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Severus was an observant man. He had to be in his profession. That was why he always knew what went on and why it was so hard for others to keep secrets from him. He always found out the truth, whether they intended for him to or not.
Some students were good at keeping secrets. Others were...less good. Violet Potter was in the latter group. Severus didn't know if Potter was aware of it or not, but she was an abysmal liar.
She didn't lie often, but he always knew when she tried-like when he'd bumped into her in the Entrance Hall before the Welcoming Feast that evening, where he'd asked her whether she'd bothered to do her summer homework or not.
Yes, Potter truly was an astoundingly awful liar, Severus thought as he walked along the deserted, torch-lit corridor.
It was just past midnight and he'd nearly finished his patrol duty. As soon as he was done, he was going to return to his quarters and go to bed. He was eager to get some sleep. Fortunately, it appeared to be a quiet night.
So, of course, that was when he heard the footsteps.
They were quiet footsteps, too light to belong to any adult. A student, then. Either someone light on their feet naturally or someone deliberately trying to keep quiet. That didn't matter though. It was past curfew for all students, including the older ones. None of them had any business being here this late.
It was their first day back and they were already breaking the rules?
The footsteps stopped and were followed by a soft shuffling sound that also went silent after a few seconds. Irritated, because this only meant his entire schedule would be ruined now, Severus disillusioned himself and stepped forward, intending to scare the recklessness out of whoever this fool was.
He went around the corner and just a few steps down the corridor, he found the culprit. Potter.
The windows in this part of the castle were quite large and their windowsills were just as big. Potter was seated on one of these sills, back to the stone wall, legs stretched out along the sill, head resting against the window she was gazing out of.
She was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, and her feet were bare, a pair of slippers on the floor under the windowsill. He assumed that meant she'd slipped out of bed to come here.
Why was it her? Why did it always have to be Potter? Couldn't she spare him for even one night? He rubbed at his soulmark absently and was just about to remove his disillusion charm when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. A voice sounded just as he turned.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here."
Draco didn't see the still invisible Severus as he walked past him, and Severus watched tensely as Draco approached Potter, waiting for the insults or hexes to begin. But they never did.
Stopping at the windowsill Potter was sitting on, Draco tapped one of Potter's shins, and Potter pulled her legs back. Draco sat down on the stone windowsill where Potter's feet had been and groaned.
"Salazar, it's been a long day."
"Seems like it," said Potter, looking amused. "You're still in your uniform."
"Pansy wouldn't leave me alone," said Draco with a shrug.
"Oh, you poor thing," said Potter sarcastically.
Draco only laughed. "What about you?" he asked once he'd sobered. "Why are you here instead of in bed?"
"Needed some time alone myself," Potter replied with a shrug of her own.
Draco raised a brow. "We've only been back a few hours. Already tired of playing the good little Gryffindor?"
Severus stared at the scene unfolding before him in baffled shock. Instead of arguing and hexing one another, Potter and Draco actually seemed to be getting along. To a point where he was beginning to wonder how long this had been going on. This couldn't be the first time they had done this.
"...You know," said Potter slowly. "Sometimes I do regret not letting the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin. It's kind of funny how I let a few things Ron and Hagrid said sway me away from that House. I didn't even know anything about it, but I still begged the Hat not to put me there."
"Bet your first impression of me didn't help either," said Draco wryly.
"It really didn't!" said Potter, laughing cheerfully. She calmed quickly. "I love being in Gryffindor, but it does get kind of...frustrating sometimes, especially after the shit they pulled last year."
"Do they actually believe the Dark Lord is back this time?"
"Yeah, but only because the Daily Prophet's finally reported it. If it hadn't, I bet they'd still doubt it, even though I'm not the only witness this time. He was spotted by like, a hundred Ministry morons this time around."
What exactly was this discussion? It would be one thing if they were speaking about their classes or O. or quidditch, but they were going on about far more serious topics than something that mundane.
What was going on between them? Severus felt a pang in his gut. Were they-? But, no, they weren't speaking as if they were secret lovers. Were they friends, perhaps? But if they were friends, then when had that happened? And how?
