Harry was grinning, though, looking at Draco’s flushed cheeks and his blinding smile. “Let’s go get Blaise so we can go back up again,” Harry whispered conspiratorially.
Draco and Harry ran to tackle the unsuspecting Blaise and the tumbling trio ended up wrestling, chasing, tackling, climbing, sliding and especially laughing their way through the next hour.
Snape had come outside at some point to watch them, and eventually the trio collapsed in front of the bench where he sat. They were dirty, sweaty and disheveled—and all still grinning happily, if tiredly.
Snape raised an eyebrow at them, but didn’t comment. Harry was thankful. He didn’t want the man spoiling Draco’s fun and suspected that was actually why Snape wasn’t flinging scathing insults at him. Harry wondered if he’d be hearing about his foolish behavior later, though.
Out on the street again, they were waiting to flag down a taxi to take them back to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley when they spotted a toy store a couple of storefronts further down from them.
“No,” Snape declared forcefully. “I had agreed to take you three to Diagon Alley to go shopping for necessary items for Draco today. I ended up agreeing to the appointment for Potter’s eye exam. You shopped for your clothing here in Muggle London. I allowed the longer time spent there seeing as how you were able to buy your robes as well. Somehow I allowed you to drag me into . . . this establishment,” he spat, glaring distastefully at the McDonalds behind them. “We will not be going into a toy store. The hour is growing late and we will be going back to Diagon Alley now.”
All three boys hung their heads dejectedly, none of them arguing. Harry bent down and picked Draco up, hugging him and murmuring soothingly to him as the boy began to sniffle.
“We’re ready then, sir,” Blaise said quietly, eyes still downcast.
“Oh, for . . .!” Snape exclaimed.
Harry, Draco and Blaise tentatively looked up at the man as he began muttering under his breath.
“You have thirty minutes,” Snape sneered. “Not one minute more and then we go straight back to Diagon Alley where you will follow quietly as I finish the necessary shopping. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” They all nodded quickly in agreement. Harry and Blaise exchanged a glance before they quickly took off for the toy store. They came to an abrupt halt directly inside the door and stared incredulously at their surroundings. Then Harry set Draco down and grasped his hand tightly so he wouldn’t lose him.
“Let’s go!” Harry said with a grin.
Harry quickly gathered puzzles and tons of block sets, before moving on to the books and swiftly gathering a rather large selection. Blaise was fascinated with the wide array of cars and trucks and heaped a bunch into their quickly overflowing cart. Draco was ecstatic with his find of a stuffed dragon and held onto it tightly. Draco also came across a section with arts and crafts and Harry added a huge supply of paper, scissors, glue and whatever other materials struck his or Draco’s fancy.
Twenty-eight minutes later, they were back outside, standing in front of Snape, loaded down with bags and bags of stuff. Draco would not be lacking for things to do over the next four months.
Snape rolled his eyes at their exuberance and pulled them into a side alley so he could shrink everything down to one bag. Now they only had to carry the bag of toys and the bag of clothes.
True to their word, the three boys followed meekly through Diagon Alley as they finished their shopping, visiting the Apothecary, the quill shop and a few other places. They completed their business quickly at each stop. The only time there was any hesitation was when they slowed almost automatically as they passed the Quidditch store. Snape shot them a glare and they quickly hurried their pace again.
Their odd group received many curious glances, but no one approached them. Harry came to realize Snape’s death glare could actually come in handy sometimes.
Finally, they had a quick meal in the Leaky Cauldron before Flooing back to Hogwarts.
“Did you have a good time today, boys?” Dumbledore asked as they came tumbling out of his fireplace.
“Yeah,” Harry murmured tiredly, totally exhausted by the day’s activities. Draco was sound asleep in his arms and the only reason Harry hadn’t actually fallen out of the fireplace was because Snape had gone through first and had caught him.
Blaise had nodded slightly, but didn’t even bother trying to give a verbal response.
Dumbledore gave them a huge smile. “It would seem your trip was successful, Severus.”
Snape rolled his eyes. “Are the rooms ready?” he asked, ignoring the headmaster’s comments.
“Yes, yes, everything was moved today while you were gone,” Dumbledore said easily.
Snape herded his charges to the doorway without another word and led them to the dungeons. Taking the bags from Blaise, Snape sent him on to the dorms before leading Harry to his own chambers. Eyes barely open, Harry simply followed, paying no attention to his surroundings until suddenly Snape was carefully taking Draco from his arms.
Harry was startled to see Snape laying Draco on a bed and beginning to remove the boy’s shoes and outer wear. The bed had sheets and blankets that Harry recognized, and he quickly stripped down to his boxers, too tired to search for pyjamas, and slid into the bed, paying no attention to Snape. When Snape placed Draco under the covers next to him, Harry simply wrapped his arms around the small boy protectively, not even opening his eyes.
Both Harry and Draco were sound asleep and neither realized that Snape stood watching them for a long time that night. Harry never saw him in the dark shadows when Draco woke screaming a couple hours after lying down.
Groggily, Harry automatically sat up, pulling Draco onto his lap, murmuring soothingly to the crying boy until he was down to the occasional hiccupping sob. Harry blinked to see the handkerchief along with the glass and jug of water on the nightstand, and dazedly remembered that the house elves had moved things to the dungeons for them. Obviously they had remembered to leave these things out for Harry.
“I’ll have to thank Dobby later,” Harry muttered as he poured Draco a glass of water and helped the boy take a drink. Harry used the handkerchief to wipe down Draco’s face and looked at him closely.
He was so sleepily focused on Draco that he still didn’t see the man in the far shadows of the room watching them intently.
“Better now?” Harry asked quietly.
Draco hiccupped, then nodded slowly, but he kept his head down.
“Can you tell me about it?” Harry asked.
Draco shook his head fervently and Harry sighed. “Was it a different nightmare this time?”
Draco was silent and unmoving, tense in Harry’s arms.
He really didn’t have a clue if he was handling Draco’s nightmares very well, but he took a stab at it anyway.
“Draco, remember I said if you tell me about your nightmares, I’ll take them from you so you don’t have to worry about them anymore,” he said softly.
Harry felt the little blond head nod slowly against his chest.
“Can you tell me then?”
“It wasn’t like a memory one,” came the tiny voice answering Harry’s question.
“Just because it’s not like a memory doesn’t mean it can’t be just as scary,” Harry said softly. “I’ve had lots of nightmares that weren’t really memories.”
Wide silver eyes peeked up at Harry. “Really?”
Harry gave him a sad smile. “Really. Sometimes things scare us even when we know they aren’t really true. And especially when I was little, I had lots of nightmares. Partly because I simply didn’t know as much as I do now that I’m older. Lots of things can be scary when you’re little and don’t understand.”
“Like what?” Draco asked softly.
Harry chuckled lightly. “All right, my little Slytherin, we’ll do this your way again. I’ll tell you, but then you’ll tell me. Deal?”
Draco shuddered in Harry’s arms, but then he nodded resolutely. “Deal,” he said, albeit a little shakily.
Harry closed his eyes for a few moments trying to figure out what to tell Draco without scaring him anymore than he already was. Still he didn’t realize that Snape was watching and listening intently.
“My cousin used to pick on me a lot,” Harry began, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake by telling Draco this.
“Did he hex you?” Draco asked curiously.
