Healings (Adopted)

Part 8

It was strange, but he blinked again and the scars were gone, like they never even existed. His skin turned creamy again, only a faint shimmer was left.

Strange.

"Wake up Potter. Narcissa has requested you to come downstairs for lunch," he announced, trying to forget what had happened.

Harry stood up, scraping his chair softly, and followed Snape down into the dining room.

"Harry darling!" Narcissa exclaimed, earning him a dirty look from Lucius and Draco that luckily went unnoticed by Cissa.

"Hello Cissa." Harry voiced, his words filled with affection.

"Mother, why do you act like you have known each other for so long!" Draco asked, annoyed.

"Because we do, Draco," she answered calmly, "now let's eat lunch."

Throughout the entire mealtime, Severus sneaked glances at Potter, making it look natural from years of experience as a spy. He noticed how little food he was taking and briefly wondered if that was normal or was just because he was in a strange environment.

After eating, Narcissa suggested that they all play Truth or Dare. Since everyone knew how angry she could be when mad, they all agreed quickly. They were at a conflict though; How would they choose who went first? No one ever wanted to go first.

Harry had an idea; He softly called for Kreacher, freezing slightly when remembering about Sirius. Draco was snickering – he did not even bother to hide it – because the elf was muttering about how he did not want to serve a filthy half-blood.

"Please bring me a bottle of Butterbeer, please" he whispered so softly that no one could hear, "And some Veristasium too."

They waited in anticipation and boredom for the elf to come back, which he did in a few minutes and disappeared just as fast. He placed the bottle in the center of the circle they were sitting in and everyone took a gulp of the potion. On the right of Harry was Cissa, then Lucius, Snape, and Draco (meaning Draco and Narcissa are on either side of him).

They choose to let Severus go first since they had concluded that he was the oldest (even though he was thirty-one, a month older than Lucius). He twisted the bottle and the pace steadied down and landed on Draco.

"Truth or Dare, Draco?" he asked.

"Mm...truth," he answered.

The Potions' master thought for a while before deciding on a question:

"Were you the one who broke that flower vase when you were seven?"

"...Yes"

Severus smirked triumphantly, and Draco had the decency to look guilty. Lucius just stared at his son.

"I thought you said you did not break it...?" Lucius quizzed.

Draco sheepishly said in his defense, "I only broke it because Sev did not give me my apple!"

Narcissa only shook her head and gestured for Malfoy Jr. to spin the bottle.

The bottle landed on Harry.

"Truth or Dare, Potter?"

"...Truth" he replied.

"Why are you so close to my mother?" he questioned suspiciously.

Harry looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He certainly did not want to answer this question at all.

"Can I change to dare?" Harry asked tentatively.

"No!" Draco shouted, before calming himself down and apologizing.

"In third year, your father was caught as a supporter of Voldemort and sent to the ministry and they were planning to send him to Azkaban for life. Someone from the ministry told me about it, saying I had the right to know being the Boy-Who-Lived or whatever." Harry explained, sensing Lucius tense when he heard about it from Harry.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Snape demanded, caring for his friend.

"Well, um, I wrote to Mrs. Malfoy about it when I received news and asked her to help me write a draft to prevent you from going to Azkaban. I sort of worked on it for two months and then asked Cissa to help me send it.

'Eventually, they loosened the punishment and decided to let you organize and clean the Department of Menacing Possessions. So, I knew no one would volunteer for it and I just did it by myself. Afterall, there are quite a lot of things that could have hurt dark wizards. Of course, I'm not saying dark! No, I just..." he rambled on until he noticed that everyone was just staring at him.

Silence.