Harry couldn't help but wonder what had gone on outside.
It was only much later that night, when he and Draco were in their beds for the night, that he found out.
"She was really upset about the pendant," Draco muttered, punching his pillow.
Even in the dim moonlight streaming through the window, Harry could see that his brother's forehead was scrunched up.
"She looked all right when the two of you came back in, though."
Draco sighed. And then he sighed again.
"What?"
"I did something that appalled her. But then after I explained, I guess she thought it was sort of sad and funny all at once."
Harry was afraid to ask.
Draco sighed a third time, then threw his blankets off and sat up on the bed, bending over his crossed legs. "She kept talking about the pendant like it was a whole string of gems, so I showed her that it was only a pendant, and then--"
"You had it with you?"
Draco shrugged as he glanced up. "Good luck charm. I wasn't planning to give it to her, or at least, not so soon, until you had to open your big mouth."
"Er . . . sorry about that."
Draco's lips twisted. "I'd like to hold it against you, but I know you didn't mean it. Couldn't help it. Anyway, though, when she saw it she was pretty well horrified even if it was just a single diamond. She started walking down the street, going on about how the money could have been put to much better use, how it could have been used to help people, and how she didn't need any help and how she might be poor but she was managing just fine, thank you very much."
"You knew all that already, though," said Harry, hating the way Draco's voice sounded so . . . so pained.
"You haven't heard the worst part."
Harry braced himself, sitting up with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed. "Well?"
"She just kept talking about how there were people in this world for whom the price of the pendant could make a world of difference, and how if I didn't understand that she wasn't even sure she wanted to know me, and--" Draco winced. "Well, what was I supposed to do when I saw this grubby-looking man sitting on the corner with a sign that said he'd work for food? I mean, really! What was I supposed to do? I thought she was hinting, honestly! So I gave him the pendant!"
Harry's mouth fell open. "You gave him the pendant? The pendant that cost--"
Draco's head shot up. "Yes, I did! Why shouldn't I? Rhiannon didn't want it. Acted like she couldn't stand the sight of it! And she was accusing me of never thinking of anyone except myself, and I decided I'd prove to her that I could do something for somebody in need!"
"All right, all right," said Harry in the most calming voice he could manage. Now that he was over the initial shock of hearing what Draco had done, he was having a hard time not laughing. But that wouldn't help his brother feel any better. "So . . . I'm guessing Rhiannon didn't react so well."
"She called me an idiot," said Draco in a dull voice. "Said that the man was a drug addict, and was going to sell the pendant to buy drugs or booze, and I'd just made his life worse, not better."
"You didn't take the pendant back?"
"He'd run off by then. While Rhiannon was yelling at me." Draco started rocking back and forth over his legs. "It was awful."
Sometimes, Harry thought, it helped a person just to talk. Talk it all out. He'd learned that from Marsha, but he tried not to sound too much like her when he prompted, "But she got over it, obviously."
"After I explained, yes." Draco grimaced. "I told her I'd never seen anybody like that before, and explained a little bit about what life was like in Wiltshire."
Harry gasped. "Not about--"
"No, no, of course not. The manor. The grounds. How it wasn't my fault I didn't know so much about what it was like not to have money, and I'd just been trying to help that man, and I was sorry if I did it all wrong."
Draco stopped rocking and looked over at Harry. His smile was a little rueful. "After I talked for a little while, she seemed to understand that I hadn't given it to him because I was trying to get even with her for not wanting it. And then . . . I, uh, well, I felt like I had to say something that would impress her, so I told her about endowing the orphanage. You know, the squib home? Except, I didn't mention squibs, of course."
Harry cleared his throat. "Um, you didn't really endow the home, Draco. Walpurgis Black did."
"With my money."
"It wasn't, and you know it."
Draco brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Yes, I know you think that. Well, you'll love this part, then. She wants to see it."
"The squib home?"
"Yes, and I think I can arrange a visit if I do make a sizeable donation, so I'm about to endow them again. Of my own volition, this time."
"I didn't get the feeling they let in anybody who wants to come."
"Ha." Draco yawned. "Just you wait and see. You might have plenty of money, but you don't have the slightest idea what you can do with it. Darswaithe will be glad to give Rhiannon and me a guided tour. I guarantee it. Of course, it won't hurt that with him I can apply a little bit of pressure of another sort. He might not actually remember hexing you, Harry, but you can believe he was told about it when they were investigating the incident. And he knows that my own hex took him down. Huh. I probably don't even have to endow the place, after all. I'd bet my vault that I could wrap Darswaithe around my wand with just a few words."
"Draco--"
"Oh, I'll endow it. Don't worry. I'll want them to talk up the donation to Rhiannon, after all. And besides . . ." Draco lay back down, rolling over on his side, facing Harry. "A few well-placed Galleons always make things go so much more smoothly."
It was a wonder Draco could still think that, after the evening's pendant fiasco, Harry thought. But a donation to the squib home was a good idea in any case, so he couldn't get too worked up about it.
Draco stifled another yawn. "Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight."
It wasn't, though. Harry dreamed about being in the hospital wing again, Snape and Draco sitting on either side of him, holding his hands.
He woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding, struggling to remember his dream. But that was all there was to it: just that one scene, flashing through his mind.
Frowning, Harry reached for the vial of Dreamless Sleep he kept in the drawer of his night table.
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Coming soon in A Summer Like None Other:
Chapter Fourteen: Magic in the Air
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight and Mercredi
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Chapter 14: Magic in the Air
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=13093&chapter=14
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A Summer Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Fourteen:
Magic in the Air
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"Bad dream last night," said Harry the next morning, as soon as he'd poured himself some juice.
Draco stopped spreading lemon curd across his crumpet, and opened his mouth to ask the obvious question, but Severus beat him to it.
"Seer dream?"
"No. No chance of that. Didn't have that pattern or the whirling, or anything. It's just . . . I'm sick of ending up in hospital all the time! I was hoping next year I could give that a miss, you know?"
Draco blinked. "You just said it wasn't a seer dream. So what's this about next year?"