You Can Live: Chapter 27
In a play, dealing with dangerous chemicals and creepy people who should not be around dangerous chemicals, trying not to get sick and finding time to write fan fiction? How do I do it? Let's see what Draco found.
Always nice to know readers hate your villain. :) Makes me feel like I did something right. :)
Disclaimer: you know
***Warnings: This chapter implies some very not good things!
Listen Carefully
Harry wasn't sure he could keep up his charade much longer, so when Severus suggested they head to bed, he was all for it. To be honest though, he was very tired. So much…just so much. First his conversation with Snape that morning about…his uncle…just no. Harry would know, if something like that had happened. He would. Then, that man, Menos, at the shop. Half the time Harry thought he was going insane, the other half thought the rest of the world around him was going insane. And the worst of it…he is now actively lying to his guardian. Someone who he trusts, and who (he thinks) trusts him. And it's not even to protect Severus, it's to protect himself. Harry never thought he could be so selfish.
He had been thinking all of this while getting dressed for bed, and suddenly really needed some water. It felt like he was constantly swallowing ash. Instead of calling for Snippy, Harry decided he would just go ahead downstairs and get it himself. Automatically putting a silencing charm over his footsteps, he walked out into the hallway. He was a little surprised to find the lights still on downstairs; surely Severus had gone to bed as well. Unsure, and suddenly a bit anxious, Harry crept down the stairs.
He heard two voices coming from the living room.
"…he's dangerous and crazy!" His heart jumped then stopped dead, when he heard the voice shout. It was…Draco? But why was he there…and talking about..
"Hush!" Severus admonished his godson. "I agree, we can't let this go on. Not only is it ridiculous and childish, but a lot of people will get hurt if it continues." Harry knew that they were talking about him. Who else would they be talking about?
"But what can we do about it? It's not like we can take it to the Daily Prophet. It'd be so much easier, if we could just get rid of him." Harry's heartbeat sped up, and he found he couldn't catch his breath. He thought….he thought Severus cared. That he wouldn't send him away. That's what he had said! His breath hitched, and he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. Deciding it was probably not a good idea to break down and give away that he had been eavesdropping, Harry stumbled to his feet and ran upstairs to his room.
He nearly slammed the door, before catching it at the last second and ensuring it closed with only a quiet click. His fingers gripped patches of his hair, tugging harshly as he paced and started losing all control over his breathing. Harry didn't even feel the tears rubbing down his face, not even when he fell to his knees and they fell onto his hands from the rims of his glasses. They collected onto the place where Severus had healed him just that afternoon, and Harry suddenly wished he hadn't. If there had been any signs that Severus didn't want him….wanted to get rid of him, then maybe…maybe this wouldn't hurt so bad as it did.
"Harry?" No! Harry curled further into himself, as he cried, not wanting to hear the false kindness in the man's voice. It was too much. Too much. Too much.
Draco had burst through the floo and into Severus's living room, excited and raging.
"Severus, I've found something." Snape indicated for his godson to take the seat across from his and leaned forward on his knees to hear what he had to say.
"He's using students! Well, a student. Jeremy Schuller. He's a third year, who's father is in Azkaban. That man is forcing Jeremy to spy on me, and report back to him to ensure that his father doesn't remain in prison life." Snape's hands clenched into fists, at the thought of someone manipulating a young boy like that.
"You've found out the official's name, then?" Draco nodded and scowled.
"Fredrick Strant. Even his name sounds foul." Severus couldn't agree more at the moment.
"I'll contact the Minister and see what he can do. I also want to take a closer look at Strant myself. You're sure he's working alone in this?" Draco crossed his arms.
"He may or may not be. In this case, he was the only one Jeremy came in contact with. So I can't tell you. For all we know it could be orchestrated from inside the Ministry!" Snape shot his godson a glare for shouting, afraid Harry might here him.
"I do not think it is, but I will not count that out as a possibility. Strant might be using Ministry routes to do his dirty work however." Draco was getting more and more agitated, not wanting to sit around and do nothing. He'd much rather just go after the man himself and be done with it.
"Do Weasley and Granger know about this?" Snape was quiet for a moment, before
"I did not think they should be involved. At least right now. I didn't need Mr. Weasley coming in raging, and Harry finding out that way." Draco, apparently, disagreed.
