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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-Six—Farewell, Hello
“I wanted to speak to you before we left, Mr. Harry,” said a voice with a faint French accent behind him.
Harry turned slowly around. Dash hadn’t alerted him by saying this was an enemy, which he had decided meant he didn’t have to be afraid. But he was still a little surprised that Fleur would come so close to him when she was so wary of Dash.
Fleur looked up from Dash and gave him a faint smile. “I know that you are surprised,” she said, and moved one step closer, ignoring the way Dash lifted his head as if he was interested. “But I wanted to tell you thank you for the promise you made, and for the risks you ran so that I did not have to.”
Does she realize that you didn’t do it for her?
Harry wondered the same thing, but he stroked Dash’s plume to calm him down and smiled politely at Fleur. “You’re welcome. I didn’t know the Cup would take me somewhere else, though. I can’t say I’m that brave.”
“You are brave enough, no?” Fleur shrugged. She hesitated then, and Harry suspected she had come for some other reason than simply saying thanks, but he didn’t have any idea what it might be. He waited, and Fleur finally nodded to herself, as if justifying some course of action and pushed ahead.
“You made a promise to us that we would be safe from your basilisk.”
“Yes,” Harry said cautiously, wondering if Dash had gone and hunted one of the Beauxbatons girls without telling him.
I wouldn’t. Too many feathers when they try to transform.
“And you have kept your promise. And I know that you stand in need of allies right now.” Fleur swept a breathtaking curtsey that almost made Harry wish he was attracted to her like Ron and some of the other boys were. “If you need us in the war—the war with the Dark One—we will come.”
“I—thank you.” Harry was more than a little bewildered. He wondered if Beauxbatons students and their parents had been among the pure-bloods that Lucius had contacted, or if they had some other way of finding out the news. Certainly not many people would have reason to know or believe Voldemort was back yet.
“Do not look so frightened,” Fleur said suddenly, coming up and hugging him so quickly and skittering out of range so quickly again that Dash wouldn’t have had time to strike.
“But I am,” Harry whispered before he thought about it.
“I know. But you have allies who will stand behind you. Even our Headmistress.” Fleur gave him a deep smile and a wink before she turned away. “We will leave at noon. You should speak to her before then.”
Harry watched her go with a slight frown, then looked down at Dash, who had twined around his feet as if to say that no Veela girl would get to hug him again without permission from his basilisk. Do you think it’s worth a try?
A try.
Dash didn’t sound encouraging, Harry thought wryly as he started down the corridor towards the part of the castle where he knew Madame Maxime was staying. But then, he never did about things that weren’t his own ideas.
Sometimes I sound enthusiastic about yours!
*
Harry knocked on the emerald-green door of the rooms that Madame Maxime had been staying in for a little while. Harry wasn’t sure why she wasn’t staying in the carriage with her students, but he assumed there was some reason that probably made sense to her.
And not to me, said Dash, his tail vibrating as if he had forgotten he wasn’t a rattlesnake. If she wanted to stay near you to influence you in some scheme somehow…
Harry started to snap back, but then the door opened, and he found himself stepping back even though he didn’t mean to. He was used to Hagrid, but Madame Maxime at close quarters was still startling. She wore a dress the same color as the door of her rooms and had her hair pinned up in gleaming curls.
She studied Harry for a moment and nodded slowly. “You have come to talk to me. Fleur found you.” She stepped back and held open the door for Harry, and he moved in, trying not to be intimidated again by how large the rooms were. The doorways and the ceilings arched higher than any room he’d been in except the Great Hall, and there were chairs and couches that could have held Dash’s weight without complaining.
I’ll have you know that I prefer the floor.
Madame Maxime looked at Dash as he spoke, almost as if she could hear him, but then she shook her head and took a seat on the huge chair in front of the fireplace, motioning Harry to take the one opposite her. Harry sat gingerly on the edge, even though he didn’t think it would break beneath him or anything like that. He was just afraid that he wouldn’t get out easily if he sagged back into the comfort of the cushions.
“You know that Igor was working against you.” Madame Maxime seemed to have decided against offering him tea. She was watching him with cool eyes instead, and Harry nodded and tried to sit a little more upright.
“Yes. But I know that he might not get much of a trial, since he knows so many people all over Europe.”
“Yes. Former students of Durmstrang. And he betrayed some of his Death Eater friends in the last war. There are people who remember that and will protect him.” Madame Maxime gave him a tight frown. “We will give you what help we can.”
“Beauxbatons?” Harry had to ask, since he wasn’t sure if she meant that, or French people, or someone else.
Even half-giants. Although Hagrid had told him that Madame Maxime wouldn’t admit that she was a half-giantess. Harry suppressed the urge to glance around the rooms again. Even when it was obvious.
