Chapter 5 – Sunday, 13 October 1996
Harry groaned as he tried to roll over when he woke. "That was unwise," he thought dryly. Trying to move as little as possible, Harry sent out his right arm to hunt for his wand. Giving up a minute later, remembering he had relocated it to the nightstand when Draco had started to get belligerent, he sighed and resigned himself to having to drag his sorry arse out of the bed one screaming muscle at a time.
Lights quarter, Harry hissed softly and proceeded to slowly untangle himself from his bed companion. Groaning again, he slowly made his way to the side of the bed. Harry picked up his wand and recast his previous spell, wondering how long he had slept.
"Wow. 11:02. I haven't slept that late since my own transition," Harry snorted to himself. "And Draco is," Harry paused to check the bond, "still completely out, thank Merlin. I'm in desperate need of hot water."
"Lots and lots of hot water," Harry murmured to himself as he slowly trudged towards the bathroom.
An undetermined amount of time later, Harry felt Draco starting to wake and quickly finished showering. Not in the mood to fuss with the remainder of his ablutions, Harry grabbed his wand and cast a hair-combing charm following by a couple drying charms and a mouth cleansing charm. Grabbing a hand towel and wetting it down with warm water, Harry left to go tend to Draco.
Leaving a highly disgruntled former-blond ten minutes later, Harry returned the hand towel to the bathroom and went to the food box to find something appropriate for the two of them to eat. Deciding on tomato soup, he brought out a self-contained serving and activated the heating charms on the mug. Grabbing a spoon, Harry went back to the bed and set the now-steaming mug on the nightstand near Draco. Harry helped Draco sit and began stacking pillows against the headboard behind him. Draco scowled but allowed the help and collapsed back onto the pillows once they were ready. Harry climbed onto the bed, settled himself near Draco, and reached over to grab the soup and spoon.
"You'd better not be thinking of feeding me, Potter," Draco groused, still annoyed at the earlier "bath" Harry had given him.
Harry raised an eyebrow and wordlessly held the spoon out at chest height. Draco reached for it, even managed to grab it with little trouble, and then watched in dismay as his hand shook uncontrollably. It was quite obvious that he'd get soup all over everything and probably none into his mouth. Draco closed his eyes, lowered his arm, and uttered a heartfelt, "Shite."
Harry reclaimed the spoon and waited for Draco to resign himself to the situation.
"Not a word, Potter. You hear me?" Draco said, opening his eyes and glaring at Harry.
Harry nodded seriously and held out a spoonful of soup for Draco. Draco took the mouthful obediently and rolled the soup around on his tongue, a look of surprise coming to his face.
"This tastes like the tomato soup from Anton's in Diagon Alley," Draco said.
"It is," Harry replied. "They have a side owl-order business where they sell all of their dishes in single-serving containers spelled for stasis with an automatic temperature charm. They're mostly for people who want to pick up a quick dinner on the way home, but they're also great for people going on extended stays into remote areas. So goes the advertising, at any rate. Of course, for myself, I found them perfect for my food box," Harry waved the spoon at an ornately carved chest that Draco would have thought held something more valuable than dinner.
"Clever," Draco said, impressed.
"I thought so. Also, quite convenient for me," Harry said, offering another spoonful of soup.
Draco took the bite and nodded. Five minutes and half a mug of soup later, Draco turned his head to the side tiredly, "No more."
"All right," Harry agreed and began eating the remaining portion.
Draco grimaced at Harry. "You should get yourself another spoon, Harry."
Raising an eyebrow, and seeing a delightful opportunity to tease the other boy a bit, Harry replied, "I'll be tasting a lot more intimate places on your body than your mouth by the end of the week, Draco. I hardly think sharing a spoon is a problem."
"Harry!" Draco protested, flushing in embarrassment and a sudden flare of lust.
"I could tell you all about it, if you like," Harry offered innocently, knowing Draco would refuse.
"No!" Draco replied, still bright red.
Laughing, Harry replied, "All right. Is there anything you would like to talk about, then?"
Draco laid his head back on the pillows and sighed. "I don't know. I can't think of anything right off. Ask me later. Finish the soup."
