Poses

Harry couldn\'t sleep. Or rather, he didn\'t think he could sleep. However, as he rolled over to look at the clock, he noted it was now half two in the morning. He must have dozed off at some point, since it was much later and Ron was no longer in the room.

Because his arms had been around Draco, the one under his lover\'s neck was asleep. Pumping his fist, he winced at the pins and needles that the blood flushing back into the appendage caused. In spite of having a nap, he felt listless. Worse yet, he was wide-awake now.

He watched the regular rise and fall of Draco\'s chest, frowning at how he had his dressing gown pulled tight. Draco was undeniably broken on some level that in spite of talking, holding, and trying to just be there for him, Harry was unable to fix. This was all Snape\'s fault, and this time there was no quibbling about that fact. Severus Snape broke his boyfriend and was now sleeping in the drawing room where Draco had once sought refuge. Because of that, Harry refused to let Draco leave the room, although he failed to inform him of Snape\'s presence in the house. Draco seemed content to stay in the room, which was a small mercy, as Harry knew he couldn\'t lie to him.

Harry assumed the reason Snape hadn\'t burst in on their little nest was that Remus was keeping him at bay. It felt good to have someone on his side regarding Snape, although he knew that Ron and Hermione were probably also doing what they could. He wished that Molly and Arthur were there; Molly would certainly have sent Snape packing by now. But they had been called away from their shopping trip in Diagon Alley to tend to Charlie, who had been poisoned by a Peruvian Vipertooth.

Why the Romanian sanctuary was housing a Peruvian dragon was never explained. Not that he cared much beyond worrying that Charlie was going to be all right, which he was assured that he was. Had he been of a clearer mind he might\'ve sussed that Charlie had gone to Peru rather than the other way around, but his brain was too full with the immediate. The elder Weasleys had gone along with Ginny to Romania, leaving Ron to tend to Hermione who was still occasionally weak from the shock of Voldemort\'s cursed book.

Mulling these thoughts, Harry had a revelation. Remus would be asleep in Sirius\'s old room upstairs. Ron and Hermione were asleep in her room. Draco had likely taken the sleeping draught he\'d been provided. Snape was alone in the drawing room. Artfully, he wrangled his now mostly-functional arm out from under Draco and slid his wand into his waistband. It was time he had a chat with the greasy git.

--

The first blow was immediate. Harry had crept into the room full of intentions of telling Snape off, not hitting him. Granted, he was likely to yell at him at wand-point, but he intended to let him know that he didn\'t care for his hanging about waiting to talk to Draco. Instead, brooding over how Draco was traumatised nearly beyond recognition, his fist balled up and flew at the man\'s face.

Snape\'s beady black eyes opened, trying to register what was going on. Harry hit him again, harder this time. He could hear the cartilage snap and the sickening give of the solid mass under his knuckles. Then he hit him again, on the jaw. He didn\'t care that Snape was coughing and sputtering. The thrill of seeing blood pumping out of his nose and filling in his pallid features incited Harry. He leapt upon the man\'s torso, now hitting hard with both fists, letting them fly at his face, down his shoulders, occasionally blocking the older man\'s flailing. Each meaty connect of skin-on-skin thrilled him till he found that he was just pounding the flat side of both fists into Snape\'s chest in unison.

\"Harry, stop.\"

The voice was barely above the whisper, and thick with emotion. Harry dropped his fists and glanced at Snape, whose eyes were closed and body still. He looked towards the door to see the small, ghostly pale figure framed in the waning moonlight.

\"Oh, Harry.\"

Harry\'s chest tightened at the intruder\'s quiet sniffles, and then the pale figure disappeared. No. He stared in horror at the empty doorway, puzzled by Draco\'s response. Was Draco crying over Snape being injured? He rose and started towards the door, halting as the shimmer of Draco\'s dressing gown caught his eye.

Draco fled back through the door, his wand in one hand and a vial in the other. \"Harry, Harry... what have you done?\" he asked as he paced in front of the Black family tapestry. He glared disdainfully at the wall hanging and then turned back to Harry and shook his head.

