"What?!"
"Professor!"
"How could you possible--?"
"What did he do to you?"
"Silence!" Dumbledore bellowed, and the Order of the Phoenix reluctantly quieted down and sat in their seats, though they continued to glare at him conspiratorially. "I will have you know that Draco Malfoy has my faith, and I pray that you will leave him be."
"You have a bad habit of trusting those you shouldn't, don't you, Dumbledore? Remember Snape?" someone yelled harshly. The old man winced almost imperceptibly. That betrayal was all too fresh in his mind as of late. "Yeah. He turned out wonderfully, didn't he? And Malfoy will turn out just like him, you just watch and see! There's a reason he was Snape's favorite student." Ron was standing up now, his ears a blaring red and loathing and anger etched in every line of his face. Dumbledore looked at him thoroughly.
"Allow me to inform you that both your sister and your girlfriend believe and trust him, Mr. Weasley. They volunteered to stay with him as part of my given protection," he said. Ron's face blanched. Harry, also looking a little paler then usual, put a hand on his friend's shoulder, ready to restrain him if need be. Then, Ron disappeared, taking Harry with him. Reappearing on the grounds of Malfoy Manor, Ron sprinted toward the large mansion.
"Ron! Ron, stop! Think about what you're doing!" Harry yelled after him. Being the faster of the two, he caught up to his friend. When he failed to stop him manually, he pulled out his wand. "Impedimenta!" Ron stopped immediately, balancing awkwardly on one foot. Harry came up alongside him and paused to catch his breath. "You know the girls!" he panted. "They hate us being overly protective of them, trying to stop them from doing something they want to do. If you go up there now like you are, there's a good chance you'll just piss them off. You could very well lose Hermione as a friend and a girlfriend, and Ginny will never speak to you again. Think about what you're doing," Harry said to Ron's immobile form. Ron's eyes glared at him as he struggled to move. Harry waited patiently for the jinx to wear off. When it did, Ron collapsed, panting.
"Harry!" he yelled angrily. "Don't ever do that again!"
"Sorry, mate," Harry said, helping Ron to his feet. "Just keeping you from doing something stupid. I don't want you to lose either of our girls, but you have to remember that they're both smart and capable witches. I'm pretty sure they can handle Malfoy."
"I still want to talk to them," the other boy said, looking up to the house. "Calmly, and nonviolently." Together, they set off up the hill until they were at the huge front door of Malfoy Manor.
They knocked.
Scurrying feet.
The door opened to reveal a small house elf in a tasteful cotton toga.
"You Master Malfoy is not available at the present time, sirs," it squeaked. From the pitch of the voice, it sounded like a female. "He has sent Dwink to tell you that--"
"I want to see my sister and my girlfriend!" Ron said forcefully. Harry gave him a look and he quieted.
"what Ron means," Harry said, "is that it's not Malfoy we're here to see. We would like to speak with Hermione and Ginny, please, if they're available." Dwink seemed to consider them for a moment, and then ushered them into a huge entrance hall, sparkling white marble lit by torches and french windows. Ron gaped at it, his horrified envy written on his face.
"Sirs may stay in the library until the young misses are able to see you," Dwink said, gesturing to a gilded back door on the left side of the hall. Then she snapped and disappeared. Tentatively, the boys approached the door.
"what do you say he's waiting to ambush us the second we walk in there?" Ron whispered conspiratorially. Harry rolled his eyes and pushed the door open anyway. It was empty, rows and rows of blank shelves, not a book in sight. "what's up with that?" Ron asked confusedly.
"I dunno," Harry said, stepping inside and closing the door behind the two of them. "Why aren't there any books in here? Last time I checked, that's what a library is supposed to have in it. Let's have a look around just to be careful." Ron nodded and they split up down the middle aisle. Harry ran his fingers over the worn wood of the shelf at eye level. There wasn't a single spec of dust on it. It had been cleared only recently.
His eyes roved upward, and he caught sight of what looked like the spine of a book. Why was this book left behind? he thought. He carefully placed a foot on the bottom shelf, pushing slightly to test its strength, and hoisted himself up to reach the top shelf. He grabbed hold of the book and stepped down from the shelf, looking at it curiously. It was a modest book, dark brown leather with gold leaf words. It said "Family" on the front in a curly script. He opened it curiously. It was a scrapbook. The Malfoys blinked up at him from every page. Posed-looking family photos, special occasions, Draco and his father, wedding pictures of his parents, baby pictures. They were out of order and dusty, and it seemed not to have been touched in years. The latest picture, it seemed, was of Lucius and Draco when he was about eight years old. Harry squinted at the faded photo. Was it his imagination, or did Draco look…scared?