"They should know! At least Granger! Strant needs to be fired or better yet thrown in Azkaban, but Jeremy is too scared of him to go against him. Granger could easily help us cut through all of the red tape. Strant needs to be put away. He's dangerous and crazy!" Snape snapped when Draco shouted that.
"Hush! I agree, we can't let this go on. Not only is it ridiculous and childish, but a lot of people will get hurt if it continues." Draco let out a frustrated breath.
"But what can we do about it? It's not like we can take it to the Daily Prophet. It'd be so much easier, if we could just get rid of him." Severus agreed, but if they did that, then Harry would definitely be taken away from him. Draco opened his mouth to continue his ranting, when a soft thump came from the hallway.
They both froze when they heard what sounded like a sob come from near the doorway. It was dark in the hallway, so they couldn't see anyone, but they knew automatically who it was from. They stood and shared a concerned look. Severus didn't want Harry to know about any of this, and he just knew the boy would misunderstand it. He slowly walked to the doorway, and was surprised when he didn't find his ward against the wall. Snape did, however, hear the door to Harry's room close. Draco moved to follow him up the stairs, but Snape held out a hand to stop him.
Once at Harry's door, he called for him.
"Harry?" When he heard the hard sobs from inside the room, he knew. He didn't know how much Harry had heard, but apparently it was enough to upset him. Without waiting for any sort of answer, Severus opened the door and walked in. His 'nonexistent' heart cracked a bit when he saw his ward curled up on the floor clutching his chest and crying.
"Oh, Harry." Snape wasn't prepared for the way, Harry pulled back when he knelt beside him and reached a hand out.
"No!" Harry kicked back until his back was flush with the end of his bed, and one leg was pulled up to his chest, the other out as though it could keep Severus at bay. "Don't touch me." Now there was not only sorrow and hurt written on Harry's face, but anger. Snape was a bit surprised. He had seen Harry angry before, of course, it was nothing new, but this…this seemed different, like Harry had been thinking it in the back of his head, and now that it had finally come true, he shut down any good in him.
"Harry, it is going to be fine." Harry scoffed and rubbed a hand roughly over his face, angry at his own tears.
"Really? That's what you think?" Snape shook his head, and held back a sigh. He truly did care for the boy, but his constant mistrust and jumping to conclusions could be trying.
"Harry, I didn't tell you, because I didn't want you to panic or get upset…like you are now." Harry's mouth pinched into a thin line, and he glared at Snape.
"Well, I'm sorry for being upset. Though, I don't think even you would be able to remain all stoic when you're going to be locked up. But," Harry held his hands up in surrender. "You're right. I should stop acting so childish and ridiculous." Severus reeled back.
"What? Harry-" Harry scowled at his guardian and stood.
"No! I heard you! You both think I'm dangerous and crazy. That I need to be put away, or better yet, gotten rid of!" Severus stood now himself and drew up to his full height.
"Harry, you know for a fact that I don't think anything of the sort. Besides, Draco and I weren't talking about you." Harry's frantic pacing stopped, and the color just drained from his face.
"What?" That one word was so quiet, and all of the sudden, Severus saw the Harry he knew and…yes, loved. Gone was the wild, angry boy that was Harry's way of protecting himself. Severus came up to him slowly and laid both hands on his shoulders.
"Like I said. I didn't want to tell you, because I knew it would upset you, and you would panic. Harry, we weren't talking about you. There is someone…Fredrick Strant, threatening my guardianship over you." Somehow, Harry got even paler.
"Wha- but…why? You haven't done anything. Everything's….I like it here." Harry's head dropped like he was expecting to be scolded for expressing his opinion. "Was…was it me?" Severus shook his head again and brought Harry's head up to look at him.
"Of course not. Neither of us have done anything. Draco and I think that this man is trying to save his reputation and job." Harry's brow furrowed.
"I don't understand." Severus knew this next part would not be pleasant, so he moved them to sit on the edge of Harry's bed. Albus hopped over to them, when they sat down and nipped at Harry's hand for pets. Harry obliged, but kept his attention on his guardian.
"You know that the wizarding world is more interested in you now than ever since you have destroyed the Dark Lord. That they want to know everything about you…including your childhood." Harry nodded.
"Yeah. That was one of the reasons I was placed with the Dursleys so publicly last summer. To show everyone how 'happy' I was to be back home, safe with my Muggle family." Severus's eyebrows rose.
"You were actually told that, explicitly?" Harry shrugged.
