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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.

Chapter List
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Chapter Ninety-One—Walking Tall
“Look at all these letters, mate!”
Harry had to nod, and then duck as another owl attempted to drop a letter on his head. They were at breakfast in the Great Hall, and the owls had decided this was a perfect time to deliver all the post. There were a few Howlers mingled in with the letters on creamy parchment, and the anonymous threats, and the invitations to parties that made Harry feel expensive scratchy robe collars around his throat just looking at them.
Luckily, thanks to Hermione, they had a system for handling them. Hermione waved her wand back and forth, tirelessly, and a net rose from the table and caught all the Howlers. Then it dragged them out and drowned them in the lake, where they could scream and Harry wouldn’t hear them.
The rest of the letters went into a net, too, which Hermione had attached to the back of Harry’s chair. Harry really wasn’t looking forward to dragging them back into Gryffindor Tower with them.
“What’s—what?”
Harry blinked and turned his head. There were so many letters that it was no surprise they’d missed the one in the mess that was addressed to Ron. Ron spent some time blinking at it like the eagle-owl that had settled on the back of his chair, and then shook his head and tore it open.
Harry just managed to cock his head to see Draco’s handwriting before Ron burst out laughing and tossed the letter into the air, setting it afire with an Incendio.
“Being Harry’s best mate is a better political education than you could ever offer me, Malfoy!” Ron called across the Hall to the Slytherin table. “But I appreciate the offer,” he added.
Harry sighed as he watched Draco’s face heat up. He didn’t think Draco had heard Ron’s last words; most of the laughing students hadn’t. He would have to soothe Draco when he saw him in the library later that day.
He glanced up as another five letters came pouring in, and stifled a second sigh. Not everyone knew about Dash having Salazar Slytherin’s soul, of course. But their letters combined with the ones who were horrified at his part in Dumbledore’s death, and the ones who wanted to congratulate him for “winning” the Tournament, and the ones who wanted to demand that he be arrested, and the people who wanted to threaten him, and the people who proposed marriage for no reason…
I’m drowning, he told Dash, who was curled up under his chair and under most of Ron and Hermione’s, too.
You’ll get used to it, said Dash unsympathetically, and yawned with a parting of his jaws, one that Harry was glad most people didn’t watch, or couldn’t see because of the way Dash was under the table. They might start thinking about how wide Dash could open his mouth, and about what he could fit in there. When one has such an extraordinary basilisk for a companion, one has to get used to notoriety.
I was doing fine in that department before you came along.
Obviously not, or you would be better-equipped to handle this much post, said Dash, and dropped down into sleep. He’d spent a long night hunting in the Forbidden Forest, apparently. Harry didn’t know how he could when he’d had that enormous meal of beef yesterday, but there were lots of things he had to come to terms with not really knowing about Dash.
“We have to come up with a plan,” said Hermione, and frowned as she snared another Howler and corralled it with a second one that had showed up right behind it. “You can’t possibly answer all these letters, Harry.”
“I think we should report the threats to the Aurors,” said Ron, leaning around Hermione and pointing his fork in the direction of one squirming, wriggling letter on top of the pile behind Harry’s chair. “Like that one.”
“But they’re already investigating Dumbledore’s death. Would they really want to take up this case?”
Harry sighed. Even though they’d arrested Blaise’s uncle and let him keep his basilisk, he didn’t have any great confidence in the Ministry. “I think we should—”
“Might I be of some assistance?”
Harry looked up and blinked. He knew that the student standing across from him was a Slytherin, since it was obvious from his tie, but it took him a long moment to remember his name. “Montague?” he asked slowly. Yes, he was on the Slytherin Quidditch team, but Harry usually only saw him shooting past in a blur of green robes or trying to upset something Katie Bell and the others were doing.
“Yes, Graham Montague,” said the boy, nodding. Harry thought only he, Ron, and Hermione were close enough to see that it almost turned into a bow, and that when he straightened up and looked at Harry, there was badly-hidden awe in his eyes.
