FIC: All the Answers - Chapter 8
Title: All the Answers
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 4500
Disclaimer: It's not mine. Really. J.K. Rowling's the brilliant mind behind HP.
Notes: Post-HBP, so yes, SPOILERS! Many, many thanks to my lovely betas, smutella and impish_nymph! Ladies, you're both fantastic!
Summary: Since when has conquering evil ever been easy?
--> All chapters can be found here. <--
previous chapter
~~Chapter 8~~
Harry clenched his hand around his wand, just as Hermione’s hand tightened around the fistful of Harry’s robe she was still grasping. He was just about to move out into the open when Narcissa lunged forward instead.
“NO!!” she yelled, moving faster than Harry would have thought she’d be able to. She grabbed at Greyback’s arm and tried to pull him off.
It didn’t work.
“CRUCIO!” Bellatrix screeched, and Harry knew instantly that the spell was more powerful than it had been before.
Narcissa screamed. She screamed unlike anything Harry had ever heard before, and it jolted through him, filling him with ice. Narcissa collapsed to the ground, writhing, still screaming, her face twisted with pain and tears streaming from her eyes. Draco went limp in Greyback’s hold, staring helplessly, and the desperate look on his face was what finally kicked Harry into action.
“EXPELLIARMUS!” Harry bellowed, ripping away from Hermione and springing out from behind the cabinet.
“Harry, no!” Hermione hissed behind him, but she was ignored.
Bellatrix’s wand was arching through the air towards him. He reached out to catch it, but-
“Accio,” Greyback rasped calmly, before Harry had realized what had happened. The wand slapped against the werewolf’s outstretched hand. Greyback still had his other hand wrapped around Draco’s bicep, but the boy was on his knees on the ground, frozen in shock as he stared at Harry, one arm still reaching for his mother.
“Well, well,” Bellatrix said lightly, stepping over her sister so she could accept her wand back from Greyback. “I have to say, this is unexpected. Hang on…” She peered at them. Harry knew they had to be hard to see, because they still had the Disillusionment Charms on. “I’m told there are usually three of you who actively go looking for ways to cause problems. You seem to be missing someone.”
“Congratulations,” Harry said, holding his wand out in front of him. “You can count.”
“Ooohh, look at wee little Potty! Cracking jokes now, are we?” She narrowed her eyes. “You meddlesome little brat.”
“Can I have them, too?” Greyback asked as he hauled Draco to his feet. “They’re the same age as this one here.”
“Steady on, Fenrir!” Bellatrix said lightly. “That’s Harry Potter, remember. The Dark Lord wants him for himself. But if I’m not mistaken, the girl’s a Mudblood. You can do what you want with her.”
Greyback licked his lips. “Excellent,” he murmured. Harry felt Hermione shudder behind him.
“Potter,” Draco suddenly croaked, and Harry really wished he hadn’t. Bellatrix glanced keenly back and forth between them, and suddenly she smirked.
“Oh, Draco,” she said, shaking her head. “Draco, Draco, Draco. My dear nephew. Tell me you’re not asking him for help.” Bellatrix turned to Harry, taking a step toward him. “Tell me, Harry Potter, what is it about you that makes people so eager to join your fight? You have so many people looking out for you, do you know that? I’m not sure you’re really aware of the effort your side has exuded to protect you. You, a sixteen-year-old child.”
“I’m seventeen,” Harry said tightly, accidentally repeating what Draco had said earlier.
Bellatrix arched her eyebrows. “Oh, are you? Well, that just makes you all grown up now, doesn’t it? You’re able to do magic and everything.” She leered at him. “How…exciting.” She paused for a moment, taking another step closer. “So, Harry. What brings you to my sister’s humble abode at this late hour? Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“If you think I’m telling you, then you’re madder than I thought!” Harry spat, raising his wand.
“Manners, Harry,” Bellatrix cooed, and with a flick of her wand Harry’s mouth abruptly filled with the unmistakable taste of soap. He gagged, bubbles frothing at his mouth, and was eternally grateful when he felt Hermione’s wand hand twitch a bit, no doubt casting a nonverbal Finite spell.
Harry spat at Bellatrix’s feet, trying to remove the awful taste from his mouth. She snickered at him.
“I think dear Sirius would be disappointed with how rude you’ve become.”
“Really?” Harry raised an eyebrow. “I think he’d be downright proud.” He cast a quick look at Narcissa, suddenly noticing that she’d been oddly silent and still ever since Harry had intervened. “You know,” he said, looking back up at Bellatrix, “you seem to have a bad habit of attacking your own relatives.”
“Hmm.” Bellatrix nudged Narcissa with her foot, grinning when Narcissa moaned. “I do believe you’re right, ickle Potty. There’s just something about that moment when you have complete power over someone else that I find so…gratifying. It’s only better when it’s someone you personally know. I like watching them break,” she said in a disturbingly frank tone. Her eyes looked a bit wild; there was a fire burning in them that only blazed brighter with each word she spoke. “I like seeing the shock at being betrayed overcome them. I love watching them fall. It’s…so very empowering, that brief, split second when they finally crack.” Her lips curled slowly upward into a sadistic grin and she lifted her chin, making it seem like she was able to stare down at Harry when in reality Harry was taller. “Have you managed to experience that moment yet, Potter? I remember it didn’t work so well the last time you tried.”
Harry saw Draco’s eyes go wide out of the corner of his eye, and he felt Hermione tense behind him, but he didn’t answer.
Narcissa groaned again at that moment, rolling over and pushing herself to her knees. She looked at Harry. “Harry Potter,” she murmured, wincing as she rose to her feet. She fell back against the wall behind her to brace herself. “I cannot…even begin to fathom…how you ended up in my home,” she continued slowly, panting with the effort to stay on her feet. She had a familiar look on her face, like she was concentrating hard on something, and Harry suddenly recognized it as the look Dobby had had earlier when he was trying to dismantle the wards.
“Yes, it is a mystery, isn’t it?” Bellatrix said, scratching idly beneath her chin with her wand.
Narcissa blinked suddenly, looking a great deal more alert.
And that was when Ron appeared.
Harry only knew he had showed up because Bellatrix had focused on something over his shoulder, and he heard frantic whispering going on behind him.
