The Potions Master looked steadily at the boy, and then appeared to relent. "Very well."
Harry looked at them both and then shrugged. Whatever they were talking about was between them, obviously. "If Dubby brought the key last night... well, you'd been expelled and your mother clearly knew that, so why would she have sent her message here? She must have known that Severus was working on adopting you? Seems strange she didn't say a single word about that."
"The mere fact she sent Tubby here with the key says enough." Draco smiled. "Remember her other letter? I have no Severus Snape to shelter me... She'd rather we both hadn't turned our backs on Lucius, but now that we have, she trusts him to stand by me."
Harry nodded. "So, have you two eaten--"
"I'm fine," said Draco, yawning. "I suppose I ought to write off to Gringotts to find out just what's in this vault. I'm fairly sure that Narcissa as executor would have put there any deeds to property and whatnot; I'm sure Walpurgis owned at least a couple of estates. But that can wait until tomorrow. I'm rather tired."
"It's strange your relative should die right at this particular time, don't you think? I mean... do you think your mother had something to do with that?"
Draco stared at him, then burst out laughing. "You're a bit slow. No, I don't think she had something to do with it; I know full well she poisoned his tea or something! Last night, probably, as soon as she heard I'd been expelled. How do you think she got that key to me so quickly? She must have been at his house yesterday."
"Her favourite uncle though?" Harry sucked in a breath.
"Well, technically he wasn't her uncle, he was her grandfather's second cousin's once removed, or something similar. And she hadn't seen him in years and years because of the baby-swapping scandal. She only got in touch with him this year, apparently, so she could make sure he died and left me all his worldly goods. Happy coincidence, my arse. She offed him, plain as day."
"And that doesn't bother you?"
Draco's smile was somewhat condescending. "I didn't know him, Harry, even if I was originally named for him, at least in part. Probably that was just to line me up for his money, come to think of it, but it was a moot point once we found out about his nasty business dealings. It's tainted money as far as the Malfoys are concerned, you see. At any rate, it wasn't my idea to kill him. I didn't even know she had it in mind, so you can hardly lay any blame for this at my door."
"I wasn't blaming you." Harry turned to his father. "What about you, do you need some dinner?"
"Something light, perhaps. And then I will resume trying to discover why the Eyesight Elixir was so painful for you. I still have high hopes of getting your eye back to normal."
Mention of that made Harry remember something else that probably needed attention. "What about Draco's burn? Can't that be healed now? I mean, it's no more use as evidence, is it? With both the Ministry investigation and the expulsion settled?"
"It's as healed as it's going to get," Draco said in a somewhat sour tone. "We tried Scaradicate last night. Several times. But your damned amulet just didn't know when to stop. It wasn't only pouring out heat, but some sort of magical energy, too. It left a mark the salve can't undo."
Harry winced. "Sorry. I didn't think it would hurt you when it warmed up in warning. Really."
"Well, it did. And it left a hideous mark!"
Harry held tight to his patience. "It's not like I planned it that way, Draco."
"No, but trust Harry Potter to pick an amulet with dark powers too!" Draco's eyes narrowed. "Maybe next time you should just buy me something Mugglish, because I don't much appreciate ending up scarred for life!"
Apparently, Draco didn't need those few days the casewitch has predicted; he was acting like a complete prat already. Harry could think of a number of things to reply. At least your scar isn't known the world over. It's not even on constant display. And speaking of things I don't appreciate, how do you think I like having an eye that doesn't work, eh?
He didn't say any of that, though. Maybe he would have, if Draco and he were alone, but with Snape watching, those black eyes of his trained on them both? Draco might forget his father was seeing him toss about these unfair recriminations, but Harry couldn't forget it, not for a minute. He didn't want to disappoint Snape again. It was bad enough that he was going to have to live down the untested magic he'd done.
"Nothing to say?" Draco gestured a bit wildly to emphasise the question, and lost his grip on the parchment envelope he'd been holding all this while. "Oh, wonderful, Potter! You made me lose my mother's last words to me! I wanted to copy them down!"
"It is not Harry's fault that you're acting like a thing deranged," Snape coldly rebuked his Slytherin son. "He meant you nothing but good with that amulet. You know that, Draco. Do you recall my asking you once what time it was?"
That last question sailed clear over Harry's head until Draco gave a heated reply.
"Yes, I remember! But I'm afraid I can't check any longer if it's time to apologise, Severus. That watch disappeared yesterday along with the better portion of everything I had with me at Hogwarts!" When Snape just glared at him, though, Draco conceded. "I am sorry for my rancour. I do know you foolishly believed the amulet would be some sort of asset."
"Draco--"
"Oh, fine then. I wore it so I'm just as much to blame as you are. Does that make it all better?"
Harry swallowed back the scathing retort dancing on the tip of his tongue. "You'd better ask Severus. I'm fine, really."
"Oh, sure you are. You're just trying to show me up again, flaunting your perfect little self like the Gryffindor you are--"
"Gentlemen," Snape calmly interrupted. "I do believe I told you my opinion of sibling rivalry. I won't have it. Is that clear?"
Harry nodded.
For his part, Draco gave a rather haughty shrug.
It must have irritated Snape, who proceeded to say something so close to what Harry had been thinking earlier that he gave his father a sharp look. He didn't really suspect Legilimency, but still... it was odd. Maybe it just meant that Snape knew him pretty well.
"I will say, Draco, that the small remaining scar on your chest is not very significant compared to the fact that your brother has been half-blind for over a week, now."
Draco looked down then, the rebuke hitting its mark. "Can I help you research the Elixir?"
Father-son time..., Harry thought. The casewitch had warned him that they would need it. "Yeah, you two work on it," he said, backing away mentally as much as physically. "Um, do you think I could use the Floo to go to the headmaster's office? He could walk me back to Gryffindor--"
"You'll stay here as you're integral to the research," said Snape in a hard tone.
Since that all made sense, Harry found himself nodding. He could stay the night, could stick around until Ron and Hermione came back to fetch him. And then for a while he'd be careful not to visit too much; he'd make sure that Draco and Snape got all the time together they could possibly need.
His father wasn't going to accuse him again of thinking only of himself.
He just wasn't.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other
Chapter Seventy-Nine: Nott
Comments very welcome,
Aspen