Chapter Text
Chapter 1
‘Ow,’ Draco whined, dazed from the sharp pain running along his shoulders and spreading down his back. He whimpered, feeling pin pricks of pain that increased through his spine into a constant burn across him. Turning over in bed, the sensation jabbed at him like a knife.
“Fuuuck—” he gasped, letting out a hiss of air. Okay, lying on his back was a bad idea.
He brought his hand up to his shoulders, he could feel wetness on his shoulders and there was something breaking out of his skin.
‘What is happening?’ he whimpered, his breath beginning to come in short gasps. Sitting up, he grasped for his wand.
“Lumos.”
Red flashed into view and he winced at the blood covering his hands and pyjamas as well as soaking the bed and pillow beneath him, a whine broke from his lips, echoing the fear crashing through him. He drew back the curtains. It seemed no one had woken from his sounds of pain, most people put silencing charms on their beds nowadays to avoid being woken up by the snoring of other students. AKA. Goyle.
Pulling himself up, the things protruding from his shoulders dragged along the ground. The weight on his back pulled him to the floor and he winced, biting back his ragged breathing and telling himself to calm down. Just calm down.
The pain was almost too much for him to stand. He grabbed on to the bedpost and pulled himself forward, his body awkward and not moving the way he wanted it to.
‘I have to get to Professor Snape,’ he exhaled a steady breath, latching on to the thought through the burning across his skin. ‘He’ll know what to do.’
He walked barefoot to the door of the dorms, a trail of blood following him down the steps to the Slytherin common room. His vision blurred in a horrible way, spots of colour appearing as he walked down the hallways of Hogwarts.
When he got to the steps down to the potions classroom he almost collapsed down them, he had never felt pain like this before, his shoulders ached and he had to stop himself from slipping on his own blood as he moved around.
He grasped onto the wall with shaking hands and knocked, putting as much force as he could into each steady thump on the door to the potions classroom. He could hear Professor Snape slam open the door of his office.
-
“Who could it possibly be at three in the morning,” Professor Snape growled as he opened the door, Draco fell forward with it, letting out a soft whimper.
A split second was all it took for Severus Snape to react. He pulled Draco inside and left him leaning against a work desk. He went straight to the fireplace and spoke into it. “I apologise for the time but there is an emergency situation please come immediately,” he said in a rush, making sure to send the message to both Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.
He then picked up some blankets from his office and removed his supplies from his desk as fast as possible. Draco had his head resting on a workbench and his eyes were screwed up in pain.
‘I’ll have to get a new desk after this, ’ Snape thought with mild annoyance. He pulled Draco over and sat him in his chair, pushing him to rest his head and arms over the desk so he could reach his back without trouble. Draco slumped forward with a whine.
He grabbed the mass of blood soaked bone and feathers coming out of Draco’s back. The boy just whimpered in agony. The blood made it hard to see what was going on and the light in the dungeons never had been very good, so he spelled the windows to give off more light.
A few minutes later, Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey hurried through the door without knocking. Usually that would annoy him, but Snape was just glad they had come so fast.
“Whatever is the matter, Severus?” Dumbledore asked, calm as ever as he approached the still whimpering Draco.
“Ask questions later, Headmaster,” Madam Pomfrey said, rushing forward to help the Potions Master with the boy.
She looked him over with a professional eye, glancing at Snape when she was done. “What medical supplies do you have down here Professor?" she asked him, already fumbling through his cabinets as if she didn’t expect him to give her an answer. "We’ll need something to reduce the pain immediately and a blood replenishing potion”.
As Snape moved over to the cabinet where he kept medical supplies, she began pulling the mass of feathers and stretching them out from Draco’s back, he whined pathetically, digging his fingers into the desk.
“What do we need to do first, Poppy?” asked Dumbledore, moving beside her and helping to pull out the wing on Draco’s other side.
“Clean them,” she instructed. “We need to wash off all the blood from them, but be careful where they meet his back and shoulders, we don’t know the extent of the damage. Thank goodness the wounds don’t yet look infected.”
They cast a soft aguamenti together onto the feathers and Severus helped Draco drink a pain potion then laid some towels on the floor below. It was making a right mess of his classroom...
