The Knight Protectors

‘Not there, you useless little shite,’ Sirius snarled as Kreacher dumped the bucket of water on the bathroom floor. He kicked his arse, sending him flying. ‘I know you know how to do it properly, so I’m going to lock you in here until you’ve done it.’ He slammed the bathroom door on the elf, and charmed it. He’d done the same thing in the kitchen until it actually began to resemble a place where one could cook and partake of food, without wondering just what foreign objects, living or inanimate, had sampled one’s meal first; it was still as ugly as sin though.

‘You’re serious about cleaning this place, after all?’ Lupin asked from where he sat at the now scrubbed kitchen table, nursing a mug of lukewarm tea.

‘Let’s say my enthusiasm is waning,’ Sirius said sourly. For some reason he’d thought Harry would be back by now. He didn’t even dare to hope he would bring Severus with him, but he’d begun to clean up a little, just in case. ‘Anyway, shouldn’t you be getting back to warm Lucius’s … whatever you warm for him?’ he asked with the first grin he’d felt for a while.

‘He’s staying in London tonight,’ Lupin replied. ‘I’ll stay here if Harry doesn’t get back.’

‘I don’t need a babysitter,’ Sirius said levelly, but he was pleased to see that Lupin didn’t seem anxious or put out about Malfoy’s absence; he envied him his security. ‘And this is London anyway, in case you hadn’t noticed. You could always go and meet Lucius.’

‘I could, but then again I don’t know where he is, and it’s a big place to search,’ Lupin replied easily.

Sirius smiled; things seemed to be working out for at least one of them. ‘How are you getting on with the fat tart anyway, Old Wolf? He doesn’t seem to have changed you much.’

‘Me?’ Lupin raised his eyebrow lazily. ‘I’m getting on fine. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the work isn’t taxing,’ he said with a laugh, before letting himself become serious. ‘What happened, Sirius? What happened between you and Severus?’

‘Nothing,’ Sirius replied flatly. ‘Nothing at all.’ He shook his head in defeat. ‘I don’t know. Neither of us could make the adjustments, I suppose, and he … he just left me. I just got up one morning and he wasn’t there anymore.’ He’d looked down as though trying to examine his case. ‘I don’t know what I did, or didn’t do; whatever it was, it was either too much or not enough.’ He let his eyes hold Lupin’s at last. ‘He didn’t even tell me he was going. And then I found the scroll he’d got from Durmstrang, accepting his application for the post of assistant head … I don’t know, Remus … I just don’t know.’

‘I think you do,’ Lupin replied. ‘I think you think he was trying to pay you back for what you did to him.’

Sirius nodded his head. ‘Well, we’re certainly even now.’

‘But he didn’t go to Durmstrang, Sirius.’

‘I know,’ Sirius replied. ‘And at the end of the day, I haven’t even bothered to find out where he is. What do you think that says about me?’

‘It says that you’re the same as he is. As stubborn as an ox. Anyway, the fact that Harry isn’t back tends to make me think that he’s found him.’

‘Yeah, I think he probably has,’ Sirius said with a frown. ‘I couldn’t quite get the hang of why he was so keen to find him.’

*****

Lupin watched Sirius open and close his mouth a couple of times as his brain clicked into its new found gears. ‘He’s what?’ he asked at last. ‘He can’t be. He’s as Slytherin as … as Salazar was.’

‘Is he?’ Lupin asked.

‘Godric Gryffindor’s heir?’ Sirius repeated. ‘Our Godric Gryffindor?’

‘Yup,’ Lupin replied. ‘Harry too, by the way, I forgot to mention that.’

‘Anything else you forgot?’ Sirius gave him a pained look.

‘Just that Severus doesn’t know. At least Harry doesn’t think he does.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that,’ Sirius muttered. ‘Godric Gryffindor,’ he said again. ‘What was he doing in Slytherin then? Not to mention the Death Eaters?’ He trailed off for a moment, working it out. ‘Harry told me the Sorting Hat tried to put him in Slytherin too. Just goes to show you. I knew Snape was too fucking noble by half.’

A screeching from the hall, as Mrs Black announced a visitor, and an ominously loud banging from somewhere else in the house, interrupted them. ‘Fuck, I forgot I locked that little shite Kreacher in the bathroom; he’s probably tunnelling his way out,’ Sirius said as he scrambled to his feet. ‘I’d better let him out before he breaks out, via Australia.’

‘D’you want me to answer the door?’ Lupin offered mildly.

‘Nah, it’ll just be carol singers or something. Harry can let himself in.’