\"Are you... angry? He... he attacked you, Draco. And he\'s... \" Harry gestured in a broad manner, not sure how to explain.

\"He\'s been here. I know.\"

Harry noticed that Draco couldn\'t meet his gaze, and only then did the words register. \"You... knew?\"

Draco nodded. He glowered at Snape\'s unconscious form and then looked back at Harry. \"I... yes. I saw him on the way back from meeting with Dumbledore. Then I checked last night and saw he\'d stayed the night. I was just going to see if he was here again, but you were out of bed and... well...\" He gestured at Snape and his nostrils flared. \"This was stupid, Harry. It\'s not-- I can\'t blame you, but it-- \" His hand flew up to his forehead, the potion still clutched in it. \"Let\'s talk about this later.\" He made his way to Snape and grimaced at the injuries. \"I can\'t... fix all of this.\"

\"Fix it? Why would you fix it? He should have these injuries and pain to remind him of the consequences of touching you!\" Harry\'s gestures went wild as if his hands alone could make his point.

Draco peered at Harry as if he were a slow child. \"Harry. He\'s a Potions master. He won\'t experience the pain for so long as it takes him to drink a few of his own concoctions. Oh, but he\'ll leave the injuries to prove what a danger you are, how unbalanced. And you know? At the moment I\'m not sure I could disagree.\" He knew he was being snappy, and he understood that Harry had done this for him, but he was so worried about what mileage Snape could get out of this, he was determined to fix it.

\"I-- I\'m not... unbalanced,\" Harry complained. Looking at Snape\'s face, however, it did provide compelling evidence to the contrary. \"Do you think I\'m unbalanced?\"

Setting his wand on Snape\'s chest, Draco took Harry\'s hand and kissed it. \"I do. But I love you anyway.”

Harry had started to smile when Draco took his hand, not expecting the answer he got. \"Hey!\"

Draco nodded his head at Snape\'s face. \"Now hush so I can deal with this. Although... I don\'t know any charms for mending bones. I can probably get rid of most of these bruises.\"

\"Maybe we could just throw him down the stairs and claim that he\'s clumsy?\" Harry offered, but the look Draco gave him, made him hush. His Auror training taught him better than that, anyway. \"Wait, I know some charms for that. I wasn\'t brilliant with them... his nose might look a little funny...\"

Draco snorted and nudged Harry.

It took Harry a moment, and then he covered his mouth to chuckle. \"Point,\" Harry admitted. He eyed Draco and saw the boy grinning back up at him. It had been days since he\'d seen him smile. He leaned down and kissed his forehead, and this time, Draco didn\'t flinch, but tilted his head up and caught Harry\'s chin awkwardly with a quick press of lips.

\"Right then.\" Draco used his wand to set a couple of candles alight and the boys set to work, mending broken capillaries and a few small cuts and abrasions from Harry\'s nails. Taking Harry\'s hand, Draco deftly charmed the bruises as well as he could, although it would take some time for the swelling to go down on him as well as Snape. Finally, Harry concentrated and tried his \"Immendo\" charm. Snape\'s body twitched and flinched. Draco cast a silencing charm just in time to keep the man\'s scream from escaping.

Snape\'s furious expression made Draco gasp and Harry grabbed his shoulder as they both watched the man go for his wand. \"Petrificus Totalus,\" Harry snapped.

Draco grabbed the sleeping draught he\'d brought and poured it into Snape\'s gaping mouth. He swallowed out of reflex and after a few moments, his eyes looked hazy and his eyelids lolled, and he settled in to sleep. Dropping his wand on Snape\'s chest, Draco brought his hands up to cover his face.

Harry bent down and kissed his temple. \"You\'re very brave.\"

He was trembling and the last thing Draco felt right now was brave, but at least now he wasn\'t a victim. \"I\'m smart too,\" he said, his voice muffled by his hands. Gradually, he lowered his hands and peered up at Harry. \"And very attractive.\"

Harry grinned at him. \"Don\'t forget modest.\" He gave Draco\'s shoulder a squeeze and then helped him up, grabbing up his wand so they didn\'t forget it.

