Chapter Twenty-Two of 'A Door Into Hope'- Backlash
Chapter Twenty-One.
Part One.
Title: A Door Into Hope (22/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: None among main characters, background Lucius/Narcissa and Arthur/Molly
Content Notes: AU, angst, some violence
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Harry is mustering more and more support for the changes he wants to make in the wizarding world as he returns to Hogwarts after his first Christmas holiday. But as some people begin to believe he can make those changes, others see him as a threat.
Author’s Notes: This takes place in my Children of the Sun series after “The Secrets of Longbottom Manor.”
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Twenty-Two-Backlash
“Now I know my parents are going to be even angrier. Now I know that they’re just going to pull me out of the school.”
Harry bit his lip in worry as he watched Draco huddle on the seat. Kali stood on his shoulder and wound her neck around his, but Draco didn’t seem to notice. Harry had never seen Draco ignore his own familiar like that before.
“Or they’re going to kill me,” Draco whispered, his hands shaking so badly that Professor Snape reached out to take away the mug of hot chocolate he’d given Draco. “I’ll just disappear and never be seen again.”
“Mr. Malfoy, we have explained why that will not happen,” Professor McGonagall said sharply. Harry frowned at her. He could understand she was upset because Draco didn’t trust her, but she shouldn’t be snappish. Professor McGonagall caught his eye and nodded. “Once a parent requests that a student be re-Sorted, they must leave the student in their new House for a period of three years, minimum. It’s required to let the student adjust to a new set of Housemates and rules and expectations.”
“But my parents aren’t going to obey the rules. They think they’re above them.”
Professor McGonagall shrugged. “They can believe it all they like. They still won’t be allowed to touch you.”
“But they could make something happen to me over the summer.”
Professor McGonagall paused. “Mr. Malfoy,” she said, softly, “are you telling me that you fear being tortured or having the Imperius Curse cast on you if stay with your parents over the summer? Or something similar?”
“I,” Draco said and hesitated for a long minute. Harry bent forwards. If something like that was to happen to Draco over the summer, then he and Golden would prevent it. Golden sent a pulse of warmth through Harry, showing that he agreed.
“Not really,” Draco finally said, and reached out for the mug of hot chocolate. Professor Snape handed it back to him with a judging look that Draco thankfully didn’t seem to see. He sipped the chocolate and sighed. “Just that they would talk to me and cajole me, and they might transfer me to Durmstrang.”
“They have paid for all seven of your years at Hogwarts, and that cannot be refunded,” Professor McGonagall said, with a ghost of her smile. “Not to mention that you don’t know any of the languages spoken at Durmstrang, I would think.”
Draco shook his head. “No, just a bit of French.” He paused and went pale again, while Kali gave an exasperated trill and hooked her foot around his neck. “Beauxbatons?”
“Beauxbatons has very strict requirements for accepting British students,” Professor McGonagall said. She had sat down in a chair between Harry’s and Professor Snape’s, facing Draco in the little space of Professor Snape’s office. “They don’t believe that our educational standards match their own. You would have to pass numerous exams and also answer questions from Madame Maxime that I don’t believe your parents would want to answer.”
Draco stared at Professor McGonagall as if he had never seen her before. “How do you know all this, Headmistress?”
“Since I became Headmistress, I’ve had to learn a great deal more about the rules governing such things than I ever did when I was Deputy Head.” Professor McGonagall shook her head and settled back in her chair. Malkin jumped into her lap, and she began to pet him as he curled up with a purr. “I am not saying you are untouchable, Mr. Malfoy. I am saying that your parents used one of the few loopholes in the rules, and now that it hasn’t worked out the way they envisioned, they will actually be harder put to it to use any other. Previous Headmasters thought they should have jurisdiction over their students during the school year, not parents.”
For a moment, she looked sad and grim. Harry thought she knew why. Probably Professor Dumbledore had wanted that kind of access to students, and had passed some rules that Professor McGonagall thought were terrible.
