Draco's Visit

That evening, Draco knocked on the house parents' door. "I need to speak to you."

Inus opened the door. "How may I help you?"

Draco surveyed the room before taking a seat on a sofa. "Where's Professor Snape?"

"He's out. He'll be back later." Inus wasn't going to tell Draco that Severus was talking to the Dark Lord who was using Draco's father's body. Inus sat on a chair facing Draco. "You can talk to me."

"You're my age," the tall slender blond. "A bit younger actually. Everything else is magic."

"We went over this in class." Inus looked at the young man and shook his head. "And you're such a bright boy. According to muggle medicine, I'm Inus Quirrell who is recovering from amnesia. Harry Potter's soul being in my body is the magic part. I shan't worry about it. Body theft is a hard concept to understand. Stealing a previously dead body makes me more of a ghoul that a body thief. Graveyards and such." Inus recoiled from an involuntary shiver.

"I get all that, but you have Harry Potter's soul that makes you younger than me and I need to talk to an adult," said Draco.

"I can listen, and since I'm no longer your classmate I won't laugh."

Draco said, "I should wait for Professor Snape to get back, but, Harry, you shan't laugh nor tell Weasley or the mudblood."

"I won't tell Ron or Hermoine anything that you tell me in confidence." Inus crossed his heart with his finger. "Harry was chosen for Slytherin, but he told the sorting hat any house but Slytherin. Do you think if I got a snake, would your peers treat me less like an ill-begotten foster child?"

"If you wore it around your neck and spoke to it, people would find you creepy."

"I am creepy." Inus smiled. His skin was a bit taunt after Poppy magicked the muscle, so he could smile from both sides of his face. He wasn't badly scarred, but people could tell that his face had been burned. "I told everyone but the first years that I'm a spirit that took possession of a dead body. People knowing I'm a Parselmouth won't make me seem any more ghoulish."

"Harry, that's up to you." Draco squirmed in his seat.

"What brings you here?" Inus smiled (Draco had always called him Potter. Thus, Draco uses his first name was Draco's way of saying they were peers and not student and teacher.) and leaned back on his chair a bit.

"My father isn't acting like himself and my mother won't say anything, but I can tell she's upset," said Draco. "It isn't like you would understand. I'm scared for my mother. Dad as always been quick to temper, but it's like he's someone else."

"Your mother has her sister Andromeda and her cousin Sirius," said Inus. "Sirius is crazy and Aunt Andromeda was disowned by the family." Draco's voice fell to a whisper. "Mum and Aunt Andromeda talk. They are sisters and Aunt Bellatrix is gaol, but Mum doesn't want people knowing since they aren't supposed to talk. Tell Professor Snape when he gets back to call on me."

Inus stood. "I shall."

Draco stood. "You sleeping with Professor Snape is disturbing, but you're an old man, and not a particularly attractive one at that. Therefore, you need to date someone your physical age."

Inus stayed standing, putting most of his weight on his good leg. "Mr. Malfoy, I don't need your blessing."

"I'll see you in class." Draco left the room to return to the Slytherin common room.

xxxx

Severus got back from his meeting late. Inus wasn't going to ask him about the meeting with Lord Voldemort. Severus would talk about it in his own time or not at all. Severus seeing his old friend being used as Voldemort's puppet couldn't have been pleasant for him.

Inus cuddled him as Severus climbed into bed. "Draco came to see you. He told me to have you call on him. I don't think he wants to wait till morning."

"What about?" asked Severus.

"You should ask him. I gave him my word that I wouldn't divulge any confidences."

Severus kissed Inus's cheek. "Keep the bed warm." After putting on his green and silver dressing gown, Severus left their flat. About an half hour later, Severus returned. "The boy all but knows. I hated lying to him. He's too old to believe in Father Christmas."

"He's safe while he's at the school." Inus stared at the ceiling.

