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A Brother to Basilisks	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 85172 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 15
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this story.

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Chapter Fifty-Five—A Visit to St. Mungo’s
            “How are you feeling, Harry?”
            At least five voices seemed to ask that question. Harry frowned and squinted, hoping the poison—he could remember the poison—wasn’t interfering with his hearing somehow.
            But it seemed five people really were sitting by the bed. Sirius, and Draco, and Snape, and Hermione, and Ron. That Sirius and Snape then glared at each other made Harry smile a little, but he was more occupied with trying to sit up.
            “The poison damaged your muscle tone,” said Draco, immediately standing up and bustling over to touch Harry’s shoulders. “The Healers said so,” he added, and Harry shut his mouth; he’d been about to ask why in the world Draco was sounding so pompous. “You should just lie quietly for a little while until it comes back.”
            “He can’t get it back if he just lies still!” Hermione’s hair was starting to bristle from the flat, sleek position Harry had seen her wearing at the ball with Krum. She came up on the other side of the bed and stared at him worriedly. “He has to get up and do some exercises. That’s what people in hospital do if they stay there for a long time.”
            “He won’t be here for a long time. The Healers said—”
            “Don’t be foolish, Black, he needs at least a few days of rest—”
            “He can rest at home.”
            Ron rolled his eyes at Harry. Harry nodded. He could guess what it had been like to sit there for a few hours, or however long he’d been out, with Sirius and Snape arguing at each other.
            He chose to say instead, “I’m sorry for getting attacked and disrupting the ball.”
            “Nothing to be sorry for, mate. I wasn’t enjoying myself anyway.”
            Hermione set up her back and ignored Ron so hard Harry thought he could feel the wall springing up between them. “Don’t be silly, Harry. It wasn’t your fault you were attacked.” Then she frowned at him. “Although it was very silly of you to go out into the garden on your own.”
            “It wasn’t silly of him! How was he to know there would be a gigantic snake there?”
            Draco was hovering next to Harry, almost, his hand held out as if he was going to place it over Harry’s eyes and shield him from the sight of his friends. Or maybe from having to look at anything while he was still in a hospital bed, Harry thought, and grinned at Draco as he took his hand and moved it off to the side.
            “There’s always a gigantic snake with me,” he said, and turned back to face Hermione. “But I really didn’t think there was any danger. It’s not like this was a Task in the Tournament. Or Moody was there.”
            “I haven’t managed to get that petition to the Board of Governors yet. I wanted to tell you, Harry, but everything’s been so busy with this preparation for the Yule Ball in the past week, and—”
            “Now it’s over,” Ron said. “And I wanted to make sure you know you’re invited for Christmas dinner, Harry. Both you and Sirius.”
            “Mr. Black has already accepted an invitation from my mother for Christmas dinner,” Draco said, his head so far back that Harry thought he was going to find out what the interior of Draco’s nose looked like. “He and Harry will be coming over to our house.”
            Ron was silent, maybe because Hermione had lunged over and grabbed his arm, but he was turning red. Harry coughed and tried to say the most diplomatic thing he could. “Sirius didn’t tell me.”
            “That’s because he and my mother have been talking a lot by letter. But he couldn’t mention that, could he? Otherwise he would look hypocritical. Since he told you he didn’t want you to visit me all last summer.”
            Harry sighed. “Please don’t have a fight about it here,” he said, aware that Ron’s mouth was opening again and Hermione looked concerned and Draco was in no mood to back down. “Tell me what happened instead. Where’s Dash? Did he get hurt in the fight at all? How did they heal me of the poison?”
            “Once you got here, Black summoned me.” Snape stepped towards the bed. He was pale, which made Harry wonder what Sirius had been saying to him. But it would have been the wrong place to ask, anyway. “He should have done so the minute he realized what was wrong, but—”
            “Shut up, Sinivellus! What would you have done? The Healers handled this perfectly competently on their own—”
            “Once I advised them on what antivenin potion they should use, and what the properties of the poison were likely to be.” Snape’s eyes came back to Harry. “That warning Dash whispered to you, about the poison being one of the blood, likely saved your life. They might have wasted time on treating you for the wrong kind of venom at first.”
