Author's note:
hereby as (no quiet so) fast update. Enjoy. (I, for the record, do not own Harry potter.)
Chapter 9 -'But the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.'
In hindsight, Draco's next act was probably not the wisest, but in his own defense, it is not an everyday affair to be cornered by an infamous mass murderer. It is one of those scenarios that are impossible to predict or prepare for… so one could not really be expected to have the necessary background to handle such an event. The reaction that followed the revelation of aforementioned mass murderer was… natural.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!"
Taken by surprise the murderer leaped backwards, stumbled over the cloak that had tried its best to keep Draco in the closet moments before, fell to the floor and lay still.
Was he dead?
Upon looking closer Draco discovered that he had hit his head in the fall, unconscious, but not dead. Before he could chose a point of action, voices rose from the far end of the room.
"What's going on out there?" A male voice boasted from within the kitchen.
Damn it!
With a few hurried spells he tried to force the door open, to escape outside… needless to say nothing much happened. That would have been lucky, a term that fled from his person as soon as it caught sight of Umbridge a half a year ago.
Leaving the door behind, he drew the hood over his head, concealing the features, bolted through the hall, reaching the stairs when the door to the kitchen flew open.
Draco ducked by instinct and barely avoided a red spell send his way. Without wasting any time, he threw himself up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. The kitchen was in the other side of the hall, so he had a head start. But… a head start to where exactly? Where could he possibly run to?
Ducking yet another spell, at the same time sending a stupefy down behind him, he continued his way upstairs. Due to his fast pace, he momentarily managed to get out of sight of his pursuers'. When he reached the top, he found himself face to face with a painting of an ill looking Witch.
Scrath that. A psychotic pale faced woman who, for all intent and purpose, looked as if she had spent a lifetime with an overly socially gifted dementor.
Half a second they stared at each other, something that looked like recognition flashed in her eyes. In another situation, he would have asked her about it, but as the steeps drew nearer he knew his time was up and turned away to run off. But before he managed to even take a single step, she stopped him with a quick command, harshly whispered.
"Get in!"
She swung her painting aside and revealed a small dark tunnel in the wall. Thinking he had little other choice he soon found himself crouched inside. The painting was efficiently covering him and the secret tunnel behind it, sheltering him from view. The angry shouts continued just outside the thin canvas protection, that the painted witch provided. It was only all too clear for the blond, how little stood between him and capture.
"Get in the back." The back of the portrait suddenly housed the witch from before. "I will inform you when the ruckus has died down."
Obediently, Draco crawled on his hands and knees down the dark tunnel. Not long after he began, he heard the tell tale voice of the witch roaring in anger. Had he stayed behind the portrait he would probably be deaf by now - or at least wish he was.
When he reached the end, he found himself in one of the most amazing rooms he had ever seen, and he had seen quite a few, living in an 800 year old mansion.
This place was nothing like the rest of the house, this room was bright, homely and spoke of ancient history. Huge draperies hung from the walls and the walls itself were an art all in itself. Stunned by the magnitude of the place he was completely speechless. Unlike the rest of the house, which seemed cramped and poorly looked after, this was like walking into an entire different building.
Correction. He thought to himself. Castle, this is more like a castle.
"Now, if it isn't a bother, I would very much like to know what you are doing in my house, young Draco- and yes I know your name so don't look at me like that… come closer, let me have a look at you."
The witch from the hall, stood before him in a real sized painting, looking far younger, and far healthier than the other he first encountered. He almost didn't recognize her but for the calm silvery pools that was her eyes.
She waved him closer and took a good look at him. "You are the very image of Lucius, if not for your face and hands, so like your mother." The witch smiled at him, something he would not have thought possible by judging the other painting in the hall.
"I see you meet my son – fear not." She said when he startled. "Many have had that reaction to him in the past, even before Azkaban, and I cannot say that it is not deserved. He doesn't take care of himself…" she trailed off.
"Mrs. Black" He began
"Walburga, dear." She corrected mildly, a complete different person from that in the hall.