\"I leave the modesty to the Gryffindors.\" Draco didn\'t protest when Harry wrapped his arm around him, nor when he kissed him on the corner of his mouth.

\"Well, we are better at it,\" he teased, pulling him out of the drawing room.

\"Oh yes, modesty, such the skill. It gets you so far in life to muck about pretending you\'re not my hero.\" Draco slipped into their bedroom followed by Harry and closed the door.

\"Your unbalanced hero.\" Harry pointed out.

\"That does make it all very exciting.\" Draco slipped out of his dressing gown, but still got into the bed with his pyjamas on. It was a good first step. \"But... I am concerned about you. You\'re...\"

\"Aggressive?\" Harry hopped into bed with Draco and wrapped his arms around him. No matter what Draco seemed to think of his mental state, he wasn\'t shying away from the cuddling.

\"Let\'s go back to unbalanced.\" Grinning playfully, Draco scooted closer.

\"That\'s-- I\'ll admit I\'ve been more aggressive, but I... I kind of need to be. I suppose I\'m realizing that now. I have to-- there\'s something I didn\'t tell you. But then, I haven\'t really told anyone. Although most of the Order knows anyway, as they... need to.\" He ran his fingers through Draco\'s hair, savouring the feel of how silky it was compared to his as he tried to collect his thoughts.

\"Oh?\" Draco\'s body tensed, not sure what to expect.

\"I have to kill Voldemort. I don\'t... have a choice. I used to-- I guess when I was younger and thought Sirius betrayed my parents, I thought I could kill him. But I didn\'t think that... I guess... it\'s weird now. Knowing I\'m going to have to kill Voldemort. Even if he is... and I have every right to... it\'s just...\"

\"Taking a life....\" Surprisingly, Draco\'s gaze was directly on Harry\'s face and he met his eyes with intensity. \"It\'s not easy. It\'s worse to live with. Even when you\'re sure you made the right choice, even when everything inside of you knows that there was no other solution, it\'s always there. You ended someone. I\'m... I\'m here, Harry.\"

Harry felt guilty for not having been there for Draco. Obviously, he\'d been carrying all of this around since he\'d killed his father. \"Why didn\'t you tell me....\"

\"I\'m telling you now.\"

\"But you should\'ve-- you could\'ve...\"

\"I wasn\'t ready,\" said Draco. He entwined their fingers. \"And I didn\'t want to burden you. No, that\'s not entirely fair. I just didn\'t want to talk about it. It hurt too much, and it still does to a point. I\'m getting used to it, though. At first it was such a relief, to have him gone and to be able to make my own choices. Then... I felt guilty. I second-guessed things I could\'ve done. But you\'ll have none of that. You know you\'re supposed to do it. I just don\'t want you to change too much, Harry. Seeing you out of control like that... in the other room... it scares me.\"

\"It scares me too, Draco. I just... thought of all of the things he\'d done. I didn\'t-- I thought I\'d talk to him, but... I just lost my temper.\"

\"You lost your temper to a sleeping man?\"

\"You pointed out that I\'m unbalanced.\"

Draco rolled his eyes. \"Right, well... balance up a bit. Although I have to admit to finding it cathartic and a bit sexy to see you... that riled up.\"

\"Attacking a sleeping man is not my finest hour.\" Harry frowned, but at least Draco wasn\'t terrified by him.

\"No, but Snape isn\'t the finest man. All I could think about was how much I loved you and how scared I was that they were going to lock you up at St. Mungo\'s for that. You just had this manic look... \"

\"I thought you ran away never to return.\" Harry yawned, realizing suddenly how late it was, almost four and he\'d expended quite a bit of energy.

