The next day Brogan managed to pull Draco aside just after lunch.  “I’m meeting with Ron and Hermione this afternoon to tell them what the Headmaster showed me last night, would you like to come too?”

Draco was shocked by the invitation, never in his wildest imaginings had he expected to join the famous trio.  He was surprised to find that he did want to join them, he was dying to hear what Brogan had learned last night and maybe the others would have some secret Order news they could share too.  “What time?” he asked coolly.

“4:00 in the Room of Requirement, that’s where you caught us with Dumbridge last year.”  Draco blushed a bit and Brogan knocked her shoulder into his arm to show there were no hard feelings, well not too many hard feelings.

Draco pushed an errant chunk of hair behind her ear and touched her face quickly, “I was a jerk and I apologize.  Umbridge was an obscenity of a person and I should have known better than to follow her.”

Brogan rubbed the back of her hand and looked down and then away again quickly.  Draco was puzzled by her behavior and pulled the hand free so that he could look at it.  When he saw the scar his hand tightened on hers until she whined and tried to pull it away. 

“What is this?” he asked in a cold voice.

“Blood quill,” whispered Brogan, inexplicably embarrassed.

“In detentions?” he wasn’t squeezing as hard but he couldn’t bring himself to let go.  Brogan nodded.

“You had dozens of detentions, why didn’t you go to McGonagall?”

“I tried, but she gave me a biscuit and told me to keep my head down.” 

Draco huffed a laugh, tracing the back of her hand with his thumb.  “You did a crap job explaining then.  Did you actually show her?”

“No, obviously not.  She would have flayed Umbridge if she saw that and what good would that have done?  McGonagall would still be in Azkaban.”

“True, I guess as long as you know that she really would have killed Umbridge, Snape would have too incidentally -even last year before he knew you were his daughter.  He’s like that you know: decent.”

Brogan had to chuckle at that.  Draco had wrapped himself around her somehow, she didn’t even notice when.  They were standing against a wall in the entrance hall, the gentle clinking of the house point hourglasses only slightly distracting them.  Lunch had let out a while ago and most of the stragglers were gone, it was a lazy Sunday though and the occasional student or professor happened by.

“Did the scar cream not work on this?” he asked rubbing his lips gently across the back of her hand and throwing a quick sneer at a few young Hufflepuffs who scurried on their way.  Shocked, utterly shocked, by the public display before them.

Brogan blushed and shrugged a little, “it was more important to block the other scar.  Only a few people know about this one and it kind of helps to remind me I guess.”

Draco studied the faint words some more, “your handwriting was always atrocious, ‘I must not sell pies’?  Do you bake Brogan?  How utterly charming.”  He actually got her to squeak, it was a definite win.

His whimsical mood lasted even as he and Brogan strolled into the room together.  Ron and Hermione were already there sitting together on one of the two couches the room had provided.  The tea tray between the couches was humongous and Ron seemed to be taking it as a personal challenge.  He barely paused to grunt hello at the newcomers.

Hermione seemed to want to get up and hug Brogan or something but they were still negotiating their new relationship; Brogan went over and hugged her though.  Draco busied himself with the tea tray, budging Ron aside so he could pour cups for himself and Brogan. 

Ron and Hermione both noticed that Draco knew exactly how Harry wanted her tea.  They also admired him for coming at all. 

Ron had spoken to Hermione almost all morning long.  She wasn’t around when he got back last night so he had woken early and waited for her in the common room.  There was a grim set to her lips when she first came down but seeing Ron’s serious face had stilled her.  “Is she alright?” Hermione had asked.

Ron shrugged his response and took her hand, at breakfast they had sequestered themselves at the far end of the table and nobody had dared to approach their furious whispering.  Somehow Hermione had understood why Brogan excluded her, her embarrassment and regrets. 

It also helped that Brogan had gone straight to Hermione to make her apology hug, “I’m sorry, I was just too shamed to face you last night.  It was stupid of me but that’s not a good enough excuse after all these years.”

“It’s alright Harry.”

“You’re such an amazing woman and I’m just this greedy insecure nightmare, it’s -it’s embarrassing.  But that’s not a good enough excuse either.”

“You don’t need an excuse Brogan, Ron is Ron and I’m me, it’s alright to have different relationships with us.  It’s mature.”

Brogan sniffled, “you would know mature much better than I would.”

Draco was holding up her teacup for her and she took it with a smile and plopped onto the couch next to him.  “Well, I had the most eventful day yesterday...”

