Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Of Shield and Sheath	By : KusanoSaku Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17446 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own the HP franchise so I make nothing from my writing.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Title: Of Shield and sheath
Pairing: future DracoxHarry
Summary: A foolhardy Dumbledore attempts to change fate, he gains more and less then he bargained for. Creature fic. Future Mpreg.
AN: For Jannafrancine who has guessed a small portion of this story's plot. Sequel to Cadmus and the Phoenix. So sorry for the lateness!

Chapter 14 - Gryffindor Team Meeting
It was the beginning of November, which meant the weather was windy and rainy, normally it wouldn’t have daunted Oliver but he’d been meaning to ask the others some things.
Especially Fred and George, even if their match against Slytherin was coming up because his worry was taking his head out of the game…
They cleaned up in the locker room showers and under imperious charms they ran for the castle losing their barely passable Seeker Alec Weasley, the twins’ cousin.
The twins led them off to the kitchen for hot drinks and soup.
“So Ollie why’d ya let the weather make ya call it a day?” Fred asked.
“Yeah you’re usually a bit of a slave driver…” George muttered as they crowded around the house elf produced table that was quickly filled with coffee, tea, butterbeers, cider and their own preference of soup.
“I’ve wanted to talk to you about Potter.”
George and Fred exchanged worried glances while Angelina, Alicia and Katie did the same.
“What do you want to talk about?” Fred said with a frown.
“I didn’t imagine those scars did I?” Oliver asked bluntly.
The three Chasers’ eyes filled with tears as they made similar gasps of horror.
Fred and George did their silent twin-communicating thing that George thought was a natural variant of Legilimency
Fred swallowed, “Yes, he has scars. We haven’t asked him about them yet, I don’t even know if he realises we saw them. With his natural jumpiness and fearful reaction to fighting, we’ve decided he’s been physically abused.”
“He’s also very against bullying, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s suffered his own share of that as well.” George added. “He told me on the train that he’d never had sweets before…”
“I think he was starved…” Angelina stammered.
Oliver turned pale, “What! He’s only a kid…”
“He thought I was going to take his food away, he was shocked when I said he could keep it.” The lead Chaser admitted softly.
“Staved, beaten, bullied and distrustful of authority?” Oliver whistled, “The poor kid, is that why you’re so protective?”
Fred nodded, “He needs protection, he doesn’t know it but we’ve been shadowing him every night to make sure he returns from Professor Snape’s office safely every night. I think he’s bonded to the surly old bat.”
“You don’t think…”
“I don’t think Snape would hurt him, if he did I think Harry would turn into a skittish puppy like Hermione.”
“Makes you wonder what her story is…” Angelina mused.
“I think she needs a big sister, any of you want to volunteer?” George retorted.
Angelina nodded, “I think she’ll need one, she can’t hid behind those boys forever. I know she’s got some Gryffindor courage in there somewhere. Poor kid, isn’t she a Muggleborn?”
“I think so. The only Grangers in the Wizarding World were the Dagworth-Grangers, one of the more famous members of that family were Hector Dagworth-Granger who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers.” George said with a shrugged. “Though I do believe that soon after the family went into a decline and their magic was lost. Once a line is declared Squibed it’s lost.” George shrugged.
Even Oliver who was largely unconcerned about non-Quidditch related things knew that a Squibed line was a Magical bloodline that had six generations straight of squibs. Having a squib here and there wasn’t a big deal, an embarrassment but unless every child for six generations was born a squib then it was ‘Squibed’.
“You and your potions.” Angelina teased fondly.
George glared, “So what if I like to brew?”
Angelina ruffled his hair, “Don’t get huffy George.”
They finished up their drinks and soup before leaving the kitchen.
“Ollie?”
Oliver turned around beaming, “Percy!” throwing his arms around the startled Gryffindor.
Fred and George sniggered behind their hands while Angelina, Alicia and Katie nudged one another.

Percy blushed, whinging, “Oliver!”
“You’re off duty now! Lighten up Percy, please? We’re going to talk to Snape, so will you come with us? Then I want you to review my Transfiguration paper….” Oliver wheedled.