“Yes, Beauxbatons. It is obvious there was something wrong with this Tournament from the beginning, and the man I thought was Albus Dumbledore when I spoke with him was not Albus Dumbledore.” Madame Maxime glanced sharply at him when he shifted. “Is that not true?”
“It would depend when you spoke with him,” Harry admitted. “I think sometimes he was being himself again and the man who was playing him had left the school. But that couldn’t have been often.”
Madame Maxime sighed out slowly. “We do not like being made fools of,” she said, each word crystal-clear despite her accent. “We will help you. We know this Dark Lord of yours does not intend to stop with Britain.”
“He doesn’t?” Harry was startled. That wasn’t something he’d heard. Of course, he didn’t know that much about the first war except how it had ended, but he’d never heard that Voldemort had tried to take over France.
Madame Maxime gave him another doubtful glance. “He had Death Eaters in other countries. Like Igor. How can he stay contented with one island?”
Harry nodded. He hadn’t really thought about the implications of Karkaroff being a Death Eater. Maybe he’d just liked having a powerful Dark wizard to be “allies” with and brag about to his friends.
Dash nudged his hip. And this is one reason that you need to start being more observant and political. So you do not forget things like this.
I didn’t forget it! I never knew it!
You still need to start being more observant.
If he started arguing with Dash about this, it would never end. Harry turned to Madame Maxime and made his smile as polite as he could. “What would happen if one of you died after allying with me?”
She looked at him with her eyebrows creeping higher on her head. “We would look to see if you had anything to do with the death.”
“You wouldn’t blame me for failing to protect you?”
“That is what I meant by looking into your actions. If you could have prevented the death and did not, we would speak with you. Or stop being your allies. If you could not have prevented it, then we would maintain the alliance.”
Harry closed his eyes and swallowed. That was honestly what had troubled him the most about the demands that Viktor and Karkaroff wanted to make of him. Of course he could never protect all the Dark wizards in Europe that Voldemort might want to kill or recruit. And “alliance” suggested he could get some benefit from this, too.
Now at least you are thinking like a Slytherin.
“That is a common fear of yours?”
Harry opened his eyes and shrugged. “There’s a huge chamber beneath this school that used to belong to Salazar Slytherin. A basilisk lived there. Someone who was possessed by the real Heir of Slytherin let it out in my second year, and it was Petrifying people. Everyone assumed I was the Heir because I could speak to snakes, and everyone blamed me when someone new was found petrified.”
Madame Maxime made a small face. “And you found out the student who was possessed?”
“Yes.”
“You stopped them?”
“Rescued them, and got rid of the possessing spirit.” Harry was reluctant to mention it was Ginny unless he absolutely had to. She had enough to deal with in the aftermath of having Tom Riddle inside her head.
“Hmmm.” Madame Maxime nodded again. “And you have controlled your basilisk enough that he has not attacked any of my students, and in fact, some students have told me that they believe your basilisk is more powerfully protective than offensive.”
I wonder if I could swallow a half-giantess.
Harry put a hasty hand on Dash’s neck, and then tried to look as if he was only petting Dash and he had only reared up because he liked the praise. “Yes. He’s already defended me from many—enemies.”
“So the story about him rescuing you from Dumbledore and Flamel’s mad plan to separate you is true.”
Harry looked straight at her. He didn’t know if she had heard that from someone else or managed to put the pieces together from the newspaper reports and rumors, but he wasn’t about to deny it either way. “Yes.”
Madame Maxime leaned further back in her chair and closed her eyes as if she was going to sleep. Harry blinked. He supposed she was only thinking, but the expression was unfamiliar because, mostly, Hagrid didn’t do it.
“Very well,” said Madame Maxime at last. “Yes, we will stay allied to you, and one of the first things I will do is encourage some of my better students to remain here. Fleur has told me that she trusts you, that she suspects you saved her life—even if you didn’t mean to—and that she would be honored to train you.”
“Train me in what?” Harry asked, so surprised that Dash later told him, with a snicker, he had sounded rather unflattering.
“The uses of your magic, of course.”
Now Madame Maxime was the one who sounded surprised. Harry tried to swallow some of his first words, and managed to succeed. “All right. But—is it just spells that seventh-years know how to use at Beauxbatons? Because I think my guardian will teach me those if you ask him.”
There was a moment when Madame Maxime looked at him uncomprehendingly, and then she chuckled a little and shook her head. “Ah, forgive me. In French there is a word that would convey what I was saying. I meant the uses of our special kind of magic.”
“I’m not a Veela.”
“Neither am I,” said Madame Maxime, as if Harry would have been fooled about that for a moment. “But even I can master the uses of feather magic.”