Madam Pomfrey cast 'tergeo' over the wounds on his back to remove the drying blood as Dumbledore and Severus continued to clean up the feathers.
“Poor dear, they’ve ripped right through his back on their way out,” she muttered. As the blood washed away it left the wings a soft ivory colour, almost all white with hints of cream and flecks of yellow, it was a colour just a little lighter than Draco’s platinum blond hair.
By the time they had cleaned up all of the blood and moved to actually heal the wounds on his back Draco was sniffling softly, the pain had lessened with the help of the potions, but the ache was still there. With every movement of his wings his shoulders felt more and more stiff as they were being pulled about in severely uncomfortable directions.
Madam Pomfrey leaned in closer and cast 'Lumos' to get a proper look at the boys back. Letting out a small gasp at the extent of the wounds, she moved slower, it appeared that when the wings suddenly grew they burst out from beneath his skin.
She cast a quick spell, using her magic to scan for injuries, thankful that his muscles were not damaged, in fact the wings themselves seemed to be connected to Draco’s shoulder blades through a mass of new bone and muscle.
Further, it appeared as though the area around where the wings and muscles connected there was a whole new nervous system in place.
“Vulnera Sanentur,” she cast, and the wounds began to heal.
Headmaster Dumbledore cleared his throat. “Keep him here for the night Severus, we don’t want to risk moving him to the hospital wing right now. We will have to discuss this in more detail in the morning.”
‘It already is morning, ’ Snape thought, spiteful that this had taken up his early morning. The time was now 5:23am and he had to teach idiot Gryffindors in less than four hours. Not to mention he’d have to go and clean up the ominous trail of blood that was leading from his door to the desk, meaning it was likely also leading from the Slytherin common room to the potions classroom.
Madam Pomfrey gave a weak agreement, but lectured him on proper pain potion administration for a good 5 minutes, despite the fact he already knew…he was a potions master. Thank you very much.
“Poppy and I will be back around lunchtime Severus, I leave Mr. Malfoy in your capable hands,” Dumbledore gave a smile, his eyes twinkling as they left the room together.
Oh no…he knew that twinkle, Dumbledore was planning something.
With a sigh at what was going to no doubt be a long day, Snape helped Draco to stand. But the wings seemed to throw him entirely off balance. The added weight from his back caused him to fall backwards unless he leaned very far forwards, of course then the weight would keep him falling forwards and that would lead to him falling to the ground face first.
The wings themselves were twitching and fluttering as they dried off. He brought Draco into his office and transfigured his own bed into a larger one that would fit the wings in a more comfortable way.
‘Not like I’m planning on getting any more sleep now anyway,’ he thought, handing Draco a small vial of dreamless sleep before heading back into the potions classroom to clean up a little.
While Draco collapsed onto the bed and drifted off from exhaustion. Severus took a deep breath as he processed the night's events.
Hard whisky.
That’s what he WANTED to drink. But Nooo~~ooo all the magical world had was motherfreakin’ butterbeer. Also he had to teach a Gryffindor 4th year class soon… Ugh.
When the time for class began. he left Draco still sleeping in his office. Which he locked and warded in case idiot Gryffindors tried to steal things from his office when he wasn’t looking. He wasn’t taking any more chances with Potter and those other two in his class.
The Gryffindors piled into the room as uncivilised as always and he began his class.
He heard whispering and immediately swirled on the offender, deducting points. He was in no mood for chattering today. As he moved to the board he noticed the students pointing towards his desk. No doubt they noticed the blood stains he couldn’t seem to get out, despite how many times he cast scourgify.
Oh well. Let them wonder.
Half way through his lesson, he was in the middle of scolding Longbottom who had once again burned a hole through the desk when a loud crashing sound came from his office.
The students all looked at him.
He continued his lesson after taking away points from anyone who tried to ask about the noise. An unmistakable sound of glass hitting the floor made him take a deep sigh.
Giving his instructions for the potion they would be doing as fast as possible, and after making sure all of the students were busy with their potion, he went into his office. He locked it behind him to keep away snoopers.
