Trusts And Betrayals

Chapter fifteen

Harry had put his Invisibility Cloak on in his dorm after a hurried breakfast with Hermione and Neville. Neville had kindly agreed to remain in the Common Room to act as an alibi for Harry, as Neville was still being punished by his Grandmother and was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade until after Christmas. Harry thought that poor Neville's Grandmother must be a frightfully mean woman. Harry was to meet with Hermione in twenty minutes, as she was going to quickly visit Ron in the hospital wing before they leave, and to fill him in on what they were doing in case he was able to join them later. Harry was walking quietly along the corridor when he nearly ran straight into Dumbledore, who was accompanied by Snape. There was no way Harry could get by them, so Harry drew in a breath, hoping not to be caught by either of them.

"Severus, I am growing very concerned with the amounts of time that you have been spending with Professor Malfoy... I believe we had an agreement years ago, when you first came to me?" Harry had never actually heard Dumbledore with such an awkward tone before.

"Headmaster, I was completely unaware that there were rules regarding staff members fraternizing." Harry was amazed, because as much as he loathed Snape, and thought he was likely one of the foulest people he'd ever met - he could give Snape credit for one thing... he was always very respectful to Dumbledore. There was certainly a sarcastic tone now though.

Dumbledore clearly heard it as well, and he lowered his voice so that Harry had to strain to hear it. "Severus, you know exactly what my concern is. Since you have retaken your role as a Death Eater, you seem to be getting more and more reclusive and angry, as you had been before you had turned away from them. If I feel that you are a danger to any students, particularly Potter, I will have to rethink your position here. You know what my concerns are with Narcissa, it's nothing personal, but part of our agreement was that this circle would end with you."

Harry was finding this very difficult to follow, how would he be in any danger from Malfoy and Snape?

Snape's eyes shifted, and he looked around nervously. A look that Harry had never seen on Snape. "I'm afraid it may be a bit late for that, I'm not too sure..."

"Severus, what did you do?" Dumbledore looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him, and for the second time ever Harry could see why Dumbledore was the only wizard that Voldemort feared.

"I ummm... used the Voetvolk Hex on her, but she has no idea." Snape's black scorpion-like eyes had a certain fear in them, and Harry had no idea what it meant, but he found himself shudder. "I didn't even realize I had done it until it was too late, it happened almost instinctively."

"I'm going to have to do some research, Severus. That is very old and very ancient dark magic, I myself know very little..." Dumbledore stopped short, and raised his hand to silence Snape. Harry could hear footsteps coming down the hall. He was thankful, as he was late to meet Hermione now. Percy walked over to Dumbledore, giving Snape a look of contempt. Percy had never been very fond of the Potions master himself.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir? I think I will be leaving tonight, I just wanted to thank you for allowing me..." Harry tuned him out, watching Snape quietly slip off in the direction of the front entrance, obviously seeing an opportunity to leave.

Harry decided to do the same. What was that hex called? Voetvolk? Hermione might know, he hoped. He wondered why any of this would involve him, as he neared the Hospital Wing. Hermione was waiting impatiently, he could see her tapping her foot, and fondling her Prefect's badge. He decided to sneak up on her and have a bit of fun. He tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped out of her skin.

"Damn it, Harry! Don't do that!"

Harry laughed, feeling slightly better, and very amused at Hermione's girly scream.

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They were soon in Hogsmeade, and Harry quietly and rapidly told Hermione everything he had overheard. He was starting to think he should become a spy, as he seemed so good at accidentally overhearing such important conversations.

"I don't know, Harry, Voetvolk Hex? I've never heard of it, but it has to be bad if Dumbledore was worried. Did you notice how pale Professor Malfoy has been lately? Maybe he's made her terminally ill, but I think Dumbledore would have him thrown in Azkaban for that... and what would that have to do with you?" Hermione was deep in thought. They passed a group of seventh years, who regarded Hermione curiously, as it would appear to them that she was talking to herself.

They walked by Honeydukes, where a crowd of students had already started, and walked into the Three Broomsticks. Harry could see that Percy was already there, sat at a table by himself, and Hagrid was sitting at the bar drinking from a very large stein, it could honestly have passed for a keg - it was so big. Hermione walked over to a booth and paused, so that Harry could sneak into the seat ahead of her, the took her seat next to him. So far as they could see, neither Snape nor Lucius Malfoy had entered the pub yet. The door opened, and they looked over, expecting to see one of them, but were thrilled to see Ron. He soon sat at the table, across from Hermione.

