A Saviour Uncaused (Harry Potter, Drarry)

The Taming of the Snake

Chapter 10

The Taming of the Snake

This was the second time Harry had shown himself to lack foresight. He had thought of catching a wandering house-elf and kindly asking it if it would point him in the direction of the Owlery, which would require he reveal himself. But this went into a large repository of boyish deficiencies about which he could not care to be embarrassed. And he was almost certain his execution of an Unforgivable curse would garner Ministry attention. He had not been in enough wizarding dwellings to know if wards were a fixture of all of them or just some. But he made up his mind quickly and re-entered Malfoy’s room.

Removing his cloak, he bent low to Malfoy, whose face was frozen in the middle of his scream for his mother, lifted his spell and quickly muttered a Silencing Charm to strangle off the continuing yell. Malfoy began to struggle in his shock at suddenly finding himself facing the ceiling on his back and being Silenced without warning. Harry held him down and quickly said, “Imperio!”

The Slytherin’s attempts to get on his feet ceased, his grip on Harry loosened and all the stress in his face cleared. Left behind was a surreal expression, his silver eyes sparkling in oblivion. These were the consequences of being taught by an ex-Auror who had a shaky grip on the concept of reason and performed all three illegal curses to a class of fourteen-year-olds.

Harry half-heartedly waved his hand in front of him. Malfoy did not follow it. Harry sheepishly hauled the other boy up onto his feet. “Malfoy,” he said, “can you hear me?” He was hesitant to let go of the boy lest he collapse back onto the floor.

“Yes,” Malfoy answered, taking Harry aback slightly. Malfoy moved his eyes onto Harry, though they were still appeared defocused.

“Okay,” Harry said, thinking fast. “Does anything happen if you cast a curse in this place?”

Malfoy did not answer.

“I mean,” continued Harry, who correctly suspected his question was unclear, “what happens when you cast an Unforgivable? Are there wards here that detect them or mask them or what?”

Malfoy shook his head. “The manor is not connected to the outside because of the wards. No one will know if you cast an Unforgivable.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. Um...” He looked about himself, still holding needlessly onto Malfoy. “Show me to the Owlery.”

Without another word, Malfoy gently went around Harry towards the door. Harry followed him after grabbing his Cloak from the floor and putting it on. They must have crossed the entire manor; Harry did not know one could do this much travelling in a closed structure ostensibly serving the purpose of a house. They approached the west wing and arrived in a small room the size of a single bedroom with a patina of hay on the floor littered with bird droppings. The opposite wall had tall, slender gaps opening to the outside of the manor, and at the furthest corner from the door was a square opening which presumably allowed the owls entry. Two ceramic tubs filled with water sat on top of the two banks against the two longest walls. Sprinkled directly on the banks was what Harry presumed to be owl food.

Harry closed the door behind them and took off his Cloak.

“This is it?”

“Yes,” Malfoy answered, again unexpectedly to Harry.

“Right,” Harry said, looking around. “Now I know where it is. I’m gonna have to start softening you up before I can tell you about Blaise ’cause you won’t believe me. I need to be your friend first, start sending some owls, we go back and forth. I apologize for being a twat even though you pushed me there. You certainly deserved getting turned into a giant slug for what you said about Cedric... I’m gonna pretend I’m sending Hedwig from Ron’s...” Harry’s heart sank as he realized the obvious. “...It’s going to take forever to do this... Isn’t there another way...?”