Draco was still lying in bed but his wings were hazardous, knocking into everything on the desk nearby. He picked up the photo frame that had smashed on the floor and removed everything within wing distance to a safer part of the room.
He cast a silencing charm onto the door. Curses, He knew he’d forgotten something, he should have cast one before he left the room earlier, he’d been too busy setting up for class and removing blood marks.
“Draco, are you awake?” he asked.
A low whine was the only indicator that Draco was indeed awake. He was now lying on his front with the wings twitching mindlessly against his back. He sighed leaving the room again to finish class.
“Sir,” said Granger as they packed up.
He levelled her with a hard glare that said ‘ask me and you die.’
“Yes,” he drawled.
“Ummm…nothing,” she said, backing away.
Potter tugged her arm and they left. Severus humphed and grabbed a pain reducing potion before heading back into his office. Potter had been a cloud of amusing depression the past few days, he supposed it was the death of that Hufflepuff boy at the end of the tournament. Of course he wasn’t amused by the death, it was just that a depressed Potter was easier to deal with.
It was even more amusing to him that even after the events of the third task Dumbledore hadn’t cancelled the end of year exams. He’d cancelled them in 2nd year just because a few people got petrified but when someone actually died? Exams for all.
Draco looked over at him when he came in, he had rolled onto his side with the wings taking up the majority of the bed behind him. “Professor? My back hurts,” Draco whimpered in a quiet voice that he would have missed if the room wasn’t silent.
Snape walked over and helped him to sit up, he packed a bunch of pillows around the wings so Draco could actually sit back comfortably without putting strain on his back to do so.
“Drink this, Madam Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore will be by later to check your back,” he said.
He didn’t want to risk hurting Draco more by trying to check the state of his injuries himself. The wounds around the wings would need to be healed by a professional and whatever strain the wings caused his muscles would have to be reduced over time.
It isn’t everyday that your back suddenly sprouts a pair of wings that weigh almost half one's body-weight. His muscles would definitely need time to get used to the weight and become strong enough to be able to carry them properly.
Severus sat down at his desk and looked at the time, there was still an hour or so before lunch. As exams were only a few days away he didn’t have too much marking to do, it was mostly from the 6th year Slytherins who wanted to do extra credit.
All other students were busy practising or studying. He was 98% sure more than half of his Gryffindor class was going to fail judging from the lesson they'd just had.
He hummed to himself as he marked.
Now normally, he wasn’t the kind of person to be surprised by things... in the wizarding world weird things happened all the time, and you got used to it pretty fast.
But this, this had thrown him off.
After all, when things like this happen it’s usually because of a person coming into a creature inheritance, but in this case–Well it was certainly more of a surprise. Although…it made sense. Today was June 5th, Draco’s birthday.
A knock on the door at around midday startled him from his work. Draco had dozed off, still propped up against the pillows.
“Severus, how is the boy?” Madam Pomfrey asked bustling into the room.
Sighing, and rubbing his aching head, he replied. “He woke up an hour or two ago and I gave him another potion for the pain.”
Madam Pomfrey nodded and woke Draco, trying not to startle him.
-
‘Ow,’ Draco winced as he sat up and the wings pulled on his back. He felt lightheaded and dizzy but he sat on the edge of the bed so that Madam Pomfrey could prod at him with her wand. He was having a hard time not falling backwards even with her keeping him steady from behind him.
“Now tell me Mr. Malfoy, where is the strain most prominent,” she asked, her voice was gentle and warm, not at all like it usually was when he was in the hospital wing.
Blinking at her words, he didn’t quite register them for a few seconds “...I guess, near my shoulders?” he answered.
She nodded and mhmm’d waving her wand over the area. “Your muscles here are very tense. Your joints need to be free to give you movement but where these wings have connected to the scapula your back muscles have also been strained. You are going to need to exercise them slowly for them to get stronger,” she instructed.
Dumbledore swept into the room beaming. “How are we this morning?” he greeted, sounding cheerful as ever.
“He isn’t going to be able to take his exams like this,” Snape stated. “He is in far too much pain to focus and who knows what stress is going to happen to his mind over the next few days.”
