With an audible sigh expressing equal parts disgust and pity, Snape walked over and blew out the candle. "Firecall this Dobby," he said quietly to Harry before turning back to the elf. "You want Draco's answer to the letter," he reminded Dubby, who looked up, his ears quivering with his sadness. "You will have it if you do exactly as I say. You are to go to the kitchens with your cousin and stay there with him until we summon you back. Do not leave his side for an instant. And do not think to trick him. Dobby is loyal to the wizard you have just attacked and will do as he instructs."
Dubby flushed a deep green, though he muttered, "Bad wizard ruin perfectly good elf trick Master give him a sock--" He paused, grumbled "Betrayer--" and promptly bit his own hand for having insulted a wizard.
By then Dobby had bounced into the room, his tiny form so swathed in clothes that he actually looked a bit fat. No fewer than eight knit hats were piled on his head, the precarious tower swaying as he eagerly rushed forward. "Harry Potter called for Dobby! How can Dobby be serving Harry Potter sir?" In the next instant Dobby evidently spotted Dubby, for he splayed himself in front of the boy, flinging his hands wide, and was quickly warning, "No harm shall come to Harry Potter!"
"Relax, your creepy little cousin came alone," Draco drawled.
Dobby looked left and right all the same, evidently expecting to see Lucius or Narcissa. His tones were still wary as he offered in greeting, "How is Master Draco?"
"Loyal to Harry Potter," Draco replied. Harry wasn't sure if he'd said it to ease Dobby's evident concerns in that regard --the last thing he needed was an overeager Dobby "protecting" him again-- or if the words were really intended for Dubby to take back to Malfoy Manor.
Either way, Dobby remained in his protective stance until Harry leaned down and tapped him on the shoulder. "He is, all right? Loyal, I mean."
Dobby cast Harry a rather incredulous look --actually, he looked as though he thought Harry was an idiot--, but he did drop his hands to his side as he only then got around to saying, "Hello, Dubby."
Dubby looked his cousin up and down, his lips curling in disdain at the multitude of clothes Dobby wore. Nose in the air, he didn't deign to reply directly, preferring instead to say to the air, "Horrid, horrid, bad house-elf wearing clothes! And Harry Potter did lie!" His voice dropped to a mutter. "Bad, bad wizard tricking betters giving house-elves clothes--"
Harry knelt down again, though he couldn't help but remember how the position had gotten him soundly whacked with a candlestick just a moment before. "Dobby," he urged, "I need a favor. I want you to take your cousin down to the kitchens for us and entertain him there."
"That means," Snape clarified, "you keep him in your sights at all times. All times."
"Yeah, stick to him like glue and don't let him leave the kitchens at all," Harry added.
"As Harry Potter is wanting, yes, yes, Dobby is already doing all of it, every bit!" Without missing a beat, Dobby grabbed his cousin's arm and dragged him through the Floo.
"Are you all right?" Snape asked, gesturing at the way Harry was rubbing his head.
"Oh, sure," the boy passed it off. "I don't think he gave it his full strength. But ow, it's pretty sore."
Draco walked closer and gave it a good look. "Severus should have let me pummel the worthless little shite."
"Draco, your father can't hurt you any longer," Snape quietly pointed out. "And the incident involving the elf was years ago. You need to dismiss it from your mind. To let your anger unbalance you... it's a weakness you can ill afford."
Abruptly sitting down on the couch, Draco hung his head in his hands, the unrolled letter just a few inches from his hair as he sat there hunched over. "I know. Impulse control, all that." He glanced up slightly. "Call the bastard Lucius, though. You're my father in all but name, remember?"
"I remember."
The Slytherin boy nodded, but Harry noticed that he still didn't look toward the letter so close. "Um, should Severus and I give you some privacy to finish reading that?" he suggested.
Instead of discussing the matter, Draco shook his head, leaned over the letter slightly, and read out loud:
Dragon my treasure,
I have missed you terribly all through these past months. I know you may not believe that, my darling, but it is every bit true. Of course I found your behavior beyond shocking, stealing that horrid boy's wand from your very own father and then running with it to Hogwarts to yield it to our Lord's greatest enemy. Those first few days, I hoped against hope that you would come to your senses and make your way back home. I understand why you could not, though; your father had taught you too well to fear his wrath.
I have stood with him publicly, our stance united against you, because quite frankly I can think of nothing else to do. You've turned your back on all that both our family lines stand for, a choice I find altogether perplexing. You have angered me, though not so much that I truly wish you ill. Yet I must act as though I care nothing if your father kills or tortures you; surely you can see as much? I have no Severus Snape to shelter me from the certain death sure to fall upon me should I defy your father. My magic is nothing to his. I thought it best that I stay alive for the day when I could be of some use to you.
That day has come, Dragon my treasure. I have long despaired that you have no longer any family to call your own, but I have realized recently that I was mistaken. Doubtless you believe that every last relation of ours has sided with your father? In the past days, however, it has come to mind that my great-uncle Walpurgis would have no issue with the choices you have made. Indeed, he might well be proud.
I know that you have pride as well, Dragon my treasure, but I will sacrifice my own to beg that you write to him. Just a friendly note, just enough to let him know that for all you've never even seen the man, you do consider him family. You never know when you may find it useful to have some. You need not dwell on your dispute with your father; I am certain Walpurgis must be well aware of all it. Write him something chatty about your classes, Dragon my treasure, something light and amiable so that if later you need his aid, you will already have established some rapport.
I miss you as I said, but I would far rather you were safe than near. Tell Severus that for keeping you safe against your father's many schemes, I thank him with all my heart.
"Unsigned," Draco added when he had finished.
"You have doubts?" Snape quietly intoned.
A long sigh lifted collapsed the boy's chest as he levitated the letter higher and whispered briefly at it. When the parchment gave no reaction, Draco sighed again. He let the letter settle back down to the table, then glanced up. "No, no doubts, Severus. It's not just in her hand; it sounds like her, sentence by sentence. And besides... Lucius doesn't even know she calls me Dragon my treasure. It was sort of..." Harry saw the other boy swallow. "Well, honestly, she only called me that after he would punish me, 'cause he used to call me Dragon sort of affectionately, but he'd withhold that whenever he was angry." Looking away from the both, the boy rasped, "That's her way of telling me that he's still out for my blood, I think. As if I doubted it."
"So then, the question becomes, what is Narcissa scheming towards," Snape mused.
"I thought it was a rather sweet letter, really--"