Tequila

Harry was up bright and early the following morning. He wanted to catch all his friends at breakfast and tell them about him and Severus. He wanted their help to get him back.

Arriving in the great hall he saw Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Neville, Dean and Ginny all sat together at the centre of the table. Sitting down next to them he glanced up as the top table and saw Severus resolutely not looking at him.

// Fine. I don’t want him to see me scheming anyway. //

Dragging them all off to the far end of the table, he started quickly telling them. Seamus, being as camp as a row of tents, squealed delightedly before murmuring how jealous he was. When he finally managed to calm everyone down, he told them he had a plan and could they all meet him at lunch time so he could get their help with things.

Once the Gryffindors were gone still talking animatedly, though actually quite discreetly, about him and Severus, Harry walked over to the Slytherin table. He could feel Severus’ eyes boring into the back of his head as he stood in front of Draco, who was pretty much alone, and waited to be acknowledged.

Draco eventually raised his eyes to look at Harry before standing and gesturing for him to follow. Harry watched Draco as the blonde boy walked ahead of him, every eye in the room following him.

// He might not be stunningly gorgeous in my opinion but he’s still striking enough to attract plenty of attention. //

As soon as they were out of the great hall, the sneer dropped from Malfoy’s face, to be replaced by a steely glint that almost spoke of anger.

“What do you want Potter?”

Draco’s arms were folded in front of him and it showed Harry that whether or not he was the one beating Draco up, he was still not trusted by him.

“I want to help you Malfoy.”

Draco’s face dropped before coming back to its high and mighty expression.

“Why do you assume I’d want your help?”

“Draco, whether you like it or not, you can’t deal with everything that’s going on and while Dumbledore and Severus are trying to help you, you have to realise that whoever is doing this is just gonna disappear if they start poking around. Now you and I don’t like each other but we learned to accept each other during the war and I know it wasn’t easy for you to go against your father’s wishes. I want to help you because I hate seeing you treated the way you are after everything everyone’s gone through.” Harry’s voice was starting to rise. “I want this stopped Malfoy, I’m sick of the whole thing still making a difference. The war is over, every single deatheater is dead or in prison and there’s no reason for you to get persecuted for the actions of someone else.” Harry’s fists were clenched and Draco took a step back at the look of anger on his face.

“Ok, ok. Damn, Potter, stop shouting. I don’t want the whole school to know what’s going on.”

“No matter how hard you try, everyone’s going to know something’s going on at some point. You can only hold those glamours for so long and by the end of the day some of them are starting to slip. I don’t know how many people have noticed, but I have and Hermione has, although I don’t think she fully understands what you’re hiding. Other observant people are going to start noticing soon. Madame Pomfrey can only do so much and with you refusing to se her half the time, it’s starting to become more and more obvious.”

The glamours weren’t actually starting to drop, if indeed Malfoy was wearing any, but Harry figured the boy’s vanity was probably as good a way as any to get him onside.

Malfoy looked at Harry for a long while, speculation in his eyes.

“You’re doing this because of Professor Snape aren’t you?”

Harry shook his head.

“I know you don’t trust me Draco but I’m not doing this because of Snape. I know because of him but I’m not doing this for him. I just thought all of this kind of thing was over with when the war ended and I’m sick of it still being an issue. To be honest I’m doing this because if it gets out that this happened it’s just gonna draw more attention to the war. And the longer this kind of thing continues, the more we’re all gonna be in the newspapers because of it, and I just want that part of my life done with, as I’m sure you do. Now, I’m in a unique position to help you, though I can’t really tell you how. But me and my mates have an idea and hopefully we’ll be able to put a stop to this once and for all.”

Draco rolled his eyes and tossed his long silvery hair.

“A Gryffindor idea? I really am screwed.”

Harry sighed.

“Look, just meet us past the whomping willow at lunchtime and don’t tell anyone what’s going on. Not even Snape or Dumbledore. I don’t want them interfering when it gets right into this.”

Draco smirked at Harry.

“You know, people call me arrogant, but you are beyond belief. I can’t believe you’re going to try and fix this all by yourself without even the teachers knowing. You’ll get caught eventually.”

“Yeah, probably. But by the time I do it’ll be fixed and they’ll have nothing to say. And I’m not doing it all by myself, my friends will be helping.”

“How much have you told them?”

“I haven’t told them anything. It’s not my place to tell. If you don’t want them to know then we can figure out a way to fix it just the two of us, but I would prefer to have others around if they’re getting violent.”

Draco nodded his head. He didn’t like having a bunch of Gryffindors knowing about this but he liked the idea of constant beatings even less so he was willing to put up with it for the moment. The school bell sounded then, ushering them to class.

