Chapter Nine
Narcissa lowered her hood over her blonde hair. She gave one last hug to Andromeda and Ted before walking out of the house.
"How will you know when the baby is born?" asked Nymphadora, rubbing her small belly.
Narcissa bit her lip, holding back tears. "I will find out. Some how or some way. I will see you again. All of you." She gave Nymphadora a hug. "Take care of my sister for me. And take care of yourself. Just because you're an Auror doesn't mean you can put the life of my sister's grandchild in danger."
"I won't put him or her in danger." She smiled at Narcissa. "Safe trip, Aunt Cissy."
Narcissa nodded to her. She looked over Nymphadora's shoulder and raised a hand at Andromeda and Ted. "Your father?" she asked, worriedly. "He will go into hiding, right?"
"I hope so."
"Good. Goodbye, Nymphadora. It was a pleasure meeting you."
"And we will see each other again."
It was the first of September. Draco was staring out of the window and noticed that there were more people lurking around than ever. There were normally just one or two people who looked like they were just waiting around.
"Honestly," Draco said as Potter entered the house and made it past the traps. He pulled off the Invisiblity Cloak and draped it over his arm. "You would think they'd be a bit more smarter than thinking you'd just show up and leave Grimmauld Place on September first to go to Hogwarts like you have nothing better to do."
Potter grimaced at Draco. They weren't exactly friends, but they weren't constantly throwing insults at one another. They've somehow become comfortable acquaintances.
Draco had spent the last few weeks, stuck at Grimmauld Place with Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He had seen exactly how close the three were to one another and how much they all loved each other. He was a bit envious of the relationship and the friendship they had with each other. With the ease they felt with one another. With his own friends, Crabbe and Goyle, he preferred to boss them around, and they were thick enough to listen to everything he said. With Zabini and Nott, they were always trying to show-off and one-up each other. These three not only praised each other, but they teased each other and called the other out when they were wrong. They listened to each other and took what everyone thought into account.
Even him.
It had taken a few days, but Potter seemed to be a bit at ease around him. Draco could tell that Potter still had some reservations about him, but they kept a civil tongue. Granger had taken a bit longer. Draco guessed that six years of insults and abuse was a lot to forget about, but he could tell that she seemed to be trying. Draco was trying to. It was one of the things that he had learned when he was staying with the Tonks'. He liked, maybe even loved, Ted Tonks as an uncle and as a surrogate father-figure, and he was a Muggle-born. Maybe Muggle-borns weren't really as bad as he had grown up to believe, Draco thought. Granger would speak to Draco and seemed to sincerely want to get to know him, but Draco was still shy around her and didn't respond very often.
Weasley was a different story. He still refused to be civil to Draco, even if Draco tried. Of course, Draco couldn't resist antagonizing Weasley because it was so easy to, but he stopped when he knew he was treading a thin line. If Weasley didn't make it so easy, Draco wouldn't push his buttons so. In an effort to not annoy Potter and Granger so much, Weasley and Draco had taken an unspoken truce that they would just not speak to one another.
Potter looked at Draco and spoke as if he didn't hear Draco. "I've got news, and it's not good. Where are Ron and Hermione?"
"Down in the kitchen, I suppose. Kreacher is making a steak and kidney pie."
Kreacher, the old Black house-elf, had shown up in the house at Harry's command. Potter, Weasley, and Granger had been able to pull the true story about Regulus Black from him and now seem set on procuring this locket that they had seen in the house two summers ago. Draco remembered Kreacher from his dealings with his mother and Bellatrix. He hadn't spoken much to the house-elf, but he could tell then that Kreacher loved Bellatrix, so he obeyed her every command that he could. And now it seemed as though Kreacher loved Potter.
He followed Potter to the kitchen and there, they found Weasley and Granger already eating.
"Shoes off, if you please, Master Harry, and hands washed before dinner," croaked Kreacher, seizing the Invisibility Cloak from Potter's arms. "You too, Master Malfoy."
