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You may begin," Narcissa instructed the three boys quietly as she studied Harry and his muggle cousin.
While young Harry was diligently focusing on the assignment that she had set for them, his behemoth cousin could not manage to keep his squinting piggish eyes on his paper for more than ten seconds at a time. Instead the little oaf was staring at his cousin with a vague mixture of anxiety and malice tainting his pasty, sagging expression. Seeming to have no concept of subtlety the little brute was alternately attempting to catch Harry's gaze with a look of clumsy intimidation and watching his cousin with trepidation for the slightest untoward gesture that would no doubt send him into a lather.
"Mr. Dursley, may I speak with you a moment?"
"Uhhh. Yeah," The boy grunted piggishly still keeping his eyes anchored on his cousin.
Stepping to the door, Narcissa waited for the boy to follow… and …. waited, but the boy simply sat at the table, staring at his cousin but barely registering her presence with an occasional blank look. And this was the child that the simpering muggles doted on?
After glancing up at her with a barely concealed smirk, Draco brushed his fingers over his friend's writing hand to catch Harry's attention then flicked his fingers toward the bloated boy still sitting on the other side of him. When Harry glanced at his cousin, Narcissa was surprised to see him wince and pale before glancing quickly up at her then back to his cousin. For a moment, it seemed as though he were trying to gather his nerve before he turned to his cousin and whispered, "Dudley, Lady Malfoy would like to speak with you."
"I heard her, you stupid frea—." Narcissa nearly laughed Dudley broke off after apparently realizing that whatever he had been planning to say would have insulted Narcissa and Draco as well.
"Mr. Dursley?"
"Yeah, what?" the dim child asked.
"Dud, she wants to speak with you, privately."
"Then you two had better sod off and let us talk, hadn't you?" the little cretin retorted, seeming completely unaware of even the most basic courtesy due an adult, much less one of Narcissa's stature, who was being gracious enough to stoop to teaching him.
"Dud!" Harry's vivid green eyes shot toward Narcissa with an abject expression of apology, clearly embarrassed by his cousin use of such coarse language in mixed company.
If it weren't for her desire to help Draco's little friend, Narcissa suspected that she would have hexed the little ape until he bowed and scraped as politely as a house elf. She was putting up with the little toad for Harry's sake, however, so returned an understanding smile then softened the tone she would have used into a mildly questioning lilt and asked the dunce far more politely than he deserved, "Won't you join me for a walk?"
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"Greetings, Great Lady." Severus hissed confidently.
Between his time with Harry and Salazar's portrait having a resurgance of interest in teaching him to speak parsletongue, after learning that the basilisk was willing to converse with the castle's inhabitants again, Severus was rapidly gaining fluency with the obscure language and was increasingly able to hold conversations with her unaided though Salazar's portrait remained on hand to provide assistance when necessary.
"Greetings poison maker, I scent no venom on your fangs this morn." She teased, reminding him of the last time that they had spoken without Harry being present just before Harry's accident at the Malfoy's on Christmas Day, when Severus had apparated back to the castle – so angry with the basilisk for allowing Harry to harvest her venom as a Christmas gift for him that he had unintentionally torn through the anti-apparition wards surrounding Hogwart's property.
With a surge of magic that startled even the headmaster, Severus had apparated directly to her side and rained a slew of imprecations and threats down on her so venomous that even Salazar's portrait looked faintly scandalized by the time that the panicked Headmaster arrived, courtesy of Fawkes' magic.
Once Fawkes had trilled Severus back to calmness and after an awkward explanation to the Headmaster regarding why Severus, Fawkes and Salazar's portrait had withheld their knowledge of Ahhsitha's presence – and another extended conversation to verify Ahhsitha's good intentions toward Hogwarts, its staff, and its student body), the headmaster admitted that he found the whole event quite amusing as it finally answered his long time question of whether there was anyone or anything too daunting for Severus when he was in full rant.
Apparently, discovering Severus ranting full out at a two thousand year old basilisk was what it took to convince Dumbledore that no one was immune from Professor Snape's wrath when the mood took hold.
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After giving the dolt a suitable distraction, Narcissa silently cast 'legillimens' as she slipped into his grubby mind. A brief experiment at the beginning of the summer had been enough to show her that she could easily enter his mind, but had not given her a clear idea of the utter rot that populated his mind.
A true product of his mother's simpering favoritism and his father's poorly managed temperament, Dudley Dursley cared for little outside his own immediate happiness and saw those around him, including his family, as little more than means to achieve that happiness. This was particularly true for his perception of his cousin, the fat brute viewed little Harry as equivalent to his own personal house elf; in the vile boy's mind, everything that Harry possessed - from Harry's clothing to the food he ate and… the cupboard he slept in – belonged to Dudley, was made for his pleasure, and should only be used toward his pleasure. Further, as far as Dudley was concerned, any failure in delivering his immediate satisfaction was unforgivable and could only be accommodated if Dudley had the personal pleasure of watching his discontent being taken out on his cousin's frail form.
