Harry slowly nodded. Surprising how hard it was to stand on the sidelines when he wanted to be out there in the thick of it... but maybe that was part of growing up. His resolve to be mature, to comprehend that he and he alone didn't have the solution to every problem... it was a sobering realization.
A paradigm shift.
Too bad it had come almost a year too late.
If I'd stopped to think instead of being so insistent on helping Sirius...
That thought was enough to bring Harry to his senses. He wasn't about to let his "saving-people thing" get in the way this time, of actually doing something good and real and lasting, like keeping Draco well away from Azkaban. Like getting him home, so they could get that alibi set up and then figure out the next step...
"Yes, sir," Harry added to his nod. "I'll stay right here, I promise. Uh, I mean yes, Dad."
The Potions Master obviously had his doubts. "If you follow me out looking like that, you will lend credence to any speculation about Draco being dangerously violent--"
"I know!" Harry said, raising his voice. "I trust you, all right! Go get him," Harry shouted, pushing lightly at his father to urge him towards the door. "Go find him before the Aurors do, before Voldemort realises he's on his own!"
Snape looked back just once, his black eyes intense, his knuckles white as he clutched the map. "Do not leave here for an instant," he reiterated. And then, "As for your trust..."
Harry braced himself.
"I thank you," his father finished.
Harry nodded in reply, but Snape didn't see it. One quick Abrire, and the Potions Master was gone.
Sighing, Harry closed the door and leaned against it. He wanted more than anything to rush out after his father. He wanted to catch up to him so they could find Draco together, and together, bring him home.
But his instincts, those instincts Snape had praised, were screaming inside him that this time, he'd already done his part in saving Draco, that to leave the dungeons now would only complicate matters and make it harder to help his brother.
And what was more, his instincts were telling him to do more than just say he trusted his father. They were telling him to actually do it. They were telling him that he wasn't all alone in the world any longer, that he had someone he could depend on, in good times and bad.
That he had someone who truly did love him, now. Someone who cared.
Pushing off from the door, Harry went back to his bedroom, sat down on his bed, and put the ice-pack back on his eye. It turned out to be wizard's ice, never melting, reminding Harry what a competent, capable wizard his father was.
It would be all right, he told himself. It would. It would.
Too bad he couldn't quite believe that. Oh sure, Snape would get Draco home safe and sound; Harry didn't have any doubt of that. But what about afterwards?
Harry closed his eyes in despair, but it didn't help. Behind his eyelids, he saw nothing but nightmare visions of Azkaban.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other:
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Perspectives
Comments very welcome.
Aspen in the Sunlight
Chapter 68: Perspectives
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=68
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Sixty-Eight: Perspectives
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There was no question of Harry eating and sleeping as his father had instructed; he was far too upset to spare energy for anything aside from the questions bombarding his every thought. What was going on out there on Hogwarts' vast grounds? Was Draco all right? Had he passed the Apparation boundary already and vanished himself away, and if so, how long would it be until Voldemort had him snatched up?
Did Draco feel even the slightest remorse for the horrible thing he had done?
The Slytherin boy must be feeling something if he's running away, Harry reasoned... of course, that might just be Draco's sense of self-preservation. Sneaky, but not such great strategy. Surely, Draco must realize that he and Severus would never let him be thrown into Azkaban. Thinking of what that place had done to Sirius, Harry couldn't help but shudder.
So why was Draco running away from the only people who would be inclined to help him deal with this mess? Why would he be running toward certain torture and death at Lucius' hands? It didn't make sense. It didn't make any sense at all!
With that, his seer dream began to unfold anew inside his mind. Ron and Hermione had been worried that Snape might not let anyone in to visit Harry... but not because they had learned that Draco had died at the hand of vengeful Slytherins. They must have been concerned that Draco was the dangerous one, and with him on the loose, Snape had warded his quarters against Draco to protect Harry...
Was that why Draco was running, because he'd come to a similar conclusion? Because he thought there was no going back?
No, Harry decided. That's daft, it is. Draco would trust Severus a good deal more than that.
Trust.... trust... An insidious little voice inside Harry's mind began to worm its way through his concern for Draco. What if Ron has it right, and Draco is running because he did go up to the Owlery to betray me somehow? What if the Pansy letter was nothing but a feint...
Harry clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and sternly told that voice to shut the hell up. He did trust Draco, he did. He wasn't going to turn on his brother, no matter what Ron had to say about that blow to the eye, or about what had gone on in the Owlery.
But what had gone on? And why was Draco fleeing the very people who might be able to protect him? Fleeing Harry, whose dark powers could most likely keep the Aurors at bay if need be?
Imperius, Harry suddenly decided. It has to be. It's the only thing that makes sense. Someone is making Draco head toward the Apparation boundary. Severus said that Draco couldn't have lifted the wards on the Owlery while under Imperius, but what if somebody else... an evil genius of wizardry like Lucius, say, lifted them beforehand? And then from a distance, Lucius made Draco commit murder... though that's a bit strange. Why would Lucius Malfoy want Pansy dead? Well, maybe he had his reasons. And now he's getting Draco to come to him...
Of course there were holes in that scenario. Lucius was a school Governor; he could come into the castle any time he liked. Once Draco had left Snape's rooms, all Lucius had to do to remove him from school was lay one finger on him and use a portkey. Making Draco cross the length of the grounds was rather irrational...
But still, Imperius made more sense than Draco having so little impulse control that he would throw away his only chance at safety.