For 16 Galleons

Chapter Fifteen

Harry had managed to find quite a few opportunities to use the knowledge Draco had given him that night after Lisa kissed him. It was like a whole new world had opened up for him. More and more often he found that the boys' conversations were about girls and sex - at least what they thought they knew about sex. Quidditch was still by far the hottest topic, thank Merlin.

Justin and Hermione had broken up four times. Dean had tried to go out with one of the Ravenclaw slaves but had given up after sitting there twiddling his thumbs for half an hour wondering what to talk about. Draco still glared at Pansy, who had taken to mooning at him from across the Common Room.

The news that Harry had knocked Lisa down when she kissed him was the talk of the lower years for several days. It died down after causing Harry immense embarrassment. The only good to come out of it was that Sally Ann seemed to decide it would be better to pursue one of the third year slaves instead of Harry. He didn't seem to have to worry about dating yet.

All in all, their second year was shaping up to be pretty good. The Weasel and his sidekick seemed a little less inclined to bother them and classes were more interesting than the year before. Their private studies were harder. They were no longer quite at the bottom of the pecking order; they now had an entire year worth of students to push around. Life was good.

All that changed at about 2am one morning just after Christmas. Harry and Draco were pulled from sleep by the sound of their Head of House yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get to the Common Room immediately. The boys stumbled out in their pyjamas with the rest of their house.

"Where is Montague?" the Deputy Headmaster demanded. Harry stepped closer to Draco. He'd never seen Professor Snape in a fury before. The man was normally intimidating and impressive but, at the moment, he was terrifying. He was standing preternaturally still with his arms crossed, staring around the room. His black eyes looked cold and burning at the same time. It was like being in the presence of a deadly predator and Harry felt absolutely no guilt in being glad that he was not the man's prey. Behind the Deputy stood Thibault, Headmistress McGonagall and her slave Helen like elite troops ready to back their leader up. Harry wondered why Snape seemed to be in charge instead of McGonagall. He almost jumped out of his skin when Draco grasped his arm and held tight.

"Well?" the Headmistress asked. "Answer your Head of House."

Everyone looked around confused. Professor Snape signalled to Thibault, who quickly stalked off in the direction of the Sixth Year's private rooms. Snape just stood there, motionless except for his eyes. Harry felt like there should be a wind whipping around the man for some reason. If the man would just move, maybe he wouldn't seem so threatening. He moved still closer to Draco, trying to give and receive comfort at the same time. He looked around the Common Room to see others doing the same. Everyone seemed terrified and confused.

Raised voices were heard coming out of the hallway Thibault had gone down earlier. Everyone turned to look as the Potions Master's slave literally drug Montague out into the Common Room and threw him at Snape's feet. Harry was stunned. Thibault, though stern in class, was an unassuming, quiet man. Harry looked up in time to see Snape's nostrils flare and his eyes flash. Montague glared up at Snape.

"He's mine to do with as I please," the student spat out.

Snape actually bared his teeth as he uncrossed his arms and raised his wand. Professor McGonagall stepped forward and grabbed his wrist.

"Severus, as much as I personally support the idea of punishing this filth, I can't let you do this."

Snape froze in place and seemed to be battling an inner demon. "You are right," he said, lowering his arm. "We will let the authorities deal with him properly. He may well wish that we had punished him instead."

On the floor, Montague went pale and began to shake. With a flick of her wand, the Headmistress cast Petrificus Totalus and then Mobilicorpus on the student. When his ankle smacked into a table corner on the way to the entrance, she didn't even apologize.

"There will be an assembly in the Great Hall for all owners and their slaves this morning in place of your first class," Snape announced on his way out of the Common Room.

There was utter silence throughout Slytherin for several minutes until the Prefects finally ushered everyone back to their rooms. Harry was sure that no one was going back to sleep. He wasn't surprised when Master Blaise and Dean knocked on their door. They got dressed and spent the remaining hours until breakfast speculating in hushed voices about just what had happened.

Breakfast was a very tense affair. It seemed the slaves and their owners ate quickly, wanting to get to the assembly as soon as possible, while the non-owners ate slowly, wanting to stick around and find out what was happening. The Headmistress and Deputy came in part way through the meal, followed by an odd woman with bright blue hair from the Ministry. Finally, the professors ordered everyone who didn't belong there out of the Hall.

When the regular students had left, Harry got up and went to sit next to Draco. Professor Snape stood up to address the owners and their slaves.

"Last evening we had a very tragic incident occur. One of the students - one from my own House - almost killed his slave."

Gasps were heard through out the Hall.

"The slave was found and taken to the infirmary by Professor Lupin. Upon examination it became apparent that he has been suffering physical and sexual abuse for several years now. When his owner was confronted, he claimed it was his right to do with his slave as he sees fit. This morning, Officer Tonks, from the Office of Muggleborn Welfare, is here to disabuse the rest of you of that notion." With that, he stepped back and motioned to the woman with blue hair to take over.

