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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 Forty-Six�Buildup
to Battle

�� It seemed
to have gone so fast, when Harry tried to think about it.

*

�� Draco was
yawning behind his hand when Harry next saw him, sliding into his usual seat in
Snape�s Defense class. Harry frowned at him, wondering if he�d had a late night
because Harry had kept him too long and he�d had to scramble to study. But when
he gave him a look of concern, Draco just waved it off with a smile and a
little shake of his head.

�� Harry faced
the front again, and noticed that Snape, who was stalking up and down in the
aisle between the tables and eying them intently, seemed similarly tired. Harry
tapped his fingers against his wand. Were
they coming up with some plan? Facing down some threat that I should have been
there to handle? Talking to Dumbledore again? They seem to keep believing that
I�m incapable of things like that, and they�re wrong.

�� Potter.�

�� Harry
actually looked at Snape without acknowledgment for a minute, because it seemed
so strange to hear that name coming from his mouth. Then he sat up and gave his
father a grim little smile. He was going to show Snape and Draco that he could
do his part and play the game as well as anyone. �Yes, sir?�

�� On your
feet.� Snape was speaking in the quiet way that Harry had once dreaded, because
he knew it meant he was about to get into the worst trouble. On the other hand,
that had changed along with lots of other things since he and Snape had spent
time in the dungeons together. Or Harry felt that it had changed.

�� I hope he knows that, Harry thought, as
he rose to his feet and bowed without taking his eyes off Snape.

�� We are
going to give your classmates a small exhibition of real dueling,� Snape said, his fingers curling around his long
ebony wand. He returned the bow and then lifted the wand in a long sweep that
Harry recognized without thinking about it. He had already dodged in a zigzag
pattern, the better to confuse the bolt of light that came out of Snape�s wand
and was supposed to find and incinerate him.

�� The bolt of
light came out anyway, of course, but it missed Harry and hit the wall. Snape
was already casting again, and Harry had started the minute he was sure that
first spell was going to miss him. You didn�t dare hesitate when you were
fighting someone as skilled as Snape.

�� Ignis!� Harry cried.

�� Snape�s
spell was nonverbal, but Harry recognized the sharp curling motion of his
fingers on the last swirl of it. Snape had already taught him to watch for
telltale signs like that; every wizard had them. Harry�s, according to Snape,
was wearing every emotion openly on his face.

�� And Snape�s is acting overly eager when he
casts a spell that�s meant to humiliate me, Harry thought, holding his wand
up even as he fell into a crouch and put his hands over his head.

�� His fire
spell blazed up and cast a shimmering nimbus of red light around the Defense
classroom before exploding like a firework. Harry heard students cry out in
fear, but he had deliberately chosen a spell that wouldn�t harm anyone except
the target he was thinking of when he cast it. From the firework explosion, a
single bolt hammered at Snape, compelled to hunt him no matter how he dodged.

�� By
contrast, Snape�s Stripping Spell touched Harry�s hands only, and thus couldn�t
do the work it was supposed to�rendering Harry naked, confused, and easily distracted.
Harry popped back up, shaking his head, and watched to see how Snape was coping
with his own attack and what he should be doing next.

�� Snape cast
a shield he had told Harry was called a Water Net, a shimmering series of
bubbles with blue lines between them, specially made to deal with fire spells.
Harry�s magic tore through it without slowing down. Harry grinned. Shields like
that were difficult to cast with the sheer power that Harry put behind his
incantations, and Snape had been the one who taught him that.

�� Harry had
no pity as he watched his father dodge and then swirl his cloak out, enchanting
it into a trap that would capture, hold, and dissolve Harry�s burst of fire. He used a spell that would have humiliated me
in front of more people than just him. And probably made Draco jealous, too. I
know that he wants me to be ready for anything when I duel Voldemort, but he
should be ready for anything, too.

�� The stone
under Harry�s feet began to shake and crack. Harry didn�t wait around and gape
at it, though he hadn�t seen Snape cast Calling the Earthquake at all. He just
danced back, keeping his feet moving all the time so that the spell couldn�t
settle around him and create a deep pit, and turned Snape�s robe to a devouring
bat that spread its wings and settled around him, biting at the back of his
neck with sharp fangs.

�� The
earthquake spread to the foot of Hermione�s table and stopped. Her eyes were
very wide, and Harry briefly gave her a reassuring smile. None of the spells he
and Snape used would harm the other students. They were either targeted to hit
only the individual the caster was thinking about or would be stopped before
then.

