693Chapter 13: Trust Issues
Authors note: Thanks so much for all the reviews and comments, I really appreciate all of them 3
"Harry has not yet forgiven you?"
Draco sighed and nodded, flicking his wand at one of the floating spheres that Dumbledore had set up in his office. It shattered into water droplets and he moved on to the next. "All he does is glare at me," he said, "It's like I killed his puppy."
"Much worse, I think," the Professor said, "You befriended a supporter of the man who killed his parents."
Wincing, Draco nodded to concede the point. "True enough, not that realizing this does me good now. I didn't know he had made so much progress tracking down past connections and current events. How could I?"
"Harry deserves more credit than you've given him," Dumbledore chuckled softly and reset the spheres for Draco's practice of silent spells, "You have assumed he is not capable of great things because he is so young."
"Once more you are telling me things I know too late," Draco sighed again, wand lowering to indicate he wanted a break.
"Hindsight is always crystal clear and, though it may be difficult, we can learn from it if we try."
"I get it," Draco snapped, "I screwed up, I underestimated Harry, and now I have to earn his forgiveness. You can stop beating a dead horse and help me come up with something useful any time now."
Unwrapping a small candy, Dumbledore ate it instead of replying. His blue eyes pierced Draco, patiently waiting for him to calm down again. While Draco appreciated that the powerful wizard was trying to help, he hated his riddles. Since they never directly spoke of his time travel, but of current events and minor dramas with the four-some, nearly everything Dumbledore said was in code. With the implied understanding of the young wizard's goals – saving Harry from certain death – it was usually a struggle to determine if they were on the same page, let alone how to proceed. What was the point in having the greatest wizard in his lifetime advise him if he couldn't understand what the hell he was getting at?
Being angry wasn't getting him anywhere, no matter his reasoning, so Draco took a deep breath and used the exercises he had practiced to stave off his werewolf fueled rage to calm down. Once he had, the Headmaster offered him one of the yellow sweets and Draco took it, though he was still exasperated. Talking in riddles and innuendos wasn't getting them anywhere. He needed help and there was no one else to talk to without involving more people in potentially catastrophic time changes. Besides, if anyone could restrain himself from altering the flow of time as Draco knew it, it was Dumbledore.
"He always seemed a little thick to me," Draco said, breaking their taboo of talking about the future. Dumbledore's raised brows said he didn't condone this topic, but Draco had made his decision. Maybe there would be consequences for this in the future, but maybe there wouldn't be. He'd take the chance and it was his choice.
Pushing his hair out of his face Draco continued, "More like he stumbled over his answers than actually thought about them. I didn't know the truth because I wasn't as involved as I liked to think I was." Plucking another sweet from the bowl on the desk, Draco ignored Dumbledore's amused smile. "I have to repair this – and I think I can, given some time – but what about the next thing I misunderstand? If I'm not a part of his inner circle, I can't protect him properly."
A deep, disappointed sigh wasn't the response Draco expected from the normally nurturing, supportive Dumbledore. "Draco, I have told you have underestimated Harry, correct?" he said as though talking to a child.
"Repeatedly," Draco drawled, his snappishness rearing its head as the tone drew a blush to his cheeks.
"Then tell him the truth."
Mouth dropping open, Draco stared at the older wizard. "Sorry, what? Tell him? Tell him what, that I'm from the future to protect him? Have you gone senile?"
"You wanted my advice, there it is," Dumbledore leaned back and folded his hands on the desk. "You underestimate him. The truth clears your misunderstanding and allows him to help in your task. He has more at stake in this than you do."
"If he knew, he would always look to me for answers, instead of finding his own," Draco protested.
Looking amused once more, Dumbledore shook his head. "You think him so mindless? He has not taken your word on Severus' loyalty and decided on his own not to turn you in for using Dark Magic during his Quidditch match to save his life. Harry Potter has a mind of his own and the stubbornness to use it."
"We could change the future without knowing," Draco tried again, "If it changes, I won't know…I'll be blind. Right now I know what happens, I know how he dies and I know how to stop it. If we change the future, he could die sooner or differently or…someone else could die."