            “Where is Dash?”
            At Hogwarts, Dash said abruptly into Harry’s mind. Harry started. They had never tested how distance would affect their bond before, and he hadn’t realized this was going to be the way it did. The bond felt shadowy, as if Dash was holding himself back from Harry much more than he usually did. I’m looking around the defenses and trying to ascertain how Nagini slipped through.
            You didn’t want to come with me?
            The panic when I started to come through the fireplace was so great that I thought it prudent to remain here. And once they summoned Snape, I thought you safe enough. Besides…
            Harry pursued that last little trailing thought like it was Nagini’s tail. What else aren’t you telling me?
            She had to have help. There’s no way she could have got through the defenses on her own. I would have started sensing her the minute she got close to the school. The snakes I created out of shadow and sent patrolling would have seen her. And yet, I haven’t found any obvious holes in the defenses. It makes me wonder if someone else invited something else in, and Nagini only managed to slip through because she was watching for a chance.
            But that would mean someone managed to subdue your shadow snakes too, right?
            Or bypass them.
            Harry nodded slowly. He knew Draco was trying to get his attention, but at the moment, his conversation with Dash was more important. All right. Then do whatever you need to. But remember I’ll be going to Sirius’s house tomorrow.
            How could I forget? I will smell the stink again.
            “Harry? Harry!”
            “Don’t shake him like that, Weasley. You ought to recognize the way he looks when he’s talking with Dash, even if you don’t know anything else about Harry by now.”
            Harry shook his head, stopping the argument before it could start. “I was just talking to Dash, yeah. He’s back at the school, and trying to figure out how Nagini got in.” That should leave out some of the details that Harry didn’t know if Dash would want him discussing yet, at least not in a room with Sirius in it. He thought of something else, and added, “Where’s Alisoun?”
            “Here, Harry.”
            Alisoun’s voice was low and rough. Harry turned around in concern. “Did you get bitten by Nagini, too?”

            Alisoun was standing at the entrance of the room, with only a cloak thrown over her Yule Ball dress. She had her arms folded and her shoulders hunched and her eyes fixed on the floor. Even though Harry waited expectantly, she never looked up at him.
            “No,” she whispered. “But I failed in my duty to protect you. I let you get away from me in my self-confidence that you could go nowhere in Hogwarts without me responding to the danger in time. And although I felt something was wrong when I saw your snake start to move, I was too late to prevent you from getting injured.”
            “Alisoun?” Harry asked again. She still wouldn’t look up. Harry frowned. “Hey! Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
            She jerked and did, but Harry thought it was only because of the order. “I will understand if my failure makes you repudiate the alliance with my parents,” she said in a low tone. “However, if I still have the right to ask anything of you, I would ask you not to send back the allegiance ring yet. Let me have one more chance to prove myself.”
            “I’m not sending anything anywhere,” Harry said in exasperation. He could see the way Snape’s face had tightened, and he knew Snape probably didn’t like him discussing his alliance with the Selwyns in public. But, well, that would just have to wait. “You didn’t fail. I was supposed to be perfectly safe. So don’t worry about it.”
            “But I still failed.”
            “This would be a lot easier if you would look at me.” Alisoun’s eyes had slipped away from him again. Harry waited until they were back on him, and then added, “You didn’t fail.” Did she, Dash?
            No. She was there right after you were injured, and she may well have saved your life by her prompt action. She was the one who made sure you were protected and not jostled all the way to St. Mungo’s.
            “So there,” Harry finished triumphantly, but when she looked at him blankly, he remembered she couldn’t hear his private conversation with Dash. He sighed, cleared his throat, and continued, “Dash says you were right there at my side and made sure I didn’t get injured further and brought me here. So if you really think you need my forgiveness for something, you’re forgiven.”
            Alisoun was twisting her fingers into her hair, into the cloth around her neck, into her robes. “You mean that?”
            “Yes,” Harry said firmly. He could hear the grumbles that meant several other people had tried to say something at the same time, but they could just shut up and wait right now. “Go tell your parents they don’t have anything to worry about. You helped save me just like Dash did.”
