Proof of Life

Concerning Flight



The following morning Harry took Severus along to the Burrow.



Ginny had gone out to Quidditch practie early, preparing to play in the upcoming match, Molly explained with obvious pride.



Harry nodded absently. It\'d been over a month since he crossed paths with Ginny while visiting Lily, and it was safe to assume that not all of this newly formed distance could be attributed to Quidditch. He wondered if he should tell her that she could stop avoiding him now – but his train of thought was interrupted by Lily\'s delighted scream.



She headed straight for Severus, deluging him with dozens of questions, from Where have you been and Why don\'t you visit more to Did you know we have a dog. For a couple of minutes she jumped around Severus and demanded to be picked up. Severus didn\'t, he simply stood in one place and stared awkwardly, as if not daring to as much as pat her head.



“Let\'s go outside,” Harry said decisively, putting an end to the uncomfortable scene. “Lily, get your coat and boots. Severus, would you like one of Molly\'s famous sweaters?”



Severus shook his head but gave a sigh of genuine relief when Lily stopped pulling on his sleeves and ran off to get dressed.



“You seemed to be more comfortable around her when you first met her,” Harry observed.



Severus shrugged. “Oddly enough, many things were easier back then,” he admitted quietly. “Probably, because back then I had little notion of how...” his voice trailed off, and he didn\'t complete the sentence.



Damaged toy, broken spring – unbidden, words flashed through Harry\'s mind and he sighed, wondering how long it would take Severus to come to believe otherwise.



A minute later, they stepped outside together, and Lily began jumping on the leaves, still wet with recent rain. Her attention was now turned to Harry.



“Take me for a ride on a broom!” she whined quietly. “Mum never does that anymore!”



“Never-never?” Harry teased. “Somehow I don\'t believe that.”



“Almost never,” Lily amended grudgingly



“When was last time?”



“Yesterday. But she never does that long enough! She says it\'s too much like work!”



Harry laughed quietly, but before he had a chance to respond, she turned her attention back to Severus.



“Will you do it?” She asked. “Please? Do you know how to fly a broom?”



“Not very well. I find that the broom is a nuisance when you can fly without it.”



It took Lily a long minute to take in Severus\' words.



“You can fly without a broom?” She whispered, awed. “Can you show me?”



“I don\'t know if I still can. It\'s been a long time.”



“Can you at least try?”



Severus cast a cautious glance at Harry.



“I\'m quite certain I\'m not supposed to do anything classified as Dark Arts, no matter how innocent it actually might be.”



“Please!” Lily\'s pleading turned even more plaintive. “Just for a minute, and I won\'t tell anyone, ever-ever-ever!”



Harry gave Severus an encouraging smile.



For about a minute Severus stood absolutely still, as if attempting to recall something, or focus. Harry waited. He\'d half expected to see a slow, cautious ascent, but when Severus took flight, it was as if a black arrow had shot upwards, flying astonishingly fast, with nothing holding it back.



o-o-o



Nothing – absolutely nothing had prepared him for the exhilaration of flight. For the brief time he\'d spent airborn, everything else had faded into insignificance: the ministry\'s schemes, the fact that the Underground were after him, his own dependency on Potter – and even the memory of the last time he\'d flown like this, escaping from Hogwarts. None of that mattered – and the only thing that did was the cold November wind beating against him, throwing a spray of rain in his face.



When he touched ground again, Lily was staring at him with her mouth wide open. Harry himself seemed taken aback, and for a second Severus dreaded that he\'d say something stupid of the congratulatory sort. He didn\'t want that. This wasn\'t a milestone of any sort, he didn\'t want it to be seen as another “success” to be praised for. This was... just flight. Nothing else.



Harry smiled at him.



“You soar like an oversized bat.”



“You\'re jealous,” Severus instantly accused.



“Just a bit, yes. I don\'t know anyone else who can do that.”



By that time, Lily regained her ability to speak.



“You don\'t need a broom or wand!” she delcared in wonder.



“I still need the wand. You always need the wand.”



“But you weren\'t holding it, or saying any spells!”



“That doesn\'t matter. The wand needs to be on your person to channel your magic.”



“Will you teach me to fly like that?” she demanded.



“Once you\'ve mastered the advanced level of nonverbal charms and have your Apparition license, I\'ll consider it,” Severus replied.



“When will that be?”



“When you\'re sixteen.”



She used her fingers to count. “Eleven years,” she declared, clearly disappointed. She then glanced at Severus hesitantly. “Can you take me flying now? Please?”



Severus gave Harry a doubtful look. Flying alone was one thing, but holding another\'s life in his hands while doing so was...



Before he could come up with a graceful way out of this, Harry picked Lily up and took a step forward. Severus stilled for a second as the most precious weight in the world was deposited into his arms without even as much as a moment\'s hesitation on Harry\'s part.



“Go ahead,” Harry said. “Stay close though. If something goes wrong, I can levitate you both down safely. Deal?”



-o-o-o-



Severus and Lily were done with flying and were now playing fetch with the dog when Ginny, dishevelled and flushed, returned from Quidditch practice.



