You Can Live: Chapter 38

Oh dear...it's been a while hasn't it? Well, spring break is coming in a week. I just have to hold on and then I will have a week to write!...after I do my homework :/

Unfortunately, this chapter is kinda short. :( I also want to point out, that yes, I know Harry is being hypocritical. Wants people to tell him things, but won't tell others things. I have a bit of wand/magic theory in here, which I came up with to explain what happened to Strant in the last chapter. Let me know what you think!

I also realized that I have never put this up: I do not have a beta. Any and all mistakes are my own!

Disclaimer: you know I don't own HP. A very rich, brilliant lady does.

Warnings: N/A

Better Off

Draco was waiting for them in living room when they finally got off of the floor of the bathroom. He smirked at how they entered: Severus with one arm protectively around Harry's shoulders and Harry leaning into his guardian's side. When they sat together on the sofa, Severus slid the plate of left over sandwiches towards Harry.

The young wizard lifted a brow at his guardian with an obvious, 'Seriously? After that?'. Severus only raised an eyebrow back and said,

"You just lost everything you have eaten today. They are not heavy sandwiches, and I am not expecting you to eat them all. Go slow." Harry almost rolled his eyes, but indulged his guardian's wishes…reluctantly.

The amount of emotions swirling inside of him made Harry cautious, but also a bit…'punch drunk'. He was practically giddy with the news that his guardian and friend had won the case and put all thoughts of the dream out of his head, planning on ignoring it completely.

Severus and Draco looked between each other and Harry trying to decipher whether they should tell him about Strant or not. Finally, they decided on 'yes', because things never ended well when Harry was kept out of the loop.

"Harry," the young man looked up from where he was slowly eating a sandwich with a lot of concentration. "Something else happened while we were at the Ministry." Harry felt like he was eating sawdust then. Swallowing was like trying to get down nails. His…nightmare, there was no other word for it, played behind his eyes. It was just so real, and now at his guardian's words, a sense of dread was falling over him.

"Yeah?" Severus's face was a blank mask, and one look at Draco confirmed that he was wearing a similar one.

"Fredrick Strant, the man that brought the charges of neglect against me, was killed this morning at the Ministry, while we were in trial." Harry paled and gave up entirely on getting through another bite.

"R-really? That's- do they know what happened?" Severus shook his head.

"No. No one knew that anything had happened, until Draco suggest that Strant be brought in for questioning, and two Aurors went into his office. From what we have heard, it was rather…gruesome." Harry felt like he was going to lose whatever he had choked down, though that would be a bit hard to explain. It wasn't like he was squeamish. He had been the housekeeper of the Dursleys for years after all, and he had survived a war. It would be a bit hard to explain why he felt sick, if he didn't want his guardian and friend thinking he was losing his mind. He was convinced he was half way there already; he didn't need to see the suspicion in their eyes as well.

"I can't say I'm upset about it all. Though, just because we were in court when it happened, doesn't mean we won't be looked at by the Ministry." Severus raised an eyebrow at his godson, but did not contradict him. The death of a man who would try to put a child back into an abusive environment and blackmail and terrorize another just to save his reputation did not stir any sort of sympathy from Severus. Harry however, seemed rather distressed.

"You mean you guys are suspects? But that's not fair! You didn't do anything!" Snape settled back and squeezed Harry's shoulder comfortingly. The boy had his mother's heart, truly.

"It is just procedure. With all of the trouble the man was causing us, it could be said that we had motive, but we will soon be cleared as we were in a room with many witnesses when the murder took place." Harry nodded, reassured that neither of them would be accused of murdering the man. After all…he did it…didn't he? Did he really kill a man? It seemed like too much of a coincidence that he had a dream of Strant being brutally murdered and then finding out minutes later that the man actually had been killed. Images from his nightmare flashed in his head, and he found his eyes drawn to Draco's chest.

In his dream he had cast Sectum Sempra. He had only ever used it once, and only then, when he didn't know what it did. Severus had created it, and as far as he knew he was the only other person that knew about it. They couldn't figure that from the man's body though, could they?

