It was 7:46am when Harry finally finished his tea. It was still hot, and was a normal black tea without a hint of anything floral or herbal.
Occlumency was a fascinating art, as he could've sworn he was in his graveyard for at least an hour if not more, and yet not much time at all had actually passed.
He finished the last of his tea and winced, the inside of his lip had been bitten nearly clean through and the hot liquid burned it unpleasantly. He got over it though.
He munched on a piece of toast despite not feeling hungry, but having a headache from lack of food later today would be annoying.
The clock clicked to 8:00 on the dot, when a soft pop to his right caught his attention. Turel smiled at him with a little bow, but noticeably out of his personal space.
"The Master says you'll be leavings in ten minutes or so, Mister Potters sirs," She informed him gently. Politely and gently, and he could tell from her posture she was about to pop back out of existence as soon as he nodded.
He was reminded of a lifetime when he also did his very best to pretend his footsteps made no noise, and that he barely took up any space in a place he knew he was inherently unwelcome.
His own hypocrisy was… telling.
"…Turel?"
"Yes sir?" She perked up, big eyes eager at the prospect he was actually talking to her, and way too kindly for how he'd been treating her since they'd met.
The scales had realigned after all.
"I know I wasn't nice to you before… not really now either. I'm sorry." He apologized to her, far overdue he was sure.
"Oh it's alrights Mr. Potters sir! Turel is not minding it at all, Mr. Potters has a lots on his mind I thinks," She assured him, and yeah… he got the feeling she was being completely genuine. Which made him an even worse person for how he'd been acting, he knew.
Nothing to be done about that now, he'd just correct the behavior moving forward.
"You're really nice. I'm sorry for being… not that nice back." He offered her a small smile and she gave a toothy grin of happiness back.
"Don't mind it at all Mr. Potters, I'm just happys you are talking once again!"
He could only nod his agreement, though the root of the problem was still out there. There wasn't a point in leaving it unaddressed anymore.
"…does an elf named Dobby work here?"
Her ears went back immediately, but answered dutifully. "Yes sirs. Dobby does."
He couldn't help but give a small smile at the reaction.
"Not a big fan?"
"House elves serve their families and ares happys to do it sirs! Turel has never mets an elf like Dobby before. He's different sirs," She winced a bit, and he found a comfort that they seemed to be on the same page about a shared… foe? That was probably the wrong word. Dobby was at least someone they had a shared distaste of, which was a bit of a relief. He wasn't crazy, and Dobby was weird, even to other elves.
"He talked to me once. Draco sent him." He recalled, "I haven't seen him since."
Turel twisted her hands in front of her but ducked her ears politely.
"If I may, Mr. Potters… the Master and the Lady noticed the blood on his towels after speakings with yous, and Master found out laters he'd done something to the Hogwarts trains platform even! Dobby hasn't been able to leaves his room since, and the Lady told him nevers to talk to you." She confessed, almost guiltily. "If you wanted to I could asks the Lady though?"
"No." His response was immediate, automatic even—and he could tell Turel got the message by how she bowed her agreement of the request reassuringly.
The scales had shifted. Things that didn't matter were tossed aside.
People who had proved themselves enemies, or at least hindrances, were not and never would be forgotten though.
He gave the elf before him though a once over, as Turel had never been anything but nice and helpful to him. Despite being loyal to the Malfoy family above all, she was still as open and honest with him as any one of his friends. More even, since she had this obligation to serve of sorts and had even been concerned he wasn't going to eat his breakfast tray. Only Draco and Neville had ever given him looks of concern if he wasn't eating.
And unlike Dobby's ratty old cloth, her little dress was clearly an old tea towel but made of pitch black, soft cotton with a beautiful crest representing the family she served dead center on her tiny torso. The edges even had this frilly lace done in neat pleats.
"… Draco said that giving an elf clothes would dismiss them. That's why you wear towels? Although yours…" He asked, and she beamed up at him—holding out the edges of her skirt to show off her outfit eagerly.
"I'm happys workings for the Malfoy family! Turel takes great prides in it! I made this myself sinces its easy and such—all elves know magics for darning and things! The Lady embroiders cloth that we're permitted to use if we'd like and all elves of the manor do," She explained.
"Except Dobby."
She froze for a beat, then winced. "Yes sirs,"
"He's not exactly happy to serve, is he."