"How safe are any of us?" After removing his dressing gown, Severus got into bed. "I'm a Death Eater and you're less than that. We live only as long as he deems us useful."

"Draco isn't a child. Maybe, you should tell him the truth."

"Let the boy sleep. We'll talk to him tomorrow."

Inus cuddled against Severus. "I can't sleep. I'm going to get a quill, ink and parchment and see if Quirinus wants to write our mother a letter."

"Good luck."

"I may colour his memories by seeing them with my soul, but I know him like myself. He's shy. He won't approach the other paintings. He needs a friend."

"Go. Don't tell him about the Dark Lord's return. The paintings are terrible gossips."

"I won't." Inus kissed Severus. "Get some sleep. I love you."

xxxx

Inus put his writing supplies in a knapsack and hiked to the third-floor corridor near the trapdoor. He took down the painting and leaned it against the floor, so it would be level with him when he was writing. Inus looked at the man in the propped up painting. "Quirinus, I know you don't like me and you feel I stole your life. However, I figure you could use a friend."

"Why are you helping me?" asked the portrait.

"People paint living portraits, so your family and loved ones can have you around after you're dead. Your mother is the only loved one you have. For some reason she adores you. You tell me what to write and I'll write and owl her a letter." Inus sprawled out on the floor and unrolled the parchment then dripping his quill in ink to start writing. "Should I address her 'Dear Mum' or do you address her some other way?"

"Harry, it's a nice gesture and all."

"Don't get all shy on me. You nearly had Lord Voldemort at your beck and call. I know the games. I remember being you." Inus started writing. "'Dear Mum' it is."

"I can't tell her that I'm a portrait now and Headmaster Dumbledore put in in the third-floor corridor so I can oversee the spot Fluffy used to protect."

"Why not? I write Mum about having tea with Moody or how the third year lesson went burst."

"You write my mum?"

"Once a week on average. I live with her all summer and on winter holiday, so I don't write her then and, sometimes, life is too crazy and I can't get to a quill, but I like having someone to write. I also write a girl across the Pond nearly as often."

"Mum writes back?" The portrait sounded interested. He obviously liked his mother doting on him.

"Yes, she writes about her mah-jongg and what the Notts and Harpers are doing. She tells me about who she had tea with and who she met while shopping. She gave me a howler for using foul language and threatening a reporter, but most of her letters are pleasant."

"What are you to my mum?"

"Her son. My original body is dead. The gods set things straight. I'm to continue your life. Of course, that means I no longer remember being Harry Potter."

"You aren't me. I would never lie on a corridor floor to transcript a letter for a portrait I didn't even like."

"I'm not. You're a horrible person to remember being. You were only interested in one person: yourself. You thought you could even outsmart Lord Voldemort to achieve your goals."

"That went burst. I'm a portrait and you get to live my life."

"It isn't so bad being a portrait. You were at least painted with a broom and wand. You can fly to all the other paintings in the castle. I didn't kill you. You died because your heart couldn't take the stress of Lord Voldemort leaving."

"I'm twenty-seven years old and I'm wearing a secondary school uniform. Not the least bit proper." The man in the painting looked down at his tie, shirt, jacket and top of his trousers.

"You should have seen Bagman in his Wasp uniform." Before or after he spewed on him, Inus laughed in spite of himself. "He wore a poncho and kilt to the Quidditch Cup. Now that's embarrassing, and your body was thirty when I battled the Hungarian Horntail. You're looking at the winner of the Triwizard Tournament."

"Harry, those things haven't run for over a hundred years." Quirinus sounded terribly indignant like he was right and how could anyone dare question his authority.

Inus wondered if he sounded like Quirinus when he corrected someone. "They bought it back." Probably not, he had some kindness in his voice when the man in the portrait didn't.

"Harry, my memories or not, you look like a schoolboy lying on the floor with your good leg swinging back and forth. Let's get started on that letter. What do you have so far?"

Inus smiled. "Dear Mum."