“Remember, not a word to Severus or Dumbledore, and be behind the whomping willow as soon as you can at lunchtime.”

Draco nodded his head before heading to his first class. Harry stood for a few moments contemplating what he was about to do. He knew he’d get in serious amounts of shit for trying to fix this without the help of a teacher, and he knew Hermione would have a go with the whole ‘saving people’ thing again, but he wanted to get this out of the way so he could concentrate on fixing things with Severus. And this was the only way he knew how.

Sighing, he made his way to his first class.

Harry paid little attention in charms, something Professor Flitwick noticed, though didn’t comment on. There were rumours going around the staffroom that Harry was suffering from post-war depression and the teachers were anxiously waiting for him to go to Dumbledore or Pomfrey or Snape as he had so many times in the past, but none wanted to push him, so they were leaving him be for the moment to see if he could deal with it alone. It might have sounded cold hearted to some, but these teachers had worked with Harry for 7 years now and they all knew that when he was ready to talk about it he would, and the only thing they could do for the moment was wait and watch and make sure that if his magic grew uncontrollable within his anger or depression that it didn’t cause any real damage to students or property.

What Flitwick didn’t know was that Harry was conducting a passionate conversation with Seamus through enchanted notes that appeared on each others paper without ever having to be passed from person to person. Harry was beginning to suspect that the excitement which had greeted his announcement about him and Severus was starting to wear off and that people were starting to worry. Hermione was the only one who seemed truly unconcerned about the development of their relationship, although Harry suspected that had to do more with the fact that he’d actually sat down and fully explained what was going on than any kind of trust in how Severus would treat him.

“Seamus, stop worrying, and tell Dean to stop as well. Apart from this little disagreement, Severus has been perfect with me. You apparently all knew I had a crush on him, so stop stressing that something’s come of it.”

Harry could see Seamus conferring with Dean before scribbling busily in response.

“Harry, we’re just concerned. I mean sure the man is sexy and has an ass that wont quit,” Harry felt a little surge of jealousy, “but he’s a bastard. Everyone says it. Even you said it, regardless of the fact that you had a developing crush on him. We just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Harry saw the penmanship change as Dean scrawled his own response.

“But well done mate! Not many people can say they’ve shagged a teacher. And I bet there are none who can say they shagged Snape and lived to tell the tale. Respect where it’s due.”

Harry snorted before replying quickly.

“Don’t get the wrong idea about what’s been going on. We’ve been taking it quite slowly. We want to make sure we can stand each other as people as well as student and teacher before we get too involved in the sex part of it.”

The slant of Seamus’ response held disbelief.

“So you haven’t done anything? Tell me you’re kidding. Hermione said you’ve been seeing him for months.”

“I didn’t say we hadn’t done anything, I’m just saying we’re taking it slow.”

Harry felt Flitwick looking in his direction again.

“Flitwick is getting suspicious. Can we please talk about this later? You have nothing to worry about.”

Glancing over at Seamus and dean, he got a leer and a nod respectively.

Harry hid a smile before concentrating on looking like he was paying attention.

Harry hadn’t really fully explained what was going on with him and Severus at the moment. He didn’t have time after all the screaming and exclamations had taken place. He had just said that he needed their help with a disagreement they’d had. He would explain everything after they’d sorted out Malfoy’s problem.

Hearing the bell, finally, for lunch, Harry told Seamus and Dean to go grab something to eat and meet him at the whomping willow in about 10 minutes. He’d already told Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny the same thing as he’d bumped into them between classes. He wanted a few minutes alone with Draco before he got them all involved.

Walking quickly to the tree, he saw Malfoy already waiting for him.

“Malfoy.”

“Potter.”

“Before any of the others arrive I just want to be sure that you’re ok with them all knowing what's going on. We don’t have to go into real details, just let them know the gist of it and take it from there.”

“Yeah, that should be ok. How long do you think this is gonna take to fix?”

“Not long, I hope. Few days, week maximum. It depends on how often this happens. Now before the others arrive, I’ll need more details about what's happening.”

Draco sighed and looked at his feet, and Harry suddenly realised how hard it must be for the young Slytherin to not only be putting up with the beatings on a regular basis, but for him to have to tell among his worst enemies all about it cause no-one in his own house would care. Feeling a wave of empathy, Harry put his hand on Draco’s shoulder.

“I know the last thing you want is my sympathy, but you have it. And my promise that I’m going to do everything I can to get this fixed.”

Draco felt a little anger but realised that Harry was sincere and merely nodded before looking back up at him.

“What do you want to know?”

“How often does this happen?”

“Every couple of days.”

“How many are there?”

“5 or 6.”

“Where does it happen?”

“In the corridor out of the dungeons.”

“When does this happen?”

