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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-Five—Prices Paid
“The artifact I had worked, Severus.”
Severus paused. He had never seen Lucius like this before, his eyes alight with interest but not the cool mockery he would have used at most times to distance himself from it. His hands rested on the table in front of him as he leaned towards Severus through the Floo.
“Remind me what artifact that was.”
Lucius didn’t answer in words. Instead, he pulled back his left sleeve and turned his arm so that Severus could see the—
The lack of a Dark Mark. The lack of even a scar.
Severus stared in silence, his lungs laboring. Lucius seemed to know what Severus needed to see and kept his arm absolutely steady, only tucking it away again once Severus had to blink. He was still smiling.
Smugly.
“How?” Severus whispered.
“I cannot tell you how the artifact was made,” Lucius responded. “I can tell you what you have to do if you want to use it.” He cocked his head as if he thought Severus would step through the Floo that minute, his eyes challenging.
“Tell me.” Severus made no move, and had his reward in the faint spasm of disappointment that crossed Lucius’s face.
“There is a rune on the bottom. It must be coated with blood. I drew mine over a long period of time to keep from fainting while the artifact worked.” Again, Severus only nodded, with a slight sneer that Lucius had made so much of such an elementary precaution, and Lucius’s voice sharpened. “Then you place your Marked arm inside one of the silver rings on the top, the only real one. The others were probably placed there as distractions, to disguise what the artifact really was. And the being that lives inside the artifact chews your Mark off.”
Severus shuddered even though he knew Lucius had deliberately planned that last dramatic revelation. What Lucius had been through…well, Severus could imagine the pain, having been through curses at the Dark Lord’s hands, many of them while he worked beside Lucius in the first war. But he could hardly imagine the determination it would take, knowing what was coming.
“I trust that’s impressive enough?”
“Most impressive,” Severus drawled, and took revenge the only way he could. “The creator of this artifact must have been a genius.” And this time, he saw the deep annoyance, glinting as clear as snowflakes, in Lucius’s eyes before he masked it.
“I think you should use it as soon as possible,” Lucius went on, with barely a pause. “One would not want the guardian of Salazar Slytherin reborn in a vulnerable position before any other Dark Lord.”
“Harry is not going to become a Dark Lord.”
“Ah, but there are so many definitions of that term,” Lucius said at once, so fast that Severus realized it was what he’d been waiting for, and he cursed himself for being tricked into this debate. “There is the one the current Dark Lord has made, and that Grindelwald also obeyed. And there is the old idea of the Lord as strong, protective, caring for his followers, and Dark in the sense that he simply uses more than Light magic.” Lucius paused, then added, “Some of the legends say that Salazar Slytherin was that kind of Lord. He founded Hogwarts in the company of Light witches and wizards in part because he could sense how important it would become, and he knew this way, he was protecting future generations who might have been his followers.”
“Harry has shown no sign that he has Slytherin’s memories,” said Severus. He had to be harsh, and he had to be certain, or Lucius was likely to start spreading these ideas as fact among the pure-bloods he had already contacted. Sometimes, Severus did hate him. “You are not to think he would do any such thing.”
“But his basilisk has Slytherin’s memories.”
Severus glared back, and kept his face stony.
“You cannot keep your ward from the sense of what this means forever,” Lucius said, his eyes burning, and then suddenly smiled again and swept a little bow, as if Severus had bested him somehow in their struggle. “Tell me when you want to use the artifact. For you, I shall make it always available.”
And the Floo connection closed.
Severus shut his eyes and sat in silence. He knew some of what Lucius said had merit. He should use the artifact to remove his Mark as soon as possible, or he was vulnerable to harm created by the Dark Lord. And Harry could not afford to have his guardian incapacitated.
Lucius would not charge him a price in Galleons to use the artifact, Severus was sure of that. Or perhaps even much in time.