The yawn awakened similar urges in Draco and he repeated it. \"I almost did. Actually I was going to take the sleeping draught and try to pretend I didn\'t see anything at all, but then I realized that you were a Gryffindor and therefore you\'d need to be bailed out.\"

Harry decided to ignore the snark on his House, and just enjoyed that hisDraco was coming back to him. \"My hero.\"

\"Your balanced hero.\"

Harry readjusted the covers around them and gave the ceiling the indulgent smile Draco would\'ve gotten if he hadn\'t settled his head on Harry\'s chest to listen to the steady thrum of his heartbeat. \"Very balanced.\"

--

The next morning, Harry was surprised to awake to Draco fully dressed and reading. The smell of lavender and rosemary wafted through the room, indicating to Harry that Draco had already showered. \"Mmm, time is it?\" grumbled Harry.

Draco marked his place in the book and plucked Harry\'s glasses from the nightstand to hand to him. \"Half eight.\"

\"Early. You smell good.\" Harry rubbed his eyes, and gave a long yawn as he sat up. Then he pulled his glasses on and looked around, oblivious to his extreme bed head.

\"Smelling good comes from bathing, which I suggest you do. In spite of the dubious smells coming from downstairs, I\'m rather hungry.\"

That snapped Harry awake. \"You want me to bring you food?\"

\"No, I\'m going to breakfast. Enough of this maudlin hiding, I\'ve had my fill. I\'m going to go to breakfast and you\'re coming with me. But do have a shower before your rankness spoils my appetite.\" Draco smirked.

Harry couldn\'t help but brighten. Draco was being a playful prat. That in itself was encouraging, but he also wanted to leave the room. He was almost too pleased to remember that Snape might be out there. If that man had any sense, he would\'ve skittered home. \"Right, then. Be right back!\" he said, scampering to the shower.

Draco smiled to himself and took up the book.

--

On their way down to the kitchen, Harry paused him. \"Draco... one thing... about last night.\"

\"You\'re still unbalanced. Sorry. I still love you, if that helps?\" He smirked in his superior way and Harry couldn\'t keep from kissing the corner of his mouth.

\"No, not that. Arse. I meant with Snape.\" Harry frowned as Draco paled and flinched. He looked over his shoulder as if the man was there.

\"He\'s not here, he left,\" whispered Draco after confirming the man hadn\'t crept up on him.

Harry\'s eyes widened for a moment. \"He did? Err-- I mean, good. But that\'s not... what I was going to ask about.\" He was astonished that he hadn\'t thought about that. This other consideration had blocked out the others.

Draco toyed with the sleeve of his taupe robe. \"Harry, I\'m hungry. Can we talk about all this later?\"

\"I just... shouldn\'t we have wiped his memory?\" Harry gave Draco an anxious look. It had occurred to him in the shower, and he just couldn\'t wait to talk about it now. He should\'ve said something in the room, but Draco had rushed him to get dressed and he\'d forgotten again until now.

\"No. No, wiping his memory would be very bad.\" His eyes glittered with malice unlike Harry had ever seen, and he\'d seen quite a bit of Draco\'s nastiness in the past. \"I want him to remember it; every blow and every broken blood vessel. I want him to remember that you did it, and that I helped. I want him to be terrified and to know that his actions have a price.\"

\"But... but then he can tell someone, Draco.\" Harry tried to keep his whispering low, but he was starting to panic.

\"He has no proof, does he?\"

\"I-- he-- well-- no....\"

\"One thing I\'ve learned of late is that without proof, it didn\'t happen. Even when there is proof, sometimes people just don\'t care. Do you really think that anyone\'s going to investigate too hard that the Wonder boy might\'ve knocked about a greasy old paedophile?\" Draco smirked and caressed his cheek.

Maybe it was the touches, or maybe Harry just liked the way it sounded, but suddenly Draco was talking sense. He beamed at Draco. \"No, they won\'t.\"

\"And now he has the fear of your wrath and my ruthlessness to keep him from pulling any further stunts. Now, if we\'re done with the exposition, can we have some breakfast?\"

Harry undeniably liked the sound of that. He grabbed Draco\'s hand and tugged him the rest of the way to the kitchen.