“Why is the whole team going?” Percy frowned.
“Not the whole team, Alec ran off.” Oliver protested. “I don’t want to discuss it in public.”
Percy sighed, “I’ll come, if you promise to work on your Potions paper.”
Oliver nodded, holding out his hand, “Deal.”
Oliver and Percy shook their hands before they led the way to Snape’s office with the rest of the team: the two Beaters and three Chasers trailing behind.
They knocked on Snape’s office door.
"Draco get the door."
The door was opened by Malfoy, inside was Snape, Harry, Draco and more of Draco and Harry’s friends studying at a large worktable.
Oliver coughed, “Um professor? Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
“My my what would bring the majority of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team and a prefect to talk to me?” Snape drawled.
“I’ll be happy to tell you if you’ll bring us somewhere to talk privately?” Oliver flinched.
“The classroom.” Snape did a shooing motion with his hand. “Draco try to make sure that they don’t make a mess.”
“Yes Uncle Sev.” Malfoy said with a smirk.
The team followed Snape into his nearby classroom.
Once they were inside, Oliver nodded.
Fred and George cast privacy charms and locked the door.
Oliver squeezed Percy’s hand, “What we’re about to talk about will be shocking but please don’t talk until we’re done.”
Percy frowned but nodded his understanding.
Oliver cut to the chase, “How much about Harry’s life with his Muggle relatives has he told you?”
Snape shook his head, “I only know that he is unhappy there and that he lives with his mother’s sister. I knew them both growing up, I know that Petunia was a cold, abusive woman and Lily was a protective, good-hearted, loving person.”
.
“He’s been beaten and starved.” Oliver frowned. “He had old scars, some are more recent but it’s same problem. I think he’s been beaten with a belt more times then I want to imagine, I’m afraid possibly until the skin broke. He’s not tiny naturally, it’s because food was withheld.”
Angelina nodded, “He was with us on the train with us, he said he was full and he ate so little it was heartbreaking. He looked like he would cry when I told him he could keep the leftovers as a snack. I gave him the same as we had even if he was little because we had plenty; the look on his face was surprise and gratefulness for such a small thing. It’s so awful that such a sweet little boy has been so badly treated even more so when he’s supposed to be the Boy Who Lived. He’s nothing like I thought…he’s the sort of boy that I thought I would like for a brother…”
Snape flinched; his voice was soft, “Of all the childhoods, the last one I ever wanted for Lily’s son was to have a childhood like mine.”
His students looked at him with a mixture of surprise and compassion but not pity, as if they sensed that it wouldn’t be appropriate.
Percy was quiet, his expression one of horror and shock but not disbelief. Oliver may have been a Quidditch Freak who didn’t study as much as he should but Percy knew that Oliver was no liar. He swallowed, “Then I haven’t been making it any better have I? I’ve been a jerk.”
Oliver slung an arm over his shoulder, “I had to make you see but I didn’t want to fight with you.”
It was Percy’s turn to flinch, “After my behaviour, I have no right to be prefect…”
“If that’s so, then how did a bully like James Potter end up Head Boy or a coward like Remus Lupin get appointed as a prefect and stay one?” Snape spat. “Gryffindor bullies have always been ignored. Even when they go too far and veer into attempted murder. The victim, especially a Slytherin is more harshly punished. Even persons like Bellatrix and her little group of Muggleborn tormentors got away with it in school. No one ever saw or cared.”
Percy scowled, “That’s not right! Someone has to stop that! Prefects and Heads are supposed to examples. They are supposed to be like Bill!”
Fred snorted, “Then why haven’t you?”
“Yeah why haven’t you reeled in Ron better?” George retorted. “Why have you let him treat people like Hermione likes she’s worthless?”
“If she hadn’t let him bully her into being his second,” Percy frowned.
“She’s been jumpy since Halloween, knowing Ron’s mouth I wouldn’t be surprised if her crying the bathroom was his fault.” Fred growled.
Percy opened his mouth and then sighed, “The whole Midnight Duel situation is making me see Ron more clearly. He’s been complete weird since his dorm mates started giving him the silent treatment.