But he would use the coin of influence. He would position himself as close as he could to Harry, closer than Harry’s friendship with Draco would allow, and encourage Harry to see him as a mentor, a Dark wizard with his toe in politics who could open the door wider for him. Severus sighed and rubbed his forehead.
He had no political contacts of his own. He had sacrificed that with thirteen years of teaching that barely brought him out of the dungeons. He had no idea how to combat the possibly pernicious effect Lucius could have on Harry.
Then Severus heard a rasping noise, and looked up swiftly. He shivered. It was eerie how silent sixteen feet of basilisk could make himself in a room.
And more than terrifying.
Dash did not use the trick of speaking into Severus’s mind, perhaps because he didn’t need to. He looked deliberately at the empty hearth, for so long that Severus looked over himself to see if Lucius had perhaps called him back. But he looked at Dash again in time to see Dash yawn, jaws opening as wide as Severus’s armspan, his tongue flickering around his fangs.
Then he crawled out of the room, through the locked and warded door that he had somehow passed.
Severus shivered, but this time gratitude was mixed with his awe and fear.
Message received.
*
“Where are you going to live this summer, mate?”
Harry paused, his fork in midair. He honestly hadn’t thought about it, simply assuming it was going to be with Snape. He would have answered Ron, but saw Hermione glaring at him over Ron’s shoulder.
Harry obediently put the fork in his mouth and chewed and swallowed the bite of potatoes before he answered. “With Snape.”
“But, I mean, at Hogwarts? Or somewhere else? And do you think he’ll let you visit?”
“I think he might let me,” said Harry, feeling cheered. He hadn’t seen the Burrow and Ron’s family in a long time. “He’ll think I’m safe with Dash guarding me. But is your mum going to want me to bring Dash there?”
Ron had an unusually stubborn expression on his face. “She knows Dash goes where you do. That’s not going to change. So she’ll have to accept that you’re going to bring Dash with you.”
Harry had to look down at his plate because his eyes were stinging. He swallowed some more, because it was a good excuse, and said, “Thanks, Ron. Anyway. If you can convince her it’s okay for me to bring Dash, then sure. I’d love to visit.”
“And me, too,” said Hermione.
“Um,” said Harry, trying to imagine Dash crawling around a Muggle neighborhood.
They might have cats that are less intelligent than Kneazles. Yum.
Harry glared down between his knees at Dash. Did you try to eat Crookshanks?
I only nibbled his tail.
Before Harry could get into an argument with Dash about how he couldn’t eat everyone’s pets just because Scabbers had turned out to be evil, Hermione said, “No, I mean I want to visit the Burrow, of course.”
“As it turns out, both of you will be able to visit Harry,” said Severus, and Harry jumped, which made Dash snicker into his head for some reason. Harry turned around to see him standing behind the bench. “We will both be remaining here at Hogwarts.”
“But does that mean that Harry can’t come to the Burrow, sir?” Ron asked, more respectfully than Harry usually heard him address Snape. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”
Severus turned his head, and Ron flinched a little as his dark eyes pinned him. Harry couldn’t blame Ron. There was a difference between the Severus he dealt with and the one other people saw, he knew. “It is a matter of safety, Mr. Weasley. Not fairness.”
“But you can’t keep Harry inside Hogwarts all summer, either! He has to visit Diagon Alley to get his school supplies! And my mum was going to have a big birthday celebration for him at the Burrow.”
Harry couldn’t help but smile at Ron, touched, but Severus didn’t look as though he would have moved even if someone dumped a big boulder on his head. “I will accompany him to those places.”
“Then he can come to the Burrow after all.” Ron folded his arms and radiated smugness.
“With my approval and guidance, yes,” Severus said, and turned to Harry. “I need to borrow you for a time to talk about politics. Will you come with me?”
Harry nodded and automatically looked towards the Slytherin table as he stood up, but didn’t see Draco.
“Mr. Malfoy has gone ahead to my quarters,” said Severus, sweeping past him and giving Harry a mildly impatient glance. “This involves him, as the representative of someone who has appointed himself your representative.”
