Breaking Cases

By: KCgal
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A snippet of the war, and a revelation to Ron. Harry & Draco interaction (not slash, more friends)
Author's notes: Just a little something that has been nagging me for a while and more or less came out in three sittings. It was absurdly easy to write, and kinda fun. I know a lot of things aren't explained, but there's no real opportunity to do so Please R&R. My first HP fanfiction!

"Merlins wand! I can't believe we did it!" Ronald Weasly, one of the soldiers in fighting at the forefront of the battle against Voldemort and the dark forces exclaimed to nobody in particular. He wasn't the only one expressing his excitement however, as the whole office area around him was awash with avid conversation and animated congratulations. Ron beamed to himself, pushing aside the report scrolls he was working through and going off to find someone more responsive to talk to. And maybe find Harry. If he found Harry, he might be able to talk his best friend into allowing him into the interrogation. His grin spreading even wider, he untangled his robes from the chair he'd been sitting on and picked up his wand. Heading out into the corridor, there were even more wizards hurriedly rushing by, most likely spreading the news through the building. Somebody clapped him on the back, and Justin Finch-Fletchly's grinning face appeared in Ron's vision.

"By golly Ron, isn't it fantastic!? We finally got one!" The young man crowed. Ron nodded vigerosly.

"And to think, it's that silly pratt Malfoy. Maybe we can give him his just deserts from all that rot he pulled back at school."

"Yeah, it's just too perfect!"

"Listen, have you seen Harry? I'm going to try and see if I can't get myself in to visit our little blonde rat-friend." Ron's smile turned evil, and Justin chuckled.

"Harry's talking to some of the others in the hall. There's been some rumor he wants to do it all himself. If you manage to talk him into it, give Malfoy one for me, all right?" Ron smirked and nodded.

"Sure thing Justin. I'll talk to you later I better go find Harry before he starts without me!" With that, the tall red-head disappeared into the throng of wizards, seeking out a certain be-speckled youth. He finally spotted him about to leave the hall, looking particularly grim and determined. "Harry! HARRY!" Ron yelled, sprinting after him as best he could.

Hearing someone call his name, Harry spun around and spotted Ron. He paused to let his friend catch up with him, then began striding off again with the red-head in tow.

"Ron. I was just about to go look for you. I need you to come with me to talk to our visitor." Ron gaped.

"You serious?! I though I'd have to beg you to let me go with you!" Harry flashed him a smile, then bit his lip.

"Yes, well. There's something you should be told about – and I think now is the time." Ron gave him a funny look.

"Sounds serious." He commented, and Harry nodded slightly, his pace picking up. Ron began to trot beside him to keep up, and almost slammed into the glass doors when Harry stopped. There was a man standing next to the door, and upon seeing Harry, nodded and spoke a charm. The door swung open and Harry took off again. "What's the burning hurry? He's not going anywhere." Ron smirked, his insides still fluttering. He didn't notice Harry's mouth turn down slightly at his words, and continued to enthuse about their great victory at the last battle. Passing through more guarded doors and into the bowels of the complex, Ron concocted various situations in his mind, all revolving around paying Malfoy back in full for the things the dark side had done to the wizarding world. Finally the pair arrived at another, more heavily guarded door, which Harry stopped in front of.

"Ron –before we go in, I need you to promise something." Harry said seriously, turning to his best friend. Ron looked expectantly at him. "You can't do anything – and I mean anything! To Malfoy unless I say so, okay?" Ron scowled at him. "I mean it Ron! Just do as I ask, please?"
"Fine." Ron harumphed, unhappy to be restricted by his own best friend.

"Good. Come on then." Harry himself said the long and complicated chant to open this final door, and then they were in. It was a small, unremarkable room with two chairs, a table and a small desk with a jug of water and a glass on it. Sitting at the table was a young man with pale, almost white, blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. His usually slicked back hair was mussed, and his whole appearance was less than tidy. Ron glared hard at him, his hatred and loathing fairly radiating out into the room. Draco merely sneered at him before ignoring him completely. Harry had began another spell, watched over by both Ron and Draco. When he was finished he gave a tired sigh and flopped into the chair opposite the Slytherin.

"You protecting the room with more unbreakable spells Potter?" Draco asked. Harry looked up at him, saying nothing for a moment before replying quietly.

"It's okay now. Nobody's listening in." Ron snapped his head to look at Harry with a look of shock.

