Harry flushed. "I'm just trying to keep him from getting horribly hurt when he finds out the truth."
"Well, don't," snarled Draco. "It's your truth, anyway. It's not the truth."
"And you," said Severus, rounding on him, "aren't to score points off Harry by throwing his childhood in his face. That's reprehensible and you know it."
Draco did bare his teeth, then. So it was fine for Harry to insult Draco's mother--though come to think of it, he hadn't done much of that in front of Severus--but Draco wasn't allowed to say a word about Harry's relatives! "He's always complaining about my mother--"
"And you're always bad-mouthing Remus!"
"Essays and lines both?" Severus' gaze challenged each of them in turn.
"No, sir," said Draco, finally.
"Sorry, sir."
Severus shook his head. "Sir is best left to class, as you both well know."
Right, sure. Draco was going to call the man Dad when all it would get him was one of those half-twisted expressions of dismay. "Let's just go home," he said, sighing. For one second, a vision of Malfoy Manor flashed through Draco's mind. But then he shook it off. He had another home now. A better one, though it was so humble that he sometimes felt stifled there. Still, he wouldn't trade it for the Manor, not for anything.
Even if his father liked to punish them with essays.
It was better than a wizard's beating, after all.
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Coming Soon in A Summer Like None Other:
Chapter Six: A New Perspective
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight
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Author's Notes:
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Chapter 6: A New Perspective
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=13093&chapter=6
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A Summer Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Six: A New Perspective
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Draco looked depressed, Harry thought as they Apparated into a grassy area a short distance from the cottage. Really depressed, and Harry knew it wasn't because of the essay their father had threatened to assign. No, Draco was upset because he hadn't got a chance to see that girl again. It shouldn't matter so very much; Draco didn't even know Rhiannon Miller. But clearly, it did matter. A lot.
Well, maybe if they were lucky, their father would forget all about the essay, anyway--
No such luck.
"Fourteen inches each on the importance of getting along," said Snape in a hard voice as he thrust open the cottage door and deposited the bags of foodstuffs they'd bought in Exeter. "But first, the pair of you will put this lot away. Without magic, and without squabbling. Is that clear?"
Snape didn't say much else, but he didn't leave them alone, either. Sitting down on the worn couch in the living room, he just watched them as they worked. Harry thought the man looked like he was brooding. About the way Harry and Draco had been fighting so much, probably. That made Harry feel just awful. It was like he'd really let his father down.
Trying to make up for it, Harry didn't say anything critical about the way Draco was stuffing food into the cupboards. He just began discreetly moving milk and butter and such out of the cabinets where Draco had put them, and into the crate spelled to stay cold. His brother didn't seem to notice, which was good, considering. Snape wasn't the only one getting pretty tired of them fighting all the time. Harry was sick of it too, and he knew that a lot of it had been his fault. "Maybe this Rhiannon really is a witch," he said in a low voice. Hmm, that had come out sounding like he doubted it. Which he did, but still..."I mean, she could be, right?"
Draco had been moving sort of slowly as he worked, but that had him stopping completely. "Don't patronise me."
"I wasn't. I really do think... er..."
"You think she's as Muggle as they come, and don't think I don't know it. And if you ask me, that makes you a right--"
Snape cleared his throat rather loudly.
Draco sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. I hardly want to write lines as well." He glanced around at the paper carriers, and seemed satisfied that the work was done when it wasn't, really. "That's it, then. I'll work on the essay in the room. You take the table."
Harry would rather have lain down on his bed to write, but thought it best not to make a fuss over Draco's high-handedness. Who knew, maybe he even thought he was being generous in giving the table to Harry. Though of course, they were wizards. Another table could always be transfigured. Or this one could be shared.
But Draco wanted to be alone, Harry suddenly realised. "All right," he said, nodding as though he thought the idea a good one.
Draco gave him a bit of a disgusted look at that. Harry wasn't sure why, but he decided he'd do best just to ignore it. He put away the rest of the groceries without saying anything, and then sat down and tried to figure out what to write.
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Snape made Harry and Draco work together to prepare dinner. They managed not to squabble at all, though that might have been because they weren't talking much. Harry figured that pass me that spoon didn't really count. At least Draco did his fair share of the work, this time, even if he had worn a rather disdainful expression throughout.
After dinner, Snape read their essays. Out loud, which made Harry cringe a little bit. His had sounded a lot better in his head.
When Snape was done, he stared at each boy in turn. "A little less arrogance would help you get on better with others," he told Draco. Then he turned to Harry. "You, on the other hand, need to be less self-effacing. Things that go wrong are not always your fault, and it's not your responsibility alone to set them right."
Harry bit his lip, wishing the floor would open up and swallow him. He didn't believe that, not completely, not the way his father obviously thought. But he did believe it some, he realised. He couldn't help it.
Snape turned once more to Draco. "How are you progressing through those ethics books?"
Draco stiffened a little. "I've almost finished the first two."
"Good. And your opinion?"
That certainly seemed to take Draco aback. "My opinion?"
Snape looked a little amused. "Yes, your judgment on them as to relative merit--"
"I know what an opinion is!"
"And I would hope you have one, as well," drawled Snape.
Draco practically gnashed his teeth. "What do you want, to know which one helped me most? Because I'm so devoid of personal moral principles, like you said right here in this room after you made me choke down a poisoned fairy cake?"