“Usually in the mornings, before breakfast, fairly early.”

Harry spied the rest of the group coming toward them and gave them a wave of his hand, indicating that they should stay back for the moment.

“Do you have a set routine that anyone would be able to follow?”

Draco frowned now. “That’s the thing, I don’t really. Obviously I’ve tried going up later or earlier or even missing breakfast entirely, but they always seem to be waiting for me in that exact spot. I can’t miss them because it’s the only route that takes me from the dungeons. I’ve tried following along behind a large group in hopes that they’ll leave me alone but that doesn’t seem to bother them. They just wait till I’m past them then throw a full body bind and a silencing charm at me so the group doesn’t notice. If I leave in front of a large group then they just let me pass and wait till another day. They try most days but they don’t always get me. I just don’t know how to stop it for good.”

Harry smiled mirthlessly. He’d been the victim of gang bullying at the hands of his cousin for years and he knew how hard it was to just stay ahead of them enough to let the old wounds heal before new ones were inflicted. Suddenly this ‘Draco-hunting’ was taking on a whole new meaning for him. It was becoming personal.

“Don’t worry. I’ll stop it for good. You can bet on it.”

He nodded towards his friends who started to make their way forward. He saw the look of distaste on Ron and Ginny’s face and he couldn’t blame them after everything Malfoy had put them through the previous years. Hermione looked intrigued more than anything. She wasn’t the sort of person to hold grudges against anyone. Neville looked scared and Dean and Seamus were disinterested. He could feel the waves of emotions coming from his friends and the one he picked up more than anything was curiosity.

“Right, here’s the situation as it stands. Most mornings Malfoy is being set upon by a large group of students wearing deatheater robes and masks. Now he can hold his own under certain circumstances,” Malfoy snorted and Harry grinned, “but when there are 6 people taking him by surprise, obviously he can only do the best he can. It’s a testament to how good he is that he hasn’t been killed by these guys cause they’re not shy with their fists. Now if I understand correctly they only use the wands to bind you then resort to sheer physical violence. Is that correct?”

“Potter, do you realise you sound like a muggle lawyer?”

Harry laughed.

“In the presence of these witnesses, please answer the questions quickly and honestly.”

Draco snorted again. “Yes your honour. And yes, it’s as you described it.”

Harry was all business again. “Now if it looks like anyone is poking around what's going on, the chances are these people are gonna disappear. Great if it stops, not so great when it starts up again. What I want is to catch them at it.” Harry couldn’t make a big deal about the marauders map as only Ron and Hermione knew he had it. And he didn’t think it would stand up if he confronted these people or told Dumbledore that he “just knew” it was them. “Malfoy, we’re all gonna pretend to dislike you intensely and you us. Not too difficult for anyone involved I would imagine. Then I want maybe Seamus or Neville to say that you wish he would get what’s coming to him. Make sure you’re overheard. Make a big deal about the fact that you think Draco supported Voldemort during the war and only came over to our side cause we were winning. I want everyone to think that you’re just waiting for the day that he gets his comeuppance. Now there’s a good chance that if you say all this, the people responsible will come out of the woodwork and tell you it’s them. Now I’m going to be standing by to catch them at it if they don’t say anything. Whatever happens, I want this dealt with quickly. We’ve got to make sure people don’t think that they can get away with it. Everyone clear on what's happening?”

Seeing nods all around, Harry told them to go finish their lunch and get started as soon as they went back to class.

Smiling apologetically at Malfoy, he went into further detail than he had with the others.

“Now, if these people don’t stand up and say that it’s them then I’m afraid we’re gonna have to catch them beating you. This means I’m not going to stop them until after they’ve thrown a few punches. It needs to be really clear what they’re doing when we take this to Dumbledore. I’ll be standing by every morning to catch them and after they’ve bound you, I’ll sneak up and unbind you. You’re gonna have to pretend to still be bund for a few seconds cause I want us both to start throwing hexes at the same time. I don’t want them hurt but I want them incapacitated. We have to be able to take them to Dumbledore fully aware so he can start expelling them straight away. I’ll try to not let you get hurt too much.”

Harry saw the look in Draco’s eyes.

“Look, I’m not trying to hurt your pride I just want this fixed.”

Draco looked at him carefully for a few seconds before nodding. Then with a grin he said, “You know, you sound like a general directing troops when you get started.”

Harry smiled gently. “I guess that’s what I am, and have been for 6 years. I got taught all this stuff in preparation for the war and barely used any of it. I’m glad I’m putting it into practice now.” Harry chuckled suddenly. “How do you even know about muggle lawyers?”

“Ah, there are secrets I’ll take with me to my grave Potter.”

And laughing, they headed off in opposite directions.