Hermione's sudden departure from the shelter was startling and strange but Harry didn't get a moment to think about it.
"Potter, Robards wants you and I to escort Nott to St. Mungo's. Weasley, they need you to help sort people back to their departments." Liam Thorps, the other Auror trainee, announced. He was perhaps only five years older than them but acted like he was in his mid forties.
Ron looked confused. "Why does Harry have to go?"
"Probably because he was here for the entire time Nott was acting up. I wouldn't know for sure though."
Liam shrugged like Ron had questioned him about what he had for breakfast before levitating Nott out of Penelope Clearwater's grasp and out the door. Harry threw Ron a puzzled look over his shoulder and followed the other Auror.
There weren't any people crowding the halls yet as the announcement had been given to repopulate the building slowly, one bomb shelter at a time. Liam and Harry only received a few odd looks as they trailed Nott's hovering body with their wands out. Liam had to hold Nott under the arms and Harry had to throw the powder into the fireplace for him in order to Floo the Slytherin to the hospital. For Nott's sake, Harry was glad they kept him stunned and that no one was around. The ordeal would have been terribly embarrassing otherwise.
The mediwizards at the hospital must have already known they were coming. Three of them grabbed Nott out of Liam's arms as soon as they stepped into the entrance room and toted the Death Eater away on a stretcher.
"We should stay here for a bit in case they need us." Liam gestured to the waiting room chairs and they both sat down.
'A bit' turned out to be two hours. Harry was trying to entertain himself with an outdated edition of Witch Weekly while Liam dozed. He was reading the same sentence for a third time about the best spells to use for cleaning under furniture when a healer came to tell them they were needed in Nott's hospital room.
"Is he doing alright?" Harry threw the magazine aside in an instant.
The healer looked distraught. She glanced between Liam and Harry like she clearly wanted to tell them something but couldn't.
"What happened!?"
"Best for you to come with me now, sir. You should see for yourself."
Nott's hospital room was in the department for dark curses and severe hexes. They had quarantined the young man in a chamber far down the hall from the other rooms in the ward. It was a single patient room, something Harry knew to be a rarity for the magical hospital. When he saw three full trained Aurors standing guard on the door Harry started to understand why the healer had looked so anxious.
The men ushered Harry and Liam inside with barely a word and slammed the door shut behind them. Strange as that was it had nothing on what Harry witnessed as soon as he crossed into the chamber.
Even at half past noon, the room was stiflingly dark. The curtains had been drawn over the picture windows and only one small oil lamp was lit on the bedside table, emitting a yellow flickering glow.
"Ah, Mr. Potter and Mr. Thorps. Good of you to come. Please sit down." A cool female voice tumbled over the space. Harry didn't recognize the middle aged witch with dark hair who sat beside Theodore Nott's bed. He did recognize Gawain Robards who sat beside the woman, a seriously annoyed face gracing his appearance.
Theodore Nott was no longer unconscious. That didn't mean he was entirely with it. The brown haired man blinked at Harry and Liam and seemed to have trouble seeing them. His blue eyes passed over them unfocused and he swayed slightly in his seated position on the bed.
As Harry's own eyes began to adjust to the darkness he began to see things that further increased his unease about the situation. For one, the vial of clear potion the woman held that Harry was positive contained Veritaserum. Second, Robards had his wand out and ready in case the half conscious man who had almost died two hours ago would suddenly spring into attack. Finally, the faint glint of something metallic encircling Nott's wrists. A step closer to the bed had him confirming that they had handcuffed Theodore to the bedposts, the shiny iron chafing against his newly bandaged forearm which contained a large dark splotch from the oozing wound.
"What are you doing to him?" Harry calmly asked his boss. Robards sneered at Harry and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a jumble of words that broke forth from Theodore.
Nott spoke quickly and garbled. Harry immediately remembered the side effects of the truth potion. A person would answer questions automatically with no filter. In this case Nott seemed unable to make coherent sentences most likely due to the trauma he had been in.