            Alisoun hesitated, then bowed to him. Her smile lit up her whole face when she lifted her head. Harry hadn’t known she could smile like that. He hoped she did it more often in the future. He preferred it when people looked as if they were enjoying themselves around him.
            “I need to inform my parents, then. If you’re certain he’s safe?” Alisoun was looking more at Professor Snape and Sirius than him, but Harry supposed that made sense. They were the adults here.
            “He is.” Snape was the one who answered, although he was peering at Harry as if looking for more aftereffects of the poison.
            “Good.” Alisoun hesitated, curtsied once towards Harry—which made him blink a little—and then turned and left the room.
            “Can we go now?” Draco sounded as though he was pouting. Harry had no idea why. “If everything’s done with and Harry’s fine, then we should go back to Malfoy Manor. It’s Christmas in a few days anyway, and we have huge bedrooms and all the house-elves we need to take care of Harry. He can recover there.”
            “No. I’m taking him home.”
            “Mr. Potter needs rest. Not pranks.”
            Harry held up his hand before Sirius and Snape could really get going. “We’re not leaving until I reunite with Dash. He would have to make his way to wherever I went, and I don’t think Dumbledore would be happy if I let a basilisk slither around Britain.” Dumbledore probably wouldn’t be happy anyway, but Harry had to admit that having Dash away from him, and breaking one of the “rules,” wasn’t avoidable at this point.
            “Mr. Potter is correct,” said Snape smoothly. Harry had never figured out how he could make that transition from murderous anger to sounding as if he was calm and the fount of all wisdom, but somehow he did. “Therefore, he should go back to Hogwarts, pick up Dash, and then on to his godfather’s house.”
            Harry eyed Snape. There was something wrong about the way Snape had changed his mind like that. Or else, he had a plan.
            “I want him to come home with me.”
            Snape’s glance passed over Harry’s head, and Harry almost felt Draco flinch when it landed. “Do not be whiny, Draco,” Snape murmured. “You will see him in a few days, as you phrased it yourself.”
            “And I think he should sleep in Gryffindor Tower tonight.” That was Hermione, speaking up fearlessly for him. Harry smiled at her. “That way, he can get a good night’s sleep and be in familiar surroundings.”
            “As often, Miss Granger is correct.” Hermione looked a little faint. Snape went on as if he praised her all the time. “He shall go back to Hogwarts tonight. Then to Black’s house. Then to Draco’s house in a few days.”
            “I have something I have to tell Harry.” Draco looked around when no one moved. “Something private.”
            “There will be time to tell him back at Hogwarts,” said Snape, in a dismissive way that made Harry think Draco was about to explode the way Neville’s potions always seemed to.
            Before he could do that, Harry reached out and put a hand on Draco’s shoulder. “I promise I’ll make time for you tonight,” he said. “Or in the morning, before we leave. Because I can tell what you want to say to me is important.”
            Draco gave him a glance so intense Harry winced a little. He wondered if he had somehow humiliated Draco by getting hurt, the way he had Alisoun. Because that was the only thing he could compare it to, the glitter in Alisoun’s eyes when she thought her family had lost his trust.
            In the end, though, Draco only nodded, and Harry could finally stand up and let Sirius—because he glared at everyone else who would have helped, and Snape, who Harry knew wasn’t affected by that, stood back—help him out of the room.
*
            Severus said nothing because he knew he had no audience, at the moment. Harry was right. The most important thing now must be getting him back to Hogwarts and reunited with Dash.
            But he would not forget the moment when Narcissa Malfoy had come to him and told him what had happened. He would not forget that no one else, not even Black, who knew of his interest in Harry’s welfare, had come to inform him.
            And he still did not, and would not, believe Black a fit guardian for Harry. Not with the way he had muttered more about Narcissa Malfoy and Slytherins and basilisks than Harry not being well in the past three hours.
            He had one card he had not yet wished to play. He knew there was a chance it would alienate Harry as well as enrage Black.
            But during the long three hours of watching Harry in his hospital bed, watching the antivenin battle back the ebony curl of poison writhing its way up Harry’s side, he had made the decision that getting Harry away from Black was more important than angering him.