The Gryffindor team had seem them practically make themselves Hermione’s bodyguards, they kept her in the middle of them and refused to leave her alone even going so far as to have one of them escort her to the loo remaining outside until she returned. Even Draco and Blaise were equally protective…
“He’s pouting because he made it difficult for himself to be friends with Harry by picking on Hermione and fighting Draco.” George snorted.
“How do we protect Harry?” Alicia asked softly.
“Things are more complicated then you could ever imagine.” Snape grumbled. “Albus is playing a dangerous game. He sent Harry to Petunia without consulting the wills; he ordered them sealed and hid Harry away. Now he’s practically invited one of the world’s most deadly wizards to play a dangerous game.”
“You don’t mean…” Percy gasped.
“Don’t let Harry out of the tower after curfew, the Houses are supposedly protected but things are rarely what they seem…” Snape muttered.
“Is there anything we can do for Harry?” Oliver frowned.
“What we need is to prove that the damn medi-witch is incompetent. Then we can get a real healer in here who can document Harry’s abuse.” Snape snorted.
Percy blinked, “Pomfrey? Incompetent?”
“She’s a drunk who doesn’t know her potions. She ignores the signs of abuse be it from a student’s guardians or from schoolmates.” Snape said bitterly.
Oliver scowled, “Then why is she here?”
“Because our brilliant headmaster decided to hire her. Just like he has a squib caretaker when we have an army of house elves. Oh and his pet Hagrid who looks after and collects dangerous pets when he doesn’t even have a wand much less his O.W.L.S. I swear he hires people like that so he looks like he’s a protector/supporter of the underprivileged like expelled students, Muggleborns, worthless Medi-witches and Squibs. I swear the man should have been a Slytherin instead of Gryffindor with his plotting.” Snape grumbled.
Fred smirked at George, “I’m sure we,”
“could come up,”
“with something…”
“After all we’re brilliant.”
Percy snorted, “Your scores are pathetic.”
It was Snape who snickered, “Really? Because George is the second highest in his year, just behind Pucey and Montague who are tied for top marks…”
Percy gaped, “You’re serious? I’ve seen their scores.”
Fred sniffed, “That’s what we want mum to think she doesn’t make us as miserable as Bill, Charlie and you. Mum forced Bill to quit the Quidditch Team when he became Head Boy and he was miserable. He didn’t even want the job; he wanted to stay a prefect and Quidditch captain. Mum only complains now about Charlie playing because he ran off to Romania to train at their dragon medic school. He wanted to work with dragons even if he was good enough to fly for England. Bill was the one who wanted to fly professionally but she mucked that up for him because she wanted him to go work for the Ministry. Now you’re her new pet future Minister for Magic.”
Percy looked like he’s been hit in the face with a Beater’s Bat, his face was so red with rage, “You don’t think…”
George snorted, “She didn’t bother you to be a prefect and a perfect student until Bill up-ed and off-ed. You think he wanted to be a Curse-Breaker? It was a fallback career that he happened to have the marks for, plus it had the added benefit of being far away from mum.”
Percy now looked as if he’d been pricked with a pin, “So she really doesn’t want what’s best for me?”
Fred chortled, “Mum? She wants what’s best for her. She bonded to dad against both their parents’ wishes and he was cut off, so she couldn’t be the ‘Future Lady Weasley’. After the war he was transferred out of the Auror corps to the minor Department where he works now. Sure he’s now it’s Head but that’s only because he’s a workaholic and he had eight mouths to feed. You’d think with Bill and Charlie gone we wouldn’t be so poor but it’s not true. Makes you wonder what she wastes her money on…”
“Likely,” Severus snorted, “she still gambles. It’s very ill bred of her but I wouldn’t be surprised. She and Bagman were always betting on something in school.”
“She’s a gambler?” George was clearly disgusted.
“More than likely.” Severus shrugged.
