"I'm afraid I can't allow you to cast anything, Professor Snape," Steyne announced, his voice stiff and stern all at once. "I'm sure you understand."
He meant, Harry sensed, that Snape might be sneaking an eavesdropping charm onto the room. Or something even more underhanded.
The Potions Master had lowered his arm, though he said, "I certainly understand. However, short of allowing me to unlock my office wards..." He shrugged, and said with perfect confidence that was somehow not in the least arrogant, "It will take several hours for Aurors to dismantle them, if they can manage it at all."
"We will Floo through to the headmaster's office," the casewitch decided.
Snape was calm, yet resolute. "I do believe your own policies and procedures specify that all complaints and investigations thereof will remain absolutely confidential. As this issue will no doubt be amicably resolved, I have no wish to have it brought to the attention of my employer."
"Take her into our bedroom, Harry," Draco suggested with a slightly strained smile. "After which Mr. Steyne or Miss Thistlethorne can no doubt apply silencing charms or whatever is usual in a case like this."
"Will that be all right, Miss Thistlethorne?" Harry thought to ask.
She nodded, and waited for him to lead the way. As the door began to close behind them, Harry heard Draco complain --in a fake-sounding voice, no less-- "Severus, what is going on?"
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to answer that, Professor Snape," Steyne answered, sounding professional but also rather satisfied with himself. "If you've read our policies and procedures you must know that my role here is to assure that the two of you don't communicate before my colleague has a chance to interview you--"
Harry didn't hear the answer to that, as by then the door had closed completely.
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"So who complained?" Harry pressed first off, sitting down on his bed as the casewitch took up a position on the one opposite. He knew, of course, that she wouldn't tell him, but he figured a normal reaction would be for him to want to know.
"You heard your guardian. The whole investigation is confidential," Thistlethorne reminded him.
"Father," Harry corrected.
She gave him a long, considering look. "When last we spoke you couldn't even call yourself his son."
"I know," the boy admitted. "It took me a while to get used to having someone. Severus was great about it. He just let me be me, insecurities and all." A frown creasing his brow, Harry added, "I understand if you can't say who complained, but you can tell me what they said, can't you? I mean, placement not adequate to my needs? What does that mean, Severus has to give me more homework or something?"
The casewitch gave him a long, level stare, her gaze not one he'd seen before. "I'd like to see your arms, Mr. Potter."
Shrugging as though he couldn't see why she would ask for that, Harry shoved up both his sleeves in turn and held his arms out. One of them was still horribly bruised, of course. He wondered if he should have taken a healing potion after Hermione had left. But he'd been waiting to talk to Severus. And at any rate, that might look suspicious in of itself, like he was hiding something.
"That's a rather serious injury, wouldn't you say?" the casewitch pressed.
Well, at least Snape had handed them a decent explanation. "Oh, that?" Harry asked, as though only slowly realizing that someone else might make something of it. "Well, it's a little sore... not too much, really."
"Is there anything you'd like to tell me about it?"
"Oh, I get it," Harry said, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I guess it does look a bit... Well, the thing is this. Severus is a Potions Master, see? He told me when he first started teaching me to fight that I'd have to use a little judicious care, as he put it, in how I used healing potions afterwards. A lot of them can be addictive..." Harry shrugged. "I bet it's my friend Hermione who complained, huh? I know she's noticed my bruises. In fact, she was here earlier and saw this exact one. Well, I'm sorry if she thinks my father ought to cure me of every last cut and scrape, but he's doing the right thing."
Since that story must dovetail in perfectly into what Hermione had reported--at least it would if she'd reported her conversation with Snape--Harry figured it would go a long ways toward convincing the casewitch that nothing bad was going on.
"The person who complained--and I'm not saying who that is--seemed to be in some doubt as to how you got those bruises in the first place," Thistlethorne put in.
Harry frowned. "Well, I couldn't tell her," he exclaimed. "She's a girl!" And then, as though a bit repentant, "No offense."
"Perhaps you could explain."
"Yeah, okay." Harry cleared his throat, not needing to feign his nervousness at the prospect. "Like I said, she's a girl. I didn't think she'd understand about the fighting. She thinks you can just always talk everything out. Look, nobody really gets what my life is like, except maybe my father. I'm a target, and I need to be prepared. Now... you know my magic's not quite what it should be, these days. Severus is a good father. He wasn't going to let me just stay vulnerable, was he? Not that the self-defense he's teaching me will go far against hexes, let alone curses, but it's better than nothing." He chewed his lip. "And besides..."
"Besides?"
Harry let his glance slide across her and then away. "Well, the headmaster mentioned you were in the Order the first time around, so I guess I can tell you. This'll sound... uh, conceited, I guess, but I'm significant, you know? I thought if it got out that I was learning Muggle-style fighting, people would start to think that I, uh... was never going to get my powers back. And then the Daily Prophet would run stories about it, and the Ministry would issue press releases, and Rita Skeeter would probably tromp down here to get an inside scoop, and..." Harry sighed. "I just didn't need all that. Not to mention that if people started to get scared that I wasn't a wizard any longer, it might make it harder for them to keep up their spirits for the fight against Voldemort."
Thistlethorne didn't give away any clue as to what she was thinking. "And how are things with Mr. Malfoy?" she went right on.
"Good," Harry answered. "Really good. Well, actually he is pretty jealous that I have friends in Gryffindor, but other than that we get along."
"What about him having some ill-will due to the fact that Professor Snape only adopted one of you?"
Harry debated about telling her, but realized that if she thought Draco might be abusing him, it would be good to make her understand how little motive he had.
"Well, I know Severus threatened to take points over his attitude," Harry offered, leaning forward on his palms, "but just so you know, he never did. Anyway, though, it ended up that Severus really listened to you and what you said about not leaving Draco out. I mean, there is the money thing which means he'd rather let Draco stay officially emancipated, but he made it clear that where it counted, Draco and he and I were all in this together. All one family, I mean."
Amaelia Thistlethorne raised both eyebrows. "How did he do that?"
Harry laughed a little bit in remembrance. "Well, Draco and I do get along, but we also quarrel sometimes. Severus was tired of it. He took us into his office and sat us down, and said in his deepest voice, first to me and then to Draco, You are my son. You are my son in all but name. We are a family and this sibling rivalry is going to stop, gentlemen... Something like that, anyway. And you know, that was when I realized that Draco and I really were acting like brothers. And since then, we've talked about it a bit. It's like he's adopted too, it really is. Severus is all insistent that things be even... right up to having us open our Christmas stockings at the same time, as if we were five! But I've learned living down here that Slytherins sort of have this thing about things being even..." With that, Harry realized that he had let his tongue get away from him, just a bit. But that was good, right? It would make what he'd had to say seem natural.