Does it bring tasty birds with it to eat?
You think too much of your stomach, Harry told Dash, and answered Madame Maxime carefully. “Is it mostly defensive or mostly offensive?” Honestly, it could be useful if it was either, but what Harry mostly wanted to be sure of was how he would tell Severus to shape his education in response.
“Mostly defensive,” said Madame Maxime, with a little sigh, as if she assumed that meant Harry wouldn’t want to learn it. “It involves summoning birds to aid you, using feathers as a defensive shield against some spells, and perhaps, in time, growing your own wings.”
Harry blinked, and then blinked again. That sounded a lot more useful than he’d thought. “Can I teach other people?” he asked, thinking of how much Hermione might like to fly if it was on anything other than a broom.
“If you swear them to secrecy. We do not want knowledge to start spreading that Beauxbatons is—sharing its wealth.”
Harry nodded. “Then please tell Fleur thank you for me. Where’s she going to stay, though? They don’t let any students stay at Hogwarts over the holidays unless they’re related to a teacher.” Or the ward of one, he thought, but it sounded as though Madame Maxime knew perfectly well who his guardian was, so he didn’t need to spell that out.
“She will find sanctuary with a British Veela,” said Madame Maxime, and started at him as if she thought he might ask more questions. When Harry said nothing—because he didn’t need to ask something she obviously didn’t want him to ask—she nodded and stretched out her hand. Harry stood up and came over to shake it, since he didn’t know what else to do.
“I understand I must give you a small lesson in manners, then. You are to kiss my hand, Mr. Potter.”
Harry hesitated, but once again Dash was weaving in interest, not hostility, at his side, and he could see no reason that she would want to trick him or hurt him, so he bent over and kissed the back of his hand. Madame Maxime was watching him critically when he drew back. She nodded.
“That will do for a first attempt. Try to show more quickness and enthusiasm in the future. And thank you again for what you did to protect my girls against your snake and the Tournament.”
Harry nodded and left before he could make more of a fool of himself. Dash opened his jaws in a yawn the minute they were out of the room and told Harry, I’ll do my best not to eat you when you grow your wings, even if you do look like an owl.
*
Severus turned and sighed a little when he saw the door open and Harry enter. He had had only a few minutes before he would have felt compelled to go looking for Harry, as much as he didn’t want to hurry him into this.
But letting him enter it unprepared would have been worse.
“Lucius Malfoy has arranged a large meeting with the pure-bloods he contacted for later in July,” he said bluntly when he saw the way Harry was pausing with his hand on the door. Dash was coming in beside him, but paused halfway through and extended his tongue as if Severus’s scent would tell him all that words couldn’t. “But there is one pure-blood who insisted on meeting you right away.”
“Who?”
At least Harry’s voice was steady and he hadn’t turned pale yet, Severus noted with some respect. “Clarence Greengrass.”
Harry blinked. “He’s the one we sent the letter to the other day?”
“That’s right.” Severus stopped his pacing and sat down. Pacing wouldn’t make it any better.
“Why does he want to meet with us?”
“He did not say.”
Harry looked down at Dash, then back at Severus. “How much do you trust him?”
Severus relaxed. At least he and Dash could help Harry make up for his lack of political instincts until they finally began to develop on their own. “I do not know him that well. He was never a Death Eater, but he mouthed the right words when the Dark Lord was in power during the first war. He has two daughters in Slytherin. He might be interested in meeting with you mostly to protect them.”
“What kind of people are his daughters?”
“Quiet. Daphne—the older—more than the younger, Astoria.” Severus suspected that the Greengrass girls were using a strategy taught to them by their father, who had wanted to avoid notice in the first war, too.
“But not blood purists? Or bullies?”
“No,” said Severus. “They would have voiced such beliefs by now if they had them, I think.” He knew for a fact that some of the former Death Eater parents had cautioned their children to remain quiet about blood purity when they entered the school, but they hadn’t obeyed. In Severus’s experience, eleven-year-olds rarely did.
“All right. Where are we meeting with him?”
“He’s coming here, of course. I would never expose you to a potential threat in an area that we don’t know well, or that doesn’t have my personal protections woven over it.”
Harry’s eyelids drooped a little, and he had that look on his face that meant he was talking to Dash. A second later, he nodded, and they faced the fireplace. Severus let one of his hands brush Harry’s shoulder before he stepped away. An old-fashioned pure-blood like Clarence Greengrass would take any support from a guardian as a sign of weakness.
And what they wanted to impress him with was Harry’s strength.
The Floo opened, and Clarence Greengrass popped out. Like his daughters, he had golden hair and green eyes, although his hair and beard were now more straw than flaxen. He stared at Harry for a second, and then spent longer staring at Dash.