"What is this place? and what is going on? Why is the entire house overrun with aurors and Gryffindors?" He gestured to the incredibly room surrounding him when he spoke his first question, then down toward the hall when he was referring to his pursuers.
"This" She presented in obvious delight. "Is the noble and most ancient house of Black." She pointed down the tunnel from which Draco had entered, then continued.
"That out there was the servants quarters, I never spend that much time there… for obvious reasons. And with it being invaded by that disgraceful horde, I have no reason to today. As to who they are, they call themselves 'The order of the phoenix', an unpleasant lot. They are lead by your former headmaster." She sighed as recalling something nasty she had rather forgotten
"My son I am afraid, invited them into this house. Phineas will be along shortly, but only when the current 'visitors' have calmed themselves."The last was said with a knowing glint in her grey eyes.
"It will not be long I assure you. We do not want to cause unnecessary suspicion, by making it too obvious that Phineas is somehow connected." She paused, seeming uncertain for a moment.
"Draco, now that I have assisted you, can I ask you a favor?"
He eyed her suspiciously, not willing to make a pledge to do something he knew not the content of, family or not. "What kind of favor?"
"Good answer" She approved. "It is nothing taxing or especially demanding, only this." She pointed toward a small object on the table, a delicate necklace he had not seen before. It was old, that much he could tell, and clearly worth a little fortune in itself. An 's' was carefully carved on the medallion, taking the form of a snake. The gold was a bit faded, but nothing a good polishing could not fix.
"I have thieves in my house, and I fear that this necklace would end up destroyed or belonging to someone who knows not of its true worth. I only ask, will you take it with you and keep it safe?" Draco picked the small medallion up and twisted it around. It had a strange, somewhat uncomfortable, magical aura around it.
"What is it?" he couldn't help but ask.
"I do not know exactly, to be honest, but I do know that it was important to my son, my youngest son. I am told, that he believed it to be very important in some way I know not. He never told me." She uttered in a mournful voice.
Draco studied the object again. It didn't seem like a big favor, besides she was right, he owed her as much. He took the chain over his head and let the medallion fall so that it rested on his chest. When he turned back to face Walburga, a thankful smile drifted across her lips.
Then, suddenly she was not alone in her frame, but the richly clad form that was Phineas stood beside her.
"It seems that the rabble have cleared off Walburga." She nodded. "Young Draco, I believe that it is time that you returned to your friends, they are quite concerned. He reached out with hand towards the blond. A spell, and a short walk later, Draco found himself back in the Slytherin common room.
Was it only five hours since he was here last? It felt like a week.
"Draco?"
Blaise stood in the door, his hair ruffled wearing his nightgown. He blinked a few times as if he found it difficult to focus on the blond.
He couldn't help but to grin at the sight.
"Go back to bed Blaise."
Blaise started off immediately, in the wrong direction. The blond shook his head and grabbed his friend before he wandered off in his sleep.
"Wrong way, the bed is that way." He pointed. Blaise only grunted something incomprehensible, but let Draco lead him to the dormitories. Faint light from the torches danced on the wall and lit their passage, or rather Draco's passage. Blaise was long gone into dreamland by now, and only walking because of Draco's directing presence. Unlike Blaise, every other person was wide awake when the two figures entered the dormitories.
"That was about bleeding time Draco!" raged the dark-haired Pansy suddenly, rose from her seat at the blond's bed. She stood tall, walked up to him and promptly hit on his shoulder, hard.
"That's for making us worry." She said indignantly. He rubbed his shoulder when he was certain that she was not looking. Being on the Slytherin quidditch team had given her a fair share of physical strength. After treating to his wounded shoulder he turned his attention to the others in the room.
"Why haven't you gone to bed yet, the next mission starts only in one and a half an hour."
Gregory straightened and looked at him as if that was the most stupid thing to ask. Feeling slightly guilty, for some reason he avoided Gregory's demanding look and scratched the back of his neck.
