Chapter 8: Hospital Questions
Disclaimer: There are constants and Variables in the world. Here is a constant for you: I do not own Harry Potter or Bioshock Infinite, each belong to their respective owners.
Update Notice: Just as a forewarning, i may not be able to upload next Saturday, if i dont get to it i'll upload it on the Sunday instead.
"There are loved ones in the glory,"
What was that voice he could hear? Harry's entire body ached, he lay in something soft, his mind flashing images, the Quidditch match, the broom that malfunctioned and the fall, he was dead. he had to be dead, there was no way to survive that fall.
But if he was dead, why did he hurt so much.
"Whose dear forms you often miss;"
That voice... who was singing, his body refused to respond, his brain still focusing on the fall, he could see the ground closing in on him, he could feel the impact of the ground and could remember nothing past it.
"When you close your Earthly story,"
He wanted to open his eyes, his body refused to move, the person singing sounded sad, he tried to move his arm, to reach for the person to try and comfort them as they were no doubt trying to do to him in his state.
"Will you join them in their bliss?"
The song was familiar, where had he heard it? Who had he heard singing it? His brain was a jumble nothing was right for him at the moment, his mind just kept stalling,
"Will the circle be unbroken"
"By and by, by and by?"
He screamed in his head, trying to force himself to move, trying to think about any form of indication that he was awake. his finger twitched, but nothing more.
"Is a better home awaiting"
"in the sky, in the sky?"
The woman continued to sing, he could start to hear the voice, was that? the name was so obvious to him and yet it wouldn't reach out, it wouldn't click, his head wasn't making the right connections. Was this just his body dying on him and here he was trapped in it as she sung? Was he just going to move on like this with little to no fight in him?
No!
"In the joyous days of childhood,"
"oft they told of wondrous love,"
He wasn't going to give up here, he was going to take full advantage of being known as the person who survived the unsurvivable and he was going to move!
"Pointed to the Dying Saviour;"
"Now they dwell with Him above."
He gasped loudly, his eyes opening, the world around him spun as he suddenly shifted onto his side, coughing heavily, interrupting the person singing a surprised cry of "Harry!" as he continued to cough. hands pressed against his back, rubbing it gently as he struggled to catch his breath, "easy Harry, you're okay." She said soothingly, as he tried to stop himself from coughing and spluttering. Several seconds passed, his breathing calmed and he fell backwards, her hands gently guiding him back onto the bed.
"Eliz...abeth?" He asked croakily, his throat dry, cracked and sore after coughing so much.
"Hey Harry," she said softly, reaching up, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "You gave us quite a scare." She spoke quietly in the dark hospital wing.
"What... time..." He tried to speak but his voice kept cracking up as he spoke.
"It's about eleven at night." She explained, leaning back into her chair. "I think I've annoyed people staying here as long as I have." She joked lightly and Harry coughed out a couple of laughs, Elizabeth winced, pouring him a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table, leaning forwards, lifting his head gently and tipping the glass slightly to allow him to slowly drink. "You gave us quite a scare Harry."
"How long have I been out?" He rasped, his voice still croaky and dry but it didn't hurt as much to talk.
"Almost a month." She explained, placing the glass back on the desk.
"A month?" Harry asked in shock not believing that it had been that long that he had been unconscious, with the amount of pain he was feeling he figured it had been a day or two at most.
"You're lucky to be alive, you should have died from that impact." Elizabeth said quietly, looking away from him. In the darkness and the haze of not wearing his glasses he thought he saw a look of guilt but dismissed it as a trick of the light.
"How did I survive?" He asked slowly, his mind still trying to work on what happened. "I remember falling, closing my eyes and then nothing."
"I opened a tear," Elizabeth started quietly, "between you and I, I've been understating the powers that I'm able to access." She paused, looking around the darkened room. "It's not just small things that can interact with, I can go anywhere, I can visit anytime. The doors are all there for me to open at will. For a time, I was limited to what I could do but situations changed that." She paused, taking a deep breath her thoughts flashing back to Columbia. "When you fell, I tried to open a rift, a big one that would have had you land in a pool of water, you still would have been hurt but it would have been nowhere near as bad. The students I were with were panicking and I got knocked." She paused again, brushing her fringe out of her eyes as she focused on him. "I was only able to open a small area of water, not nearly deep enough for you to hit properly and escape with only small injuries, but that wasn't the only part that changed, when you landed the rift started to close," she stopped, looking down at his hand. He followed her gaze, looking at his right hand which was bandaged up he tried to move the fingers but something felt off. "I'm sorry Harry, if I had been more careful this would never have happened to you." She apologised as he weakly lifted his hand up to look at it.
