The summer went by in a whirlwind of activity, Harry's favorite being his birthday. He hadn't expected the gifts that met him at the table that morning. Malfoy had distracted him upstairs just long enough for the house elves to set up the presents and a glorious high tea.
"Are those presents?" Harry was too shocked to think.
"Yes, and they're all for you. You have many friends, Harry," Narcissa cooed, placing a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't quite an embrace, but it was close enough by Narcissa's standards.
"Go on, open mine!" Draco tossed a brightly wrapped package at him. Harry took his time opening it until Draco, frustrated that anyone would open a present as gingerly as Harry did, ripped it open for him and presented him with a wand holster made of fine leather that strapped Harry's wand securely to his forearm.
"Draco, this is wonderful," he said to his preening friend, "thank you,"
"We're having a duel as soon as you get the all clear to use magic again." Draco flashed his own wand holster at him. The pair of them enlisted Snape in helping them with their defense homework. With an adult around, the ministry Trace would not attribute the spell use around their wands to the under aged wizards.
"Speaking of Smethwyck, he asked me to pass this along to you," Lucius said, handing over an envelope. Inside was a card, which read:
As my birthday present to you, I have cleared you for magic use and light physical activity. Keep up those nutritive potions and that eating schedule and we'll see about getting some meat on those bones.
-Smethwyck
Draco read over his shoulder and whooped before engaging Harry in a jumping high-five chest bump combo, which always elicited the best groan from Snape. Harry received a few more presents from his friends including sweets from Ron and a complete set of Shakespeare's works from Hermione.
"Bloody owl almost died getting that here," Lucius muttered, practically to himself. Harry examined his pile and saw threads of a life force coming from a curious brown box and blinked.
"Is there something alive in that one?" Harry pointed at the box tied up in twine. Narcissa's eyebrows shot up and she whipped around to pick up the box.
"Oh, Severus should have said something if he was going to get you a pet. He came this morning and dropped it off for you. Said not to shake it. It better not be a puppy. I detest such things." Harry took the box from her and undid the twine. Nestled in some newspaper was a beautiful milk-white ball python asleep in a coil. The snake, disturbed by the movement of the box, opened its blue eyes and raised its head to look at Harry curiously. Harry read the note tucked next to the snake.
"Severus thinks it would be ironic for a Gryffindor to have a pet snake, does he?" Lucius scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I'll fetch the old snake habitat from when Lucius's father used to own a python. It should be big enough for her," Narcissa said, snapping her fingers for a house elf.
"It's a he," Harry said, cradling the snake against his chest to keep it warm.
"How on earth do you know that?" Draco looked strangely leery of the python despite having been sorted into a house with a snake for a mascot.
Harry shrugged and without thinking, said, "He said so." All three Malfoys stiffened.
"Harry," Lucius said slowly, "are you saying you can understand the snake when it speaks?"
"Yes," he said, brows knitting together, "You can't?" The floaters in his head even seemed surprised by this admission. Harry, this is a rare gift that you possess. It is dark in nature and any who hear of it are immediately cautious of it. Harry's eyes widened as the panic washed over him. The rest of his body remained still as he gauged the Malfoys' reaction. Draco was the first to break, slapping him on the back.
"First dark magic, now parseltongue? Why the bloody hell did the sorting hat put you in Gryffindor?" Lucius and Narcissa seemed to look at Harry with an air of approval.
"It's no wonder you fit in with us so well, dear," Narcissa said, finger on her chin. "We'll bring you up a fine dark wizard."
"Yes, it is intriguing, isn't it? The Boy Who Lived a parselmouth. Gryffindor tendencies aside, you'll be a fine member of the Malfoy household. How would you like it if we took full custody of you?" Lucius was equally intrigued and his expression was not unlike a snake eyeing an advantageous branch. Draco looked gleefully triumphant, nodding eagerly at Harry.
"I'd like that very much," he said, heart brimming with warmth.
"Did you know You-Know-Who was a parselmouth?" Draco was petting Harry's new snake gingerly with just the tip of one finger. Harry shook his head.