*
            Draco stood silent while Dash came to Harry and twined around his legs in an embrace. He watched Harry caress his head and the plume that rose there, and the way Dash wrapped himself around Harry’s ankles and hissed in pleasure. He stood silent while Harry’s friends hugged him and talked about how the whole school had been concerned and how they got McGonagall’s permission for Black to take them to St. Mungo’s.
            Mother had brought Draco to hospital, and then discreetly disappeared somewhere. Draco doubted he would see her again until he went home tomorrow.
            But he stirred when Harry and his friends started up to Gryffindor Tower. “Sorry,” he said, mainly because he knew it would soothe Harry, not because he really believed it would matter to Weasley and Granger. “But I do need to borrow Harry for a minute so I can talk to him.”
            Harry turned towards him, head cocked, smiling slightly. Draco felt his heartbeat get so loud Harry could probably hear it. But Harry didn’t give any sign he could, just nodded to Weasley and Granger and said, “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
            “Harry—you can’t feel well enough—”
            You’d like it if that was true, Draco thought angrily, but all Harry did was shake his head and say calmly, “If they thought I was well enough to leave St. Mungo’s even though it was the middle of the night, then I’m well enough to do this. And I want to know what Draco has to say.”
            Weasley and Granger hovered around a bit and said a few more things about Harry’s health that Draco didn’t bother to listen to. He knew well enough that if they thought they could get away with it, they would have dragged Harry off. Harry didn’t let them do it.
            That was enough to give Draco courage and some hope that his mother was right, and Harry wasn’t going to run away or refuse him.
            Finally Weasley and Granger went grumbling up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, and Harry glanced around the entrance hall. “Is this private enough for whatever you want to tell me?”
            Draco hesitated once, looking at Dash. Dash flickered out his tongue and gave that little hiss that usually meant he was snickering. And then he flopped his body more firmly on Harry’s foot.
            No, he wasn’t about to leave Harry alone when that hadn’t been a great idea earlier in the evening. Harry nodded at the same time Draco was thinking that, as if to say Draco could say anything he wanted in front of Dash.
            He probably could. Draco told himself that at least it would be difficult for Dash to talk about it to someone else, and drew in a deep breath, and said, “You probably wondered why I was so upset this evening.”
            “I nearly died. I get that.”
            “No. I mean—before. Did you see me scowling at you when you were dancing with Selwyn?”
            “Yes.” Harry frowned a little. “She’s a friend, Draco, and she helped me when Voldemort’s snake hurt me. You don’t have to worry that’s she going to drag me off somewhere and hit me over the head.”
            “No.” Draco had to take his courage in both hands now, but it was still a minute before he could. “Not that. I wanted—I was upset because she was dancing with you. I wanted to be the one doing that. I wanted to be the one you asked to the Yule Ball. I thought you knew that, so I didn’t say anything, but—my mother was the one who told me you probably didn’t even know, because you’d been raised by Muggles and they don’t have anything about two boys dating, and you thought I was just your friend, and—”
            His words dried up. He knew he was babbling, and Harry was just standing there staring at him with his mouth open and his eyes so wide that Draco knew Mother had been right. Harry hadn’t ever thought of asking him or being asked.
            But Draco knew he had gone on long enough. He had been the one who went to the effort of asking to talk to Harry in private, and then saying all this. It was time for Harry to react now.
*
            Harry stood there with his hand on Dash’s head, feeling like all his limbs had gone numb. Draco felt that way about him?
            Why?
            Does he have to list all his reasons? Dash lashed out with his tongue, and encircled one of Harry’s fingers for a second before he deliberately withdrew it. Why should he, when they ought to be obvious? You know as well as he does that he likes you. And you know what that means, because you saw it with Ron and Hermione.
            Harry swallowed. But Ron likes Hermione because she’s smart and she helps us and she’s his friend, and Hermione likes Ron because he’s her friend and he’s smart and he can play chess well and he’s brave. Why would Draco like me?
            That’s so ridiculous I refuse to answer it.
            But Harry really didn’t know why. He knew Draco couldn’t be after him for his fame, the way the other people who had asked him to the Ball were, because Draco was above that sort of nonsense. And it couldn’t have anything to do with money, because Draco was rich himself.