He let his gaze sweep the room, and found that every single one of his friends, Theodore included, sat at looked at him expectantly. None of them had changed to their nightgown… well despite Blaise, who was well on his way back into dreamland. The blond did not quite know where to begin his he remembered the hidden stash he had dragged along through all his trials this night.
"I bring regards from your parents… and quite a few items." And so Draco decided to start the story on a happier note. One of the funnier moments was when Pansy received the horrid yellow monstrosity from her mother. She went beef red and quickly hid 'the sweater' away from prying eyes. At the end of it, all of them had their very own pile of things from their parents beside them, some more embarrassing than others.
Theodore desperately hid something that bore a very close resemblance to a stuffed toy. It was thrown into his suitcase before anyone could get a good glimpse of it, and a wide range of security spells made sure that none would later.
He just managed to finish the tale of his nightly exploits when the hours had passed and the final stage of the plan was to be initiated. The sun crept slowly up on the sky as the small group of Slytherins made their way to the room in where they had hidden all the owls. For many reasons they had not been hidden in the dungeons, but rather in the opposite part of the castle, namely at the foot of the astronomy tower. If they had been found in the basement, they might as well have painted 'I DID IT' on their foreheads. He took the time to throw a glance out of the window, the sun was just rising in an explosion of colors, that was a good sign.
Draco's dark skinned friend yawned hole-heartedly for what must have been the fiftieth time in the last two minutes. There had been no helping it, he and Pansy was the ones who had a way with owls, a gift some said. Draco's own gift in that particular area left much to be desired, animal seemed to have some unfounded animosity towards him, he had no idea why….
So all in all, they both had to come along.
"Good, we are here." Blaise whispered hiding another yawn with a lifted left hand. "When is the feast?"
Draco checked the time with a spell. "Only half an hour from now."
"Good."
With great care, as to not startle the many owls on the other side, the door was opened and revealed endless rows of Owls in all sizes and colors. They perked up then the door was open, but stayed in their place due to Pansy's and Blaise's comforting reassurances.
"Make sure Potter's owl flies first, if anything goes wrong, it will look like he arranged it." He reminded from his position at the door. Blaise nodded in response, with a flick of his wand, the door was set to open and to release the owls when the feast was halfway through, when the greater part of the students would still be at their table. Soon the Slytherins joined their class mates at the table, waiting for the storm.
**
"- and of course the winter holyday have been canceled. We simply cannot allow that unruly elements spread untrue stories to the public." Umbrigde said with a sweet, very fake smile planted on her face. "Change is always hard but it must be borne for your own good. Some, I am afraid, cannot grasp the generous possibility that the ministry now offer you, my dears. Therefore no one will be journeying home this Yule."
Collective protest rose, but just as soon died away again when the pink terror looked I their direction. Her gaze though, did not stop the angry mumbling that emerged from the silence as a horde of angry insects.
"And!" She interrupted adamantly. "I must admit that I am a bit disappointed in the lack understanding and diligence…" suddenly angry eyes shot to Rickett who visibly drew a bit into himself. "- In some circles."
She snapped back facing the rest of the hall. "Also! We will have to go over the entire list of students yet again, the answers I have received, simply will not do. It has come to my understanding that some of you have decided to oppose me and I will see to, that you will be cured of such insignificant and improper ideas."
"I.
Will.
Have.
Order!"
All conversation seized.
"You must know that I love you all so very much, and I must save you from yourself. If that means that I have to remove a few to save the greater number of you, that is exactly what I will do." Her eyes lit up, in a disturbing parody of a concerned mother. To Draco's satisfaction he realized that the bottle she had in her hand was that of the true veritaserum, not the fake. It could not have been better, had he planned it himself(which he had). Predictable Rickett actually gave it to her!
How stupid was he?
With an obscene amount of glee, he noted that Ricketts badge as an inquisitions officer was ripped off. How the mighty have fallen.
"History cares only for results, not methods, that you must understand… and I have a lot of methods..." She let the threat hang in the air.