Harry's head was pounding, and he dragged his eyes away from the hidden scars on his friend and cradled his head in his hands.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Harry sighed and pressed the palms of his hands harder into his eyes, to push back the pain, but to also try and hide the shaking that had started in his hands.

"It's just one thing after the other. I'd really like a break is all." Snape and Draco both snorted in agreement. As if to contradict any hope they had of a remotely quiet afternoon, the floo flared to life, and the Minister of Magic stepped out. He appeared a bit harried, and with barely a nod of acknowledgement to those in the room, Shacklebolt collapsed into the open armchair.

None of them commented, but Severus did call for Snippy to bring them another cup of tea. After another look at Kingsley, he told her to put a splash (or more) of Firewhiskey in it. The Minister took the cup gratefully, and after a few moments of silence al around, he sighed and looked up.

"Are you feeling alright, Mr. Potter?" He met eyes with Severus to see if Harry had been informed of what had happened and received a discreet nod. Harry shrugged in answer to the large wizard's question.

"Better than Strant, I suppose." Kingsley gave a surprised, dark chuckle and nodded. Another, deeper, swallow of his laced tea followed, and he took a deep breath.

"Someone managed to get in and get out of his office, without anyone seeing them, or any wards registering another presence. A few people testified that they had seen Strant running frantically towards his office, and appeared to be very distressed. Whoever did it put up silencing charms, otherwise the entire building would have heard him." He looked up and answered Snape's raised eyebrow.

"They snapped his wand." Severus paled, Draco uttered a faint curse, and Harry felt like he was about to crawl out of his skin and puke again. That or…his mind drifted to the blade upstairs in his nightstand. Tonight, definitely tonight. He needed it.

"What..what does that do exactly? I mean, I snapped the elder wand after the Battle, but nothing happened. Ron's wand snapped when we crashed into the Womping Willow in second year." He obviously knew the answer…partially at least. He had just witnessed what happened when a wizard's wand was snapped.

While the others in the room hesitated, Harry was forever grateful they decided not to keep the information from him. He had had enough of people not telling him anything 'for his own good'. Severus took it upon himself to explain, as the Minister did not appear up to the task.

"The effects depend on how long the witch or wizard has been using their wand and how often. There are some who use their magic for nearly every task they can think of. Each time you use your wand it strengthens your connection to it, and your magic's dependence on the wand as a conduit. When a magical child has accidental magic, they do not use a wand; it simply expels itself from their body. Wands are used to focus the power and give it a directionality, and many spells have come to depend on the wand movement itself to work properly. The other factor…is the intent behind the snapping of a wand. If it is accidental or perhaps intentional but not malicious towards the owner, nothing terrible should happen. However, it is best to avoid snapping your wand at all costs." Severus waited for Harry to nod his understanding before he continued.

"What happened to Strant…was deliberate and malicious. By snapping his wand, his magic could not escape his body. Since he was most likely terrified and trying to fight back, his magic was coming to his aid. However, without a conduit to allow it egress, it tried to escape as it would have in a child, and killed him. It is an extremely painful and terrifying way to die. Your magic is a part of yourself and suddenly you are being attacked by it…most Death Eaters wouldn't even commit such an atrocity."

Harry thanked him for explaining with a small nod and found himself leaning farther into the man's side. Everyone was quiet, lost in thought. Harry had completely forgotten about Albus, and startled when the owl tugged on his hair.

"Wha-" The large owl tugged his hair again and hooted, before hopping down into his lap and closing his eyes. Harry raised both eyebrows at his familiar, and Snape snorted.

"The bird seems to fancy itself a cat." Albus ruffled his feathers and glared at Snape before settling down again. They all got a bit of a kick out of the animal's antics, and Kingsley sat up a bit straighter and finished off his tea.