"No, is that why people don't like parseltongue?"
Draco nodded his head noncommittally. "Sort of. People used to use parseltongue to cast some pretty hairy stuff I guess. Don't know too much about it. Merlin was one, so it couldn't have been all evil."
"But so was Salazar Slytherin. I bet that's why people think it's evil. It's only talking to snakes. I mean look at how cute Ladon is."
"Ladon? Like the dragon from Hercules? Harry, I think you've got it all wrong. I'm pretty sure people don't like parseltongue because snakes are creepy and parselmouths all have abominable taste in names." Harry was scandalized.
"He picked the name, not me!" At that moment, Snape burst through the door, upper lip twitching.
"If I'd known that giving you a pet snake would cause you to start talking to it and cause me another migraine, I would never have done it." Snape eyed Ladon, who was wrapped loosely around Harry's fingers. Harry saw the apprehensive look and hissed eagerly to Ladon, who hissed back and flicked out a tongue to lick Harry's cheek. Both Draco and Snape bore stricken expressions which were immensely entertaining to a boy and his snake.
"I dunno, Professor, I thought you might like what Ladon told me about you. You never told me you bred snakes."
Raising an eyebrow, Snape shot back, taking the bait. "And what does he say about me?"
Grinning impishly, Harry replied, "That you're the best mummy in the world." Draco laughed at Snape's groans and became fast friends with the little white snake, most of his queasiness dissolving into laughter. As the summer crawled to an end, Draco began whining to Harry about wanting to play quidditch. With Pansy, Blaise, and the other usual suspects away on holiday, two people hardly made a good game.
"I happen to know who might be interested in playing with us," Harry said one day after yet another game of catch the snitch.
"Who did you have in mind? Do I know him?" Draco bounced on his feet, eager to know.
"Actually, they know you quite well. I'll give you a hint. They're a pack of people who love quidditch and have enough people in their family alone to form their own team."
Draco thought for a moment and grimaced. "You're not suggesting the Weasleys, are you? Come on, Harry, you know their parents would never tolerate them being here."
Harry chuckled as stowed his broom away. "Well I can see that, but I think they would tolerate you if we went to them."
"Ugh their house is a rubbish heap," Draco replied, wrinkling his nose.
"They have a quidditch pitch," Harry goaded. Draco's earlier comment about the Weasley home was withdrawn and he bounced around the room as Harry wrote to Ron, who'd been begging Harry to visit in their letters. It took some persuasion to get the Malfoys to accompany them to the Weasleys, who showed up to retrieve them in a flying car of all things. Lucius sat stiffly as the car lurched and his face turned an interesting shade of green. The children crowding the car paid little attention to the tension in the air between their parents and busied themselves divvying each other into teams.
"Finally," Ginny squealed, her shyness gone with the prospect of playing quidditch, "Decent seekers! I'm the only one here who could play a decent seeker. Things are going to be much more interesting with you two around." Harry and Draco turned out to be more than decent and the Weasleys had to tweak their snitch to fly faster to make the games drag out a little longer.
While their children played, Molly and Arthur Weasley sat rigidly across from the last two people they ever expected to show up at their home. Conversation was awkward at first, but the wives whipped out their perspective genealogy papers and began comparing notes and remedying old errors. Lucius and Arthur sat more awkwardly still as their wives chattered excitedly to each other. The Malfoys looked as if they were trying not to insult the lace doilies peppering the furniture and the Weasleys looked as if they were trying not to show embarrassment over having so many lace doilies. It wasn't until Harry was brought up that the two couples truly started getting along.
"So everything in the paper was true, then?" Arthur knitted his fingers together as he spoke, quiet voice thick with grief.
"Unfortunately, yes," Lucius replied, "That Skeeter woman did not have to dress the facts up too drastically this time around. No one could make up what happened to him."
"I don't understand how Dumbledore could have defended that pig," Molly spat, cheeks blooming a fiery red. "I have half a mind to flay him."
