"Hmm, bit embarrassing, that," mused the other boy. "Might be all right when you're twelve, but..."
"Right."
"It's not right," said Hermione, stamping her feet a bit as she walked.
Harry made sure to say it before Ron could. "Well, maybe it's different for girls," he said, frowning and shaking his head a little when it looked like Ron would agree out loud.
Hermione scowled at him, and walked a little bit faster. But at least she wasn't saying something scornful to Ron.
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It was later that night when something odd woke Harry. At first he thought he was just dreaming. Sounds of a scuffle. Muffled shouts. A thudding noise that seemed to shake right through his bed...
Harry groggily sat up and blinked in the darkness. Then a dim light began to shine through the curtains surrounding his bed, and Ron's scathing voice said, "Oh. It's you. Miscalculated, didn't you? The girls' dorms are the other direction."
Harry thrust the curtains back and saw his brother pushing himself to his feet. Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville all had their wands levelled on Draco, who was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. Harry blinked again, confused. "Draco?"
"Yeah," Ron practically spat. "And what I want to know is whose brilliant idea it was to give him the password to the Tower!"
"Well, it wasn't me!" Harry retorted, a little stung by the accusation.
"I Flooed in," Draco said, his tones short.
Harry fumbled for his glasses on the night table, more from habit than because he really needed them. Things actually looked really clear. "Dad let you use the Floo? Alone?"
Draco nodded, staring intently at Harry as if trying to communicate something. But Harry didn't know what it was. Actually, he was still pretty disoriented from being so abruptly yanked from a sound sleep. And he couldn't help but wonder something about that. "How come you all woke up to attack Draco before I even heard him? I'm pretty sure he wasn't making that much noise."
"I was stealth personified," said Draco in a put-upon voice. "Would you lower your damned wands? I'm here to get Harry, that's all."
"What for?" asked Seamus, not dropping his wand an inch.
"What do you think? The Dark Lord misses him!"
"Draco!" shouted Harry, appalled. "They don't know you well enough to know when you're joking! And that's not funny in any case."
"Tell them to lower their wands!"
Draco's voice was high-pitched by then, which was enough to tell Harry that his brother felt himself at a disadvantage. Snape might have let him use the Floo, but he apparently hadn't let Draco bring a wand along. Which also explained why Draco's hands weren't shoved in his pockets. He was getting ready to hit someone if it came to that.
And Draco really did know how to land a punch. Harry knew that firsthand.
"Come on guys, put your wands away," sighed Harry.
"Not until he tells us why he's sneaking into the Tower late at night to snatch you away--" growled Seamus.
"I'm here on family business, which means it's none of yours, you Irish potato-head!" Draco turned to Harry. "Severus wants to talk to you about something."
Harry's brow furrowed. "It can't wait until morning?"
"Oh, of course it can wait," drawled Draco. "That's why I ventured into the lion's den in the dead of night. To tell you it could just as well wait. So, never mind then--"
"Sorry," said Harry. "I'm still half-asleep. I'll come straight away." Then he glanced over at Ron. "You never did tell me why I didn't wake up when the rest of you did."
The other boy sighed. "When you were hurt on Samhain we all cast protection spells around your bed, Harry. So that if anyone snuck in here in the dead of night, we'd wake up and clobber him before he even got to you."
Harry cleared his throat. "Oh. Well, that was... uh, nice, I suppose. Though I didn't know you all thought I was that pathetic--"
"You were blind at the time! And there was all that talk of Death Eaters trying to get in here to finish you off, remember. But then when you went to live with Snape, we sort of forgot about the spell, that's all."
That made more sense. Harry smiled. "All right. I guess you guys are pretty good mates."
Ron put away his wand and gestured for the other Gryffindors to do the same, even as he was saying, "We need a new rule, Harry. Nobody from other Houses can come into the Tower."
"I'll tell Padma to stop visiting Parvati, then?"
"That's different. She's--"
"What, family?"
"I was going to say nice," snapped Ron as he turned his ire on Draco. "Listen, as Harry's all set on this brothers thing, I guess we can't really keep you out. But next time, don't just barge in through the Floo. Use the front door and wait to be invited in!"
"Listen, you Weasley," Draco snarled. "If Severus tells me to Floo up and get Harry, then that's what I'm going to do, and no red-headed poverty-stricken Muggle-lover is going to stop me--"
"Let's just Floo back," Harry loudly interrupted.
Draco abruptly fell silent as he gave a rather regal nod.
"Um, maybe you should get dressed, Harry?" said Neville.
Harry looked down at his pyjamas and shrugged. "I have plenty of clothes at home. I'd rather just find out what Severus needs to talk to me about." A sudden thought had him biting his lip. "It's not about Aran, is it? I haven't been... um, getting on so well with him lately. Did some of the Slytherins mention it, do you think?"
"Aran's the last thing on Severus' mind," Draco said in a voice thrumming with tension.
"Let's go, then," Harry said, wondering what on earth could make Snape ask Draco to Floo into Gryffindor Tower.
A image of Snape dying wavered before his eyes, making his stomach clench and his hands tremble. But Draco would have said something if the matter had been as serious as all that, so Harry made himself forget the boggart.
Or pretend to, anyway.
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Snape was sitting in the living room when Harry stepped out of the Floo. The man had one sleeve rolled up past his elbow, but he wasn't wearing a bandage over his forearm now. His mark was on display, etched in shades of orange and red it was glowing so fiercely. The colours were shifting and changing, just like flames in a fire.
A good comparison, for when Harry walked closer, he could actually feel the heat of the thing bathing his face.
"Oh my God," he breathed, appalled. "This is terrible."
"Talk about an understatement--"
"Be quiet, Draco," said Snape in a weary voice. "You've seen this before and Harry hasn't."
Snape's features were drawn with pain, his cheekbones looking like they'd poke through his skin if this got any worse.
"Oh, God," Harry said again, feeling sick just looking at that awful, blazing mark.
"The Lotion Potion helps." Snape rose unsteadily to his feet. "And now that you're here, we can renew the stasis potion and remove the mark itself. Until next time." He took a step toward his lab and almost stumbled; Draco rushed in to offer him an arm to lean on.
Harry heart dropped, feeling like a stone plunging into his stomach, because the whole time he'd been arguing with Ron about whether Draco could come to the Tower or not, Snape had been sitting down here waiting for him. Suffering.
"You might have told me it was urgent!" he hissed at Draco as he followed his father and brother into the lab.
"And give those Gryffindors fodder for gossip? I don't think so."
Harry had to admit, it was better all around if other people didn't realise what Snape had to contend with. It was private family business, just as Draco had said.