But right now, if those rules would help protect Draco, Harry didn’t care.
“What kind of Howler do you expect them to send you when they hear the news, Draco?” Harry asked, because he knew Draco would be worrying about that. Neville would certainly be worrying about that from his grandmother if he’d been Sorted into Slytherin or something.
Draco gave a helpless laugh and shook his head. “I actually don’t have any idea. I don’t think-I don’t think they’re going to be happy. But they also always say that Malfoys express their displeasure in private.”
“When you show that color on your robes,” Professor Snape said, nodding at the yellow lining that had appeared on Draco’s clothes when the Hat Sorted him into Hufflepuff, “it will be a public rebuke enough.”
Draco swallowed and nodded. “I know, but I don’t think they’ll send me a Howler. They’ll probably Floo call me instead and be all-I don’t know if I can describe it, but disappointed in a really awful way.”
“As if they wish that you had done what they asked while at the same time acting like it’s impossible that you would ever do something so right?”
Draco looked hard at Harry. “How did you know that?”
“The Muggle family I lived with before I came to Hogwarts.” Harry sighed. He wished Draco hadn’t had to go through something similar. “Is there any way we can help you? I mean-I suppose there isn’t a way that we can save you and protect you from your parents forever, but I hate to see you just accepting that they’re going to be cruel to you.”
Draco swallowed and managed to smile. “Well, if they really can’t make me Sort somewhere else or pull me out of school-”
“They cannot, Mr. Malfoy.” Professor McGongall’s voice was quietly reassuring.
“Then I suppose I should go back to Slytherin and get my things, and then go talk to Professor Sprout.” Draco looked at the professors. “Or would she know already? Is there something that would tell her?”
Professor McGonagall shook her head. “That is one reason the Sorting is usually held in public.” She stood up. “I will go with you, Mr. Malfoy, and help you explain the situation to your former Housemates.”
“I shall go, Minerva.”
For a moment, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall looked at each other, and Harry held his breath. He wondered who should win, what was the best way to think about this. And then Professor McGonagall looked down at the floor and nodded. “Yes, I can see why that would be a good idea, Severus.” Her voice was thin and exhausted.
She walked out of Professor Snape’s office with Malkin following at her heels. Harry was going to ask what was wrong, but Professor Snape reached out and put a hand on Draco’s shoulder. “Come, Draco. I will answer any questions the other Slytherins have.”
“Draco?” Harry waited until his friend looked at him. “I’m sorry that you had to stop being in Slytherin, but I’m really glad that you’ll be in Hufflepuff with me and Neville and Cedric and Susan.”
Draco managed a faint smile, and nodded. “It’ll be different, but I hope it’ll be good.”
Harry watched Draco walk out the door. Kali was flying beside him, instead of being perched on his shoulder. Harry hoped that was a sign he was feeling a little more confident, or at least that Kali didn’t think he needed as much protection.
“But we’ll help him,” he said to Golden.
Golden looked up at him, and his tail moved in a gentle swaying pattern. Harry took more comfort from that than he would have from words. It was so obvious that they would help Draco that Golden didn’t even think he needed to say it.
*
“Mr. Malfoy’s parents requested that he go under the Sorting Hat again, with Slytherin no longer an option for him. As a result, he has been Sorted into Hufflepuff.”
Severus studied the incredulous faces around him as he spoke. Two of the students who had attacked Harry, or at least the students whose faces the attackers had worn, were among the audience. They stared back at him, and then stared harder at Draco, standing with Kali on his outstretched arm and a haughty expression that Severus knew was feigned but admired the more for that.
Parkinson broke the silence first. “Hufflepuff?” she asked, voice dripping with condescension.
“Someone who has a gold familiar is in that House, too,” Draco said, and his voice dripped the same emotion, and he didn’t back down when Parkinson stared at him.