"We are attempting to question him about what happened." The woman put in when there was a break in Nott's rambling. "Unfortunately, it seems that Mr. Nott is bilingual."
Harry raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Robards looked at him and huffed. "I take it neither of you can recognize his tongue."
He and Liam both shook their heads and Nott started talking again. Harry could now tell that instead of incoherent English, the Death Eater was paraphrasing mountains of information in a Romantic language Harry couldn't identify. It made him smile a bit. Nott had found a loophole to offset questioning by Veritaserum. Yes, he was answering the interrogation but in a way that his interrogators couldn't understand.
"Is there no one in this entire hospital who can speak the same language as him!?" Robards was ready to strangle someone. He had both hands balled into fists around his wand.
"Please, dear, don't break another one. We already had to get you a new wand once this year." The dark haired woman put one of her long fingered hands over Robards' knuckle breaking fists. Harry examined her, realizing that this must be Gawain Robards' infamous wife, Dahlia. His first thought was that this woman was way too pretty and too young to be matched with his large eyebrowed boss. Dahlia Robards had a slim face with large almond eyes and full plum colored lips. When she smiled, a row of perfect white teeth glimmered in the lantern light.
Nott said another long phrase in what sounded like Spanish as he tilted his head and caught Harry's eye. His blue gaze twinkled slightly and Harry thought he saw the other man wink. Harry took a step back from the bed as his stomach started to bubble.
Why is he looking at me like that?
"This is madness!" Robards shoved himself to his feet. "In the old days we would have Imperiused him into speaking English!"
Nott gasped and pulled away from the older Auror. His arms clanked the handcuffs against the posts ringing out an angry sound of metal scraping against metal.
Robards had the indecency to laugh. "Don't fret, son. I can no sooner cast an Imperius on you as I can on Potter. Not without a one way ticket to Azkaban. Though I'd love to be able to give you one of those myself."
Nott was quivering in his handcuffs and had started to grumble under his breath. Even in another language Harry could recognize the intonation of cuss words.
"We are not going to get any more out of him today." Mrs. Robards put in. "Maybe he should go home and rest."
It would have been a kind offer except for the nasty infliction she put on the word 'rest"."
"Very well. Potter, stun the kid and take him to Malfoy Manor. Nott's been staying with that lot since his father was sent away."
Harry's arms prickled. "You want me to stun him?"
Robards gave a heavy sigh. "I don't have time to argue with you! I need every man I can get back to the Ministry pronto so we can get things in order. I can't let a conscious Death Eater walk away without a full team escorting him and, frankly, no one has the manpower or the time for that."
Harry tried to argue more but Liam shook his head in warning. Stunning Nott seemed inhumane and unfair but it seemed Harry didn't really have a choice. If he refused, Harry figured, Robards may trap Nott in a full body bind instead.
It took a lot of self control to take his wand out and cast the Stupefy. A younger Harry would have refused outright but now he was starting to learn how to pick his battles. As soon as he was out of the hospital he could reanimate Nott and take him to Malfoy Manor respectfully on foot.
Harry also figured that a younger version of himself would not have cared so much about a Death Eater's dignity.
"Thank you, Mr. Potter." Dahlia Robards cooed. "We appreciate your cooperation." Her smoldering smile burned into Harry's memory as he exited the room.
Liam helped him return Nott to the stretcher they had brought him in. They levitated it together back to the hospital waiting room.
"You'll have to Apparate to the Malfoys' if you can." Liam suggested. "I don't believe their home is connected to the Floo network."
"Aren't you coming with me?" Somehow, dropping in on Lucius Malfoy with Nott still in handcuffs seemed like a bad thing to attempt alone.
Liam shook his head no. "I have to get back to the Ministry. Orders are orders."