Harry hid his own groan. So he knows about Dash. Who knows how many people know? “Have you dealt with letters like this one before?” he asked, and nodded to the squirming one in the net behind his chair. Hermione was handily banishing another chorus of Howlers.
“Yes,” said Montague. “And there’s a spell that renders any contents inert and harmless. Unless they were harmless in the beginning, of course.” He cocked his head at the moving letter. “There are some rather valuable plants that could be sent by post, and might struggle like that inside their confinement.”
“Oh,” said Harry. He turned his head. “Well, if the spell won’t harm that if it’s harmless, will you teach me how to use it?”
Montague nodded and carefully swept his wand in front of him at chest height, then back the other way, on what looked like the same exact track to Harry. “You have to keep your wand almost in the identical path,” he explained. “Then you focus your will on the letter and say Immeritus.”
Harry nodded and copied the motion with his wand. Montague beamed at him like a proud parent. Harry smiled back weakly. With the exception of Draco, he'd never really expected a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team to look happy about him doing something like this.
The squirming of the thing, letter, whatever it was, was really getting out of hand, so Harry turned around, carefully performed the wand movement, and said aloud, "Immeritus!"
The squirming stopped at once. Harry shivered a little. That meant the contents had been harmful. He decided he would throw them away without trying to open the letter.
"I would offer to eat them," Dash said aloud in Parseltongue, waking up, his voice curling through several conversations at different tables and silencing them at once. "But my stomach is too full."
Harry stroked Dash's neck. That's all right. They would probably poison you anyway. Is there a reason that you're speaking aloud right now?
There are people who are here to be impressed. Dash tilted his head back at Montague, who couldn't seem to decide whether he should be scared or thrilled. They will want to know that you speak with your snake, not simply stand and sit with him at your side.
Harry sighed. Politics. He was getting better at them, but he still thought he would never enjoy them the way Draco and Professor Snape seemed to. He just wanted everything to be straightforward and fair and for people to understand him.
"Mr. Potter."
Harry blinked and turned around. He hadn't heard anyone approach, but then, with the shrieking from the Howlers and the chatter in the Great Hall, maybe that wasn't a surprise. There were two Aurors standing behind him, both grim gloomy men with thick beards and mustaches.
"You are summoned for questioning in the death of Albus Dumbledore," said the one on the left.
"And to confirm Nicholas Flamel's testimony," added the other, his arms folded and his voice like the steam whistle on the Hogwarts Express.
Harry swallowed and fought panic. For an instant he wondered if they would have someone with Legilimency try to use it on him, or if they would use Veritaserum, or if they would just haul him out of school and--
Nobody is hauling you anywhere as long as you have a basilisk with you.
Dash unwound from under the table, and curled part of himself up Harry's leg so his head was resting on Harry's waist. His tongue darted out, and he gave the Aurors what was clearly an inquiring glance even though his eyelids still covered his eyes. The Aurors took a step back.
At the same time, Ron and Hermione stood up on either side of Harry, and Hermione said in a smug voice, "You can't take Harry anywhere without his legal guardian's consent, because he's underage. I looked it up."
"That's so," said Montague, and shifted a little. Harry could see from the corner of his eye that he had his wand narrowed along his sleeve, aimed at the Aurors.
The Aurors didn't seem to quite know what to do. They stared back and forth between Montague, Ron, Hermione, and Dash, although it was Dash their eyes kept going back to. Harry hid a smirk.
"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?"
And there was Professor Snape's voice, smooth and dark and so unlike what Harry had once thought about it--that it was the voice of someone who would take delight in torturing him. Right now, he swept up on the other side of the Gryffindor table, beside Montague, and folded his arms. Harry felt as reassured as though he'd already sent the Aurors away.
The Aurors shifted a little, and exchanged glances that were like shoves. The one with the voice like the train whistle finally said, "We need to bring in your ward for questioning in the death of Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape."
"And to confirm Nicholas Flamel's testimony." Apparently they'd been told to repeat the same thing over and over until people went along with it.
