"What I know is that Severus is too Slytherin to let you know every time you hurt him."
Harry sighed, and crossing his legs again, bent over them. That was probably true, but it had never really occurred to him. Now, it made him wonder how many times he'd hurt Snape without meaning to. "I'll do better," he told Draco, glancing through his fringe at the other boy. "I mean, I know you care about him. I... do too, you know."
"Harry, it's Severus who should know."
"Yeah," Harry said, the single word almost sticking in his throat. "Um, well I think he knows without me saying so."
"Oh, you think Slytherins are so intuitive?" Draco sneered.
"Well, you're not doing half-bad."
"TouchÈ." Draco stood up, then, this time offering his hand to Harry. In just a moment more, he had restored the duvet back to its original form. Before dissolving the warming charm around them, he donned his cloak and wrapped it tightly around him. "By the way, I have to tell you something else. Your scar. It's not hideous and disfiguring."
Harry self-consciously tugged his hair down to hide the scar in question. "I know how it looks."
"Harry, I only ever said that because... well, I was sort of jealous of you."
Harry scowled. "I thought you didn't want to be marked by Voldemort."
"I don't. I wasn't jealous because of that. It was more how you always got so much attention, and special privileges, and well, it seemed to me like you had such a perfect life. I said your scar was hideous just to get to you."
"Oh, perfect life," Harry scathed. "Yes, the Dursley house was a lovely place to grow up. It was also wonderful when the whole school thought I was an assassin, and when Dementors had to swarm the grounds because an assassin --or so they thought-- was looking to kill me. And it was marvelous when all of Hogwarts thought I was a liar, and when the press took up the theme--" Harry abruptly stopped whinging on about his troubles. "The Dursley house," he repeated. "That was horrible of you to give your father the address, even if he already did know it."
Draco didn't bother defending himself. "It was," he agreed. "It was one of a long string of horrible things I'd done to you. But Harry. It's the last in that long string. I promise."
Harry nodded, determined that they'd say no more about it. "Let's go in and talk to Snape, now."
Draco's answering smile was sly. "You do realize by now that Severus wanted me to find that mask and robe, wanted me to open that box?"
Harry froze in mid-step. "The professor wouldn't deliberately try to shock me into doing wild magic. He may have plans inside plans, but he has my best interests at heart."
"Oh, no doubt," Draco agreed. "It was a warning, Harry. For me, not for you. Severus told me a few days ago, when we had that late-night chat, that I wouldn't like what he'd do if I kept refusing to tell you about Samhain. I think the Death Eater clothing was his way of threatening to bring it all out into the open himself."
"That's... ah, pretty Slytherin," Harry had to admit. Almost on a level with Draco changing their room into silver-and-green so that Harry would have to ask for other colors. It was the same sort of manipulation. Still... "How could Snape know you'd open that box, though? It's pretty far-fetched. I mean, I might have opened it."
"Oh, please. I bet you've never opened a Christmas present early in your life."
"Well, no," Harry admitted. "But that might be because I haven't gotten very many."
"Hmm. At any rate, Severus knows I have a bad habit of it. My father used to have to hex the boxes to make me behave. Severus would expect that I couldn't resist peeking into any mysterious box right about Christmas time."
"So that's why you were so mad," Harry realized. "I thought it was just because he'd been careless."
"He's about the least careless person I can imagine," Draco retorted. "Anyway, I just thought you should know. I can admit I was being a prat last night, but I was seriously provoked."
"And if you hadn't been?" Harry challenged. "I wouldn't have seen the clothes, and dreamed of you at Samhain, and realized once and for all that you did have a reason to switch sides."
"So you're justifying his behavior?"
Harry thought about that. "Yes, I suppose I am. Even if it didn't work out as planned, he had to do something to make you tell me."
Draco snorted. "You are half-Slytherin. Well, I suppose that's good. You'll probably like your Christmas present pretty well."
"What is it?"
"Oh, you expect me to spill? I thought you didn't open presents early."
Really curious, Harry joked, "Oh, but that was before I knew I was half-Slytherin, see? Come on, just give me a hint."
Draco lengthened his stride, forcing Harry to hurry to keep up. "All right, one hint," he allowed. "It's something I tried to give you before."
Now Harry was the one who was snorting. "You've never tried to give me anything except my wand."
"Wrong, though I don't blame you if it slipped your mind. You were under a lot of stress. It was in the hospital wing. I came by to visit, and you threw your food at my face. Good aim for a blind boy, even if you hit the wall instead of me. So I tossed you a little get-well present I'd owl-ordered for you. You didn't open it though. When Dumbledore gave it back to me, he said you thought it might be hexed."
"Oh, sorry about that," Harry murmured. "I didn't have any reason to trust you at the time."
"But Harry," Draco said, grinning by then, "it is hexed."
And after that, no matter what Harry asked, Draco wouldn't give him any further hints.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other:
Chapter Fifty: Christmas
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight
Chapter 50: Christmas
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=50
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Fifty: Christmas
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"You two were gone quite a while," Snape levelly commented as Harry closed the wooden door of the cottage and shrugged off his heavy cloak, gloves, and scarf.
The Potions Master had been writing something, but as Harry approached, he set his quill aside and performed a drying spell on his parchment. After that, he looked up at the boy, one eyebrow raised. Quite obviously, he knew there'd been more to their walk than a need for fresh air. "And so?"
Oh sure, Harry thought. You kept me in the dark for ages, and now you just expect me to spill all on your say so? I don't think so.
"We had a bit of a chat about Samhain," Harry answered, deadpan.
"Samhain," Snape slowly repeated, shifting in his chair to look at Draco, who nodded.
"You know, Samhain?" Harry lightly mocked, his irritation starting to rear its head. He'd managed to repress it fairly well before, but that was just because he'd been so determined to get Draco alone so they could talk. "I'm sure you remember it. You were there. Oh, that's right, you were both there. Funny how in all these weeks, nobody once thought to mention that."