Coveting Thy Enemy

Chapter 5: Enlightenment

The rest of the week didn't go to badly for Harry. His housemates had gradually started speaking to him and Ron again; although, Hermione was still shunning them both. His detentions with Malfoy wasn't that bad either. They had seemed to have a nonverbal agreement to simply ignore each other. Filch had had them clean all of the bathrooms in the castle, spit shine all of the trophies in the trophy room, and polish all the suits of armor. They were still on this last task Friday night. They had worked their way down from the top floor of the castle to the dungeon. Unfortunately, there were more suits of armor in the dungeon than the rest of the floors combined. Harry had to admit to himself that Malfoy wasn't a bad worker. He had assumed wrongly that Malfoy was lazy. Well, maybe he was lazy; he may have been working so hard to make the night go faster.

Filch had decided he could trust the two a couple of days earlier, so at this time he was busy with a rodent problem in the kitchen storeroom. Harry almost wished he were there when Peeves, the castle Poltergeist, decided to make a grand entrance. Flying through the narrow passage, he gleefully knocked over every suit of armor along the walls. "Ti-ra-ra-BOOM-di-ay," he sang after each suit he knocked to the floor. He then swooped out of the passage, his cackles echoing behind him.

"What the hell?" Severus Snape poked his greasy black head out of one of the rooms. He must have been sleeping because long strands of oily hair were stuck to the sides of his face. He glared at the two boys who were surveying the wreckage of Peeves' tornado. "What do you think you two are doing?" his voice boomed.

Harry looked at Draco, expecting him to explain, but Draco's mouth clamped shut as if his lips were glued together. "It wasn't us sir, it was Peeves," said Harry. Severus looked at Draco to confirm what Harry had said. Draco nodded in agreement, but his eyes were narrowed. Harry knew that look. It was the same look Malfoy often gave him. It radiated hate like the sun gave off heat.

"Fine then, I expect the two of you to clean up this mess," Snape said and slammed the door.

"Bloody git," mumbled Malfoy after Snape had left.

Harry couldn't hold his silence any longer. "What did you say?" he asked the silver-haired boy.

"You heard me Potter, don't pretend that you didn't."

"I thought I misinterpreted you though, Malfoy. Since when do you see things like that to him?"

Malfoy laughed then, a hoarse laugh, as if his throat was rusty. "Please, Potter, I'm sure you say things much nastier about him to your little Gryffindor friends."

"Well, yea, sure," Harry admitted, "It's just, I'm not his favorite student. What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything to me."

"Then why do you hate him all of a sudden?" Harry asked, the confusion written in his eyes.

Malfoy sighed then. It was a deep sigh as if he were carrying it so long it almost suffocated him. "It's not what he did, it's what he is, Christ, I really don't have to tell you all this, but you of all people should know. He's a Death Eater."

Harry was astonished that Malfoy was giving him a warning. Obviously he didn't know his warning was based on false information. Should he tell him? Harry struggled with his subconscious self on this. Finally, he decided that if Malfoy had refused the Dark Mark, it wouldn't hurt him to know. Even if he was Lucius Malfoy's son. "Malfoy, there's something you ought to know about Snape.

"What could you possibly know that I don't, Potter," Malfoy asked with his famous smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes and explained, "Snape is not a Death Eater, or rather he was, but isn't now."

This time it was Malfoy's turn to look confused. "What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Listen, Malfoy. Dumbledore explained it all to me a couple of years ago. Snape used to be a Death Eater, but something happened that made him change his mind. He came to Dumbledore for help and Dumbledore gave him a teaching position. Snape still goes to Death Eater meetings, but he acts as a spy."

Malfoy's mouth now resembled the Grand Canyon "You're shitting me?"

"No."

Malfoy looked guilty now. He spoke again, but it seemed that he was speaking to himself. "All this time . . . I thought he was a typical Malfoy. All this time, I was wrong."

"What did you just say?" Harry exclaimed. "Snape is a Malfoy?"

Draco came out of his musing then and looked at Harry as if he just realized he was there. A silent struggle seemed to go on behind his eyes before he spoke. "I guess I can tell you. Snape is my uncle."

Harry's face registered shock. "You're uncle?"

"Yea, he's my father's brother."

Now, Harry was confused again. "Yea, but they don't have the same last name," he pointed out.

Draco looked at him as if he were stupid. He said simply, "Snape is a bastard."

"I know that, but why do they have different names?"

Draco laughed for the second time that night. "No, he's not a bastard like you're a bastard, Potter. He's illegitimate. My grandfather had an affair. The result was Severus Snape. Severus was given his mother's last name, since my grandfather wouldn't never dirty the Malfoy name by leaving his wife."

"Didn't he dirty it by having an affair in the first place. Obviously it was common knowledge since you do know that he's your uncle."

Draco shook his head in bemusement. "That's not how the Malfoys work. It's okay to cheat on your wife, in fact it's expected. It's a different story, though, to leave your wife for another woman. Shit, there's probably just as many bastards in the Malfoy family as there are legitimates. The bastards are accepted as part of the family because they're all purebloods, but they can't inherit anything."

After that admission Draco left Harry to his thoughts. Their silent bargain resumed. Harry couldn't get over the Malfoy way of thinking, however. It was no wonder Draco was such a git, since he had been fed some really warped family morals all his life. They worked in silence for another couple of hours. When they were finished and about to part ways, the silence was broken.

"Thank you," Malfoy said.

"For what?"

"For telling me about Snape. Especially since you didn't have to." Malfoy didn't wait for Harry's reply. He made a quick pivot turn on his heel and walked down the passage to his common room, his robe billowing behind him.

When Harry entered his own common room, he found Hermione and Ron snogging on the couch. Ron looked up at him with a frown. When he realized who it was, he smiled. "Hey Harry, guess who's talking to us again."

"Really, Ron? It doesn't look like you were talking to me."

The couple blushed and smiled at each other. "So Harry, how did detention go? I bet you're glad it's over, having to work with Malfoy and all," said Hermione, changing the subject.

"It was actually quite . . . interesting," said Harry, for lack of a better term. What other word could he use? "Astonishing" would have fit the night he had just had.

"Interesting, how?" asked Ron, who needed to know everyone's business.

"Malfoy thanked me," Harry said simply.

"He what?" they asked simultaneously.

"He thanked me, and if you don't mind, I'm going to go to bed because I think I may have started dreaming already." He left the two and headed for the boy's seventh year dorm.

"Thanked you for what?" called Ron. But Harry either hadn't heard him or had decided not to answer him because all he heard was the dorm door shutting.