‘It’s only the end of September,’ Lupin pointed out as he dragged himself to his feet. In the few weeks he’d lived with Lucius he had become accustomed to letting someone else do things. It was already a culture shock to be in Grimmauld Place, and have to stand up occasionally; no wonder Lucius was prone to be slightly heavier than he might have wished to be.

‘I was looking for Harry,’ Draco said as he followed Lupin into the kitchen, and looked around in amazement. ‘God, what a dump. I thought Harry was joking.’ He hadn’t noticed Sirius come into the kitchen behind him, dragging Kreacher by an ear.

*****

It had been too long, even Snape couldn’t be taking that long to get ready. Harry pushed open the door to what he thought was Snape’s bedroom and watched the man sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. He had showered and probably shaved, but Harry couldn’t see his face the way his long damp hair was hanging forward. It was as though he’d got that far and either didn’t know how to go on, or had forgotten what he was doing. Harry looked at the fresh ugly scars Greyback had ripped down Snape’s side, mercifully at least with only his claws. They had stopped festering now, but Harry knew the skin would be tender and tight. He wondered if Severus had the same nightmares he had.

Harry moved across the ugly little room and sat on the bed at Snape’s side. ‘Aren’t you going to get dressed now?’ he asked taking care not to sound too careful. ‘It’s cold up here.’

Snape said nothing, and Harry had a suspicion he had ground to a halt again. Harry sighed to himself; he’d just have to start him back up, he’d done it once, he’d manage again. He didn’t think they’d be going anywhere tonight anyway; it was getting quite late now. He lit the fire in that room too, and lit the burnt down candle in the stick at the bedside. He was about to leave him to it, as he had left him standing in the hall, when he thought better of it, and sat back down. It took a lot of courage to put his arm across the cold shoulders of the man sitting lost in his own space, but Severus neither drew away nor drew close; it was as much as Harry could have hoped for.

For a long while Harry said nothing; he let the little candle find the dingy corners, and the little fire warm the room bit by bit, as his own thoughts coalesced, until he had a picture of a man so isolated within himself that he didn’t even notice his surroundings. Harry stood up and drew the thin curtains across the window; they barely met in the middle, but at least they hid the rain dripping down the outside of the pane.

‘You can do this, you know,’ Harry said at last as he sat back down. ‘You took me through the Veil, and held me up when I had to kill Voldemort … and you changed Lupin’s life forever. You did it all for other people,’ he whispered, finding he had put his arm across the shoulders again. How different Snape looked to the man he and Draco had eavesdropped upon when he had been in bed with Sirius, a man who had been in control of everything around him … except for his own life, Harry realised. ‘You can do this for yourself; you’re allowed to do that much.’

Snape turned to him at last. Whatever Harry had expected, perhaps anger, hurt, maybe even shame, it hadn’t been the defeat he read. The scars on his left cheek, which had been almost hidden by his stubble, hadn’t gone the white they would eventually go with age. Instead of making him look battle-ravaged, they only served to make him look vulnerable, as though something had penetrated the shield he had always worn about him.

‘I can’t, Potter,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘It’s too late. There’s nothing left.’

‘I’m going to tell you something, Severus,’ Harry said. ‘Something Sirius told me when he told me a little bit about you. That’s what he thought; he thought it was too late … when he’d hurt you, and found out that he didn’t want anyone else. Once he had realised it was only you he wanted, he thought just that same thing, that it was too late.’

‘He was right,’ Snape said flatly.

‘Actually, he wasn’t,’ Harry said quietly. ‘It’s never too late.’ He stood up, deciding enough was enough and he should leave him to it again. ‘I’m going down to make something for dinner. We’ll stay here tonight and let tomorrow take care of itself.’ He didn’t wait for Snape to answer, but slipped from the little room and made his way down the rickety stairs, lighting the single candle on the half-landing as he passed. He hoped there was something tinned in the kitchen; he wasn’t a terribly good cook.

*****

Severus had left Harry sleeping on the couch; he’d given him a blanket and Harry had rolled his cloak into a pillow. He didn’t care to admit to himself how comforted he was by the boy’s presence, how deeply he had moved him, but somewhere he suspected Harry knew; that was enough for now. He had other things to think about, Black being about the top of the list.

He found himself wondering why he had walked away, what instinct had made him at first write to Durmstrang, without telling Sirius, and then walk out without even telling him he was going, what madness had then made him turn his back on the option of going abroad and starting a new life. He knew the answers; he knew if he cared to look for them they would be there, waiting to be acknowledged. He hadn’t done it out of petty revenge, although he suspected Sirius would think he had. He had walked because there was nothing left for him to fight; he was a crusader without a cause. His mind wandered to a piece of literature he’d heard once; he’d never really understood it at the time, understood the depth of the pain behind it. “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer”.

