Oddly enough, Rhiannon seemed to find Lavare the most impressive spell of all.
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Coming soon in A Summer Like None Other:
Chapter Fifteen: It Tolls for Thee
Comments very welcome.
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Chapter 15: It Tolls for Thee
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A Summer Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Fifteen:
It Tolls for Thee
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"So, how did it go?" asked Harry as he towelled off his hair after his Wednesday morning swimming lesson. "Did Darswaithe agree to let you and Rhiannon visit the home?"
Harry couldn't help but notice that as Draco talked, his gaze kept straying toward the lifeguard chair over at the children's pool. "Of course. All I had to do was give him the vau-- er, the financial draft I'd prepared. He said he'd be delighted to give Rhiannon and me a guided tour. Tomorrow morning, in fact."
Harry frowned a little. "I thought you must be having trouble persuading him. You've been gone longer than I would have expected."
"Oh, that." Draco gave a little laugh. "I told Darswaithe that I wanted it to seem like I'd been to the home quite a bit. Volunteering, you know. So he showed me around again. I saw loads of things they didn't cover that time you and I visited. And he let me stop in and talk with some of the students so it would seem a bit like I knew them, right?"
As far as Harry was concerned, that all added up to one thing. "Must have been one bloody big draft. Just how much are you donating to the home?"
Draco lowered his voice. "Never you mind. I can afford it; that's all that matters."
Harry mentally shrugged. None of his business, really, what the number on the vault draft had been. He sort of agreed with Rhiannon on this one, anyway. Better a sizeable donation to a worthy cause than another diamond pendant. Not that Draco was likely to buy her another one of those, anytime soon. "So, are you and Rhiannon going off for lunch together, then?"
"I think so. I mentioned it when we first arrived this morning. She said she wanted me to try something called a 'samosa.' Personally, I think it sounds hideous."
"No, they're great. I had one, once." Harry smiled just thinking about it. Not all his outings with the Dursleys had ended in disaster, after all. That day had actually been a pretty good one. No accidental magic, nobody yelling at him. Uncle Vernon had even clapped him on the shoulder at one point, and said something vaguely positive. Harry had left the street fair feeling like life might be all right, after all.
Of course, the very next day Dudley had planted a gum wrapper in Harry's cupboard, and Harry had caught hell for "stealing" Dudley's sweets.
Harry shook off the memories, good and bad. "What are you going to do until she gets off work?"
"He's going to read, I do believe," announced Snape in a hard voice as he walked up. He thrust something out as he spoke. A book, Harry saw. "You forgot this at home."
Harry had wondered where Snape had got to. It seemed like he'd popped back to the cottage while Harry had been distracted talking with Draco.
"Yes, sir," said Draco, his voice pitched low.
Curious, Harry darted a glance at the title. Values Clarification for Teenagers, it read. Huh. Must be one of the books Snape was considering for the new course he was going to teach. "Didn't you read that one already?"
Draco nodded, looking like he was hoping for some support.
Not likely, not once Harry heard what Snape had to say. "Based on our conversation the day before yesterday, he skimmed it, at best. And why was that? Ten guesses, Harry. Though I hazard you'll need only one."
The look on Draco's face gave everything away. "You read the author's page first, didn't you?"
Draco raised his chin. "Basic research methods. Consider the source."
Obviously, the author was a Muggle. Harry sighed, feeling such a mix of things that he hardly knew how to sort it all out. He was annoyed with Draco, obviously, but proud of his father for considering a text by a Muggle. Snape had his own prejudice to deal with, as Harry well knew; it just wasn't as pronounced as Draco's was.
"Read the text in depth this time, no matter your personal view of the author's credentials. We'll talk again this evening."
Draco reached out to snatch the book, his every movement screaming resentment.
"Any more bad attitude and you can stay at home from now on while I take Harry to his lessons."
Draco glared. "Don't treat me like a child."
Then don't act like onewas the retort Harry was expecting. Instead, Severus raised an eyebrow. "You aren't seventeen, yet. Or are you?"
Draco opened his mouth, looking as though he had quite a lot to say on that topic. Like he knew something that would shut Severus up straight away, actually. In the end, though, he merely hung his head a little and murmured that he'd read the book properly, this time.
