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Practicing Liars	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 63257 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from this story.

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Chapter
Twenty-Seven�Break the Circle

�� Severus
snarled under his breath as he raced after the foolish boy. He ran faster than
Severus would have believed possible, especially with as much blood as he
seemed to have lost through the welts on his arms.

�� If I find that he has been consuming illegal
potions in order to move more quickly when he runs or plays Quidditch, there
will be consequences.

�� But Severus
did not think that was truly the case, especially given the other times when
the welts had appeared.

�� He cast a
tracking spell, concentrating carefully on the way that Harry�s arm had felt
beneath his, and the way his sleeve had swung, and the sight of the spray of
warm blood on the stone floor. This was a Dark spell, because it depended on
memories rather than the �safer� method of tracking by hair or skin or
fingernail, and Severus would not ordinarily have used it so close to
colleagues who might pick up on the difference, but at the moment, he had no
choice.

�� He simply runs too fast.

�� For a
moment, Severus imagined the boy racing away from those who had taught him how
to run, his Muggle relatives, and his eyes narrowed as he contemplated the
folly of someone other than his son. He would
meet them someday, and if he had to wait�well, he was as good at delaying
his revenge as he was at seeking it immediately.

�� Then he
drove the dream from his head with a single shake and bent to the task of his
tracking. The images flickered in his mind, impatient to reunite with their
real counterparts, and tugged him like a leash to the side. He curved away from
the Quidditch pitch, which surprised him. He had naturally supposed the boy
might run to it as a sanctuary in times of distress.

�� Instead, it
appeared that he was heading for the Forbidden
Forest.

�� Severus
hissed in impatience and lengthened his stride. Trust the boy to find the one place in Hogwarts that is full of worse
monsters than the ones he thinks he is leaving behind.

�� The initial
path was clear enough, since Harry had trampled the grass without a care for
covering his tracks, but then he got onto stones and it was harder. Severus
slowed his pace, which he hated to do. He had, however, to listen intently, and
to follow the slightest tug that the spell might make on him. It was hard to be
sure now that he was beyond Hogwarts�s wards.
Delicate spells like this were much affected by the atmosphere in which they
were cast, and an alteration in the ambient magic would make them weaker. It
was another reason, beyond being Dark, that this particular tracking spell was
not often used.

�� A noise
ahead had Severus dropping to one knee and drawing his wand before he thought.
He knew that noise. It was that of grass scraping against legs. Because he
doubted that Harry was up to much sneaking at the moment, he knew that it must
be someone else in the Forest.

�� And they
were beyond the wards.

�� Of course, Severus thought, his mind
becoming calmer and clearer as his heart and spirit took more of the blow. If I were the Dark Lord, I would have a
close watch kept on the outskirts of the wards, so that I might track who
emerged from them and seize him if he was a useful prize.

�� The black
cloak and white mask that showed through the undergrowth a moment later
confirmed his suspicions.

�� Severus
watched carefully as the Death Eater probed through the thickets with what
looked like a cane, and which Severus realized a moment later was a lengthened
wand. He curled his lip, but kept himself carefully from a snort, which might
be heard. The man was an imbecile to use his wand in such a way, when he might
want it at any moment as a weapon.

�� Then again, I know well that most of the
Dark Lord�s followers are not to be relied on for their intellect.

�� Where had
Harry gone? Severus could no longer hear the sounds of his wild rush, and the
trembling images in his mind had subsided into nothing more than sullen, muddy
flickers. Had he had the wit to hide? Unfortunately, at the moment, Severus did
not know how rational Harry was. He wanted to say that his son would never
venture into the Forest in a rational mood,
but there were plenty of examples to contradict him. He shook his head, thinking
of some of the escapades he had seen in the Occlumency lessons both last year
and this.

�� Suddenly
the Death Eater stopped and laughed. Then he bent down and waved his wand in an
elaborate pattern over something in the grass.

�� From the
way the ground seemed to waver and part, Severus knew he was looking at a pit
trap. Simple, but effective, he admitted grudgingly as he watched Harry�s body
float into the air. Something that would not be beyond the power of most of the
Death Eaters he knew, and which could be tended and checked for anyone who had
escaped the wards�though from the Death Eater�s continuing, delighted chuckles,
he hadn�t expected to so neatly capture the Boy-Who-Lived.