Barely restraining the impulse to hex the fat little as she came to the previous evening's memory, Narcissa felt her sense of self-restraint stretched to its furthest. The evening before had resulted in Harry's near torture by the repulsive creatures that Dumbledore had the idiocy to grant little Harry's custody to – after the child had seemingly overturned a ludicrously decorated trifle into the hair of a potential client's wife. Though the act was far out of Harry's normal behavior, if the child had in fact behaved so brazenly, even Narcissa would have granted that the Dursleys would have had some marginal right to punish the child - though certainly not to the point of burning the child so severely that he lost consciousness.
Several facts stood out, however, that made Narcissa certain that punishment of any sort was completely unwarranted. First, the trifle had seemed to float steadily and rather swiftly toward the Dursley's guest – quite beyond the normal skill and quality of Harry's wingardium leviosa. Second, Harry had not been in possession of his wand – and wandless magic of this type was quite sufficiently removed from the general nature of Harry's wish magic, which to all reports focused on affecting his own physical being in one form or other. In short, it was quite unlikely that Harry would be capable of that level for several years at the very least. Third, Harry's expression had been one of anxious entreaty as he split his attentions between the trifle and someone seeming to stand in the kitchen, beyond Dudley's vision.
Convinced without question that neither her son, her husband, nor their close friend, Severus, was the instigator of the beating and torture that followed – Narcissa was immediately certain of two items – first, Harry was in immediate danger and second, the child could not remain in the custody of his relatives even a moment longer. In fact, the only question that remained in her mind was why Harry had not immediately brought the event to her attention.
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For a human, his scent was pleasant to her and calming, unlike the scents of the castle's other inhabitants, whose scents filled Ahhsitha with the restless desire to hunt. His display of anger and venom when he last appeared to her, alone, had been impressive.
There were very few things in existence that troubled her: the centaurs with their poisoned bows, the acromantula nests, and the thoughts of being again trapped in the tight enclosed spaces of the castle. Barring those – she had believed that nothing else could cause her true anxiety until she felt the snap of his magic depositing him beside her and the waves of anger rolling off of him – putting to end her apparently unfounded belief that humans in general and wizards in particular had little facility for experiencing and expressing strong emotions. His scent that day, unknown to him, had spoken volumes of his rage, fear, and worry – demonstrating better than anything else could that he shared an understanding of what being a guardian was – an understanding that had been lacking in the last dozen speakers, who had stumbled her way before the little speaker came to Hogwarts.
It was even quite pleasing to her when she scented traces of her own venom in his clothing, evidence that he was already making use of the gift she had helped the young speaker give him.
"Yes," Severus agreed cautiously as he remembered the rank fool he had made of himself by popping like a house elf back to the castle to scold the unutterably dangerous creature for allowing herself to be swayed into helping Harry with his stunning Christmas gift. The thought of the dangers he had gone through to gather it troubled Severus even in the present; though, he winced as he remembered his reception to Harry's gift of two petrified acromantula's eggs filled to the cap with Basilisk venom – enough venom that if he had desired to sell it, Severus would have had sufficient funds to purchase the entire United Kingdom, four times over, or – alternately- the heritage rights and title of an ancient and noble house. Despite the avaricious gleam in Lucius's eyes, Severus had no intention of selling it, however, there were far too many unidentified and uncaptured death eaters remaining to ever chance releasing such an amount of venom onto the open market – without guaranteeing that the giver of the gift would receive its returns in tragic fashion.
That was only one of the thoughts running through his mind as he had regrettably turned on Harry and harshly berated the child for taking such an insane risks.
Even with Ahhsitha practically crawling in the child's lap like a familiar, collecting basilisk venom was a complex task that had ended the lives of numerous potion collectors. The hazards involved were almost too numerous to count. To begin with, the only material that could contain undiluted basilisk venom was the fragile, petrified acromantula silk sack that surrounded the tree dwelling spider's eggs. While Ahhsitha had undoubtedly petrified the two large acromantula eggs (that the child had procured in perhaps his first truly Slythern deception – as a Christmas gift – for Ahhsitha), she could not have removed the still living larval spiders without destroying the eggs. That task had been left instead to Harry, who had by some means simply coaxed the creatures out and into Hagrids care to be added to Aragog's nest.