"What happened?" He whispered, looking at his fingers, his thumb was fine, his index and middle finger was fine, the ring finger was also fine.
But his pinkie finger.
It was shorter.
a lot shorter.
"The rift closed as I was getting you out, your finger was caught in the last of it, it's gone." She said slowly and winced, waiting for an outburst.
"What do you mean gone?" He asked in confusion, how could his finger just be gone like it was.
"They tried to regrow it with magic but something was stopping it, I don't know if your magic still considers it there because of how it was removed but for all intents and purpose, we're in the same situation." She spoke, taking his hand in hers. "When you're up and about, we'll talk more about it, for now, just know I'm going to start teaching you." she said softly, placing his hand back down on the bed. "Now close your eyes and go to sleep, I'll still be here in the morning." She placed her hand on his cheek caressing it softly, "On a lighter note though, you won the match." She said lamely with a smile and Harry smiled himself, his eyes closing.
"Will the Circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?"
She started to sing quietly again as Harry tried in vain to fight off the tiredness that he was feeling. His last thoughts as he drifted off to a slumber was of her singing and how beautiful her voice sounded.
HPCVHPCV
He awoke the next morning, shielding his eyes from the light that shone in through the window, his body stiff and aching he tried to look around, the chair that Elizabeth had been sitting in the night before was empty, looking further he realised why, she had moved, lying on the bed next to his, sleeping on top of the quilt on her side facing him as she slept. He decided not to wake her, she looked so peaceful as she rested and he leant back into his own bed, closing his eyes again. He could wait a little while before he alerted anyone that he was awake.
HPCVHPCV
In the Great Hall, Draco sat at the Slytherin table, a letter that had arrived the night before from his mother still clutched in his hands as he thought about what it said. When the school year had started, he had been told to befriend Elizabeth and Harry, to try and win them over. With Elizabeth, in his opinion it had been easy enough, be polite and show some of the Malfoy charm that he had. She was pretty and easy to talk to, she didn't try and force any agenda on the people she spoke to and when she had an opinion on something, even if Draco felt it was wrong, she tried to back it up with evidence and just asked him to think on things. Never once did she flat out say she was wrong.
Harry on the other hand was a harder one to deal with. The Boy-Who-Lived was a tricky one, he was for lack of a better word... Diplomatic with Draco, they spoke but there was always an underlying tension that was there. He didn't hate the boy because of the simple fact they hadn't really interacted but at the same time, he didn't like Harry because of how much the other teachers including Elizabeth paid attention to him in class. Outside of Snape who was firmly on the side of the Slytherins and Quirrel who seemed to have an indifference to Harry. He seemed to be the favourite no matter how he acted. Even after his little fight with Weasley, he was still treated with respect by many students even though he had been fighting like a muggle. In fact, most people had been talking about how noble he was for sticking up for Granger when she was being singled out and picked on.
Then the Quidditch Match. What had even happened there? Not only did Potter survive a fall from a great height into what looked like a small pond that appeared out of nowhere but he had managed to catch the snitch as well. How could one person be so lucky. It infuriated Draco just thinking about it. Since then, Elizabeth had barely left the Hospital Wing, she had slept in there, she had taken her meals in there and even continued with her work in there outside of lessons, taking the time to mark the homework that she had to in there, one of the beds had pretty much been filled with paperwork whenever she was in there. Why did he get so much attention from her? Now his mother was sending him letters, asking how Harry Potter was doing. Why would she care? He had asked about it, he was waiting for the post today to get a response, she was concerned for his health even though the Boy-Who-Lived had stopped You-Know-Who's reign before and thrust all that suspicion onto his father that cost so much money to avoid.
A familiar Eagle owl flew into the Great Hall, flying over to him and dropping a letter from its talons he took the letter tearing it open as the Owl already made its way out barely stopping in its flight a.
Draco
I take concern in Harry Potter as I would all family, he is your cousin after all.
Draco felt pained, he read the letter in shock, his brain registering it but his mind not wanting to believe that was written. He wracked his brain for the family tree lessons that his mother had given him and the family tree that he had studied and cursed as he remembered the connection. It was through his Grandfather on the Black side of the family, he was related through that. His sister, Draco's great Aunt Dorea had married a Potter.
He was related to Harry Potter.
He cursed
He was related to the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived!