"…Turel doesn't thinks so, Mister Potters, no." She confessed gravely. "A free elf knows things though which is why families with secrets don't go easily dismissin' their elves. I know the Lady thoughts of it when she sees the blood but it's not something to be doin so easily."
Dobby hadn't wanted him to go to Hogwarts, that much had been obvious. First with the shed, then even the platform it sounded like? He hadn't suspected at the time but clearly the platform being 'broken' for the first time ever in Hogwarts' history was something the head of the school board had looked into, and when Mr. Malfoy found out it was his own elf that had done it Harry was sure it hadn't gone well. That Dobby was willing to risk his own master's wrath meant he really hadn't wanted Harry to go though, which was…
Concerning.
He'd deal with this later though, this entire conversation was a nice distraction before the chaos the day, but that's all it was. Dobby was locked up somewhere by Mrs. Malfoy and he didn't really have the position to ask her to let him out, much less the mind to.
"You're happy here though?" He felt the need to ask, and she nodded firmly.
"Very happys sir!" She puffed her chest out proudly. "Turel is prouds to be Lady Malfoy's favorite elf!"
And well, that was enough for him.
He offered a small, polite smile. "You should add cap sleeves to the towel. There has to be bits of green fabric somewhere around here you could use, and it'd be less outdated than the lace." He suggested.
Turel blinked wide eyes up at him, then beamed like the sun was rising twice this morning.
"Yes sirs! Turel is excited to try something new!"
000
He would not break apart just because he was on his own again.
It was just a dream, after all, the idea that he'd be just as excited to go home for the holidays as his classmates, like Dean or Seamus or Susan or Lu or…
That one Christmas he got was honestly probably more than he deserved, given how he lied and used people and worse. It was only going to get worse from here on out, he knew, going by how this world apparently worked. It wasn't going to stop, so neither was he.
Let the winds howl and buffet against him, he was once again stone as he left the guest room he'd been given to follow Turel to the main entrance of Malfoy Manor.
In the back of his head he was plotting on the very violent demise of several aurors, and the thoughts gave him peace. He knew he would feel not a drop of remorse to hear them scream one day, nor did he care what that said about him anymore. Mr. Salt-and-Pepper even had a family, with kids probably younger than him even since he didn't know anyone at Hogwarts with the last name Fisher yet, but they were just going to have to be without their father someday. He knew how it felt after all, and they'd live.
Just like he'd live, no matter what it took.
But the darker thoughts were the reason it was all the more important that when he could be kind, he chose to. The house elves, Turel, even Dobby wherever he was—those were not the battles to fall in, not when he had something much bigger ahead of him.
Even Mrs. Malfoy.
He wasn't strictly comfortable around her but honestly she'd done nothing but help so far, which meant she wasn't an outright enemy or threat. She wasn't an auror and clearly neither she nor her husband were friendly with any of them for obvious reasons, so on paper they were actually good allies to have.
That had always been true he supposed, but in the dawning light of this particular morning, Harry felt his priorities getting a sharp realignment and abruptly couldn't give a shit about if Narcissa Malfoy wanted him to have family dinner at some point in the future. Sure, whatever, he'd was sure Turel's cooking was fantastic and he'd have Draco with him so he no longer cared about if they did or did not eat a meal together ever again.
Again, it wasn't important.
Anything useful he'd ever been able to do had taken a lot of planning, and time. Which meant he needed to check his impatience and face today first, then plan what happens next later. By tonight even, he'd at least know if he was going to get to spend the summer holidays with Sirius or if he'd need to unearth one of his many contingency plans. There was nothing he could do about Moony right now, and any planning he did do would inevitably be ruined by whatever happened in the trial today. Who knew what was going to happen after all, he'd traded his name—potentially his life even—to Sebastian Greengrass to make this happen but clearly he didn't know all the details.
Because this was an adult's game and he was a kid. A clever, rich kid who'd done a lot already… but there was a lot more to the world out there that he wasn't ready for, things he couldn't handle and acting like he could just pray for the best and things would work out okay was naïve to the point of lunacy.
Which is why it was more important than ever that he keep it together, and pay attention.
"Good morning, Harry." Narcissa stood primly by the large, ornate fireplace the Malfoys used as their official entrance, since floo seemed to be the main form of transportation in and out of this place. He figure she and Mr. Malfoy could apparate in, but wards prevented anyone else from doing so like they did at Hogwarts.
