In the lab
Draco took a seat tiredly in the lab and set the portrait down in front of him.
Snape wasted no time. "Do you think it's possible you've been suffering from the curse for years? Or that you only caught it like a cold from Andromeda? Or is your mind so susceptible to imbalance that exposure to her state of mind affected yours?"
Draco sighed. "I have been assuming it is the last. If the curse had struck me more generally as a bearer of the Black bloodline, why hasn't it struck my mother? Or Teddy himself? But what have you read?" He paged the book to the chapter headed "Le Belle Dormant" but did not attempt to read anything yet.
"It does not appear to describe a curse that would affect an entire bloodline, though there are other sections of the book that do seem to detail such a technique. So they could be combined, potentially. But it may also be that your susceptibility to it is as a result of your blood rather than your... fragile mental condition."
Draco rubbed his forehead as if his fragile mental condition could be alleviated by it. "The nightmares started before I ever looked into Andromeda's mind. Because of stirring up all the... bad memories of sixth year on. While researching your notes."
"That still does not rule out a transmission of harmful magic, merely by being in her presence..."
"Except that Teddy visits her all the time."
"Ah. Quite true, Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin."
Draco looked up in surprise at Snape's joke, a half-smile on his own face. "Very well, Professor, how shall we proceed?"
Snape looked at him critically. "You know there is nothing I can do to solve your own... psychological difficulties."
Draco stared back. "I know."
"As such, I worry that even if all trace of harmful magic is eliminated from you, you may still experience waking nightmares, and disturbing visions during your normal sleep. The nature of a curse like this one is such that even if the magic itself did not touch you, your suffering is nonetheless quite real. Do you understand what I am saying, Draco? In purely technical terms you may not have been cursed, but for all intents and purposes, it is exactly as if you have been. Andromeda's mind may have left an... impression on yours."
Draco nodded, pretending for a moment that they were talking more about Andromeda and less about him.. "Can this curse, indeed, ever be said to be curable? Or, once touched by it, is the mind always going to conform to the pattern it has inlaid?"
Snape narrowed his eyes. He was a cynic by nature, but Draco's bald statement bordered on the macabre. "I believe the magical elements of the curse can be eliminated. They are two-fold. One, if it works you will no longer be unwakeable by normal means, and tow, you will no longer be in danger of dying if you commit suicide in one of your dreams."
"Ah." Draco was not even sure if the last time he had been in the lab had been a dream or a memory. "I must admit every scenario but one has had that as a tempting outcome."
"Oh?" Snape looked at him curiously. "Which scenario does not?"
Draco gritted his teeth. "The one I keep mistaking this one for. The one where there is... something more between myself and Harry Potter." Was there so little love between them that Scarlett felt threatened by a dream?
Snape had no answer to that. He should have been expecting that to be the reply, but somehow he had not been ready to hear it put quite so plainly. "I am under the impression that," unlike you, "he is happily married."
Draco stared at the surface of the worktable. "He saved me once before, you know. At Hogwarts. The Final Battle. We were in the Room of Requirement. The Room of Hidden Things. Crabbe... attacked him and his friends with Fiendfyre. Goyle and I were on the verge of being roasted alive when Harry swooped down on a broom and got us out of there."
He was silent for a moment, remembering. "He'd fly through fire and risk his own life to save me, but I doubt he'll... kiss me again unless my life's in jeopardy."
Your life is in jeopardy, Severus wanted to shout, but his energy was probably better put to eradicating the curse. "We'll need the large, silver-lined cauldron for this," he said quiet but brusque. "And a large quantity of ground moonstone."
Draco nodded and went to retrieve the cauldron from its hook. Brewing a challenging and complicated potion right now would be an excellent way to keep his mind focused and unthinking.
Snape wasted no time. "Do you think it's possible you've been suffering from the curse for years? Or that you only caught it like a cold from Andromeda? Or is your mind so susceptible to imbalance that exposure to her state of mind affected yours?"
Draco sighed. "I have been assuming it is the last. If the curse had struck me more generally as a bearer of the Black bloodline, why hasn't it struck my mother? Or Teddy himself? But what have you read?" He paged the book to the chapter headed "Le Belle Dormant" but did not attempt to read anything yet.
"It does not appear to describe a curse that would affect an entire bloodline, though there are other sections of the book that do seem to detail such a technique. So they could be combined, potentially. But it may also be that your susceptibility to it is as a result of your blood rather than your... fragile mental condition."
Draco rubbed his forehead as if his fragile mental condition could be alleviated by it. "The nightmares started before I ever looked into Andromeda's mind. Because of stirring up all the... bad memories of sixth year on. While researching your notes."
"That still does not rule out a transmission of harmful magic, merely by being in her presence..."
"Except that Teddy visits her all the time."
"Ah. Quite true, Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin."
Draco looked up in surprise at Snape's joke, a half-smile on his own face. "Very well, Professor, how shall we proceed?"
Snape looked at him critically. "You know there is nothing I can do to solve your own... psychological difficulties."
Draco stared back. "I know."
"As such, I worry that even if all trace of harmful magic is eliminated from you, you may still experience waking nightmares, and disturbing visions during your normal sleep. The nature of a curse like this one is such that even if the magic itself did not touch you, your suffering is nonetheless quite real. Do you understand what I am saying, Draco? In purely technical terms you may not have been cursed, but for all intents and purposes, it is exactly as if you have been. Andromeda's mind may have left an... impression on yours."
Draco nodded, pretending for a moment that they were talking more about Andromeda and less about him.. "Can this curse, indeed, ever be said to be curable? Or, once touched by it, is the mind always going to conform to the pattern it has inlaid?"
Snape narrowed his eyes. He was a cynic by nature, but Draco's bald statement bordered on the macabre. "I believe the magical elements of the curse can be eliminated. They are two-fold. One, if it works you will no longer be unwakeable by normal means, and tow, you will no longer be in danger of dying if you commit suicide in one of your dreams."
"Ah." Draco was not even sure if the last time he had been in the lab had been a dream or a memory. "I must admit every scenario but one has had that as a tempting outcome."
"Oh?" Snape looked at him curiously. "Which scenario does not?"
Draco gritted his teeth. "The one I keep mistaking this one for. The one where there is... something more between myself and Harry Potter." Was there so little love between them that Scarlett felt threatened by a dream?
Snape had no answer to that. He should have been expecting that to be the reply, but somehow he had not been ready to hear it put quite so plainly. "I am under the impression that," unlike you, "he is happily married."
Draco stared at the surface of the worktable. "He saved me once before, you know. At Hogwarts. The Final Battle. We were in the Room of Requirement. The Room of Hidden Things. Crabbe... attacked him and his friends with Fiendfyre. Goyle and I were on the verge of being roasted alive when Harry swooped down on a broom and got us out of there."
He was silent for a moment, remembering. "He'd fly through fire and risk his own life to save me, but I doubt he'll... kiss me again unless my life's in jeopardy."
Your life is in jeopardy, Severus wanted to shout, but his energy was probably better put to eradicating the curse. "We'll need the large, silver-lined cauldron for this," he said quiet but brusque. "And a large quantity of ground moonstone."
Draco nodded and went to retrieve the cauldron from its hook. Brewing a challenging and complicated potion right now would be an excellent way to keep his mind focused and unthinking.