"Hmmm," Harry replied and did just that.
Several minutes later Harry walked the empty mug back over to his food box and placed it in the compartment he had reserved for dirty dishes from Anton's. No sense in banishing them since the restaurant offered a rebate on them. Walking back to Draco, Harry once again admired his companion's pure white hair.
Sitting once again, Harry lightly stroked Draco's arm. "You still awake?" He asked softly.
"Yes," Draco replied slowly, opening his eyes to gaze at Harry.
Giving Draco a mischievous smile, Harry asked, "Don't you want to know what gift you received?"
Draco widened his eyes. He couldn't believe the thought hadn't occurred to him already to check his hair! Lifting a trembling hand, he reached up for a lock and pulled it over his shoulder to examine it.
"Merlin," Draco breathed, staring in wonderment at his pure white hair.
Several moments passed before Draco started to laugh in wonder and delight. He turned his face and grinned at Harry in unmasked joy. Harry grinned back at him wholeheartedly.
"Congratulations," Harry said with new affection.
"A Healer! Merlin! A Healer!" Draco laughed. "I've always wanted to be a medi-wizard even though father didn't like the idea." Draco's face fell as he thought of his father. "Father won't like it," he said sorrowfully.
"Then your father can sod off. I think it's grand," Harry said and was glad to see the joyous expression return to Draco's face.
"What's your gift? You must have gotten one; you're at least as powerful as me," Draco asked curiously, still smiling widely.
Harry smiled and shook his head. "Nope. Not telling. I want you to concentrate on how to express your gift, not mine. I'll tell you later."
"All right. Fair enough," Draco agreed.
"How about I rub you down and tuck you in for a nap?" Harry said.
"A nap? I've been awake less than an hour," Draco replied in disbelief.
"And you're just bounding with energy, I can tell," Harry said, rolling his eyes while shaking his head and smiling at his companion.
Draco grinned ruefully and nodded his head, giving his hair one last look before letting Harry help him to lie down again. He was asleep before Harry finished with his arms.
Draco dragged his eyes open and looked over to where he heard sounds of quill on parchment. Harry turned to him and smiled. Draco smiled back. "How long have I been asleep? What time is it?"
"A couple of hours or so. It's," Harry stopped and cast the time charm, "nearly quarter of three."
Draco blinked in shock. "A quarter of three?"
"Yes. You hungry?" Harry asked, completely unconcerned about the time.
"Uh. Yeah. A bit," Draco replied, still somewhat surprised at the time.
"Would you like more tomato soup?"
Draco cocked his head slightly to the side, considering the meals Anton's offered. "Do you have borsht?"
"I believe so," Harry answered, getting up from the small desk he had been sitting at to go to his food box.
Bringing a mug and spoon back to the bed, Harry once again arranged a pile of pillows for Draco to lean against and then sat close to Draco and offered him the utensil silently. Draco eyed it warily but gamely reached for it. Sighing in disgust at his shaking hand, Draco didn't bother to protest when Harry retrieved the spoon and began feeding him. Once again Draco turned his head away when he felt he couldn't eat anymore and Harry finished the soup.
"You should try to stay awake for a while," Harry encouraged, dealing with the dirty dishes. "Maybe we could talk."
Draco nodded. "I'm feeling pretty awake still," he agreed.
"What would you like to talk about? I know you don't want to talk about sex," Harry added slyly, laughing when Draco blushed and shook his head vehemently.
"How about you explain that rambling monologue to me? The one about how you found this place," Draco said.
"All right," Harry said agreeably, returning to the bed to assemble his own pile of pillows next to Draco to lie against.
"Well, as I'm sure you remember, in our third year Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban and was supposedly after me. At one point the guardian portrait for the Gryffindor was slashed up, even, from Sirius trying to get to me. At the time, I got a bit nervous about him finding me and started to wonder where I could go that he wouldn't be able to get to me."
Harry glanced at Draco and saw him paying attention avidly. "The first place I thought about was the Chamber of Secrets, but I really didn't want to go down there. Bad memories and all."
"You've been in the Chamber of Secrets?" Draco asked, astounded. "I thought that was just a myth!"