He had a drink of Pumpkin Juice to keep himself calm, he folded the letter, deciding to read the rest of it later. he stood up, walking across the Great Hall, his face schooled into a mask of indifference. He was a Malfoy and a Black, he was not going to let anyone see any sign of weakness that he may have been feeling from the revelation of the letter. He exited, brushing past a few Hufflepuffs that barely moved out of the way in time and made his way up stairs, heading towards the medical wing. All this time, he had one thought circulating, not the fact that Potter was his cousin, however distant it was, he could never remember family titles like that in the slightest. The one thought that was crossing his mind was that someone had tried to hurt Family, regardless of how distant that actually was.
And that was both confusing him and pissing him off.
Draco was finding it hard to resist, the urge to destroy something and to vent some frustration. He had seen the broom kicking about and knew that it was no malfunction, he knew that something had been affecting the broom. He stopped as he heard footsteps running in the direction he was going, he stepped to the side, moving into the shadows of one of the many suits of armours. "Come on Ron, I want to see if he's awake, we need to tell him what happened." Granger, it had to be her, the bushy know it all Muggleborn that Harry had defended and Elizabeth had saved. And following behind was Ron Weasley. He cursed, if they were going to be there it would be a lot harder to talk to Harry and Elizabeth. But what was this she had mentioned? what did she know about what had happened? He followed cautiously, He didn't want them to know that he was following as he thought about the possibility.
Someone had to have jinxed the broom, there was no other way that a brand new top of the line broom would have acted like that if it had simply malfunctioned. For someone to do that it would have to be someone not only well educated but powerful as well, the spells would have to overpower the protections on the broom to prevent tampering just like that.
No student could have power like that. As the implication stepped into the forefront of his mind, the realisation struck home like a boulder to the gut. "It's a professor." He muttered in realisation, it had been at the back of his mind but even now he didn't really want to believe it. He had always been told that the other Professors were strictly Light, that to even consider doing something like what had happened would be completely foreign to them. But it made sense to him, only a professor could have had that much of an effect on the broom, a seventh year could possibly have an effect on the broom but not to the level that it had been. Now the question was whom? Granger seemed to have an idea as to who it was but he wondered how accurate it was. He continued up the corridor his mind mulling over the possible people involved in this and who was there at the time to have caused it to happen. So many suspects, so many unlikely suspects but that was another problem that arose during You-Know-Who's rise to power, people were suspicious of everyone, with the Imperius curse, you couldn't tell who you could trust, the spell could have controlled anyone to do what the caster wanted. Even now, it may not be You-Know-Who causing it but one who supported him trying to exact revenge in a way that would look more like an accident than anything else. Draco found himself torn by that, his father had always gone on about the authority of the Dark Lord and that he had been in the right but this was different, wasn't it?
This was family. And his mother had always reinforced the notion that Family came above all else, regardless of their loyalties. She had even spoke about those that had been cast from the family like Sirius Black and Andromeda Tonks, she had explained that if they called, she would more than likely still answer as long as it didn't cause too much of a conflict of interest.
He stopped at the doorway to the Hospital Wing, he could hear hushed voices talking as he leant around to glance into the room. Potter was awake, the two Gryffindors talking quickly to him, Elizabeth looked to still be asleep resting on the neighbouring bed, the trio were talking in hushed whispers and Draco couldn't hear them clearly.
A hand landed on his shoulder, he jumped, biting back a shout of surprise, and turned.
Terry Boot and Su Li were standing there eyeing him suspiciously. "Can we help you Draco?" Terry asked as Draco brushed off the hand.
"None of your concern Boot." Draco dismissed as he started to step away, towards the Medical Wing.
"It is our concern when it's a friend lying in there," Terry pushed and Draco rolled his eyes.
"I can assure you I mean no harm to precious Potter." Draco sneered, slipping back into his superior smugness.
"Oh, and why would that be? we all know your father was one of the Dark Lords lackeys, regardless of how much money he used to escape justice." Terry said back angrily.
"My father is a great man!" Draco snapped, "you just wouldn't understand what it's like, to lose control because the Dark Lord himself was pulling the strings." It was a manipulation of the facts but it was one that Draco had drilled into his head from a young age, as far as anyone else was concerned, Lucius was controlled by the Dark Lord, there was no willingness to murder and maim the Half-blood and Muggleborn population. Regardless of how superior they were to those of lesser blood.
"That is what the verdict declared." Su Li commented simply but the words had so much more meaning behind it. Draco bit back a comment, turning back and walking into the Hospital Wing.