“Ah, there’s the third one!” Bellatrix said, smiling tightly. “Now that we’re all here-”
“Harry, he found it!” Hermione whispered anxiously into his ear. “He found it, so let’s go! We need to get out of here.”
“-I think it’s time for some answers!”
Harry nodded, backing slowly towards the door. Not that he thought Bellatrix wouldn’t notice, but he just needed a few seconds… “Apparate outside,” he murmured out of the corner of his mouth, turning his head just slightly toward Hermione. “You’ll know when to. Get Dobby and go. Don’t wait for me, I’ll go straight back to Grimmauld Place.”
There was a pause, and then, “You’d better, Harry, or I swear to God-”
“You know,” Harry cut her off loudly, meeting Narcissa’s gaze across the room and holding it, “I don’t think we really want to tell you anything.”
Bellatrix barked out a laugh, and leveled her wand on Harry. Her voice was cold when she spoke. “You don’t really have a choice, Potter.” Harry stared at Narcissa, desperately hoping that she could see him through the charm, that she somehow understood…
He knew immediately that she did when her eyes slid briefly to Draco and then back again, her eyebrows rising inquiringly.
And just when Harry was about to nod, he had a sudden moment of indecision; it couldn’t have lasted more than a second, really, but it happened all the same. Did he really want to take Draco back with him again? What good had it done last time? It looked like he hadn’t gone back to Voldemort, but what if he was planning to?
Flashes of images sped through his mind, fast and blurred together as Harry’s resolve tiptoed along the thin line of uncertainty.
Their first proper meeting on the train. Malfoy, young and hopeful and so obnoxious, holding out his hand with every confidence that his greeting would be returned.
Malfoy on Crabbe’s shoulders, pretending to be a dementor.
In fifth year when he’d joined the Inquisitorial Squad, smirking and proud and even more obnoxious, handing Harry over to Umbridge.
Malfoy on the tower, wand out in front of him, hand shaking, lowering…
Just this past summer, when he’d been stumbling along behind Hagrid, clothes torn and bloodied, hair a mess, and far too skinny.
The two weeks after that he’d spent hogging Harry’s bed, looking more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him before, his near-permanent sneer finally wiped away in sleep.
Lying in a pool of his own blood, pale and scrabbling at his chest, and later the thin, upraised scar on Draco’s chest.
Laughing on a broomstick, the wind pushing his hair back from his face and looking carefree for once.
The multiple times Harry had caught him running a finger along the edge of his Dark Mark when he hadn’t known Harry was watching, looking utterly miserable.
Draco lowering his wand…
Blinking, Harry stared at Narcissa, and before he could change his mind, he nodded, just once, a quick jerk of his head more than anything. But she saw it.
Bellatrix opened her mouth. “Petri-”
“SOLARIUS!” Harry yelled before she could finish. He squeezed his eyes shut as a blinding white light filled the room. Bellatrix screamed, Greyback cursed, and there were three quick cracks as people Apparated from the room.
“Finite!” Bellatrix screeched with a vicious slash of her wand. The blinding brightness in the room abruptly faded, and once she was able to see again, she cursed. “Fuck!” Bellatrix spat, looking around wildly. “They’re gone, all three of them! Doesn’t this fucking place have anti-Apparation wards on it?!”
“Mum,” Draco moaned, staring across the room. Greyback hadn’t let go of his arm.
Bellatrix spun on her heel and stared at the empty space where her sister had previously been standing. “That sneaky little bitch,” she murmured, eyes wide. She turned back to Draco. “And here I thought she’d do anything for you!”
“Apparently not,” Greyback rasped, chuckling. “She up and left him to us.” He ran his fingers down Draco’s face again, and the boy shuddered. “We’ll have fun together. No worries.” He grinned, showing off his pointed teeth.
Draco trembled again, the look on his face one of someone who had just been utterly betrayed. His eyes were wide and dismayed, his face was pale, his mouth hung open in shock… It was like he’d been sucker-punched in the gut by his own father.
It almost made Harry want to throw off his Invisibility Cloak right there so that Draco would know he hadn’t been left behind.
“We still need to find that bloody book,” Bellatrix groused, pacing the length of the room. “I suppose now we’ll just have to do it ourselves.” She paused in front of Draco, smiling sweetly at him. “And I’m sure my dear nephew will be glad to help us!”
Greyback growled. “Does that mean I can’t have my way with him yet?” he grumbled.
Bellatrix shot him a glare. “Absolutely not,” she snapped, resuming her pacing. “If you think I’m going to search this whole fucking manor on my own - damn the Malfoys for being so wealthy!”
Harry crept across the room, being careful not to bump anything. He knew he probably only had another minute at most to make this work. Dobby would be putting the wards back up soon.
Praying to all things holy that Draco wouldn’t make a big scene, Harry simultaneously grabbed the boy’s free arm and jabbed his wand in Greyback’s direction, muttering a quick, “Stupefy,” under his breath. Draco jumped at the sudden touch, yelping a bit, just as Greyback hit the ground with a loud thud.
Bellatrix turned, a questioning look on her face as she murmured, “Fenrir?”
Harry felt as if things were moving in slow motion. He saw Bellatrix’s eyes widen, he saw her wand come up. Her mouth opened, but before she could say anything Harry quickly wrapped his other arm around Draco’s waist, and, hoping that the wards were still down, he spun.
* * *
They reappeared just as the sun was beginning to show over the horizon on the hilltop beside Ron’s house, because Harry remembered at the last possible second that Draco wouldn’t be able to get into Grimmauld Place. As soon as they landed Draco tried to jerk away from Harry as fast as he could, but Harry held on tight. His cloak slipped from his shoulders, pooling at his feet.
“What - what the bloody hell-?!”
“Calm down, you’re alright-”
“No!” Draco grunted. “Let go of me!” He got one arm free and started clawing at Harry’s hand on his other arm.
“Malfoy!” Harry said loudly, attempting to grab hold of Draco’s wrist. “Malfoy - stop - Malfoy, it’s me!”
“Let - go - of - me!” Draco growled, struggling against Harry’s grip. Harry let out a frustrated breath and with his free hand waved his wand above his head. He could feel the warmth trickling over him, signifying the Disillusionment Charm’s reversal, and he quickly stowed his wand away so he could grab Draco more easily.