"Really, Molly? I thought your family always had leanings with Dumbledore," Narcissa said, quirking an eyebrow.
"We have always looked to Dumbledore for wisdom concerning the war," Arthur said, placing a placating hand on Molly's shoulder, "but we cannot condone the defense of a man who hurt a child."
Their conversation was interrupted by someone shouting, "Oy! No wands!"
"Harry seems to get along very well with your son," Molly said, smiling wistfully out the window. "You've done so much for him. I know our families have never gotten on very well, but I wanted to thank you for treating him so well."
"Molly, it's quite alright. He's family," Narcissa said, even looking touched. Mrs. Weasley nodded, understanding that while she might have wanted desperately to take Harry in, the Malfoys were the family that had Harry's heart. It was this meeting that sparked an unconventional friendship between the Weasleys and the Malfoys, a more unconventional match than any the wizarding world had ever seen. The week before the start of term, Narcissa floo called Molly Weasley.
"Darling," she said with her head in the fireplace, "I'm telling you, the foundation that our family has supported since before Abraxas was even born is willing to sponsor the supplies you need for your children this year."
"As kind as the offer sounds, Cissy," Molly Weasley replied, "we have enough even with Ginny starting school this year."
"I know how you feel about accepting help," Narcissa chided, "and you needn't think that this is an offer made out of pity. It's a civil service subsidized by the ministry. It's what you, as a wizarding citizen, are entitled to. Besides, you'd be doing our image a favor by accepting the money. Please, dear."
"Oh only you can be both devious and kind in the same breath, Narcissa Malfoy," Molly huffed before terminating the floo call. As Molly's features faded back into the ash of the fireplace, Narcissa smiled and straightened, gently patting away nonexistent stray hairs from her head.
"Dear, that was impressive, even for you," Lucius said, leaning casually against the mantelpiece. "Don't you think you should have told her we were sponsoring them?"
"She'd never accept that, dear. Much too proud. I pulled some strings with the Wands for Wizards foundation and got them to let us sponsor the Weasleys anonymously. They'll never know." Narcissa winked at her husband.
"Did they say yes?" Draco and Harry popped their heads in from around a door frame. At Lucius's nod, the pair of them whooped and scuttled off to write to Ron.
Catching Lucius's look, Narcissa patted his shoulder gently, chiding, "Children will be children, dear. Goodness knows he's never had that."
The Malfoys' appearance at Diagon Alley with the Weasleys and a representative from Wands for Wizards, elicited only hushed whispering and concealed looks of astonishment. Harry eyed the crowd of people watching them warily and felt a little more like melting into the cobblestones with every step he took. He felt himself flexing his wand arm instinctively, probing every magical being in sight with his magic.
"Harry, what's wrong, mate?" Ron's voice pulled Harry back to reality and out of his defensive stance. They stood with Draco outside of Flourish and Blott's waiting for Ginny to finish at Madame Malkin's. Harry raked a hand through his lengthening hair, brushing it clear out of his eyes.
"Sorry," he said, "Too many people staring." Draco nodded and suggested that they enter the bookstore to take shelter from prying eyes. Entering, however, they found the entrance packed full of people clammering to get to a figure dressed in gaudy yellow robes with fake blond hair. Harry stiffened as the man gestured to him, crying, "Oh my word, it's Harry Potter!" Every head snapped around to look at him and Harry felt like bolting out the door.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Harry asked shortly. The man paid no mind to the question and shoved his way over to the three students, introducing himself as he went.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, my dear boy. You'll be happy to know that I'll be teaching you defense this year. You've heard of me, of course?" Lockhart held out a hand in greeting and Harry backed away from it, shaking his head. He persisted and grabbed Harry's wrist for a picture. "For the Prophet," he said. Alarmed, Harry kicked him in the shin. Lockhart relinquished Harry's arm with a yelp and hopped up and down on his good foot.
