Circles of Influence

The Marks We Bear II: Circles of Influence by Marysia (September-October 2002) [email protected] http://www.marysia.com/

Rating: R Pairings: Harry/Draco Summary: Harry is in denial once more after Mrs Weasley catches him and Draco together. Can Ron and Hermione get him to see reason? Will Sirius help or make things worse? In the meantime Voldemort wants Draco dead. Harry/Draco slash.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

---------------- Tuesday 28th October Chapter 8

Harry sat down to dinner with a reasonably contented feeling. Lunch with Hagrid had gone better than expected, although some of the things Draco had said last night still bothered him. He just hoped that it was old prejudices that would wear off with time. Draco had changed a lot but you couldn't expect someone to change completely overnight. Still, there was a niggling voice that said, what if Draco had done all the changing he was going to. Was he really as different as he seemed to be? But no, he wasn't going to worry about it now. He had enough on his plate without starting to question Draco. He had saved his life, for weeks now he had done nothing but try and make Harry happy. Well aside from that potion thing, but his father hadn't given him any choice about that. It didn't matter now anyway. He had apologised to Hagrid, he was being nice to Ron and Hermione, he liked Sirius and he was respecting Harry's wishes. Everything was going fine.

Seamus, Dean and Neville came over and sat down opposite them, although Neville was paying more attention to Ginny who was not far down the table, than to anyone else.

"What happened to you lot at lunch?" Seamus asked. "Visiting with Malfoy?"

Harry frowned up at them.

"We were at Hagrid's," said Hermione quickly. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Just asking," said Seamus. "No need to bite my head off."

Hermione gave him a look that implied he was on very thin ice despite his recent good behaviour.

Harry sighed, he couldn't keep growling at people for just mentioning Draco. People knew they were friends now, they sat next to one another in the classes they had together, the whole school knew that Draco had somehow rescued Harry, Ron and Hermione from Malfoy Manor. How much of what happened they knew and how much they believed depended on how well they were connected to the school grapevine and whether or not they believed Voldemort had returned. A sizable proportion of the wizarding community believed the Ministry of Magic's denials on that front despite Dumbledore's speech at the end of last year. "It's okay, Hermione," he said finally. "I think I can cope with the occasional mention of Draco's name."

Hermione looked surprised.

"In fact," he continued. "Draco came to Hagrid's with us."

Seamus looked like he was holding back a comment of some sort but he just nodded companionably.

Hermione glowered at him as if she could read his mind. Luckily Ron chose that moment to try and put his hand surreptitiously on her leg. It would have been perfectly unobtrusive if Hermione hadn't yelped and slapped it away. "Ron," she hissed. "Not at dinner."

Harry stifled an inappropriate grin at the outrage on Hermione's face and the bewildered annoyance on Ron's.

"What's the point in being your boyfriend if I'm not allowed to touch you!" he complained loudly enough to turn several nearby heads.

"Ron!" Hermione was thoroughly scandalised. "You're causing a scene."

Seamus and Dean were visibly sniggering behind their hands by now, as was Harry. It was nice not to be the centre of the fuss for a change.

"I am not causing a scene," said Ron. "You are though. What'd you go and kiss me for if you don't want me to touch you?"

Hermione was speechless at this indiscretion.

"Women!" said Ron to the room in general. "Don't understand them at all."

Hermione made a muffled squeak of suppressed anger and humiliation then stalked off to sit with Ginny. They ducked their heads in close conversation as Ron frowned after them.

"My own sister..." he muttered.

"Maybe Harry's got the right idea," said Seamus. "Staying well out of it."

Ron turned back to them sharply, looking concerned.

Harry ducked his head and concentrated on eating his dinner as if he hadn't heard anything. He wasn't really sure what to say, if anything. Yes, he was gay. He could hardly deny that any more. Besides, Seamus hadn't actually said it. But he didn't want it to be an accepted thing, bandied about in casual conversation. How much harder would it be to move past this if the people he hung about with started treating it as if it were normal? What if he got used to his friends accepting it and forgot that the rest of the world didn't work that way? Still, a little part of him said, what if it really was okay? What if you could just relax and be with Draco and it didn't matter? It was a nice thought, a very tempting thought.

He finished up his dinner quietly, he looked deep in thought but he wasn't so much thinking as moping. He decided to take his homework to Draco's room, if he went back to the common room he'd only get caught up in Ron and Hermione's little drama. Besides he wanted to see Draco, whatever Draco said there was no denying Harry simply liked being around him. Even when the air was tense with desire or the words they spoke were filled with conflict it was better than being alone.