He at least helped get Nott to his feet and retrieved the man's shoes. When they unstunned him for the second time, Theodore rolled out of the floating stretcher so fast Harry almost didn't get to him in time to catch him. The result was Liam needing to support the other two men while Harry had both arms flung tightly around Nott's ribs. He could feel every exasperated breath gust in and out of Nott's chest as he held him up completely for a few moments. Liam took the opportunity to put Nott's shoes on. Unsurprisingly, they couldn't find his wand.
"I'm sure it will turn up." The other young Auror told him, although Harry noted the doubt in his voice.
"And if it doesn't?" He tried not to shoot his disdain at Liam, the situation wasn't his fault. He still may have come off a little harsh.
"I don't know. I suppose he'll have to get a new wand. Take him home, Harry."
"I don't understand why we're doing this. He isn't well enough to leave the hospital!"
"Because we have to follow orders, Potter." Not for the first time that day Liam gave him a warning glare. "Try to keep your head down and do as you're told. In the long run it will be better for everyone. Trust me."
They shared a long hard stare. Harry had almost forgotten that he was holding up another person until Nott started talking again, this time in English.
"I think I need to piss. Maybe. I'm not so sure. Harvey, where are we?" He pushed himself up and tried to steady himself but was unsuccessful. Harry gripped him under the arms tighter.
"Take it easy, Nott."
Theo looked around the brightly lit room and blinked. There were a fair amount of people about for an early Wednesday afternoon, but no one paid them any mind. It probably wasn't too out of place to see a half mad person stumble out of a stretcher here.
Nott gripped Harry's arms tightly and nervously spotted Liam beside him. "Is that an Auror? What's going on?"
"And that's my cue to leave. Good luck, Potter." Liam gave a small wave and abandoned Harry like an unwanted pet.
"Arse." Harry grumbled after him.
"So, I'm pretty sure I have to piss now." Nott looked Harry in the face. "Do you think there's a toilet in this restaurant?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Try to hold it till we get you home, okay? It will only take a second. Hang on to me. We're Apparating there." Right now was not the time to go in search of a toilet.
He hadn't thought he'd ever need to return to the Malfoy household. Harry poofed them a fairly long distance from the front gates of the estate. He wasn't sure what sort of wards the Death Eater family still might have in place.
Understandably, Nott nearly collapsed on their arrival. It was sleeting in this part of England, making the ground slicker than necessary. If Harry had removed his arms from Nott after their Apparation the young man would have been a miserable heap on the ground. He had to admit he was glad it was him who personally had to escort Nott home. Any other Auror, perhaps even Ron, would have let the man tumble onto the wet muddy gravel, unintentionally or not.
There must have been some wards still in place since it was barely half a minute before the visage of Mrs. Malfoy came striding to the gate. She looked ever the graceful swan she always had though he noticed she hadn't spared a moment to put on a cloak. Her arms were clasped around herself tightly, comforting her underdressed body against the cold precipitation.
"Theo!" The gate thrust itself open with a wave of her wand. She was ontop of them instantly, clutching onto the tall Slytherin who nearly engulfed Narcissa's tiny frame. Someone must have clued her into what had happened for the first thing she did after embracing Nott was check his bandaged forearm.
"Help me get him inside." She commanded Harry after the bandaging must have met her inspection.
Nott was miraculously able walk. He couldn't walk well but between Harry and Narcissa they were able to get him up to the house rather quickly considering everything. She led them to a side door entrance, down a narrow hallway, and up through an immense kitchen large enough to encompass the entire first floor of Number 12. Nott made it until they reached a servants' room that must have been built merely to hold the china. There was a low cushioned bench in the long room that was large enough for Nott to lie down on.
"This will do for now." Mrs. Malfoy announced. The glinting light of the chandelier reflected off her substantial collection of dishes lined perfectly in their glass display cases. The Queen herself would have been impressed. Harry wondered if Mrs. Malfoy had to serve dinner to mass murdering racist maniacs on her pristine flatware. "Thank you, Harry. Lucius will hopefully be home soon."
