Remus took the dog with him as he left. He said it was his, but that he had gotten the dog while at Hogwarts and he had recently moved, so when the dog got lost it came to Hogwarts, where he knew. It made sense, but Harry was a little sad to see the dog go. It was the first dog Harry liked.
"So Remus said he wanted to meet me at Christmas, which would be nice." Harry happily walked along next to Draco, telling him all about the meeting with Remus.
"You should come to mine for Christmas, Remus can visit you there, but it would be nicer than Hogwarts." Draco was glad for the opportunity to invite Harry to Malfoy Manor for Christmas without shoehorning it in randomly.
"I don't want to impose." Harry's cheeks flushed and he looked away from Draco, still walking down to the dungeons for Potions.
"Trust me, you won't be. My house is huge, it gets kinda lonely so it would be nice to have you there." Draco smiled.
-----
Draco thought it was a little odd that they were using ash wood for the fires under the cauldrons, they never had in the previous timeline, but he guessed it didn't really matter. Provided it's a wood that burns properly, the type of wood never really matters.
Harry and Draco were next to each other, so they were working together on the Potion, Harry preparing the ingredients and Draco adding them and stirring the potion. All was going well, even as Snape breathed down their necks.
That was until Harry slammed his hand onto the desk.
"Harry? Are you okay?" Draco dropped the stick he was using to stir the potion.
"Our little... Celebrity." Snape looked at Harry, who was obviously struggling to stand, as though he was a piece of gum he had trodden on. "Seems to be addicted to attention. Ignore him Draco."
"Harry, can you hear me? What's wrong?" Draco did, indeed, ignore someone, it just wasn't Harry he ignored.
Harry couldn't respond, his face paling and looking sweaty and his breathing shallow.
Draco didn't wait another moment, abandoning the half finished potion, picking Harry up with ease and rushing off to the Hospital Wing. Even as Snape yelled after them about giving all 4 detentions, Ron and Hermione slipped out of the room on his tail.
Harry's eyes seemed to be trying hard to stay open, but his breathing seemed to be more of a struggle with every breath.
"Stay with me, Harry!" Draco's eyes flicked between Harry and his stairs.
The stairs seemed to be helping in their haste, leading them on the fastest route to the Hospital Wing, Ron dashing in front of Draco as they ran along the corridor to open the door for him. The door banging open louder than Ron had ever opened a door before.
"What do you think-?" Mme Pomfrey was angry, with her hands on her hips before she was cut off.
"It's Harry. Don't know... What's wrong... Help." Draco used as few words as possible, out of breath and still filled with panic after watching Harry's weakening, putting Harry down on an empty bed as Mme Pomfrey came over.
"You three get out, do not come back until you have changed and showered." Mme Pomfrey summoned a potion, pouring it into Harry's mouth, his breathing still weak and his eyes barely open. "Drink it."
It was the first time they had heard Mme Pomfrey so scared, Harry clearly struggling to swallow the potion. They wanted to know what was going on, but with Mme Pomfrey's urgency they figured it was best to just do as they were told. Eyes lingering on Harry as they filed out.
-----
The use of ash wood for fires had been banned in Hogwarts since before James even entered the castle, though it was only after James joined that the rules were reinstated.
Snape hadn't known about why the wood type was banned, and he found it annoying. He liked the smell that specific type of wood made when it was burnt, so one Potions lesson he snuck in some ash wood and burnt it under his cauldron.
The lesson was only about half done when James started reacting, relying on his arms to stand up, going pale and sweating. Slughorn didn't especially like James, but he still sent him to the Hospital Wing with Sirius and stopped the class, insisting on checking their fires. As James left the room he started sounding like he was struggling to breathe.
Snape had barely managed to get out of being expelled for burning ash wood, all because stupid James Potter was allergic to such a common type of wood.
He didn't regret burning the ash wood, in fact he now wished he had burnt more, maybe if he had then James would finally be dead. With James dead then Lily would love him again, right? Like he said previously, ash is a common type of wood right?
5 days after James had first been taken to the Hospital Wing after the ash wood Potions incident he was able to leave. He strutted around like nothing had happened, but more people seemed to be paying more attention to him. As though his ego needed more inflating.
Snape left a large piece of ash by where he knew the group of twats liked to sit for lunch, waiting just out of their site so he could watch Potter die.
"Woah, Prongs, what are you doing?" Sirius grabbed James' hand, pulling him away from the ash as James reached out to fling it aside.