Harry looked at Draco curiously. "No. It's real," he said. "I'm actually quite surprised you didn't know that. Voldemort knows, so I figured your father did and so you did." Harry ignored the flinch from Draco when he said the dark lord's name.
"No. I didn't know. Would you take me down there one day?" Draco asked, curiously. Harry had said it held bad memories, but maybe he would take Draco down for a few minutes to look around anyway.
Harry looked away. "Maybe. Ask another time." Harry snorted in amusement and said, "Maybe on a marmalade day."
Draco grinned at him. "All right. So, your first thought was the Chamber of Secrets…"
"Right. But I didn't want to go there. I started thinking, though. The Chamber is not all that glamorous," Harry gave Draco a pointed glance, to which the other boy simply shrugged, "and I couldn't imaging Salazar Slytherin spending any time there. I began to wonder if there were other places he may have hidden around the castle. Being a founder and all."
Draco nodded. "Sensible."
Harry continued, "I started looking around the castle as I was walking to classes and every once in a while I would notice a snake where I hadn't ever noticed one before. Carvings. Inlays. Tapestries. Etcetera. I thought maybe I could try talking to them to see if they would talk back or if they did anything when I said certain words."
"Like open," Draco said dryly.
Harry grinned. "Yes, like open."
"Go on," Draco said eagerly.
"So I started walking around the castle talking to snakes. I figured that everyone already knew I was a parselmouth and if they were going to have another hissy fit about me using my ability then to hell with the lot of them. It was my ability, and I knew I wasn't a dark wizard, so why not use it?" Harry said somewhat challengingly.
Draco simply nodded and kept silent.
"I had this chant going of everything to say to one of the snakes. Hello. Open. Close. Up. Down. Left. Right. North. South. East. West. I used the directions because I noticed that the snakes seemed to always point in one of the directions and thought it might be significant. I also said please and thank you."
Draco gave a soft laugh at this last statement and Harry grinned at him.
"You never know when it might be prudent to be polite to a snake," Harry admonished with light humor. "Well, one night, after having no luck whatsoever, I noticed one of my laces untied so I stopped in an alcove to retie it."
"The one we came in," Draco said in understanding.
Harry nodded. "Yes. Anyway, I was annoyed and cursing about my lack of success. What I didn't realize was that I was cursing in parseltongue."
"How can you not realize you're talking in parseltongue," Draco asked in amazement.
Harry shrugged. "It sounds like English to me. It's only if I'm paying attention that I can hear a bit of a hissing undertone."
"Fascinating," Draco said, raising his eyebrows.
"So there I was, tying my shoelace and cursing unresponsive, uncooperative snakes, when I suddenly found myself falling," Harry made a falling motion with his hand.
"The password is unresponsive, uncooperative snakes?" Draco asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe Salazar's passwords!
"Actually, it's just uncooperative snakes. No unresponsive at the beginning," Harry replied, enjoying Draco's expression.
"Why!" Draco asked, his disbelief written all over his face.
"Salazar had a bit of a temper but didn't want to yell when he got annoyed with his students, so he placed several of what he called quick exits all about the castle. That way he could escape his students, who weren't paying appropriate attention to his instructions, quickly. Hence: uncooperative snakes," Harry said with a small smile.
"Of course," Draco said dryly, shaking his head. "Go on."
"That's about it, really. I had a conversation with the door and it let me in to talk to Salazar. Salazar admitted to being quite bored and I agreed to come back on a regular basis. I've been coming here ever since and taking lessons from him."
"Why did Salazar agree to teach you?" Draco asked curiously. "It had to have been more than him being bored. Especially since you're not of his house."
Harry stared at Draco a moment, then answered softly, his hesitation obvious, "Actually, I am. The hat wanted me in Slytherin but I didn't want to go there, then."
Draco looked dumbstruck. Finally, he managed a quiet, "Why not?" A moment later, he added sadly, "It was me, wasn't it?"
