Chapter 3 – Distracted Thoughts
"Malfoy, Room of Requirement, now please." Harry says in passing.
With a curt nod, he falls in step, knowing the Blaise and Theo will join them too, as well as the rest of the lions.
They stopped in front of the tapestry, giving Harry the space to conjure a room suitable for all.
On entering, Draco found that he had entered into a common room of sorts, neutralised as not be biased to one particular house. And to say he was impressed with Harrys thinking, even with such a situation was not enough.
Blaise and Theo were both surprised that they had all been so welcoming without so much as a verbal clash if nothing else, so was Draco, but it seemed that the lions had had a chat amongst themselves before coming to Dumbledore's cabin and hence had maintained a relatively calm and accepting façade. How very Slytherin of them.
Everyone remained standing, daring the other person to sit first. With a barely suppressed eye-roll and huff of breath, Hermione and Draco took up the two armchairs, eyes widening at the similar thinking. Harry saw that mute interaction and mentally smirked. He knew of Hermione's affections towards the blonde, he had talked to her about the same, and though he wasn't fully encouraging, he didn't belittle her either, for that Hermione had thanked him profusely. It now seems that maybe he had mistaken Draco, and that he too reciprocated her feelings, or maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to.
"Enough of the suspense, will someone explain extremely clearly what the hell is going on? Why are Slytherins infiltrating the Order and why are we letting them Harry? Do you not see what is going to happen?" Ron snapped. How he had stayed silent this long was a marvel in itself.
Before Harry could get a word out, Theo spoke in his calm, confident drawl, with only a slight hesitation "Weasley, we understand why you all would think that we are trying to ruin your sanctity, but if you wish, use Veritaserum on us, we mean you no harm. We are merely saving ourselves from the inevitable torture and harassment that we are to receive this break by going back to Malfoy Manor. We wish nothing else than to be rid of all this animosity and hatred, and are more than prepared to help in whatever way you will let us."
Silence, not a squeak from anyone.
Blaise continued where Theo left off. "If you would give us the opportunity, we assure you that we will do everything in our power to not let the Death Eaters cause you harm. In fact we ourselves are going to detach from them so severely that they won't be able to even trace our magic, and there are spells, potions, hexes, curses and other incantations and tricks that we can add to your knowledge that will help. Yes, while some of them are incredibly dark, they all can be modified for our use, we've been doing that already, and it has worked. We assure you again, that what knowledge we have of the Death Eaters, their names, residences, actions, all will be passed onto you to make this situation that bit better."
Again, nobody spoke. The only sounds that could be heard were of everyone breathing. The sigh when Hermione finally sorted her thoughts out caused everyone to snap their attention towards her. The flush of her cheeks was instantaneous and if this situation was anything but this, Draco would have snogged the breath out of her, he was so awed.
"I have heard all that you have said, and the glitches in between, and I also know how hard it is to protect the ones you love. I will be doing something similar this break, though I cannot divulge the nature of it, I extend my hand to you in acceptance, and welcome you three to the order."
Hermione chanced a sweeping glance around the room. Luna beamed back at her, as did a slightly peckish Neville. Harry wore his confident smile, while Ron was still seething, but that could be seen fraying a little. Hermione knew she made the right choice.
Draco was beaming so much that he thought he would burst with happiness. With every ounce of control he could muster, he maintained a cool exterior, allowing only a small smile to grace his features. Hermione, being the observant witch that she is, saw that smile, and her breathing hitched once again. She had never seen him smile, especially not in the company of lions, and not so willingly. If the situation were any different, she would have jumped on the opportunity to kiss that smile and make it immensely bigger. Stowing away her thoughts for later, she called out for Dobby.
"Dobby" Except Harry and Ron, all stared at her. Hermione calling for a house-elf was beyond any of their wild dreams.
"Yes Miss Hermione? How can Dobby be of service to you Miss?"
"Well? Who else feels like celebrating?"
With same enthusiasm, Ron asked Dobby for a big piece of chocolate pie, Harry and Hermione ordering hot chocolates with extra marshmallows, Luna asked Dobby to bring the remaining Carrot Pie from dinner, while the Slytherins asked him to bring tea (this made Ron laugh immensely, because obviously they would be so proper about celebrating)
"Weasley, you know next to nothing of how we celebrate, refrain from passing comments if you would." Blaise reprimanded mildly.
The evening passed easily after that. The ice was broken, a small dent, but something always is better than nothing.
The smiles were easier, the laughs more heart-filled and the breathing less anxious. The mind-numbing tension had somewhat eased off.
"You all know what you have to do; I will not instruct you again either way. Mr Longbottom, do try to not mess this up." Snape warned.
Everybody had gathered in the Headmasters' office after breakfast, with all their belongings. Hermione, being the brightest witch of their age had shrunken her trunk to be able to carry it in her pocket, along with Ron's and Harrys.
"Miss Granger, would you be kind enough to assist everyone else with shrinking their luggage." "Certainly Professor Dumbledore." Individually shrinking everyone else's trunks so they too could put them in the pockets of their robes, they all waited for the signal.
The fireplace came to life as the first of the Order members made their way into the office. Kingsley was followed by Remus, Tonks, Arthur and Molly Weasley, who rushed to envelope Harry, Hermione and Ron in overly affectionate hugs. Next came in Charlie and Bill Weasley, with Mad-eye Moody and Mundungus Fletcher. Minerva made her way into the office via doors from the school, rounding of the Order members.
Hagrid had chosen to opt out of this mission due to the Magical Creatures he was looking after.
"Albus, to clarify, we are taking them to safe-house 4, and they will remain there till the end of the break, after which they will be transported with us back to the school. During the stay, they will begin Occulemency and Legilimency as well as physical training and duelling." Minerva stated.
"You seem to have covered it perfectly Minerva. I will let you see your ways out." And with that, Albus disappeared into his chambers.
"Professor McGonagall, won't the Headmaster be joining us?"
"He'll come around when he can Mr Potter. You'll be informed of his arrival."
With a curt nod to Snape, Minerva took Neville with her through the fireplace, Molly and Luna following immediately after them. Remus took Blaise, Tonks with Theo, Arthur escorted Hermione, Bill took Ron, Kingsley took Harry, and Snape saw to it that he be the one to escort Draco. Leaving only Moody and Mundungus in the office, as the students had all been taken to the safe-house and Charlie had gone on ahead before the students to do a final sweep of the place.
Not wasting further time, Mundungus took his leave, and Moody made his way through the school and across the grounds, preferring to apparate from outside the school gates. He could have been mistaken if it was not for his eye, but Pansy Parkinson didn't board the train home that day. She saw him walk down towards the town, pausing just outside the gates, taking a quick glance over his shoulder. And he was sure she had figured out the purpose for his visit, the slow confident smirk and glint in her eyes giving her away easily.