�� The Death
Eater floated Harry into the air and started to sling him over one shoulder.
Then he turned with a motion of his cloak that Severus knew well. He was
preparing to Apparate.

�� And that
was what brought him to his feet and forwards.

�� He had
waited because he was not sure if the man had companions or other intentions,
but this he could not bear, to watch his son be stolen from him.

�� The Death
Eater began to bring his arm up, with a clumsy motion that told Severus this
was likely Vincent Crabbe�s father, as the laugh had
already hinted. His magic was very good at basic curses, but he had nothing of
the finesse that Severus brought to his duels, and he knew it.

�� Incarcerous,�
Severus hissed, and the ropes blew from midair, snaring Crabbe�s
arms and legs and flipping him upside-down. A gag that Severus had added to his
personal version of the spell plugged the man�s mouth a moment later. Severus
reached out and caught Harry, bracing himself for the weight as he admired the
way that Crabbe struggled frantically, unable to escape.

�� He looked
down at Harry then, and shook his head. Harry�s face was as pale as salt, his
head lolling limply, his arms rolling with blood. Severus stroked his face and
held him close, then glanced swiftly at Crabbe. But, luckily, Crabbe did not
seem to have observed the tender gesture. Of course, his never being a good
observer, combined with being upside-down at the moment, likely helped.

�� Come along,
then,� Severus said in a bored drawl, and placed Harry in a carrying position
that would look careless while supporting his weight�which was far too
fragile�as much as possible. Another flick of his wand brought Crabbe floating
along beside him. Severus sighed as he paced towards the castle. He would much
have preferred to simply send Crabbe to the Aurors, but he could not Apparate a
person such a distance without accompanying him. He would take Crabbe to
Dumbledore and let the Headmaster decide what to do with him.

�� For such a task, I believe Albus is still
competent.

*

�� Harry came
back to consciousness slowly. When he heard voices, he blinked and turned his
head, but the ghosts of white Dementors were all over
his eyesight now, and he could only see their circles.

�� He began to
breathe faster, even though he didn�t want anyone to know he was awake. He
wanted to see. He�d still been able
to see the potions Snape was showing him that afternoon, though he�d had to
concentrate hard. Was he really going to be blind for the rest of his life?

�� Just a
moment, Mr. Potter.�

�� That was
Madam Pomfrey�s voice. That let Harry relax a little,
because at least he wasn�t alone with Voldemort, or Snape, or whoever had made
him fall down. He felt her wand circle above his body, and then she murmured a
long spell that had a little rising intonation at the end.

�� The white Dementors cleared away from his eyes in what looked like a
flash of lightning. Harry blinked and gasped. The world beyond looked fresh and
new. He thought it was the first time he�d seen it properly in several days.

�� Snape was
standing over him, staring down. His eyes were bright and deep in a way that
Harry hadn�t seen before, and his hand clutched Harry�s shoulder as if he meant
to pry the joint apart. Harry put his chin up and stared back at him defiantly.
I�m not afraid of him, whatever he
thinks.

�� You stupid
boy,� Snape murmured, barely moving his lips. �Do you know what could have
happened to you?�

�� Severus!� Madam Pomfrey
said, giving the scolding that Harry couldn�t have dared to give right now. �I
hardly think this is the appropriate time to denigrate Harry�s intelligence.�
She turned to Harry with a soft, motherly smile. �Now, dear, you�re suffering
from a bloodline curse. I don�t know exactly what it is, because I never saw
your poor father come in with it. Sometimes the curse skips generations. But
there are ways to counteract all of them. Most people survive it, after all.
Just lie still and relax. I�ll be researching this as soon as I can, and in the
meantime, there are potions that can mitigate the obvious effects.�

�� Harry
froze. He couldn�t even nod to Madam Pomfrey, though
she bustled away so quickly Harry didn�t think she�d noticed. He had to lie
there, his eyes fixed on Snape�s, and watch the awful knowledge slowly cross
his face.

�� One thing
happened that Harry didn�t expect. Snape�s hand did not tighten on his shoulder
and give him another bruise.

*

�� Severus
stood still. He could hardly do anything else, when Poppy had handed the answer
to him as comfortably as she might hand a plate across the Head Table in the
Great Hall.

�� A bloodline curse.