Officer Tonks looked out over the crowd for a moment, then began, "Perhaps some of you did not realize that there is an Office of Muggleborn Welfare or do not understand its purpose. Let me explain. Almost 100 years ago the Wizarding World realized that it would be devastating to wipe out Muggleborn wizards and witches. We need the new blood and power to keep from dying out. However, these same wizards and witches are dangerous if left in the Muggle world. Muggle families do not understand the desperate need for secrecy from the general populace. Therefore it was determined that the Ministry would use the Book of Registry to locate Muggleborn wizards and witches, take them from their families and place them in the Wizarding World as slaves. These children have no Wizarding family blood so they are brought into our world as slaves. Their children are then granted partial rights due to their parents being wizards and the sponsorship of the family those parents serve."

"In the '40s, a witch - a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself - was accosted by a Muggle man. This was a great aberration and no one quite knew what status to give the child. On one hand he was part Muggle but on the other he carried the bloodline of one of the greatest wizards the world has seen. That child was alternately persecuted and adulated, but eventually grew up to be The Great Lord. Because of his childhood, he created The Office of Muggleborn Welfare and is a great proponent for the ethical treatment of slaves." There were exclamations of amazement at this information.

"Owning a slave is a privilege. That privilege can be taken away from you if you abuse your position as owner. The Office of Muggleborn Welfare has a huge tome of regulations governing the care and punishment of slaves. I will not attempt to cover everything in this assembly. However," she paused and smiled. "If you are convicted of slave abuse, I guarantee that part of your punishment will be to read the entire sixteen centimetre thick volume."

People looked around at each other wondering if this woman was trying to be funny. Harry, seeing the look on her face, decided she was not.

Officer Tonks went on to explain to the students and slaves what punishments were permissible for what offences, what sexual activity was permissible between master and slave, and who the slaves could go to for assistance. The whole thing was boring and disturbing at the same time.

*********

Several of the Slytherin slaves were sitting together going over what had occurred this morning. One of the 5^th year slaves had snuck into the Infirmary and seen Todd, Montague's slave. He came out pale as a ghost and extremely upset. He said Todd looked broken. He looked like he had been in battle with a Hippogriff, not a human being. Harry felt sick. He knew he didn't fully comprehend what had happened but what he did understand scared him.

He kept reaching up and touching his collar, trying to reassure himself. The Malfoys loved him, didn't they? Master Draco said they were best friends. His master would never do anything like that, right? He knew from what some of the other slaves had talked about before that not all families treated their slaves as well as the Malfoys. Tonight he had found out that some of the other slaves and owners had known that Montague didn't treat Todd right, but none of them had told anyone. Officer Tonks had said that any slave reporting abuse to her office would be protected, but he wondered if he would have the nerve to go there if anything ever happened.

Dean plopped down next to him. "Say, Harry. You weren't found until you were seven, right?"

"Yeah, a couple months after my birthday."

"You grew up with your aunt and uncle, right? Did you ever know your parents?"

"No. Aunt Petunia didn't like to talk about my mum. She said mum was nothing more than a whore and that I didn't have a father and that I was a bastard."

"That's too bad. I wish I'd known my parents."

"I'm kind of glad I never knew my mum. It was bad enough growing up with the Dursleys hating me. I can't imagine what it would have been like growing up with no father and a mum that hated me."

"So you had a last name back then, yeah? You were Harry Dursley?"

"Nah, it was Evans. That was Aunt Petunia's last name before she got married. Ew, I could have had the same last name as Dudley," Harry said and made a face.

That evening, Harry lay in bed cuddling Puff, which he hadn't done in a long time. He just lay there looking at the ceiling, not able to fall asleep. What had happened to the world over night? He heard rustling from Draco's bed and then the sound of bare feet on stone.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Master Draco?"

Harry felt the bed dip as Draco climbed up beside him. "You're not all right, are you?"

"I just can't sleep, Master Draco," he responded. He looked over at his master, who seemed nervous and was picking at the bed sheets.

"Are you afraid?"

"A little bit, I guess."

"Harry, I won't ever do something like that. I mean... sometimes we get mad at each other, I know, but when we fight, it's really a fight. You hit me as hard as I hit you."

Harry thought about this for a minute. Master Draco was right. They did fight, but it was truly fighting, not like what Montague did to Todd. Yes, he would get punished, but so would Draco. Still, it was hard to get over what had happened.

"I know, Master Draco. It's just... scary."

Draco reached out and rubbed Harry's arm. "I'm sorry," he said as he looked up at Harry. "You're my best friend, Harry. Really."

Harry flicked Puff's fang a little bit before looking up at Draco. "Thanks."

He felt Draco get off the bed and pad back over to his own. He was just settling back into his pillows when he felt his master crawl under the covers with him. He looked over and grinned to himself when he saw that Draco had Crunch in a tight grip. He scooted over a bit to make room for the other boy.

The next morning the sun shone in on two boys cuddled around a couple of rather worse for wear stuffed dragons. Their fingers were loosely intertwined and their hair made a web of darkness and light on the pillow they shared. Both boys softly smiled in their sleep.

To be continued