"Relax, I only react to ash while it's burning. It's a creature thing, the whole Potter line has the allergy. So long as it's not burning I can touch it, but if it is burning then I can't be in the same room as it, and even being near people who have been in the room with it burning before they wash up can be dangerous." James gently shook Sirius' hand off, throwing the spindly branch off just far enough it wasn't in their way any more. "See?"
"He's not wrong, though, you've barely recovered." Remus conjured a chair for James to sit on, rather than letting him sit on the damp grass.
"Listening to you lot you would think I was at death's door." James rolled his eyes, though he sat down a little gingerly.
"Are you going to claim you weren't?" Remus' tone seemed to be daring James to do so, but he didn't.
"I swear I'm going to kill that Snape." Sirius spat, sitting on the grass next to James.
"You will not." James messed up Sirius' hair.
James would say that. He was such a prick. He had to go around telling everyone he had gotten injured 'saving' Severus from finally getting proof that Remus Lupin is a werewolf. Still nobody believed him, but it seemed now that the rest of the little group knew.
So much for breaking up the group of twats.
It was a shame James didn't die that day, but Severus would be expelled if he ever dared to burn ash wood in Hogwarts again.
-----
Snape gnashed his teeth as he watched Draco, his own godson, run out of the room with the Potter brat. This was just more proof that he should never have accepted godfather position, though he couldn't deny that it came with many, many perks to be godfather of a Malfoy. He didn't even bother to stop the Weasley brat or mudblood who knew far too much, just like Lily had.
He hadn't managed to break the Potter brat in the first lesson, he hadn't thought he would have spent so long reading the textbooks to know the answers. So he had decided to go further to try to break the boy.
He was glad now that he had overheard the conversation between the 4 Marauders that day. He couldn't know for sure, but he figured it was likely for the new celebrity to have the same allergy as its father. He could reasonably claim that he didn't know that ash wood burning would cause anything harmful to happen to the boy.
Draco should not have interfered. If he hadn't then Snape would never have to deal with another Potter. They were all going to be punished as harshly as he could because of this.
-----
"What happened with Harry?" Neville asked as soon as he ran into them, just a short distance away from the Hospital Wing, all of their breathing laboured from the running.
"We don't know. Mme Pomfrey was making him drink a potion as we left, but we were kicked out to wash and change before we can go see him. I assume you should do the same." Hermione, the one who had been at the back, running the slowest, and breathing the easiest said.
"Yeah, okay. Let's all meet here after we've cleaned up?" Neville's eyes flicked to Draco, the rest of them being in Gryffindor so it was odd to think about having to meet up with someone in Slytherin.
"Works for me." Draco kept trying to get his breath back, only now realising how light Harry was to carry.
Of course he expected Harry to be light, he had always been a seeker after all, and if the Dursleys would kill him and then cover it up they probably didn't feed him right, but Harry was way too light. Draco had carried cauldrons the whole length of Malfoy Manor that were heavier than Harry.
"Well I sure as hell ain't entering that classroom again." Ron muttered, Draco peeling off from the group to head back down to the dungeons.
"This didn't happen last time. What do you think happened?" Neville asked, looking at Ron and Hermione out of the corner of his eye.
"Harry didn't manage to answer so many of his question last time, plus he was being harassed by Draco and the other Slytherins then." Hermione shrugged.
"Don't forget the bastard always hated him. We weren't stupid thinking he was the one who cursed Harry's broom back then. He's a Death Eater." Ron's eyes were fixed forwards with such a piercing glare it was surprising the empty portrait hadn't burst into flames yet.
-----
They had all had long showers, not sure what it was clinging to them that had caused the reaction Harry had experienced, and not wanting to risk it causing problems again.
"Hello?" Hermione poked her head in the room, her hair in a silk bonnet.
"Come in." Mme Pomfrey waved Hermione over to herself.
They walked over to her, where she let them into the curtained space where Harry lay propped upright against many pillows, eyes closed and breathing far more easily than he had when they left. He looked like he was asleep.
"How is he?" Ron took the chair beside Harry's bed, Hermione perching on the bedside table, Draco sitting at the end of the bed, and Neville standing between Ron and Draco, as though worried the two might fight.
"Thankfully you got here soon enough that he could drink the potion. He should be fine, but if at any point his breathing sounds strained let me know immediately." Mme Pomfrey's voice was still tense, never once in her career had she come so close to losing a patient.
"What happened?" Neville asked the question at the tip of all their tongues.
"The Potters have a very diluted creature inheritance which causes a magical allergy to burning ash wood. The potion cannot undo the effects, but it can ensure their vital organs continue functioning and remove the pain. He will otherwise be paralysed, though will sleep and wake up as usual." The situation Mme Pomfrey was describing sounded horrifying.