"Well, I actually came to tell you, that you are not suspects, neither of you," he indicated Severus and Draco, "And no one would dare accuse the Savior of the Wizarding World of something like this; besides I assume you was not here alone?" Harry nodded.

"Yeah. Luna stayed with me. I was actually sleeping when they came back from the trial." Kingsley nodded.

"Good. I must be off now, but cheer up. The trial has only solidified your guardianship and ensures that no one official can or would ever bother you about it again…" he leaned down as if telling a secret. "And nothing will end up in the papers." He gave them a small encouraging smile, before bidding them goodbye and stepping out.

The three men stayed quiet for a little while, before their silence was interrupted by Snippy. She popped in and threw herself at Harry, wrapping her arms around his legs and jostling Albus. The bird hooted in indignation before settling once more. Harry was a bit startled but patted the house-elf's back reassuringly. Severus and Draco looked on with incredulity. It was if Harry was adopted by everyone in the house.

"Snippy? What-" Snippy committed a cardinal sin amongst house-elves and interrupted her master.

"Master Harry should be happy and not sad. Master Harry is alive and well and staying with Master Snape. No one is taking Master Harry away! Snippy would have stopped them. Snippy would not have let anyone take her Master Harry. Master Harry is staying. So Master Harry must be happy now." Said wizard could not help but feel properly chastised, and smiled down at the little creature that was blinking large eyes up at him.

"Of course I'm happy, Snippy. I'm sorry it didn't seem so. I'm never happy hearing that someone has died. But I'll be happy now." Snippy scrutinized him for a few moments more, before nodding and smiling brightly.

"Good! That is good, Master Harry. Snippy is happy that Master Harry is happy. Snippy is making treacle tart tonight to celebrate." And with that, the house-elf popped back out of the room, without so much as a by-your-leave to either Severus or Draco. Harry took in Severus and Draco's expressions and his eyebrows pulled together.

"What?" Draco snorted, and Severus just shook his head.

"You are simply a very…magnetic young man." Harry wasn't sure whether that was meant to be a complement or not.

"Uh…thanks?" The Slytherins repeated their previous actions, leaving Harry to just shrug it off.

They chatted for a little while about more pleasant things: Ron and Hermione's wedding, George and Clara and Draco's funny experiences as a Healer's apprentice. Then…they got to the subject of Harry's birthday.

"Harry, your party is next week, and Mrs. Weasley is insisting I send her a list of what you want." Harry tensed, and the other two wizards took it for fear at the prospect of a demanding Mrs. Weasley. Draco leaned forward in his chairs, chin on his fist, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Harry. What do you want? I will be attending, and I cannot come empty handed." Harry sputtered.

"Uh…well, I mean. Really. No one needs to get me anything. It will be a…wonderful birthday just because I get to be with everyone." Draco huffed and rolled his eyes.

"You are the Golden Boy through and through. Just so you know, normal wizards and witches your age have lists three feet long. I'm sure you can come up with something." Harry gave a shaky smile and tried to not look so tense. Before, mentioning his birthday would just irritate him. He knew something bad happened on his birthdays, but he couldn't remember anything. Now though, a dark fear crept in beside that irritability, fear caused by Menos.

However, he couldn't let either of them know about that.

"I…I don't know. A practice snitch?" Draco huffed.

"Of course the only thing on your brain would be Quidditch." Harry mock glared at the Slytherin, and they had a good laugh over its lack of ferocity. Severus and Draco tried to drag more present ideas out of Harry, but they didn't get very far. Harry was eventually rescued by Snippy popping in announcing that dinner would be ready in thirty minutes. This distracted the other wizards long enough for Harry to get in a change of subject, though if he knew Slytherins, he knew they let him change the subject.

Throughout dinner and treacle tart, as Severus and Draco chatted and Harry pitched in every so often, Harry's mind was buzzing and his skin tingled.

As soon as he could, he would get his blade.

After putting up this chapter, I realized that I have written more in this story than I had originally thought. I actually had to scroll back quite a ways to find this chapter. :/

See you soon!

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