"You will bring him in only in my company." Professor Snape had already worked his way around the Gryffindor table and halfway down it, so that in a few more strides he was standing next to Harry. Ron and Hermione willingly backed out of the way, and Hermione hauled on the net of post so it wouldn't be in his way, either. "Isn't that right, Harry?" His hand descended on Harry's shoulder and squeezed.
"Yes, s-Severus." Harry thought it was probably a good thing to call him "Severus" in front of the Aurors, just in case someone in the Ministry tried to say they weren't comfortable enough with each other to be ward and guardian, or something.
And there was the way it made Severus's face go soft and happy when Harry said it. That was nice, too.
"Well, this is irregular," said Auror Train Whistle.
"No, it isn't!" Hermione looked as if she might explode, the way she did most of the time only when Harry or Ron broke a rule she thought was important. "It's legal! It's the way things are supposed to go! Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not an important rule!"
"It's still irregular--"
"Oh, so that means you've been doing illegal things all this time? I wonder how they would feel if they knew--"
"Miss Granger," said Severus warningly, and Hermione calmed down, but she was still fuming. Harry was sure that she would try to tell someone off for the slight soon. Ron leaned in from the side and gave Harry a very direct look.
"You'll probably see my Dad at the Ministry, Harry. Make sure you say hello, okay?"
The Aurors looked a bit nervous. They might not know where Mr. Weasley worked, Harry thought, but now he was coming around to Hermione's way of thinking. There had to be something irregular about this if they'd tried to take him without his guardian, even if they had come into the Great Hall in front of all Hogwarts to do it.
"So," said Montague suddenly, making Harry jump, because he'd forgotten all about him. "I'd imagine you'll visit the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Perhaps no one told you, Potter, but my brother Lewis works there. You should say hello to him, too."
"Oh," said Harry politely. "Is he a trainee Auror?"
"One of the junior undersecretaries to the Minister, actually." Montague smirked at the Aurors, who seemed to know who his brother was even if they didn't know Mr. Weasley. "He's always interested in complicated cases. He'll come to watch the interrogation, I'm sure."
“There’s not going to be an interrogation!” That was the one who wasn’t Auror Train Whistle.
“It seemed like there was going to be,” said Montague, and continued grinning at the Aurors as if he could cost them their jobs. “My mistake.”
“If you are finished bantering with children,” said Severus. It was still strange for Harry to think of him that way, but he would try. “We should go to the Ministry and resolve the situation to everyone’s satisfaction.”
“I’m sure you can, Professor Snape. You might be the only one that can, as a matter of fact.” Montague bowed to Harry again. “I hope I’ll see you soon, Potter. There are things my father would be delighted to talk to you about.”
I just bet. Harry managed to smile and nod. “Thanks, Montague. And for your spell,” he added, before he turned towards the entrance from the Great Hall. He waved to Ron and Hermione once, and then to Draco, who was standing there with a pale face and very wide eyes, as if he didn’t know if he should interfere.
The two Aurors tried to fall into place on either side of him, but couldn’t. Severus was walking on Harry’s right, and his glare was enough to take them away.
And Dash was crawling on the left, and although he looked cheerful and bright and flickered his tongue out in a curious way, he made the Aurors back further away than Severus could.
Did you ever think about not trying to frighten people? Harry asked.
No. What’s it like?
Harry rolled his eyes, but caught Severus’s glance and managed to calm down. Probably not a good idea if too many people saw him rolling his eyes right now. Politics, again.
*
Severus kept his hand on Harry’s shoulder as they walked out of the Great Hall, holding in his vicious curses. He was lucky he had come in early to breakfast, or he might have missed the confrontation altogether, and Harry might have been snatched away.
Then he looked down at the mass of green scales on Harry’s other side, and changed his mind. He wasn’t used to trusting others to help him accomplish his goals, but in this case, he thought he probably could. Dash was just as determined as Severus that nothing would happen to Harry.
And he would be happy to use a lot less legal means to protect his bonded, too.