---------------- Wednesday 29th October

By the morning it seemed Ron and Hermione had made up again. Every now and then Ron would cast Hermione a certain knowing look that would turn her cheeks bright red but he kept his hands to himself.

The day started well but a buzz started to circulate as classes ended for lunch. The rumour passed from person to person that Snape had been suspended from his teaching duties and placed under house arrest by Dumbledore. Fred and George, ever in the midst of things, claimed he had been caught trying to bewitch one of the house elves to poison Malfoy's lunch. His late morning class had been cancelled and nobody had seen him since breakfast.

"Why would Snape try and poison Malfoy?" Ron asked Harry. "I thought Malfoy was the only person he actually liked."

"I don't know. Maybe the rumour's nonsense and Snape's just ill or something," Harry said uncertainly. "We should wait and see if any of the teachers say anything at lunch. Besides if Snape was going to poison anyone it would be me."

"Maybe it was you he was trying to poison, you eat with Malfoy all the time," suggested Ron.

They were interupted by Seamus and Dean, who spent so much time together these days Harry was starting to wonder about them. "Hey," said Dean. "We heard about Malfoy, have you spoken to him?"

"No," said Harry shortly. "I don't know anything about it. We don't even know if it's true."

"Wonder what Malfoy'll say when he finds out his favourite teacher tried to do him in," said Seamus thoughtfully.

"Snape didn't try and kill Draco," protested Harry, feeling very odd to be sticking up for Snape of all people. "There must be a mistake."

But whatever was going on Snape wasn't in the Great Hall for lunch. As the meal drew to a close Dumbledore stood up. "A small announcement," he said and everyone fell silent in anticipation. "Professor Snape will be unavailable due to... unexpected circumstances. First through to fourth year potions classes are cancelled until further notice. Fifth through seventh years should report as usual and arrangements will be made for some sort of supervision until a substitute teacher is found. That is all."

With that Dumbledore left the hall leaving them none the wiser as to what was really going on.

"He didn't say he was ill," reasoned Ron. "If he was really ill he would have just said he was ill. Unexpected circumstances... sounds pretty suspicious to me."

"It doesn't look good," agreed Hermione. "But we don't know anything for sure."

"Bet he did it," said Seamus decisively. "He's a nasty piece of work all right."

Harry sighed. He couldn't really argue otherwise without endangering Snape's position as a spy and this was surely something to do with that. He'd suspected Snape before and been wrong, but he still didn't trust the man. Nobody who hated someone who had done nothing to them as much as Snape hated Harry could be good.

They had Charms after lunch and then Hermione went off to her History class where she intended to ask Draco if he knew what was going on. Harry headed for Dumbledore's office and rang the small bell he now knew you could use to notify the headmaster someone was waiting to see him. Considerably more practical than trying to guess the password or hanging around outside in the hopes that someone would let you in.

The first words to leave his lips when he walked into the Headmaster's office were, "What's going on?" Dumbledore looked at him patiently. "Everyone's saying Snape tried to poison Draco, but he can't have."

"I'm afraid the rumours are quite true, Harry," Dumbledore replied gravely.

"What?!"

"We seem to have underestimated Professor Snape's fear of Voldemort, he was caught in the kitchens trying to put a house elf under a form of Imperius. Luckily for us we set up considerable precautions to prevent such tampering after the last incident. I have placed him under house arrest until I can decide how best to proceed."

"I don't understand... you said we could trust him."

"I am, on occasion, mistaken. I do hope this will not be too great a blow to Mr Malfoy, I believe he had been spending considerable time with Professor Snape recently."

Harry frowned, "That doesn't make sense either, Snape sees Draco all the time. Why not try and kill him when they're together?"

"I'm sure Professor Snape had a plan. Now if you will excuse me, I do have work to do."

Harry left no more satisfied than he had arrived. It just didn't make sense. Snape trying to kill Draco he could almost believe, but Snape trying and getting caught? Snape knew potions, the castle and Draco too well for that to be believable. If he wanted Draco dead then Draco would be dead, which wasn't a pleasant thought but left him sure Snape had not tried to kill anyone.