Severus put a hand on his shoulder in silence, so that Draco would know he was there, and looked in silence at the Slytherins until some of the open mouths shut. “Members of the Malfoy family questioned the Hat’s choice,” he said. “You should remember that family tradition in that case might mean little, given that it is open to question from anyone.”
“But I just can’t believe it’s Hufflepuff!” Parkinson stood up and stalked towards Draco. Severus tensed. He didn’t think the girl was stupid or always actively malicious, but she had the unfortunate trait of getting upset about things that were none of her business. “Tell me that you didn’t actually want to be in that House, Draco.”
“I want to stay in Slytherin.”
Parkinson halted in front of Draco and nodded. Her krait was awake and watching everything. That snake made Severus more nervous than Parkinson herself did. “Well, I’d hope so! This is the House that you belong in, and your parents are clearly mad.”
“I mean, Professor Snape didn’t say it was my parents.”
Parkinson just gave him a glance and turned away. She was muttering something under her breath about the Owlery as she stalked out of the room. Severus watched her go with some curiosity. It sounded as if she was going to write to her parents, perhaps to tell them about the “mad” decision that Lucius and Narcissa had made.
He wondered for a moment if he should stop her, but then shook his head. He couldn’t control all the students who would want to owl their parents about this, even if he managed to control most of the ones in Slytherin. And the more backlash that Lucius and Narcissa realized from this, the sooner they might give up their attempts to control Draco so strictly.
“Do you want me to Summon your possessions, Draco?” he asked Draco in a low voice, ignoring the mutters around them.
After a long moment when it seemed as though Draco would protest that he wanted to go to his room himself, he nodded. Severus nodded back and Summoned Draco’s trunk, clothes, and all the contents of the bureau that he would have as a first-year Slytherin student. Other people jumped as the trunk and the other things came flying down the stairs, and Severus Packed them with another swish of his wand.
“You’re not going to protest, sir?” That was Cassius Warrington, a Beater on the Quidditch team, staring at Severus with hard eyes. His copper manta ray glided through the air around him, obviously agitated, although most of the time Severus had trouble reading that particular familiar’s emotions due to her alien physiology.
“I cannot protest against the Sorting Hat or against the Malfoy parents’ decision that caused this in the first place. I am legally restricted from doing so. Perhaps someone who is not might have more luck, Mr. Warrington.”
There was a long, silent moment when he thought Warrington would protest, but after a second, he nodded, and then hurried out of the common room. Going in the direction of the Owlery, Severus was certain.
“Sir?”
Severus turned to face Draco, and cast a bubble of silence around them when he saw the worried look on the boy’s face. “Yes, Mr. Malfoy?”
“My parents-they’re not going to like this.”
“I know,” Severus said quietly, keeping the caustic response that he wanted to give inside his mind. It was Lucius he wanted to hand it to, in any case, not Draco, who had done nothing to earn it. “But they would not have been pleased no matter what happened. If for some reason you had ended up in Gryffindor, they would be upset about that. If you had ended up in Ravenclaw, they might have seemed more pleased at first, but they are mad if they think that Professor Flitwick would allow someone to abuse one of his eagles.”
Draco hesitated. “Do you think they’ll know that?”
It was an insightful question. Severus inclined his head. “Perhaps not. But they are going to be made to recognize that their actions have cost them some respect.”
“They-have?”
“Do you imagine your Housemates are pleased about this, Mr. Malfoy?”
Draco looked at the floor, while Kali hissed and slewed her head around as if she had decided that the stares still coming their way from some of the Slytherins were offensive. “Well, no. But I don’t see what I could have done to make the Hat not put me in Hufflepuff.”
“I meant that they are displeased with your parents,” Severus clarified. He should have realized that Draco would interpret Severus’s statement the way he had. “You were a good fit for Slytherin. Your parents were the ones who demanded that you move out of this House.”
Draco looked up with wide eyes. “But they’ll get angry if people send them Howlers. Or even just regular angry letters.”