Ron and Hermione were horrified to hear about the cursed necklace.  “Oh Draco, it’s such a good thing you were there or else Brogan would have opened the package,” gushed Hermione. 

Ron nodded too and Brogan took offense, “I would not have!”

The looks she got from her friends showed how much they believed that statement.  Draco tried to help restore her pride though, “the really lucky bit is that Madam Rosmerta tried to imperius probably the only student at Hogwarts that could resist it.”  He shifted his leg to nudge hers (then left it touching) and gazed at her with pride.

Brogan blushed a bit, then she blushed more when she saw the indulgent faces on her friends.  She left her leg pressed against Draco’s though while they discussed who might have imperiused Madam Rosmerta and the chances of the plan working and what that told them about the whole thing.

The hour was getting later but there was still plenty left on the tea tray so they stayed and Brogan launched into her tale of Dumbledore’s memory.  She was clearly getting upset just remembering the memory but Hermione and Draco were a little confused about why it was quite so disturbing, Hermione had to admit that Brogan had probably done herself a favor by just going to Ron -he seemed to understand better.

Draco had never really considered how the Dursleys treated Harry Potter but he could see that something was wrong so he pulled Brogan on to his lap.  She put her head down on his chest immediately and wrapped one arm around his back.  Draco wrapped his arms around her and started rubbing soothing circles.

It happened so quickly and naturally that Hermione’s mouth had dropped open in surprise.  Ron took Hermione’s hand and gave her a smile, it was a kind smile that said ‘isn’t it good?’  Hermione smiled back, it was good.  It was good for both of them.  And, she looked down at where Ron was holding her hand, maybe it was good for all four of them.

The Gryffindors clattered with their cups and ate sandwiches for a while until Brogan gathered herself enough to tell them more.  “Hey mate,” Ron had finally lured her back out, “looks like Dobby sent those nasty fish sandwiches you like so much.”

And so Brogan had emerged to wipe her face and hold out a shaky hand for the sandwich.  “You know,” Draco started around his own sandwich, “I thought I recognized this tea tray -not the tray itself but the sandwich combinations you know.  Mother was quite cross when Dobby left, he made the best treacle tart in the manor.  But I think the other elves were relieved, they never knew what to do with Dobby.”

Brogan’s eyes bugged out with glee, “I didn’t know Dobby could make treacle tart, that’s my favorite too.”

“Well, you’ll have to order him to make a big one all for you.”  Draco said.

“Oh Dobby isn’t my elf, he’s a free elf.  Dumbledore pays him and everything.”

“Pays him?”  Draco exclaimed, “He’s stranger than I thought.  And what does he do with money?”

“He buys socks,” Ron explained, “lots of socks for himself and for the great Harry Potter sir.”

“Oh shut up, it’s sweet of him.” Brogan pouted.

“You never called him sweet when you were a boy mate.” Ron pointed out.

Brogan stuck her tongue out at him, it was easier than trying to explain her new emotional range and the hormones stampeding her system.

Hermione clinked her spoon authoritatively and tried to get them back on task, “so why do you think Dumbledore shared that memory?  You already knew that Tom Riddle was an orphan right?  Didn’t his diary tell you that?”

“Tom Riddle became Voldemort?”  Draco had pieced a few things together but he didn’t want to strain himself when he could just ask.

“Yeah, Tom Riddle was a half blood orphan who went to Hogwarts around the same time as Hagrid, and the same time as Moaning Myrtle.  He was Head Boy and everything.”

“Half blood?” asked Draco.

“Half blood, funny that huh?  He was also the heir of Slytherin though so I bet that makes up for a bit.  He found the Chamber of Secrets when he was a student and could command the basilisk living there.  -The basilisk is what killed Moaning Myrtle. 

And then, just like when we were in second year, the Board of Governors wanted to close the school but since Tom was an orphan he didn’t have anywhere else to go so he shut the chamber up again and the attacks stopped.”

“Fascinating.  I had no idea.”  Draco really did look fascinated, it made Ron and Hermione a bit uncomfortable -they felt horror was the only appropriate response to any thoughts of Voldemort.

“Mmm hmm,” said Brogan around her full mouth, she swallowed and continued, “if you want to really piss him off you can call him Tom.”

“Why would you want to piss him off?” Draco had to ask.

“Anger makes people sloppy,” shrugged Brogan as if everyone should know that.  “Plus if you do it in front of other Death Eaters it reminds them that he’s a half blood spewing policies that would lead to his own persecution -if he was logical.  That’s a two-fer.”