Upon entering, Harry noticed a few things. One, Remus was working at the stove. Two, the Fry-up was burned-up, casting the room into a smoky haze that reeked of grease. Three, Ron and Hermione were flirting shamelessly as they appeared to avoid the singed food before them. Four, and finally, Draco\'s expression was pinched up in incredulity in the way it often did before he launched into a slanderous rebuke. To short-circuit that, Harry leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

Draco perked a brow at Harry. Tearing his eyes away, he again appeared to be trying to make his remark when Harry leaned in and kissed him again. This time Draco gave him an exasperated look and opened his mouth to say something about these abrupt outbursts of affection.

\"I love you,\" said Harry.

Draco narrowed his eyes.

\"Harry! Draco! Good to see you both up and looking so rested. Have a seat, I\'ve almost finished with the bacon.\" Remus looked so proud of himself for cooking, Harry didn\'t have the heart to point out that he didn\'t appear to have the knack.

Draco started another valiant attempt to say something, when Harry dragged him to the table and gave him a quick shove into a chair. Muttering something that sounded much like cursing, Draco sat at the table and grumbled about the \"cuisine.\"

\"Smells good, Remus,\" chirped Harry. Ron and Hermione shook their heads sadly over the charred breakfast. \"Good to see you both. You look well, Hermione.\"

\"Oh I am feeling so much better, Harry. Apparently, it was some sort of offshoot of a much more complex hex that would have killed me. I did some tests on the book myself, but then it went to the Aurors. They believe it came from Vo-Voldemort himself. It would have been untraceable, but someone along the line fiddled with it.\" She took a bite of eggs, which weren\'t intolerably burned.

That meshed with what Snape had told him, Although Draco still didn\'t know what had happened. \"Book?\"

\"Yes, there was a book sent by your owl to Hermione. When she opened it, that\'s when she fell unconscious. I knew it was a frame up straight away.\" Ron sat up and preened in a way that Harry thought was very reminiscent of Draco. Those two had spent too much time together.

\"Well, I\'m glad at least someone had a little faith in me,\" snarked Draco as he tried to wave the smoke out of his face. He didn\'t have to look at Harry to realize that he\'d hurt him. He stopped trying to clear the air and put his hand on Harry\'s, but really, the boy deserved to take a little abuse.

\"Bacon is ready!\" announced Remus, who parcelled out a few desiccated pieces to each of them. \"And I think I\'m done

\"Quite a menu you\'ve...burn--\" Draco started.

Harry leaned in to kiss Draco again, and this time he took the hint and sighed.

\"Yes, well, breakfast always was my specialty. I prefer things well-done, don\'t you?\" Remus tucked into his plate after glancing at Harry and Draco and then smiling at Ron.

In order to keep conversation moving, Hermione took over again. \"How the owl knew where to deliver the book is a bit of a mystery... to some. I think it\'s terribly obvious, but then, no one seems that interested in it. Clearly they\'re covering for Snape. After all the trouble he\'s caused...\"

\"Snape is doing valuable work for the Order. But I think that... someone has figured out how to punish him when he gets out of line.\" Remus looked at Harry and winked.

Harry was astonished, and wondered if Remus knew about the night before or if he meant the priapism. \"Well, that\'s... good.\" Harry tried to sound confident, but failed miserably.

The rest of the breakfast went well, with casual, pleasant conversation. Everyone managed to pick around the burned bits and ate about as much as they could tolerate. Draco kept mum about the quality of the food preparation to appease Harry. Remus seemed rather pleased with himself for his mealtime success.

As everyone began to get up to clear away the dishes Remus asked, \"Harry, might I have a word with you while I clean up?\"

Ron and Hermione nodded graciously and headed off to their room. Draco looked less certain, but finally offered to go to his room.