“We have to reach the point where we can Apparate,” said the Auror Severus knew as Augustus Howling. “And I don’t know how we’re going to Apparate the basilisk.”
“The same way you’ll Apparate me,” said Harry, his voice unexpectedly firm and confident. “Or I’m not going.”
The other Auror, whom Severus didn’t know, tried a simper that wouldn’t have worked on a first-year. “But, Mr. Potter, you have to see that the snake can’t come with you to the Ministry. You can only keep it at Hogwarts because of a special dispensation from the Minister. That dispensation doesn’t allow you to bring it to the Ministry.”
“Why not?”
The Auror paused. Severus suspected he hadn’t worked out the theory in his head; he just trusted in his reputation and the Minister’s to shut up people who would have tried to question him.
“It’s not done,” he said at last, while Howling and Severus and Harry and Dash had continued towards the Apparition point. He had to hurry to catch up with them. “It’s not—traditional. You could say that.”
“You know another thing that wasn’t done?”
“What?”
The Auror sounded relieved that Harry was agreeing with him. Severus concealed a smile. That was unwise of him.
“Giving me food, because I was a freak. That’s what my relatives told me every time I asked them for it. They said it was done to starve me because that’s what normal people did, they ate the food, and freaks shut up and were grateful for what they had.”
“Of course asking you to obey the laws is something we shouldn’t need to spell out, Mr. Potter, and it’s nothing like starving a child—”
“Then let’s just say that taking me away from Dash isn’t done, either.”
Howling was silent beside them, observing. Severus expected that. He had been one of the Aurors who had handled Severus’s case when he was arrested for being a Death Eater. He had been a Slytherin at Hogwarts, and might even have heard the news flying around by now.
Severus spared a moment to think, Bloody Lucius.
“We have to,” said the Auror who was rapidly becoming Severus’s new example of a disaster in the making, besting even Neville Longbottom. “It’s illegal for you to have a basilisk—”
Harry seemed to be listening harder than ever in that silent way he had when Dash was speaking to him, and now he nodded and spoke up. “I thought it was illegal to breed basilisks, right? But there’s no law that says just having them is illegal.”
The Auror gaped at him. Howling stepped in. “The Experimental Breeding Ban says that, Mr. Potter,” he agreed, in a voice that suggested he wasn’t placating a child, but a dangerous political opponent. Severus applauded his sense. “But there is also a law that says any magical creature of an XXXXX level of danger is illegal to keep on British soil.”
“I think you’ll find basilisks are an exception to that law.”
“Why would they be?” Howling seemed to look around as if he thought someone could pop up to explain the law to him.
Harry closed his eyes briefly again, and Severus had to shake his head. Of course Dash would be feeding him information—probably from the last time his soul had been in this world.
That will still take some time to get used to.
Severus had no time to do it right now, because Harry’s eyes popped open again and he said, “The loophole was written into the law to accommodate Salazar Slytherin’s descendants, because they were Parselmouths and a basilisk is the most-suited companion to a Parselmouth.” He cast a glance down at Dash that had so many complex emotions in it Severus didn’t even try to read them. “And a Parselmouth is the only one who can bond with such a dangerous magical creature and keep it from causing harm. No one can do that with a dragon or an Acromantula—” he smiled for some reason “—but I can with a basilisk.”
“You’re not wanted for questioning on the matter of you owning a basilisk, though,” the other Auror intervened. “You’re wanted for questioning on—”
“Yes, you told me,” said Harry, and he took a deep breath before he folded his arms across his chest. Severus wondered what in the past made that such a loaded gesture for him. “But I’m just saying, trying to take Dash away from me would be illegal as well as unwise.”
That phrasing, Severus was sure was the basilisk’s, but he had a great deal of sense, too, and right now, he kept his mouth shut. When the inferior Auror turned for orders to Howling, Howling only shook his head and muttered, “We’re already late. Let him keep the bloody thing until we meet the Minister or something.”
