And it still didn't bother him, even the panic that he felt because of the wrongness of his feelings had receded some.
"I want to say Gryffindor courage, but I'm very much afraid it is something else," Harry stated, while petting Nagini.
"Oh?" Astoria turned around from her other table partner and looked at Harry and Nagini. "But she is such a lovely creature, Harry, and if she permits it, quite cuddly."
And I have shared her head with Voldemort while she attacked and tried to kill Arthur Weasley. Not to mention all the hideously maimed people I have seen when she joined a battle. They died horrific deaths, because of this snake, now resting her head on my shoulder.
"This … this lack of negative reaction is still … very unusual for me …" Harry's voice was low and soft, as if even saying anything too loud would bring all the panic back in one ugly wave. "I should not feel remotely alright in this situation."
Astoria frowned and drew her wand. "With your permission?"
She looked at Harry and not at Voldemort, but Harry wondered if he nodded behind Harry's back. After all, if he was the one that had done something to make this happen, it was doubtful he wanted Astoria to meddle.
"Go ahead," Harry said, and Astoria did.
Several diagnostics spells later she put her wand away and went to interrogate the house elves in the kitchen. She came back with a frown.
"There is no way anyone could have put anything untoward into your food or drink, Harry. All our elves are loyal and very cautious. No one unauthorised has been close to the food or the drinks. The food plates are even prepared and given out randomly. Just in case though …" She took his untouched dessert plate and switched it with hers, then checked both of them with a few swipes of her wand and murmured spells. She looked at him again. "Nothing. Could it be simply … overload? I mean … That you can't take in anymore, even the panic that you think Nagini warrants?"
"I can feel the panic over the wrongness of the situation just fine," Harry said.
"Then I simply do not know, Harry, I'm sorry."
"Thanks for trying."
"Have you considered that you just aren't afraid of her … She doesn't act hostile, after all."
"I booped her on the nose while she displayed her fangs and hissed at me." Harry raised an eyebrow, and still he was petting Nagini. He could even admit that he liked the weight of her around his shoulders, even though the chair took most of her weight, naturally. And he liked the feel of her smooth scales underneath his hand, the soft sound of her hissing and the flicks of her tongue. It was … soothing, and it really, really, shouldn't be.
Astoria tried not to smile, she tried hard, but it shone through her ice blue eyes. "Hmm, yes, I see, that does not seem … quite normal, does it? But at least she won't hurt you, even if you aren't afraid of her. Being fearless in this case, is safe."
"Fear is the thing that has kept me alive all these years."
Right now, he was afraid he would start to pick fights if he stopped being afraid of the consequences of his actions. There were so many people here he would like to see bleeding and hurting, or stone-cold dead.
Astoria looked with unseeing eyes across the room. "You are right, of course," she whispered, then shook herself and looked at him. "Maybe you should keep Nagini with you, to stop you from doing anything foolish and to protect you should something happen. Later we will figure out how far this strange fearlessness extends. My Lord, would you permit your familiar to watch over Harry the rest of the night?"
Harry turned his head towards Voldemort and met his red gaze just as the man said:
"Of course, they seem to be quite well acquainted already, and it appears Harry is excellent at petting."
Did I just get a babysitter? Why yes, I fucking did. I should have kept my mouth shut, and I knew that! I knew it!
Nagini hissed in satisfaction when Voldemort told her to keep close to Harry in case Harry should figure out that he wasn't afraid of other things, other things that might hurt him when Nagini would not.
Contrary to popular belief amongst the Death Eaters Harry had fought during the war, Harry did in fact know when he was beaten. And with a great snake across his chest and around his shoulders, he ate his dessert without another word, silently noticing the sympathetic glances from Draco, the amused ones from Voldemort and Astoria and the horrified ones from Snape, Madame Bones and the others at the table.
A/N:
I try to always keep some chapters ahead of schedule, and I am at this moment writing chapter 17, about 66 000 words into the story. There really shouldn't be a problem with posting one chapter a week any time soon, but, of course, you never know what life throws at you.
This chapter was beta read by Lillaladylove. Thank you, darling!
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!