Harry swallowed. "You've... um, you've given this a good deal of thought."
Draco shrugged. "When he adopted you, it was either that or leave here. And of course I couldn't leave. So yeah, it bothered me, how things worked out, but I got over it."
"I really am sorry I said--"
"You must have an apologizing-thing as well," Draco interrupted. "You already said sorry once today. It's all right, Harry. I was mad at the time but since I've said no end of mean things to you, including some rotten things that very night, I suppose we're even."
I suppose we are even... the phrase reminded him of something Snape had once said. Wanting to get even must be a Slytherin thing. Strange how Snape and Draco liked to deride Gryffindor fairness, when they were so obsessed with getting even....
Thinking of fairness, though, reminded Harry to ask something that had been on his mind a little while. "Do you suppose I have to write a thank-you note for the well-wish, now that I've deciphered it?"
"Considering as they're usually given to newborn infants," Draco laughed, "I don't think so. Say, I know. Sometime when Hermione comes tromping on down, mention that Severus is wisdom personified, and see how she reacts."
"Don't be snide about Hermione," Harry rebuked the other boy. "You know perfectly well that she hasn't gone on about the adoption for weeks, now."
"I know her nose is still sort of raised whenever she's down here, like she suspects a stench or something."
"I'd like to see how haughty you'd look if you had to spend some time in Gryffindor Tower," Harry retorted. "It's your own fault she looks that way. No offense, but you don't exactly inspire confidence, Draco. She is a Muggleborn and you have made it rather clear on several occasions that you think that makes her less than human."
Ignoring that last accusation, Draco rallied, "That's just it, Harry. She doesn't have to spend all that time down here. Three, four afternoons a week? Don't you realize she's checking up on you? She might have finally shut up about you being unhealthily attached to Severus, but she obviously still thinks it's true, or else she wouldn't be hanging about quite so much."
"I happen to like her hanging about," Harry coolly insisted. "I like her, in case you haven't noticed."
"She's a real prat!" Draco erupted. "She's just not being so bloody obvious about it any longer."
"She's a friend," Harry corrected, his irritation with Draco fading as he began to understand. Wisdom, he thought. The Gryffindors might have meant that wrong, but it was a wonderful wish, all the same. "She really cares about what's best for me; we just happen to disagree about what that is. I'm not going to hold that against her."
Draco made a face.
Remembering how little the Slytherin boy understood about true friendship helped, Harry thought, as he went on, "You've been really good the past few times she's come down. I mean, I know her attitude angers you, but I'm glad you don't let on to her at least."
"I suppose it helps that she's behaving herself as well," Draco drawled. "About time she emulated my perfect manners."
"Like eavesdropping, you mean?"
Draco had enough sense to flush a bit at that, but he rallied quickly enough. "Just make sure you tell the Gryffindors that their wish has come true because, after all, Severus really is a wise choice of father."
Harry didn't doubt that, but as much as he respected Snape, he knew the man was far from perfect. His ten-thousand-line-plan, for example. Sheer idiocy from start to finish.
But wisdom, Harry sensed, would be to avoid another argument with Draco, who had admired Snape for so long that he simply couldn't see the man's flaws.
Harry could see them. But he could see past them, too. Snape wasn't perfect, but then again, neither was Harry. Then again... he hadn't said that Snape didn't deserve to be his father, had he?
It was no wonder the comment had given him that awful nightmare. Harry wasn't going to dream again of being unadopted, though; he was going to work things out with Snape. Things that morning had been mostly amicable, but Harry counted that for what it was worth. They both wanted to get past the fight, that was all. It didn't mean they'd dealt with it like they should have.
But they were going to. Harry was determined on that much.
And maybe that, too, was simply wisdom.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other:
Chapter Fifty-Six: Time for Cocoa
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight
Chapter 56: Time for Cocoa
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=56
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Fifty-Six: Time for Cocoa
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Snape came in that evening while Harry and Draco were eating dinner. "Ah, good," he remarked as he wearily hung his robes and took the chair between them. For all the comment, though, he didn't help himself to any food.
At Draco's quizzical glance, Snape seemed to remember something. His expression darkening, he caustically requested, "The next time Harry stops eating entirely, could you see fit to mention the matter, Draco?"
Draco cast an accusing glare Harry's way. "You didn't eat yesterday? Not anything? I thought you were sneaking meals at odd times to avoid us."
Harry flushed. "I had some chocolate-covered raspberries--"
"Harry," Draco drawled, "just because your relatives starved you as punishment doesn't mean you have to do the same thing to yourself."
"I wasn't!"
"No?" Snape challenged, his cool black gaze steady on Harry.
"I just wasn't very hungry," Harry started to explain. "I... I don't know. I suppose I might have learned early on that skipping meals goes right along with being upset."
"You didn't skip meals as a child; you were abused," Snape corrected, his voice harsh. "Do not do that to yourself again."
"I won't," Harry promised, brow furrowed.
"You won't," Draco echoed, shaking his head. "Just like that, you won't. Where's your sense of strategy? Here you have a perfect opportunity to blackmail Severus into eating more regularly, too."
"I don't want to blackmail anyone."
Draco raised an eyebrow as he looked at Snape. "He doesn't care to apply a little judicious blackmail? When's this boy going to get a bit more Slytherin?"
"No doubt Harry will act as Slytherin as he likes when he feels that to be his best strategy," Snape said, his black eyes flashing as though to say he didn't care to be challenged on the point again. "But that is up to him."
Harry appreciated Snape's comments, but the topic still made him uncomfortable. "So, are you hungry, sir?" he changed the subject. "Can I get you something?"
"I ate dinner with the Order," Snape admitted.
"I thought you never stayed...?"
Snape looked a bit amused. "While I was spying, Harry, it wasn't terribly a propos for me to get too social with the side of Light. I had an image to maintain. By the way, Arthur Weasley sends his regards. I dare say he thinks you've been a good influence on me."