“Stop it - Malfoy - look at me!” He managed to get hold of Draco’s shoulders, shaking him a bit, and finally Draco stopped fighting.
“Potter?” he breathed, staring at him wide-eyed. “That - that was you? But I…I thought you - you complete jerk!” he suddenly exploded. He lunged forward, fists out in front of him, and Harry unexpectedly found himself trying to fend off an enraged Draco Malfoy who was doing his best to beat the hell out of Harry’s chest. “You prat! You complete and utter pillock!” Draco yelled, fists moving wildly. “You’re such an arsehole! You - you - I can’t believe you…” Draco gradually slowed down, though Harry could see that he was shaking. Then, rather abruptly, Draco just stopped altogether and went limp. He fell forward against Harry, resting his forehead against the boy’s collar, and Harry felt his stomach do an odd sort of flip.
Draco wasn’t about to start crying, was he?
“Malfoy-”
“I thought you’d left,” Draco moaned, his hands curling into the material of Harry’s robe and holding on tight. “I looked up and - and even my mother was gone and I thought you all had left me to that werewolf. I thought - I thought, ‘he couldn’t possibly hate me that much! He wouldn’t just leave me here!’ But you did and - and I thought I was going to die!”
Harry’s heart was pounding against his ribs, and he swallowed awkwardly. “I…I didn’t leave you, Malfoy,” he said, wrapping an arm uncertainly around Draco’s trembling shoulders. “I did have a plan. Sort of.”
“Stuff your plans! I was… That was…” Draco looked up, still breathing quickly, but his eyes were surprisingly dry. “Don’t ever do that to me again!”
Harry blinked. “Er…I won’t?”
“Promise me!”
“Um…I promise, Malfoy…”
Draco nodded. “Good,” he said, rubbing at his eyes. He released a shuddering breath. “I don’t suppose my mother is here…is she?”
“Er…no. I’m not sure where she went,” Harry admitted.
“No, you wouldn’t. We were going to leave the country,” Draco said absently, finally breaking away from Harry. He stumbled on the first step he took, and Harry quickly grabbed hold of Draco’s arm to keep him from falling.
“Steady on,” he murmured, but Draco scowled and immediately shook him off.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “I’m fine, just - a little shocked, I guess.” He made his way to a large boulder some ways away, collapsing down onto it, and Harry followed, slowly sitting down beside him.
“You were going to leave the country?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Draco said, nodding. “We were only at the manor for a couple of days, getting our stuff together and all that.”
“Are you... Your mother… Did you want to try and find her?”
Draco paused for a moment, and then shook his head. “No… No, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was already in France by now.” He glanced at Harry. “Guess you’re stuck with me.”
Harry didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, so he decided to just remain silent.
“Hey, how’d you get into the manor in the first place?” Draco asked, casting a look around the hilltop they were on. “And where are Weasley and Granger?”
Harry’s eyes went wide. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed. “Bloody hell, I completely forgot!” He jumped up, spinning around to face Draco. “Look, Malfoy, wait right here, okay? I need to go get them. I’ll be right back, I swear!”
Draco blinked, his brow furrowing, but he nodded. Harry didn’t bother waiting for a verbal confirmation, and he quickly Apparated to Grimmauld Place.
Ron and Hermione were going to kill him.
* * *
Grimmauld Place was in absolute chaos - that was the first thing Harry noticed when he crept into the foyer. He winced when he heard Mrs. Black’s portrait screaming about blood traitors and Mudbloods, and over that he could hear his friends yelling at each other and Dobby wailing about something or other.
Taking a deep breath, Harry slowly made his way to the drawing room, trying to make out what his friends were saying.
“Ron, we have to go back for him! He should have been back by now - oh, this is bad. This is so, so bad!”
“Dobby is a bad elf!! He is failing Harry Potter! He is not getting out before Dobby replaced the wards!!”
“I’m sure he’s fine, Hermione, we just need to stay calm - no, Dobby, you don’t need to punish yourself!”
“But Dobby is leaving Harry Potter with the bad people!”
“See?! Even Dobby understands the danger Harry’s in!”
“You can’t Apparate back anyway, Dobby put the wards back up, remember?”
“We’ll have to find another way in, then!”
“Look, Harry knows what he’s doing. If he’s not back in another ten minutes then we can go looking for him, but until then I say we - put down the vase, Dobby!”
“Dobby must be punishing himself!”
“You don’t need to punish yourself, Dobby,” Harry spoke up from where he was standing awkwardly in the doorway. “I got out just fine.”
Ron gestured at Harry and arched his eyebrows at Hermione in an I-told-you-so sort of way, but it went completely unnoticed as Hermione all but threw herself at Harry.
“Harry!” she cried, and he had to catch himself from toppling over backwards when she threw her arms around his shoulders. “Oh, thank God! I thought we’d just allowed you to get captured or something!”
“Nah, I’m alright,” Harry said around a face full of her bushy hair. He stumbled a bit again when Dobby ran forward and clung to his legs.
“Harry Potter is okay!” the elf wailed, sobbing into his trousers. “Dobby is so relieved!”
“I tried to tell them, Harry,” Ron said, amused. He walked over and clapped Harry on the shoulder, and Harry eyes were immediately drawn to the locket dangling around his neck. “Knew you’d be alright.”
“At least someone has faith in me.” He tipped his head toward Ron’s neck. “So you really did get it, then?”
“Get - oh! This.” Ron lifted it over his head and handed it to Harry. “I reckon that’s the right locket, yeah?” He shivered a bit. “It’s got a…creepy feel to it.”
“I hope so…” Harry peered at it. It certainly looked like the right one. It had Slytherin’s ornate ‘S’ on it and everything, and it was definitely the one that they had tried to throw away two summers ago. “Where was it?” It seemed to pulse slightly in his hand. Creepy indeed.
Ron snorted. “In her jewelry box, mate. Don’t know what Kreacher was thinking, putting it there. Of course, it was rather large. More like a small jewelry wardrobe, actually. Guess that’s why Malfoy’s mum never noticed it.”