“He means Lucius?” Hermione whispered, so softly that Harry was pretty sure no one else at the Gryffindor table had caught it.
Harry nodded without speaking and followed Severus. He kept his back straight and his face unconcerned. Admittedly, that became easier when he heard the dragging, rasping sound that was Dash following them.
“Did you know that your basilisk can stay absolutely silent?” Severus asked, without looking back at them, although Harry thought he snapped his robes out to billow a little harder than necessary. “And get through locked doors?”
Harry blinked. “Well, he couldn’t make much noise when he’s hunting,” he said, inadequately, from the way Severus turned to look at him. “But I didn’t know about the doors.”
“He can get through them,” said Severus, and then turned around and started walking forwards again as if he had just said nothing disturbing.
Did he? Dash asked lazily, trailing along behind Harry in a stream of scales.
I didn’t know you could do that. Why didn’t you tell me that you could do that?
Dash ducked his head and reached out to touch the back of Harry’s ankle with his tongue, just where the robe rode up enough that it exposed bare skin. Harry jumped despite himself. I thought it would be a nice surprise to reveal in the future.
Harry gave up on getting sense out of Dash. He wasn’t in the mood for it. And how does Severus know this? Were you spying on him? He couldn’t understand why Dash would want to do that, but once again, no sense.
I spied on his conversation with Lucius Malfoy, where Malfoy offered to take away the Dark Mark on his arm. Dash remained quiet for long enough that Harry breathed out in wonder, and then added, And also to support you in the sense that he would guide you.
Dash left it like that. Harry frowned at the wall as they walked along. So is that a good thing or a bad thing?
It could be many things. I assume that’s part of what we’re going to discuss when we get to Snape’s quarters.
And even though Harry speculated and pleaded and even talked to him aloud at one point, making Severus’s shoulders twitch in front of them, Dash refused to say anything else until they’d reached Severus’s quarters.
*
Draco stopped swinging his legs and sat up as straight as he could when Harry walked in, still talking over his shoulder to Dash. He had to look serious and measured and adult. And he really did want to be. He wanted to stop making mistakes the way he had with his father.
Harry saw him and gave him a distracted smile before he moved to sit down on the couch next to him. Draco relaxed a little. Professor Snape had seemed implacably grim when he summoned Draco to this meeting. As long as he wasn’t the only one in the room, then Draco could be sure he had someone on his side.
There was Dash, of course, slithering up to the side of the couch and regarding Draco with interested, dimly glowing eyes. But Draco ended up nodding nervously to Dash and then looking away. He didn’t want to ask what Dash was thinking right now.
Professor Snape strode to the second of the Transfigured couches and sat down on it, placing his fingers beneath his chin. “Lucius Malfoy has contacted several other pure-bloods,” he said. “And soon he will be offering the Marked Death Eaters among them the chance to remove the Mark.”
Draco jumped a little. Of course he knew his father had removed the Mark; he’d got the owl from him yesterday. But Father hadn’t said that he would be offering to share that artifact with anyone except Professor Snape.
“For a price, of course.”
Draco relaxed again. That sounded more like the Father like he knew.
“This can be dangerous as well as beneficial for you,” Professor Snape went on, and turned to look at Harry. “You know that they will want to hear you speak.”
Harry took a deep breath that sounded as though he was trying to stifle a yawn, but Draco doubted it was anything so harmless. “I know,” he said, and stared down at the floor, stroking Dash’s head.
“Can you say the right things?”
Harry looked up quickly, flushing. “How can I know? I mean, how in the world can I know what the right things would be to them? They’re all older than me, and some of them will be former Death Eaters, and they’ll want me to offer them bargains or something. Well, I’m not going to let them torture people like Hermione! I’m not.”
