kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Arthur turned and looked at where Draco Malfoy now stood by his father. "A Malfoy saved you? Did he know who you are?"

Ron grinned. "Yeah. But see, I was helping Hermione, who was helping Harry, and since Harry's Snape's kid, that makes him a snake, so since I was helping a snake, Malfoy helped me." Arthur blinked, trying to process all that. He looked over to Harry. "So you were hurt too?"

Harry squirmed awkwardly. He still wasn't used to people caring about his wellbeing. "Not much. I mean, yeah, they tried to grab me, but you should've seen it, Mr Weasley тАУ erm, I mean Uncle Arthur. Everyone came running and jumped on those guys, and then when it was over, and Draco told on Smythe, Percy went all mental and protective and it was only when that Slytherin prefect grabbed him that he stopped."

"That pretty тАУ"

"- and shapely тАУ"

" тАУ Slytherin prefect," the twins put in slyly.

Arthur stared at Percy again. "Wh-which prefect might that be, son?" he asked, a bit unsteadily.

"Davidellajones," Percy admitted, very low and fast, staring at his shoes. "ShesstandingovertherewithHermione."

Arthur glanced over to where the small Gryffindor was standing next to a tall, willowy black girl. Arthur's eyes widened.

"She's great!" Harry enthused. "She was even scarier than Flint, Uncle Arthur! And she nearly тАУ erm тАУ well, did something really mean to the one who had hurt me."

"Really?" Arthur's eyebrows were at his hairline. Well, now we know that Molly will like her. He eyed Percy thoughtfully, noting the half-embarrassed, half-proud expression. "Boys, let me speak with your brother for a moment."

Percy's eyes flew to meet his father's, then dropped. He hunched his shoulders as if expecting a blow and shuffled a few yards over to the side. Harry and the other boys watched him anxiously.

"Uncle Arthur, you won't be very cross with him, will you?" Harry asked nervously, remembering the man's words about swats that sometimes lasted longer than a few seconds.

"Yeah, Dad," Ron chimed in, looking worried. "He was only protecting me. Please don't really punish him."

"C'mon, Dad тАУ" the twins chimed in.

"- it's not like it тАУ"

" тАУ was one of our pranks."

"Perce the Prat was actually тАУ

"- protecting ickle Ronniekins."

"You can't be mad at him тАУ"

"- for that."

Arthur gently extricated himself and stepped over to Percy. Before he could speak, the prefect blurted, "I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have, but when I heard what he had tried to do to Ronnie, I just lost it. I know the Headmaster is furious and Professor McGonagall told me that if she heard me use language like that again, she'd use a mouth soaping spell, but I тАУ"

"Son, calm down. Take a breath."

Percy obeyed, then gave his father a sheepish look. "Sorry. It's been so long since I've been in big trouble, I kind of panicked."

Arthur grinned. "I know тАУ thanks to the twins, I've gotten out of the habit of scolding one child at a time. Now then, are your professors very upset with you?"

Percy gave him a sidelong look. "WellтАж the Headmaster did threaten to take my prefect badge if it happens again. But he was twinkling the whole time and he must have given me about a dozen lemon drops, so it didn't seem like he was very upset. And, erm, Professor McGonagall only yelled about the language, not about the boils or anything, so I didn't think she was all that angry either. I mean, you know how she is, when she's really upset, she doesn't bother to yell, she just assigns punishments, so the fact that she just scolded me for a few momentsтАж"

"тАж Suggests she's not very angry," Arthur finished. "Yes, well, you know that your mother and I are very proud of your record here at Hogwarts and your being a prefect means a lot to us." Percy winced. Here it came. "But family is more important, and I'm delighted to see that you have your priorities straight." Percy's jaw dropped. "Now. Tell me about this Miss Jones." While his son goggled at him, Arthur dug in his pocket. "Here, you must need a few galleons so you can take her to Hogsmeade."

While Arthur was speaking with Percy, Snape caught Harry's eye and gestured commandingly. So long as rabid journalists were around, he wasn't taking any chances of the boy's artless prattle being unsupervised.

Harry obediently trotted over. "Stand by me unless I tell you otherwise," his guardian ordered sternly. Having Harry safely corralled, Snape looked over at the other students. The Weasleys were with their father. The older students тАУ Wood, Bell, Flint, and Jones тАУ stood in a knot, and Jones had taken the Gryffindor know-it-all under her wing. That left Draco.

Draco stood near his father, waiting for him to break away from the Deputy Headmistress. Only the boy's pallor revealed his anxiety, but Snape knew Lucius Malfoy's explosive temper all too well. It was too much to hope that the boy hadn't experienced it firsthand, and judging from his expression, Draco had indeed learned to fear his father's displeasure. "Come along," he snapped at Harry. Potter wasn't the only child with brutal relatives.

He stepped over to where Draco stood at attention and placed one hand on the boy's shoulder. Draco flinched, then visibly relaxed when he saw it was his head of House. Harry grinned and тАУ as oblivious as always тАУ nudged the other boy. Draco managed a weak smile before turning back to await his father.

Finally McGonagall turned away from the visitors with a satisfied, catlike smirk, and all three exploded into sound.

"How dare you treat me like an unruly child!" the Minister fumed.

"Hogwarts Gags Guests тАУ Silencing Spell Mutes Minister," Skeeter muttered to her quill, ignoring Fudge's gasp of dismay.

"Now, wait! You don't want to write it like that!" he argued, tugging her to one side.

"Draco," Lucius began silkily, the knuckles white on his cane. His son swallowed convulsively and Snape could feel him tremble.

"Lucius," Snape interrupted.

Malfoy's eyes snapped up from his son, then narrowed as he saw who had addressed him. "Severus," he acknowledged.

"Hi!" Harry, feeling happily secure in his proximity to his guardian, stuck his hand out. "I'm Harry Potter, Mr Malfoy. I'm one of your son's friends."

Lucius blinked. "YouтАж are?" He shook Harry's hand rather absently.

Draco bit his lip, suddenly hopeful. His father had given him orders to befriend Potter and Lucius had been irate when Draco had confessed their unpromising encounter on the Hogwarts Express. Maybe this turnabout would please his father?

"Excuse me." A new voice from behind them made them all turn, and Draco saw how his father's expression darkened when he saw who it was.

"What do you want, Weasley?" As always, he pronounced the name with contempt.

"I wanted to thank your son, Malfoy. He saved my youngest boy from a Cruciatus." Arthur stepped forward and held out his hand to Draco. "I'm Ron's father, Draco, and what you did was very brave and honorable. My family and I thank you for helping Ron."

Draco glanced nervously at his father, but purebred manners won out. "You're very welcome, sir," he said, hoping his father wouldn't erupt over his shaking hands with a blood traitor.

Arthur smiled at him. "Maybe you'd like to come visit us at the Burrow over the hols? Ron tells me you like Quidditch тАУ we usually have enough players to field two teams."

"Erm, thank you, sir."

Arthur turned back to Lucius. "Your son is a credit to your family, Malfoy." He held his hand out. "You must be very proud of him."

Lucius stared at the outstretched hand then glanced around the room. Virtually every eye was upon him. He swallowed hard. Weasley was a low level Ministry employee, a blood traitor who opposed the Dark Lord, and someone of absolutely no social ranking. But he was also a pureblood of impeccable тАУ if impoverished тАУ lineage and someone who was both well liked and well respected within the Wizarding world. Publicly insulting him would do Lucius little good and might alienate other, more powerful, wizards. "Er, thank you," he said, choking the words out as he gingerly accepted the man's hand.