“Not to worry my dear Severus, we will have special circumstances set up. The main problem we have now is not about school, but in fact about what will happen to Mr. Malfoy when he leaves,” Dumbledore smiled.
Draco blinked again, realising that they were talking about him, he looked up at them. “Why–What happened to me? What am I?” He knew of creature inheritance but there was absolutely no way he could be a half-breed.
Dumbledore’s tone turned serious. “I will tell you everything I know my dear boy, but the truth is...we don’t know much about what is happening, or what will happen to you,” he replied with gentle words that felt heavy and comforting as the Headmaster sat on the bed next to him. Or maybe that was just the pain potions.
“You are in fact an Angel. Normally there is only one or two every century or so therefore we do not know a lot about them.”
“...an Angel,” Draco repeated slowly.
“Yes, I believe the most there has ever been in a century is seven and that was a long, long, long, time ago,” he said, solemn. “But not to worry, I'm sure I can find some old books.”
“I’ve heard of Angels…” Draco mumbled as his mind caught up. “But they are myths.”
“Well we haven’t seen an Angel in a long time, the last one died 99 years ago if I am not mistaken.” Dumbledore mused. “Unfortunately, I only had the pleasure of meeting them when I was very young.”
A dull pain began to pound in Draco’s head due to the information. He brought a hand up to press at his forehead, as if this would stop his brain from exploding from the pressure. “But…but I thought Angels were good…they use light magic and help people. I’m not…I can’t be…”
“It is true Mr. Malfoy,” the Headmaster continued. “Angels use magic from the very core of their magical energy, therefore their magic is the most pure it can possibly be. When you use that kind of magic you do not need a wand to channel through, as your body is the wand. However, when you are using core magic you will be unable to use an offensive attack.”
“What? But…how does that make sense!” Draco grumbled, wincing as Madam Pomfrey moved his wings around.
Dumbledore hummed. “I suppose the magic at your core is almost like a living thing itself, and in its purest form magic doesn’t want to be used to harm others. Therefore it is less that you cannot use offensive spells, and more that any spell you use with the intent to hurt someone simply will not work,” the old wizard smiled at him, looking as though he was sharing some hilarious joke that Draco had somehow missed out on. “Historically, Angels are usually very good at healing and supporting spells however.”
Narrowing his eyes a little, he bit out the question burning in his chest. "What about…evil people?"
The Headmaster frowned, shifting in his seat. "Well, I think you'll find very few 'evil' people have ever become Angels. But life is much more complicated than 'good and evil' my dear boy, and magic has always worked in mysterious ways."
“I don’t understand,” he whispered. “My family is…I mean, how can I be an–an Angel?”
“I will be straight with you Mr. Malfoy, as far as we are aware, Angels are chosen entirely at random. There is no way of knowing who will become one or even what age they will become one. For years wizards have tried to find a pattern to it, yet none has yet been found."
Dumbledore paused, letting the information sink in for the confused blond before continuing, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder to steady his shaking.
"However, now that you are indeed, an Angel, your entire existence will change whether you want it to or not. Of course, you will not change drastically on the inside, but you may find yourself feeling that you shouldn’t harm others, no matter who they are. I'm afraid the magic you possess is hard to understand, and it may respond to you differently to how your magic has up until now.”
Draco's head was spinning with information…he couldn’t believe this; it didn’t make sense. His migraine got stronger as he tried to process the information.
“I—What happens now?” Draco asked, feeling the need to put his other hand to his head too, in an effort to stop the pounding.
“That is entirely up to you,” Dumbledore smiled. “We will help and protect you if you let us. Or you can return to your family and let them help―”
Severus cut him off and argued. “Send him back there? With the Dark Lord? Do you wish him to be tortured?” he growled.
“Voldemort would not harm him. He would use him for his magical power and use him as an object, but he would not be harmed.” Dumbledore said in a voice so calm, it was as though he was talking about the weather.
He turned back to Draco. “Indeed, if you truly wish to go back to your family we cannot stop you. They are your family after all and we would never ask you to turn your back on them. But if you do go back you WILL be used by Voldemort for your power. It is your choice,” the Headmaster pressed.