"Besides, I have more than a valid reason to make sure Potter is okay." Draco explained dismissively as he walked towards the trio, catching the tail end of the whispers.
"It was Snape, Harry. I've read about jinxes and they all require constant eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking." Hermione whispered quickly then stopped as she saw Draco approaching.
Draco again was feeling a crisis building, what Granger had said made sense, but Snape? His Godfather being the one responsible. Without thinking he immediately went for the aggressive tactic. "Have you taken leave of your sense Granger? Snape attacked Potter?" He said though there wasn't as much force behind it as he could have done.
"Who else could have done it then Draco, if not him then which teacher would want to do it?"
"What evidence do you have that he did do it?" Draco snapped back. "Yes he's trained in Dark Arts and yes he is one of those capable of doing it but what was the motive? Why would he do something so blatant?"
"Motive? Here is a motive for you Malfoy, he hates Harry." Ron responded just as harshly, "it's well known he hates everyone outside of your slimy house and we know he hates Harry more than others." Ron continued angrily. The red head continued to rant about the 'slimy potions professor' but Draco was not paying any attention to him as he focused on Hermione and Harry who both had a look of pensiveness on their faces.
"Weasley, use some of those brains you think you have and keep the noise down." Draco said in annoyance, gesturing back to where Elizabeth still slept though from the looks of it, she may wake up soon, her brow creasing at the noise. "You're in a hospital."
"Draco," Terry spoke up, having followed the blonde into the room with Su Li. "What did you mean before? You have more of a reason to make sure that Harry is okay?" He asked curiously.
"I'm surprised you can't work it out Boot, didn't your family teach you anything about the ancient families." Draco said with a smugness that hid the fact that until this morning he had completely forgotten the connection between himself and Potter. "Potter and I, are cousins." Draco said to the surprise of others. "Distant but cousins none the less, so any question as to why I'm here?" Draco asked condescendingly, walking over, and taking the seat in between the two beds and sitting down. "So, Potter, mother sent me to make sure you're okay." He said calmly and Harry smiled slightly. "Now, what the hell is this about Professor Snape cursing your broom?" He asked, turning to look at Hermione as she finished.
"His broom was jinxed by something or someone, it wasn't the broom malfunctioning, I've read a lot about it and..." Draco cut her off.
"Of course you have." He said rudely and focused on Potter. "Tell me Potter, do you think this is something that Snape would do if it was him?" Draco asked and Harry after a moment shook his head.
"If Snape wanted me dead it would be easier to make it look like a potions accident instead of something that would draw a lot more attention to him, if anything happened to me around here, he would be the first suspect just because of who he is." Harry said calmly and saw Draco smirk at Hermione as she nodded in agreement.
"Even Granger understands that it's too obvious that it was him when she thinks about it." Draco said with a gesture.
"Then if he wasn't cursing the broom what was he doing?" Ron asked and Hermione slapped her head with her palm.
"Of course, the counter curse." She said in realisation, "it requires you to do the same as if you were cursing it." Hermione explained to Ron who looked confused. "But why now? Why try to kill him now... wait, that means this is my fault!" She cried out and looked at Harry eyes pleading for forgiveness. "Harry, you have to forgive me; I didn't know that this would have happened."
"What are you talking about Hermione? how is this your fault?" Harry asked in confusion, from what he had been able to tell so far, Hermione had just witnessed Snape chanting not actually done anything to interfere.
"I tried to help, I knew that he just needed to lose eye contact so I set his robes on fire, forced him to break his spell." Hermione admitted and Draco burst out laughing at that.
"You set Professor Snape on fire?" Draco asked in laughter, cackling loudly as he did before stopping himself, reminding himself of the sleeping assistant next to him. "Granger, I was wrong about you, that's impressive." He admitted, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye.
"I broke his counter spell, that's why you fell." Hermione finished sadly and Harry smiled reassuringly at her.
"You worked with what you knew Hermione, I can't hate you for that." He comforted before turning to Draco. "So, who does that leave? what professors were there?"
"All of them except Dumbledore." Draco commented, he had also paid attention to who was in the stands back when it happened. he didn't have any binoculars but he could tell each of the staff apart. "Not a small pool of suspects."
"How do we know it wasn't her?" Ron asked quietly gesturing to the still sleeping Elizabeth.
"It wasn't her." Both Harry and Draco said with a deathly seriousness that made Ron flinch back. The two shared a look and Draco shrugged. "It's obvious to anyone with half a brain Weasley, she's a friend of Potter and she's loyal to those friends, besides, she hasn't had any training in magic beyond first year, do you really think she's going to be the cause of that?"