Kreacher still called Draco 'master' even though he wasn't his official master. Draco supposed it had something to with his Black heritage.
"What's happened?" asked Weasley apprehensively. He glanced at Draco and pushed aside a number of scribbled notes and hand-drawn maps.
After Kreacher retrieved Mundungus Fletcher for Potter, they seemed set on breaking into the Ministry of Magic and stealing the locket from Dolores Umbridge, whom Draco remembered all too well from Hogwarts. Draco tried to convince them otherwise, saying that they were just asking for trouble and walking straight into it, but Potter and Granger had already set their mind to it. Weasley seemed intent on ignoring him. Draco just couldn't see why a stupid old locket was so important that they had to break into the Ministry and steal it.
"Snape's headmaster of Hogwarts." Potter threw down a newspaper over the notes.
Granger picked it up at once and started reading it out loud. She broke off and went into a long tirade about Snape. "Merlin's pants!" she shrieked, jumping up from the table. She leapt from the table and ran out of the room. "I'll be back in a minute!"
"Merlin's pants?" repeated Weasley, looking amused. "She must be upset."
Even Draco had to crack a smile. He looked over Potter's shoulder and finished reading the article. The Carrows were joining Snape at Hogwarts.
Granger ran back into the kitchen, carrying a large, framed picture. She explained that it was Phineas Nigellus, old headmaster of Hogwarts, and would be able to spy on them for Snape, simply by walking around in this portrait. She dropped the portrait in a small bag that sucked the frame in like it had fallen down a hole.
Potter told them what he saw at the Ministry that day. With their plan to break into the Ministry, he, Weasley, and Granger took turns staking out the entrances to it. Draco considered offering, but decided against it, not knowing what he would do if he was caught. They didn't ask him, either.
"…little wizard in the navy robes?" asked Granger.
"Navy robes?" repeated Draco. "A wizard from Magical Maintenance, right?"
"How do you know he works for Magical Maintenance?"
"Everyone in Magical Maintenance wears navy blue robes. That's why my father never liked blue on me. Said it reminds him of the help." He saw Potter and Weasley exchange a glance.
"You never told us that!" Granger rifled through the notes frantically. "There's nothing in here about navy blue robes, nothing!"
"Sorry, I thought everyone knew that."
"Every detail counts, Malfoy!"
"I'm aware of that." Draco took a seat next to Potter. "So you are all still going along with your plan to break into the Ministry, are you?"
"Yes," answered Potter. "Tomorrow. We should do it tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" He looked across the table at Granger, who turned pink.
"You aren't serious, Harry?" she said. "We can't do it tomorrow!"
"We know everything that's important," said Potter. He cited everything that they had found out over the past few weeks of staking out the Ministry.
"If we go for tomorrow," said Weasley slowly, "it should just be me and Harry."
"Oh, don't start that again!" sighed Hermione. "I thought we'd settled this."
"Hiding under a cloak is different. You're on the list of Muggle-borns who didn't present themselves for interrogation!" He jabbed his finger at a newspaper dated ten days previously.
Draco glanced at the newspaper and saw Ted Tonks' name there also. He hoped desperately that he was safe somewhere. He listened as the three of them argued about who should go and who shouldn't go, the same argument that they've had over the past four weeks. He noticed Potter grab his scar and immediately knew that it pained him. He had been around Potter enough these past few weeks to learn some of his habits. And somehow Potter was connected to the Dark Lord through this scar and sometimes saw visions, like the one he had seen with his father. Potter stood up and bolted out of the kitchen, leaving Kreacher behind looking a bit crestfallen since he didn't finish his dinner.
He exchanged a concerned glance with Granger, who shared the same glance with Weasley.
Draco, being the closest to the door, leaned back in his chair and perked his ears up. "He's screaming," he said to them. At once the three stood from their chairs and ran to the bathroom. Granger started pounding on the door.