Harry gave a small nod. "You have to understand where I was at that time. I'd been living with muggles who hated anything abnormal and that included me. It could have been worse, certainly, but I had a rather awful childhood. One of the worst things about it was my cousin; he was the neighborhood bully and I was his favorite target. I have a very immediate and negative reaction towards anyone that insults others, especially for something that isn't their fault. Rather a been there, done that, didn't like it one bit reaction. In Diagon Alley you had insulted Hagrid, who was the first person to ever really be nice to me. And I do mean that literally. Then on the train you insulted the first person my age that had ever been nice to me. I'm afraid I didn't give you much of a chance. I'm usually better at seeing between the lines. My only excuse is that I was a still a bit overwhelmed by the wizarding world and not thinking completely clearly."
"It's all right," Draco sighed. "I wasn't exactly being my normal charming self."
"True enough," Harry smiled at him. "So when it was my turn to be sorted, I told the hat not to put me in Slytherin. So it put me in Gryffindor instead. I have enough Gryffindor traits to be able to pass well enough, even if it's a pain most of the time."
"Too bad you can't be resorted," Draco said.
"Truly," Harry agreed with a small snort. "At least I have my lessons with Salazar, where I can drop my mask. And you, now."
Draco gave him a blinding smile, glad Harry considered him someone he could trust with his true face. "Yes."
Deciding they needed a much less serious topic to discuss, Draco asked curiously, "How did you keep everyone from finding out what you were doing?" Maybe he could come with Harry in the future, if he could keep everyone from getting suspicious.
Harry shook his head. "You'll have to ask Salazar," he said.
"All right," Draco agreed. "Who've you been writing to?" Draco asked suddenly.
Harry smiled slyly at Draco. "I've been writing for things for you," he said.
"For me," Draco said in surprise and excitement. "What!"
"Some books I thought you might like. Some books I thought you might hate but asked for and will have you look at anyway. Some books I thought might be good to have for your gift just on general principle. Anton's for more tomato soup. Some other things."
"Books I might hate," Draco said in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Muggle books. The muggles can be very ingenious and they're incessantly curious. They know a great deal about how the body is put together, how it works, and how to fix it, something I'm not sure wizards do. I ordered Gray's Anatomy, which is very comprehensive, and some other basic anatomy and physiology books. I also got some books on what muggles call first aid and also battlefield medicine. I don't know if it's true everywhere in the wizarding world, but I have noticed that here at Hogwarts there doesn't seem to be any first aid done. Everyone is just shunted off to Madame Pomphrey right away. I thought…Well, I thought, if there's a war and people get injured that there may not be enough time or energy for an immediate full healing or a place for people to recover quietly. People might have to make do with whatever they can get. I figured it would be nice if you knew what to do in that case. How to stabilize people and let them keep until they can be treated more thoroughly later and/or in a safer place," Harry said, ruffling his hair and pulling it over his scar.
Draco stared at Harry a moment then said softly, "There is wizard first aid. I took a class in it over the summer. You should take it. It's interesting, useful, and like you said, it could become important if there's a war. I'll look at the books. Thanks for getting them."
"You're not upset?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"No. Actually, they sound interesting. It'll be nice, I think, to see different perspectives on healing," Draco replied sincerely.
Harry grinned widely, relieved. "I'm glad you said that because I'm pretty sure there are at least a hundred muggle books coming."
"What! Why so many?" Draco asked, aghast. Surely Harry didn't expect him to read them all!
"They're all from different perspectives. I got some on allopathic medicine, some on homeopathic, some on anthroposophic, some on Indian and Chinese and…"
"Harry!" Draco exclaimed, interrupting, wanting to scold the other boy for what Draco thought seemed to be an excess of books. He closed his mouth, though, when he saw Harry's earnest expression. Instead, he smiled and said, "Thank you. I appreciate it. Did you perchance get any wizarding books?" He asked playfully.
Harry blushed a bit and laughed. "Yes. Gobs. You'll have a veritable library on healing by the time the week is out," he admitted, somewhat abashed.
Draco laughed. "Great. I think."
"You don't have to read them all this week," Harry allowed pompously.
"Thanks," Draco replied. He couldn't help but laugh at Harry's antics.
"You're welcome," Harry said, joining in Draco's laughter.