He didn’t think Alexander had handed his domain back to those from whom he had stolen it. He smiled to himself in self-disdain and squared his shoulders at last; well, Severus Snape wasn’t going to either.

*****

‘God, this place is a tip,’ Lucius said, as Lupin led him into the kitchen. He stopped short as he saw Draco sitting at the kitchen table. ‘What’s he doing here?’ he asked.

‘Hello, Father,’ Draco said, shoving his cigarette over to Sirius’s side of the ashtray as though he thought Lucius wouldn’t notice Sirius had taken to doubling up on his nicotine intake.

‘What are you doing here?’ Sirius snarled at Lucius, as Malfoy took off his cloak and dropped it on Kreacher, without looking to see where it landed.

‘Apart from accompanying Lupin home, I came to see you, actually,’ Lucius replied as he swiped at the seat with his gloves before sitting down at the table.

‘Well, don’t get comfortable, fat boy,’ Sirius replied.

‘You don’t change, do you, Black?’ Lucius sneered at him. ‘I really cannot think why Severus tolerates you.’ He either didn’t notice the pregnant silence, or mistook it for interest in what he was saying. ‘Where is he anyway? He hasn’t even replied to my last three owls. I hope you’re not mistreating him.’

‘Me? Mistreating him?’ Sirius recovered quickly. ‘Anyway, he’s gone out, and it’s none of your fucking business where he’s gone.’

‘Oh, stop it, you two,’ Draco remarked. ‘Just listen to yourselves.’

‘Shut up, you; nobody asked for your two Knuts worth,’ Sirius muttered.

‘Keep quiet, Draco,’ Lucius snapped and turned to look at him. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’

‘Do you want me to keep quiet or answer?’ Draco asked coolly. ‘I can’t do both.’

Lucius gave Draco a hard look before turning back to Sirius. ‘Anyway, now that we’ve agreed to be civil, let me tell you why I am here,’ he said, ignoring the fact that Sirius’s hostility had upped another notch. ‘It has come to my attention that Rufus Scrimgeour is considering retiring from the post of Minister. He finds himself unable to juggle his public life and his … shall we say, private life, for the sake of delicacy.’

‘You mean someone found out that he has a predilection for young girls?’ Sirius asked. ‘Very young girls.’

‘Indeed,’ Malfoy agreed. ‘Such a shame he had to pick Rita Skeeter’s seventeen-year-old daughter,’ he said tragically.

Sirius gave him a suspicious look. ‘Did you arrange that?’

‘Me?’ Malfoy looked shocked for the briefest moment, and then passed on quickly. ‘Anyway, the ballot for the new Minister will be held over the next two or three weeks, and I am being considered in some parts to be his natural successor.’ He gave Sirius what he assumed was a winning smile. ‘I am sure I can count on your vote, Black, along with the rest of your family.’

Sirius let out a loud guffaw. ‘I’d sooner stand myself,’ he said as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. ‘In fact, I think I will.’

Neither man had noticed Lupin and Draco look past them, or the draught as the kitchen door was opened, or even the fact that Mrs Black had begun an ear-splitting lament about half-bloods soiling her house.

*****

Harry watched him falter as they reached the door of Grimmauld Place; he’d known this would be the hardest part. He was glad they had taken the time for the detour they had done that morning. He knew Snape would see it as a way of paying Harry back for coming for him; he knew he would understand how difficult it had been for Harry to open the doors he needed to open too. They had both given and taken; they were even now.

He shoved the door open and almost pushed Snape inside, both of them frowning at the sound of the various voices they heard issuing from the kitchen; neither of them had expected a reception committee.

Harry was relieved when he realised that Severus hadn’t been the subject matter. He saw Snape relax as Lucius’s comment about him was glossed over by Sirius, that his absence wasn’t common knowledge, and that he could slip back un-remarked upon; he knew that had worried him.

Harry felt himself smile as he heard Lucius’s ludicrous plan and Sirius’s response; their timing couldn’t have been better, he realised, as Snape sighed in what sounded like amused resignation, and began to shake his head as he moved toward the kitchen door.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Snape said. ‘Who in their right minds would vote for a couple of ex-convicts?’ he said, unknowingly voicing the opinion Lupin had kept to himself.

Sirius’s confused relief was covered by Lucius’s expostulation, and Harry thought once again just how kind the timing had been to them. He saw Draco beam over to him and drop his eyes a little as a flush rose in his pale cheeks, and Lupin smile his own slow smile of welcome.