Then, even with Ahhsitha's cooperation, filling the eggs was an incredibly dangerous prospect as even a fifth of a dram on the skin was sufficient to kill an adult wizard of above average height and weight. Had a drip of it touched the child's skin, Harry would have been dead before the portrait could have summoned anyone's assistance. Even once the petrified eggs had been filled and sealed, it was not unknown for the delicate containers to crack and leak. More than a few experienced professionals had died due to leaking containers. Yet, the child had completed the task entirely without assistance then he carried the extremely fragile gifts with him to the Malfoy's, by floo no less, without given even his hosts notice until Severus had opened the delicately wrapped presents and nearly dropped them in shock before rounding on the child.
"Poison maker?" Ahhsitha questioned his silence as his scent suggested that his mood had suddenly become disturbed with some inner turmoil.
Having no exposure to humans of any type wallowing in guilt, she could not draw the connection between the comments on the professor's mood that day and the little speaker's fall later that night. Severus, himself, wasn't even certain whether there was one, but the question over whether Harry had been distracted due to the potion master's comments when he fell still plagued Severus over sixth months later. He was no closer to an answer now than he had been then and shook himself back to the present to avoid further contemplation of the question.
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"Shady, smooth, and full of meat, Great lady. Thank you for asking. Have you eaten well?"
"Sadly, no." She confided, "I let a spot of the sky's heat lure me into the open where prey could see and scent me.
"Ah." He replied, understanding easily. After being confined for centuries in the castle's cold recesses, it was only natural to expect that the cold-blooded creature would be tantalized by the sunlight.
"Harry's gift may be coming at a sharp-sighted moment then."
With a sweep of his wand, Severus summoned the small pile of acromantula eggs that he had ordered on Harry's behalf.
"More eggs?" Ahhsitha asked with excitement, before she continued, with a humorous lilt to her hissing, "Your nestling must question the sting of my venom to hunt for me so often."
"No, he savors your enjoyment of what he can give." Severus responded with a sigh and a bemused smile.
Despite Lucius's lessons favoring politically motivated gift giving, Harry had spent days selecting gifts that he believed the recipient would truly enjoy over the gifts that the recipients would draw discussion and spread the giver's reputation. The discrepancy had been so apparent that Lucius had even been slightly miffed with the boy's choices, until Narcissa had complimented Harry on choosing gifts that witches and wizards would find so pleasing as to keep them always present and visible instead of tucked away as many of Lucius's gifts often were after the season ended.
"Odd little nestling, does he not understand that his guardians are to see to his hungers, not the reverse?" Ahhsitha hissed in what might have been a sighed complaint before descending on the gift with relish.
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Slipping into his thoughts, with the same gentle subtlety that she used to read Severus and Lucius unnoticed, Narcissa quickly came upon Dobby's visit and the reason behind it. Of course, the elf would have to be seen to, and her husband's plans changed; but that was a change that Narcissa would have preferred even without this occurrence.
Prior to his fall, even as an adult, though charismatic, the Dark Lord had been prone to making rash – unpredictable decisions. The thought of restoring him as an impulsive, potentially volatile teen to a era that marked his fall with celebration, had seemed far from a sound idea when her sister brought the plan to Lucius's attention. Her husband, however, had been imprudently persuaded by the prospect of swaying several of his former cadre to his influence once more.
Perhaps, should Dobby survive, his actions might merit a reward of some sort for bringing the change about, but first and more important, the child needed to be distracted to other questions…
"Harry, I thought Lucius was quite clear when he explained that our arrangement with Grunnings was set up for the sole purpose of documenting any and all mistreatment that you may have received at the hands of your relatives. Was he not?"
"Yes, Ma'am." The child answered in anxious tones, paling beneath her knowing gaze.
"Then, may I ask why you chose to withhold notice of how they mistreated you last night?"
"I-I c-can-n't ex-pla-in." Harry stammered as he ducked his eyes and flushed with shame.
"Your manner suggests that quite the opposite is true. When we are willing to put ourselves to inconvenience at your behest, I must say that it quite surprises me to find you will not do the same." Narcissa murmured in falsely disappointed tones.
Frankly, she would have been pleased with the child's reserve, if the abuse had not been so extreme. Given what she had seen, however, she began to wonder whether he even had the ability to discern that his treatment had been extreme, or whether he was too damaged to recognize that it was even worth reporting.
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Severus considered Ahhsitha's question quietly, having several times wondered a very similar question himself. Had he intervened in time, or had the Dursleys damaged the Harry too deeply for him to truly understand that he should be taken care of, protected, and cherished? And, if so, for Severus suspected that they had, was damage permanent?"
Though he had no way of knowing it, at that moment, both he and Narcissa had reached the same question: 'Given their treatment of Harry, what justice did the Dursley's deserve, in turn?"