“...I...don’t know…” he said, there was a mind-numbing thumping in his head that kept getting stronger.
“Not to worry there is still a week or two for you to decide,” Dumbledore smiled, cheerful again.
“I…” pain flashed through his skull.
“I…don’t want...”
Everything turned black.
-
He woke up again still in Professor Snape’s bed but this time no one was around. Shifting himself around, he winced as his wing hit the bedside table. “Stupid bloody things,” he muttered, taking a moment to stare at the appendages that had ruined his life.
The pristine, cream coloured feathers fluttered as though amused by his annoyance.
With far too much effort, he managed to sit up, but standing seemed to elude him, he just couldn’t get his balance right and the pull on his shoulders was damn painful.
Professor Snape walked into the room while the blond was glaring at his uncooperative wings.
“Ah Draco, at last,” he said.
Draco looked up tilting his head in confusion at the Potions Professor, who didn't seem to notice and simply pulled out some potion vials. “You’ve been out for a week after all.”
“A―A week!” Draco exclaimed. “But…what about the exams?” he asked.
“Ah yes…well you’ve pretty much missed them,” Professor Snape drawled. “However, in light of the circumstances Headmaster Dumbledore has given you grades based on what he thinks you should have got,” Professor Snape said as if that were entirely normal.
“But…I didn’t―I mean...” Draco's voice hitched and trailed off.
Snape sighed, handing the blonde a potion for the pain and making sure he drank it before speaking. “Well you wouldn’t be able to do most of the exams anyway as you are in no fit state to make a potion and you cannot even stand to try your Defence Against the Dark Arts or Charms exams…Dumbledore thought it would be better this way. He also wants to keep this a secret from other students, so currently no one knows what has happened to you.”
‘...and explaining the blood in the dorms to the Slytherin students had led to quite a few small memory charms.’
What was worse, he had found Potter snooping around outside of the potions classroom once or twice. If he caught him again there were going to be more than just detentions.
Draco’s head was spinning again and he laid back against the pillows, wincing with a sharp intake of breath as the wings dragged on the bedsheets and weighed him down.
“Now we need to talk seriously,” Snape said. “We are going to quite literally kidnap you if you decide you want our help, I personally do not want you anywhere near the Dark Lord, and the longer we can keep the existence of you away from him, the better off the light side of the incoming war will be. But you have to let us help you. And it will mean going against everything you have ever been told by your father.”
With a steadying breath, Draco just nodded. This was important, he knew how power hungry the Dark Lord was...that’s why Slytherins admired his ambition. He also knew that his father was involved, after the final test of the tournament he had received a letter from his father informing him that the Dark Lord would be at their house over the summer so he should be prepared.
If he went home–Of course, he wanted to be with his family. He hadn’t cared much before about rising Dark Lords or anything, it was his father's business not his.
But now…to be used to fight a war…on either side of a war…for some reason in his head it just...felt wrong. It wasn’t just the Dark Lord, it was being involved with war at all... The whole idea was bothering him.
He made a decision. He just hoped it wasn’t a bad one.
“...Can you help me?” he asked.
Snape just nodded and left the room.
-
Draco spent a few days sleeping and listening to Madam Pomfrey's advice on his wings. Then, four days before the end of school, which was six days before all of the students went home, they left for a certain house.
Dumbledore knocked on the door, while Professor Snape looked around with suspicion. “Really Headmaster, this dump is going to be the new Headquarters for the Order?” he growled.
“You’ll love it,” Dumbledore twinkled.
The door knocker was engraved with serpents, which Draco approved of even if it was rather rusty, and after two bangs, the door opened on its own. Inside felt like a derelict building, rotting and shabby. A few creatures scurried past them in the hallway.
There was no way they were leaving him in this dump, right?...Right? They continued through the dark hall up to the main room.
“Dumbles! Snivels! To what do we owe the pleasure!” someone shouted, standing up as they entered, Snape glowered at a shaggy haired man who somehow resembled an overexcited dog.
“I'm sure you received my missive, Sirius?” Dumbledore asked, smiling wide.