“Guess so,” Harry said, chuckling a bit, but he stopped abruptly when Hermione finally pulled away from him and then promptly smacked him upside the back of his head. “Ow! Bloody hell, Hermione!”
“You deserved it!” she snapped. “Harry James Potter, I cannot believe you! What on Earth were you doing that took so long?”
Harry blinked, still rubbing the back of his head, and tucked the locket into one of his pockets. “Oh. Right. I think we’re going to have to go back to the Burrow for a bit, Ron.”
“Why’s that?” Ron asked.
“Er…” Harry shifted uncomfortably, reaching down to pry Dobby off his legs. “Because Malfoy isn’t going to be able to get into Grimmauld Place,” he mumbled. They heard him anyway.
“…Malfoy?” Ron repeated. “Oh, Harry, you didn’t…”
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out an exasperated breath. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Well, I couldn’t just leave him there!” Harry exclaimed. “He was about to get bitten by a werewolf, you know!”
“Nothing he wouldn’t deserve,” Ron muttered, while Hermione stared at Harry incredulously.
“Yes, a werewolf, Harry!” she exclaimed. “Not a vampire! It’s not like he was going to become a werewolf himself just from that - there’s no full moon tonight! I can’t believe you risked yourself to save him-”
“Oh, so I guess I should have just let him get mauled then, yeah?” Harry snapped, cutting Hermione off. She visibly faltered, and Harry continued, “Nice, Hermione. Real nice.”
Hermione at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed of herself, but she crossed her arms stubbornly and didn’t take back anything she’d said.
There was a moment of awkward silence between them, before Ron sighed heavily. “Alright, the Burrow it is, then. Shall I get our trunks?”
* * *
Mrs. Weasley was more than happy to have them back in her home again, though she looked a bit bewildered to see them all trudging in so early in the morning. Her eyes lingered on Draco, but if she was surprised that he was with them again she hid it well. Exhausted from the night’s events, the four of them didn’t even bother stopping for food, and instead headed straight to bed. They reverted back to the sleeping arrangements they’d had before, Harry and Draco in the twins’ old room, and Hermione in Ginny’s.
For most of the time they were in their room, Harry and Draco didn’t talk much to each other. There was an awkward sort of silence around them, as though neither knew what to say. They’d just changed into pajamas and had climbed into bed when Draco finally spoke up.
“I didn’t tell anyone about the Horcruxes,” he murmured, pulling the covers up to his chin.
Harry rolled over to face him, leaning on one elbow. “You didn’t?”
“No.”
“…Thanks,” Harry said, unable to keep the surprised tone from his voice. He fancied he could actually see Draco scowling, even though the room was fairly dark.
“I mean - don’t think I was doing you any favors, Potter. It’s not like there were a lot of people I could tell. I only actually saw my mother. Until tonight, that is…”
“Well, I appreciate it, nonetheless.” Harry paused for a moment, and then spoke again. “Why were you in such a hurry to write to your mum, anyway?”
Draco hesitated. “It was… She…she said she’d heard rumors that the Dark Lord was going to send people after her, because she’d gone to Snape about my…mission. So she was planning to leave, and I guess I just - panicked.”
“You wanted to make sure she was okay?” Harry guessed.
“Something like that. I just needed to get that letter sent and you were being so…frustrating about it, and - I really probably shouldn’t have left.”
Harry scowled. “You think?”
“Shut it, Potter,” Draco groused. There was another moment of silence before Draco asked, “So…about the Horcruxes… Have you had any luck?”
“A bit,” Harry admitted. “Though it worries me that Voldemort is looking to get that diary back…”
“Diary?”
“The book that your aunt kept referring to. It was one of the Horcruxes. I destroyed it, er, back in second year.”
There was sudden rustling coming from the other side of the room as Draco sat up. Harry sighed, sitting up himself, and cast a quick Lumos so that he could see the other boy better.
“Second year?” Draco repeated, his eyes wide. “How the bloody hell did you pull that one off?”
“Um…long story. You remember the whole Heir of Slytherin thing?”
“How could I not?”
“Well…” Harry had to wonder why he was even telling Draco this, but he plowed on anyway, “It was actually Voldemort controlling Ginny through the diary.”
Draco blinked. “Ginny your girlfriend, Ginny?”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Harry corrected. “And yes.”
“And the Dark Lord was actually the Heir of Slytherin.”
Harry nodded. “Got it in one.”
“But…how did you even know it was a Horcrux?” Draco asked incredulously. “And what the bleeding hell is a Horcrux?! I meant to look it up while I was at the manor, but obviously some other things came up…”
“I still can’t tell you that,” Harry replied, rolling his eyes. “And I didn’t know it was one. Dumbledore only told me about the Horcrux thing this past year.”
“Oh…”
“Anyway, we found another one tonight. That’s why we were at your house.”
Draco’s eyebrows arched. “Really? But - I mean - how did it end up there?”
“That’s… Well, it’s another long story, and frankly I’m too tired to tell it. I’m absolutely knackered. Remind me to tell you some other time.” Harry yawned then - perfect timing, he thought - and collapsed onto his pillow, moaning contentedly.
Draco snorted from the other side of the room as he settled back on his own bed. “Alright then,” he said. “And, um…Potter?”
“Hmm?” Harry cracked one eye open.
“Well…thanks. You know. For not leaving me to be killed tonight…”
Harry’s other eye opened as well and he stared at Draco in utter shock for a moment. Draco chose to steadfastly ignore him by staring intently at the ceiling. “You’re welcome…” Harry murmured eventually. Draco visibly relaxed after he said it, and he glanced briefly at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry felt his mouth tug upwards on one side.
“Also remind me,” Harry began to say as he rolled over to face the wall, “to give you your wand back tomorrow. It’s still in my trunk.”
He didn’t hear a reply to that for a long while, but just as he was finally beginning to drift off to sleep, he was almost positive he heard Draco faintly saying, “…Thanks, Potter.”
Harry slept very well for the rest of the day.
Alrighty, so that’s the last pre-written chapter, but chapters 9 and 10 are in the works, so I don’t think the wait will be too long. We’ll see. I'm gonna go collapse in bed now, lol.
Thanks for reading!
