Chapter Two: Inner Turmoils

He fiddled with the strand of string as he studied Severus' face. He could see the questions in the wizard's dark eyes, and he wanted to answer them, but stopped himself. After all, he had no idea why he had done such a thing. It could be compassion or perhaps, pity, but the way his stomach rolled about at the idea of someone doing that to Severus, he knew it wasn't something simple. Sighing softly to himself, he walked toward the older man and pulled at the earplug. He gazed at Severus again as he kept the twins' invention in his pocket. Then he left, closing the door gently.

He stopped after walking several steps from the room, and glanced over his shoulder. Why was he having the feeling that he should go back there, and stay a little longer? Frowning, he shook he shook his head and cursed under his breath. Although his legs were quite reluctant to move, he managed to drag himself to where Hermione and Ron would be.

Perhaps it was coincidence, or fate, that he decided to walk past the kitchen to get into the drawing room instead of going the roundabout way.

"... there is nothing more to gain from him."

"So they suggest that we should get rid of him?"

That's Bill. He froze. What are they talking about? Who should we get rid of?

"Did Tonks tell you this?" Bill demanded.

"No, Bill. She didn't. I..."

"Bloody hell, Remus. We cannot allow this to happen."

"We shouldn't have allowed Harry to become attached to Severus," Remus spoke, sounding somewhat preoccupied.

"That is beside the point! We're talking about murder here. Even if that man deserved it, it isn't right!"

Harry jumped at the sound of a loud thump.

"And I'm not speaking up for Charlie. I'm not saying this just because he is with Draco Malfoy. Gods ... where did you get your source, Remus?"

"I cannot say," Remus mumbled apologetically.

"Fine. How did they plan to take him out?"

"Poison."

"That's low."

Poison? His throat went dry. Silently, he retraced his steps back to the hall. Seeing the dark brown door made him want to break it down, haul Severus out of bed and flee to somewhere safe. "But nowhere is safe now," he muttered to himself.

The hall was deserted and no one was in sight. But that didn't mean I'm not being watched. Moody was still with them, and only Merlin knew that nothing much could escape his senses. Swiftly, Harry cast a sigil of protection over the door. It was not much, but at least it would warn him in the future of Severus' visitors. Then he took the extended way into the drawing room, and as he expected, Ron and Hermione were researching.

"I'm going up to the library to look for something. You want me to get more references, Hermione?"

"What? Oh, yes."

Although he was filled with uneasiness at the unexpected information earlier, he was glad that he was able to smile at Hermione. The moment he had offered to get books for her, she had quickly grabbed a parchment from under a paperweight and waved it at him.

"Thank you, Harry." Hermione beamed at him. "Oh, be sure to note their shelves. There may be some interesting books for me to look through."

"Let's hope we find something before that happens," Ron muttered. "I don't want to get any more confused than I am now."

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