What did you say to the woman who was married to Lord Voldemort's second in command? This woman's sister had tortured and murdered hundreds including Harry's painfully missed godfather. Narcissa also had saved the entire magical community by lying outright to the Dark Lord that Harry was dead.
All Harry could say to her was,
"He has to use the toilet."
She didn't seem to hear him.
"If they keep him any longer at work tell them I will contact a lawyer." Her face flushed with outstanding rage but Mrs. Malfoy was able to keep her volume in check as she continued to speak. "Honestly, why couldn't he stay at the hospital? Even just for one night!"
"I don't know, ma'am, but he may be better off here now that I think about it."
She gave him an icy sneer. "Oh?"
Harry fumbled with his words under the intense dark gaze the woman held.
"It's just, well, uh...they were interrogating him at the hospital. You saw the handcuffs!" He pointed to Nott's arms which were still chained. Narcissa's expression switched to pure shock. In the extremity of the moment she hadn't even noticed the handcuffs before.
"Robards forced him to drink Veritaserum right after we got out of the Ministry."
Her eyes widened but more out of concern than surprise.
"He would." She let herself sigh. "Thankfully Theodore didn't say anything compromising?"
"No." Harry allowed himself to smile a little. "He spoke in Spanish so they couldn't understand him."
Mrs. Malfoy didn't find that amusing at all. "He what?"
Harry scratched his head and backed away from her a step.
"Uh...instead of answering their questions in English he switched to Spanish. It was rather brilliant, actually."
"Portuguese." She growled. Obviously she didn't share Harry's impressed opinion on Nott's language talents and maneuvering truth abilities. "His mother was from Brazil."
"Uh...I don't understand…" This didn't seem the time to make a racist slur, not that there ever was one.
"Idiot!" She diverted her voice to Nott's half conscious form, finally letting her tone ring out loudly. "Now they'll think you have something to hide! Next they'll have you in trial and shipped off to Azkaban to live with your father and the Dementors!" She reached anxiously at her hair, pulling out the elegant braid with her fingers and yanking an impressive lump of blonde strands right out of her scalp.
The sound of the ripping hair follicles seemed to invigorate Nott more than her yelling. He shakily sat up suddenly and Harry made a reach for him, afraid he'd fall.
"Stop." He said softly, brushing Harry away and starting for Narcissa's hand in the same motion. His handcuffs collided with Harry's fingers, causing him to pull away at how cold they felt.
"For fuck's sake!" Harry pulled out his wand and vanished the cuffs wordlessly. The magical metal bracelets were gone in a puff of green smoke. He was ashamed he hadn't thought of doing it earlier.
The sudden lift of the heavy iron from Theo's arms had him examining his forearms with a dazed look. His fingertips of his left hand scratched at the inky dark splotch that had leaked through the bandages on the Dark Mark. He slowly blinked at his arm, his face started to fall, his eyes widened, and his eyebrows furrowed. It didn't seem that Nott had fully comprehended the severity of his condition until that moment.
He did fall then. Harry should have noticed it coming but Mrs. Malfoy picked up on it first. She prevented Nott from falling completely to the ground by blocking him with her body. Harry rushed to help them both back up while she held Nott up on the bench, his hands fisted tightly in her thin black dress robes. He had started shaking and Harry panicked that the man would go into shock again.
"Calm down. Both of you." She gestured for Harry to sit down on the bench beside Nott. "Please, Harry."
He was trying to recall when he had gotten on first name terms with Bellatrix Lestrange's sister and refused to sit down until she physically forced him to by pushing him. When he stumbled to Nott's side Harry understood her concern. His own arms were shaking far worse than Theodore's.
Content that Harry had seated himself to her liking, Mrs. Malfoy pulled out her wand and flicked it hard in a quick single motion high above her head. A tinkling chime rang somewhere deep in the bowels of the walls followed by a familiar pop of someone Apparating into the room. Harry looked up half expecting to see a house elf but was greeted by a warm smile of a slim older black woman with short hair.