Harry met up with Ron since they both had free periods and they spent the afternoon on the Quidditch field as Ron helped Harry make up for lost practice time. He was embarassingly aware of his slow reactions and less than perfect form after spending so much time away from his broomstick along with his recent poor eating and sleeping patterns. He was woefully out of shape and his attention was not what it should be, which was the worst of it. The one thing a Seeker needed was focus and attention to detail, otherwise he would never be first to spot the snitch.

They met Draco and Hermione outside their Astronomy classroom and they all retired to Draco's room for dinner and to discuss the situation with Snape.

"He didn't do it," Draco announced as Ron closed the door.

Sirius transformed back into his natural form and immediately said, "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Well I would," Draco retorted. He was obviously a little touchy about the situation.

Knowing Sirius' deep dislike for Snape and Draco's penchant for loyalty Harry decided now would be a very good time to step in. "Let's not argue," he said quickly. "I don't think he did it either, but what I don't understand is why Dumbledore says he did. Could Snape have been forced? Imperius or something?"

"Since Professor Snape's pretending to be working for Voldemort he might have had to try and fake an attempt to keep his cover," Draco suggested.

"That sounds plausible," Hermione agreed.

"Or maybe he decided to kill you to keep his cover," Sirius suggested grimly.

Before Draco could answer Harry clapped his hand over his mouth, he had recognised the look on Draco's face. It was the look that said he was about to say something Harry would regret. "Excuse us a minute," Harry said and dragged Draco into the bathroom.

"What was that for?" Draco said, still looking surprised and a little annoyed.

"I just thought there was something you should know before you started trying to stand up for Snape against Sirius."

"And what would that be?" Draco asked, leaning insolently against the wall in a way that Harry found very distracting.

Harry decided to sum things up. "Sirius hates Snape, Snape hates Sirius. I get the impression that nothing we could say would ever change that."

Draco looked a little taken aback. "That seems a bit... childish."

"Snape really knows how to hold a grudge, in case you hadn't noticed," Harry pointed out.

"True, but I thought... well actually I thought better of Sirius. I mean Professor Snape has been good to me but I know his faults, I just thought you Gryffindor types were supposed to be above that sort of thing."

Harry shrugged. "I don't really know why Sirius hates Snape so much, maybe it would have been different if he hadn't spent 12 years in Azkaban. That's a lot of time to brood on bad thoughts. I know why Snape hates Sirius though."

"Why?" Draco's eyes lightened at the chance to get information on his rather secretive mentor.

"It was a practical joke Sirius played on him while they were at school together, a potentially fatal practical joke. My father saved him and that's why he hated my father and as a result why he hates me."

"All over one joke?"

"It wasn't very funny," said Harry wryly.

Draco looked thoughtful under his smile. "So you want me to back off on Sirius?" he said finally.

"I just don't want you two to get in a fight. It's the one thing Sirius really won't see reason on and there's just no point trying. If you'd seen the way they look at each other you'd understand what I mean."

Draco stepped closer to him. "We used to look at each other like that," he said softly.

"No we didn't," Harry said. "We didn't know enough to hate each other that much."

"Didn't you?"

"Well, maybe," Harry admitted. "But not you, I had other people to hate that much. You were just... really, really irritating."

Draco pouted, "You mean I wasn't your number one enemy? You were my number one enemy. Harry Potter, bane of my life, thorn in my side, fly in my soup..."

Harry laughed lightly then sobered. "I wish you had been my number one enemy," he answered, resting his head on Draco's shoulder. "My life would have been a lot simpler if you were the worst thing I ever had to deal with."

"I could try and be more evil," Draco suggested helpfully, trying to keep the tone light.

Harry just wrapped his arms tightly around Draco's waist and sighed into his robes. "We better go back out there, they'll think we're up to no good."

"We could be up to no good," Draco whispered in his ear, but it was just a tease and they both knew it. They stood there a little longer before Draco pulled away and said, "Come on then. I promise not to argue with Sirius."

Harry nodded and opened the door.

"What was that all about?" blurted Ron.

"I just needed to tell Draco something," Harry muttered, flushing despite the fact they hadn't been doing anything.

"Well, I'm starving," said Sirius, feeling very akward. "Why don't we eat?"

They all sat down and Draco signalled to the house elves that they were ready for dinner but when it came Draco just stared at his food uncertainly. It took the others a moment to notice as they had got stuck in with gusto. It was Hermione who noticed first and nudged Harry with her elbow. He looked up and she gestured to Draco with her eyes.

