Fandom: Harry Potter
Title: Enigma
Summary: Harry is a codebreaker in the war against Voldemort. Things have changed, and Draco Malfoy is at the center of it.
Pairing: Harry/Draco, Sirius/Severus
Rating: NC17 overall
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Please don't hurt me.
Feedback: I am a junkie, feed my addiction. I especially like constructive criticism. If you can find something wrong with one of my stories, tell me so I can fix it. Just let me know anything you think.
E-mail: moriavis@hotmail.com
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Chapter 3
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Harry woke up from his nap with his scar throbbing, eyes flying open from the force of a half remembered nightmare. "Merlin, I hate you, Voldemort," Harry hissed through his teeth, rubbing his forehead. "Haven’t had a good night’s sleep since this fucking war started."
There was a knock on the door, and Sirius poked his head inside. "Harry, are you up?"
"I am now," Harry grumbled, sitting up as the pain began to fade away. "How long was I asleep?"
"Only about an hour or so. Are you ready to eat anything yet?" Sirius shot Harry a concerned look and stepped into the room, moving close enough to feel his forehead. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Not particularly." Harry shrugged, slinging his legs off his bed and slipping into his shoes. "I’ll go see the house elves about something to eat when I feel better, Sirius, okay?" He offered his godfather a wry smile. "I’m going to go down to the Museum again—after all, I need a refresher course to remember how to break these knots, having been away from the war and all."
Sirius awkwardly patted Harry’s shoulder, and then moved his hand, his eyes dark with uncertainty. "If you need me Harry, I’ll be in my quarters, all right?"
"Yeah, Padfoot. I’ve got it. I’ll see you later, okay?" Harry grinned and left his room, still shouldering into his robes. He felt awful leaving Sirius so insecure, but he needed to occupy his mind. After all, it wasn’t Sirius’ fault he wasn’t around to be a father to Harry until just before his commencement at Hogwarts. Sirius was a wonderful friend, but he couldn’t be a father. And as Harry was too important to be let loose on the field of battle, he took solace in the work he was allowed to do, even if he wasn’t necessarily the best—Hermione took that honor, of course.
He stopped at the wall hiding the Museum and spoke the password, going directly to the glass case with the Enigma talisman. He tapped his wand against the glass, speaking his name, and it slid open without a sound, leaving the contents open to his perusal. He picked up a medium-sized red leather bound book, half-heartedly flipping through the pages to look at the careful notations.
"Did you know I have Omega clearance, Potter?" Harry gasped in surprise at the sound of the voice and nearly dropped the book as he spun around to face the intruder. He hadn’t even heard the other man enter.
"What does that mean, Professor?" Harry was proud that his voice wavered only a little.
"Meaning," Snape said, moving forward from the doorway, "that I know exactly how you broke Ivy." He smirked as he gestured at the book Harry was holding. "During an Auror raid, some unlucky soul sacrificed his life to get that book. A captured copy of their Caligromancy system, paid for in blood. It gave you an idea of what they were saying. And so you broke their code." Snape stared down at Harry as he crossed his arms. "Two days ago, they changed to a new book."
"And this one became useless." Harry looked sadly at the book in his hands. This entire war was created from useless deaths.
"Why do you think they changed codes? Why do you think that they did it just then?" Snape’s eyes were intent as a vulture on Harry, and Harry shrugged, uncomfortable underneath the loathing shining from those eyes.
"I really don’t know, Severus," Harry declared.
Snape’s eyes narrowed dangerously at the sound of his name. He took a deep breath and looked over at the glass case. "And the other book? May I see it?"
Harry reached in the case and pulled the smaller book out, handing it to Snape with the smallest amount of contact he could manage.
"This is?" Snape inquired, and Harry scratched his neck.
"It’s the short signal book." Harry answered half-heartedly. If Snape really did have Omega clearance, he obviously knew that already and was just feigning ignorance to annoy Harry. "They use a group of runes to report position, course, and speed."