"More or less. When I started making plans to stay with the Weasleys over the summer, I had it 'suggested' to me that I return to the Dursleys. For protection, they said." Snape rolled his eyes.
"Imbeciles," he muttered. "Well, we think this man is under a lot of pressure for information about your childhood, and if he was in charge of your case, and it is…discovered that he 'let you' return to an abusive home, the Savior of the Wizarding world…" Harry had caught on.
"He wouldn't just be fired. He'd be destroyed." Snape was surprised once more as Harry started to get angry again. "So, he thinks he can fix everything by taking me away from you and sending me back to the Dursleys? No wonder Draco called him crazy."
"Maybe not crazy, but desperate. And we both know what people can do or think when they are desperate." That didn't really calm Harry's ire, but Severus figured the boy had a right to be angry. After everything…
"So, what's this have to do with Draco?"
"Strant fire-called me the other day, asking me why my godson, a known Healer's apprentice, was visiting me so often. He seemed to be implying that I was…mistreating you and was calling Draco over to help me cover it up. So, I warned Draco that someone was watching him, because we are very secluded here and there are extensive wards up to prevent any spying. That is why Draco is here tonight. He found out how the man was keeping tabs on him." Harry rubbed the back of his hand.
"He's using a student, isn't he?" Snape raised a brow at Harry's seemingly out of the blue, correct observation. Harry took his expression as the confirmation it was and shrugged.
"That just seems to be the way things work at Hogwarts. It's always the students….or the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry and Snape looked at each other at the same time…and maybe it was the crazy emotional roller coasters or the stress of the outside world or some combination, but they started to laugh. Not the rolling on the floor type of laughter, but just two people laughing at something they had both lived through and found hard to believe. "You know," Harry said, once he had calmed a bit, "I bet if you were the DADA teacher, we might have actually had a normal year at some point." The potion's master snorted at that, and stood.
"With you at the school, Mr. Potter, never. Now, I am going to finish discussing some things with Draco, do you want to be a part of the conversation this time, or continue to eavesdrop and misinterpret things?" Harry bit the inside of his cheek at the rub, but nodded and stood with his guardian.
Draco was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He raised a brow at the two of them (Slytherins are really good at that) and stood fully.
"Is everything alright? You were up there for a while." Harry fought the blush that started to rise to his cheeks, embarrassed for overreacting and misunderstanding things…again.
"Everything is fine. Now, we need to decide what to do about this official." Together, the three of them planned and came to a decision. They were contact the Minister of Magic and ask him to just look into Fredrick Strant, not enough to draw suspicions, but to hopefully get them some information. Then, Draco and Snape would try to gather evidence of the man's spying and coercion of a minor to give the Minister enough to arrest him. Harry didn't want to involve Ron and Hermione when they 'should be busy worrying about their wedding instead of him'. Also, this way Harry's name had a better chance of not getting involved, preventing too much interest from the Prophet.
Harry was sitting next to Severus on the couch, and the older wizard could feel him dropping beside him. It was getting late, and Harry had once again tired himself out with an emotional battle. Draco noticed as well, and wrapped things up as soon as possible.
"Alright. Well, I've got to head back. I got Jeremy to not report on me for at least tonights, and I don't want to push it. The kid was on edge." They all stood together, and Snape and Harry saw the blonde out. However, Draco paused before he stepped into the floo.
"Oh, Harry. Let me take a look at your neck. I think you should be able to take the wrappings off now." Harry's eyes widened for a moment, having forgotten about the bandages in all of the excitement, and nodded. Draco carefully unwrapped them and felt the skin of Harry's neck with his hands. Harry shivered at the prodding of Draco's cold fingers. After a few moments, Draco hummed in satisfaction and took his cold hands away.
"Everything seems good. You don't have to wear anything around your neck anymore. Still be careful. I don't want to have to come heal you again tomorrow." With Harry's assurance that that would not be the case, Draco left. Harry ran his own fingers over his neck, pleased to no longer have to wear the bandages.
"Draco did not remove them so you could rub your skin raw, Mr. Potter. Now, I think we could both do with some sleep." Harry didn't care how Snape had in essence told him it was his bedtime; he was too tired. So, they both headed upstairs and bid each other goodnight.
Harry laid his head down on his pillow, and did not think to worry over the visions the night might bring him.
He should have.
Bit longer than last time. PS, Harry's going through a bit of a mental breakdown every few minutes, so this is kind of a snapping point for him. Hopefully he didn't seem too OOC! Please Review :)