“Clever,” mumbled Ron around his own bite.  Hermione was nodding beside him but Draco knew the Dark Lord better than either of them and the thought of taunting the Dark Lord boggled his mind.  Nobody taunted the Dark Lord.

They talked more about the memory and Brogan was chagrined that her fit had prevented Dumbledore from explaining why he had chosen to share that memory.  “Maybe he told Da why he wanted to share it.” She finally suggested.

“Severus saw the memory too?”

“Yeah, after I stormed out the Headmaster went to talk to him and Da demanded his own viewing of the memory so he could see why I flipped out.”

“And did he understand?” asked Ron seriously.

“Yeah,” said Brogan.

“That’s good,” Ron approved.  “Are you going to talk more with your da?”  Hermione’s mouth had dropped open again but she could feel this bubble of happiness growing in her that Harry, Brogan she corrected herself, had a parent who cared and Ron was mature enough to put aside his legendary dislike of Snape to encourage Brogan to pursue a relationship with her father.  Her boys were making her proud, very proud.

Brogan met her eye and seemed to say, ‘isn’t he sexy when he’s all sensitive like this?’  Hermione smiled and nodded back, putting her hand on Ron’s back. 

Ron’s ears started to turn pink.   In the lull that followed Hermione cast a tempus charm and was dismayed to see how late it was.  “Good thing the tea was so massive, dinner’s just ended.” 

She stood up and pulled out her bag from next to the couch, “sorry Brogan, I need to check over my Dark Arts essay for tomorrow.  Ron?”

Ron lumbered up too, “yeah, I need to finish that one too.”

Brogan stood up, “you guys should go and we’ll hang out here for a few more minutes so nobody sees us leaving together.”

“Good idea,” approved Hermione, “see you tomorrow.” 

Brogan flopped down full length on the newly empty couch.  Draco got up and sat near her head, rubbing the back of her neck carefully.  “Did Severus give you a potion last night?” he asked.

The head nodded, she turned her face to the side so he would hear her answer, “yeah, dreamless sleep -the good stuff.”

Draco nodded and swallowed down all the questions he wanted to ask about her childhood and why a boy in shabby clothes on a thin bed in a bleak room filled her with such anger or despair or whatever it was.  She must have noticed his jaw clenching as he struggled with his curiosity, no it was more than curiosity, it was a burning need to know and understand her so that he could take better care of her.  He had seen how Ron understood and it filled him with jealousy.

“The Dursleys were abominable to me, they never let me forget their generosity in taking me in.  They weren’t generous enough to give me a real bedroom though, or clothes that weren’t my cousins cast-offs, or gifts on my birthday or Christmas.

And if I misbehaved at all they would threaten me with the orphanage, and I guess that memory was the first time I saw an orphanage and,” Brogan grinned a bit, “and Tom’s room was nicer than mine.  It’s stupid to think that I would have gotten as nice a room I mean obviously I would have been sent to a different orphanage, one in Little Whinging if there is one there, and not in London but...” 

Draco took advantage of her pause to sit down and pull her on to his lap, he looked at the back of the couch to see if there was a blanket around and one materialized.  He wrapped it around her back and held her close, they were both staring in the fire when she continued.

“And you know as if being jealous of a Dark Lord’s childhood wasn’t bad enough there were all these things that we have in common.  His mum died for him -my mum died for me.  His da never knew he existed my da never knew.  The misery and neglect thing, the not knowing you’re a wizard thing, the Slytherin and parseltongue thing.  When I met him through his diary he seemed so familiar, it was disturbing.”

“You can’t honestly be afraid that you’re going to become a Dark Lord?”

“I don’t know, after I left Dumbledore’s pensieve I was so upset all the stuff in his office started rattling because of my anger.  Actually I’m surprised he still has stuff, last year I smashed a ton of it in a different temper tantrum.”

“That’s just stuff, you would cut off your own wand hand before you cast a curse on another person Brogan.  That doesn’t bode well for a career in evil.”

He hugged her and rocked for a while, “So Ron knows about the Dursleys and not Hermione?”

“Yeah, last night I had Dobby get my Wheezy for me and Hermione was kind of miffed but...”

“She understands now I think.” Draco reassured.  “I understand too.”

“I know I have to stop going to Ron for comfort, it’s messing things up for us and for him and Hermione but, he’s been my teddy since I was eleven.  We would lay in his bed talking for hours and if he saw me wake up from a nightmare he would haul me over to his bed.  I would be a lot more like Tom Riddle if it wasn’t for Ron.”