“Good morning, Lord Slytherin,” Greengrass finally said.
Severus hid a wince. He hadn’t gone over possible responses to this with Harry, because he hadn’t thought Greengrass would pick such a way to address Harry.
“I can’t claim that title,” Harry said quietly, his chin proudly lifted, and if Dash was feeding him words, no one could tell who wasn’t familiar with the way he usually communicated with his snake. “Dash is the one who has the soul of Salazar Slytherin.”
“Dash?”
“That was the name he wanted me to call him by when we first met.”
Severus could see Clarence making the determination that a sixteen-foot basilisk could be called whatever he wanted to be called. “Indeed. Should I greet him as Lord Slytherin?”
“If you want to,” said Harry. His lips were twitching uncontrollably, even though Severus subtly pinched the back of his arm. It must be something Dash had said. Not for the first time, Severus wished he was a part of that mental bond.
Clarence bent down in front of Dash, and bowed. If he felt ridiculous doing so to a snake, he didn’t show it. In fact, his eyes were wide. Severus had nearly forgotten the impact of Dash’s presence on people seeing him for the first time. “Greetings, Lord Slytherin. I hope I haven’t offended you by asking for this meeting.”
Dash opened his jaws and hissed aloud. Severus jumped along with Clarence. Harry only stood there, nodding soberly in response to whatever Dash was saying.
Which could have been conveyed perfectly well down the mental bond, Severus thought, with a roll of his eyes that he struggled hard to suppress. But of course, that way wouldn’t give them a chance to show off.
“He says that the meeting isn’t an inconvenience to him,” Harry translated, with another twitch of his lips that Severus sincerely hoped Clarence didn’t notice. “But he does say that it’s a bit of an inconvenience to his human allies. So he hopes that you’ll send advance notice before asking for another one.”
“Of course, of course.” Clarence sounded a little breathless. He took a moment to wipe at his beard, and then said, “What are your plans for the wizarding world, Lord Slytherin?”
Dash didn’t bother pretending that he couldn’t understand English. He hissed again, and that made Clarence look at him with fearful respect. Again Harry listened, and then provided a translation that Severus suspected was far from literal. “He says that he intends to keep me safe, since I’m the only Parselmouth who would translate for him. And he intends to protect anyone who allies with him. We want to form a side in the war that doesn’t owe allegiance to Dumbledore’s ideals or the Dark Lord who wants to destroy us.”
Severus blinked. Perhaps that was a more literal translation than he’d thought.
“How many people can we draw to a third side?”
Harry gave a long translation for a short series of hisses this time, but then, for all Severus knew, this was a subject Harry and Dash had discussed many times before. “Many Dark creatures, including werewolves. Wizards who are fearful and just looking for someone to protect them, no matter who. People in the Ministry who have tried reform and are sick and tired of not getting anywhere. Families who are already allied with us because I’m a Parselmouth. Some of the Hogwarts students and their families. Those who trusted Dumbledore and are feeling betrayed. Some of the Light wizards in Europe, even, who have standards that are more about battling Dark Lords than Dark spells.”
Severus did his best not to let his jaw fall. That might show that he hadn’t consulted enough with Harry, and make him look weak in front of Clarence.
On the other hand, Clarence wasn’t hiding his own astonishment well, either. He swallowed, and then considered for a moment. “You think that you could treat my daughters well even though they’re Slytherins?”
“I have Slytherin friends. Someone should have told you that I associated with Draco Malfoy and Severus here long before I found out that my basilisk has Salazar Slytherin’s soul.”
Severus nearly snorted. Associated, indeed. Curious, he noted that Harry said nothing of Lucius Malfoy. Maybe he wanted to deny Lucius any influence while he could—a wise idea—or assumed that Clarence didn’t need the reminder, since Lucius had been the one to contact him.
“You have a deal, as far as I’m concerned,” said Clarence, and held out his hand. Harry shook it. Then Clarence bowed to Dash again, who hissed in response, and turned and went back through the Floo without stopping. Severus shook his head. Well, he had always been an abrupt man.
“Do you think that went well?” Harry asked anxiously, turning to look at Severus again.
“Very well. Clarence was impressed, and there are people who will at least listen to him even if they won’t make their decision based on his. I think—”
Severus didn’t have the chance to finish, because Dash lifted his head and hissed again, and there was a tremendous knock on the door. Severus glanced narrow-eyed at Dash, but he didn’t move, and Harry nodded, trembling a little. Severus opened the door.
Remus Lupin stood there, his eyes almost glowing golden as he stared at Harry and only Harry, paying no attention to Severus or Dash. “Hello,” he whispered.
Wonderful, Severus thought.
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A Brother to Basilisks