"You were not planning on changing anything?" Dumbledore asked, blue eyes piercing again and making Draco squirm.
"I hadn't decided," he confessed and hurried past the hypocritical words, "but so much has changed already; Crabbe actually having a brain and being a leader, me in Gryffindor and playing Quidditch, that fire I had to set. I still have years to go. What else will I change without meaning to? It terrifies me that I won't be able to save him."
Sympathy radiated from the Headmaster as he sat forward and took Draco's hand in both of his. "I will not make this decision for you, but I will say this: Time travel is not well understood or studied, since it is normally very dangerous. You have implied in our past meetings that Crabbe has taken your place in Harry's life. The Quidditch match changed, but the core of what occurred did not. Perhaps, Draco, you cannot change anything at all. Perhaps you can only do it with help, or perhaps you are right and you can only save Harry by keeping the timeline pure. What is certain, is that your future is uncertain no matter what you do."
Draco descended the spiral staircase and sighed deeply. Though he had hoped that confiding in the Headmaster would ease his troubles, he was left with more worries and questions than ever before. Worse, he had to decide if he would tell Harry the truth about who he was. If he did, what then? Tell Severus, Granger? Weasely? Where would it end? And what would be the repercussions of such a confession?
It all was making Draco's head hurt from thinking so hard. At least that meeting with Dumbledore had served as his final exam. The others would be leaving their History of Magic exam about now, but Draco wasn't in a rush to meet up with them. Besides having to deal with Harry's perpetual glare, Hermione would be going on and on about every damn question on the test. He needed quiet. He needed to think. That was why the last thing he wanted was to stumble across Harry, Ron and Hermione as they came into the Great Hall.
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak - it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"
They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived and, since he hadn't had a time to turn around, saw Draco standing in the entrance watching them. Harry glared, but Hermione stepped forward before he could say anything.
"Draco, you know where Dumbledore's office is, don't you?" she asked urgently. "We have to see him."
Hesitating, Draco wasn't sure if he should answer. Tonight was when Harry went for the Philosopher's Stone and he had planned to stay uninvolved. That way he wouldn't risk changing such an important event. It couldn't hurt to tell them where Dumbledore was, since he had left after Draco's test. Before he could answer, a voice suddenly ran across the hall.
"What are you four doing inside?"
It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.
"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, the boys thought.
"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"
Harry swallowed, clearly at a loss for what to say, and Draco spoke up quickly before he could blurt something stupid, "He left a few minutes ago. An urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic came in after my test and he flew off for London at once."
"He's gone?" said Harry frantically. "Now?"
"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter," Professor McGonagall said, "he has many demands on his time-"
"But this is important."
"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter."
"Look," said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor - it's about the Sorcerer's Stone -"
Draco winced, since that was just what he was trying to prevent. Professor McGonagall hadn't expected it at all. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up. "How do you know -?" she spluttered.
"Professor, I think - I know - that Sn- That someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."
She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion, but Draco was just surprised he hadn't blurted out Snape's name. There was no way she would have believed him then.
"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."
"But Professor -"
"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."
No one moved as she walked away.
"It's tonight," said Harry, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."
"But what can we -" Hermione gasped and Harry and Ron wheeled around to see what Draco had already noticed.
Snape was standing there.
"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.
They stared at him, but Draco stepped forward quickly.
"Good afternoon, Professor."
"Draco," he nodded, "you shouldn't be inside on a day like this. It's far too nice out to waste."
"Yes, Professor, they were waiting for me after my last test. We'll be heading outside now."
Eyeing Harry suspiciously, Snape was silent for a long moment, then merely nodded and swept away in the direction of the staff room.
As soon as he was out of sight, Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape - wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that."
"Why me?"
"It's obvious," said Ron. "We can't trust Draco and you can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." He put on a high voice, "Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried. I think I got question fourteen b wrong…"
"Oh shut up," said Hermione, shooting Draco a guilty look, but she agreed to go and watch out for Snape.
"And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor," Harry told Ron. "Come on."