"How was your summer?" asked Draco after a pause. "You don't look well."
And she truly didn't, Severus realized, looking at Potter closer. She looked pale and almost a little sickly. She looked thinner too, and it seemed as if she hadn't slept well in days.
"The Order decided it would be a grand idea to threaten my uncle into treating me better," said Potter candidly.
"Let me guess, it backfired?"
"Epically," said Potter with a nod. "So, my summer went about as well as you're probably thinking, and was likely much worse."
Draco sighed but didn't look surprised. "Do you need anything?" he asked. "A pain relief potion or a bruise salve or something?"
Potter smiled. "Thanks, but Neville's already beaten you to it. I'm mostly healed up. It's just gonna take a few meals to get my weight back up."
Draco frowned. Reaching out, he closed a hand around Potter's wrist. "You're practically skin and bones. How long did they starve you for this time?"
"Not more than a week at a time," said Potter, and the tone of her voice made it sound as if she was trying to be reassuring. "I usually passed out by day four or five, so they'd stop there and let me eat for a week before they'd do it again. It was always as a punishment though, but since my sin is that I exist, well, can't do shit about it."
"You're too blasé about this," Draco muttered with a scowl.
Extracting her wrist out of his grip, Potter patted Draco's hand comfortingly. "You get used to it. Besides, I won't have to put up with it for much longer. I turn seventeen at the end of July, so I just have to get through one last month with them."
"Unless they kill you first."
"Oh, they won't go that far," said Potter with laughter in her voice. "They're too scared. They know they can get away with starving me for a few days and smacking me around, since they've been doing it like, forever, and no one's stopped them. But my uncle knows he'll be doomed if he goes and kills me. He likes his life too much to risk that."
Severus stood there, still invisible, listening in growing horror. This conversation had taken a terrifyingly unpleasant turn. He knew he needed to step in. He knew he needed to question Potter about this. But he couldn't move.
"Did you even get to do anything over the break?" asked Draco.
"Nah. If I wasn't doing chores, I was locked in my cupboard. Not much chance to enjoy the vacation from in there."
Draco's eyes widened. "They locked you in there again? But why?"
"My uncle had some deal at work that fell through or something," said Potter, stretching her legs out across Draco's lap. He didn't stop her. "He decided it was the Order's fault, and since he couldn't get pissed at them, he decided to take it out on me. Not for the first time.
"Didn't even get to do my homework," she added. "They refused to let me touch my school stuff. I tried to get some of it done on the train, but those essays take ages to write." She sighed sorrowfully. "I'm going to get so many detentions this week."
With a sigh of his own, Draco leaned his head back against the window behind him. "I'll get you a nutrient potion," he said. "Those aren't hard to make. It'll be better for you to take that instead of gorging yourself at mealtimes."
"Fair point. Thanks. Anyway, enough about my gobshite summer. How was yours?"
"Nowhere near as eventful as yours, thank Salazar," said Draco with a grin. "Mother spent the entire summer telling me how beneficial it'll be if I marry Pansy. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her I'm not interested. She keeps saying it's what's best for the family name."
So, Narcissa was still on about that, was she? Severus knew she'd mentioned it to Draco before, but Lucius hadn't said it was still an ongoing issue.
Potter frowned. "Why are you so against it? Aren't these kinds of marriages normal with Purebloods? And besides, isn't she your soulmate?"
Parkinson was Draco's soulmate? Severus had never heard about that.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with it. If I'm to marry someone, I want it to be someone I actually like. I know it's stupid," Draco added defensively, "but mother and father can barely stand each other, and I don't want to end up like that too, soulmate or not. They're soulmates too, you know."
Severus had known there were some problems between Lucius and Narcissa, but both of them had assured him Draco didn't know about any of it. It seemed they were wrong. Though, most parents were wrong when it came to their children's knowledge regarding their marital problems.
"You're right," said Potter easily. "That seems like a terrible way to live. It's one thing if everyone involved is okay with it, but it's not great if you really don't want to do it. What if you tell her you're already seeing someone else?"
"I've already tried that," said Draco bitterly. "It didn't work. She just asked Pansy."