“Yes!” 'Sirius' said, also with a wide grin. “Although I hope you know what you’re doing, leaving a teenager in the hands of me and Remmy.” He made gunshot gestures with his hands and winked.
Snape clenched his fists as though he was restraining himself from smacking him.
“Draco,” he said. “You will be staying here from now on, if the mutt bothers you just let me know and I will have him neutered,” he said, smiling cruelly at Sirius who winced and stepped behind the kitchen counter to put distance between himself and the Head of Slytherin house.
“That’s mean,” the man sulked. “I wouldn’t be cruel to my own flesh and blood Snivels, you know that.”
“We’re related?” Draco asked, his voice still quiet and a little hoarse, he was relying on Severus’s arm to keep himself upright but the house was intriguing, there were serpents everywhere, engraved into the architecture and objects around them.
“Of course!” Sirius exclaimed. “We’re Blacks! Which means you get to help me prank people in the house! Ow! Remus why?” he whined as Lupin entered behind them and smacked him on the head with an old, rolled up issue of The Daily Prophet .
Although he’d been told that his old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was going to be there, Draco tensed with the man, the werewolf, in front of him. Remus growled, crossing his arms. “And just who is pranking who?”
“Not you,” Sirius whined. “Other people…”
Snape helped Draco sit down at a chair, which was very awkward considering his wings were large enough to take up three quarters of the chair on their own, and they were still growing bigger.
“We will be back when school ends. Make sure to drink the potions I left you, or Madam Pomfrey will have my head, she wanted you to stay at Hogwarts for longer before moving, but unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of time on our hands,” said the potions Professor.
“You’ll have a wonderful stay here,” smiled Headmaster Dumbledore, not even giving him a second glance as he left the room whistling.
Snape eyed Sirius and Remus. “Just don’t let those two pester you,” he muttered, somehow getting enough darkness across in his voice that it made his skin crawl a little.
Draco nodded and looked at the two people, guardians?... Who were currently smacking each other and arguing over. Ice cream?... They would be helping him now that he was an Angel?
Yeah, he was screwed.
-
“Something is up,” said Harry for the fourth time that day.
“Honestly Harry I know what you saw on the map but I think you are just jumping to conclusions,” said Hermione. She was still studying even though the exams were over, and she didn’t even bother looking up at him as she spoke.
Harry pouted, she kept saying that. “Malfoy has been in Snape’s private office for the past week, practically un-moving, and you think I’M jumping to conclusions.”
“Mate, you need to give the map a rest,” said Ron.
“Not you too,” Harry sighed, frowning at his unsupportive friends. “Come on guys, no one in the school knows where Malfoy is and on the map he’s been in Snape’s office the whole time. Shouldn’t we do something?”
“Honestly. Harry, I think there are bigger things to worry about than what Malfoy’s doing in his spare time,” said Ron.
They left it at that.
Harry sighed, Ron was right of course. Voldemort was back, he was having nightmares about… Cedric… every night. He had bigger things to worry about.
...But just what WAS Malfoy doing in Snape’s room?!? He started pacing again, ignoring Ron and Hermione’s annoyance.
‘It didn’t make sense, why would Malfoy disappear and hide in Snape’s rooms. And what were the crashing sounds in their potions lesson? Was it something to do with Voldemort? What if Snape and Malfoy were planning something!’
“What’s up Harry?” asked Neville. He hadn’t even noticed the sandy-blond haired boy come over.
“Nothing,” he replied a little too quickly.
Hermione sighed aloud and looked at him.
“What?” he asked. It was kind of rude how little they cared about this. Of course there were other things to worry about but one of those things was the disappearance/not real disappearance of Malfoy!
He accepted the chocolate frog Neville offered him to calm his nerves then went upstairs to stare at the marauder's map some more... Then came running back down 5 minutes later.
“He’s GONE” Harry shouted, running towards the desk his friends were sitting and skidding to a halt.
“Who’s gone?” asked Neville, blinking up at him.
“Oh good, then you don’t need to obsess over him anymore,” said Hermione, rolling up a parchment and looking very pleased with herself.
Harry glared at her. “I mean he is gone , he isn’t in the castle anywhere!”
“Who?” asked Neville again.