"Well what about that other magic she did?" Ron asked angrily, "what about that spell she used to deal with the Troll, she summoned a storm!" Ron cried out and then slammed a hand over his mouth as he remembered he had promised not to speak about that. Draco looked confused and Harry turned away, looking at the ground, emotions playing across his face but no one pushed him for it.
"Maybe we should stay focused." Su Li said looking at the four visiting students. "We know someone tried to kill Harry, it may or may not be connected to other things that are going on. Like the corridor that's forbidden, I've asked around and it was perfectly fine last year, just another abandoned corridor that wasn't used anymore, yet now it's locked off under pain of death."
"What about that break in at Gringotts?" Terry added in realisation, "that happened shortly after the School year was started, nothing was taken because the vault had been emptied." Terry added and then Draco chimed in with the last thought.
"And the Mountain Troll, they're not really native around here are they?" He said pointedly. "Something is going on in this school and someone is trying to drag Potter into this." He finished.
"In other words, we need to look into this, try and find out what was in the vault, what is in the corridor and who was cursing Harry's broom." Su Li commented calmly, "Draco, do you think you could talk to Professor Snape, find out if he knows anything?" She asked and Draco nodded, though he seemed dubious about it. "I don't want you to accuse him and you could probably get more of a response than any of us ever could." She reasoned and he nodded at the logic. "Terry and I can look around, see if we can find any information about what was in the vault and you two can look into the Third-floor corridor." She said with a final gesture to Hermione and Ron.
"What? but we can't it's forbidden." Hermione protested.
"He said it was only forbidden to those who don't want to die a painful death, he never actually said it was out of bounds. Besides, you've probably got the only people in your house who could get there and look into it without being caught by whatever was there and whoever is keeping an eye on it." She said with seriousness and Ron groaned.
"I'm going to have to bring the twins into this?" He asked slowly and Su Li shrugged.
"It's up to you, you don't have to bring them into it but you can't deny that they'd be helpful." She said with a shrug.
"Fine, I'll talk to them, they've been thinking about looking into it anyway." Ron said walking out of the Hospital Wing.
"Get better soon Harry, you're my main competition." Hermione joked weakly before quickly leaving after Ron.
"Harry, we'll get started on this now, if we find anything we'll let you know." Terry said as he was dragged out by Su Li.
That left three people in the room, Harry, Draco and the still sleeping Elizabeth, "she must have been exhausted." Harry commented quietly with a nod to Elizabeth.
"She's been in here pretty much every day since you were brought in, from what I've heard the professors say, she's been awake since early morning all the way until she's passed out each night to make sure she was awake when you woke up." Draco explained politely, glancing at the dark-haired woman who continued to sleep peacefully.
"What were you saying about us being cousins?" Harry asked.
"Distant." Draco hastily added, "your Grandmother was my Grandfathers sister on my mother's side of the family." Draco explained as he thought back to the family tree.
"I know these things have proper titles depending on where you fall on the family tree so what does that make us?"
"Heck if I remember, so many different titles for people in a family depending on where the branch is, does it matter, we're cousins though. Family looks out for family." He said repeating what he had been told by his mother, he was still dubious about it in this regards but with the fact that he had been asked to try and make friends with Harry, he would play up on this part. "I'd better get going, I was just coming up to find out how you were and now I'm being drawn into some kind of conspiracy." Draco sighed in exasperation, "you can't do simple can you Potter?" He asked half-jokingly and half serious. Harry just shrugged his shoulders.
"I wouldn't be me if I did." He admitted and Draco shook his head, standing up and walking out. "Get well soon Potter." He said with a final nonchalant wave over his shoulder before walking out.
Harry sat, thinking about everything that had happened this morning, someone had tried to kill him and it had left him in a coma for a month. There had been a break in at Gringotts, vaguely he could remember an article about it but nothing more than that and the Forbidden Corridor. Was it connected to him somehow? For now, he'd have to wait for the others to find out, it hurt to even simply move at the current time. He looked down at his hand, the finger that was missing. The same hand that Elizabeth had lost her finger. What did it mean? why would this be the thing that allowed her to train him fully? Everything that was going on was confusing him more. The more questions he had the less answers he got. And now there was this situation with Draco... He was his cousin? What the heck was going on. To the side of him, he heard a quiet groan of protest Elizabeth shifting on the bed, the light shining on her face as she grabbed her pillow, pulling it over her head. Still looking at her, he saw a blue eye looking back out through the gap of the pillow. "Morning Elizabeth." He said happily, as she slowly moved the pillow off her head. "You missed all of the fun."
