Draco in the Middle
Snape stood right up and yanked the letter out of Draco’s hand to read the address. He paled right away and basically fell back on his bum on the bed in semi-shock. Then he started to get red and angry and stood right up and stared Harry in the face.
“Potter? What kind of trick is this? Why would you have this in your trunk? It has to be some kind of prank or something right? Just like your father, aren’t you? Think everything is funny and a joke to play on everyone so long as you get the attention on yourself as you please.”
Harry stared right back at Snape with tears in his eyes. Snape grabbed the front of Harry’s shirt and looked at him closely. Harry was shaking out of fear and panic. He could feel how angry Snape was at him and he could tell that anything he said would just make him angrier. He was partially worried that he would get physically hurt, just like at the Dursley’s, and cringed down on himself to try to get invisible.
Snape had blocked the feelings again not wanting to feel the sadness that Harry was previously feeling when he explained about the book list. He ignored the feelings that changed in Harry and so missed the fear that was currently being let loose.
Draco could see the fear in Harry’s eyes and could feel that both Harry and Snape were ready to snap in different ways so he decided to try and calm them both down.
“Sev, stop, look at Potter. Look at his eyes and try and feel his feelings. He is obviously scared and worried and just unsure of everything.” Snape still ignored Draco and was about to shake Harry for an answer to his accusations when Draco stood up and pulled him away from Harry.
Harry sniffled and curled into himself feeling unsure of everything and everyone and just feeling like this bonding will be just like being at the Dursleys and so he just laid all curled up in a ball on the bed and cried. He let go of his control and just let all his emotions out, mostly in tears, and just couldn’t stop himself from bawling his eyes out feeling like he will never find himself a real family or love or anything that he had always wished for. The Dursley’s were right that he was an unlovable freak.
“Severus calm down! He’s petrified and you are making it worse!” Draco pulled Snape away from Harry and forced him to get out of the room, leaving Harry alone and hopefully able to calm himself.
“Draco… You have to stop believing all his lies! He’s just trying to manipulate us by telling us these stories and making up all these pitiful fabrications so that we pity him and let him get away with things since we would feel sorry for him. Dumbledore told me that McGonagall was the one to get him and that she met the family and found no problems with them. So I don’t know where he got this version from but it cannot be true.”
Draco’s eyes got big and he looked down and tried to think of the feelings he got from Harry. Right now they were still showing extreme sadness and fear and he couldn’t imagine that being completely made up.
“How can he make up his feelings now? Can you feel this fear he has? He was terrified of you and not in just a ‘I’ll get in trouble’ kind of way.”
Snape tried to open up his Potter bubble of feelings but his anger towards him just wouldn’t let him see the truth at this time.
“Don’t let him fool you Draco. I told you, he can manipulate his feelings. He’s a good story teller I’ll give him that, but he’s also a big liar.”
With that, Snape walked away and locked himself back in his potions lab. Draco was left confused and alone and unsure if he should go back to Harry or believe professor Snape and just leave Harry alone again…
Draco decided that he needed to calm himself down in any way and just try to figure out what he wanted to do. He wanted to trust his bondmates, but he was tired of being stuck in between them. He had to find a way to get both Harry and Severus to connect somehow together, to find a link that joins them and that they can share some sort of passion together. He and Severus have potions, and the fact he knew Severus since he was younger helps them understand each other as well. But Severus has been against Harry since the beginning and Harry not having his books didn’t help things, but it wasn’t his fault… Maybe he should tutor Harry and see if potions could be his thing as well? And what about his story about Hagrid and his letter envelope; was that all real or was Severus right and he just made it all up for some sort of pity? What about all the adventures Harry told him while in the hospital… Were those all made up as well? Would Potter really go that far into making stories up just for more attention?
Draco walked back and forth just thinking about the stories that Harry had told them, and of everything he knew from his own knowledge of the past four years or so. He thought back to what he noticed from Harry’s own actions and from the happenings at the school. He knew that Harry hated the attention he gets, he makes that pretty obvious, so that wasn’t why he was telling these stories… If anything he could see Weasley or Granger making up the stories to get more attention because they seem to like to shine they get when they’re with Harry… But why would Harry go along with the stories if they aren’t true? There was just so much he had to discuss with Harry before he could try to get Snape to compose himself when it comes to all things Potter.
Meanwhile, Harry calmed himself down and realized that now that he is out of the hospital wing and is doing ‘better’ that Umbridge will expect him to show back up for his detentions. Only problem is that he still couldn’t get very far from his bondmates and so one of them would have to come with him if only to wait outside the room. He knew they wouldn’t like that. But what other choice did he have? There was no way Umbridge would let him off the hook.
