That was a bit much to let pass without comment, considering the reason Draco had switched sides in the first place. "I thought you needed me to keep you out of Azkaban."
"I'm in the Order now, Potter. I may not be universally trusted, but I'm through the door. Now, you may not be able to look past the fact that I look a lot like him--"
"What?" Harry could hardly believe his ears. "I got over that months and months ago, and you know it!"
Draco leapt to his feet, his lips pulled back in a snarl. "I'll tell you what I know! Ever since we got back from that holiday you can hardly stand to look at me! You'd never even know I saved your stupid life!"
How many times had Harry already acknowledged that? "I thought you didn't want to listen to my thanking people thing!" he shouted as he shot to his feet. "And anyway, I thought you were saving yourself, just as much! So it wasn't for me at all, was it? You were just being Slytherin!"
"Listen, you Gryffindor, I'm the one who got tortured!"
All of a sudden, Harry felt like the top of his head would come off, he was so angry. "You think I don't know that? You think I could see that and just forget about it? Well, maybe you do! Unlike some people, I never have thought it would be great fun to watch somebody get tortured!"
Draco gave a low, bitter laugh. "Oh, of course not. You're pure, perfect Potter! You're better than me, better than Severus. And that's why you're acting like you'd rather drop dead than be anywhere near us--"
"Well, I sure don't want to be near you when you're in a mood like this," retorted Harry as he reached for the mantle. Thank goodness his father had put his Floo powder out within easy reach, again. "You can tell Severus I found my own way back to the Tower!"
Draco ground his teeth together. "Oh, and now you're above the rules, too! Severus said not to use his Floo for that!"
Harry stepped over the grate. "You're a fine one to talk about being above the rules! When's the last time I ever poisoned anyone, eh?" He didn't wait for an answer, but flung down his powder with as much force as he could. "Gryffindor common room!"
Draco, red-faced, started to yell something else, but Harry couldn't hear it above the rush of the Floo whisking him away.
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Harry emerged shaking with anger into a room full of Gryffindors. "Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, "What's wrong?"
Dusting ashes off his shirt and trousers was a good way, he found, to conceal how much his hands were trembling. "Nothing. I went down for a visit and now I'm back."
Ron was the one who said what everybody was probably thinking. "But somebody always walks you back." He sounded a little jealous. "You get to floo around the castle, now?"
"Look, Severus wasn't home and Draco was getting on my nerves," Harry snapped, "so I left. All right?"
Ron held up his hands, grinning. "Draco was getting on your nerves, eh? Imagine that."
"Ronald!" Hermione sounded absolutely scandalised. Harry might have found that funny in other circumstances, but after the past few minutes, he couldn't be anything but angry. And depressed. He wasn't even sure what had gone so wrong with Draco, though he was sure that throwing Samhain in his face hadn't been a stroke of brilliance. Let alone Venetimorica.
Had it really been just a few days earlier that he'd been the one telling Severus to stop bringing up Draco's past mistakes?
"Harry, sit down with me for a while," said Hermione softly. "You look almost ill."
The other Gryffindors seemed to sense that Harry might need some room. Except Ron, but he no longer looked so gleeful over Harry's fight with Draco. Now, he just looked concerned. The other students drifted away, though, leaving Harry and his closest friends alone.
"You need some water, mate?"
Harry shook his head. What he needed, he thought, was to go back down and work it out with Draco. He didn't realise he'd said so out loud until Hermione answered him.
"You'll see him tomorrow anyway, won't you? For your Potions Saturday? Wait until then."
"Oh. Severus said those were over and done with."
Hermione smiled. "Good for him. But you can still go down, right? Ron and I will walk you. But wait until you're bit calmer before you go work it out with your brother. "
That sounded like good advice, especially considering how much Harry was dreading seeing Draco again. He'd said such terrible things, and without even meaning to! He must be a horrible person inside.
Just like the portrait had said.
Harry blinked as he sat there, thinking that through. When he'd wanted to hurt his brother, Samhain had rushed into the forefront of his mind. Was it darkness bringing the thought forth, or something else?
You have good instincts, his father had told him, more than once.
So why had he thought of Samhain like that, if not because of all the efforts he'd been making to get over his fear of needles? His instincts were trying to tell him something.
Namely, that the needles he'd been tortured with on Samhain were nothing like the slender, tiny one he'd been using to get over his fears. He'd still be afraid if faced with larger needles, right? What good was it to get used to needles if he didn't get used to the ones that really mattered?
He could try working out some sort of enlargement spell, he supposed. Then again, sitting right next to him was someone who probably already had what he needed. Not that he was planning to ask Hermione for a yarn needle. What was he going to say to explain that? He'd taken up macramÈ?
He shouldn't need to ask, though. He could see from here that Hermione's wicker basket of yarn and oddments was in the common room as usual, shoved into a corner, the whole thing covered with just a little bit of dust. The elves were cleaning the Tower again, but they left that basket strictly alone.
Harry nodded to himself, a plan forming in his mind. He'd wait until everyone was asleep. Until the coast was clear, so to speak, and he could come down here and get a needle. As he remembered, Hermione's big ones were plastic, but the become my sharp metal fear spell ought to take care of that. Might even sharpen them up nicely, too.
Hmm, probably he ought to ward the common room and stay down here to use the needles. He wasn't sure how quiet he could be using a big needle for the first time. So yeah, he'd use the common room, along with his strongest privacy spells. Just to be extra sure nobody would see what he was doing, he'd sit with his back to the staircases, and bring his books down so he could claim to be studying if anybody happened upon him. But he'd leave things until late enough that he probably wouldn't be disturbed.
So that would all work, then.
His arms were sort of itching, wanting to get on with it, but for all that, Harry felt better now that he had a plan. He gave his friends a lopsided grin. "I guess it's a bit much to expect I'll never fight with Draco. He's been in a bit of a mood lately, but that's not hard to figure out. I mean--" Harry lowered his voice. "Think of what he just went through."
Hermione nodded, and even Ron looked a little bit less delighted that Harry and Draco had had a fight. Both of them knew the full truth now, of what had happened the day Harry and Draco had gone missing.
"I'm sure we'll get through it," Harry went on.
Hmm, Ron and Hermione still looked concerned about him. It reminded him of what his father had mentioned, about sensing their worries. Best to let them know that everything was fine, he thought. That he wasn't withdrawing as much as they'd started to think. "How about we have a game of Wizard's Chess, then? Hermione can play the winner. Oh, by the way, Severus said you two were welcome to visit during the summer. I want you to challenge my dad to a match, Ron."