"The list of the following students, who will face questioning today, is as follows-"
As she was about to continue, she was violently interrupted by the two great doors bursting open in an explosion of feathers, led by the easily recognizable form of Potter's owl. Hooting and the flapping of a thousand wings filled the air and drowned out all other sounds. Roars of joy emerged from the crowd as pet and owner was reunited after a long separation. Umbrigde was no late in demanding her troops to capture the escapees as soon as she woke from the initial shock. Dutifully the inquisition set in and did her bidding- or attempted to do so.
Draco saw one of the Weasley's deliver an uppercut to one of them, when he tried to capture a small ball like owl along with Potter's snow white one. Soon, all of the owls was on their wings again and flew out of the window with energy received from months of inaction.
A few owls was apprehended, but for the most part they all made I through the wide windows, all of them with a letter attached to one of their legs. His own eagle own spread his great wings after being given a letter to both Skeeter and his parents. He too made it out of the window after avoiding near capture by Rickett.
A furious glare was sent in the blond's direction when he failed to seize Draco's missive, mouthing the word 'you!' in sudden realization.
Draco he folded his hands, resting his chin on them, presenting the bastard with a satisfied smirk, and one word.
"Me."
A hundred owls were now heading off in all directions, there was no possible way to stop all of them from delivering their letters. The news would get out. They just did not realize the magnitude of the people who would know yet. Not at least, until the daily prophet arrived this afternoon.
They had won.
Checkmate.
**
To say that Umbrigde was furious would be an understatement. Aurors had arrived all day, first as an answer to all the worried parents who owled, then in larger crowds when the evening edition of the daily prophet arrived. She was unable to call off the latter team, with groundless assurances.
Most of the student body had been looked in their respective houses 'until further notice'. That is, all students who didn't know a certain spell involving portraits. They probably shouldn't have, but the temptation was too great for a Slytherin to handle (or any person who wanted to see Umbrigde get it, and that list was 'loooong' as Pansy put it.)
From a secure position inside a crowded painting, the witches and wizards inside bore a strong resemblance to the ex-headmaster in taste of fashion (or lack thereof).
In that crowd, a small part of the Slytherins kept close eye of the proceedings.
Until a few hours it had been quite an amusing sight to behold. The pink terror seemed unable to explain and justify what she had done, but then… everything went quiet. No living creature was in the hall, not even the ghost was seen anywhere. Ironically enough, the only thing moving at all was the paintings, which seemed not to understand what was going on. According to some pictures in the great hall, an unidentified group had entered and gone directly to the headmaster's office. It was yet unclear as to how they had managed to breach into the highly secure location.
Draco was bored, he had hoped for a better finale, and he was not the only one.
They had barely stopped themselves to hold a celebration party of some sort in the common room, to celebrate the end of the cruel reign. It would have been like to ask for trouble, so they decided not to. Draco was already beginning to look forward to the holidays, which he now expected to be back on schedule. It would be great no to throw a glace over his shoulder every now and then in fear of discovery, and just kick back and relax with his family.
Well…That and the obscene amount of gifts that usually accompanied this season.
Still even after a few hours, he hoped the something might happen to satisfy his urge to gloat.
Though it did not seem like something was about to happen any time soon…
It was like staring into a grave, everything was still, silent and a dark air hung unyielding in the atmosphere, like a thunderstorm in wait. Draco disliked that immensely, if pinky was about to get what she had coming for a long time, he deserved a front row seat. It was a bore just sitting here assuming the outcome, even if she was getting off easy, he wanted, no, needed to know exactly what was going on.
But indulging in that urge was out of the question, why? Because that involved a decent risk of getting caught by aurors, and that was not exactly a nice experience, or so he had been told.
"Does anyone have an idea what is going on?" it was Pansy who whispered the question to one of the painted wizards.
"What about the portraits in the headmaster's office? Can´t we contact them?" First, It did not seem like the man would answer, but then in an unusually soft voice he said.
"No, since the unknown group went into the office, all communication has been cut completely off. No one knows what is going on, but I can say, that it most probably isn't good. Those people looked like unspeakable if I ever saw them."
