Chapter Twenty Nine: A Request

Once they had Severus settled with his own glass of fire whiskey, the three men sat in silence for a moment. They were a strange group to be sure. One that had come to some unspoken truce over the summer, in order to help Harry. Sirius especially, had been surprised to find that he had actually started to have a bit of respect for the man who had taken so much time out of his summer to help his godson.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Remus asked nervously, breaking the ice. "You look like hell Severus."

Snape grimaced and rubbed his face, realizing how long it had been since he had shaved. "Yes, yes everything is fine." He answered distractedly. "It's been stressful, but the worst is over now. I came here to talk to you both about that, about Draco. But first, how is Harry? How did your first evening go?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances, but seeing the determined look on Snape's face Remus decided to answer instead of pressing him. "It was… tense… I think it's going to be an adjustment for all of us. The plan they are having us follow is certainly a different style of parenting than Harry is used to from us."

"But he ate his snack tonight, and no one was hurt in the process," Sirius added with a hint of sarcasm.

Snape sighed and ran a hand over his face again, looking conflicted. "I'm glad, that's good. I'm sure it will be a huge adjustment for all of you" he said distractedly. "Which is why I probably shouldn't even be here…"

"Just spit it out, Snape," Sirius said a bit impatiently. "Worst we can say is no, and goodness knows you've heard worse from me before."

Snape smiled a bit ruefully and nodded "Right, sorry. I didn't really think this through before I came over… I'm used to being more prepared before asking for help." He took a deep breath and looked up to meet the gaze of the two worried men on the other side of the table.

"Harry may have mentioned that Draco was hospitalized shortly after him?" he sighed "I'm guessing by your blank looks that he didn't. I can't say I'm surprised, he's a good friend." He took a large sip of his fire whiskey. "It turns out that the reason that Harry's relapse was exposed wasn't exactly because Draco was worried about him. When they came rushing to my office, and Harry passed out, they were racing. Draco had threatened to tell me about Harry's relapse in an effort to stop Harry from speaking to me about Draco."

Remus grimaced "So he's relapsed as well?"

"No," Snape grimaced, "well sort of. It's a long story, and I'm not surprised that Harry didn't fill you in on the details. It seems the boys were supporting each other in a sense, checking in after our potions lab each week. They were both aware that the other was struggling, but the day Harry passed out, he had found Draco injured… Draco had gone home for the weekend, and came back much worse for the wear. Harry insisted that they needed to tell someone, but Draco was trying to stop him. When Harry passed out Draco simply pretended that their fight had been about his relapse." Snape took another sip, allowing the men to take that in.

Sirius's face was dark. "So Lucius, he's been beating Draco?" He asked icily.

Snape nodded "It was the first time, or at least the first time that he had caused real damage. As you can imagine Draco isn't particularly forthcoming about it all. When Harry first woke up, he told me the truth, and I went to find Draco. He spent a few days in the hospital while they healed his physical injuries, and the report from his doctors was enough to get a temporary order of protection from Lucius and Narissa. I'm sure they will fight to the end to try and get him back, but the evidence was pretty damning. That's one of the things I was thankful for with Harry's case being so publicized, the wizarding community at large has finally taken a stronger stance against child abuse."

Remus shook his head sadly, "So what happens to Draco now?"

"Well," Snape said with a slight blush. "That's actually why I am here. I've been asked to take temporary custody, and I would be happy to. But Dumbledore feels it would compromise my position with the dark lord, and that we are in too pivotal a place to risk that. With the current plans in place, I hope to be able to take him in the next few months. But unless another temporary guardian can be found, he will spend that time in either St Mungo's psych ward, or a muggle group home."

"So you want us to take him?" Sirius didn't sound angry, just surprised.

Snape shrugged "A muggle group home can't handle him, and he wouldn't be safe. He's been at St Mungo's since the end of term but he doesn't belong there… I just thought, with how close he and Harry have been, that maybe you would consider it. Just until I can take him."

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but Remus jumped in, "Can you give us some time to think about it?" He asked quickly, shooting dagger eyes at Sirius. "Obviously we would love to help, and would normally be happy to have Draco, or really any child who needed a place to stay. But we need to think about how this might impact Harry too. We've only just brought him home…"

Snape nodded and stood "Of course, and Remus, I will completely understand if the answer is no. I haven't spoken to Draco about it yet because I know I'm asking a lot. If you two need to focus on Harry right now I will find another place for Draco."

He paused, again looking deeply tired, and then drained the last of his fire whiskey. "Oh, and I never talked to you two about Delores did I?" The blank looks of his schoolmates confirmed this. "Sigh, well you'll be getting an owl tomorrow, but I didn't want you to hear it that way first. I believe the story breaks in the prophet tomorrow as well, it's a miracle we've been able to keep it quiet this long." He slumped back down in his chair. "The DADA teacher, Delores Umbridge, is under investigation by the ministry for use of dark artifacts on students at Hogwarts in disciplinary situations. Specifically, a blood quill."

Sirius gasped, and Remus looked at his friend uncertinally. "I'm sorry, what's a blood quill?" He asked, dreading the answer.