"Mrs. Malfoy." He greeted as politely as he could.
He didn't mention anything that happened last night or anything else. Whether they noticed (he figured they did) or cared (he figured they didn't) he offered no further information to things to discuss.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Was Lupin able to explain the trial situation to you?" She asked.
No, he hadn't.
Remus had figured out that Harry had known probably too much and decided to pretend everything was fine, at least for a little while. Lady Malfoy had never looked down on him like she was now, to not realize how informed he actually was. Which, was kind of a nice change of pace—for once he knew a little bit more about the situation than the adult Slytherins around him.
Not that he was going to key her into that.
He nodded once. "He believes Sirius is innocent."
"So do I." She gave him an equally blank smile. "Do you?"
"I guess. Remus told me some stories about him but I've never met him to know." He deflected.
"Well, you can decide for yourself at the trial today. As discussed, Lucius will be taking you so if you have any questions about how the trial works, ask him."
"Right," He agreed but only half meant it. He'd only risk it if it were strictly necessary and he suspected there was a large piece of information he was missing. Hopefully that would not be necessary as he was uninterested in acting like the twelve-year-old he was that was pestering his chaperone with stupid questions.
"There is no need to be uneasy. In matters as important as this, most of the determination has already been done before the trial even starts—it's only a matter of making things public record and having an official ministry decree of innocence. There will likely be people yelling at each other but it's all a show you needn't worry about too much." She assured him, almost kindly. Actually, probably genuinely kindly, he just didn't believe she actually meant it at all.
"If things have already been decided, then you know he's innocent? And that's for sure how it'll go?" He couldn't help but ask of her, warily.
"I do." Lucius answered for her as he came up from the side, adjusting a rich black cloak around his shoulders and dusting himself off of any non-existent dust, clearly ready to go as promised. "If nothing else, I was informed that Edith Valencia will be Black's counsel, and you may not be familiar with her but I assure you she's a formidable woman to be up against. Whatever solicitor the Ministry hired will no doubt be a bit lacking in comparison to someone like her, so Black is in good hands."
Oh, that's… good?
"Is she… a Slytherin? Or a Ravenclaw?"
"Neither. I believe she went to school abroad." Mr. Malfoy sniffed, as if the idea was distasteful to him. "I haven't seen her in nearly five years honestly, she normally works in international law and finds things like this quite tedious, so clearly this caught her interest." He pulled out a gleaming silver pocket watch to lazily check the time. "Which will be good, as the counsel for the Ministry is predictably weak. It's Donald Reeds, dear."
He spoke that last part mainly to his wife, who smiled enough to show teeth and it sent a shiver up Harry's spine.
Harry wondered if there were any good lawyers left on Ministry payroll without the snakes, as obviously they wouldn't work for the government and he could only assume any Ravenclaws that became lawyers would be far more honest and fact-driven than the sorts Fudge or Dumbledore wanted repeating their rhetoric. Actually, Harry doubted even a Hufflepuff would, as their sense of justice was far too strong and they weren't nearly as loyal to Dumbledore as Gryffindors were. They'd have to be a rather gullible one he supposed… but a gullible lawyer didn't seem like a good one.
He really doubted Gryffindors would even be lawyers in the first place. There was too much reading associated with the job, and you needed to keep a cool head in court which was unlikely in most lion scenarios.
I take that back, Hermione would be a great lawyer probably. I'd pay good money to see someone try and win an argument against her.
"And this Reeds guy is… not good?" He wondered aloud cautiously, hyper aware he was already breaking his silent wish not to ask too many questions.
"Mediocre, at best." Lucius drawled.
"He's got a decent reputation, admittedly. Ms. Valencia will have no issues with him though." Mrs. Malfoy assured him without further detail. Harry knew there was probably a lot more to it but as it was the first time he was hearing these names and had no idea what reputations, strengths, or weaknesses either of them had, he'd just have to let it go for now.
"We best be off then." Lucius announced, and Narcissa folded her hands in front of her serenely.
"Do enjoy. I'll expect you both for dinner." She bid them farewell with much further ado.
While it was nice she seemed to have so much confidence in how the day was going to go that she was making dinner plans, Harry also couldn't shake the feeling that the invitation was also somehow a threat.