�� And though
Poppy did not realize it, everything she had said was true, sans the
implication that Harry bore the curse because of his link to James Potter.

�� The curse
had certainly skipped a generation; Severus himself had never suffered from it,
or from anything comparable. The curse could not have come through Lily�s
bloodline, because, even if her distant ancestors had been pure-bloods or
Squibs, such curses vanished when they were passed through a family line where
the members had no magic. And there was a way to counteract them.

�� Severus
remembered a story, then, that his mother had told him, of hallucinations she
had suffered when she was Harry�s age. She had seen visions of werewolves,
because they were the magical creature she feared most. These werewolves were
silent, invisible to others, and capable of transforming into her best friends.
Eileen had become convinced that they were
her best friends, that she had never had such companionship in Slytherin
House as she imagined, and that they were laughing silently at her for falling
for such a deception.

�� The curse
had broken after a savage fever that had caused Eileen to flee madly into the
dungeon corridors. One of the prefects had found her and taken her to the
hospital wing, where potions had managed to lower her fever enough to enable
her to survive. When she opened her eyes, the visions of werewolves were gone.
Eileen was inclined to say that she must have had a dangerous brain fever for a
long time, and the visions of werewolves had been the one symptom of it.
Sometimes fevers acted strangely on bodies that contained magic.

�� She had not
connected it to a bloodline curse that Severus had heard. He knew for certain
that her grandfather had been dead before she was born. If he had been the last
ones to suffer the Prince curse, then she would have had no reason to have
heard of it.

�� From the
operation of the curse on his mother and his son, Severus believed he knew what
it was meant to do. It enhanced the victim�s fears and drove them to irrational
conclusions. The occurrence of death after that must be frequent. Someone
tormented by fear might rush off a cliff or stab themselves to death under the
conviction that only opening their skin could save their lives. On the other
hand, it was equally as likely that they might survive, though hurt and more
paranoid than before, and pass the curse on. That would satisfy whoever had
cast the spell in the first place.

�� It is no wonder he fled from me, Severus
thought, as he conjured a chair and sat down beside Harry�s bed, never taking
his hand from his shoulder. I would have
seemed more of an ogre to him than usual. And he fears so being found out and
having his privacy taken from him. The curse would have increased his anguish
to the point that he literally could not tell anyone.

�� Harry,� he
said.

�� Yes, I
know, I could have died,� Harry said, turning his head away and setting his
jaw. Severus couldn�t help casting a glance over his shoulder, but Poppy was
still busy among her potions. Good. Severus
didn�t know how anyone looking at Harry in that moment could have escaped the
conclusion that he was Severus�s son. Their faces darkened with anger in
exactly the same way. �You can gloat about it if you like. God knows that you
do often enough.�

�� I do not
wish to gloat,� Severus said, keeping his words as simple and direct as
possible so that it would be harder for Harry�s fears to twist them. He did not
know how long they had before the curse returned. �I wish to help you.�

�� At a
price.� Harry was lying still under his touch now, but it was the kind of
stillness a statue might have, or a steel rod. Severus did not like it, and not
only because he was sure it meant Harry wasn�t listening. �There�s always a
price,� Harry continued, half-rambling, as if he assumed that Severus was
reading his mind at the moment and would understand everything he said.
�Someone wants me to give up my magic, or my identity, or my past, or my parents.� He stabbed Severus with a
glance that made Severus breathless with pain. �Always something. And there�s
no way that I can reach the relief they promise, most of the time, because I
don�t want to pay the price.�

�� I wish you
to live,� Severus said, �whether or not you ever acknowledge me publicly as
your father.�

�� Harry
stared at him again. Then he asked, �But if you helped me do that, and then I
didn�t do anything for you, wouldn�t you feel cheated?�

�� Severus
lowered his eyelids so that Harry could not see how vivid his frustration was.
In part, he was the one who had taught the boy to have this perception of
Slytherins. He could hardly complain that Harry had learned his lessons too
well, not when he would have sneered at him a month ago for being too trusting.
�I wish to have a claim to you, of course,� he replied carefully. �I have told
you that. I wish for your presence in my rooms because you like to be there,
not because you are forced to be or because someone else would think that a son
of my blood should be. I wish to know
many things about you, and to help you recover from some of those you have
suffered. I wish to help you recover from this curse, and to understand
something about your history, the past of our family, if you wish it.�

�� Harry
blinked at him, and said nothing.