“Besides, probably trying to make Ron friends with Harry I wonder if she was paid to come the way we did. It was really weird, her insisting we take a Muggle cab all the way into London because dad didn’t take the morning off. I mean what was so difficult about flooing? We’ve done it for years, she claimed we weren’t behaved enough to come to the train until we were like eight and even then she made Bill and Charlie floo with us.” George grumbled. “Before that she’d leave us home with her old elf…”
“So Mary Weasley isn’t the doting mother she pretends to be?” Severus snorted.
Fred sneered, “No. We’re never allowed friends over even though the Lovegoods have a daughter Ginny’s age, we’re Cedric’s age and there is always Stephanie Fawcett. She thinks that summer is for studying, chores and punishments like throwing gnomes. Mum plays the devoted housewife/mother but she’s nothing but a hypocrite.”
“Curious…” Severus mused. “I’ll have to find out who was the Potters’ secondary choice as Harry’s guardian if Sirius Black was unavailable. Difficult to be sure what with the Potter wills being sealed by Albus under the authority of his office of Chief Warlock for reasons that no one has suitably explained.”
Percy frowned, “You mean he practically kidnapped Harry, buried him in the Muggle World in the care of Muggles who have abused him and sealed his parents’ wills so no one can check to see if they would have agreed with this or not?”
Severus snorted, “That would be the approximate summation.”
“Well who is his closest Wizarding blood relation?” George frowned. “Can’t we brew the Parentis divinus potion?”
“James Potter was an only child and his mother was a Black but beyond that I know little due to my being raised in the Muggle World as a child as well.” Severus shrugged.
George pouted, “Can we brew it anyway? It would be such a stretch of my abilities…”
“I’m surprised you would want…wait you’re George then? The one who writes reams on Potions?”
George nodded, “Fred only does the minimum when he’s not enthused like he is in Defence and Transfiguration.”
“Very well, starting tomorrow George I expect you in my private lab to assist me.” Severus said sharply. “You will arrive promptly after dinner.”
George’s smile filled his face, “Thank you professor!”
“Don’t think my preference or trust for a few of your kind will result in my treating all Gryffindors pleasantly.” Snape grumbled.
“Understood sir.” Percy chuckled as he grabbed Oliver’s hand. “You have essays you promised me you’d work on.”
“Well Percy Weasley we may make a Bill out of you yet. You’re already leaving the likes of Potter and Lupin behind.”
With that last jab from their Potions professor Percy and the majority of Gryffindors’ Quidditch team escaped the Potions classroom.
Angelina whispered, “You really think he’s going to help us?”
Fred snorted, “He had a childhood like that, you can tell. He doesn’t want that for Harry.
The seven Gryffindors fell silent as they headed back to Gryffindor Tower…

What do you think? Outstanding? Exceeds expectations? Acceptable? Poor? Dreadful? Troll?
delia cerrano - Eventually it will shift from Uncle Sev to 'papa' like in Truth but for now Severus is trying to prove that he can be a reliable adult. Harry needs reasonable expectations and Severus doesn't want him growing up to be someone that Lily would be disappointed in hence the 'strictness'.. I'm personally not all that fond of snarry I prefer snupin and drarry but I have two S/D/H fics in works. I'll post them once I finish something like Firework or something. At least I finished A Godfather's Duty...
Eros - Sorry for the tardiness. I have 'more' planned. The only trouble is getting it from here to there.
silverwolf - Thank you! Here is more. I'll write a more Harry-centric chapter later but the Gryffindor team have been fighting to have a say after a month of mulling over their suspicions.
BAFan - I do plan on continuing it. I have some bits pre-written it's just the writing to them that's difficult. Dumbles wants Harry to respect authority and he IS authority. In his desire to treat Harry 'equally' and mould him the way he wants him, he's gone too far and is unintentionally alienating Harry.
Calixandria_420 - Thank you! I hope you like this update even if it isn't Harry-centric.
Kat - Hats off to you! Your comment actually got a chapter out of me. Percy's not really a bad kid, he's just a bit brainwashed? Thanks to the Twins and Oliver Percy got the kick in the arse he needed. I didn't mean to write Percy so he'd get that sort of reaction but rereading it made me realise why you said that. The Quidditch team needed to talk to Percy and Sev anyway but I'm glad we've got them all working together.
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Of Shield and Sheath