"Unspeakables?" Perked at the new information, all of the gathered Slytherins directed their attention to the conversation. The blond prefect had been the one to ask the question almost on instinct. Unspeakable was never good news for anyone involved, they had the shadiest background in the entire world. Few knew what they were doing, but what little escaped to the public was not entirely comforting.
When they showed up at someone's address and took them away for 'questioning' some was never seen again, and no explanation was ever offered. They did not need to give one. This was even more worrisome, when it was a widely known fact, that unspeakables were aphorized to use the three unforgivable curses.
So one had a pretty good idea what happened at those 'questionings'. He had been told in the past that they called it 'experimental interrogations' during the first war.
Which is such nicer term than torture…?
He supposed that it was in the Aurors favor, that the Cruciatus curse didn't leave any visible marks. It was only trembles and sometimes cramps if the victi… subject, was kept under it for too long. Permanent brain damage was sometimes a nasty side effect, when an overeager Auror wanted to prove him or herself. During the first war it had been done to a lot of people who was suspected to be deatheaters… most was later found to be innocent.
But does that hold any significance to a person tortured to insanity?
Despite those nasty facts, it was pretty neat that their tormentor now was at their nonexistent mercy.
Draco did not bother to hide his grin, though it was slightly disappointing to know that she probably wouldn't get the entire 'treatment'.
But hey, you can't get everything. He reminded himself, it was worth the trouble if it resulted in the sacking of a certain pink clad maniac
"You should be getting back to your housings children." The painted Phineas arrived from an unknown location and began pushing them towards the exit. He seemed agitated and flustered about something and his hair and clothing was in disarray, as if he had been in a fight, but still trying to uphold proper form. Such was the custom in past times people, if Draco remembered correctly.
"It is a more safe conduct at present, to leave. It is not advisable to attempt to explain to those 'people' why you are spying on their doings, they are of a paranoid kin. They have not changed much from when I still walked among the living. You ought to leave this place and return to where you are supposed to be." the last part was said very firmly, he would have no discussion on the matter. His demeanor would have scared off most people their age – Merlin – probably people twice their years.
But of course he didn't realize that he was dealing with Slytherins…
"But, surely they are too busy with Umbrigde to worry about a few fifth year student?" Theodore protested as the former headmaster grabbed him,(the only one within reach) adamantly attempting to sound sure of himself, despite the effort, it came out as a question anyway.
"It is not Umbrigde they are investigating children. They are very displeased with her but not for the reason you suspect." The grey eyes turned from hard flints to pools of worry.
"They are angry with her, that much is true, but not because of her management of the school. That which has been done to you in the past, have been approved by the ministry in every regard, all of it." He paused, not because he seemed insecure, but more like he did not wish to vocalize the next words.
"… The ministry is highly displeased with her progress, because she has allowed the public to learn of her doing in this institution of knowledge since summer… no one was supposed to know of it. I overheard their exact purpose and was almost destroyed upon discovery." He stopped for a moment but then forced himself to finish.
"The unforgiveables are not here to arrest her, they are here to try to find out who leaked to the daily prophet, and make sure that those persons do not do so again, and that is not all." Every single person was silent he had the complete attention still living people and painted figures alike.
"They said that they had tired of chasing shadows, and now would deal with the deatheaters by destroying the root. They are here, to 'solve the Slyhterin problem'."
**
Authors note:
So very sorry about the long wait :(, work has just been completely crazy, I hardly sleep anymore. (3 hours last night)
I will attempt to upload another chapter a fast as I can manage it. Originally I had planned this chapter to be longer, but this seemed like the right place to stop. The real action will start off in the next chapter, so bear with me until then.
Thank you for the comments and advice, I appreciate you take the time to comment :) and even more so, to have made it to someone's favorite list!!
The title quotation is from Sirius black in book five.
Till next time :)
Chapter 10 – 'And power-hungry Slytherin loved those of great ambition.' Will be finished, as soon as I have time for it.