A Brother To Basilisks (a Drarry fanfic)

Chapter 21: Degradation of Trust

"I don't know how we're going to do this." Harry had his arms crossed and his eyes firmly fastened on the floor.

It didn't bother Severus. He had dealt with far worse than a little understandable teenage sulkiness, and for worse causes. He nodded now and placed his pile of paper on the floor. Harry glanced at it, then away. The basilisk around his neck uttered a hiss that Severus could nearly take as amused, although he didn't know Parseltongue.

Harry hissed something back. Severus was able to listen with an impassive face. After the first few times he had heard Harry do that, it lost its ability to shock. "These are the reports I have prepared on abused students," he said. "I will ask that you do not use any of the information you read in any way."

Harry jerked around and gave him a glance that stood out as wounded, despite Harry's absurd attempt to look noble and aloof. "Of course I wouldn't! I mean, what am I going to do, go up and taunt them because they're just like me?"

"I did not mean that," said Severus, although he privately wondered how true that was. He knew he would find out when they began their announcements, but he still did not know how bad the abuse in Harry's household had been. "I mean that you might suddenly show concern for people you have never shown concern for, and that might make someone suspicious."

"Oh." Harry lowered his head until his chin rested on the basilisk's scales, an unconscious gesture of comfort that Severus had noticed he practiced often. "Are any of them in Gryffindor?"

"A few, yes," said Severus. He had the temptation to ask if Harry cared about the ones in Slytherin, but halted his tongue. For one thing, he thought that Harry was doing this for all of them; for another, reminding the boy obsessively of the House he'd chosen and the one he'd rejected would lose him Harry's trust. "None in your year."

"I probably won't know them, then."

Severus paused. Despite his own private warnings to himself about indulging curiosity too much where Harry was concerned, his desire to ask this question would only plague him until he eased it. "Why have you made so few friends in your House?"

Harry lifted his head. "What do you mean? I have Ron and Hermione. And Neville, sort of. And I mean, I don't get on bad with Dean and Seamus or anything. And Lavender and Parvati are all right."

Severus half-sighed. "I mean that many people have more friends than you do. More casual ones," he added, when he saw Harry's expression, which seemed to suggest that he thought of Severus's words as a taunt. "I know you have no trouble making friends. Your closeness to Weasley—"

Harry snorted at the same time as the basilisk hissed. Severus refused to be intimidated by the hidden eyes of the thing. They were still hidden.

"I don't have an easy time making friends," Harry said. "Ron started talking to me about everything first, and then he stayed friends with me even when he found out who I was. And I got to be friends with Hermione because of the troll." He folded his arms tighter and glared a little at Severus. "All these other people only want to gape at my scar or accuse me of being the Heir of Slytherin or something."

Severus paused for a long moment before slowly nodding. In truth, he had thought the way Harry had acted last year when his Parseltongue was revealed partially a show. There was no way he could not have known about it, after all. And this year, he had seemed positively to revel in frightening people.

Then again, he had already had to admit that he didn't know the boy before him at all.

"So it has nothing to do with your House placement, or wanting to keep your abuse away from people," said Severus, just to make sure. Those were both things that could easily affect the plans he was brewing with Lucius, and hoped to brew with Harry.