"Harry! HARRY! Open up!"
Potter opened the door a few moments later. He looked as white as a sheet and seemed to be dizzy.
"What were you doing?" she asked sternly.
"You were yelling your head off!" Weasley said.
Potter tried to cover it up, but Granger forced him to tell them what he had seen. "Gregorovitch," he asked. "Who is he?" He and Granger continued to argue as they headed back to the kitchen.
Draco grew weary of listening to the same damn argument between Potter and Granger. He surmised that Potter was supposed to be employing Occlumency against the Dark Lord to keep him out of his head, but Potter either refused to do it or couldn't do it. He decided to put an end to the argument himself.
"Don't you think you should go over the plan for tomorrow?" Draco asked.
Potter glared at Granger and nodded at Draco. "Yes. And all of us will go. Malfoy, that includes you."
"What! Me?"
"Yes. Sorry, but if Voldemort found me and you tomorrow, one guess on who he's going to want more."
Draco looked uneasy. "My mother—"
"Well, Mummy's not here, is she?" mocked Weasley.
"Ron!" Granger said, warningly. "Stop it!"
"Yeah, Weasley, listen to your girlfriend and stop it!" Draco said, growing angry. "I get it, okay? You hate me, I hate you. Let's just leave it at that, all right? I'm just trying to survive and so are you. You say that I'm just a pampered spoiled boy who've somehow gotten Kingsley and Remus on my side? Maybe I am. But do you want to see the things that I've seen? You want to hide in a closet while the people who've willingly protected you are tortured and hurt? You want to see your uncle, who's been the most helpful person in your life, be tortured half to death? To mop up his blood with his own handkerchief? To listen to your aunt scream so loud that it still sounds in your ears? And to actually know the people who've done it? To grow up and with them and know them as uncles, family members even? And then to find out that they've never cared for you and that they would kill you at the first chance they've got? To be forced to torture people because your father is bored that day. Because your aunt needs to be entertained. And then to see the fear and the pain in their eyes…to hear it when you dream, to see it when you're awake…you want to know those things? You want to see those things?" He pulled up his left sleeve that he always kept hidden. The ugly Mark stood out against his pale skin. "Then get one of these." Draco roughly pulled his sleeve down and ran from the room with tears in his eyes.
He ran up to the room where the tapestry of the Black family tree hung. He slumped into a chair and released the tears that he had been holding back. A few moments later, he heard footsteps slowly approach the room, but he didn't bother wiping his face.
"Um…Mal…Draco?" Granger's voice cut into his thoughts. "Um…I just…he's sorry…"
"Then he should tell me himself," Draco sneered. He was looking down to avoid looking at her. He wiped his face and put on the coldest face he knew.
"Are…are you…are you all right, Mal…um, Draco?"
"Does it look like I'm all right, Granger?" he snapped. He gestured to the door. "Why don't you go out and join ginger in speculating on the things that I've done. The things that I've seen."
"He's sorry," she repeated.
"Just leave me alone, Granger. Don't act like you care when I know you don't. You wouldn't be putting up with me if it wasn't for Remus, anyway." Draco pulled the chair so that it faced away from the door and ended up facing the Black tapestry. He stared at it for a long time, noticing his mother's name and Bellatrix's name, but saw that the place where his aunt Andromeda's name should've been was burnt through. He stood and placed a finger on it and felt the scorch mark.
"Sirius said his mother burnt people off of the family tree when they've done something against the family. He said she did this when Andromeda married-" said Granger, tentatively taking a step forward. She stood next to Draco in front of the tapestry.
"Uncle Ted. Because his mother thought he was Mudblood."
"Were…did you…did you get close to him?"
"Don't speak of him like he's dead, Granger. He's not unless I see his cold body."
She fell silent for a bit. "Well, when you still lived with him, were you close to him? Did you get close to him?"