\"Nonsense, Malfoy. You may stay if you wish. Both of you have a seat.\" Remus flourished his wand and started the dishes to cleaning and the remaining food was banished. \"There. Now Harry, I want to talk to you about something.\"

Trading looks, Draco and Harry resumed their seating arrangement at the table and Remus moved to the other side and sat giving them both a quick smile. Like a scene from a Disney movie, in the background the dishes were magically cleaning and stacking themselves. Occasionally Remus\'s eyes darted up to check the progress, ensuring that nothing went awry. \"I\'m sure you\'ve both noticed that Severus has left.\"

Again, Draco and Harry traded looks. Harry\'s demeanour was sheepish, while Draco\'s had a practiced air of calm. Finding no help from Draco on the direct question, Harry nodded. \"We did.\"

\"Do you happen to know why he would have taken off without saying a word?\" Remus looked at the boys again.

Harry was staring at Draco again.

Draco was pointedly avoiding Remus\'s eyes until he realized he was being watched. At that awareness, Draco stared back directly back at him. \"We have no idea. I hadn\'t left the room until this morning.\"

There was no visible indication that Malfoy was lying, other than Remus knew he was. His brows rose at how adept Malfoy was at eluding the pantomime of a liar. However, there was an edge to Draco\'s manner, one the boy couldn\'t quite hide, and one Remus was far too familiar with. Fear. Fear tinged with distaste. But then, most people were afraid of werewolves. \"I know why he left. I believe you two know as well.\"

Eyes widening, Harry looked at Remus again, watching him staring down his boyfriend. \"Y-y-you do?\" Harry was too earnest for this particular game. Occlumency or not, some people just couldn\'t lie. Further, some people cannot lie to certain individuals, and Harry could not lie to Remus.

\"Well then, perhaps you\'d like to enlighten us? Because we have no idea.\" Still glaring at Remus as if he were an enemy, he quipped, \"Does something smell like wet dog in here?\"

\"Draco!\" His boyfriend was incorrigible. To punish him, Harry pinched Draco\'s thigh. He received a glare in return. Harry shook his head and peered back at Remus who was now concentrating on him. \"We might know... something.\"

Remus sighed and gave Harry a disappointed stare for his attempt. \"Harry, I told you I would watch Snape for you as best as I could. What did you think that meant?\"

Harry\'s heart sank. \"You saw... that?\"

Draco went silent but took Harry\'s hand. Though he was going to try and protect Harry, he was glad that it was out in the open. Perhaps someone would finally straighten Harry out.

\"I did, Harry. That was incredibly foolish.\" Remus held his hand up to keep Harry from speaking, although the boy didn\'t appear to have anything to say in his defence. \"I understand why you did it, I understand your frustration, but you went too far. You must learn some restraint. You have pressures on you. We all see that. Dumbledore tends to turn a blind eye to your behaviour because of what you are to face. I cannot, and I will not.\" He held back too often when James and Sirius committed so many audacious acts, and he shouldn\'t have. As far as Remus was concerned, Harry needed to learn some control for his very survival.

\"I...I\'m sorry. I was just going to go in there to tell him to leave...\"

It was hard to remain stern while staring into Harry\'s repentant face. Worse yet, the complications that had arisen from his actions were now going to seem like rewards. \"I am very disappointed in you, Harry. Whatever your intentions were when you went into that room, you almost killed Severus. I realize that you think you have justification for that, but you do not. I do not think you understand what a mess you\'ve left for Dumbledore to clean up for you at the Ministry with your antics with Mrs. Lestrange.\"

\"She deserved...\" Harry was cut off by the look Remus gave him. \"She murdered Sirius!\"

\"Harry...\" Remus appeared tired by Harry\'s reaction, worn down by the fading memory of his lost lover. \"She may have wielded the wand, but Sirius killed Sirius. His impetuousness is what caused his death. He should not have followed you onto that platform. He should not have been so dismissive of Kreacher. And... he should not have treated you like James. It\'s his and James\'s brash temperament that I see manifesting in you. You mean very much to me. I don\'t want to lose someone else I care about to recklessness.\"

Draco squeezed Harry\'s hand, which had tensed around his.