Snape handed the short signal book back to Harry. "Isn’t much help, is it?"
Harry took a deep breath and placed both books carefully into their container before scowling at Snape. "I don’t understand how you ever got into Central Intelligence anyway. Why don’t you just stay with your potions where you belong?"
Snape sneered, hissing into Harry’s face, "Perhaps you should have been the spy, Potter. Everyone knows that those close to you all end up dead." Snape leaned back slightly. "Perhaps you would have done us a favor and killed Voldemort for good."
Harry could see that Snape wanted him to lose control, to get angry, so instead he took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. "Perhaps I could have, Snape. Or he would have killed me. We’ll never know, will we?"
"Severus, are you tormenting poor Harry?" Hermione’s voice rang across the still air, and Snape stepped back, smoothing his robes.
"You know my habits too well, Miss Granger," Snape responded coolly.
"I must insist that you let him alone. Sirius told me he hasn’t eaten yet, so it’s up to me to make sure he does." Hermione smiled brightly and grabbed Harry’s arm.
"You shouldn’t be so concerned about him," There was a burning light in his dark eyes. "All I want to do is break him and send him back from whence he came."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Your sense of humor needs work, Severus." Harry wasn’t convinced that Snape was joking.
Hermione pulled Harry insistently from the room and hurried him around the corner of the corridor. Once she made certain Snape wasn’t following them, she shuddered. "Oh, he’s a horrid man. Brilliant, but horrid."
"Sometimes more horrid than brilliant, I think." Harry shook his head as Hermione led the way to the picture that covered the entrance to the kitchen and tickled the pear. "Hermione, I’m not really hungry."
"I don’t care. I can’t have you dropping from exhaustion and hunger the day you get back, and we have a lot of work to do. So you’re going to eat."
"Yes, Mother," Harry murmured, casting his eyes down and attempting his best martyred expression.
A smile twitched Hermione’s lips. "That is enough of that, Harry." They sat down near a table and a flurry of house elves came to their attention. Their conversation stalled as the house elves brought their meals almost too efficiently back to them, and Hermione paused a moment before continuing. "You’re looking about as well as I could expect," Hermione covered one of Harry’s hands with her own, looking up at him with concerned eyes.
A smile tilted the corner of Harry’s mouth, and he shrugged. "I suppose they didn’t terrorize me too badly. Perhaps you wanted a schedule? At 8 a.m., they woke me up, from 9 until 12:30, therapy. 12:30 to one, lunch. Then more counseling. Oh, and the obligatory ‘play nice with the rest of your mentally screwed mates, and be a good boy and don’t end up like them’ hour."
Hermione choked back a laugh. "Surely it wasn’t that bad, Harry?"
Harry grinned. "Okay, no. They didn’t make me wake up at 8."
"You’re awful," Hermione scolded, but she smiled anyway.
"So, how are you?" Harry asked, and Hermione’s expression became skeptical.
"How am I?"
Harry had the decency to blush, and cleared his throat, looking down at his plate. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed for a moment, swallowing before he continued. "All right, you’ve got me there. How is he? I haven’t seen him yet, and I just…"
Hermione’s face turned cool, and she moved her hand away from Harry’s. "He hasn’t been sleeping at home the last two nights. I’m sorry."
Harry nodded and took another bite of his sandwich. It tasted like ashes in his mouth.
~*~*~
Ron led Harry down narrow stone halls grinning in excitement. "It’s great to have you back, Harry. You have no idea how we’ve all missed you, and the guys are going to be so psyched to see you back!"
"Take a deep breath, Ron, we’re here," Harry grinned and stepped inside the room, and it exploded in a frenzy.
"Ginny told me you were here!" Neville exclaimed, hugging Harry fiercely. He pulled away quickly with a small blush, and offered the other man a smile. "I’m glad you’re back, Harry."
