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Harry’s ears echoed with words that he couldn’t believe as he stood frozen in the hallway outside Dumbledore’s tower. Betrayal spread through his body like poison, and he just wished he could forget the last fifteen minutes. Wished that he could return things to how they were, how they should have been. He had woken up screaming from another nightmare, the silencing spell he had placed around his bed the only thing keeping the sound from waking his dorm mates. Fear had constricted his lungs until he could barely breathe and refused to release him as he remembered the images that plagued his dreams. The snake reflected in dark stone, The walls made from crystal balls that glowed as if they were each a miniature moon. The red-haired man that looked like- Arthur! Arthur was in danger! The snake was attacking him. He’d scrambled out of his own bed to Ron’s only to find it cold and empty. The raven-haired boy had known that he should wake up his head of house, but he’d been so panicked that he’d simply run from Gryffindor Tower to the Headmaster’s office. Thoughts of Dumbledore not being there, or being caught by a patrolling staff member hadn’t even crossed his mind. The freezing stone of the castle halls had leached the small amount of warmth the dreams had left him from his too thin body, and he was left with more than one sore spot from crashing into corners during a tight turn that would form spectacular bruises.The stone guardian of the Headmaster’s Tower had silently admitted him without a single word having to leave his blue tinted lips. He ascended the stone steps quickly but slowed at the sight of the ajar doors that led into the office proper. He could hear his best friend’s voice inside already and hoped that it meant they had already found Arthur. Ron’s words had frozen him were he stood and sent his whole world crashing down around him.“How much longer do we have to wait until we can make Potter marry Gin? I don’t want to have to listen the git whining about his terrible life of fame and fortune.” Harry could hear the sneer in the ginger’s voice. A tone he usually reserved for Malfoy. He had to have misheard, right? That couldn’t have been the same boy he had called his friend for the last 5 years, could it? Had he said marry Ginny? Harry couldn’t believe his friend would ever think that that would happen. He might be bi-sexual, but he had a definite preference for men. Not to even mention the fact that she was like the little sister he’d always wanted. Add the fact that the youngest Weasely had a passing similarity to his mother, and the thought filled him with disgust that was quickly buried by betrayal as the conversation continued.“Now, now, my boy. We must have patience if our plans are to come to fruition. Your mother will administer the love potion this summer after Harry turns sixteen and is old enough to inherit everything in full. Once they are married we will send the boy after Voldemort, and after that fight, both will be dead. Ginny will gain everything as his grieving widow. Just keep up the act until his birthday.” Dumbledore’s grandfatherly voiced echoed through the office and through the partially opened door.Harry hadn’t been able to listen anymore, had been able to feel the loud and heartbroken sobs building in his chest. He knew he had to get out of there before they discovered him and obviated him back into their compliant puppet. He’d crept back to the round staircase, his bare feet silent against the hard stone. After reaching the bottom of the stairs the gargoyle statue slotted back into its space Harry stood in the drafty seventh-floor hallway. He didn’t know what to do, who to trust, where he should go for help. The one thing he did know, however, was that he didn’t know nearly enough about what was going on around him. He moved down the hallway and hid in a dark alcove off the main hall. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fix anything if they discovered him standing outside the office looking broken.Taking deep breathes he forced his thoughts to slow, he let the superficial calm of disassociation separate him from the hurt and panic of the events that had filled his night. Who was likely to believe him about what he’d just heard? Who could he trust not to reveal what he said to Dumbledore? He first thought of his own head of house, but quickly dismissed the thought. McGonagall might protect her young dark haired raven, but she had been loyal to the headmaster for a decade at the very least, and that type of trust wasn’t easily dissuaded. She also had ignored him when he tried to tell her what Umbridge was doing to students in detention. No, she was definitely not the best choice. Hagrid was crossed of the mental list for similar reasons, as were most of the other teachers. Now that Harry thought about it almost