"There's another door back here!" Ron yelled from the other side of the library. "Come here, Harry!" He put the scrapbook back on the top shelf, and searched the rows opposite until he found Ron hunched over looking into a waist-high tunnel of sorts, dug into the wall behind a bookshelf. Cautiously, Harry leaned down to peer inside the hole as well. "What the hell do you think's back there?" Ron asked.
"I dunno," Harry said, squinting back into the darkness.
"Few people do." The pair rounded on Malfoy standing behind them His familiar smirk was absent from his face, which looked even paler than usual, if that was possible, in the dim lighting of the torches lining the walls. In its place was an almost haunted look, giving his face a ghostly sort of pallor. But he wasn't looking at them. His gaze was directed at the tunnel, and the remnants of old terrors seemed to shine behind his eyes for a second.
"Malfoy," Ron growled, his teeth clenched. Harry shot him a halfhearted warning look, though he was having trouble suppressing his own hatred. "I though the elf was going to send down Hermione and Ginny?"
"They're busy making lunch. You can join us if you want," he offered, shifting his troubled gaze away from the hole behind them. When neither of them responded, he continued. "If you go down there, you may find something to interest you. Namely, a torture chamber of my father's. Having felt the brunt of it myself many times, I daresay I know what's in it. I'd take you down myself, but too many nightmares have come alive down there."
The boys gaped awkwardly at him for a moment, watching the ghosts flicker behind his silver eyes, once again directed into the darkness of the tunnel. He shook himself slightly and turned back to them. "If you would like, I can take you up to the girls. They're in the kitchen." He gestured for them to follow him, and they did so hesitantly. Out of the library, up a staircase, down a long hallway, all in tense silence. Eventually they came to a pleasant kitchen filled with the smell of macaroni and cheese. Hermione and Ginny were standing over a pot on the stove, talking animatedly about something or the other. They looked up, though, as the three boys entered. At first, alarm flitted across their faces.
"Harry and Ron came to see you," Draco said. "And, don't worry; We aren't going to kill each other."
"I'm not making any promises," Ron grumbled.
"Ronald!" Hermione shrieked, storming over to him. "You will not harm Draco in any way!"
"Since when do you call him Draco?" he demanded, ignoring her demands entirely.
"Since he asked me to!" she replied. "Did you only come here to threaten him, or is there a reason for this little visit?" she asked scathingly. Ron's ears flushed a deep red.
"I came," he said pointedly, "because my girlfriend is suddenly living with my enemy who is responsible for several recent deaths! And my sister, too!" he added. "Do I not have a right to be concerned?"
"Not when we are both very capable young witches who have no trouble taking care of ourselves," Ginny said, taking up a defensive position beside Hermione. "I'm sure we could handle Draco if he so chose to attack us, which he knows would be a very unwise choice on his part. Don't you, Draco?" she asked the boy in question, who was now seated at the table and watching the conversation with mild concern.
"I'd never be that incredibly stupid," he said. "I know very well that I would be no match for the two of you. I know what you can, and will, do to me if I do, and I'd never put myself in that position." Ginny looked at her brother as if to say, "See?", and he looked outraged.
"You're just going to take his word for it?!" he screamed. "He's a murderer, a liar, and a traitor! And you're just going to believe him, and live with him, and ignore me entirely? How can you do that? How can you possibly be that stupid?" He was advancing on them, his face mutinous. Suddenly, Draco was there, blocking his view of the girls, who were backing away looking a bit unnerved.
"I think it's time for you to either calm down or leave," he said, not exactly threateningly, but firmly. His tone left no doubt that he would protect Hermione and Ginny if he made any move even remotely threatening them.
"Yeah, Ron, this is why I didn't want you coming here," Harry said, a hand on his friend's shoulder again. Ron looked from Harry, to Draco, to the girls, and back to Draco. Then, without a word, he turned and abruptly left the house. They stared after him.
"Um…sorry about Ron," Harry said. "You know how he gets. But you know he's just trying to protect you, and do what's best. I'm not saying I trust or believe you," he said to Draco, "but I will commit to a truce, meaning I will not attack you unprovoked. Deal?" He held out a hand for Draco to shake. Beaming, he took it.
"That's all I need."