"See that you do," said Severus crisply. "Well, Harry, do you fancy coming back for free swim, then? After lunch?"
"If you'll swim, too. And I mean swim, not just sit in the water."
"You drive a hard bargain."
"Oh, you mean because of--" Harry chewed his lip. He liked the feeling that he could say anything at all to his father, but he had a feeling that some things were better left unsaid. Reminding Severus of what Rhiannon's uncle had said about his appearance . . . no. Definitely not.
Not for the first time, he wondered . . . really wondered, what Snape had against hair-washing. Maybe he just didn't want to appear to care what others thought of him, since he didn't care.
Draco had fewer reservations when it came to saying things out loud, obviously. The old impulse-control problem, Harry decided. Either that or he was trying to get even for the remark about his age. Which was odd, wasn't it, considering he wasn't seventeen yet.
"If I can stomach this book then you can manage to wash your hair for once," the other boy announced. "And don't threaten me with lines for saying that. It's just the truth."
"Draco," said Harry, shaking his head.
Snape, though, merely narrowed his eyes. "Well, well. If my hair is so very much in need of cleansing, perhaps I'll borrow your very special shampoo."
"If that's what it takes."
Draco's tone sounded more than a little defensive, Harry thought. Almost as if he was cornered and he knew it. Which didn't make any sense, so Harry dismissed it. He had a feeling, though, that he'd been missing some undertones throughout the whole conversation. Well, that was nothing new. Draco and Snape often spoke to each other in strange tones of meaning only a Slytherin could really follow.
A full Slytherin.
"I'm starving," Harry complained. "I swam laps during most of my lesson, and then I did more of them while waiting for you to get back here."
"Be happy your swimming skills are so good. You could have been blowing bubbles the whole time, you know--"
"Prat. That was daft, but Roger only had me do that right at first and you know it--"
"It's an important precursor skill," said Roger, coming up to them.
Harry felt his cheeks heating a little. He hadn't meant to sound like he was complaining.
Roger seemed to take pity on him. "Listen, Harry. In my view, you don't properly need lessons any longer. You fall overboard, you won't drown. But more lessons will help you become a stronger swimmer, certainly. That's why I'm starting to insist on so many laps."
"And quite right you are, Mr Yates," said Snape smoothly. "I'm pleased by Harry's progress, but as you said, I'd hardly wish to discontinue lessons."
"Great. So I'll see you on Friday, then." Roger nodded once, then walked towards the children's pool, where he stopped to speak with Rhiannon. Harry frowned, remembering how annoyed Draco had been when "his girl" had talked to that other man outside the theatre.
"Harry and I will be off, then." Snape turned toward Draco. "I'll expect a much better discussion, later this evening, of that book. Read it until your girlfriend has her lunch break, and then again during free swim."
"I thought I'd lie out in the sun--"
Severus' voice all at once became suffused with humour. "You can't read lying down? This is fascinating. I shall have to inform Madam Pomfrey of a possible balance disorder--"
"He just doesn't want to look like a Poindexter."
Harry laughed when his father and brother both turned confused faces his way. "A nerd, a dweeb, a geek--"
"No more slang when we play Scrabble next," said Draco. "You know too many strange words."
"At least I don't make them up, Mr Quizzex."
Draco shrugged. "That's what you get for agreeing to play without dictionary char-- er, I mean, charming dictionaries to verify every word. Anyway, you meant?"
"You don't want to be seen reading. You're afraid people might think you're an egghead. Or a Hermione, I mean."
"Ha, very funny. I'll have you know that I don't mind in the least if people, as you put it, see that I have an intellectual side."
Draco didn't actually tack so, there onto the end, but he was thinking it. Harry could tell.
"Good," said Snape crisply. "Because I expect a thorough analysis of that book this evening, as I said." He leaned over a little. Not exactly breathing down Draco's neck, but close. "And if I don't get what I want, I'll assign you to read the book once more and report on it in writing."
By the end there, Harry was feeling a little sorry for Draco, even if he had brought this all on himself by giving the Muggle-written book short shrift. Wrapping his towel around his shoulders, he said he'd be back in a flash.