�� Snape finally
threw off the bat, and blasted it to small smothering blue sparks with a
negligent wave of his wand. Then he turned to face Harry. Harry put up his
head, trying not to show how intensely he was panting. He ought to be in better
shape than this.

�� Very good,
Mr. Potter,� Snape said, and Harry,
Draco, Ron, and Hermione would be the only ones who knew the meaning of the
emphasis he put on the last word. �But do you think you will always win?�

�� No, sir.�
Harry shook his head, eyes fastened on his father�s face. �I know that�s one of
the reasons we practice, so that my stronger enemies can�t take me by surprise.�

�� Snape
sneered at him and turned around. But Harry had learned to watch his eyes
rather than his face. Snape�s mouth was a way of deceiving people, with all its
sneering and all its smirking and all its harsh words. But his eyes gave away
his real emotions more than Harry thought he really knew or would be
comfortable with.

�� He had
looked proud, for a fleeting moment. He had given the tiniest nod.

�� Harry took
his seat again. He was panting and covered with sweat, and he didn�t dare look
at Draco, because he was sure he would see desire there. He put his head in his
hands instead and stretched his arms out, acting as if he would sleep for the
rest of the class. He felt as if he could.

�� A Stinging
Hex hit him on the ear and made him jerk his head up.

�� Pay
attention, Mr. Potter.�

�� Harry
nodded to his father and set out to prove that he could do as he was requested
to do.

*

�� Draco didn�t
want the day of the battle to come.

�� Whenever he
looked at Harry, he thought of something else he wanted to tell him, an observation
he wanted to share or some caution to offer. And though he usually caught up
with Harry in the evening and managed to say something, it was never enough. Harry would hold him, snog him,
or, one memorable evening, push Draco to the floor and rub against him and pant
loudly enough to wake up half the school, but that was never enough, either.

�� Draco had
wanted to stand beside Harry on the battlefield. He�d pictured it without entirely
knowing what would happen next, but that one image was clear in his head:
marching out to stand with Harry next to the lake in front of Hogwarts, or near
the Forbidden Forest. Draco had wanted to see the Dark Lord�s eyes widen when
he realized that Draco didn�t need to cower in the school, but could face him.

�� But
Professor Snape had looked at him during one of their brewing sessions when he
mentioned it, and said, �No.�

�� Draco
glared at him and closed his hand hard on the glass of the stirring rod, trying
not to break it. �What do you mean, no?�

�� The Dark
Lord would only have to kill you,� the professor said, his hands sorting among
shells, stones, and flower petals with a skill Draco envied, �and Harry would
break.� He held up one petal in front of his eyes and frowned at it critically.
Then he nodded, and it drifted onto the potion forming in the cauldron.
Meanwhile, except for when he evaluated the petal, Professor Snape never looked
away from Draco. �You know that you are not skilled enough to defend yourself from
him. Not yet.�

�� Draco
stared at the professor. Snape showed no sign of backing down, and Draco knew
he was capable of casting a sleeping charm and a binding one and leaving Draco
to lie in a closet somewhere while the battle took place. After all, they were
brewing these potions behind Harry�s back.

�� But his
friends are going to be with him,� Draco tried. He hated the whining way his
voice sounded, and he paused and cleared his throat until he was sure that he
could speak with some dignity. �They�re less skilled than I am. They know less
about the Dark Arts than I do. If they�re there, I should be.�

�� They may imagine that is what will happen,�
Professor Snape said, with a trace of contempt that never entirely left him
when he spoke of Harry�s friends. Draco comforted himself now by imagining what
would happen if they could hear it. �It is not. They will do as they are told.
They are even more children than you are.�

�� If age has
anything to do with it,� Draco said, refusing to look away from the black eyes
that bored into him, �why does Harry have to do this?�

�� There are
bonds,� Snape said, and glanced down, at his cauldron, which was the only reason
that Draco knew he was just as upset about this battle as Draco, but had even
fewer ways to show it. �Bonds that link him and the Dark Lord. If anyone could
defeat the Dark Lord, then Dumbledore would simply have done it himself when he
felt his magic fading. I doubt he would have passed up a last chance to be a
hero.� The professor�s voice was choked by the time he spoke the last words,
and Draco thought it was easier for him to be furious with the Headmaster than to
think about what might happen to Harry.

�� It�s not
fair that he has to,� Draco muttered, his fingers scraping the rim of his
cauldron as he reached for another scrap of swan skin.

