"So you pick my new family on the basis of what's good for Harry?"
"I happen to think the Weasleys would be good for you as well," retorted Snape as he held a hand out for the papers. "They have experience dealing with difficult children."
Draco raised his chin a notch. "Ta, Severus!"
"Furthermore," Snape went on without pause, "you could hardly find a household more tolerant of Muggles. Arthur is positively enraptured by them. You would learn a great deal from the Weasleys."
"Well, my priorities have certainly changed," Draco loftily announced as he gave his father the papers.
Harry furrowed his brow. "What do you mean, you're more tolerant of Muggles now?"
"Please," drawled the other boy, wrinkling his nose.
"Well, I thought maybe talking with Marsha had... well, what priorities have changed, then?"
"Protecting you used to be number one. Now it'll have to be keeping Severus alive. Because I'm not going to end up brothers with Ronald Weasley. One Gryffindor in the family is enough."
"Ron's not so bad," said Harry. A moment later he was laughing. "Oh, God. That's exactly what I told him, months ago. Draco's not so bad. If it's any consolation, he didn't like hearing it any more than you seem to."
"Enlivening as speculations of my death are," put in Snape, "I do believe it's time Harry returned to his dormitory. Unless you plan to sleep over, in which case I'll walk you up before first class so you may retrieve your Charms text."
"I'll be here over the weekend," said Harry. "So I'd better get back to Gryffindor tonight. Or my friends will think I've deserted them. You know. Oh, that reminds me though. A week from Saturday there's another Hogsmeade trip scheduled--"
"Really? Heads of House are never informed of such things, you realise."
Harry almost called his father a prat, but decided it wouldn't help his case. "Right, so you know. But um... I was hoping I could have permission to go this time."
"What a thing to ask when you've just lost Slytherin points!" said Draco, his voice outraged. His eyes were twinkling, though, so Harry figured his brother was just being his usual obnoxious self.
"Apt observation." Snape assessed Harry critically. "Still, you've been doing tolerably well in classes, and I'm particularly gratified by the effort I see you making to integrate yourself into Slytherin. So yes, barring unforeseen disaster, I will sign your permission form."
Barring unforeseen disaster? "How about signing it now?"
"Do you really think I can't rescind it once given, Harry?"
"Yeah, well..." Harry shrugged. "Worth a try, I thought."
"I want to go, too!"
Snape's answer was about as succinct as could be. "No."
Draco sighed. "Yeah, I know. Better not. Maybe I'll get cleared soon and the governors will see fit to readmit me. They might even let me back into classes. You know, to make it up to me for expelling me for no good reason at all."
"That would not be a remote possibility had your recent extracurricular activities come to light."
"Yes, Severus," said Draco in a long-suffering voice that announced, clear as day, how many times he'd heard similar lectures. "I apologized to the house-elf, remember? What else do you want me to do, promise him my first-born son?"
"Perhaps less sarcasm would be a good start."
Draco made a face. "Perhaps you'd better get Harry back to Gryffindor before curfew. Because, you know, if you let him think he can break some rules he might conclude he can break them all. Not that he hasn't been breaking rules all along, mind--"
"And I was going to ask what you wanted in Hogsmeade," said Harry, laughing. "But now I think I won't."
He wished he hadn't said that when Draco got an awful look on his face. A look that said he thought Harry was deliberately rubbing his poverty in his face.
"I just meant... you can't go." It sounded lame even to his own ears.
"Please do excuse me." Draco didn't look at Harry again. He just went into their bedroom and closed the door. A moment later, he and Snape heard the sound of the shower starting up.
"I suggest you use more care what you say to Draco," Snape calmly advised. "It doesn't take much to remind him of recent disappointments."
"Then why do you keep tossing out those barely veiled pointers to the fairy cakes?" challenged Harry. "They have experience dealing with difficult children... eh? Didn't you believe he was sincere when he apologized to Dobby? I did."
"I have some experience with just how cagey Slytherins can be, Harry." Snape shrugged. "Perhaps you're right, however, and it's time to lay the matter to rest."
Harry nodded, hoping his father really meant that. "Um, speaking of cagey, though... I've been meaning to ask something. What if Walpurgis hadn't been so tricky with his will? Were you going to let Draco have all that money? I thought you were at first, but then, the things you said later, I couldn't be sure."
"I was considering the best way to proceed," said Snape, shrugging. "Just as well the goblins took their time over their investigations. I wasn't eager to alienate my son by denying him the inheritance."
"I sort of wondered... I mean, I actually thought you might think it was more Slytherin to take the money."
"Slytherin doesn't mean devoid of morality. I thought you knew that," said Snape, frowning.
"I do. It's just... well, it would be one thing if refusing the money would have helped Walpurgis, right? But it wouldn't have, so I thought you'd think it was... well, not all right to kill him, but..."
"Draco hasn't any moral centre, Harry. That money would have harmed him, knowing as he did how it was obtained. I was putting off a confrontation about it until the goblins settled matters. It was my fervent hope that the vault would be empty, since I was not looking forward to telling my son I would not allow him to have any part of such a bequest."
"But he's seventeen this summer." Harry frowned. "You couldn't have kept his money from him after that. Well, not legally."
"Yes, so Walpurgis' solution ended up being best all around." Snape donned his cloak and after Harry did the same, let them out of his quarters.
"I've been wondering about what Walpurgis did, though," said Harry as they traversed the halls. "He must have suspected Narcissa had an ulterior motive in asking him to change his will. So why did he? He was signing his own death warrant. Knowingly."
"From what I know, he was quite old. Perhaps he was simply ready. Or he may have been ill."
"Yeah, maybe he was," said Harry, though he couldn't quite shake a feeling that there was more to the story than they knew.
Once he had reached the Fat Lady's portrait, Harry gave his father a quick hug, then said the password that would let him in.
-----------------------------------------------
Harry went down as usual for his Potions tutorial on Saturday, only to find that Snape was busy marking fourth-year exams.
"I'm to tutor you," Draco explained. "Severus says your potion-making is adequate when it comes to topical salves like Scaradicate, but you really should get a handle on brewing some of the more advanced healing potions." He gestured toward the counter strewn with ingredients. "Today we're brewing Skele-gro. Why don't you tell me which three things here would not be needed for that?"
Harry stared at his brother. "Why don't you tell me what's really going on? Severus says... It's not like him to not just say things for himself!"
Draco lowered his voice. "This is the first time Severus has let me set foot in his potions lab without him since the evening he confronted me about the Venetimorica. I think this is his way of saying he trusts me again, this much." The Slytherin boy held up his thumb and forefinger almost touching. "Which isn't much, as you're here to make sure I don't do anything creative."