"Thanks," said Draco sourly. "I love being compared to him all the time, I really do."
"Look, Dad didn't mean it that way."
"No, but she did." Draco's lips twisted. "She took one look at me and decided she knew all about me, for no better reason than how I happen to look."
"Welcome to my life," said Harry, very dryly.
Draco stared at him for a moment, then smiled, just a little. "TouchÈ."
"And think, she's only one person. I get that from just about everyone I meet."
"You know," drawled Draco, "I did get the point already. You don't have to actually pound it into my brain like I'm as dense as Crabbe."
"Yeah. Sorry." Harry turned back to Snape. "So how do you know all this stuff, then?"
Snape shrugged, clearly unapologetic. "A touch of Legilimency. It didn't take long to ascertain that her issue was an unpleasant history with Draco's father."
"With Lucius," stressed Draco.
"I was speaking from her point of view, you idiot child."
"Oh." Draco looked a little abashed, but it didn't last long. "But what was so unpleasant? The way you tell it, she got a posh flat and plenty of money out of her deal with Lucius."
"She also got a taste of what he liked to do in bed," Snape said bluntly. "It wasn't to her liking. Eventually his . . . practices became aberrant enough that she wished to end their arrangement."
Aberrant practices . . . yeah, that sounded like Lucius Malfoy, all right. The man was clearly a sadist. Look at the horrible punishments he'd inflicted on Draco, growing up. Harry had seen with his own eyes the vicious satisfaction Lucius had taken in hurting Draco, that awful day in France. Not to mention, the way he'd stared at Harry's naked torso, the way he'd obviously relished the idea of stripping Harry completely naked, later on.
Harry shuddered.
"Oh, what's your problem?" asked Draco scathingly. "You're not the one who was just told he's descended from a sick, pathetic fuck. Not that I hadn't figured that out on my own, mind."
"Who he was doesn't control who you are," said Severus quietly. "You've made your own path in this last year, and it's a better one than he ever set foot on."
Draco looked like he hadn't even heard that. "Oh. Oh, no. You don't think he did awful things to my mother, do you? I . . . I think I'm going to need a stomach-calming draught. And if either one of you mentions that vanishing bucket instead, you'll regret it."
"Hush, Draco," said Snape, reaching across the table to catch one of the boy's trembling hands. "I honestly don't think Narcissa would put up with anything like that."
"Oh, because she's known for standing up to him?" Draco laughed, the sound so bitter that Harry winced. "Like she did this last year, Severus? Renouncing me? Standing alongside him, in public at least, as he did everything he could think of to kill me?"
"Plots within plots," Snape reminded Draco. "Where did you learn the phrase, Draco? From your mother? She evidently decided she could help you more if she didn't openly alienate Lucius."
"Oh, sure, she's as Slytherin as they come," agreed Draco tightly. "But name me one thing, one, she's ever done that proves she could say no to Lucius and make it stick."
Snape's lips curled upwards. "She forced him to give up his mistress."
"I thought you said Emmeleia left Lucius on her own," said Harry.
"She did try," answered Snape. "But Lucius was determined to keep her . . . available. When he blackmailed her to this end, Miss Volentier went to Narcissa for help."
Harry decided then that it was a good thing he wasn't eating. He might have choked. "Narcissa actually gave her some? Why not just kill her on the spot?"
"Because that wouldn't have thwarted Lucius as much as knowing that Narcissa could deny him a mistress who still lived." Snape's eyes glinted. "Quite cunning, the whole incident, really. Miss Volentier needed a means of supporting herself, since her family was insisting she continue her liaison with Lucius. At that time, Walpurgis Black was still conducting his baby-swapping business, but as he was getting on in years, he had a use for an assistant. Narcissa paired them up."
"A squib assistant?" Draco rolled his eyes. "What use would that be?"
"An assistant who could blend into the Muggle world as needed. Miss Volentier can. When she was younger, she was educated at a Muggle school in Canada, actually."
"Then why couldn't she just get a Muggle job?" asked Harry.
"She could have, but it wouldn't have paid nearly as well as Lucius' offer. Beyond that, she'd had a taste of both worlds and evidently preferred ours. And then later, when she wanted to get away from Lucius, there was the blackmail to consider."
Draco leaned back in his chair. "How could Narcissa have put a stop to that, though?"
"Since Miss Volentier herself didn't know the details, I don't know them, either," Snape admitted. "I can only imagine a threat to divorce was involved."
"Oh, yes." By then, Draco was nodding. "And as the wronged party, my mother would have got custody of me. Pureblood vows, all that. Lucius would have done anything to avoid that sort of public scandal. Hmm. I imagine my mother made him take an Unbreakable Vow back then, while she still had the upper hand."
"Is that how Emmeleia got her job at the squib home, then?" asked Harry. "Walpurgis Black?"
"Yes, when he was persuaded to desist from the baby-switching business. He had endowed the home several times before his final bequest. Enough, certainly, to have a great deal of influence over it."
"Speaking of the squib home, I suppose I should go back to the pool and tell Rhiannon that our visit has been cancelled."
"It hasn't been," said Snape gently. "Miss Volentier was rather chagrined once I had convinced her of her error in judgment."
"Oh, she believes I'm not Lucius, now?" sneered Draco.
"You didn't tell her Rhiannon was a Muggle, did you?" asked Harry. "I thought we agreed she'd be safer if that wasn't well-known."
"I hardly expect Voldemort or his minions to visit a home for squibs in search of information about any of us, but since Darswaithe has already been compromised once . . ." Snape shrugged. "I persuaded Miss Volentier that Rhiannon was merely an acquaintance of Draco's and not a romantic interest at all. In fact, she now believes Rhiannon to be squib who wants to visit the home to see what sort of education she might have had if she hadn't been taken in by Muggles."
"The road not taken, yeah . . ."
Draco started. "I hope you also persuaded her not to mention that story to Rhiannon. Or use the word squib, for that matter. Not to mention Muggle."
"I'm afraid you'll have to tell your petite amie that after she left so precipitously last time, the only way you could arrange a tour was to insist she had quite a good reason for one. That should explain why she has to go along with the story that she's magically-impaired. That's the term Miss Volentier prefers to squib, in any case."
"What about Muggle?"
Snape narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze squarely on Draco. "If you're really intending to continue this relationship for the long-term, your young lady will sooner or later have to reconcile herself to the word. You won't be able to convince everyone of your acquaintance to stop using it."
Draco grimaced, but nodded.
"I do believe I'll have that Galliano, now," said Snape, rising. "And as our lunch has gone cold while we talked, perhaps a reheating charm is in order. Harry?"
"Hey, I was the one who cooked!"
"And that excuses you from mastering new spells in Parseltongue, does it?"
While Harry rolled his eyes and started calling for Sals to help him, Draco smirked.
But not for long.