~Maxine
next chapter
You can also read it at my website, or at Skyehawke.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 4500
Disclaimer: It's not mine. Really. J.K. Rowling's the brilliant mind behind HP.
Notes: Post-HBP, so yes, SPOILERS! Many, many thanks to my lovely betas, smutella and impish_nymph! Ladies, you're both fantastic!
Summary: Since when has conquering evil ever been easy?
--> All chapters can be found here. <--
previous chapter
~~Chapter 8~~
Harry clenched his hand around his wand, just as Hermione’s hand tightened around the fistful of Harry’s robe she was still grasping. He was just about to move out into the open when Narcissa lunged forward instead.
“NO!!” she yelled, moving faster than Harry would have thought she’d be able to. She grabbed at Greyback’s arm and tried to pull him off.
It didn’t work.
“CRUCIO!” Bellatrix screeched, and Harry knew instantly that the spell was more powerful than it had been before.
Narcissa screamed. She screamed unlike anything Harry had ever heard before, and it jolted through him, filling him with ice. Narcissa collapsed to the ground, writhing, still screaming, her face twisted with pain and tears streaming from her eyes. Draco went limp in Greyback’s hold, staring helplessly, and the desperate look on his face was what finally kicked Harry into action.
“EXPELLIARMUS!” Harry bellowed, ripping away from Hermione and springing out from behind the cabinet.
“Harry, no!” Hermione hissed behind him, but she was ignored.
Bellatrix’s wand was arching through the air towards him. He reached out to catch it, but-
“Accio,” Greyback rasped calmly, before Harry had realized what had happened. The wand slapped against the werewolf’s outstretched hand. Greyback still had his other hand wrapped around Draco’s bicep, but the boy was on his knees on the ground, frozen in shock as he stared at Harry, one arm still reaching for his mother.
“Well, well,” Bellatrix said lightly, stepping over her sister so she could accept her wand back from Greyback. “I have to say, this is unexpected. Hang on…” She peered at them. Harry knew they had to be hard to see, because they still had the Disillusionment Charms on. “I’m told there are usually three of you who actively go looking for ways to cause problems. You seem to be missing someone.”
“Congratulations,” Harry said, holding his wand out in front of him. “You can count.”
“Ooohh, look at wee little Potty! Cracking jokes now, are we?” She narrowed her eyes. “You meddlesome little brat.”
“Can I have them, too?” Greyback asked as he hauled Draco to his feet. “They’re the same age as this one here.”
“Steady on, Fenrir!” Bellatrix said lightly. “That’s Harry Potter, remember. The Dark Lord wants him for himself. But if I’m not mistaken, the girl’s a Mudblood. You can do what you want with her.”
Greyback licked his lips. “Excellent,” he murmured. Harry felt Hermione shudder behind him.
“Potter,” Draco suddenly croaked, and Harry really wished he hadn’t. Bellatrix glanced keenly back and forth between them, and suddenly she smirked.
“Oh, Draco,” she said, shaking her head. “Draco, Draco, Draco. My dear nephew. Tell me you’re not asking him for help.” Bellatrix turned to Harry, taking a step toward him. “Tell me, Harry Potter, what is it about you that makes people so eager to join your fight? You have so many people looking out for you, do you know that? I’m not sure you’re really aware of the effort your side has exuded to protect you. You, a sixteen-year-old child.”
“I’m seventeen,” Harry said tightly, accidentally repeating what Draco had said earlier.
Bellatrix arched her eyebrows. “Oh, are you? Well, that just makes you all grown up now, doesn’t it? You’re able to do magic and everything.” She leered at him. “How…exciting.” She paused for a moment, taking another step closer. “So, Harry. What brings you to my sister’s humble abode at this late hour? Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“If you think I’m telling you, then you’re madder than I thought!” Harry spat, raising his wand.
“Manners, Harry,” Bellatrix cooed, and with a flick of her wand Harry’s mouth abruptly filled with the unmistakable taste of soap. He gagged, bubbles frothing at his mouth, and was eternally grateful when he felt Hermione’s wand hand twitch a bit, no doubt casting a nonverbal Finite spell.
Harry spat at Bellatrix’s feet, trying to remove the awful taste from his mouth. She snickered at him.
“I think dear Sirius would be disappointed with how rude you’ve become.”
“Really?” Harry raised an eyebrow. “I think he’d be downright proud.” He cast a quick look at Narcissa, suddenly noticing that she’d been oddly silent and still ever since Harry had intervened. “You know,” he said, looking back up at Bellatrix, “you seem to have a bad habit of attacking your own relatives.”
“Hmm.” Bellatrix nudged Narcissa with her foot, grinning when Narcissa moaned. “I do believe you’re right, ickle Potty. There’s just something about that moment when you have complete power over someone else that I find so…gratifying. It’s only better when it’s someone you personally know. I like watching them break,” she said in a disturbingly frank tone. Her eyes looked a bit wild; there was a fire burning in them that only blazed brighter with each word she spoke. “I like seeing the shock at being betrayed overcome them. I love watching them fall. It’s…so very empowering, that brief, split second when they finally crack.” Her lips curled slowly upward into a sadistic grin and she lifted her chin, making it seem like she was able to stare down at Harry when in reality Harry was taller. “Have you managed to experience that moment yet, Potter? I remember it didn’t work so well the last time you tried.”
Harry saw Draco’s eyes go wide out of the corner of his eye, and he felt Hermione tense behind him, but he didn’t answer.
Narcissa groaned again at that moment, rolling over and pushing herself to her knees. She looked at Harry. “Harry Potter,” she murmured, wincing as she rose to her feet. She fell back against the wall behind her to brace herself. “I cannot…even begin to fathom…how you ended up in my home,” she continued slowly, panting with the effort to stay on her feet. She had a familiar look on her face, like she was concentrating hard on something, and Harry suddenly recognized it as the look Dobby had had earlier when he was trying to dismantle the wards.
“Yes, it is a mystery, isn’t it?” Bellatrix said, scratching idly beneath her chin with her wand.
Narcissa blinked suddenly, looking a great deal more alert.
And that was when Ron appeared.
Harry only knew he had showed up because Bellatrix had focused on something over his shoulder, and he heard frantic whispering going on behind him.