�� But none
of that constitutes force,� Severus finished, with an iron tone in his voice he
knew might undo some of the value of what he was saying. He could hardly speak
otherwise, however. He desired Harry to understand.
�A wish does not mean you must obey me.�

��

�� But you
want me to,� Harry said, his voice so soft that Severus would not have heard it
if he was not straining his ears for it. Harry rolled away, crossing his arms.
Severus kept a sharp eye on them, but Poppy�s first incantation had done that
much good; the welts didn�t break open and bleed again.

�� Of course
I do,� Severus said. �I believe that a son should obey his father, unless his
father is actually abusive.�

�� Harry stiffened,
but said nothing.

�� But I no
longer intend to�demand obedience.� The words were difficult for Severus to
pronounce. He glanced over his shoulder to check on Poppy�s presence, and found
her holding up a potions vial to the light with a smile of triumph. He would
not have much more opportunity to say what he needed to say. �I intend to
offer, and it will be up to you if you accept.� He dipped his head to the boy
slightly and then leaned back in his chair.

�� I don�t
know if I can trust you.� Harry was hissing at him, his eyes wide, as if being
offered a gift was more frightening than being compelled into accepting it. Of course, compulsion is what the boy knows
best, Severus thought idly as he watched him. �How am I supposed to know?�

�� You do not
know that you can trust the sun to rise in the morning,� Severus responded,
standing as Poppy drew closer. �You must simply accept it, if it seems to you
worth the risk.� He stepped aside and made his way towards the door of the
hospital wing. From what Poppy was saying, and what he remembered of his
mother�s story of the bloodline curse, the outburst was almost over. Poppy
could manage to control the dangerous symptoms, including the welts and the
tendency Harry had displayed to flee as if the white Dementors
had the power to hurt him.

�� Besides, he
thought Harry had had enough of his concern.

�� For the moment.

�� It was hard
to know how to step, when the dance was not one of spying or dueling or brewing
or correcting the mistakes of the dunderheaded.

*

�� Harry
stared after Snape, not knowing what he should feel. He didn�t trust the
promise that Snape had made, not for one moment. How could he? Too many times,
he had wanted to believe something like that, and then Snape had invaded his
privacy again, or grabbed him, or discovered a secret that Harry would have
preferred he leave alone.

�� But this
time�

�� Harry
swallowed. Snape had never willingly backed off before. He had never said
exactly those words, that he wished to have a claim on Harry but understood if
Harry didn�t want to give him one.

�� Madam Pomfrey?� he asked then, turning his head away from Snape
so that he could look at someone who actually smiled. She glanced up and nodded
to him, her eyes and mouth soft, so Harry knew she wasn�t too displeased with
him and could perhaps be persuaded to answer some questions. �How did I get
here? The last thing I remember is falling down, um, somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.� He blushed, because he saw her
frown, but he didn�t think that she would refuse to answer him, because her
mouth still stayed soft.

�� According
to Professor Snape, you ran beyond the wards and fell into a sort of pit trap,�
said Madam Pomfrey. �And then�� She lowered her
voice. Harry wondered who she was afraid of, but her next words told him. �A
Death Eater came. Professor Snape said they set the trap and waited until they
felt someone come out of the wards. He saved you from a much worse fate than
you would have had without him, Mr. Potter.�

�� Where�s
the Death Eater now?� Harry demanded. He couldn�t believe that he had missed
that much.

�� I don�t
know, I�m sure,� Madam Pomfrey said, puffing up like
a pigeon. Harry winced. He�d offended her, and he didn�t think that she would
tell him anything more. �You ought to go to sleep,� the mediwitch
continued, and Harry realized he was right. �The bloodline curse is focused on
fear. This potion will help you sleep and help you clear your mind of the
visions you�re seeing.� She leaned towards him and studied him with large,
serious eyes. �But, Harry, I need you to be truthful with me if you start
seeing them again.�

�� Harry
lowered his eyes and nodded. His decision to keep everything to himself seemed
sort of silly now. He could at least have told Draco, who knew something about
the white Dementors already and who wouldn�t have
mocked him.