“Then perhaps they could reconsider some of their stances,” Severus said coolly, and slid Draco’s trunk into his own robe pocket after shrinking it. “Come, Mr. Malfoy. Hufflepuff awaits.”
*
Harry stood up when he saw the common room door open. Most of the Hufflepuffs were waiting for Draco. He was glad that at least Cedric and Susan knew Draco from the meetings and conversations they’d had together in the library, and so he really did have friends there already instead of Harry. He might feel strange if it was just Harry and Neville.
Cedric stepped forwards and held out his hand for Draco to take. “Hi, Draco. I know that you’re familiar with me, but I’ll introduce some of the others. This is Hannah Abbott and her familiar Ardent, Wayne Hopkins and his familiar Hellion, Serena Smith and her familiar Ironclaws…”
Harry smiled as he saw Draco’s shoulders dropping more and more from around his ears. It was going to be all right. Draco probably wouldn’t feel at home in Hufflepuff for a long time, because he’d been a really good Slytherin. But he would do the best he could, and they would do the best they could, and Harry thought things would work out in the end.
There was a scraping sound, and he looked up to see that Kali had flown from Draco’s shoulder to the fireplace mantel. She settled in place and spread her wings out as if measuring the distance from other familiars, though in fact there weren’t any other familiars on the mantel right now. After a moment, she folded them again and nodded imperiously to Draco.
Draco smiled at her, and glanced at Harry. “There’s room enough for us, right?” he asked, under the chatter of conversation as people argued over what they should show Draco first.
“Of course.” Harry squeezed Draco’s shoulder, and then went to help him move into the first-year boys’ bedroom.
*
“This is not real.”
“It is.”
Narcissa compressed her lips and sat down in her usual chair at the dining room table. She supposed she had to accept that it was, if it was both in the letter Draco had sent her and on the front page of the Daily Prophet.
And from the bright red Howlers that were writhing in the special containment bowl in the front hall that kept them from opening, there were others who were not happy about their asking Draco to sit under the Sorting Hat again.
“How could he have been Sorted into Hufflepuff?” she asked.
Lucius gave a snort and shook his head, heading a piece of ham to Hecate, who had her neck craned down over his shoulder. “He has always been loyal to those he felt were pleasant to him, and we have encouraged him to be loyal to the family. That would be my guess.”
Narcissa nodded. It was also what Draco had said in his letter to them, although she had discounted that because, frankly, she wouldn’t trust a word that came out of her son’s quill right now. “And how do we get him back?”
“We are not allowed to request another Sorting for three years.” Lucius nodded to the letter she still held. “And we will lure him better with sweetness than with threats. We should work on looking as if we accept his decision.”
“I do not accept it.” Venus placed her paws on Narcissa’s chair and stared up at her as if to say that she didn’t, either. Narcissa scratched beneath her chin and rejoiced in the rumbling purr.
Lucius rolled his eyes, something he normally never did in front of her. “You don’t have to, love. What you have to do is accept that it’ll be better to pretend as if we do.”
Narcissa paused and slowly sat back. Yes, perhaps she could do that. Most of her active plans had failed for the moment, and that she meant she needed to make new ones. And perhaps she would coax Draco back to her side faster if she managed to wait and make it seem as if she was disappointed instead of angry.
She glanced up to find Lucius watching her with an odd expression on his face, and flashed him a smile. “Something wrong?”
“No, dear,” Lucius said, and fed another piece of meat to Hecate.
Narcissa didn’t know if she believed him, but the important thing right now was maintaining her temper. She ate breakfast and went to her study to write the letter that would return to Draco that afternoon.
Patient, sighing, coaxing. The wizarding world disapproved of her at the moment, or at least the parents of Slytherin students did.
Wait a while, and that awareness and disapproval would fade. The wise leopard could wait hours, days, for a feast if needed. And Narcissa had a leopard’s heart.
Chapter Twenty-Three.