The other Auror nodded once, and then they began to move again. Severus kept close by Harry’s side, because he had to make sure that he was the one who Side-Along Apparated the boy.
And because he wanted to make sure that he was there to prevent any sudden political meltdowns. Harry was doing very well at the moment, but he was still young and untried.
Even if he has two people beside him who are not.
*
Hermione sighed in worry as she went back to scooping up Howlers with her wand and sending them out to the lake. She supposed they would probably follow Harry to the Ministry. She hoped they wouldn’t make him look too bad to anyone who was listening when he got dragged into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
“I’m going to send a message to my brother,” Montague announced abruptly. “I don’t think Potter will see him on the way into the Ministry, but he’ll probably see him when he leaves, if nothing else.”
Hermione turned and studied Montague. She had thought that he was just doing something political and Slytherin when he came up to Harry, the way that most people would who heard about Dash having Slytherin’s soul. But she hadn’t thought that he would keep up the pretense once Harry was gone.
He huffed and folded his arms when he saw her looking at him. “What’s the matter, Granger? You don’t believe that a Slytherin can be a sincere ally?”
“I’m surprised that most are,” Hermione told him. “Especially someone on the opposing Quidditch team.”
“But that applies to Malfoy, too,” Montague said, and glanced over at the Slytherin table. Draco was gone, though. Hermione supposed that wasn’t surprising. He had probably either gone to see if he could accompany Professor Snape and Harry to the Ministry or to contact his father, again. “Both of those things. And I know that you’re studying with him in the library and all the rest.”
Hermione wanted to tear her hair out. For all that she was worried about Harry and his stance in politics, she hadn’t thought it would involve her, too, other than people who got upset about Harry having a Muggleborn friend. “Yes, fine. Draco’s a friend. Because he’s Harry’s friend. You might want to be Harry’s ally, but you don’t want to be his friend.”
“I don’t know him yet,” said Montague, with a little roll of his eyes. “You would rightfully put me down if I claimed to.” He snorted. “Don’t look so surprised, Granger. You’re not the only one who can think through consequences.”
Hermione cocked her head. She supposed she wasn’t the one who would have to approve of Montague in the end, but she couldn’t see any harm in giving him some encouragement right now. Harry could always distance himself from Montague later. “Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Ron had his eyebrows raised, but he said nothing. Hermione beamed at him. He didn’t need as much education in strategy as Draco thought he did. He could keep quiet when it would benefit them.
“Good,” said Montague, and then abruptly turned and looked at the doorway of the Great Hall. He grinned. “Reckon I’m not the only one who heard the news about Potter. Later, Granger, Weasley.” He nodded to them and left.
Hermione turned. She didn’t recognize the tall couple clad in blue-green robes and heavy-looking torques of gold who stood in the doorway, but she knew the girl beside them. “Alisoun Selwyn?” she asked doubtfully as they approached. Yes, it was the same girl Harry had taken to the Yule Ball.
“Yes,” said Selwyn, and made a gesture behind her. “These are my parents, Ella and Matthias. Where is Harry?” She darted her head around as if that might reveal him and his basilisk hiding under a table.
“He just got taken to the Ministry. They want to talk to him about Dumbledore’s death.”
“Then that’s where we should be,” said Selwyn, and turned and led her parents out. Hermione thought they looked back over their shoulders to watch her and Ron, but Selwyn was focused forwards.
Ron snorted. “Ever have the feeling that our lives are going to get a lot busier, along with Harry’s?”
“They already are,” Hermione said, and banished some more Howlers, while her stomach churned. They’re busy…and we have to be so careful, so that we don’t do something that might damage Harry’s chances with his allies.
Then she straightened her shoulders.
But that’s no reason to back down.
*
Anon: Thanks! Conflagration is around, but I haven't mentioned him much in the last chapters because they all took place within twenty-four hours or forty-eight hours of each other.
SP777: If the story is as long as it promises to be, they won't need an epilogue because they'll be in seventh year or even further. :)
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A Brother to Basilisks