"Ah, Sara. There you are. Could you help Theodore up to his bedroom. He's badly injured. Mind his arm and make sure he uses the loo before he lies down."
A servant? Harry thought and scowled. Be it the Malfoys to go out of their way to have a black servant.
"Certainly ma'am." The older woman moved to help Nott up gently.
"Harvey," Nott acknowledged Harry before standing up, "don't go. We need to go over those details on the cable connections. Broadcasting stations are…"
"Enough, Theo." Sara said with a flat American drawl. She gripped Nott strongly to steer him out of the room. "No one cares about Muggle entertainment except you. Now, let's get you upstairs. You look awful."
They left quicker than Harry would have liked, leaving him alone with Mrs. Malfoy. She stood before him and took in his discomfort as a comment on her choice in house staff, which in a way it was.
"It's difficult to get good help these days." She stated. "I can't live with house elves anymore and finding people from Britain to work for our family is impossible. My husband tried to employ some individuals from the Ukraine but I insisted on English speaking staff. American servants came out to be the best option."
Harry continued to glare at her in silence. If she had stopped with her explanation there he would have accepted her. She didn't though.
"I know what you're thinking, Aunt Walburga is screaming at me from the afterlife for letting negroes into the house. But I'm not her."
His jaw clenched down hard. Yes, Narcissa Malfoy wasn't nearly as terrible as Walburga, but that didn't mean Harry enjoyed her company. He didn't think he'd ever heard anyone use the term 'negro' aside from civil rights documentaries he'd seen in grammar school. Even Aunt Petunia would have been affronted with Mrs. Malfoy's language.
She ignored his silence. "You will stay for dinner. While Theodore is resting you can join me in the library until Lucius gets home."
It was a command. Mrs. Malfoy apparently didn't ask people over for dinner she ordered them to stay.
"Uh...that'd be lovely, Mrs. Malfoy, but I have to get back to the Ministry."
"Absolutely not." She blurted.
Harry glanced at his watch. "Dinner wouldn't be for another six hours, at least. I can't stay here that long, ma'am, I'm sorry."
She didn't seem insulted by his statement. Mrs. Malfoy delicately lowered herself to the bench beside him and folded her hands in her lap. The clump of hair she had been twining in her fingers was vanished away wandlessly. "I may not agree with Gawain Robards' way of doing things but I have to believe he sent you to bring Theodore here on purpose."
Harry scoffed. "Did he?"
"Of anyone at the Ministry, you are the one who needs to get as far away as possible. You're a target. I'm keeping you here as long as I can."
Harry's spine straightened with a sudden prickling pain. After everything the Malfoys had done, now was when she started to care about his safety? Shouldn't she be more concerned about her son who was missing?
"I'll be fine, Mrs. Malfoy, truly."
She couldn't force him to stay and Harry wasn't going to wait around for her to try. Nor did he have any desire to see her husband when he returned. He thanked her, simply a habit of being polite, and retreated out the way they had come into the house. Mrs. Malfoy followed him and tried to change his mind. She even reached for him and clamped onto his wrist tightly as he made to exit out the front gate.
"Please don't leave yet. The wards on the house are strong. You'd be safe here!"
"Let go of me!" He managed to release his arm from her claws. "Why do you care so much? I'll be fine! Shacklebolt put an all clear on the Ministry hours ago!"
"If you were hurt I would never be able to forgive myself!"
Ah. So this was a guilt thing. She must be trying to make up for her part in the War.
"Goodbye, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry passed through the gate. A cold windful of sleet shattered against his face and he turned back to avoid the icy spray. In doing so he glanced at the skinny witch behind him. She looked frail and freezing in her slip of a dress and her blond hair loose and wild around her. "Don't worry, ma'am."
What a stupid and privileged thing to say. Harry couldn't look at her anymore. He removed his wand from his robes and Apparated away into the blustery sleet.