Professor Snape’s eyebrows went up as if he was surprised by Harry’s words, but Draco nodded. He could understand. All Harry really knew about Death Eaters, except for Father and Professor Snape, was that they had tortured Muggleborns and Muggles during the war, and helped torture Longbottom’s parents. It didn’t surprise Draco that Harry thought they would want to do the same things given the chance.
“No one is going to ask you if they can do that,” Professor Snape said in a baffled voice.
“Then what are they going to want from me?”
“Some acknowledgment that you are Salazar Slytherin reborn.” Professor Snape was examining Harry with a frown now. “Or that part of you is. That you will translate the instructions of the basilisk who is Salazar Slytherin reborn, if you’re insistent on not being regarded that way.” He glanced at Dash, who was asleep on the floor next to the couch.
Or not so asleep, Draco realized, seeing a glint of yellow light from underneath Dash’s lids. They fluttered back down a minute later, though, and Dash gave a soft snap of his tongue that anyone could take for a snore.
Unless they know basilisks.
“Is that such a good idea? Dash has some ideas about politics that I don’t think anyone else should hear.”
Professor Snape’s gaze snapped to Harry’s face. “What do you mean?”
Harry braced himself as if he thought Dash would rear off the floor and bite him for telling the truth. “Well, he keeps threatening to take me away from the war if it gets too bad. That’s always an option for him. He doesn’t believe in fighting if it’s going to injure him or me. That’s one thing. If they’re looking for a glorious war-leader in him or me, they’re going to be disappointed.”
“I do not think they are looking for a glorious war-leader,” said Professor Snape, and blinked several times. “What they need are words that Lucius will know how to speak better than you can.”
Draco nodded. Father was good at political dialogues. Draco had heard him practicing sometimes in his study, before he went to a meeting with the Minister. They always sounded convincing.
“But they need to hear them coming from me, right?” Harry grimaced.
“Exactly. So. Do you want to meet with Lucius before each meeting with a pure-blood, or do you want him to send you letters that explain the right thing to say?”
“Neither,” Harry said, and before Draco could open his mouth to comment, or Professor Snape could bend his eyebrows down too much, he went on, “I want to consult with you and Draco and Dash instead.”
“Despite Dash’s…unfortunate political instincts?”
“But why would you want to talk to me? I don’t know as much about politics as Father does.”
Harry nodded at both of them, and maybe at something Dash had said, too. Draco resented being cut out of that particular loop of conversation, not for the first time, although he knew Harry would have found a way to share the conversation with him if it had been possible. “Yes. I think all of them together will balance each other out. And I trust you more than I do your father, Draco.”
“Despite his habit of blurting out confidences to his father?”
Draco felt his cheeks warm, but he didn’t look away from Harry. Harry had forgiven him, and that was the important thing. Not so much what Professor Snape thought.
“Draco understands why he shouldn’t do that anymore.”
Draco sat straight up and nodded firmly. “I wouldn’t do something like that again.”
“What about when your father finds out you have kept things from him?”
Draco could feel the tips of his ears flush. Of course Professor Snape would go straight to the most potentially embarrassing consequence he could. He cleared his throat. “Then I’ll deal with that, the way I did when he found out that I hadn’t succeeded in securing Harry’s friendship our first year.”
“What did he do to you?”
Draco started, because Harry was leaning towards him with his eyes gleaming harshly, and even Dash had parted his clear eyelids enough that Draco could make out a yellow light spilling out from under them. He swallowed and said, “Nothing but a scolding. But he knows how to use the right kind of words that can just strip flesh from bones.”
Harry kept staring at him, and staring. Draco didn’t back down, though. That was really all that had happened. He wasn’t going to say that Father was like Harry’s awful Muggles simply because Harry looked as if he might like that.
“All right,” Harry said finally, and turned to Professor Snape. “Then we can come up with a strategy that complements Lucius’s, right?”
“And decide on what you want him to say.” Professor Snape nodded. “That is crucial. With the best will in the world, and no will that involves working against you, Lucius might still try to take over the process of your political ally-making. And make you over into a Malfoy image.”
