Snape frowned. "Steyne again?"
"No, it's for Harry. Looks like Granger's writing." Draco thrust the letter forward, then as though realizing that Harry was in no shape to get up and walk to him, he went and sat in the chair opposite him and handed the letter over.
Harry turned it over in his hands, almost afraid to read it.
Snape leaned against the mantle and studied the pair of them. "It was good of you to make amends with Miss Granger, Draco."
"Oh yeah, you heard that too," the Slytherin boy realized. He looked a little bit embarrassed. "Well, I didn't want to, you realize. Of course I didn't want to. There's no excuse for her filing that complaint with Family Services. I'd much rather have given her a piece of my mind than offer her yet another truce, considering she so rudely rejected the last one I suggested."
Harry thought back to that night's dinner, and realized something. He'd been dreading his confrontation with Severus so much that he hadn't noticed it at the time, but... "Hey, all through the meal you didn't give her that piece of your mind. And you could have. I mean, I was yelling at her, and Ron was too... why didn't you?" Then it came to him. "Oh, right. You were being Mr. Perfect Manners from the drinks on forward. You even lectured me on being less than polite to a guest."
"It wasn't that." Draco cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "I... I actually wanted to talk to you both about it. This... well, Severus is sure to lecture me, next, but I feel I really do have to point out..."
"What, Draco?" Snape asked.
The Slytherin boy closed his eyes, and admitted, "That girl is bloody brilliant. She saw him counter-incant you in Parseltongue, which she can't of course understand in the slightest, and from that she figured out every last thing. That his magic was strong not weak, that it must be dueling causing his injuries, that he can do magic wandless now... Merlin, even that a Lumos was what ruined the books!"
"You came in here to inform us that Miss Hermione Granger is bloody brilliant," Snape echoed. "Well, thank you for that scintillating bit of news. It's not as though I ever noticed this fact during almost six years of instructing her, you realize."
"Oh, shut up, Severus," Draco groaned. "You think this is easy for me? Well, it's not. She's a girl. And a Gryffindor. And a... never mind. But anyway, I told her she was clever and I meant it. And now I'm telling the pair of you because... well, Harry's a good liar, but only when he doesn't care about the person he's lying to. Trust me Severus, he's an awful liar when he's with those Gryffindors. He can hardly bear deceiving them."
"I noticed that tonight," Snape remarked. "And so? Get to your point."
"He's going to need help, and damn it all, who better to help him keep his dark powers a secret but her? She can think on her feet, we saw that tonight. I came in here to tell you that Harry was right to tell her what he did, and what's more, we really ought to bring her out to Devon and let her see exactly what Harry can and can't do, now. Weasley as well, since he knows anyway."
"You are seriously proposing I make Harry's Gryffindor friends a part of our inner circle, as it were," Snape said, wincing a bit. Harry wasn't sure if that was at the idea, or the term inner circle.
"Yes!" Draco retorted. "I can't protect him once he leaves here, can I? Since you won't let me out! You should, you know. I could go back to Slytherin and keep an ear to the wall for word of any plots against Harry--"
"We are not getting into this discussion yet again," Snape announced, his glance on the boy hard.
"What do I have to do, promise not to kill anybody if it can possibly be avoided?"
"You've promised that already, at least twenty times!" the Potions Master raised his voice. "I am in no mood to go through it all once more. You know my views!"
"All right, fine," Draco sullenly returned. To his credit though, his voice acquired a normal tone as he went on, "So, where was I? Oh yes, I can't help him if I'm required to stay here, but neither can you, with all your classes to teach and what not. But his Gryffindor friends can stick close to him, most of the time anyway, and if the Slytherins are... well, being the slightest bit Slytherin, he's going to need backup! They'll attack when he's least expecting it. Now who do you want hanging around Harry when that happens, a couple of Gryffindors who don't have the slightest idea what to expect from him in a battle? Or some well-informed, well-practiced allies who might realize, for instance, that in the dark he'll need some help because he won't be able to see the snake on his crest?"
"So that's why you said Hermione was clever," Harry realized. It had seemed a little odd at the time. Unexpected, and not like Draco at all, in fact. But now Harry understood. "You'd realized you had a use for her intelligence."
"I'd realized you had a use for it, Harry. And anyway, I told you ages ago that I was trying to put our enmity in the past."
"Right, a war zone in your own ranks is no good for anybody..." Harry murmured.
Draco gave a definite nod at that, even if his silver eyes still held a bit of consternation at the notion of a Muggleborn as an ally.
"So, Severus," Draco resumed, turning in his chair to look at him. "Devon. What do you think?"
Snape looked annoyed and condescending all at once. "Well, as those two know anyway, I suppose we may as well turn that to our advantage." And then, in meaningful tones to Harry, "And too, you told me once that your friends are your strength. It appears that will be more true than you likely thought at the time. Draco's notion is sound. If your new House is going to turn against you, it is just as well that there are those in your old House who can support you fully."
Harry made a little choking noise. All this talk of imminent attack... "I don't think I'm invincible," he admitted.
"You aren't," Snape agreed. "All the more reason to have your closest friends informed of your limitations and able to assist you."
"I'm surprised you didn't think of that earlier," Draco mused, his brow furrowing.
"I had a whole host of other reasons to keep knowledge from Miss Granger. They're irrelevant now, so don't ask."
"Plots within plots," Draco nodded. "Well, good thing that Harry here is the type to make such loyal friends, I suppose."
"You're a loyal friend," Harry suddenly said, turning back to Draco. "I shouldn't have said you didn't know how to be a friend. You're thinking of what I need now, even when it means helping me get closer to my other friends--"
"Oh, don't go melodramatic on me," Draco airily replied. "I just like to be on the winning side. That's all."
"Sure, that's all," Harry said, smiling.
"Just read your letter, Potter, all right?"
Harry broke the wax seal Hermione had applied. Probably she'd used one to keep Draco out of the contents, he thought, but it was a bit strange of her considering that Draco could easily defeat Muggle measures like that. "Did you read this?" he thought to ask.
"Oh, please."
"You did! You read it!" Harry accused, though he found he was laughing as he said it.
"As if I care what Gryffindors have to say to each other." Draco lightly shuddered.
"Hey. I'm half-Slytherin," Harry objected.
"I didn't read your letter!"
For some reason, Harry believed him that time. It turned out to be true, even; Harry knew that much a few moments later. He grinned a bit, absolutely positively sure that had Draco read the letter, he could not have refrained from commenting on the contents.