“Ah, there’s the third one!” Bellatrix said, smiling tightly. “Now that we’re all here-”
“Harry, he found it!” Hermione whispered anxiously into his ear. “He found it, so let’s go! We need to get out of here.”
“-I think it’s time for some answers!”
Harry nodded, backing slowly towards the door. Not that he thought Bellatrix wouldn’t notice, but he just needed a few seconds… “Apparate outside,” he murmured out of the corner of his mouth, turning his head just slightly toward Hermione. “You’ll know when to. Get Dobby and go. Don’t wait for me, I’ll go straight back to Grimmauld Place.”
There was a pause, and then, “You’d better, Harry, or I swear to God-”
“You know,” Harry cut her off loudly, meeting Narcissa’s gaze across the room and holding it, “I don’t think we really want to tell you anything.”
Bellatrix barked out a laugh, and leveled her wand on Harry. Her voice was cold when she spoke. “You don’t really have a choice, Potter.” Harry stared at Narcissa, desperately hoping that she could see him through the charm, that she somehow understood…
He knew immediately that she did when her eyes slid briefly to Draco and then back again, her eyebrows rising inquiringly.
And just when Harry was about to nod, he had a sudden moment of indecision; it couldn’t have lasted more than a second, really, but it happened all the same. Did he really want to take Draco back with him again? What good had it done last time? It looked like he hadn’t gone back to Voldemort, but what if he was planning to?
Flashes of images sped through his mind, fast and blurred together as Harry’s resolve tiptoed along the thin line of uncertainty.
Their first proper meeting on the train. Malfoy, young and hopeful and so obnoxious, holding out his hand with every confidence that his greeting would be returned.
Malfoy on Crabbe’s shoulders, pretending to be a dementor.
In fifth year when he’d joined the Inquisitorial Squad, smirking and proud and even more obnoxious, handing Harry over to Umbridge.
Malfoy on the tower, wand out in front of him, hand shaking, lowering…
Just this past summer, when he’d been stumbling along behind Hagrid, clothes torn and bloodied, hair a mess, and far too skinny.
The two weeks after that he’d spent hogging Harry’s bed, looking more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him before, his near-permanent sneer finally wiped away in sleep.
Lying in a pool of his own blood, pale and scrabbling at his chest, and later the thin, upraised scar on Draco’s chest.
Laughing on a broomstick, the wind pushing his hair back from his face and looking carefree for once.
The multiple times Harry had caught him running a finger along the edge of his Dark Mark when he hadn’t known Harry was watching, looking utterly miserable.
Draco lowering his wand…
Blinking, Harry stared at Narcissa, and before he could change his mind, he nodded, just once, a quick jerk of his head more than anything. But she saw it.
Bellatrix opened her mouth. “Petri-”
“SOLARIUS!” Harry yelled before she could finish. He squeezed his eyes shut as a blinding white light filled the room. Bellatrix screamed, Greyback cursed, and there were three quick cracks as people Apparated from the room.
“Finite!” Bellatrix screeched with a vicious slash of her wand. The blinding brightness in the room abruptly faded, and once she was able to see again, she cursed. “Fuck!” Bellatrix spat, looking around wildly. “They’re gone, all three of them! Doesn’t this fucking place have anti-Apparation wards on it?!”
“Mum,” Draco moaned, staring across the room. Greyback hadn’t let go of his arm.
Bellatrix spun on her heel and stared at the empty space where her sister had previously been standing. “That sneaky little bitch,” she murmured, eyes wide. She turned back to Draco. “And here I thought she’d do anything for you!”
“Apparently not,” Greyback rasped, chuckling. “She up and left him to us.” He ran his fingers down Draco’s face again, and the boy shuddered. “We’ll have fun together. No worries.” He grinned, showing off his pointed teeth.
Draco trembled again, the look on his face one of someone who had just been utterly betrayed. His eyes were wide and dismayed, his face was pale, his mouth hung open in shock… It was like he’d been sucker-punched in the gut by his own father.
It almost made Harry want to throw off his Invisibility Cloak right there so that Draco would know he hadn’t been left behind.
“We still need to find that bloody book,” Bellatrix groused, pacing the length of the room. “I suppose now we’ll just have to do it ourselves.” She paused in front of Draco, smiling sweetly at him. “And I’m sure my dear nephew will be glad to help us!”
Greyback growled. “Does that mean I can’t have my way with him yet?” he grumbled.
Bellatrix shot him a glare. “Absolutely not,” she snapped, resuming her pacing. “If you think I’m going to search this whole fucking manor on my own - damn the Malfoys for being so wealthy!”
Harry crept across the room, being careful not to bump anything. He knew he probably only had another minute at most to make this work. Dobby would be putting the wards back up soon.
Praying to all things holy that Draco wouldn’t make a big scene, Harry simultaneously grabbed the boy’s free arm and jabbed his wand in Greyback’s direction, muttering a quick, “Stupefy,” under his breath. Draco jumped at the sudden touch, yelping a bit, just as Greyback hit the ground with a loud thud.
Bellatrix turned, a questioning look on her face as she murmured, “Fenrir?”
Harry felt as if things were moving in slow motion. He saw Bellatrix’s eyes widen, he saw her wand come up. Her mouth opened, but before she could say anything Harry quickly wrapped his other arm around Draco’s waist, and, hoping that the wards were still down, he spun.
* * *
They reappeared just as the sun was beginning to show over the horizon on the hilltop beside Ron’s house, because Harry remembered at the last possible second that Draco wouldn’t be able to get into Grimmauld Place. As soon as they landed Draco tried to jerk away from Harry as fast as he could, but Harry held on tight. His cloak slipped from his shoulders, pooling at his feet.
“What - what the bloody hell-?!”
“Calm down, you’re alright-”
“No!” Draco grunted. “Let go of me!” He got one arm free and started clawing at Harry’s hand on his other arm.
“Malfoy!” Harry said loudly, attempting to grab hold of Draco’s wrist. “Malfoy - stop - Malfoy, it’s me!”
“Let - go - of - me!” Draco growled, struggling against Harry’s grip. Harry let out a frustrated breath and with his free hand waved his wand above his head. He could feel the warmth trickling over him, signifying the Disillusionment Charm’s reversal, and he quickly stowed his wand away so he could grab Draco more easily.