Without a single glance backward, Harry headed away. It was Ron's turn to shoot Draco a guilty look, but he didn't argue either.
Draco returned to the Gryffindor common room depressed, confused, no closer to any answers. Everyone else was outside in the sun, enjoying the beautiful day so the had the place to himself. At least he did for a little while. Harry and Ron returned surprisingly quickly from keeping an eye on the third-floor corridor.
Apparently Harry had decided that it would just be best to ignore Draco right now because he slumped into a chair and said, "At least Hermione's on Snape's tail."
Almost on cue, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Hermione came in.
"I'm sorry Harry!" she wailed. "Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Snape went."
"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said.
The others stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering. Draco knew that expression.
"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first.""
"What?" Draco blurted.
"You're mad!" said Ron.
"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"
"SO WHAT?!" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side!I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"
He glared at them.
"You're right, Harry," said Hermione in a small voice.
"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It's just lucky I got it back."
"But will it cover all four of us?" said Ron.
"All - all four of us?"
"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"
"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go with Draco and look through my books, there might be something useful…"
"We're not doing this with Draco," Harry said firmly.
"We have to bring him with," Hermione said urgently, but Harry stubbornly shook his head.
"Hermione, it's alright," Draco said with a weak smile. "Defeating Voldemort is all that's important and you have to work together. Now isn't the time to fight."
Harry stared at Draco for a long moment, then looked to his two best friends. "Are you two sure? If we get caught, you two will be expelled, too."
"Not if I can help it," said Hermione grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."
After dinner the four of them sat nervously apart in the common room. Nobody bothered them; none of the Gryffindors had anything to say to Harry any more, after all. This was the first night he hadn't been upset by it. Hermione was skimming through all her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try to break. Draco was going through one of the books Dumbledore had leant him, trying to keep himself from talking to Harry and trying to get him any adice. Harry and Ron didn't talk much. Both of them were thinking about what they were about to do.
Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.
"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and clapping Draco on the shoulder. Harry ran upstairs to their dark dormitory. He ran back down to the common room after only a few minutes.
"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all three of us - if Flich spots one of our feet wandering along on its own -"
"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.
"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.
Neville stared at the guilty faces.
"You're going out again," he said.
"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"
"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."
"You don't understand," said Harry, "this is important."
Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate, but the others didn't seem to see it.
"I won't let you do it," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll - I'll fight you!"
"Neville," Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot -"
"Don't you call me an idiot!" said Neville. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"
"Yes, but not to us," said Ron in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."
He took a step forward and Neville dropped Trevor the toad, who leapt out of sight.
"Go on then, try and hit me!" said Neville, raising his fists. "I'm read!"
Harry turned to Draco.
"Do something," he said desperately.
Draco didn't hesitate, drawing his wand he pointed it at Neville and said, "Petrificus Totalus." A flash of red light left his wand and struck the boy in the chest. Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board.
Hermione ran to turn Neville over. The boy's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, looking at them in horror.
"What've you done to him?" Harry whispered, eyes wide.
"It's the fully Body-Bind," said Hermione, her face pale.
"He'll be fine," Draco promised, "Go, you don't have time for this. I'll bring him upstairs and get him in bed."
The grateful look Harry gave him warmed Draco and gave him hope. "Maybe you should come -" Harry began, but Draco shook his head.
"No, I won't fit under the cloak," he disagreed. "You can do this, Harry. Get the Stone before it can be used by Voldemort."
"Thanks," Harry said softly.
"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak.
Watching them go, Draco felt relief. He hadn't gotten the answers to his questions, but he had taken a step towards regaining Harry's trust. He'd also decided he would tell Harry the truth, when they were all older. It was too much to put on an eleven year's shoulders that his future was to fight a great evil and die in doing so. Right now he was about to conquer his greatest enemy and that victory should matter. Eventually, Harry would come face to face with Voldemort and lose Cedric Diggory, then Draco would tell him the truth. It wouldn't be any easier then, but at least Harry would have a few years to be a kid.
Levitating Neville into the air, he apologized again before taking him to bed. It would be a long night waiting for Harry to come back.