Draco didn't say anything. Instead he looked at his mother's name and saw that it was connected to Lucius Malfoy and saw his own name and picture beneath theirs.
"Yes," he answered. "I got close to him."
Granger seemed to want to ask him more questions, but she could tell that he didn't want to talk about Ted Tonks anymore. "Harry's right, you know. You've changed. Changing. You haven't called me a 'Mudblood' in weeks."
Draco furrowed his brow. "Well…I don't fancy the three of you tossing me out to those Death Eaters out there. And...maybe not all Muggl-Mudbloods are bad." He gave her a hint of a smile.
Granger smiled at him and sensed an opening. "Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer, if you don't want to…" Draco nodded. "Um…why…why did you become a Death Eater?" She gestured to his left forearm.
Draco was deep in thought. He didn't exactly know the answer. He looked at Granger. "Kingsley asked me the same thing. I…I don't know," he replied. "I try to…think of myself last year and…I can't remember. I barely remember the person I was when I first came to Hogwarts…when I was a member of that blasted Inquistorial Squad." He flashed her a sly smile.
"Well, what do you remember?"
Draco squeezed his eyes shut. He was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I remember the looks in their eyes. The screams from their mouths. The pleas. The cries. The shouts. The children. Their faces stick the most. I remember all of that and know why I didn't want to remain a Death Eater."
Hermione looked horrified. "And…and Dumbledore?"
"I-I…if I didn't do it," his voice dropped down to a whisper, "the Dark Lord was going to make me kill my mother." He opened his eyes and saw a horrified look on Granger's face.
"And…and did your father…and…Bellatrix Lestrange…"
"Yes. Torturing Muggles is a sport for them. They thought it was funny. They thought it was funnier that I hated doing it. That's why they always forced me to do it."
"Have you…you don't have to answer this either, Draco, but…have you…killed anyone?"
Draco shook his head. "I've come close, though. That Bell girl and Weasley…"
"Do you regret it? Becoming a Death Eater?"
Draco shook his head again. "No. If I never became a Death Eater, I wouldn't be relying on Potter for my safety now, would I? I would probably still be that arse who threw a spell at you to make your teeth grow and call you a 'Mudblood' every chance I got."
Granger gave him a small smile and a confused look. "Harry's right. You have changed, Draco." She crossed the room in two strides and opened the door.
"Hey Grang—um…Hermione…" he said in a soft voice. He didn't know what possessed him to suddenly call her by her first name.
Hermione turned at the sound of her first name with a surprised look on her face. "Yes?"
"Um…thank you, Hermione. I…I don't…I don't really know how to talk to people…about…about myself and whatever. Only Kingsley and…well, um…well, you have made it less hard."
She smiled at him. "I'm glad I could help, Draco. If you ever need anything…" Hermione walked out of the room. Draco heard her footsteps echo down the hall and he continued to look at the Black tapestry.
Twenty minutes later, he headed down to the kitchen. As soon as he stepped foot in, the others stopped talking.
"Well, don't stop on my account," Draco said, dryly. "Especially if it was me you were discussing." He saw Potter nudge Weasley, who looked very much like he wanted to be swallowed up into the floor. Draco took a seat at the table, next to Hermione.
"Ron!" she said sharply.
Weasley cleared his throat. "I never thought I'd say this, but…" he looked nervously around, "sorry, Malfoy."
Draco gave him a short nod. "Funny – you would think that I'd enjoy this more."
Potter gave him a funny smile. "I'm asking you both to shake again." Draco and Weasley glanced at each other and briefly shook hands over the table. "Thank you. Now, on to the plan for tomorrow. Draco – you're to have the Invisibility Cloak on you at all times inside the Ministry. Stay close to whomever is nearest to Umbridge."
"Stay close – that's always my only instruction." He raised his glass. "But, I got it. I'll stay close."
"Do you think we can pull this off?" Hermione asked.
"We just have to hope so," answered Potter.