�� But it had
seemed so important that he have one secret that no one could take away, the
way they�d taken all his others, he thought, as he opened his mouth and let
Madam Pomfrey pour the potion in. Was that so hard to
understand?

�� Well, maybe it is, when it leads to you
nearly dying.

�� Harry lay
back on the pillow and closed his eyes. His arms didn�t hurt now�the first time
that had been true in two days. He tried to remember what he�d been thinking
when they had hurt, how he�d dealt
with the pain and why he�d convinced himself not to go to anyone, but it was
like trying to think about the way he acted at the Dursleys�.
Afterwards, it didn�t seem quite real, and the most important thing about it
was trying to keep it hidden. While he was there, he just knew that he had to
endure from moment to moment, and he wasn�t really thinking; he was surviving.

�� I think the bloodline curse did the same
thing to me, he thought. Whoever cast
the curse probably made it so that the person who had it would be afraid of
other people for some reason, and afraid to ask for help.

�� I could have died.

�� Harry
swallowed. He had thought he would be all right because the Dementors
hadn�t hurt him that much before or lasted that long, but he had known
something was different by the second morning, when he still had the welts and
could barely see anything else past the circling white shapes.

�� I could have died if Voldemort grabbed me. I
could have died if I fell into that pit trap and just lay there and no one
found me. I could have died if the welts went on bleeding and I couldn�t make
enough blood to keep myself alive.

�� Harry
rolled on his side and tucked his legs close to his chest. He didn�t know what
had changed. After all, a short time ago he�d been ready enough to die if that
was the way he had to get the Horcrux out of him and
defeat Voldemort. And he had thought that he changed his mind about living only
because Snape forced him to.

�� But now�

�� It was�

�� I think things changed back again. I don�t
want to die.

�� That didn�t
mean he had to accept Snape�s offer, Harry hastily reassured himself. He could
come to Madam Pomfrey if he was hurt, or Draco. But
he would try to go. And maybe, sometimes, he could tell secrets. He didn�t
think Madam Pomfrey or Draco would really betray him.

�� And even Snape didn�t betray me to anyone
except Draco.

�� It was a
weird thought, an odd one, and Harry was relieved when a sharp voice spoke next
to his ear and took him away from thinking about it. The voice was Draco�s, and
he apparently thought that Harry was asleep, or he wouldn�t have spoken the way
he did.

�� If you
ever do that again, I swear, I�m going to tie you to a bed and just keep you there. The house-elves can help
you go to the loo. I�m going to feed you myself. And
I�ll help the elves change your clothes, and someone will always be there to
watch you if I can�t. You need something like
that.�

�� Harry
reached out, caught Draco�s hand, and squeezed it. Draco caught his breath in
surprise, and Harry opened his eyes to smile at him. It was hard. The potion
was finally working, and his mind felt heavy.

�� I don�t
need something like that,� he whispered. �Not anymore. I�m going to try to care
about myself and not think I don�t deserve that care from other people.�

�� Draco�s
eyes were very wide. He said something, but the words blurred in Harry�s ears
and became part of the darkness of sleep.

�� For the
first time in what felt like months, his dreams were pleasant.

*

�� SP777:
Well, Severus didn�t need the feeling, as you see, but yes, the curse is a
bloodline illness.

�� polka dot: Harry
himself is a little amazed at his own stupidity! But the curse was making him
act irrationally and playing up his greatest fears, so he wasn�t entirely
responsible for his own decisions.

�� k lave
demo: Thank you! And yes, Draco is having problems, but Harry is coming to the
realization (even if he doesn�t put it like that) that his feelings are
connected to the abuse, and he�ll struggle to overcome them.

�� Stargirl77:
Thank you!

�� ladyicondraco: Thank you! Harry is starting to see it from
that perspective, because he really doesn�t want to die if there�s another
choice.

�� anciie: Thank you! I think the Severitus
plot is one of the most difficult fandom clich�s to work with, which is the
main reason I took it slow. Both Harry and Snape have needed time to adjust to
the revelation, and to the way it makes both of them act. Draco has a different
kind of change to make, but it�s no less important.

�� Thrnbrooke: Harry is probably going to be humiliated at
being saved by Snape, but at least it�s not his first reaction.

�� Sneakyfox: Unfortunately, the book wouldn�t have helped
Harry much because he had no idea what name Snape�s family had before the name
Snape.
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Practicing Liars