Having recovered from the moment before, Draco leaned against the wall and arched an eyebrow in an extremely studied pose. "You make it all sound so maudlin, Potter," he drawled. "Do you really imagine I'm remotely interested in competing with Gryffindors?" He gave a low, derisive laugh.
"Yes," Harry flatly answered, ignoring all the misdirection going on. "You're more than interested. You're obsessed, and with good reason. I haven't forgotten what you told me about your last name, how it could end you up in Azkaban all on its own, practically, and I might be all that stands in the way."
Draco, Harry noticed, was doing his best to look bored.
"You aren't competing with Ron and Hermione," Harry tried. "There's no competition--"
"No contest, you mean," Draco bitterly broke in.
"There's no competition," Harry stressed, "because all my friends are important to me, all right? You as much as them. And for pity's sake, Draco, you and I are brothers these days!"
Draco's nostrils flared. "Well, just remember that when you're ensconced in the heart of Gryffindor again, why don't you?"
"I won't forget," Harry promised, then frowned. "I might have to go back sooner than Severus has planned, if we don't do something to fix this Hermione situation, you realize."
Draco snorted. "Oh, please. You think that Hufflepuff casewitch is going to believe for one second that Severus is abusing you? I don't think so, not after all the love and care he showered on you right in front of her!"
Harry actually wasn't sure what the casewitch might think. "She might think you're doing the abusing, Draco. And that Severus isn't doing enough to put an end to it."
"Why would she think that?" Then Draco softly swore. "Oh, shite. Maybe she's read my school file."
"Yeah, you haven't been the nicest guy in the castle," Harry merely said, relieved that he didn't have to mention the other motive the casewitch was sure to consider, which was that Draco was jealous over how Harry'd been adopted and he hadn't. Speaking of which, Harry groaned, "Remember the dream I told you about? Unadoption?"
Draco paled. "You think Family Services will believe this tripe and decide Severus isn't a fit father?"
"I think I'd better make sure they don't get a chance to hear Hermione's wild suspicions," Harry nodded. "When Severus comes home, will you help me convince him that she needs to know the truth?"
Draco looked a bit ill at the prospect of letting the Gryffindor girl in on the secret, but he nodded.
Reluctantly.
Very reluctantly.
Then of course, being a Slytherin, he immediately had something he wanted in return. But in the circumstances, it was hardly something Harry could resent. "You forgot to hold your wand to cover that Accio charm," he pointed out. "Better not get in the habit of letting anybody see your wandless magic."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, better not. Thanks."
Draco merely nodded, then summoned his book back to himself and resumed his reading.
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Harry was actually in two minds about waiting for his father to get home. He was just itching to call the man on the Floo, but this wasn't really an emergency, was it? Certainly, he couldn't claim that his life or Draco's was in danger, and that had been Severus' criterion for disturbing him when he was with students.
Even if the man was just supervising a detention instead of conducting a class, Harry figured he'd better just wait.
But how long was it going to take the man to get home? It was already long past noon, and hadn't he promised to take them to Devon? Maybe, Harry darkly thought, considering how black Snape's mood had been lately, those detentions weren't going very well. He felt pretty sorry for whichever unlucky student was stuck scrubbing desks under Snape's watchful eye.
That made him remember, though, how Snape had been with him the night before. Volatile, sure, and he hadn't flinched from insulting Harry or throwing out quite nasty comments like out of my sight or would you speak to James this way.... but for all that, he'd been remarkably tolerant in other respects. In the end, he'd opened up enough to admit to something really personal. That was actually pretty amazing. Maybe even more remarkable was the fact that he'd given up on trying to make Harry take Truthful Dreams if he didn't want to.
They'd negotiated... just like Snape had said they would when Harry had first asked him about rules. Harry felt pretty good about that. Like... not only was he getting to know his father better, like he'd wished, but also like Snape was a good enough father to hold it together even when he was under a huge amount of stress.
Like they were going to be okay, really okay....
That, of course, only made Harry all the more worried about the immediate future. Since when did things ever work out okay for him? As far as Harry was concerned, getting hopeful was almost an omen that his hopes were going to be dashed.
The minute Snape came in the door late that afternoon, Harry rushed to him, blurting, "Hermione was here and she saw my bruise and I'm sure she thinks something absolutely awful is going on! I mean, she's noticed before when I've been sore, but this seemed like it was the final straw for her--"
Snape hung up his cloak as Harry spoke, then interrupted, "Miss Granger stopped by to see me about the matter, yes."
"Oh, God," Harry groaned. One part of him was glad that Hermione had enough sense to go to Severus with her suspicions, but the rest of him was just humiliated that his friends were so horrid to his father. Ron accusing him of molestation had been bad enough. And now this... "I'm so sorry," Harry said, swallowing. "It's my fault. I should have let you heal that bruise when you offered."
"Evidently," was all Snape replied as he crossed to Floo and ordered a pot of tea.
Draco glanced up from his reading but didn't say anything.
Snape poured three cups, pushed one over to Draco, and gestured that Harry should join them at the table. "Don't blame yourself for Miss Granger's assumptions," he calmly advised.
"You don't sound... er, too angry about them," Harry ventured.
The Potions Master shrugged. "I expect your friends to be negatively disposed toward us as a matter of course. It could be worse." Harry thought he meant Ron, but then Snape continued, "At least when she thought such things she had the courtesy to confront me rather than file an official complaint about the adoption."
Harry thought that sounded rather promising. "So did you tell her the truth, then?"
"I hardly thought that necessary," Snape drawled, sipping his tea. "I informed her that as I'm not comfortable with the prospect of my son remaining utterly vulnerable, I've been training you in hand-to-hand fighting."
"She bought that?"
"It has the benefit of being in part true," Snape pointed out. "I also told her that you and I had mutually agreed only to heal the worst of your injuries, as the potions in question can be quite addictive."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that'll be all right, I guess," he murmured.
"One wonders why you didn't tell her that yourself," Snape suddenly remarked, setting down his cup with a clatter and narrowing a glare on Draco. "Instead, I hear you've filled her all-too-astute mind with no end of nonsensical stories."
Draco flushed. "Well, I had to think on my feet, you know--"
Snape's glare only became more feral. "In case you've never noticed," he snarled, "Miss Hermione Granger is quite highly intelligent! I would appreciate it in future if you would treat her as such, and spare me the necessity of sweeping up after you! I must say, she was very interested in why the two of you," here his glare shifted to include Harry, "didn't simply tell her that I was training Harry in self-defense."