Draco thought about that, he could picture the tiny little Harry Potter having a bad dream and climbing into his mate’s bed as if he was a big brother.  Ron must have loved being the big brother figure, well there was the weasalette, but still Harry Potter was a much cooler little brother.

It wasn’t that Harry had been effeminate before, he wasn’t fragile either.  He still wasn’t fragile; tears and small size and all.  Maybe he had always been cuddly, it was easy to imagine Ron holding the smaller boy close to his side.  Draco preferred not to imagine Ron holding Brogan close but he knew it had been happening.  But Brogan had just said she would try to stop, even knowing that there wasn’t a viable potion alternative and she would have nightmares without his presence.

Draco wondered if now that he was getting to know Brogan better if he was earning more trust and if she might want to go to him for comfort.  Of course Draco would want to/have to make out with her if they were in bed together and then Snape would take his potion knife and chop him into little bits. It was a difficult situation.  Maybe there was a libido quashing potion that he could take.  Maybe if he just offered to take a libido quashing potion Snape would be so impressed and let him sleep with her without actually taking the potion.  Such a potion, which he was sure must exist somewhere, just couldn’t be good for a teen.

Belatedly Draco realized that he had been quiet for too long and the blanket was too warm and he would likely have to carry Brogan down to the dungeons.  He leaned back to look at her and saw that she was still awake.  Unexpectedly delighted he started running his fingers through her hair and tucking it behind her ear.  The little lobe felt warm to him and she winced when he touched it gently.  Concerned, perhaps ridiculously so over such a trifle, he investigated the other ear too.  That one seemed better at least.

“Does your ear hurt?” he asked.

“The one with the chunk of metal piercing it?  Of course it does.”

“I think it might be getting infected, we should have Severus look at it.”

“No, he’ll be pissed that I let Pansy do it and tell me I deserve it.”

“He will not!  Well, he will -but he won’t let you suffer.”

“We could go show Pansy and see if she knows what to do.  I have to finish that stupid essay too.”

Draco leaned back, “hmm, we could but it’s awfully far away and this is awfully cozy.”

“True that, but let’s go anyway before I fall asleep.”

They thought about it for another few minutes and then pulled themselves up and started the long trek down to the dungeons.

Pansy pinched Brogan’s ears rather hard when she checked them for infection but then she taught Brogan a charm to sterilise the area.  The charm stung too but soon enough she was valiantly trying to concentrate on her Dark Arts essay.  There was a whole table of sixth years slaving on the same essay, all silent and intent on impressing their head of house.  Brogan found the camaraderie understated but nice.

She had forgotten about the dreamless sleep her da gave her the night before and startled herself by still being awake at ten o’clock when the others all seemed to finish at once.  Theirs all seemed much longer than hers, and much neater written too.  But Da wouldn’t grade her too hard on the penmanship after she really had tried to do better and she knew her content was good.

Looking it over one last time before she rolled it up for the night Brogan heard a voice shout across the room, “Harry!” and her head whipped around to see who was calling.  Through some heroic effort she didn’t blush or turn white but slowly turned back to their table, she saw the others staring at her and tried to murmur something about hoping to see Harry Potter, and what was the point of going to Hogwarts if you didn’t get to meet him?

Blaise and Pansy didn’t look like they were buying it one bit, but neither said anything more.  Draco was frozen down to the smallest molecule and didn’t know if he would ever move again, his brain though was flying through different scenarios.  Finally he spoke, “there’s a new first year named Harry Higwerden, most Slytherin families would be too stuck up to name a child Harry at this point but the Higwerdens have always had H names and even Horatio had been used recently.”

Brogan attempted to breathe and smile at the same time, “is there any end to the useless knowledge crammed under that flaxen head?”

Draco’s smile was more successful, “No.  Done with your essay then?  Do you want me to read it over for you?”

“No, it would take you ages to decipher my handwriting and you would have a running commentary the whole time, and then if you did find something I’d have to do the stupid thing over again.”

Draco shrugged and finished packing up his own things.  Blaise and Pansy were still very silent and very watchful but they started packing up too.  Brogan decided to run away back to her room, she desperately wanted Draco to come with her so they could talk and she could freak out with him there to tell her it wasn’t so bad, but if there was any hope at all of convincing Blaise and Pansy that they hadn’t seen what they very well had seen -well it was best if she left the rest up to Draco’s skills and his superior knowledge of the Slytherin brain.