When Harry looked round at him Draco was lost in thought. Despite the fact that he was at least 99.9% sure Snape hadn't tried to poison him just the suggestion of it had brought back fears he hadn't quite got rid of yet. His stomach roiled at the thought of eating the food before him and there was an ache inside at the thought that he could no longer go to Professor Snape for help or even just to talk about things.

Without saying a word, Harry picked up the plate he had already started eating from, swapped it with Draco's and went on eating.

-------------- Thursday 30th

Snape paced in tight, swift patterns across the floor of his bedroom. The time had come for the final decision in this matter, did he go out tomorrow night to meet with Voldemort's operative or not. He was supposedly under house arrest, the rumours had been put out as to why. That hopefully covered his orders on ending Draco's life but the question was, what now? He was useless to Dumbledore locked in his rooms.

It was clear he could no longer freely move around the school without arousing suspicion among the Death Eaters. The things they wanted him to do were becoming too blatant. If he was going to continue as a spy he would have to leave Hogwarts and he would be as well to do so now and meet with his contact tomorrow night as arranged.

He knew it was what he ought to do, the only thing holding him back was the fact that he really didn't want to. This had been his home for years and he didn't want to go back to Voldemort. It had been all very well when he could spy and stay at Hogwarts but to return to the bosom of the Death Eaters... he'd rather marry Sirius Black and adopt Harry Potter.

He remembered his return to the Death Eaters only a few months ago. The threat of death looming so close it was like you were halfway into the grave already. The constant tests, the paranoia and backstabbing among the newly reformed group as they tried to blame their failures and mistakes on everyone else. It had been over fourteen years since he'd had to perform an unforgivable curse, time had only made it harder and more sickening.

But that only meant he had even more to atone for, there was never really any choice. Too young and stupid not to join them, too scared to leave and then too scared not to. Too useful and too desperate not to play spy, too uninformed to save James and Lily Potter and finally be rid of the debt he'd owed Potter. Too well placed not to go back to Voldemort, too damned to stay at Hogwarts. In too deep to ever be out again.

-------------------- Friday 31st October

Triple Potions, never the most pleasant class, was a whole new experience that Friday. On the plus side, Snape wasn't there, but he left something of a power vacuum and no one was comfortable in it.

The usual Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry was part of it but it was added to and complicated by Draco's presence. On the one hand Draco was Slytherin, on the other the majority of the people trying to kill him seemed to be Slytherin too and those who didn't know about his relationship with Harry at least knew they were friends. In fact they were sitting together along with Ron and Hermione guarded by Sirius in the form of a large black dog. That meant that most of the Gryffindor's had decided he was officially one of them at least as long as the rest of the Slytherin's were about.

Most of the girls along with Neville and, oddly enough, Crabbe jumped every time the dog looked there way. Sirius seemed to find this amusing and was playing up to it by being extra threatening.

Harry was nervous about the ritual tonight, the rest of the class was excited about the feast, and none of them were really sure what they were supposed to be doing for the next three hours. As a result there was a lot of gossiping and a lot of challenging glares passing around the class.

Dean and Seamus had announced at lunch that they and Neville (despite his protests) would be officially keeping an eye on the Slytherins so that Harry didn't have to worry about anyone attacking Malfoy during class. Harry had told them they didn't need to but they were far too swept up in the idea to pay any attention to him. As a result they were sitting nearer the Slytherins than the rest of them, which was fine by Neville cause that meant he was nowhere near the dog, and were apparantly trying to out stare Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe was too distracted by his fear of Sirius to do much staring.

Blaise Zabini seemed to be trying to chat up Pansy Parkinson, unsuccessfully as she was too busy glaring at Harry and Draco, while at the same time ignoring Cynthia Nott who was desperately trying to get him to notice her new hairdo.

Lavender and Parvati were playing with a tarot deck and Ron and Harry were chatting about Quidditch and about what they wanted to buy in Hogsmeade on Saturday.

The only people in the class who appeared to be studying were Draco, Hermione and Morag MacDougal.