“Stop it - Malfoy - look at me!” He managed to get hold of Draco’s shoulders, shaking him a bit, and finally Draco stopped fighting.
“Potter?” he breathed, staring at him wide-eyed. “That - that was you? But I…I thought you - you complete jerk!” he suddenly exploded. He lunged forward, fists out in front of him, and Harry unexpectedly found himself trying to fend off an enraged Draco Malfoy who was doing his best to beat the hell out of Harry’s chest. “You prat! You complete and utter pillock!” Draco yelled, fists moving wildly. “You’re such an arsehole! You - you - I can’t believe you…” Draco gradually slowed down, though Harry could see that he was shaking. Then, rather abruptly, Draco just stopped altogether and went limp. He fell forward against Harry, resting his forehead against the boy’s collar, and Harry felt his stomach do an odd sort of flip.
Draco wasn’t about to start crying, was he?
“Malfoy-”
“I thought you’d left,” Draco moaned, his hands curling into the material of Harry’s robe and holding on tight. “I looked up and - and even my mother was gone and I thought you all had left me to that werewolf. I thought - I thought, ‘he couldn’t possibly hate me that much! He wouldn’t just leave me here!’ But you did and - and I thought I was going to die!”
Harry’s heart was pounding against his ribs, and he swallowed awkwardly. “I…I didn’t leave you, Malfoy,” he said, wrapping an arm uncertainly around Draco’s trembling shoulders. “I did have a plan. Sort of.”
“Stuff your plans! I was… That was…” Draco looked up, still breathing quickly, but his eyes were surprisingly dry. “Don’t ever do that to me again!”
Harry blinked. “Er…I won’t?”
“Promise me!”
“Um…I promise, Malfoy…”
Draco nodded. “Good,” he said, rubbing at his eyes. He released a shuddering breath. “I don’t suppose my mother is here…is she?”
“Er…no. I’m not sure where she went,” Harry admitted.
“No, you wouldn’t. We were going to leave the country,” Draco said absently, finally breaking away from Harry. He stumbled on the first step he took, and Harry quickly grabbed hold of Draco’s arm to keep him from falling.
“Steady on,” he murmured, but Draco scowled and immediately shook him off.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “I’m fine, just - a little shocked, I guess.” He made his way to a large boulder some ways away, collapsing down onto it, and Harry followed, slowly sitting down beside him.
“You were going to leave the country?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Draco said, nodding. “We were only at the manor for a couple of days, getting our stuff together and all that.”
“Are you... Your mother… Did you want to try and find her?”
Draco paused for a moment, and then shook his head. “No… No, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was already in France by now.” He glanced at Harry. “Guess you’re stuck with me.”
Harry didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, so he decided to just remain silent.
“Hey, how’d you get into the manor in the first place?” Draco asked, casting a look around the hilltop they were on. “And where are Weasley and Granger?”
Harry’s eyes went wide. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed. “Bloody hell, I completely forgot!” He jumped up, spinning around to face Draco. “Look, Malfoy, wait right here, okay? I need to go get them. I’ll be right back, I swear!”
Draco blinked, his brow furrowing, but he nodded. Harry didn’t bother waiting for a verbal confirmation, and he quickly Apparated to Grimmauld Place.
Ron and Hermione were going to kill him.
* * *
Grimmauld Place was in absolute chaos - that was the first thing Harry noticed when he crept into the foyer. He winced when he heard Mrs. Black’s portrait screaming about blood traitors and Mudbloods, and over that he could hear his friends yelling at each other and Dobby wailing about something or other.
Taking a deep breath, Harry slowly made his way to the drawing room, trying to make out what his friends were saying.
“Ron, we have to go back for him! He should have been back by now - oh, this is bad. This is so, so bad!”
“Dobby is a bad elf!! He is failing Harry Potter! He is not getting out before Dobby replaced the wards!!”
“I’m sure he’s fine, Hermione, we just need to stay calm - no, Dobby, you don’t need to punish yourself!”
“But Dobby is leaving Harry Potter with the bad people!”
“See?! Even Dobby understands the danger Harry’s in!”
“You can’t Apparate back anyway, Dobby put the wards back up, remember?”
“We’ll have to find another way in, then!”
“Look, Harry knows what he’s doing. If he’s not back in another ten minutes then we can go looking for him, but until then I say we - put down the vase, Dobby!”
“Dobby must be punishing himself!”
“You don’t need to punish yourself, Dobby,” Harry spoke up from where he was standing awkwardly in the doorway. “I got out just fine.”
Ron gestured at Harry and arched his eyebrows at Hermione in an I-told-you-so sort of way, but it went completely unnoticed as Hermione all but threw herself at Harry.
“Harry!” she cried, and he had to catch himself from toppling over backwards when she threw her arms around his shoulders. “Oh, thank God! I thought we’d just allowed you to get captured or something!”
“Nah, I’m alright,” Harry said around a face full of her bushy hair. He stumbled a bit again when Dobby ran forward and clung to his legs.
“Harry Potter is okay!” the elf wailed, sobbing into his trousers. “Dobby is so relieved!”
“I tried to tell them, Harry,” Ron said, amused. He walked over and clapped Harry on the shoulder, and Harry eyes were immediately drawn to the locket dangling around his neck. “Knew you’d be alright.”
“At least someone has faith in me.” He tipped his head toward Ron’s neck. “So you really did get it, then?”
“Get - oh! This.” Ron lifted it over his head and handed it to Harry. “I reckon that’s the right locket, yeah?” He shivered a bit. “It’s got a…creepy feel to it.”
“I hope so…” Harry peered at it. It certainly looked like the right one. It had Slytherin’s ornate ‘S’ on it and everything, and it was definitely the one that they had tried to throw away two summers ago. “Where was it?” It seemed to pulse slightly in his hand. Creepy indeed.
Ron snorted. “In her jewelry box, mate. Don’t know what Kreacher was thinking, putting it there. Of course, it was rather large. More like a small jewelry wardrobe, actually. Guess that’s why Malfoy’s mum never noticed it.”
