Harry-Dementor

21- A New Family

Voldemort seemed to temporarily go to ground after the incident at the ministry. He'd lost all of his Death Eaters that he'd broken out of Azkaban, and his spy was found to be a traitor. Sirius told Harry that it sounded like Voldemort was recruiting again, this time overseas as well as in Britain.

"I'm worried about Draco, Harry," Neville whispered as they headed down to Remedial Potions just a few weeks before the end of term.

"Can you convince him to not go home?" Harry asked. Frankly, he was worried too, for both Draco and Graham.

"I told him that Gran wouldn't mind if he wanted to come stay with us, but he just keeps saying that his father won't allow it. I told him to tell his father to go screw himself and just come home with me anyway," Neville ran his hands through his hair, glamour flickering ever so slightly in his frustration. "He just says that he can't and that I don't understand."

"Well, I don't understand," Harry shook his head. "Him and Graham are frankly in more danger than me right now, and that's saying a lot. Voldemort is going to want them to join sooner rather than later, especially Graham."

"Hey," Hestia caught up with them, giving them both a little nod. "I got my father to hire Montague on as an assistant in his law firm. He starts right after term ends, and he's immediately going on assignment to China for a bit where my father is working with their ministry on a corporate deal with Gringotts."

Neville and Harry looked at each other. "How did you even hear us?" Neville almost stuttered in surprise.

"Better hearing than Snape," she just grinned at them both. "I can't help with Draco, but at least Graham will be away from all this."

They were only slightly less concerned when they walked into the almost silent common room for the club. As OWLs, NEWTs, and final exams were nearing for everyone in the club, their meetings had slowly turned into something resembling a study hall. The older students helped the younger with questions, even sometimes working on potions, fittingly enough. Harry and Neville claimed what was becoming their usual couch beside Draco and Ginny and pulled out their books.

Snape swooped into the room a few minutes later, a sneer firmly on his face. Harry could tell from the aura of the man that he wasn't angry though, he was in pain. A lot of pain if he was reading the aura correctly. "Mr. Montague, I know you had a very bad experience with it, but destroying school property is still frowned upon," he grumbled before pouring himself a goblet of the blood from the snack table.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Graham looked up in confusion from where he was studying for his NEWTs with Matthew.

"The vanishing cabinet, Graham," Severus sighed after a gulp of the blood. Harry was starting to realize the man wasn't in very good condition at all. "Professor Sprout stumbled upon where it was decimated into a pile of sawdust on her way to dinner this evening. Really, you should be more careful about letting your inner gargoyle out in the hallways."

The dark-skinned teen paled slightly at the remark. "But, sir, I haven't gone anywhere near that death trap since Harry pulled me out of it."

Snape looked around the group in confusion. "Well, someone destroyed it completely."

Hestia just snorted from where she was assembling a cricket sandwich on the snack table. "It almost killed Graham and none of the professors had removed it…what'd you expect? Someone had to take care of it," she remarked with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"I owe you one, Hestia," Graham grinned at her widely. "Actually, much more than one at this point."

She just shrugged it off and took a loud crunching bite of her sandwich. Not really caring to begin with, Snape sank into his usual armchair and closed his eyes, looking years older than he had just days before. "Sn-Severus," Harry sighed, still trying to get used to the first name rule. "You know you can ask for help," he remarked tentatively. "I don't know what everyone in here can do, but you protected us from Umbridge and have provided us with this safe place every week. I'm sure someone in here can help."