            But it seemed the only way he would get an answer was to ask Draco, as embarrassing as that was. Harry braced himself and then looked straight at Draco and asked, “Why do you—want to date me?”
            That was probably the least embarrassing way to put it. But Draco’s cheeks were so red, and Harry didn’t know what else to say. He locked his hands on Dash’s neck—much to Dash’s grumbling—and waited there.
            “Because you’re you.”
            Draco’s voice was soft, incredulous. He took a step forwards, and then paused. Harry didn’t know what he was waiting for, but he was frozen, himself. He couldn’t tell what would need to come next, if he should say something or stand there or run away.
            Apparently standing still was actually the kind of encouragement Draco had been looking for, because he came up to Harry and laid a hand on his cheek. Harry hoped his own blush wasn’t searing Draco’s skin.
            “You’re generous, and you like me,” Draco said. “I mean, as a friend. And you ought to see the way you move and you are and…” He was the one who looked helpless now. “I don’t know. I never thought about it. That’s all I can say. I just like you.”
            Harry blinked a little. He supposed he could—see that. And maybe part of it was the same reason he had thought that he understood Ron and Hermione wanting to date. He and Draco were friends, weren’t they? And Draco had even said something about that just now.
            He made his hands move away from his clutch on Dash. He reached up and touched Draco’s cheek. Draco braced himself, eyelashes fluttering.
            There, said Dash.
            “I—I don’t know what to say. I mean, I believe you, of course. It’s just so unexpected. I don’t think I’ve ever liked someone like that.”
            Draco opened his eyes and looked at Harry so calmly Harry didn’t think he’d hurt him. But he didn’t know. Even if Dash could smell Draco’s emotions, he apparently wasn’t in the mood to say anything about them to Harry right now.
            Harry found his breath somewhere and went on.
            “But I didn’t go to the Ball with Alisoun because I thought she was pretty or anything. The Selwyns sent an owl to me that said she could protect me. And it would advance the alliance, which Professor Snape is always talking about, and it meant I could just tell people I had a date and they would stop asking me.”
            “You didn’t want people to ask you to the Ball?”
            “Well, no. I told you that. I just wanted to go with someone who wasn’t doing it for the fame or the prestige.”
            Draco shook his head slowly. “You really can’t believe anyone would want to go with you just for the pleasure of—going with you.”
            “Apparently not.” Harry hoped he looked brave as he shrugged. “I didn’t think there was anyone like that.”
            “There is.”
            “Oh. Um. Good.”
            They stood there for a little while longer, long enough for Dash to start snickering again in the back of Harry’s mind. Then Harry cleared his throat and asked, “So what happens now?”
            Draco obviously considered it before he asked, “You don’t mind if I do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time?”
            “That depends on what it is.”
            Dash snickered again.
            Either Draco could hear Dash’s snicker and understood what it meant, or he was just deciding to do the thing he wanted most to do. He leaned forwards and kissed Harry.
            Harry stood there frozen. He hadn’t thought about kisses, except in some vague terms that always seemed to come back to the way Aunt Petunia kissed Dudley or the way he wished his mum would have kissed him. But he felt Draco’s lips touch his, and then a sort of burning spread through him, and he wanted the kiss to go on.
            Maybe Draco was too nervous, though, because he pulled away and cleared his throat. “Was that—okay?”
            Harry smiled. “Yeah. That was fine.”
            And Draco beamed as if he’d just received the best compliment in the world, and—things were going to be all right. Harry knew that. Not how they’d turn out, especially since the Ball was over now and it wasn’t like he had a Time-Turner to go back in time and take Draco to it.
            But at least Dash had stopped snickering and Draco looked happy and Harry felt happy, and those were all good things.
*
ChaosLady: Yes. At least he’s all right.
SP777: Thanks! I did actually borrow that from DH where Nagini was speaking from inside the body of the dead woman in Godric’s Hollow.
Mariah: Thanks! Severus actually is, too. He would have enlightened them before, except he thought there would be Drama, and he didn’t want to get in the middle of that.
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A Brother to Basilisks