everyone he knew was loyal to the old man. Was there anyone who was more likely to be loyal to him? A comment he had accidentally heard Dumbledore say to Snape suddenly popped into his head, “Remember, my boy, Do it for Lily. For the promise you made her.” He had dismissed the overheard words at the time as none of his business, but now he wondered if the Lily mentioned had been his mother. He hoped it was, as he realized the Severus Snape was his best option. That thought alone was terrifying to the boy, but no matter how hard he tried he was unable to come up with a better plan. He just hoped that snakes were more likely to listen to what he had to say than a lion would be for a snake.The Gryffindor listened carefully for any sound that would indicate that someone else was in the hallway, but it seemed that he was alone for the moment. He carefully walked against the wall towards the stairs wishing the whole time that he had thought to bring his invisibility cloak with him. Once he was far enough away from the headmaster’s office the green-eyed boy ran for the dungeons. Why wait to put his plan into action? Even if the said plan was rather terrible. He had no idea where he could find his potion professor at this time of night, so the first step was going to the Slytherin common room and convincing them to call their head of house. Like he said, a terrible plan. He was glad that he still remembered where the snake’s common room was located from when he and Ron had snuck in to investigate Malfoy.Stopping in front of the blank wall that hid the Snake Den he debated on the best way to go about getting. He could try knocking, but the chance of someone actually letting him in was slim considering the house rivalries that existed within the school. His other option was to try speaking in parseltongue like he did to open the Chamber of Secrets. Well, he seemed to be going with terrible ideas tonight, so magic snake language it was.<Open for me.> Even after all these years the hissing still sounded like English to him. The wall opened up before him and he scrambled into the dim common room before the door could close. Thick ropes wrapped around his body as someone from deeper in the room cast the incarcerous spell on him. Familiar white blond hair walked up to him with wand in hand, his quicksilver eyes gleaming with suspicion.“What are you doing here, Potter. Last time I check little lion get eaten when they walk into a snake’s lair.” Malfoy’s voice was hard and emotionless as he started at the Boy Who Wouldn’t Just Die Already. He lowered his wand when he saw that the boy was barely dressed and completely unarmed with tears still making a slow decent sown his cheeks. What would drive the Golden Boy down to the dungeons alone and wandless? He wasn’t even fighting against the rough restraints.“I- I need to talk to Snape.” His voice cracked as he spoke, and Draco couldn’t help the worry that engulfed him. When Harry saw his rival just standing there he tried again, “Please, Draco. It’s important. Please” The sob that broke through his lips on the last word spurred Draco into action. He and Harry might be constantly fighting with each other, but that didn’t mean he hated him, or that he couldn’t recognize that something was terribly wrong.“Blaise, go get Severus. Tell him I need him calm and here now. Theo, double check the wards for down here. I want to make sure that no other lions can get in here. Vince, Greg, grab your wands and make sure there isn’t anyone waiting outside the entrance. And you. You are going to tell me how you got in here. Everything else can wait until Uncle Sev is here, but this I want to know now.” The other Slytherins hurriedly followed their prefect's orders as Harry tried to move away from the moonlight gaze that hadn’t left him since he’d walked in. The question surprised him at first, but once he took a moment to think about understood the reasoning. IT would give them a place to start looking for the possible breach that allowed him in and would show if they could trust him or not depending on how truthful he was. He decided to stick with the theory that lying to a Slytherin in their own common room when no one knew where he was was an even stupider idea than the rest of his plan.“There’s no one else with me, and I’m the only one who can get in the way I did. I used parseltongue under the assumption that Salazar built all of his spaces in this castle, or possibly the entire castle, with the ability to respond to the language. Turns out I was right. I already knew where your dorms where from an incident in second year that I will be more than happy to tell you about in detail after I’ve talked to Snape.” His voice was quiet and unsteady as he spoke around the emotions that tried to choke him,. Shifting his gaze from just over the Malfoy heir’s left shoulder to the other boy’s eyes he infused as much sincerity into his next words as he could, “I swear that I will never use this method to bring myself or any other person into your dorms outside of an emergency. I also swear that I will not use anything that I have or will learn about Slytherin House and its members tonight against any of you as long as you all do the same. I’m not here to fight.”