Even without pain, it must be terrifying to wake up and be unable to move, and it was unclear if Harry's vital organs would only work at a resting rate or would match his emotional state. It's impossible to even imagine the panic without your heart rate being able to increase.
"Can he hear us?" Hermione rubbed her arm, seeing Harry like this was unsettling to say the least, he was still deathly pale even if they had already done everything they could for him. It brought back incredibly unpleasant memories.
"Right now he will be sleeping because of the potion, but when he wakes up he will be able to. He won't be able to respond in any way though. Please try to visit him as much as possible." Mme Pomfrey had never had such a reaction herself, but from the mandatory sessions she had had with James after his experience it was incredibly lonely and terrifying, but having someone there made it easier.
-----
"Um, Lexsaidh?" Draco caught her hand as she was entering the Great Hall, Harry's guests having been kicked out to go eat.
"Yeah?" Lexsaidh looked down at him a little confused, but her eyes kind. "You need something?"
"Can we talk in private?" Draco couldn't put his finger on why he was so nervous, he'd had a good relationship with Lexsaidh, but somehow he was terrified of disappointing her. And after he thought he sounded so cool telling the others he would talk to her about what to do.
"Sure. I'll be with you in a bit." Lexsaidh waved her friends in the hall, leading Draco to the Hufflepuff common room. "What's up?"
"Snape tried to kill Harry, he's alright now, but what do we do about it?" Draco didn't really know why his hands were shaking so badly.
"What?" Lexsaidh didn't sound like she didn't believe Draco, but was clearly taken off guard.
"Harry is allergic to burning ash wood, deathly, Snape knew and had all the fires under the cauldrons burning ash wood. I'm sure his aim was to kill him." Draco's heart was beating quickly. He knew Snape wasn't a good person and hated Harry, but he never thought he was capable of something like this, even with his history as a willing Death Eater.
"Okay, I'm going to call Zizi, can you tell my friends I'll take a while?" Lexsaidh had never dealt with an actual murder attempt before, only tried to figure out to do what with her visions, all while knowing it was probably futile.
-----
"Lydia, how quickly can you get a reporter to Hogwarts?" Nico called out, kneeling by the fireplace where Lexsaidh's head was.
"I can contact them tonight, but they'll probably be able to get there Friday, soonest." Lydia came into the room, stopping by the door, her small figure framed by glittering light. "Why?"
"Snape tried to kill Harry, Dumbledore will obviously try to cover it up." Lexsaidh explained from the fireplace.
"Has anyone told Dumbledore yet?" Lydia came closer to the fire, looking serious.
"None of the students, but I'm sure he knows, why?" Lexsaidh furrowed her brow.
"Have the Gryffindors who know how to act well go tell him. Then have them hang around outside, if they can find a way to record what Dumbledore says, have them do it. They need to do this as soon as possible. Try to at least get the other people there when he tried to kill Harry agree to give interview about it." Lydia knew what would make the best, and most honest sounding story. The more people they could interview the better. "Are you okay telling the newspaper at least the basics about what he did to separate you from Sonny and Marley?"
"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with this." Lexsaidh looked confused.
"We can write an article about this looking down on Snape and Dumbledore, but if we want more people to come out about the wrongs Dumbledore has done, we need to follow that up with more things he specifically has done wrong. I'm sure more will come out, but now the only other we have is you, so if we can set up an interview with you already then we can make sure it can stay in the public eye. If you can, crying and playing the innocent victim would be best, if Rita comes sniffing then play that up even more. There's no way the Daily Prophet won't try to jump on this." Lydia said.
"Okay, I'll do my best." Lexsaidh's voice was a little weak at the idea of playing up her situation with her parents, but if doing that might save Nico, and by the sounds of it Killian, then she was willing to.
-----
Hermione and Ron approached Dumbledore's office, legs feeling like lead.
"Do we really have to?" Ron mumbled, approaching the gargoyle.
"Lydia said it would make for a better story, so yes." Hermione's eyes were fixed ahead as they reached the gargoyle. "You think we should pretend not to know the password?"
Ron didn't need to answer, though, as no sooner than the words left Hermione's mouth the gargoyle moved to the side. McGonagall exited, looking livid, though her face quickly changed to surprise when she saw the two of them.
"We need to talk to Professor Dumbledore." Ron said, a little stupidly.
"Well," McGonagall sighed, pulling her robes back into position, sounding angry. "You can go on up now."