Part of Harry wanted to rage at Remus for his blaming Sirius for his own death; Sirius was his lover! He should have been just as angry with Bellatrix, if not angrier! He should be thrilled that the woman got what she so richly deserved. And yet... he was lecturing him. \"She killed him. She tortured Neville\'s parents.\"

\"It wasn\'t your job to mete out retribution for her sins. You\'ve taken Dumbledore away from his research and the Ministry has had to modify Mrs. Lestrange and Mr. Spien\'s memories so that they do not recall Snape being there on the off chance they managed to say anything. Your dubious vengeance has cost the people you care about, and will ultimately end up costing you.\" Remus reached his hand across the table for Harry\'s, as the boy looked rather upset by these words.

Draco was a bit put out that Harry took it with his spare hand, but only showed it by shifting in his chair.

\"I\'m... I\'m sorry. I didn\'t mean to... cause trouble... like that.\"

Remus nodded. \"I know you didn\'t, Harry. But each time you act out like that, it has repercussions, and not just for you. It\'s what You Know Who wants; to keep you distracted and off-balance. You cannot give into that.\"

Harry\'s brows furrowed. How could he be so foolish? Of course that\'s what Voldemort would want. He was giving into his base reactions it more and more. He looked at Draco, who was flexing his jaw, and remaining silent. \"I... I won\'t. Not anymore. I\'ll... I won\'t.\" Remus\'s censure stung nearly as much as the realization did. \"I\'ll try... and I won\'t... do that to Snape again.\"

Now came the sticky part. Remus prayed he\'d sold Harry enough on how wrong he\'d been. \"You won\'t need to. Draco has been released from his obligation to keep an eye on Severus.\"

Draco\'s head snapped up and he mouthed at Remus. Disbelief tinged with relief commingled in his expression.

\"He won\'t? Did Snape quit?\" Harry asked on Draco\'s wordless behalf.

\"No. He did not resign, although he may yet. Dumbledore feels that Draco\'s complicity in your attack last night has severed whatever smidgen of affection that Severus had left for him. He is not positive on this, but he feels it would now be too much of a risk to Draco to have them in contact.\" Remus looked at Draco, whose eyes were closed and his face was pointed up to revel in being liberated from these dreaded duties. \"You will no longer be enrolled in Potions class and you are to avoid him as much as possible.\"

\"What about... what he does? What about the spying and the message relay?\" Sitting forward in his chair, Draco appeared to have moved past his werewolf anxiety for the moment.

Remus exhaled. \"That... we do not know. This may well have pushed the man too far. He may have defected back to the Death Eaters. Severus\'s loyalties were often nebulous. I am to go to his home in Wales to try and gain some of his trust. I don\'t hold out much hope on my ability to succeed.\" He tried not to think about how this seemed just as pointless an exercise as trying to lure the werewolves to fight for them.

Harry frowned at how well he\'d mucked things up. \"I\'m really sorry.\"

\"It\'s all right, Harry. It was a mistake, we\'ll... muddle through. You just need to focus on getting ready to tackle the new semester. N.E.W.T.S. this year, remember.\" Remus tried to soften the mood with a wry grin.

\"What about school, then? Will Draco still be in the Slytherin dorms?\" Harry looked hopeful that Draco would have a private room again.

\"Yes, he is still a Slytherin and will live in the Slytherin dorms. There is no way around that. Should the situation become extreme or if there is any indication that Snape will seek vengeance... then Draco will get his own room. As it stands, his dorm room is empty so he does essentially have a private room. That said...\" Remus paused as both boys stared at him. He could tell they had doubts about how safe even a private room was when Snape was free to run Slytherin as he saw fit. \"Should you feel threatened, or in any way insecure with these arrangements, I\'m sure you could manage some mischief around Snape while still remaining invisible. Just be sure to cloak yourselves at all times, so as not to arouse suspicions.\"

After that proclamation, they all grinned.