“That is quite the promise, Mr. Potter. Tell me, what has Precious Potter in such a state that you decided breaking into the Slytherin dorms at three in the morning was your best option?” The words were spoken from behind him in a low voice that Harry had always hated himself for trusting. Well, it was now or never.“Arthur Weasely has been attacked. Dumbledore is evil. Molly Weasely is planning on drugging me into marrying her daughter. I don’t want to fight in this war. I can’t trust anyone who is wholly loyal to Dumbledore. I think I might have a mental connection to Voldemort. And I’m really hoping that when I heard the Headmaster mention a promise that you made to Lily that he meant my mother and that you cared more about her than the stupid sides in this bloody war. Because otherwise, I just royally screwed myself by telling you any of this.” Stunned silence was the only response to the words that seemed to pour out of the bound boy’s mouth of there own accord. Severus Snape could think of only one response for several minutes.“Fuck.”
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Harry sat in numb silence as Professor Snape fire called Auror Shacklebolt from the fireplace in his office. The dark haired boy couldn’t really remember how he’d gotten to the partially hidden room from the Snake Pit, but he now sat curled up in an only slightly uncomfortable chair watching as Malfoy watched him. The blond was perched on the edge of Snape’s desk across from Harry with his wand held loosely in one hand. The other boy’s storm-colored eyes entranced the young Gryffindor as the two sat in silence. Harry hadn’t seen much of the Malfoy heir so far this year. He knew that Umbridge had been seen talking to Malfoy multiple times, and while most of the rest of his house thought it was because of the inquisitorial squad she was putting together, but witnesses from other houses had said that he’d seemed to be trying to get away from her as quickly as possible. His mind quickly supplied the other rumors about the blond that had been going around; Draco Malfoy was preparing to begin a formal courtship with Pansy Parkinson.That train of thought was quickly cut off as something in him flinched at remembering that particular rumor. Without the distraction though, his mind quickly circled back to the events that had led him to be sitting in a room with his rival in the first place. He still couldn’t believe that Ron’s friendship had all been one lie after the other. Were the rest of Weasely’s in on it? He knew that Molly had to be, and possibly Ginny, but what about Arthur? The twins? What about his other best friend? He couldn’t imagine her involved in something like this, but only a few hours ago he wouldn’t have been able to imagine Ron and Dumbledore involved in it either. Dumbledore. The man who had become like a grandfather to him. Just how deep did that betrayal go? The memories of the dangers that had plagued him every year came rushing to the forefront of his mind. A choked sound from in front of him tore through the memories. As he came back to the present Harry found that he had never broken eye contact with the gray eyes of a now shocked Malfoy.“What the bloody hell does that man make you do every year?!” The outburst shocked everyone in the room including both its originator and the potions master that had only just ended his firecall. Trying to figure out what Malfoy was talking about Harry went over the last few minutes in his head but came up blank. Had he been speaking out loud? He didn’t think he had, but how else could Malfoy know what he’d been thinking about…“Legilimency.” Harry’s voice was flat as he said this. He knew that the annoyance and anger he should be feeling were there somewhere, but he couldn’t currently get past the icy numbness that coated his emotions. Malfoy was a Legilimens. Of course he was. Snape was his godfather, of course he taught Malfoy the art. Said boy was now fully standing not even a foot from where Harry sat with anger rolling off of him in biting waves. Finely honed habit took over quickly at the sight of someone bigger than him angry and so close, and he was up and out of the chair with his back pressed as tightly into one of the corners as he could get within seconds. A faint tremor made its way through his body in the wake of the fear and adrenaline now overloading his body. Malfoy and Snape gaped at his quick reaction, and he waited for the shock to morph into the anger he knew would follow. It always hurt more when he