Harry Potter The Long Lost Malfoy

Mrs. Malfoy would have scolded him for sounding ungracious. Hermione just gave him a smile. "The way you talk about them, it's as if you don't really belong here. You say 'the Malfoys.' You don't call them Mother and Father, and you don't talk about yourself like you're a Malfoy. I think part of the problem is that they think they're losing you, you're slipping away, because you don't seem to acknowledge that you're part of a family."

"I don't want to be part of a family that tortures people!"

"I can't blame you. But you weren't talking like you were part of them even before that, were you? You were calling them Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy in your letters to us, and in your head, I'm sure, even if you don't do it to their faces."

Harry swallowed as he thought about the Malfoys learning that through the spying spells. But he shook off the fear. Healer Letham said they were his family and wouldn't abandon him. That meant it was all right if they found out.

"I think," Hermione went on in an even lower tone, "that they think they might already have lost you, because you're drifting away from them. And they might lose you if Black kidnapped you again. So it's hard for them to relax or let you out of their sight, because they're worried about what you're going to do. Maybe they'll turn around and you'll be gone."

"Then they shouldn't torture people," Harry muttered, but he was thinking about it. Healer Letham had said some similar things, but not so bluntly as Hermione. And Harry was used to listening to Hermione, at least thinking about what she said when she said it.

"I think Hermione's right, mate." Ron had a biscuit of his own and was sipping hot chocolate, but he took the time to look at Harry over the rim of the mug in a way that was very familiar. This was Ron's serious expression, the one he'd had when they were searching for the Philosopher's Stone their first year. "They're trying to overprotect you because they assume that you want to disappear. You want to be gone. And when you show that you don't want to be protected by people who torture kidnappers…" He shook his head. "It just makes it worse."

"But that's still true," Harry said, and straightened his shoulders. "I still don't want to be protected by people who torture kidnappers."

Hermione tapped her fingers on the edge of a silver plate. Harry didn't know if it was Dobby who had chosen the ridiculous, extravagant things, or if it was just that there weren't any plates in Malfoy Manor that weren't like that. "Then you need to tell them that. Tell them that you can't stand seeing them torture people."

"They acted like it was justified."

"Well, then go back and argue with them about it again." Hermione smiled a little. "You said in your letter that you wanted to see us and you wouldn't be happy until you did. And I bet you said that to them, too, right?"

Harry squirmed in place, especially knowing that Mrs. Malfoy and Mr. Malfoy were probably watching this conversation. Or one of them, anyway. "Um, yeah, I did."

"They'll do anything to keep you happy. That has to include not being violent. If they really mean it—if they value you more than they do the chance to torture Sirius Black—then they'll do it."

"But just keep in mind that it's going to be hard for them," Ron butted in. "I meant what I said about how my mum would go mental if one of us was hurt, Harry. If Black shows up again, then I don't know how they'll react."

"They don't need to hurt him like that. No one deserves to be hurt like that."

"What if they think they were hurt like that when Black took you away as a baby?"

Harry winced, but lifted his chin. "That still doesn't mean that the right thing to do is to try and spread the pain around. The Dursleys thought like that. Dudley and Vernon took it out ln me when they were angry. They shouldn't think like that. Not if they're really my family."

"Tell them that," Hermione advised him. "See what they say."

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