�� No,�
Professor Snape said, in the same tone he had once used to tell Draco that he
could not be on the Slytherin Quidditch team during his first year, no matter
what privileges Potter might get. �But it must be done.�

�� We should
be on the battlefield, then,� Draco said, deciding he had found the foolproof
argument. �We should help him bear his burden.�

�� For a
moment, Professor Snape�s fingers tightened on the rim of his cauldron, and his
face was pale with a longing that made Draco lower his eyes. He didn�t think he�d
been meant to see that much private emotion, ever, from his Head of House.
Witnessing it, however involuntarily, made him uncomfortable.

�� Then the
professor was himself again, and he spoke in the same flat, cold voice. �We
would be distractions for him. He would be thinking about how to keep us safe
instead of how to fight the Dark Lord.�

�� How can he?� All of Draco�s passionate fear
burst out of him, and he stepped around his cauldron without even thinking
about it and faced Snape, staring at him. He did manage to put his hands behind
his back, because he couldn�t open his fists, but he wasn�t suicidal enough to
make it look as if he was about to hit Snape. �How can you let him do this? You
know that he�s not going to win, no matter how good he is at Defense Against
the Dark Arts and no matter how much power he has. The Dark Lord just knows more. He can use Dark spells that
will have Harry tortured to death before Harry can even act.�

�� Snape stood
looking at him for long enough that Draco felt slightly ridiculous. Then he
lowered his head. Draco flinched back when he saw the spark burning in Snape�s
eyes.

�� Never
assume,� the professor breathed, �that I am emotionless about this.�

�� No, sir,�
Draco said, backing away a step for safety�s sake. �I didn�t. It�s just�I think
you could make Harry stop. If he would listen to anyone about not doing this,
it would be you.�

*

�� Severus had
to close his eyes against that intense temptation. It was a thought he had had before
this night, during the week he had watched Harry walk about with his jaw
clenched shut and his eyes blinking now and then as though he was staring into
the sun.

�� I could demand that he stay behind, that he
not fight alone. At the very least, he should take me with him. I have training
that would make me more valuable on the battlefield than any student, and less
likely to panic.

�� But though
he had the power, he did not have the right. He knew that Harry would give in,
but without grace, and then he might not possess his son�s trust again even if
they did both survive the battle.

�� Strange,
that he had once contemplated the impossibility of ever ordering Harry Potter
to go through a true ordeal or obey
school rules. He would go through pain willingly, and he would obey the rules
under duress. But Severus did not have the power to prevent him from saving the
world, no matter how much he wished he did.

�� As Harry
had said the other day, the sixteen years they had spent apart had left their
mark. Harry would listen to him, care for him, perhaps respect him. But he was
on the verge of adulthood and used to raising himself, and he would not always
obey.

�� It hurt Severus
to hold himself back, not to use the power that, for once, seemed to lie in his
hand exactly when he needed it. But he could not, and he met Draco�s eyes and
shook his head in a sharp motion that made the boy turn away at last.

�� Harry
would not forgive me,� he said. It was a piece of knowledge that would have
been insufficient for Albus, perhaps even for Minerva, but Draco had the same
kind of closeness to Harry to risk, and he nodded, shoulders slumping.

�� We will
stand ready to join the battle if we can and if it looks possible,� Severus
added, the only concession he could offer the disappointed boy. �We will not
let him fall alone.�

�� Draco gave
him a pathetically grateful glance. Severus bit back the sneering words that he
would have used automatically with many other Slytherins to get them to adopt a
different expression. Draco was different from them, and he and Severus shared
a deeper relationship than simply student and Head of House.

�� Thanks,�
Draco whispered, before he frowned, checked his potion, and began to brew
again.

�� Severus
returned to his work as well, keeping one eye on Draco. The boy had not yet
destroyed or damaged a potion, but the slight alertness the watching required
kept Severus from thinking of what he longed to do for Harry, and could not.

*

�� Harry.�

�� Of course he�s going to do this. Of course. Harry
took a deep breath and turned around to face Dumbledore.

�� He�d been
walking back from the Room of Requirement, where he�d spent one more evening
training Dumbledore�s Army as if nothing was wrong. Everyone watched him with
strained eyes and tense smiles, but no one said anything. Harry was grateful
for that. He�d had a quiet few hours that let him practice dueling and watch
over other people who might need the skills he was teaching them to survive the
battle. It wasn�t as good as more practice duels with Snape, but Harry didn�t
think a hundred duels like that would really make him ready to face Voldemort.