ran. Vernon had taught him that early.Snape took a step towards him and Harry flinched back into the corner as a new wave of fear flooded through him. He felt his magic rising up from deep inside him and tried to suppress it, but it would not be stopped as it only rose faster until it burst from his skin. It moved away from him in a single wave towards the other two and slammed them both against the walls behind them along with all the furniture in the room. Papers and scrolls flew all over the room as the desk tipped over and ink formed a dark stain on the rug that covered a majority of the floor. Sliding down the wall to the floor Harry curled as far into himself as tears finally broke through his icy shield to trail a burning path down his cheeks. His voice was barely a hoarse whisper as he choked out apology after apology. He hadn’t lost control of his magic like this in years, but now it raged just below the surface as he fought for control over it. Small cuts began appeared randomly over his body but were gradually becoming deeper the harder he tried to smother the electric feeling energy churning inside of him. Gods it hurt, but if he couldn’t get it under control he knew it would once again lash out at the two snakes in the room. The magic’s anger was steadily increasing, as was the level of violence it was using to escape its living cage. * * * * * Severus Snape was not a man moved easily by his emotions. He kept them ruthlessly organized behind his occlumency barriers and does not allow them to dictate his actions. The few times he had broken his own rules had led him to lose his Lily to first his pride, and then again to the arms of Death. The final time had trapped him in an Unbreakable Vow to the son of his sister in all but blood and the man that had tormented him for nearly a decade. But despite the coldly logical part of his mind reminding him of these facts, he couldn’t ignore the sensation of cracks forming within his heart at the sight of the young raven haired boy that was curled in on himself in a corner of his office as blood fell in rivulets down his skin and into the fabric of his too large pajamas. The potions professor staggered to his feet and immediately had to fight to not be pushed back down by the young lion’s wild magic. A quick glance at Draco revealed the blond to have gotten to his knees but couldn’t seem to get farther than that. He pushed his own magic out of himself as a shield and walked to the crying boy.Harry Potter and he had spent years antagonizing each other, but very little of it was real on his side of things. He thought the boy arrogant and too flippant when it came to rules and authority figures, but none of that necessitated the cruelty with which Severus had treated Potter in the past. Unfortunately, the orders from both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore forced him into the role of sadistic nemesis. Now though... Now he couldn’t stand by and watch as Potter tore himself apart with his own magic. He wasn’t surprised when the vow that the Headmaster had forced on him didn’t shoot pain through his body as he went to help the boy, for all that he was disobeying Dumbledore’s orders. What did surprise him, however, was the fact that the Dark Mark on his left forearm not only didn’t hurt him for an act that would help the Dark Lord’s supposed enemy, but actual warmed in encouragement at his actions. He filed the baffling information away to be examined later and refocused on the hurt youth in front of him. The flinch and shudder of fear that moved through the frail body were telling and all too familiar, but Severus’s mind refused to believe what his instincts were starting to point towards. There was no way that someone was abusing the Light’s precious Saviour. Memories surfaced of how thin Potter was, of how little he ate after returning to school after the summers, of the scars that covered arms he rarely allowed to be seen, the slight tremble that went through him when voices got too loud or there was too much attention focused on him.Something wasn’t right, and he knew that he had to figure out what it was. His instincts said that it might just change everything about the bloody war they had all found themselves trapped in. But before he could do anything of the sort, he had to calm Potter and get him to trust his hated potions professor enough to reveal the truth. He knelt down slowly so that he was closer in height to the scared child. Making sure to keep his movements as obvious as possible, he placed one of his hands on top of a small and bony cotton covered knee. The little raven flinched away but didn’t react otherwise. Severus wondered if Potter actually even noticed he was there. This close to the boy the older man could hear the whispered mantra of apologizes that seemed to pour endlessly from his trembling mouth.