Draco was hoping that Brogan wouldn’t be dumb enough to ask him to walk her back to Snape’s quarters.  He was deeply relieved when she didn’t but he knew she would be panicking soon and he felt bad that she would have to do it alone.  He thought that maybe a bit of snogging would help to convince his friends that this was a real girl (more or less) and not who they thought it was.  He hopped up to walk her over to the door and whispered in her ear, “don’t you think a scorching good night kiss would help?”

“It might rabbit,” Brogan replied.  “At the least it will reassure me that you don’t hate me forever now.”

“Never that princess,” he murmured and kissed the back of her hand, “Mmm pie,” he mumbled around her skin and got her to laugh for real.  Then she leaned up and he leaned down and they shared a perfectly perfect good night kiss.

Brogan’s eyes had slipped closed and when she opened them she noticed two thirds of the room staring and a red flush started at her cheeks and swept down her face.  “Prat,” she said just loud enough for some to hear.  Then she gave him a shove and finished running away.

When Draco turned back he was relieved to see that Pansy and Blaise were not secretly conferring on how best to orchestrate the downfall of Snape’s daughter.  Pansy refused to look at him though and she left to go sit with some other girls.  Blaise flicked his eyes over to Theodore Nott who was reading now, Draco understood immediately.  He knew they wouldn’t even chance talking tonight, maybe late after everyone else was asleep but best would be to wait until quidditch practice tomorrow.  He could only hope Pansy wouldn’t strike before he figured out where Blaise stood.

Pansy did strike but not in a way that anyone could have predicted.  She simply followed Brogan into the girls bathroom after Defense the next day.  Brogan was washing her hands and not looking in the mirror when Pansy stepped up beside her.  Pansy opened her mouth and looked over, trying to catch Brogan’s eyes indirectly through the mirror.  Brogan hoped that whatever Pansy had to say she would be able to hear it over the pounding of her heart in her throat.

She did hear her, “How did I ever think you were a girl?” Pansy asked the mirror in front of her.

The words went right to Brogan’s spine and suddenly she was standing as straight as possible, shoulders back, chest out and chin up.  It was hard to tell but it felt like her ovaries were offended too, “I beg your pardon?” she asked.

Pansy smirked but it was a friendly smirk, at least Brogan thought it was and she was getting better at judging them now.  “I have some other earrings that you might like, perhaps I can bring them to your room tonight?”

“That would be lovely.  Just you or the whole gang?  I can get snacks.”

“Just me I think, but a snack would be nice.”

“I know where Da hides his dark chocolate.”  Brogan gave a tight smile and left.

At lunch she sat as close to Draco as she could, feeling like it was all going to fall apart soon.  She wasn’t afraid of Pansy, or even anything Pansy might do.  Her worst fear was Pansy telling the Daily Prophet, what they would do, and what they could cause others to do.  Her father’s life would be in immediate danger, Draco would be in danger.  All the children in Slytherin could be in danger -Death Eaters weren’t known for being forgiving, if they found out that she had been hiding in Slytherin, and none of her housemates had figured it out or told, all of them were in danger.

Draco noticed of course and put an arm around her waist, “Did you see your father last night?” he asked.

Brogan was putting tiny spoonfuls of food on her plate and shook her head no.  “He’s hardly ever home at night, too many detentions I guess.  I saw him for a bit this morning at breakfast but then he got called to the headmaster’s office for something.”

Draco made a sort of humming sound but he was displeased that Brogan hadn’t been able to talk to her father and update him on the slip in the common room.  He felt like his insides were freezing in anxiety and could only imagine how poorly Brogan must be handling the stress.  It felt like a terrible thing to say, it was a terrible thing to say, he knew that she was strong and brave and clever and all that but this kind of game was not her thing.  Although her father was certainly excellent at it, perhaps her mother too judging by how she had duped James Potter for over a year, maybe Brogan was better at this than he thought.  But Draco didn’t want her to be skilled at the art of deception, he needed to trust her and for that he needed to believe that he could tell when she was lying.

They were unusually quiet while they toyed with their mostly empty plates, it wasn’t that unusual for Brogan but people were starting to look at Draco.  Just as Blaise was trying to help out with a question about their practice that afternoon Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore approached their table.  Snape went right to his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Brogan, please come with us.”

As Brogan moved to get up, looking slightly more confused than panicked, Madam Pomfrey entered the Great Hall too and waited for the other three to walk over to her.  That was when Brogan started to look panicked, her father kept his hand firm upon her shoulder and the four of them walked out together, the sound of the door closing behind them unleashed a furious wave of chatter.

Astoria Greenglass gave Draco a filthy look, “Draco,” she drawled loud enough that the entire table turned, “did you knock up Snape’s daughter?”