Draco had to nod. Father did think he knew best. And he had talked to Draco more than once about sculpting the Ministry into a Malfoy image.
“I want him to not promise things I can’t deliver,” said Harry, and his jaw firmed while a familiar stubborn light grew in his eyes. “I don’t even care if I can’t speak to them myself. I have to know that he’s not going to tell them I can win this war—”
“He has to say that!” Draco broke in.
Professor Snape turned and eyed him coldly, but Draco took heart from the interested sway of Dash’s neck. At least someone in the room didn’t completely disapprove of him. “Why not?” Harry asked, with only a quick look at Dash, so they must not be talking.
“Because you can’t promise to just fight and not win,” said Draco. That seemed so obvious to him that he kept glancing at Professor Snape, expecting his support any second. But it seemed that Professor Snape must have been really angry about the way Draco had blurted things out to his father, because he sat there with his arms folded and a stony scowl.
“You have to promise to fight the Dark Lord,” Draco went on, and turned back to Harry and Dash. “And you have to promise to protect them and win.”
“Then they’ll just blame me the minute someone dies.” Harry’s shoulders were hunching. “The way they did the minute another student got petrified second year. It wouldn’t have done any good for me to promise to protect people then, either.”
Dash must have said something, from the way he rammed his head against Harry’s knee, but Draco ignored that because it looked like Harry did. “But you tell them that you can’t do it alone.”
Harry blinked. “What?”
“You say that you need their help,” Draco said. “You offer to make coalitions. Set up warning spells. Cooperate with the Ministry to set up some classes in basic warning spells for people. Hell, you could contact your werewolf and ask him to come back and teach those if the Ministry won’t help. I hate to admit it, but he was the best Defense teacher we’ve had.”
“The wolf shall not be coming near Harry again.”
This time, Dash was watching Professor Snape. Draco had the funny feeling that Dash would get a lot more say in that matter than the professor would.
But then again, Draco didn’t know why Dash would want Lupin near Harry again, either, after the way he’d almost been bitten. He held out his hands. “Listen to me, and I’ll tell you why I think Lupin is the best one.”
Professor Snape watched him warily. Harry had almost no expression on his face. Draco knew he should probably encourage that—it would be better for Harry if fewer people could read him when he was talking with some of the old pure-bloods—but he nudged Harry until he broke out into a smile anyway. Just because it might be better didn’t mean that he should look like that around Draco.
“Because he’s a werewolf, and this will show that Harry can ally with the Dark and not mind it. Because he was an old Gryffindor, and that will reassure some of the more neutral ones, and the ones who might think that he can only make allies with people who were in his basilisk’s House. Because he knows Defense, and he can teach classes. We don’t have a lot of people who can do that except during the summers.”
Professor Snape opened his mouth, then closed it again as slowly as falling leaves. Harry was the one who spoke. “You’ve really thought about this a lot, Draco, haven’t you?”
Draco basked in the admiration in his face. “Most of it’s just common sense, you know. At least, about Lupin.”
“I do not think I could have thought of this common sense,” said Professor Snape, and he still had a heavy glance. Draco lifted his head and did his best not to care, to instead watch the way Harry reached out a hand and took Draco’s in his.
“I think we can find a way forwards,” Harry said. “And that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
Professor Snape turned and studied Harry for long enough that Draco was certain he was going to disagree. But in the end, he inclined his head in a long, slow nod that made Draco feel dizzy.
“Draco can stay.”
Harry exhaled. “Good.”
Draco could say nothing himself. He felt as if someone had invited him to help shape the future of the world.
And really, he thought as he watched Professor Snape and Harry start to talk again and Dash watching them, isn’t that true?
*
SP777: Not techncially. Sirius still has a lot of healing to do before he can return. Lupin's the one who's almost there.
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A Brother to Basilisks