The Slytherin Spy

Mother Knows Best

This is a sequel to the Re-Sorting Hat so if you haven't go read that one first!

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The first step in made Harry's heart lurch. The walls were bare, the floors were dusty and it was dark. It was dark and cold and damp and Harry hated it. With some lights from a wand Harry creeped up the stairs, he opened the rusty gold painted door handle and it opened with a creek, inside he found a wooden frame of a bed and a box. Intrigued he folded back the cardboard flaps to find some plates and an ornate tea cup set. He would come back for that later. The next room he entered was stripped completely bare, even to the wallpaper and some of the dark oak floorboards. He only found one more room with a bed, all the others were empty as could be. Now he stood with his hand hovering at the door handle of Sirius Black's room, he pushed it open softly and then felt his heart drop. Everything here was gone. The floorboards groaned as he stepped further into the room. He took a deep breath and felt the dusty fog of the room enter his lungs, it smelt like a decaying corpse and Harry felt sick because that was the smell he had never wanted to associate with anyone.

When he arrived back downstairs, with box in hand, he saw Narcissa Swishing her wand and dust seeming to clear off the abandoned surfaces.
"I found some plates and cups" Harry said heaving the box onto a chair.
"Thank you, Draco dear do you want to help unload that?"
Harry almost sniggered but couldn't find the heart to. He would be killed if he called Draco dear.
Draco came close, probably close than necessary and spoke quietly.
"Are you okay?"
Harry blinked, busying himself with fancy plates before a hand touched his arm gently. He stilled for a second before saying "I'm okay" with the most conviction as he could right now.
"We're going to get through this" He heard Draco say and then Harry found them both hugging. Hugging in front of his mother? What was she going to think?
There was a chuckle from across the room "You know I used to have to bribe Draco with sweets for a hug"
They broke apart and Draco rolled his eyes. But Narcissa had strolled across the room and enveloped her son in a hug.
"Mum!" A hotly and embarrassed Draco protested and Harry burst out laughing.
"Oh don't think you're getting away" She teased and then somehow Harry found himself squashed between Draco and his mother. If you had told Harry this would happen two years ago he would have stared at you in disbelief.

When she had released then Harry's face was flushed and so was Draco's.
Well this was new. It turned out - over tea and some cheap biscuits - that she really was a nice person. She was funny, witty and well...loving.
"So boys how long?" She asked out of the blue with a twinkle in her eye.
"How long what?" Draco asked carefully.
"Oh don't try that with me dear. Mother knows best and trust me I know when you hug someone willingly then they must mean a lot to you"
Draco gave a quick glance at Harry before answering "Actually I'm not entirely sure, 1 or 2 months perhaps"
"And here I was thinking he would never find love. Well I'm happy for you both"
Harry flushed darkly and smiled into himself, who would have thought?
"But for now we should sort out the accommodation"
Just as Draco left the room Harry was beaconed over by Narcissa, he approached her carefully.
"I haven't yet thanked you. I honestly wouldn't know where Draco and I would be if it weren't for you."
"Oh... Well it's my pleasure Mrs Malfoy"
"Call me Narcissa, Harry dear and I really do owe you"
"You don't owe me anything" Harry assured, "I'm happy I could help you and Draco"
Then Harry was pulled into another hug and it just seemed like that was where the fun was that night, though Harry couldn't complain, it was a nice hug - though anything apart from Hermione's occasional rib squeezer hugs were nice hugs.

The next few days consisted of cleaning, eating and sleeping. Harry and Draco shared a room as other rooms were... well, in renovation.
But that meant cuddles and Harry didn't mind cuddles in the cold house.

But by the end of the week Harry didn't feel right, there was a sort of unease that had filled his bones and he could just sense something was stirring deep within him. When he woke up after an early night his head felt fuzzy. It must just be tiredness. But When he moved his head, even a degree, shooting pains splintered his skull and it was all he could do not to cry out. But it was unlike a migraine or a quaffle to the head this felt charged. Like he had just put his head into an outlet and someone turned on the switch. But his legs felt somehow charged as well, actually every cell in his body felt like electricity, like pins and needles but amped up by a thousand. He must have cried out at some point because there was someone rushed to his side. Vague, far away voices were speaking but Harry couldn't hear them, all he could hear was the sound of his heart thumping. There was glass shattering and frantic voices and chaos unfolding as waves of magic rippled off Harry and into the room, shattering glasses on the bed side table. But in a few minutes the neon blue waves slowed down and seemed to calm before turning more and more opaque until it was like they were never there. Instead lay Harry Potter, his head tilted to one side and breathing deeply. It was over but what had just happened...