"I heard, your friends are noisy." She muttered in annoyance, placing the pillow back under her head and looking at him properly. "But they each have a valid theory as to what happened. Hermione is right to suspect Snape, the man has demons in his past, ones that do directly involve you. I don't know what they are but they're there, I can't say anything about a Gringotts Vault being raided but it does seem like too much of a coincidence and the troll being let in, we keep getting questions to ask but no answers to give. But leave them to do the digging for now, you still need to recover." Elizabeth said rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. "Ahh, I really don't know how Madam Pomfrey gets people out of here, these beds are so comfortable." She said with another sigh. "There was a bit of an investigation during the month that you were unconscious." Elizabeth started again, her voice quiet but carrying in the otherwise empty room, "less into the fall and more into the fact that you survived, no one knew where the water had come from, no one took credit for it and so the Professors tried to subtly ask around." Elizabeth continued with another sigh. "No one thinks it was me which is good though I think Ron may have just tipped that out into the open." She looked to Harry to see the confusion on his face. "When you're out, I'll demonstrate, I'll tell you everything that I've kept quiet because you're going to need it." Elizabeth explained and Harry nodded hesitantly. "The broom in question has largely been dismissed as a simple malfunction, they sent it back to the Broom Company to get it checked. Hopefully it should be back in time for your second game." She lifted her right arm up, stretching out her fingers, examining the thimble that was on her little finger. "Did I tell you that The Malfoy family had invited us to a Yule Ball?" Elizabeth asked, her own mind drawing a blank on the topic.
"No you didn't mention anything about that, they invited us? as in both of us? not just you?" Harry questioned in disbelief.
"They did, at least Narcissa invited us. But I don't think you're going to be back to good enough condition by that time so I've politely declined the invitation. She understood," Elizabeth paused thoughtfully, "though I would have been interested to go to it."
"Then why don't you? I don't mind." Harry said and Elizabeth waved it off with her raised hand.
"Because I can't leave you alone, the students go home tomorrow and nearly everyone else is going. Besides, I've rarely celebrated Christmas, it'd be nice to do that with my friend rather than a bunch of strangers." She replied honestly, letting her hand drop back down onto the bed with a dull thump.
HPCVHPCV
Draco was torn as he entered the Potions classroom to get to Professor Snape, the man was in his office attached to the room and Draco really didn't want to have this conversation. After all, Snape was his Godfather, he was a good man underneath the rough exterior that he showed, wasn't he? He stood in front of the door, hand reaching up to knock on it as he thought about the evidence that was there. Snape had been doing something, he didn't think Granger was lying, she had no reason to lie about it. But was the thing that he was doing really a counter curse or was he doing the curse? Draco didn't believe for an instant that Snape had been the one trying to kill Potter, as he said, it didn't fit his style. Not to mention there was the whole part about there being too many witnesses and too obvious as to what had happened even if no one was following up on it now.
He knocked on the door and waited.
"Enter."
He turned the handle, walking into the office, Snape sat behind his desk, looking at Draco a quirked eyebrow being the only indication of his curiosity. "Draco, you need something?" Snape asked calmly and Draco closed the door.
"I need to speak to you about something." Draco spoke quietly and quickly, unable to hide his nervousness.
"Draco, you know you can ask me anything and if I can tell you I will." Snape said his voice still a cool tone that almost sent a chill down Draco's spine.
"Fine, I'll ask it straight, did you Curse Potters broom in the Quidditch Match." Draco asked and he didn't know if it was Snape's shock at the question or the fact that Draco was making the accusation, but Draco didn't think he'd ever see the look of surprise on his face.
"Why do you ask about that?" Snape asked cautiously, getting quieter, his eyes focusing on him intently, trying to will the information out.
"Because there are people who believe that you are the one responsible for it." Draco explained, taking a seat opposite Snape. "they believe that you were casting the jinx on the broom that threw Potter off."
"And you believe these... people?" He asked.
"No! I don't believe it but I must ask. Mother sent me a letter, asking for information on how Potter was doing last night." He explained and again, there was a look of surprise on Snape's face. "I sent a letter back asking why she was concerned. I did not expect her response to me." Draco said holding out the letter to Snape.
Slowly, the Potions master took the letter, unfolding it, reading over the start of the letter quickly. "He's your cousin." Snape said simply.
