And Then There Were Three

Chapter 9

"Do I really have to do this?" Draco asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Draco and Remus were sitting together in Draco's bedroom at the Manor. Remus had spent the last twenty minutes talking to him about using his memories as evidence against Lucius, and though Draco didn't want to go back to his parent's house, he wasn't thrilled with the idea that people would see any of the things that had gone on there either.

"No," Remus said kindly. He sat in one of the chairs with his elbows resting on his knees as he watched Draco pace back and forth across his room. "These are your memories, Draco, and you have the right to keep them private."

"But if I do then we don't have any proof and he'll say I'm lying."

Remus sighed. "Unfortunately, that may very well be the case."

Draco bit his lip. "Will everyone have to see them?"

"Only the people who truly need to," Remus assured him, "and I promise that I will keep that list as short as possible. Likely only a very few people."

"Uncle Sev?" Draco's voice wavered despite how hard he worked to keep it steady. It was one thing for strangers to see how pathetic Draco was when Lucius had threatened him and ignored him, but it was something entirely different for Snape to see him that way. He wasn't sure he could handle the embarrassment.

Remus ran a hand across the scruff of his jaw and said, "I think it would be beneficial if he did, but if you truly don't want him to, Severus would understand."

"Can I think about it?" Draco asked.

"Of course," Remus said, and Draco was glad that he wasn't pushing him.

After only another moment's hesitation, Draco finally nodded. "Alright. How do we do this?"

***

Harry lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as his tiny practice snitch flew around the room. It would come close enough that Harry could reach out and catch it if he wanted, and then zoom away again, as if it wanted Harry to try and get it.

Harry didn't feel like practicing though. He was content to simply lay there quietly, running his fingers through Rook's fur as he slept beside him.

A quick knock on his bedroom door pulled Harry from his thoughts and he sighed but didn't answer.

Not that it mattered for only a few seconds passed before Snape opened the door anyway. He didn't step into the room, though. Instead, he crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame as he took in the sight of Harry and Rook on the bed.

"It occurred to me that with everything going on, we didn't really have much of a chance to talk," he said when Harry still didn't look up.

"What's there to talk about?" Harry asked, keeping his eyes trained on Rook. "I mucked everything up again, and you grounded me again. Same as always."

Harry missed the way that Snape's eyebrows creased in confusion at his words, and in the next second Snape had moved further into the room. Though just as he was about to say something, the snitch flew towards him.

Snape reached out and caught it so easily that Harry did look up then, but as soon as Snape tucked the snitch into its case on Harry's desk, Harry glanced away again.

"Is that what you think?" Snape asked as he shut Harry's door and moved to sit near the foot of the bed. "That all you do is muck stuff up and get into trouble?"

Harry shrugged. "It's how it's been so far," he muttered.

Snape shook his head. "No, it's not. First of all, you didn't muck anything up with Draco. He'll be staying here for the Summer at least, and everything else will get figured out later."