“Potter, take some deep breathes and calm yourself.” He kept his voice soft and non-aggressive, but the Gryffindor gave no indication that he’d heard him. With a sigh, he took hold of one of Potter’s hands in an attempt to get his attention focused on him before trying again, “Po- Harry. I need you to listen to me. Focus on me, and do as I say. Take a deep breath in. Now release it. Good, just like that. In… out…”The normally dour man continued to gently guide the dark haired boy through some deep breathing as his magic started to settle back inside of its master, and the fall of his tears began to slow. Severus could that even though physically Potter was starting to calm down, mentally he was still somewhere far away and most likely terrifying. He moved the hand he still held to his shoulder before moving his arm to curl around his student’s back to his waist and slid his other arm under his knees. Lifting Potter as he stood was much easier than the dark haired man had expected, and new worry over the fifteen year old bloomed inside of him. Potter clutched the black robes of his teacher with a death grip as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks and onto Severus’s neck and shoulder where his face was buried and hidden from view.Turning back towards the rest of the room, he found that Draco was now standing and he was looking decidedly unhappy. Small silvery blond feathers had started to replace his hair and lightning crackled in his now quicksilver colored eyes. His wand was gripped tightly in slightly clawed fingers and at the ready. It seemed his veela side had decided to make an appearance at the unknown threat that was Potter’s accidental magic. The young Slytherin's shoulders were slightly hunched and tensed to must have been a painful level. Severus could only surmise that Draco was trying to keep his wings from unfurling in the confined space of the office. It wasn’t until his unnaturally bright eyes landed on the weeping boy that he finally began to calm down. Realizing there was no longer an active threat, only a hurt and scared teenager, the feathers receded and the claws shortened back into human nails. The only thing that didn’t revert was his inhuman eyes, signaling that the supernatural instincts that were a part of any creature inheritance were still ruling Draco’s mind.Severus could still remember when a crying Draco had rushed into his office in first year just after winter break in a panic. His hair had turned fully to feathers and his shirt had been ripped and bloody where his wings had sprouted. Most don’t receive their creature inheritance until their early to mid teens, and so the young boy had been utterly distraught and confused by what was happening. They had never quite figured out what had caused the early manifestation, as the only thing Draco had been able to tell him was that his instincts were pushing at him to protect something but that he didn’t know what. Veela tended to be dominate and protective by nature and had often been credited with having a touch of the Sight. They could only assume that someone that would be important to the Malfoy heir in the future was in danger. Unfortunately, they had had to simply wait and hope they figured out who it was. A fact that had pushed Draco’s instincts and temper to near breaking over the years. Although if the look in the instinct controlled veela’s eyes was anything to go by, they may have very well found the cause, whose tears were finally starting to slow back down. Well…It certainly explained Draco’s attention seeking behavior when it came to the brat, as well as the vicious flare-up of protective urges that had occurred randomly throughout the years. A sudden thought caused Severus’s mind to come to a screeching halt. The worst of those episodes had happened during the summers when Potter should have been safe at home being spoiled beyond belief. Something was most definitely not adding up.Soft croons pulled the potions professor’s attention outward once more. Draco had closed the distance between himself and the other two while Severus was lost in thought and was now trying to calm Potter with the soft trills that Veela often used with each other and family. He softly turned Potter’s head to face him and began to wipe away the tear tracks that trailed along his cheeks. Once that was done, he moved on to trying to straighten out the boy's dark hair, much to Potter’s extreme confusion and slight terror. The poor boy was going to be horrified when he came to his senses and realized that his Veela side had all but publicly claimed the other boy as his to protect and care for. Severus tried valiantly to, if not suppress entirely, then hide his laughter at his godson’s predicament. His failure at the task resulted in a few deep chuckles escaping and startling both the very confused boy in his arms and the fussing blond. How was this even his life?