"I made it! Pomfrey looked me over and said I was fine to go, and boy! Did Draco ever have a fit! He wanted to leave - and there was no way she was letting him go. You should have heard him, what a rude little bugger he can be. Anyhow, have they made any appearance yet?"

Almost as if on cue, Lucius Malfoy walked into the pub, and took a seat at a table that faced the door. He had barely taken off his coat before he was looking at his watch.

"Let me out now, Hermione." Harry whispered. Hermione knocked her purse onto the floor with her elbow, and stepped out of the booth to pick it up, allowing Harry out. Harry walked over and stood near the table where Lucius sat, watching carefully to make sure no students walked into him. Lucius ordered a glass of wine from Rosmerta, leering at her, and looking her up and down. Harry was disgusted. Snape walked in then, and hurriedly took a seat across from Lucius.

"Severus, it took you long enough." Lucius hissed. "I understand my son has been injured in a game, and I am not permitted to see him."

"Sorry, Lucius. There is nothing I can do about it." Snape said, and ordered a Newcastle from Rosmerta, as she placed a wine glass on a coaster. Snape waited for her to walk off, and then spoke again. "So, will you tell me what the plan is, that your son was incoherently babbling about?"

Lucius's eyes seemed to move downward momentarily, but he then met Snape's eyes again. "You will find out, in due time."

"I er - noticed you didn't bring your date, Lucius," Snape said in his quiet sarcastic way. Harry sensed that although they were fairly civil to each other, neither man liked the other.

"I'll be meeting with her later," Lucius replied. "I see you didn't bring yours, either." Lucius looked up, and laughed. "And now I see why."

Snape turned in his seat, and Harry looked up, and he could see Professor Malfoy through the window, walking in with Professor Lupin as Percy was walking out. Harry was certain he noticed a dramatic silence throughout the place, and he knew why. Draco Malfoy had always made it very clear that he disliked Remus Lupin, before it was even known that Lupin was a werewolf. Draco would certainly not like to hear that his mother was out having drinks with him. The two of them took a seat at the bar, a few stools away from Hagrid.

Snape turned to Lucius with a look of repulsion. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

Lucius nodded, highly amused by the whole thing, and he obviously didn't care about the fact that his wife was there, hadn't he tried to kill her over the summer? Snape walked over to the two, and Harry followed, hoping that he might overhear something there. He was, after all, breaking the rules of the school for this, and didn't want it to be in vain.

"Lupin, would you mind if I had a word with your, er - date?" He said in a loathing way.

"Only because I need a word with Hagrid, Snape. Make it quick." Lupin replied coldly and got up from his stool and walked over to Hagrid.

Snape turned to Malfoy. "Is this amusing to you? I thought we agreed last night that you were not to come here."

"No... you said, I could not come with you. So, I asked Remus," She had a smug look on her face, but softened for a moment. "Over the summer, I promised Sirius that if I thought Harry might be in any kind of danger, to go to Lupin. That is all I am doing."

Snape's eyes were still very cold. "We will talk about this later, Narcissa."

Harry turned to look over at Lucius, to see how he was taking all of this in. Harry was shocked to see Lucius had his hand over Snape's beer, and was sprinkling some kind of powder into it. The dark ale seemed to froth momentarily, then turned a bright green, and Harry could swear he saw snake-like images swimming around the glass before the liquid turned back to brown. Lucius sat back in his seat and looked over impatiently.

"I am sure we will, Severus, after dinner?" Malfoy replied, and Lupin came back to the table. Snape shot him a murderous look before going back and taking his seat.

Harry watched as Snape talked to Lucius, and lifted his glass. For some strange reason, Harry was sure that he should stop him from drinking it. He dove over, and knocked the glass out of Snape's hand, spilling the contents all over Snape. Snape jumped to his feet, his robes drenched, and Harry heard a table of Hufflepuffs laughing uncontrollably, obviously happy to see this sight. He was near enough to hear Snape mutter under his breath, "Potter!"

"If you don't mind, Lucius, we'll have to continue this conversation another day. I need to take care of something at the school."

Lucius nodded, smirking. "Next time, try a little harder not to miss your mouth, Severus. Though I'm not exactly sure how you could miss."

Snape scowled, and Harry was sure he heard him say a few unpleasant words under his breath before he stormed out of the pub. Harry saw Professor Malfoy was starting to get up, but Lupin put his hand on her arm to stop her, and rolled his eyes in Lucius's direction. She nodded and took her seat, still glancing at the door. Harry quickly went over to Hermione and Ron, who were looking very confused. "I have to get to the school quickly - Snape knows I spilled his beer all over him, and I think he's going to look for me to try and prove it. Just so you don't worry!"