Sirius frowned, his whole face dark and angry. "It's an ancient tool that was used by dark wizards to sign contracts, it literally writes using the users blood as ink, and scratching out the words written on their skin. It's magically binding, and using it on students is about as f***** dark as you can get."

Remus nodded, trying to absorb the information he had just been giving. "She was using it on students?" He clarified with Snape. "I'm getting a sinking feeling that this has to do with Harry…"

Severus nodded "Unfortunately it does. She was caught when Draco was hospitalized, apparently she and the young Mr. Malfoy were at odds quite a bit and he has received many such detentions. He gave me a list of students that he thought had also been subjected to the quill. I confirmed this with Harry when I visited him in the hospital, and it seems that he has not suffered any lasting ill effects from the quill, at least physically."

Sirius stood and started pacing "That b***! How dare she? That's dark, that's… ugh this kid can't catch a break! What the hell did she make him write?"

Severus stood and sighed, "He didn't volunteer that information, and seeing as he wasn't having any complications I didn't think I should pry. It seems that she covered her tracks by carefully wording their lines so that the students not only believed what they were writing, but were too ashamed to tell anyone. The woman is pure scum, she will rot in Azkaban for this I promise." And with that he stepped back into the fireplace and floo'd away, leaving the two guardians looking slightly lost.

The next morning Sirius woke with a nervous energy. He showered and dressed, which was unusual in itself given that it was not yet 6am, then found his way to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee and start Harry's breakfast. Kreacher muttered and complained about his kitchen being 'messed with' and Sirius fought the urge to throw a mallet at him.

He and Remus had stayed up for another two hours after Snape's visit, discussing what they should do. They had both agreed that they needed to talk to Harry about the blood quill, but Sirius wasn't holding his breath that they would get much out of him. So they planned to tell Lucy before his appointment today, hopefully one day she could get him to address it.

Their second dilemma was not so easily solved. Sirius shook his head as he thought of their argument, thankful that he had thought to cast a silencing spell when Snape had arrived.

"Well obviously we have to take him," He had said as he poured a second glass for each of them, something he was regretting now.

Remus had looked shocked, "Padfoot I don't think it's that simple" He said, his voice dangerously quiet.

Sirius had stood then, and started pacing. "He's a kid who can't go home, if we don't take him he's going to what? Rot on a psych ward until after the war? Mooney, what if it was Harry?"

Remus shook his head, pushing away the drink that had been poured for him. "I know, and I want to help, but it's not Harry. We've only just gotten him home, and we were almost back in the hospital tonight, he was so close to refusing to eat. I just don't think we can afford to have our attention divided right now. And from what Snape has said, Draco has a lot of problems."

Now Sirius whipped back around, anger flaring in his eyes as the better part of his second drink hit him. "So what if he has PROBLEMS? OF COURSE HE HAS PROBLEMS! THE KID'S BLOODY PARENTS BEAT HIM REMUS. THEY BEAT HIM TO THE POINT OF NEEDING A HOSPITAL. AND THEN THAT TOAD HAD THE NERVE TO USE A BLOOD QUILL ON HIM."

Remus was holding his hands up, standing and walking towards his friend. "I know Sir, I know. I didn't mean that he doesn't need help… but I think we need to think long and hard about whether we can be the ones to help him." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "What if taking in Draco slows down Harry's recovery? What if dividing our attention means we don't have enough to help either of them?"

"Harry is still learning to trust us, still working to believe that this is his home. You should have seen the look on his face when I showed him the bedroom Sirius. The boy has lived here for over 6 months and you would have thought that we'd kept him in a closet that whole time by how surprised he was, just that we bothered to hang a few posters for him. What if bringing Draco in makes Harry feel threatened, what if knowing that Draco is here temporarily makes him worry that his place here is temporary too?" Remus sighed and sunk down into his chair again, looking exhausted.

They had argued for a while longer before finally agreeing to go sleep on it, and pick up the discussion in the morning.

Now Sirius was puttering around the kitchen hoping his friend would join him soon. They had to wake Harry at 7am for breakfast, and he wanted a chance to talk before then.

You're being stupid, he made some good points last night. You'd never want to jeopardize Harry's recovery, he thought to himself and he sipped his coffee. You're just mad because of what he said. 'Maybe this is hitting a little too close to home for you Sir, maybe you can't be objective.' Well screw him, who cares if I'm objective. Do I really want to be objective when an abused teenager's life hangs in the balance? Sirius shook his head and took another sip of his coffee, a voice much too much like Remus's reminding him, two teenagers lives.

Thankfully as the clock hit 6:30am Remus trudged in looking how Sirius felt. "I popped my head into Harry's room and gave him a 30 minute warning." He said as he headed straight for the coffee.

Sirius nodded, topped off his own cup, then sat down across from his friend. "I've got everything prepared for breakfast, I'll start cooking soon." He sighed and stared down into his mug. "I'm sorry Remus, I shouldn't have shouted… You were probably right to some extent, about it being too close to home. I know, I know it's a complicated issue. I don't know what the right answer is either…"

Remus nodded and sighed "Thanks Sir, and I shouldn't have said that, about it hitting close to home. It may be true but it was a cheap shot. You don't need that thrown in your face."

They sat in silence for a while, eventually Sirius stood and started fixing the porridge that they would have for breakfast, and Remus went to see how Harry was getting on.