‘Can’t you take the time to reply to an owl, Severus?’ Lucius said. ‘I needed your input, you know.’ He turned again to give Sirius a cool look. ‘Anyway, I was a political prisoner, not a convict,’ he said with his customary flare of his nostrils.

‘So you were, Shirley.’ Sirius barked a laugh of derision. ‘And I was banged up for killing a corpse that was still alive. So mine’s bigger than yours.’

‘Only your mouth, Animagus,’ Lucius snapped back, and turned his attention to Snape again. ‘Surely Black cannot command all of your attention.’

‘I have been busy,’ Snape replied evasively and took the few steps to the seat at Sirius’s side. Harry watched his godfather close his eyes for a moment, as Snape laid his hand lightly on his shoulder, before taking the seat next to him, and felt the emotion and relief well up inside him.

‘Doing what?’ Lucius asked, oblivious to whatever other tableau was being acted out. ‘I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for almost a month, haven’t I?’ he asked, nodding to Lupin for confirmation.

For a moment Harry thought Severus was at a loss, and he almost laughed as an idea occurred to him. ‘He’s been preparing his manifesto,’ he said, and gave a sliding look to Snape as he sat beside Draco.

‘Manifesto for what?’ Lucius demanded.

‘For his own application,’ Harry replied.

‘Application?’ Malfoy repeated. ‘Application for what?’

‘The post of Minister of Magic, of course,’ Harry replied with green-eyed innocence. ‘Didn’t he tell you?’

It took quite a few moments for them to realise he was joking. Harry thought they were precious moments, moments in which he felt the small contact of Draco’s leg against his own, moments in which he saw Lupin placate Malfoy with amused affection, moments that Sirius took to steal a glance at Snape and Snape gave him an unguarded look back.

He watched Lupin stand. ‘Come on, Lucius, it’s getting late,’ he said pointedly.

Lucius gave Draco a swift look. ‘Are you under the illusion that you are coming back to the manor?’ he asked.

‘Are you under the misconception that I would want to?’ Draco replied.

Harry suddenly realised that it was a game, that Lucius and Draco were unable to show one another the love they shared, but he’d seen it on a few occasions now, when they were at the safe house, and behind the Veil, when it really mattered; he knew it was real.

‘Are you going back to your mother?’ Lucius asked, as though he didn’t care that he was being passed over.

Draco looked down for a moment and then back to Harry. ‘No, Father. I’m going to do what none of you managed to do when you were our age.’

Harry watched Lucius’s eyes as they held his own, for the briefest moment he thought the cold grey had softened, and then Malfoy turned to his son. ‘Surely you are not going to stay on in this dump?’ he said, and gave Harry another pained look. ‘There is room in the manor, I suppose,’ he said, failing to hide his hope behind his feigned reluctance, ‘as long as you keep Potter away from the elves. He has bad habits where servants are concerned.’

‘We’re not going to the manor either, Lucius,’ Harry replied, wondering if he noticed that he’d at last managed to drop the ‘Mister’ from Malfoy’s name. ‘Severus and I went to Godric’s Hollow today. I’m not sure how, but we managed to release the Fidelius Charm from my parents’ house. Draco and I are going to live there.’ He’d wanted to keep that bit as a surprise for Draco, but now was as good a time as any, he supposed.

Sirius looked up, and Harry thought he was just a little misty-eyed as he turned to the man who sat at his side. ‘How did you do that? If Pettigrew’s dead the house should only be accessible to Harry now.’

‘It was magic,’ Snape replied dryly. ‘Suffice it to say that the particular Fidelius Charm was open to the suggestion of the one it had to protect, and as the one it had to protect against no longer posed a threat …’ He trailed off, as though satisfied he had confused his audience into acceptance without any further question.

Harry and Draco had stood up too, and Lucius at last seemed to realise it was time to heft himself to his feet. He looked to where Kreacher had come scurrying from nowhere with his cloak. The elf didn’t seem to mind fetching and carrying for someone whose blood had been washed as many times as Lucius’s undoubtedly had; Harry wondered where Sirius had gone wrong.

Sirius had followed them into the hall, leaving Snape in the kitchen. He opened the door, and Lucius and Lupin stepped into the night with Draco and Harry about to follow. Sirius caught Harry’s arm as he passed. ‘Thanks,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t know how you did it or what you did, but thanks.’

Harry nodded and smiled as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, and took Draco’s arm, and Sirius closed the door, and the Knight Protectors of the Shield of Merlin took up their new duties.

*****