Bonds of Pain

Bonds of Pain

Chapter 7

In which Gringotts is visited and saleswitches are shocked

When the boys came back to the Hospital Wing, the first thing Severus noticed was the smiles on their faces. Huge and... genuine. He had never expected to see a genuine smile on his godson's face. The boys had their arms over each other's shoulders and were acting as if they had been friends forever, Harry clapping Draco on the back in a way that screamed "Well done!" Draco spotted him, and the grin melted into a look of concern.

"You're not upset that I'm in Gryffindor now, are you, Uncle Sev?" Harry mock-punched his friend, and a rare smile graced the Potions Master's face.

"Not at all, Draco. It's where you belong now." The pair exchanged glances, Harry's expression saying, "I told you so."

Severus chuckled. "Shall we go, then?" He held out a pouch of Floo powder, and Draco took a large handful.

"We'll go at the same time, Harry." He had to admit, the pair worked well together. Unlike previous years, Severus was glad to see the two boys together. The boys stepped through the green flames, and Severus threw in another pinch of Floo powder once the green flames had subsided.

"Diagon Alley," he stated, calmly stepping into the flames, which were emerald again. Fireplaces whirled by, and Severus was deposited on the street full of wizards' shops, where Draco and Harry were brushing soot from the simple clothes Albus had transfigured for them. On closer inspection, the outfits weren't really as good as the boys deserved, especially with what they had been through. Severus smiled. He knew just where to take the boys.

"After we're done here, why don't we go out into Muggle London and get some normal clothes for you both?" he suggested. "I know a shop run by a classmate of mine that has some fairly popular designs. It's even popular with Muggles." The bright smiles and eager nods he received in reply were more than he could have hoped for.

"Could we, Uncle Sev?" Draco asked. At his nod, the blond boy practically bounced with anticipation. Six weeks had made a tremendous change in his godson, and he was finally acting like a fifteen-year-old boy. Harry, too, was less uptight than before, now unafraid of making mistakes.

"Come on then, we need to get some money before we go shopping." A hand on each boy's shoulder, Severus steered them towards Gringotts.

Hogwarts alumni who had learned under the imposing Potions Master and saw him in Diagon Alley that afternoon were shocked to see the expression on his face. Severus Snape was, for once, pleasantly happy, and he was smiling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Umm, Uncle Sev?" Harry heard Draco whisper. He tuned out to give his friend some privacy and looked instead at the display in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. His Firebolt was obviously still state-of-the-art in brooms.

Wait. Draco had refused the Dark Mark, so his father had probably taken away his key to the Malfoy vault. Then again, the Malfoys had been arrested shortly after Draco had left their "care," and he could have sworn he'd seen an article about their trial in the Daily Prophet. Harry looked at the other boy and saw the worry on his face.

~Hey, if you feel guilty about having money from Lucius hurting others, we could help the Weasleys out and have the goblins put some in their vault from each of ours... Besides, I have more than I could ever use, and I don't exactly plan on sitting on my arse after I graduate.~ Draco got a considering look on his face before smiling broadly at Harry.

"Brilliant. You know they don't want charity, though..." Harry shook his head at the doubt in the blond's voice.

~So? They'll never know where it came from. I'm giving them some money, whether they like it or not.~

"You're too much, Harry. Honestly, you'd let people walk all over you if you didn't have friends to stick up for you." At this, Harry smiled sheepishly.

~I was raised humble, that's all.~ Draco snorted and looked up at Snape.

"He says he was raised humble, Uncle Sev. I say we show him how normal wizards live next summer." His friend had that scheming look on his face again. It had shown up when Harry first wrote Ron about the bond and their new friendship. They had gotten a Howler in return that seemed to be from all the Weasleys. At least six different voices had shouted at them for a good ten minutes, and it had been incredibly funny, despite the fact that the noise had shaken the windows throughout the Hospital Wing.

"If he can beat You-Know-Who so I can be normal next summer," the professor muttered, winking at Harry to signal that he was joking. Professor Snape, joking. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought Hell might have just frozen over.

"Say the name!" Draco hissed as Harry thought the exact same thing. Snape held up his hands in surrender.

"I know, I know. 'Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.'"

The trip into the belly of Gringotts was as nerve-wracking as ever, the trio going first to Snape's vault, then Harry's. Harry tried to make sure he got mostly Galleons, and a pile collapsed onto his feet when he took a handful of gold. Strangely, the pile didn't collapse all the way but revealed the corner of a wooden crate.