"What about him?" Draco said with a nod in Ron's direction. Harry waved a hand dismissively

"It's time he knew. If something happens to me, then they won't have the problem of convincing him." Draco nodded, but looked less then pleased. "How are you Draco?" This sadly spoken phrase pushed Ron's brain out of numbness and he exploded.

"What the HELL is going on here?" Both Draco and Harry looked up at him in mild surprise.

"I told you he'd take it badly." Draco commented to Harry with a small smirk. Harry rolled his eyes at Draco before turning back to Ron.

"Calm down Ron. There are things here you don't understand"
"You bloody well bet I don't!"
"But that is why I wanted you to come. It's time for you to know." Harry continued on, pointedly ignoring Ron's interruption. Harry pointed at Draco with one hand. "This is Draco Malfoy."
"I know who he bloody well is!" Ron yelled angrily.

"Look, do you want to hear this or not?" Ron nodded sullenly. "Good. Now shut up and listen." Draco laughed slightly at that, and Ron looked affronted. Harry cleared his throat and started again. "This is Draco Malfoy. He's a death eater and fighting under the command of Lord Voldemort. He is also the Order of the Phoenix's greatest secret. Only a handful of people know what I'm about to tell you, and it is going to stay that way, am I clear?" Harry asked, his voice forceful as he pinned Ron with an intense gaze. His anger fading away to puzzlement, Ron merely nodded. "Draco has been working for us as a spy since he left Hogwarts." Ron's jaw dropped.

"Hhe can't have! He's not!" He stammered in pure shock. Draco snorted.

"I did and I am Weasel. Sorry to pop your bubble."

"Then why" Ron began, trailing off, unable to continue. Harry picked up the question though.

"Why don't we seem to know anything about their moves? We do Ron, but very little can be done. Draco has informed us of numerous plans that Voldemort used, and helped saved many lives. But we couldn't let Voldemort suspect that there was a traitor. We need Draco in there, and we can't risk him being found out. So we soften the blows as much as we could, but the plans still go through. I know it's hard to believe Ron, but it's the truth." Harry said gently.

"But.. but!" Ron spluttered, staring incredulously at Draco. Harry temporarily pushed thoughts of Ron to the side, letting his friend wrap his mind around the mind-blowing fact he'd just been presented with. Instead, he turned back to the blonde Death Eater.

"I'm assuming it's the big one?" He asked seriously, and Draco shifted his eyes from a contemplation of Ron to Harry's tired looking form. He nodded, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table and examined the piece of black leather wrapped around his left wrist. After a moment of playing with it, he sighed heavily and looked up into Harry's probing emerald eyes.

"Yes. He's hitting Hogwarts. This is it Harry. Make or break. I think he's expecting you to be there. And he's arranged for Dumbledore to attend as well quite a party he's putting together actually. All the ministry's finest – you have the list I sent you?" He asked, and Harry nodded. "All of them. And he's bringing everything he's got – half towards the ministry, half towards Hogwarts. The dementors will be there, but the dragons have stepped aside. You've got everything going for you this time Potter. Play your cards right, and this can all end in a fortnight then again, play them wrong and it may still end." He said morosely.

Harry lent one elbow up on the table and sat his forehead in the palm of his hand, closing his eyes and massaging his temples with his middle finger and thumb.

"I knew it was coming but this soon?" He pulled his head upwards so his chin sat in his hand and looked straight into Draco's eyes. "What are the specifics then?"

"100 to 130 wizards although I'd say over 20 of them are under-agers. The dementors I'm not as sure about – two damn evasive not to mention I was trying to stay out of their way to begin with. I think there's about 50 or 60 of them, but there's no way of knowing. There's more then there should be is all I can say. He's planning it for Tuesday, two weeks from now. At night, of course." Draco rolled his eyes. "Melodramatic bastard." Harry smiled slightly. "I hope you figured out something for that Mortolo curse, it seems to be his favorite at the moment."

By this time, Ron had worked over his shock, and was listening to the conversation intently. He noticed Harry did not react in any way to Draco's last comment, his face giving away nothing, even though Ron knew they had found the counter-curse for Mortolo just a few days ago. He also noticed that Draco's wording indicated that he didn't want to know the answer, he was just warning Harry towards the action. There was obviously a set code to the information exchanges. He wondered how many times they'd met face-to-face, and how Draco had sent messages otherwise. Harry spent most of his time in the base, which had very strong anti-aparating wards and disabling charms for port-keys and other similarly working magics brought on-site. He resolved to wrangle the full story out of both or one of them as soon as Draco finished his detailed report of Voldemort's plans to get into both the ministry complex and the school. Draco's speech lasted some time, even though each sentence was short and to the point, listing exactly what he knew and exactly what he knew he didn't. Harry only interrupted twice, to ask for further details on some of the spells being used and the identification of a traitor in the ministry.