“MALFOY,” shouted Harry, making several Gryffindors look over at them. Harry winced, feeling a little embarrassed and laid the map out on the desk in front of him, staring at it.
“Oh,” said Neville. “I heard some students talking about him disappearing but I assumed he just went home early like those Ravenclaws who got pulled out.”
Starting to pace again, Harry thought about it, voicing his opinion out loud.“That is true, but the Ravenclaws were different! They went home the same day as the final exams because their parents didn’t want them here after the tournament and… stuff. But Malfoy has been holed up in Snape’s room!”
“What was he doing there?” said Neville, still looking puzzled.
“EXACTLY!” Harry shouted, grinning at his puzzled friend.
“Now really Harry, you are acting like this is a conspiracy!” said Hermione putting her book down.
“Is it not!?!” he stated “How are you two not interested in this!”
“I’m interested,” piped up Neville.
“Thank you, Neville. See this is the response I wanted,” said Harry, making large gestures with his arms.
“Mate, you didn’t talk to us for a whole week because you wanted to be alone and we respected that but then when you started talking to us again it was only because you found Malfoy’s name in Snape’s room on the marauder's map,” said Ron.
Harry paused, they were right, of course they were... “I’m sorry I shut you out...but this is important,” he insisted.
Hermione sighed. “Show me the map.”
Harry broke into a smile and pulled it over to her on the desk. The other Gryffindors in the room were ignoring them again.
“Wow! This is amazing,” said Neville.
“Yes yes, now do you see Malfoy’s name anywhere?” asked Harry.
“No, but I don’t see Snape’s either,” Ron grunted.
“I knew it! They are up to something!”
“It’s the end of term, I seriously doubt they could be up to anything,” said Hermione.
“Now wait a minute Hermione, what if Harry’s on to something,” said Ron.
They spent the rest of the evening speculating about what mysterious plot Malfoy and Snape could be up to. Their theories only became worse when Hermione pointed out that Dumbledore was nowhere to be found either.
-
After the assembly for the official end of school and Dumbledore’s speech on the return of the Dark Lord, Severus waited just outside of the Great Hall for the students to leave.
The plan was set. Severus was pretty sure this wasn’t going to work.
The doors opened and he drank the polyjuice potion quickly, heading outside with all of the other students.
“Draco!” called Zabini and the two blubbering oafs.
‘Draco’ nodded to them and they walked towards the train together.
“Hey! Where have you been the past few weeks? We thought you missed the exams, but I guess I just didn’t see you,” Blaise said cheerfully, ah yes Blaise Zabini had been hit with several memory charms after he’d cleaned away the blood from Draco’s bed.
He stared at them, gaze and tone cold. “I’ve been busy,” he stated. He waited until they were just about halfway to the train, then stopped and looked at the forbidden forest. ‘...give them a few seconds… ’ he thought.
“What are you staring at?” asked Blaise.
“Nothing… Go on without me,” he said and turned to walk back up the hill, they called after him but Severus knew they couldn’t follow, he was already among the hundreds of other students walking towards the train. He saw Potter stare at him wide eyed as he walked past and resisted the urge to sneer at him.
He walked until he was in the forbidden forest and out of sight then waited for the train to leave. ‘ Great, now I have to wait for this potion to wear off, ’ he thought, muttering dark things.
By the time he got back to the Great Hall Dumbledore was the only one there and his eyes were twinkling like usual.
“How did it go, Severus?” he said smiling.
“This is either an act of genius or an act of madness, Headmaster. But it went fine, I believe enough students saw Draco walking into the forbidden forest for ‘he’s mysteriously missing’ to be a believable alibi,” Severus said, feeling his IQ drop with every step of this poorly thought out plan. “Although you are still going to get heat from Lucius when his son doesn’t turn up on the other side of the train...and if Narcissa shows up...I’m not here.”
“Well then you had better visit now before you have to stick around and prove you aren’t behind anything,” Dumbledore said, his eyes still twinkling.
Severus sighed heavily, this was all horribly rushed, and if it worked without any screw ups it meant he owed that mongrel 10 galleons. Surprising how the most stupid ideas worked out because no one thought it could be fake.