~Hey Draco, could you help me get this out? It looks heavy.~ In response, his friend came over and began pulling at the box beside him. They could hear the coins on the other side of the pile begin to fall as the box shifted. Another heave brought it flying out from under the gold, which collapsed as the boys fell under the weight of the crate.

{Why don't we wait until we get back to the castle to open it? I think Uncle Sev wants to get the shopping done.} Draco glanced at the professor, and Harry agreed. {Your parents probably left some of their stuff in here for you.} Harry nodded and finished filling his moneybag before they lifted the crate to remove it from the vault.

Professor Snape merely raised a perplexed eyebrow at them as they heaved the crate into the cart. With a curt flick, he shrank the box to the size of a matchbox and handed it back to Harry. Harry gave a small smile and tried to speak for the first time in three weeks.

"Thank you," he rasped, his throat feeling like it was lined with sandpaper. At least it wasn't daggers anymore.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco was laughing as they entered Madam Malkin's shop. His grey eyes were twinkling with a smile, and he winked at his friend as the saleswitch came up to them.

"One set each of Gryffindor and Slytherin for the term, boys?" she asked. Harry tried to keep from laughing as Draco drew himself up haughtily.

"No," Draco said, "two sets of Gryffindor robes, please." He snickered at the confusion on the witch's face, and Harry started to laugh. "I'm not a Malfoy anymore. I'm finally myself." The witch, even more confused now, just shook her head.

"All right then..." She stalked off for some robes, and Harry grinned at Draco.

{The look on her face... That was priceless, Draco!} The dark-haired boy's laughter was infectious, and Draco chuckled as well.

~You know, we're ruining my reputation as a complete ass.~ Draco smirked as Harry nearly bounced off his stool. The witch, who was trying to adjust the hem of Harry's new robes, scolded the other boy, and Draco tried to keep his laughter quiet enough to be classed as a chuckle.

{Personally, I think it's a reputation that you need to lose. I mean; Ron doesn't believe a word I tell him about the bad-boy Draco being a façade. You've seen the letters he owls back to me.}

~Yeah, I have.~ Draco scowled, remembering the small ball of feathers that had assaulted him several times. ~Who gave him that damned owl, anyway?~

{Sirius did. He sent my Hogsmeade permission slip with it after third year, and he said Ron could keep it since he'd lost his rat because of Sirius.} Draco nodded at that. Harry had told him all about what had happened to him for the past four years while they were stuck in the infirmary. He knew now that Sirius was innocent and that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed Harry's parents. The cowardly man had hidden as the Weasleys' pet rat, Scabbers, for twelve years before his former friend had gotten out of Azkaban.

Of course, Harry had also written his godfather to tell him of their bond and the changes in Draco's world-view. Sirius had wanted to send a Howler, but he was still in hiding and had to stick with a regular letter. He had come around when Draco wrote himself, but Ron had told Harry that he'd burned a similar missive from Draco without even reading it. Draco had also written his Aunt Rita, but the journalist had not yet written back. Maybe she was having a hard time getting used to the idea that her nephew and godson was friends with her favourite target.

~I hope Ron doesn't try to attack me on the train.~ Dumbledore had insisted that they catch the train on September First, despite Draco's misgivings over security aboard the train and on the tracks between King's Cross and the school.

Harry snorted. {He tries it, and I'll slug him, best friend or not.}

~Really? Thanks.~ Draco was surprised. Ron and Harry had four years of being best friends behind them, and Harry would defend him first? And against his own best friend, too. Wow.

{Ah, Ron's such a dense prat sometimes. He actually thought I put my name in for that whole thing last year.} This time it was Draco's turn to snort. He'd tried to put his own name in the goblet, and he'd been unsuccessful. Even the Weasley twins had tried to get past the age line, and they'd sported tremendous beards after the effort, without getting their names in. How could Harry have gotten his name in?

{He doesn't realize that he likes Hermione, either. He's thicker than a cauldron bottom.} Draco blinked in surprise.

~He doesn't? Even I know they like each other. You're right, he is dense.~

As soon as the saleswitch finished, the boys got Professor Snape to shrink their bags before they headed off to the next shop.

What's this store Sev knows so much about? Who is his classmate? What is in the crate? Will Ron stop being so dense? Find out Sunday on the next chapter!

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Beth Weasley