And Then There Were Three

Chapter 8

Snape talked to Draco for only a few minutes after Ron and Harry went upstairs, getting a surprising amount of information out of the blonde boy. Draco confided that Lucius had been shunning him since he'd stepped off the train, taking away his broom, and then banning him from his sight. Even convincing Narcissa to treat him the same.

By the time that he sent Draco to bed, Snape was gritting his teeth and fighting back the urge to pay Lucius a visit. As it was, he had quite a bit to do anyway, and it started with a visit to Albus first thing in the morning. He needed to figure out what could be done for Draco in the meantime, and he wanted to have answers for them before they awoke.

Snape frowned as he sat back in his armchair. One thing was certain; despite whatever his reasonings might have been, he couldn't let Harry get away with this. He and Ron had purposefully flown hours away in the middle of the night without leaving so much as a note to let Snape know what was going on. As if a note would have sufficed. There was simply no way that Harry could expect that he wouldn't be in trouble for this.

The thought brought Snape up short. Why would he do something like this knowing that he would be in a world of trouble when he was caught? He understood the need to help Draco, and Snape didn't fault him for that, but going off on his own instead of confiding in and trusting Snape was a problem they seemed to have over and over again. What was it going to take to convince Harry that Snape was someone he could count on? Were they doomed to repeat this lesson for the rest of their lives?

Snape shook his head. His mind was moving in a million different directions, and it was getting him nowhere. He was tired and frustrated by the entire situation and instead of dwelling on it, he needed to go and get some sleep. Even a couple of hours would be better than nothing. He would try to sleep until seven— just two hours— then he'd go to the cottage and speak with Albus. He would know what to do.

With that decided, Snape took a quill and parchment from the end table and wrote a quick note to Albus, then he waved his wand and it duplicated itself. Another tap of his wand on each one and they disappeared. One to Albus and the other to Remus. It would be better if they were all there in the morning so that they could stay on the same page with this. No doubt Remus would want to speak to Draco now that he was back at Hogwarts in his counselor capacity, and frankly, Snape was glad. It was no secret that Snape wasn't the warmest professor in Hogwarts, and while he and Draco were certainly close, he thought that perhaps he would open up a bit more to Remus than he would to him.

That was his hope, anyway.

Snape climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway to Draco's bedroom. He opened the door to find the teenager curled up beneath the blankets of his bed. He was already asleep, and Snape couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since he'd gotten a full night's sleep. Judging by the circles beneath his eyes, he would wager that it had been a while.

He softly closed the door behind him and moved down to Harry's bedroom. He and Ron were also both asleep, with Ron sleeping in the bed closest to the door. Snape raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Ron slept even more chaotically than Harry, with his arms thrown above his head and the blankets in a heap at the foot of the bed.

He turned to Harry's bed on the opposite wall and sighed. He was asleep with his glasses still on his face, though they were pressed into the pillow and Snape was sure that if he left them, the frames would be terribly bent by morning. He crossed the room but as he reached to remove the glasses, Rook, who had been sleeping near Harry's feet, sat up and watched him.

Snape hadn't noticed the dog at first and he mentally kicked himself for not seeing him. What kind of spy was he? He shook his head at Rook. "You're not supposed to be on the bed," he said sternly.