He ran out of there before they could respond, and ran down the stairs of Honeydukes. He ripped the trapdoor open, and went through, racing through the passage. He wished he had that damn map handy, but no use worrying about it now. He went and stealthily crept out of the one-eyed witch's's hump, and sprinted over to the Gryffindor Common Room. The portrait of the Fat Lady was wide open, and standing in the center of the room was Snape, interrogating an obviously terrified Neville.

"Professor, Sir - I swear, Harry's been in the dorm sleeping all day, he hasn't been well..."

"Longbottom, you are as useless at lying as you are at potion making. I will ask again, where... is... Potter?!"

Harry rushed up the stairs, and threw his cloak under the bed, then walked down, trying to look as though he had just woken up.

"What's all the yelling about?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

He could see that Snape didn't buy it for a minute, as he looked from Harry to Neville, his face red with anger. He strode over to Harry, and stood directly in front of him. Harry could see the hate that filled Snape's eyes as he looked into Harry's. "You were in Hogsmeade today, Potter. Once again, disregarding the rules that were put out specifically for your safety. One of these days... you're going to slip up - and there will be no one there to protect you." He walked out, and Harry collapsed into one of the soft couches, thoroughly exhausted from the run.

Neville sat on another chair, looking curiously at Harry. "Did you learn anything, Harry?"

Harry waited a minute, still trying to catch his breath. Hermione and Ron came in, and hurried over to Harry.

"Well...?"

"What happened?"

"Way to go, spilling the beer on Snape!" Ron blurted out.

"It wasn't in fun, believe me. Mr. Malfoy put some powder in there while Snape was talking to Malfoy - Professor, not Lucius... and it turned the beer green, and I thought I saw snakes in there..."

Hermione jumped in. "You saved his life, then, Harry. That sounds like Asp-Powder, it's made from the venom of one thousand deadly snakes, and there is no anti-venom for it."

"Bloody hell, Harry! You should have let him drink it!" Ron said, making Neville laugh nervously. Harry then told them all he had heard, which hadn't been enough.

"The minute I get a chance, I'm going to talk to Lupin." Harry said suddenly. "I want to know why Sirius hasn't replied to the Owl I sent him."

They all nodded, clearly all were wondering if he was all right.

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Later they all went down to dinner. Seamus and Dean filled them in on all that happened in the Three Broomsticks, after Hermione and Ron left.

"The guy sitting with Snape - Malfoy - He left, after leaving Rosmerta a huge tip, he dropped at least ten galleons on the table, and the few drinks he had couldn't have been more than seven sickles each, tops! Any ways, he left, and Professor Lupin and Professor Malfoy left, and Hagrid left - it seemed they were following him out."

"We hurried out there, hoping to see a real duel, but Malfoy apparated, so the three of them went towards the grounds." Dean seemed disappointed that there was no duel.

Fred and George piped in, hearing the conversation. "Yeah, well, we heard something, too... Someone broke into and searched Lupin's and Malfoy's office, and her room, too, and whoever it had been tried to break into Snape's office, but they couldn't get in."

"Snape was pissed! He was yelling and accusing White, it was White that had told them all, why would he do that if he had done it? Man, Snape can be such an ass." George shook his head in disgust.

"Yeah, well he wasn't too much of an ass to Malfoy, was he?" Fred said, laughing, and then George laughed too. "We heard him whisper - ok, so we used a magnifying charm to hear everything..."

Hermione giggled, and Harry rolled his eyes. Those two were so full of mischief, he wondered how they managed to keep out of detention every day.

"He quietly told her to stay in the dungeons, instead of her room." George finished.

"So?" Hermione inquired. "That's logical. If her room had been ransacked, she should stay somewhere else."

"He meant his room, Hermione." Fred told her, making a face. "He said that only one person in the school would be able to break into his office, or his room, and that there was no danger of him doing that. I was mortified, I liked her as a teacher!"

Harry remembered the conversation he had overheard earlier. "Was Dumbledore there?"

Neville spoke up. "Dumbledore is away for the week, I heard him this morning at breakfast. Something to do with the Ministry."

Harry thought for a while. He wasn't about to do anymore eavesdropping, he'd had enough of it, and it had made him none the wiser. He then resolved to talk to Lupin as soon as he had a chance to get him alone. He had a terrible feeling, like something terrible was brewing. They all went off to their dorms, and to bed.