𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄

Chapter 5

Chapter Five: To Heal

They stared at him for a while, not quite comprehending what was going on. Harry's apology seemed so completely random that they each went through all the reasons for him to be apologising about. Other than the small fight with Ron and Ginny, they couldn't think of anything.

"What are you talking about, mate?" Ron asked, finally.

"I kinda…I got us stuck in a really strange situation," Harry said, shuffling over to the chairs. He sat down and lowered his head into his hands.

"Yeah? How strange?"

Harry took a deep breath before he began to even think about starting. Siding with Malfoy when talking about saving him from Voldemort was one thing, but saving him from the Aurors…they'd never understand. And, damn, they were gonna be so pissed when they found out Malfoy was to be their guests within Gryffindor.

"Okay, well…" For some strange reason, Harry's mouth figured it would be best to delay the inevitable wave of anger. "Just…you can't tell anyone about this first bit, okay? If the professors and the Aurors and your parents found out, Remus and I would be in a shit load of trouble."

Eyebrows rose.

"Harry," Ron started, shifting closer to his friend. "You know that no matter what you choose, we still love you like family, right?"

This time, it was Harry who was confused. "What?"

"Well…it just sounds like you and Moony…"

Harry thought over his words again and just about smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. Of all the stupid thoughts Ron could have had. "You're a dick," Harry told him outright. "That's not what's going on."

Ron's back shot up. "Err, right. Of course not."

For a few moments, Harry continued to blink stupidly at Ron. "There are too…so many reasons why that's wrong. And since when did you start thinking I'm gay? When did you start thinking Remus is? And he's so old and I'm so young…he's one of my dad's closest friends, Ron…"

"Okay, I get it. There's nothing going on between you and Moony."

"Right, well, anyway, on my walk, I happened to run into Snape…"

"Snape's in the castle?" Ron exploded, standing and whipping out his wand as if the ex-professor was in the room with them at that moment.

"He was, but…"

"He got away?" Ginny asked. She was sitting on the edge of her seat, clearly uneasy with the idea that Snape could be in and out of the castle so easily.

"The thing is…well, Snape had Malfoy and Malfoy's a wreck..."

"So Malfoy's here now?" Hermione asked with a soft tone. Harry was thankful for it since no one else had bothered to speak to him rather than yell at him.

"Yeah. It's worse than I thought, Hermione. He's covered in cuts and bruises. Voldemort beat the crap out of him…"

"You're saying Snape dropped off Malfoy and got to leave?" Ron growled out. "Harry, they're the bad guys!"

"You didn't hear Snape talk," Harry objected. "Remus and I think he's on our side."

"He's a tricky bastard," Ginny said. "He's fooled us all before."

"I know that, but he risked so much just to get Malfoy here. He'll be wanted by both sides of the war. Isn't that enough?"

"Maybe it just means that he actually has a soul and wanted to get Malfoy somewhere else."