“You\'re back early,” Harry said. She nodded, smiling.



“Done with training for the day. How are you?”



“Good. Really good.” For a brief second, he wanted to say something along the lines of Severus and I – but the knowing look on Ginny\'s face made it unnecessary.



“I can tell. I don\'t think I\'ve seen you this happy in a long time.”



“Huh. Yeah. I am. Happy, that is.”



“Me too.” For a second, it seemed like she was going to say something else, but changed her mind.



“You\'re seeing somebody,” Harry hazarded a guess.



“Kind of. On and off.”



“Who?”



“Don\'t be nosy.”



“Oh, come on,” Harry said, chuckling, and feeling like a teenager again all of a sudden. “Come on. Tell me. Whoever it is, I promise I won\'t tease... much.”



“Viktor Krum,” Ginny said, the tips of her ears reddening ever-so-slightly.



“You\'re dating a Seeker from a rival team?”



“Shh. It gets better. We\'re playing against his team next week.”



“Huh. Well I hope he doesn\'t mind much when you wipe the Quidditch field with him.”



“So do I.”



Silence hung between them, but it was neither tense nor awkward. If anything, it seemed like they\'d managed to somehow go back in time and regain that state of tension-free friendship they used to enjoy back in school.



“Well. Good seeing you again, Ginn. We should get going I guess,” Harry said finally.



Ginny shook her head.



“Nonsense. You and Severus should stay for dinner.”



-o-o-o-



It was still early in the evening when they took the Floo back home. Their hands were still joined in a rather unambiguous fashion when they stumbled out of the hearth into Harry\'s living room, but Severus extracted his fingers from Harry\'s the moment he saw the unexpected visitor on the couch, with a half-emptied bottle of Firewhisky tucked between his knees.



“Draco?” Harry seemed to be even more stunned than Severus.



Draco glared at them both with poorly concealed irritation.



“I thought your home was supposed to be safe, Potter. Why isn\'t your Floo warded?”



“It is warded,” Harry snapped. “You\'re in my house wards, prat.”



If Draco was mollified by Harry\'s explanation, he gave no sign of it.



“Fine. Where were you all day?”



“At the Burrow. Visiting Lily,” Harry replied, clearly struggling to keep his temper in check.



Draco\'s lips curled into a bitter smile as he stared at Severus next.



“So you\'re babysitting Potter\'s brood now. How grand.”



“You\'re intoxicated,” Severus said bluntly, choosing to let the barb slide for the moment. “What\'s going on? Are you all right?”



Draco ignored his question and turned his head to Harry instead. “I need to talk to Weasley.”



“Which one?” Harry asked, sounding short on patience.



“The idiot who heads the Auror office, that one!” Draco said in an incredibly brittle voice. “I need to talk to him in person.”



“Can it wait until morning?”



“If it bloody could wait until morning, I wouldn\'t be here, would I?” Draco practically spat out those words. “Now, are you going to get Weasley, or should I just get up and leave?”



Harry issued a sigh of resignation. “Fine. I\'ll call him. Just... don\'t start a brawl.”



Draco let out an indeterminate noise and but stayed quiet while Harry firecalled Ron, asking him to come over. Ron showed up ten minutes later, followed by Hermione. Draco ignored her, and stared at Ron instead, with his eyes narrowing down.



“Weasley, I\'ll get right to the point. Tell your goons to stop stalking me.”



Ron stared back at Draco, confused.



“My – what? Nobody is stalking you, Malfoy.”



“Do you think I\'m an idiot?” Draco hissed at him. “I may not get out much these days, but I do know when I\'m being watched and followed. Make it stop.”



“I didn\'t order anyone to follow you,” Ron protested. “When did it start?”



“I don\'t know. I was out in public three times in the last two months. Each time someone was on my tail. Weasley, this isn\'t even remotely funny.”



“I\'m not laughing,” Ron answered with surprising calm. “But I don\'t know what\'s going on. I\'ll look into it though.”



“Look into it,” Draco echoed, not bothering to contain his disdain. “I suppose that\'ll take as long as Potter looking into helping Severus. In other words, forever.”



“Stop it, Malfoy,” Hermione said quietly. “Things like that take time. Maybe you should limit your public appearances for now. Stay home.”



“Stay home,” Draco repeated. “I\'ve been doing nothing but staying home for the past – Merlin knows how long. Maybe I should just chain myself in someone\'s basement in exchange for protection. Why not? It seems to work fine for Severus.”



Heat rushed to Severus\' face at those words, and he made a nearly inhuman effort to compose himself before speaking.



“Draco Malfoy,” he stated, speaking in a quiet and measured voice. “I think you should stop talking now. Go home and sober up. This spectacle isn\'t doing anyone any good.”



Draco stared at him with an odd mixture of pity and contempt, then opened his mouth to say something, but Severus lifted his hand in the air, stopping him.



“Don\'t.”



Draco glared defiantly, and for a second it looked like he was going to say something anyway, but then thought better of it. He turned around, and walked out of the house, letting the door slam shut behind him. Another slamming sound followed when he exited through the gate, and a loud crack of Disapparition announced his departure.



To Be Continued...