In point of fact Draco wasn't studying, he was going over the words to the ritual he had planned tonight to make sure he remembered them without having to read them off a parchment. He was getting really nervous about their plans for that evening and being in a classroom full of people he didn't particularly like wasn't helping. Watching Harry chat to Ron wasn't helping either. It was good that Harry and Ron were getting on again, or he tried to tell himself that anyway, but when it came down to it the Harry that was friends with Ron Weasley (whom he still disliked greatly no matter what he led anyone to believe) didn't quite seem like the same Harry as the one that had once claimed to be in love with him. The Harry that hung around with Weasley's and got excited about joke shops and chocolate frogs was the old Harry. The straight Harry, the good Harry, the Harry that hated Malfoy, the Harry that had refused to be his friend and stood up for the Mudbloods and for half-breeds like Hagrid. He wasn't Harry at all, he was Potter. Potter thought being gay was wrong, Potter thought his beliefs were funny, Potter was close-minded and uptight and immature. Potter sucked.

Draco sighed and closed his Potions text with his ritual script tucked neatly inside it then settled down to stare at Harry. Harry was affectionate, Harry was adventurous and uninhibited, Harry could forgive him even the worst of his transgressions and make the nightmares go away. Harry was strangely female, passive and yet protective and nurturing. Maybe Potter was the male side of him, defensive and always over-thinking things. Draco was a great believer in everyone having male and female sides to their personalities no matter what their actual sex was. It was something he had meditated on a lot and that he found an essential part of doing ritual work alone. You had to be able to associate with the Lord and the Lady and Draco had worked on finding the parts of him that had female energy. He had managed to do it but it wasn't easy, he just wasn't a very female person despite what some might consider overly pretty looks, and he identified far more strongly with the male Gods of his pantheon.

He pulled out his ritual text again and looked over it, perhaps reversing who read which part would work better. Assuming Harry agreed to read any of it of course. He looked up at Harry again and found him looking back, Hermione was getting Ron into trouble for not studying.

---------------

Sirius slunk through the dark corridors towards Snape's rooms trying to look inconspicuous. The last thing he wanted to do was see Severus Snape but Dumbledore had insisted, at least he would find out whether this whole poisoning thing was true or not. He rather hoped it was just so that he could be further justified in hating the man.

He had loathed Severus Snape for almost as long as he could remember. They had grown up in the same village, the Snape's had lived next door to his then best friend, Alex. The last time he had seen Alex was more vivid in his mind after twelve years in Azkaban than it had been during the years before, it had been replayed almost as often as the sight of Lily and James' house in ruins and baby Harry crying for his mother with blood running down his forehead. Alex, his face blue-white and his skin like rubber. He hadn't even seemed real, like he was a fake body that just looked like his best friend. The first dead body Sirius had ever seen. He had walked away from it untouched, too young to be prosecuted they had said. Too young to know what they were doing. A terrible accident. Sirius knew better, Severus Snape should have been there in Azkaban with him. He was the murderer.

When he was let into the room he found Dumbledore already there along with Hagrid.

"Ah, Sirius," said Dumbledore. "Please sit down and I will explain what is happening."

Sirius transformed and scowled at Snape. He didn't look terribly like someone about to be hauled off to Azkhaban for attempted murder. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this," he muttered.

"The rumours you have heard about Professor Snape were false as you may have surmised, we decided it was best to keep the number of people who knew the truth to an absolute minimum for reasons of security."

"Those people being?" Sirius asked.

"Myself and Severus. His position is quite precarious right now."

Sirius looked very much like he would like to give Snape a push.

"This is not a good idea," said Snape nervously. "Surely we can manage without..."

"This is just a final precaution," Dumbledore assured him.

"What is?" asked Sirius.

"Severus is going to 'escape' to meet his contact with the Death Eaters tonight, I have arranged to have a couple of Ministry agents who understand our position be present as back up. However I would like you and Hagrid to be nearby just in case. Should the situation get out of hand Severus or the Ministry agents with him will send up a signal requesting assistance."

------------------

As Sirius padded back to Draco's rooms he considered whether he should tell the boys to cancel their plans for tonight. He knew Draco would be disappointed although he suspected Harry might be a little relieved. On the other hand, or paw as it were, he had no urge to help Snape out and he considered spending the night doing so to be a complete waste of time especially as Snape would already have two Aurors backing him up.

Fuck him, he thought with no little amount of satisfaction. He's already got back up and maybe it'll do Harry good to be exposed to a little traditional religion after being brought up by Muggles. The Gods know I don't know how to help him, maybe they do. Besides the boys will be nowhere near what's going on with Snape and they'll be safe enough inside a sacred circle with me keeping an eye on the forest. It'll be fine.

------------------- tbc