“Guess so,” Harry said, chuckling a bit, but he stopped abruptly when Hermione finally pulled away from him and then promptly smacked him upside the back of his head. “Ow! Bloody hell, Hermione!”
“You deserved it!” she snapped. “Harry James Potter, I cannot believe you! What on Earth were you doing that took so long?”
Harry blinked, still rubbing the back of his head, and tucked the locket into one of his pockets. “Oh. Right. I think we’re going to have to go back to the Burrow for a bit, Ron.”
“Why’s that?” Ron asked.
“Er…” Harry shifted uncomfortably, reaching down to pry Dobby off his legs. “Because Malfoy isn’t going to be able to get into Grimmauld Place,” he mumbled. They heard him anyway.
“…Malfoy?” Ron repeated. “Oh, Harry, you didn’t…”
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out an exasperated breath. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Well, I couldn’t just leave him there!” Harry exclaimed. “He was about to get bitten by a werewolf, you know!”
“Nothing he wouldn’t deserve,” Ron muttered, while Hermione stared at Harry incredulously.
“Yes, a werewolf, Harry!” she exclaimed. “Not a vampire! It’s not like he was going to become a werewolf himself just from that - there’s no full moon tonight! I can’t believe you risked yourself to save him-”
“Oh, so I guess I should have just let him get mauled then, yeah?” Harry snapped, cutting Hermione off. She visibly faltered, and Harry continued, “Nice, Hermione. Real nice.”
Hermione at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed of herself, but she crossed her arms stubbornly and didn’t take back anything she’d said.
There was a moment of awkward silence between them, before Ron sighed heavily. “Alright, the Burrow it is, then. Shall I get our trunks?”
* * *
Mrs. Weasley was more than happy to have them back in her home again, though she looked a bit bewildered to see them all trudging in so early in the morning. Her eyes lingered on Draco, but if she was surprised that he was with them again she hid it well. Exhausted from the night’s events, the four of them didn’t even bother stopping for food, and instead headed straight to bed. They reverted back to the sleeping arrangements they’d had before, Harry and Draco in the twins’ old room, and Hermione in Ginny’s.
For most of the time they were in their room, Harry and Draco didn’t talk much to each other. There was an awkward sort of silence around them, as though neither knew what to say. They’d just changed into pajamas and had climbed into bed when Draco finally spoke up.
“I didn’t tell anyone about the Horcruxes,” he murmured, pulling the covers up to his chin.
Harry rolled over to face him, leaning on one elbow. “You didn’t?”
“No.”
“…Thanks,” Harry said, unable to keep the surprised tone from his voice. He fancied he could actually see Draco scowling, even though the room was fairly dark.
“I mean - don’t think I was doing you any favors, Potter. It’s not like there were a lot of people I could tell. I only actually saw my mother. Until tonight, that is…”
“Well, I appreciate it, nonetheless.” Harry paused for a moment, and then spoke again. “Why were you in such a hurry to write to your mum, anyway?”
Draco hesitated. “It was… She…she said she’d heard rumors that the Dark Lord was going to send people after her, because she’d gone to Snape about my…mission. So she was planning to leave, and I guess I just - panicked.”
“You wanted to make sure she was okay?” Harry guessed.
“Something like that. I just needed to get that letter sent and you were being so…frustrating about it, and - I really probably shouldn’t have left.”
Harry scowled. “You think?”
“Shut it, Potter,” Draco groused. There was another moment of silence before Draco asked, “So…about the Horcruxes… Have you had any luck?”
“A bit,” Harry admitted. “Though it worries me that Voldemort is looking to get that diary back…”
“Diary?”
“The book that your aunt kept referring to. It was one of the Horcruxes. I destroyed it, er, back in second year.”
There was sudden rustling coming from the other side of the room as Draco sat up. Harry sighed, sitting up himself, and cast a quick Lumos so that he could see the other boy better.
“Second year?” Draco repeated, his eyes wide. “How the bloody hell did you pull that one off?”
“Um…long story. You remember the whole Heir of Slytherin thing?”
“How could I not?”
“Well…” Harry had to wonder why he was even telling Draco this, but he plowed on anyway, “It was actually Voldemort controlling Ginny through the diary.”
Draco blinked. “Ginny your girlfriend, Ginny?”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Harry corrected. “And yes.”
“And the Dark Lord was actually the Heir of Slytherin.”
Harry nodded. “Got it in one.”
“But…how did you even know it was a Horcrux?” Draco asked incredulously. “And what the bleeding hell is a Horcrux?! I meant to look it up while I was at the manor, but obviously some other things came up…”
“I still can’t tell you that,” Harry replied, rolling his eyes. “And I didn’t know it was one. Dumbledore only told me about the Horcrux thing this past year.”
“Oh…”
“Anyway, we found another one tonight. That’s why we were at your house.”
Draco’s eyebrows arched. “Really? But - I mean - how did it end up there?”
“That’s… Well, it’s another long story, and frankly I’m too tired to tell it. I’m absolutely knackered. Remind me to tell you some other time.” Harry yawned then - perfect timing, he thought - and collapsed onto his pillow, moaning contentedly.
Draco snorted from the other side of the room as he settled back on his own bed. “Alright then,” he said. “And, um…Potter?”
“Hmm?” Harry cracked one eye open.
“Well…thanks. You know. For not leaving me to be killed tonight…”
Harry’s other eye opened as well and he stared at Draco in utter shock for a moment. Draco chose to steadfastly ignore him by staring intently at the ceiling. “You’re welcome…” Harry murmured eventually. Draco visibly relaxed after he said it, and he glanced briefly at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry felt his mouth tug upwards on one side.
“Also remind me,” Harry began to say as he rolled over to face the wall, “to give you your wand back tomorrow. It’s still in my trunk.”
He didn’t hear a reply to that for a long while, but just as he was finally beginning to drift off to sleep, he was almost positive he heard Draco faintly saying, “…Thanks, Potter.”
Harry slept very well for the rest of the day.
Alrighty, so that’s the last pre-written chapter, but chapters 9 and 10 are in the works, so I don’t think the wait will be too long. We’ll see. I'm gonna go collapse in bed now, lol.
Thanks for reading!
~Maxine
next chapter
You can also read it at my website, or at Skyehawke.