Finally Draco was finished, and they lapsed into silence.

"You realize you have to go back." Harry said eventually, jerking Draco from whatever he had been contemplating. Green met gray, and Draco nodded slowly, looking none too happy.

"I just wish" He sighed, somewhat morosely. Ron's eyebrows shot up, disbelieving what he was seeing in the defeated sounding young man. It was a far cry from the sarcastic, sassy bully he remembered from Hogwarts. He was also surprised by Harry's reaction. His friend looked almost anguished, and it seemed the two had broken from the heavy professional business-only' air that had been hanging since they arrived.

"Merlin, I'm so sorry Dray You know I'd pull you out if I could – but it's just not possible."

"I know. I just hope it ends soon. I-I don't think I can keep this up much longer."

"Hopefully it will be. Hopefully Tuesday night, two weeks from now, it will be over for good, and I'll buy you a butterbeer." Harry said, smiling sadly. Draco snorted, and looked up from where he had dropped his head onto his arms.

"Better be one bloody magnificent drink." The blond, and Harry laughed lightly. Ron's brow furrowed deeply, and decided to finally speak.

"Are either of you going to explain this to me?" They both looked over at him, as if just remembering he was there.

"I'm sure Potter will go through it all when I'm gone." Draco said, suddenly all business again as he sat up. "So, what's the plan?" He asked, looking back to Harry.

"I'll set off the spells in a moment. It'll bring down the wards for a little while. Go out this door – one guard, to the left, same for the next door. After that there's another room on the right hand side. You're wand is in the cabinet. The lock number is 426. You'll only have ten minutes at the most – you'll be able to do a small apparate out of the complex." Harry instructed. Draco nodded, and Harry stood up, coming around the side of the small table and perching on it, turning towards Draco and holding out his wand. "Ready?" Draco nodded, bracing himself against the table. Ron looked on with interest as Harry wove a design into the air, which seemed to solidify as he drew it, glowing softly as it hovered in the air. Using his wand, Harry guided the design web down onto Draco's head, until it slipped over the young man's hair and past his skin.

And then Draco screamed. It was horribly loud, and filled with agonizing pain. Ron nearly jumped into the ceiling, as it was, he backed himself into the wall, eyes wide as he watched, fascinated, as Draco clutched the table and fought for control. After what seemed like forever, the pain searing through Draco subsided, and he opened his eyes, forcing himself to breathe. Harry was there, one arm steadying him, and he was only vaguely aware of Ron in the corner. Eventually his senses reached normal levels and he let out a sigh.

"I'm okay." Taking a few more deep breaths, he got unsteadily to his feet.
"What the?" Ron spluttered. Harry shook his head.

"For truth spells. In case he gets interrogated by the other side." Harry answered shortly, standing up himself and making sure Draco was right on his feet. "You be careful, you git, okay? For Merlin's sake, get out of there on Tuesday. You can't be seen until I get a chance to clear you. And I don't want you dead when that happens." Harry said emphatically, squeezing the blonde's shoulder. Draco nodded, and Harry turned to Ron. "I'm going to set off some spells soon, the alarms will go off. We're going to go running to see what happened. And nobody knows of this, right? Perfectly normal interrogation, he didn't tell us anything of consequence. And you don't know he escaped until someone else tells you. Ron bit his lip, but nodded too.

"Nice seeing you Weasly. Stay alive, and try and keep him from killing himself too, while you're at it." Draco said, nodding over to Harry. Blinking, Ron just nodded again. Smiling slightly at both of them, Harry gave Draco's shoulder one last squeeze before raising his wand. Suddenly the alarms started blasting everywhere, and some sort of explosion echoed around them. Immediately Harry ran for the door, flinging it open an looking out.

"What in the blue blazes is going on out here?" He demanded to the startled guard before storming off, Ron trying his best to follow. Draco watched the two of them go with a small smile, waiting only a few moments before he hit the door with the full force of his shoulder and began his run to freedom'.

A freedom that he hoped he could finally reach, after so many years, in only a week from now, and in the place it had all begun.

~Finito~