Dear Mr. Potter

Chapter Nine

It was odd to see such a large room so devoid of human presence. There were only a handful of people occupying the Great Hall and half of them were standing in the main center aisle. Professor Dumbledore and two other teachers, Sinistra and Flitwick, were standing with their wands out but in an obvious stand-down position. On the other side of the table next to them, the Slytherin table, stood Lucius and Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape. McGonagall escorted the three friends to the other side of the Gryffindor table, effectively putting two table widths and the main aisle between Harry and Draco. Harry refused to look over to the three Slytherins and instead turned his gaze to Professor Dumbledore. The headmaster was observing Harry with kind eyes. Clearing his throat, the old man spoke.

"First, Harry, I want to say that if I had any inkling of the situation or if I could change it in any way, I would have never allowed this to happen," he shook his head. "But, one can not change the past and must deal in the present and always think of the future. So, we will begin. How much do you know about what is going on, Harry?"

Harry twisted his lips and looked at Hermione. His friend took hold of his hand and nodded encouragement. Harry turned back to Dumbledore and took a deep breath before answering.

"I only know, or think I know, that Malfoy is something called an Indago. Some sort of hybrid of another creature from a long time ago. That Hermione thinks that he's a Supero kind of Indago and she also thinks that I am..." Harry closed his eyes and felt the hand gripping his tighten in support. He set his teeth and opened his eyes. "That I am also one of these things but instead called a Sub... a Subicio." He finished the last word in a rush, hating to say aloud the word that Draco had called him and had started this whole mess. He would be much happier if he didn't know all of these things, if none of this was happening. "She says that Draco and I can smell each other, our pheromones, and that that is why I was so... so... well why I didn't punch Draco in the mouth for hitting Ron and calling Hermione a slag."

"Well, I am quite impressed," came a smooth drawl from the opposite side of the room. Harry finally looked over and saw that Lucius had his signature smirk on his face. "I can well understand now, Draco, why you have such trouble keeping up with the young lady. Quite impressive in light of the fact that Severus and I have made sure to remove all information on this subject. Tell me, young lady, Ms. Granger, is it? Tell me, how did you come by so much knowledge."

Hermione looked to Dumbledore who gave her a nod of consent. "Draco had called Harry a Subicio. Harry found a reference to that word while looking up information on the Natro Lizard which had the word Dagodine. I researched that word in the Restricted Section-"

"Ms. Granger! I certainly would not have provided a pass if I had known the true nature of your research."

"Let it be, Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore said calmly. "In hind sight it was for the best. Please continue, Ms. Granger." Hermione gave an apologetic look to Professor McGonagall and began to speak again.

"Once I found the Dagodine, it led to information about Indago. But not enough. Therefore I wrote to a bookseller who referred me to another who said that he had a few books on the subject. We just got the books today." Harry noticed that she left out the fact that they had illicitly bought the books and had protected Fred and George.

"Yes, quite impressive," Lucius drawled. Harry returned his gaze to the man but was instead caught by a younger pair of gray eyes. Draco had his eyes trained on Harry as he paced back and forth. He would take six steps, walking behind his father and Snape, turn and go back six steps. Never once did he take his sight off of Harry. The image of a caged wolf came to Harry's mind and did not settle his uneasy thoughts at all. Dumbledore broke the spell and brought Harry's attention back to himself.