"I’ve missed all of you," Harry assured him, and Neville stepped to the side to allow the others their hellos.
"So you finally escaped, did you?" Seamus asked with twinkling eyes, glancing over from his desk.
"I thought this was the asylum," Harry shot back.
Dean nodded to him in greeting, and Harry nodded back. Harry took a deep breath and looked around the room and went over to his desk, which still remained in the same spot. "Ron, I want all of the codes for the past two days," he threw over his shoulder to his best friend.
Ron had them ready, and handed the folder to Harry as he sat down. "Jumping straight into the deep end, aren’t you?"
Harry nodded, flipping open the folder and looking in dismay at the physical representation of the tangled knots.
"Ivy wasn’t what made you crazy," Ron suddenly blurted out
Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I suppose you all know." He paused, and then looked earnestly at his friend. "Do you think I made a fool of myself?"
Ron patted Harry’s shoulder. "Forget about it. You’re with friends."
"I know, Ron. I know."
~*~*~
Sirius woke from his light doze to the feel of Severus’ skillful hands kneading his sore neck muscles, and he sighed agreeably. "I finished your list," Sirius mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He silently cursed the importance of this list as Severus’ hands left him to lift the note as he read.
"Several odd names. Shall I choose one? Hmm…" Severus put the list down and returned his hands to Sirius. "Tell me about Weasley."
"But you already know—" Sirius began irritably.
Severus leaned closer, and smirked slightly as Sirius shivered. "Humor me," he purred.
"Well," Sirius swallowed. "You know that Arthur vanished in one of the earliest Ministry abductions, and his brothers, Bill and George Weasley, have been missing since the second year of the war. Charlie Weasley was disabled after being badly burned by the dragons he was looking after. Ron’s wages, as well as Ginny’s, supplement the income from Molly’s widow stipend."
"And Finnigan?" Severus continued, stroking his fingers through Sirius’ dark hair.
"He sleeps with a picture of Olympe Hagrid under his pillow." Sirius craned his head back slightly and grinned at Severus’ sour expression. "That’s how he shows support for the Giant Treaty, Sev."
"I’m sure," Severus drawled. "Thomas--"
"Hasn’t spoken a word since Lavender Brown killed herself," Sirius finished.
"And of course, there’s Potter." The quality of Severus’ voice was smooth, and Sirius stiffened.
"Harry’s not the one you’re looking for, Sev." Sirius declared.
"Shouldn’t everyone be a suspect, Sirius?" Severus asked. "Even you and I?"
Sirius shook his head stubbornly. "Harry didn’t do it."
Severus removed his hands from Sirius’ shoulders, and sat on the edge of their bed, musing thoughtfully. "Lost his mind over… some boy."
Sirius bolted out of his chair and stalked towards Severus. "We pulled him straight out of Auror Academy, Severus," Sirius bristled. "He had a nervous breakdown. We sent him to St. Mungo’s to get better. That’s all there is to it!"
Severus looked calmly up at Sirius and clasped his hands together. "That’s never all there is to it."
"You and Harry have always hated each other," Sirius murmured, taking a deep breath. "I’ve tried to find a compromise. I’ve tried keeping you two as far away as possible from each other. I’m trying to keep both of you in my life. But I swear to Mordred, Severus Snape, if you say one more thing against my godson--" Sirius snarled incoherently, anger shining from the depths of his eyes. "—I cannot be held responsible for what I might do."
"If it soothes your oft-troubled mind, Sirius, I am not accusing… Harry… of anything," Severus said, face twisting in distaste as he said Harry’s name. "I am merely stating all of the possibilities for my own peace of mind. If I am to discover the truth, then I need to consider everything."
Sirius turned back to his desk, clenching his hands as he tried to rein in his temper. He gave a brief nod, and heard Severus sigh behind him. "We should go to bed now, Sirius. Tomorrow waits for no man."
That’s never all there is to it.
Sirius picked up his wand. "Nox."
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