�� He�d stayed
behind to �make sure the Room was cleaned up,� but in reality to stare at the
walls and try to imagine the spells exploding around him for real in a few
days. He didn�t have to imagine Voldemort�s face. He could see it every time he
closed his eyes.

�� And now
Dumbledore had come up to him as he was walking along the corridor nearest
Gryffindor Tower. Harry cleared his throat and stood to face him, trying to
keep his hand from twitching towards his wand. He didn�t think Dumbledore was
about to attack him.

�� Well, he mostly didn�t think that.

�� Sir?� he
asked, and began listing the subjects that this conversation could be about in
his own head: the spell that Dumbledore planned to use to give Harry his magic,
a final apology or plea for forgiveness, or a reminder of battle strategy. It
didn�t have to be something that should
make Harry afraid of being alone with Dumbledore.

�� You must
be wondering how I knew when Voldemort would attack.�

�� Harry
looked up and blinked. See, an even more
harmless subject than you anticipated, he taunted himself, and managed a
nod. �Well, sir, I did wonder. You seemed certain he was going to come, but I
didn�t know how you could be.�

�� Dumbledore
smiled sadly and touched the place on his arm where Harry knew the
Horcrux-infected wound was, though he had a glamour that covered it again. �The
bond that linked you and Voldemort came about because he managed to place a
Horcrux in you,� he said, �essentially behind your scar.�

�� Harry
nodded again, watching Dumbledore�s hands constantly. He didn�t know what the
Headmaster�s tells were, but he wanted to be alert anyway, just in case he
moved�

�� Then he
tried to get rid of his fear with a blast of irritation. Dumbledore is not here to duel you.

�� It seems
that sustaining a wound from a Horcrux does much the same thing,� Dumbledore
said calmly. �I began to have dreams of Voldemort and what he was doing.� He
gave Harry a guilty glance. �Unlike the disaster that was your Occlumency
lessons�and I do apologize for inflicting those on you, Harry�I did not need
extra training to control the connection. I have used the bond but little. I
did, however, manage to implant some interesting dreams in Tom�s head, and nudge
them out of dangerous paths at times. I needed him to come to Hogwarts, but not
until you had a certain amount of readiness that you did not have at the
beginning of term.�

�� Until the
Horcrux was gone,� Harry said. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Dumbledore. �Sir,
when did you give up on the idea of killing me and start thinking that the
Horcrux could be removed instead?�

�� Dumbledore
sighed. �Ah, Harry, do not ask me that.�

�� But I am,� Harry said, his hands clenching
into fists in spite of himself. He knew he would lose if he tried to duel with
Dumbledore, even if his magic was really fading, but his confusion demanded an
answer. �I mean�if you knew that I was going to have to die, you�d plan around that, not around when you thought I had
some special kind of training, because I wouldn�t be alive to use it.�

�� Dumbledore
studied his face as if he was looking for something. Then he waved his wand and
murmured a Finite. Harry flinched reflexively,
but nothing seemed to happen.

�� I am not
the only one wearing a glamour,� Dumbledore said softly.

�� Harry�s
hand flew to his cheek. Yes, the soft buzz of magic that he got when he was
wearing the spell to disguise his face was gone. He quickly cast it again and
glared at Dumbledore, waiting for the explanation.

�� When I saw
you early in the term,� Dumbledore said quietly, �after your first experience
with the white Dementors of your bloodline curse, I recognized the features you
were trying to hide. I hoped�I hoped for many things, Harry. But I was not
certain. I began to hope that I need not kill you after all. I delayed and I
pushed and I said certain things when they needed to be said, and what I hoped
for came to pass.�

�� Harry
licked his lips. �You were hoping that Snape would volunteer to brew the potion
that you thought you needed to take out the Horcrux, at least if he found out
that he was my father.�

�� Dumbledore
nodded. �I could not brew it on my own, not once my magic began to fade. And
perhaps I underestimated Severus, but after the bitterness of your fifth year,
I was not sure that he would brew the potion and do it correctly merely because
I asked him to. Not when it was for you.�

�� You did underestimate him,� Harry said
dully, trying to deal with the idea that Dumbledore had manipulated him and
Snape into becoming closer. Or was it even manipulation? Harry was wondering if
they ought to give the Headmaster credit for being that smart and controlling.
Sometimes it seemed as though he simply let circumstances fall out and hoped
that it would be favorably.