"Now, Harry," he said, composure breaking, "it's only a picture, just come here." Lockhart lunged for Harry's arms again. This time, Harry stepped aside and Lockhart fell face first onto the floor. Draco and Ron sat on his legs while Harry twisted his arm around and pinned it to his back at a painful angle, weighing him down with a knee to the center of his back. Harry could sense the flash about to go off on multiple cameras and he cast several subtle blasting curses that caused every camera lens to mysteriously burst into tiny shards. Harry was angry and the store began to shake, causing books to fall from shelves and loose paper to fly everywhere.
"Harry," Draco said, not daring to touch him in that state, "You have to calm down." Harry was lost to him. His blood roared in his ears and all he could think about doing was hurting something. Without thinking, he channeled his magic into Lockhart's very veins and created dozens of tiny cracks along the bones of his forearm. His magic cried to rip his bones violently apart, but before it could be done, he heard the others at the door. Whipping his head around, he could see the Weasleys peering at him with horrified expressions on their faces. He looked around him and the small crowd in the bookstore were quiet, only staring at Harry warily. Upon seeing their faces, everything stopped and he got up, wanting only to put some distance between himself and the man he wanted to maim mere seconds before. Draco and Ron were at his side at once, explaining to the adults what happened.
"That idiot tried to grab Harry! Twice!" Draco explained hastily to his father, whose stoic public face showed the smallest signs of shock.
"Yeah, mum," Ron said, with a quiver of fear running through his voice, "Harry was defending himself is all." Mr. and Mrs. Weasley said nothing, only looking from Lockhart to Harry, who was concentrating unusually hard on his own shoes.
"Harry, come here. It's alright," Mrs. Weasley beckoned. Harry walked stiffly forward and relaxed but a little as Mrs. Weasley placed a comforting arm around his shoulder. Behind him, Lockhart struggled to his feet. As he pushed himself up with his hands, his right arm snapped under his weight and he cried out.
"You! You did this to me!" He looked accusingly at Harry. At once, Narcissa and Molly were upon him.
"You, sir, assaulted a child," Narcissa said, poking sharp nail into Lockhart's chest.
"There is a room full of witnesses here," Molly threatened, cracking her knuckles.
"He broke my arm! Look at it!"
"Really," Lucius said mockingly, "a twelve year old boy took you down and broke your wrist? You tried to grab him. His response is quite natural, considering the circumstances. You must know how that sounds, Gilderoy. I'm sure you've seen the papers recently." Lockhart paled and looked behind him at the crowd that was slowly turning against him, dropping his books and turning their disgusted faces away from the scene. The fake smile was plastered on his face again as he started to do damage control.
"I'm sorry, everybody. It was a complete misunderstanding. I broke my wrist when I fell. Harry," he said, turning to face him, "those were some very cool moves. Thank you for giving me a few pointers on hand to hand combat. It's only to be expected from you, eh? I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts." Harry didn't say anything, only lifting his chin defiantly at him.
"Let's get our books and get out," Draco hissed to his mother. Narcissa smiled her special smile, full of ice and reserved only for toads, and pointedly shoved Lockhart out of the way with one finger, leading their entourage through the store. The crowd was disbanding and the reporters were giving up their chase. No pictures meant no story. Harry felt himself calm down and raked a hand through his hair to settle himself. He and his friends found a corner and pretended to graze through titles as they spoke.
"Bloody hell, mate," Ron said, a silly adrenaline-fueled grin spreading on his face.
"Yeah," Draco said, leaning against a wall, "Where did you learn that and how can you teach me?" Harry shrugged, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
"I had a lot of bullies."
"Whatever that was, it was amazing," Ron said, pretending to karate chop the air. Harry only shrugged, simultaneously feeling chuffed and scared of what he'd done. As they left the shop, Harry caught Lucius slip something into Ginny's cauldron out of the corner of his eye. His face looked stricken and terribly afraid, but relieved when the object slipped out of his hands. In another fleeting glance, Lucius turned to look pointedly at a rough looking man peering at them from an alley a few yards away. Harry didn't need to probe Lucius to know that he was being threatened. Harry shook himself and moved to catch up with Draco and Ron, occupying himself instead with anticipation for the new school year.