"Mother has always said that we should stand by family, regardless of their beliefs, because in the end only family will stand by you through it all, regardless of differences. I'm asking you for anything you know because I am looking out for my cousin." Draco explained in a cautious tone. "Because I know that you have nothing to do with this or if you did it would be related to protecting him in this situation because even if you did hate him you wouldn't put yourself at risk like that and that regardless of the mask that you show to the world you're not a horrible person." Draco slipped into an almost pleading tone, his thoughts on the whole situation was confused, he shouldn't care about Potter, he was not his friend and it shouldn't matter that he was his cousin because of what he was to the Wizarding World. But that is what he was and it did matter, it brought feelings to Draco that he felt were only going to get in the way. Protect the family. He knew when he would be Head of the Malfoy family he would be expected to keep an eye and care for the other branches of the Malfoy family and he knew that if he could prove he was good at it now then he could only get better in the future.
Snape watched Draco out of curiosity, taking note of the clenched hands as he spoke, obvious that he was battling with himself and his own feelings and opinions as to how he would react. Snape let him stew for a moment before nodding his head, giving him an uncharacteristically warm smile, something he rarely showed outside of family and never to the rest of the world. "Your mother would be proud of you Draco." Snape started and the boy almost instantly relaxed. "You are correct, I was performing the counter jinx for the broom, but that is all I can tell you." Snape explained, "and although your... cousin might be getting involved in something, I'd advise you to take a step back and watch and think." He paused, studying Draco intently again, seeing the look of confusion on his face. "You are starting to become your own man, you will make connections that will shape further interactions and while Potter has been open to all, there are still those families out there that would like nothing more than to inflict pain upon him or anyone that he would consider a friend or ally. You would do well to see what happens as an outsider and if need be strike from the shadows. You are a Slytherin, we are known for our cunning and guile. Watch the situation and act when you need to, not just because you can." Snape explained and Draco nodded his head in understanding. "Potter will no doubt get involved in everything soon enough, make sure you look at everything from every angle before you act." Snape finished speaking, watching Draco.
Draco found himself confused even more, his Godfather not only didn't seem to show as much disdain for Harry as he had in lessons and was also seemingly more than happy to encourage the attitude that Draco was taking along as he was careful and thoughtful about the situation. "Thank you," Draco spoke honestly, unclenching his still clenched hands. "I knew you wouldn't have been involved."
"And how could you have been so certain?" Snape asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"It wasn't your style; it wasn't subtle enough." Draco admitted and Snape smirked.
"Off with you Mr Malfoy, I'm sure you still have things to pack before you leave tomorrow." Snape said and Draco quickly left the room.
HPCVHPCV
The next morning, Harry had been released though he had required a crutch to properly get around. It was both a relief that he could get out of the Hospital Wing, the white walls were so dull to look at even if he had spent the day catching up on some of the school work that he'd missed. And someone told him that the Hospital was meant for resting and not studying. Elizabeth had excused herself in the evening, promising to return when he got let out in the morning, she had neglected certain things long enough and had gone to deal with whatever it was that she was doing.
But now, Harry was making his way down to Hogsmeade Station with the other students to say goodbye as they left for the winter holidays, or at least going as far as he could which was to the carriages that would take the rest to the station. Draco had been there early, before most other students had arrived and had walked off to one side to talk to Harry. "It's not Snape and I can give you my word on that." Draco said seriously and Harry nodded in acceptance.
"That's good to know, I'll keep an eye out on things, tell your mother thank you for me. I'm not used to people caring about my wellbeing... it was nice." Harry admitted quietly.
"My mother always said that Family comes first, you are family, even if you are a Potter." Draco said with a smirk before walking off to the carriage. He waited as others started to turn up. Hermione had hugged him then quickly got onto another carriage with promises to write him if she thought of anything while she was gone. Ron had stopped to talk to him briefly as well.
"I spoke to Fred and George." Ron started uneasily.
"What did they have to say?" He asked and Ron looked around to see if anyone was paying attention.
"They said to talk to Hagrid, talk to him about dogs." Ron replied evasively and Harry looked at him in confusion. "They wouldn't tell me more unless I went to the corridor myself. Sorry mate." Ron apologised and Harry waved it off.
"It's fine, that's more than we had before this all started... now I'm kind of curious as to what is in there." He said thoughtfully. "Have a Good Christmas." Harry said as Ron climbed into the carriage with Hermione.
Terry Boot was the next to arrive, a bag for the train slung over his shoulder. "You sure you don't want to come stay for the Holidays? My parents said you're free to stay." He said and Harry smiled, shaking his head.