So he got off the bed, wiped his face and prepared himself for more pain since the blood quill is still Umbridge’s detention torture item of choice. He realized that now that he has to stay here he won’t be getting the usual treatment with the solution of Murtlap Essence that Hermione has been getting him. So the pain will be just worse than usual now. He’s used to it he supposed, pain is nothing new; physical or emotional or whatever else he gets. He took a deep breath, ignored his feelings and walked out the room running into Draco.
“Oh, Draco, perfect! I need your help. Umbridge has me in detention every day until she says I learned my lesson. I got a break when I was hospitalized but if I don’t show up now she might just make things worse.”
Draco just froze and looked at Harry and shook his head to get rid of all his thoughts then nodded to Harry.
“Right, and you need one of us with you… Let me just grab a book to read, I don’t think the professor would be a good choice right now. Are you sure you’re ok?”
Harry nodded and just stood at the door to wait for him. Draco meanwhile couldn’t help but think of what Severus said. Has Harry been faking his emotions? Is that why he can just turn them off with no problem or is he the type to bury all his emotions when he has no time for them? What else has he been faking?
He shook his thoughts away again and grabbed a potions book and followed Harry to Umbridge’s office.
Umbridge opened the door immediately when Harry knocked on it. She seemed a little surprise at fact that Harry showed up, but was definitely unaware that Draco would be with him.
“Ahh, Potter. Brought a little company? I’m sorry Mr. Malfoy but this is detention, Potter cannot have company while he does his work.”
“Madame Umbridge, unfortunately due to the binding between the three of us, Harry cannot be further than shouting distance from one of his bonded mates, so I cannot be separated too far from him. Is there somewhere I can sit? I brought a book to keep myself distracted if that works for you.”
Madame Umbridge looked over at Malfoy then at Potter and just sighed. She knew that she couldn’t use the blood quill with any witnesses there to report her and a Malfoy was just the kind of person she knew would be able to get her fired.
“Mr. Malfoy, why don’t you sit outside my office, I’ll make sure to have a chair there for you. As for you Mr. Potter, you know the drill by now.”
Draco walked out and sat in the chair that appeared and just decided to give his thoughts a break and opened his potions book to study while Harry finished his detention. He had enough thinking going this day and his mind needed a break, plus he had a potions essay due next week.
“Now, Potter. Nice try getting Mr. Malfoy involved with your detentions, or maybe you were hoping that I would cancel your detentions now that you need this so called company?”
Harry looked down and just shook his head. He knew it wouldn’t go well with Umbridge, he knew she would make a big deal out of it and just make his life even harder than it already is.
“No ma’am, I just get in real big pain if one of the bondmates isn’t nearby and so I had to have one of them with me. If there’s any other way of doing this just let me know.”
Umbridge just gave him the quill and some parchment and told him to start.
Meanwhile, Snape was busy trying to understand the potion that Weasley created, he was analyzing it and testing it and just trying to see if there was any way to make a cure because he definitely didn’t want to be stuck being bound to two fifteen year olds. He knew he could at least be happy with Draco, even if it was a little peculiar since he knew him since he was young, but Potter… How could he possibly have a civil relationship with a Potter?
No, he wasn’t in love with Lily, but he did think of her as a sister and when she turned him away it hurt more than anything else the Marauders could have done. But then she started dating his torturer and didn’t try to stop Potter from everything they did to him. That broke his heart even more since if it was him he would have done anything for her. When she died part of him died as well, because even though he couldn’t trust her anymore, part of him still loved her, she was his family. He blamed the Potters for having her killed, and seeing that face with her eyes in his classroom just broke him a little more every time.
How could he possibly just forget who the brats’ parents are? He loved one of them and hated the other just as strongly, it was impossible to just let those feelings go.
He breathed deeply to try to calm himself, since thinking of them always wound him up, and decided to try to see if he can understand some of Potter’s feelings again. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked deep within himself to where the other’s feelings would be. He found and understood Draco easily, he could tell that Draco was distracting himself somehow. Then he found Potters… Pain? Why is Potter in pain? It obviously wasn’t Draco and he couldn’t be far from either of them since that pain would be a lot worse than this… What is going on now? Snape decided to go back to their bedroom and see what he could find because he could not for the life of him think of anything that could be causing Potter pain… unless… was he hurting himself? Wait. No… Sainted Potter would never do something like that… Unless it was another call for attention! Damn it. That boy… He just… And then…
Snape rushed out of the potions lab and walked quickly to the boys’ bedroom and slammed the door open. Then his anger just disappeared when he noticed the bedroom and the rest of their rooms was empty.
“Where the hell are they now?”