�� Perhaps
so.� Dumbledore gave Harry a small smile. �Having seen the way that he tries to
support and protect you, I think so.�

�� Harry shook
his head. �But you could have brewed the potion before that, before you learned
about the�about what Snape is to me but after you learned about Horcruxes.�

�� Dumbledore
sighed. �The simple truth is that I did not think of it, Harry. I am not a
Potions master. It might seem as though that matters little, since I have made
some discoveries that contribute to general Potions knowledge. But while Severus
immediately had ideas for what potions would work, I did not, because I am not
accustomed to thinking in that direction. I began to research Transfiguration
first, as that is my particular field of specialty, and found nothing there.
And then I learned my magic was fading. And then I saw beneath your glamour.�
He looked at Harry again, a faint half-smile on his face. For the first time,
Harry thought, it looked as if he was mocking himself and not someone else. �I
should have thought matters through and asked Severus for help. I did not. I know
that your friend Miss Granger thinks few wizards have logic. That certainly
applies to me.�

�� Harry
stared at him, and said nothing. He felt there ought to have been a better
explanation for that, a less fallible one.

�� But didn�t
he only feel that way because he�d been so accustomed to thinking of Dumbledore
as infallible? He would have accepted this explanation from Snape or McGonagall
or someone he didn�t idealize so much.

�� And he�d
just got through thinking that Dumbledore wasn�t as smart and formidable as
they�d all given him credit for.

�� Harry
swallowed and said, �I need to know that this is the absolute last lie you�re
going to tell me, sir. Or,� he added quickly when he saw Dumbledore opening his
mouth, �the absolute last truth.�

�� It is,�
Dumbledore said calmly. �I came to ask if you would like me to make an
Unbreakable Vow to tell only the truth from this point forwards. I do not know
if that would satisfy Severus. The Vow compels death if one breaks it, and he
might feel that, because I am so close to death already, it would not matter to
me. But you and I both know the importance of my surviving for a few days more
so that I may transfer my magic to you.�

�� Harry
nodded slowly. As strange as it was, he was closer to Dumbledore than to Snape
or Draco in some ways. They both understood self-sacrifice in a way Harry
suspected was probably impossible for Slytherins.

�� Then Snape
stepped out of the corridor behind him and clasped Harry about the shoulders.
His wand was trained on Dumbledore. His face was pale and expressionless in a
way that Harry didn�t like, because he suspected it was what Snape looked like
when he was playing a Death Eater.

�� How did
you know where I was?� Harry asked, trying to move. Snape�s hand clamped down,
and it was the tight kind of hold you shouldn�t challenge, so he stood still.

�� Locator
Spell,� Snape said, not taking his eyes from Dumbledore. �I heard what he said,
and I will take him up on the Unbreakable Vow.� He gestured to Dumbledore�s
wand with his own. �Harry will serve as our Binder.�

�� It was a
strange and awful thing, the little ritual they went through in the corridor,
with Dumbledore swearing in a clear voice to tell the truth from now on, to
transfer his magic to Harry without hesitation or holding back, and never to
try and manipulate them again. Harry stared at the circle of fire around
Dumbledore�s wrist and wondered how he was ever expected to be normal after this.

�� But Snape�s
presence was like a steady fire, and Harry decided that he could depend on him,
some of the time.

�� Then he
caught sight of the way his father was looking at him as the Vow finished, and
found himself smiling. He probably won�t
let me not depend on him.

*

�� k lave
demo: Thanks, on both counts.

�� Harry does
seem to feel that being seen as a person is the unusual thing.

�� SP777: As
you can see, he already knew.

�� There are
times I feel uninspired about a story, but usually it doesn�t last long. If it�s
longer than a week or so, then I move chapters around and make some events that
were far away move forwards in the chapters, so that I can have some drama and
action to write about.

�� And I didn�t
want to admit having another author�s name because I think of that story as
essentially practice, and self-indulgence, and not really that good. I�ve
changed my mind a bit on that, enough to tolerate my cruder self.

�� Madamdragon:
At least now that was probably the last lie Dumbledore was going to tell.
Probably.

�� Sneakyfox:
What you say is accurate. Dumbledore does pretty much rely on heroic sacrifice
to solve things.

�� mariahs_fantasy:
Some slash, but mostly off-screen. I intend to write a separate epilogue to the
story, and might put slash in that.

�� Yes, the
name was chosen for that reason. ;)

�� KadyRae:
Thank you!

�� koki: I
think Hermione is very stubborn about accepting things she doesn�t want to be true.

�� Thanks for
reviewing.
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Practicing Liars