"Thanks Terry, I appreciate the offer but not this time." Harry said politely, "tell them Merry Christmas from me though will you?" He asked.
"Of course I will, take care and rest, you need to be ready to win the next Quidditch Match." Terry commented jokingly and Harry rolled his eyes as the Ravenclaw joined Ron and Hermione.
"Have a good holiday Harry." Su said simply as she walked over, stopping momentarily to hug him. "Take care of yourself. You seem to be good at drawing attention."
"You too Su, thanks for all the help and everything." He said returning the hug while attempting to not drop the crutch. She let go of him and climbed in, the carriage now full, it started to roll forwards on its way to the train station. Harry watched it disappear and turned around beginning to make his way back up to the castle. As he did he walked past Professor Snape who was on his way out of the Castle.
"Potter." Snape said politely and Harry nodded his head.
"Professor," Harry started and Snape continued walking. Harry paused, looking back over his shoulder at the Professor that he had never gotten on with before and probably wouldn't in the future. "Oh, Professor Snape?" He called out.
Snape stopped, turning around to face him. "Yes, Mr Potter?"
"Thank you sir. Merry Christmas." Harry said, for a moment there was no reaction, no change in expression, nothing that would indicate that he had willingly listened to Harry before there was a slight nod of his head, the man turned moments later, his cloak flicking out behind him as he did walking out onto the grounds and off to wherever he was going for his Holidays. Harry climbed the stairs, making his way back to the Common Room, acutely aware of just how quiet it was now with the majority of students having gone for the Holiday, the click of his crutch on the stone floor echoed around him as he made his way.
He arrived at the entrance gave the answer to the riddle that the Raven doorknocker asked for and entered as the door swung open. "There you are." An exasperated voice called out as he entered. He looked in the direction it came from, standing by the steps that would lead to the boy's dorm, Elizabeth stood there, her arms folded. "You were gone before I got to the Hospital Wing, I thought you'd be back here before now." She said, walking over to him and looking at him carefully, "I've spoken to Professor Dumbledore and managed to convince him to let me take you away from here for a few days."
"Really? Where are we going?" He asked curiously and Elizabeth smiled secretively in response.
"You'll see and when we get there, I can start to explain everything to you." She said and then gently nudged Harry towards the stairs. "Pack for about three days. We shouldn't be gone any longer than that." She said, walking to the centre of the Common Room while she waited for him to go get ready. Harry quickly, or as quickly as he could, made his way up to his dorm room, a bag already waiting for him to pack stuff into. he leant the crutch against the bed as he opened the wardrobe, grabbing clothing, only now realising just how stiff his body was as he tried to quickly pack, almost losing his balance as he went to get a change of underwear. He cursed his own fragility at this point and grabbed the crutch again as he finished packing the bag and making his way downstairs.
Elizabeth stood off to one side, examining the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw that sat in the Common Room, there weren't any pictures of Rowena or any of the Founders in the School as far as she had found but there were several still artist recreations of what they were believed to look like. Though why none of them took advantage of the Bust being here to make a good portrait of Rowena was beyond her. She heard the clicking of the crutch as Harry came down the stairs and turned, walking over to meet him at the bottom. "You'll probably want to leave the robe Harry; we're going to be going to a non-magical location." She said and Harry did so, shaking off the robe that he was wearing, leaving him standing in just a plain red shirt and black trousers. "Time to leave." She said as the area in front of them shifted.
Harry looked around in amazement as he stepped through, they were in a room of some description, the floor was metallic, that much was obvious, there were heavy duty rugs on the floor and the walls were glass. But it was what was behind the glass that caught him completely off guard.
There was fish, there was water. there was a lot of water!
They were Underwater.
"Welcome to Rapture, Harry." She said as the tear closed behind them. the two walked forwards slowly and Elizabeth took his bag to allow him to steady himself. He looked at her in confusion.
"Where are we? What is Rapture?" He asked and she smiled, leading him down a corridor, deeper into the city.
"Welcome to the city under the sea."
TBC
This chapter is my shortest one so far for the story, not including the initial prologue but I felt it was a good place to stop.
Hope you enjoy
The next chapter: Christmas Rapture.
At this point, some of you are probably thinking about why she took him to Rapture, it has lots of bad memories for her after all. It's for a simple reason, she's going there so that she can definitively prove to him what her abilities are, it's out the way so that they can have their quiet conversation and she's chosen a very specific version of Rapture. More details on that next chapter. But for the moment Rapture is just being used as a backdrop, there won't be too much digging into it yet.