"Oof, yeah, Parkinson knows pretty much everything gossip-worthy around here," said Potter with a grimace. She scratched her chin absently. "What if you tell her you're with me?"
"What!? Are you mad!?"
Severus was wondering that himself.
"I mean, it'll get her off your back, won't it?" asked Potter. "And when you're questioned about it, you can say something like how you're just messing with me and softening me up for Voldemort or something."
"That'll only get you killed, you idiot."
Potter shrugged. "Meh. Voldemort's probably gonna kill me one day anyway."
"I refuse."
"It was just a suggestion," said Potter with another shrug. "Honestly, I think your best bet is either hooking up with someone else or getting stern with your mum and telling her to leave you the hell alone. You're only sixteen anyway. Wizards live for over a hundred years. You don't need to marry immediately after leaving Hogwarts. Teen marriages really can't be that beneficial anymore anyway."
"You aren't wrong," Draco admitted, "but it isn't as if mother will ever approve of the person I actually like. Not that I even have much of a chance with her."
Potter smiled again, but it was a soft smile this time. "You really should just apologize to her, you know. She might surprise you."
Draco made a face that made it very clear that he didn't believe Potter at all. "...Maybe I will take you up on your offer. If we get married, none of this will matter."
"That'll go against the whole you not marrying unless you like your partner thing. You don't like me that way, Draco. And besides, you're cute, but you're not my type. I prefer tall, dark, and handsome, not medium, blond, and smarmy."
"Oh, thanks," said Draco as he shoved Potter's legs off his lap. But then he began to laugh, and he laughed so hard he choked and started to cough.
"Whoa, you alright, there?" asked Potter, leaning over to clap him on the back a few times.
"Yeah," said Draco breathlessly once he'd managed to stop coughing. "Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I really needed the laugh."
"Looked like you did, too." But Potter was frowning again. "You look exhausted. I suppose we should probably head to bed." She glanced down at her left wrist. "Shoot, I forgot I took my watch off. What time is it?"
"Just gone one," Draco replied after casting a tempus charm. "Damn, that was quick."
"You're telling me," said Potter straightening up and stretching.
"Time for you to go back to being innocent and naïve?"
"Ugh. I'm a Gryffindor, not a Hufflepuff."
But Potter's response only had Draco laughing again. When he'd sobered, he pushed himself to his feet and Potter did the same. Severus watched as the two exchanged goodnights and headed in opposite directions. He watched them go until they were out of sight and he was alone.
Severus was incredibly confused. Potter and Draco were friends, and by the sounds of it, had been for at least a few months now. This wasn't recent and certainly couldn't have happened this past summer. Had it been last year?
He couldn't remember noticing anything different between the two of them last year. Potter had been angry and secretive, and Umbridge had been ruining everything good about his home, but Potter and Draco's relationship had seemed as antagonistic as always.
They had to be quite close if they trusted one another with information regarding their personal lives, not to mention making jokes about marrying one another, and they were discussing the Dark Lord openly as well.
Severus had prided himself on his observational skills. He'd thought he'd been more than correct when thinking Potter was an abysmal liar and had assumed he knew everything about Draco's life as well. And yet, both of them had managed to hide this from not only him but nearly everyone else in the castle too.
No one would have been able to resist talking about a friendship between the two of them, but he hadn't heard a single word about it. How many did know?
If he made a few assumptions based on things they had implied, it sounded as if Longbottom knew about it. What about Granger and Weasley? Did they know? And what about Draco's friends? Not Crabbe or Goyle-they would never manage to keep anything quiet, but Zabini or perhaps Nott?
Severus was confused and he hated feeling this way. He wasn't upset about the friendship exactly, but he couldn't say it was a good thing either. Many would oppose it for various reasons.
Really, it was no wonder Potter and Draco had chosen to keep the entire affair quiet. He was going to have to pay closer attention to them from now on.
That's it for now. So, we're finally getting into things. You may be able to tell by the way it's written, but this chapter was originally chapter one for a completely new fic. I later thought it could fit into this pretty well with a bit of tweaking, so here we are. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!