I've taken Hisokaren's advice and enabled anonymous reviews. Please don't ask me questions when you're reviewing anonymously, as I can't answer them! I've enabled the dispaly of my email on my profile page now, so you can use that if you want to ask me anything, ok? I've also enabled the location display, no I'm not from France nor do I speak it well ;-) Perhaps I should type something on that profile page eh?
As always many thanks to my fabulous beta Ardchoile and for everyone who has reviewed!
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'Bloody hell Hermione, how many people are you expecting?'
Harry looked around the huge ballroom open mouthed. Hermione snapped her head back to look at him reproachfully.
'When are you going to start listening to me? I told you how easy it was finding people who wanted to participate in some sort of rebellion against the ministry,' Hermione answered, before sweeping the room with her eyes to make sure there were enough seats for everyone.
'Yes, I guess it'll do,' she decided.
'I'm so pleased the room meets with your approval'.
Harry turned to see Draco walking in the room, ever so calmly. He looked perfectly at ease, very much the Lord of the Manor. He also looked bloody gorgeous, but that was pretty much a given as far as Harry was concerned.
'Leave it out Draco. The room is gorgeous, I told you that. I was merely checking to see if everyone would fit, that's all,' Hermione grumbled good-naturedly.
Draco sighed and raised his wand.
'Hello? Remember these? Engorgio! Merlin you Muggleborns are hopeless sometimes,' Draco proclaimed as he watched the room expand to double its size. 'How's that?'
Hermione blushed.
'Sorry about that. No, that's a bit much I think, could you…'
Draco expanded and shrunk the room several times until it met with Hermione's approval.
Harry kept a close eye on his two friends as they bickered about the choice of food and drinks they'd be serving their guests. Hermione felt lunch was hardly the point of their meeting and that "a few sandwiches" would do nicely. Draco insisted that this was still Malfoy Manor and that there was no way he'd be serving anything as plebeian as a slab of ham and cheese on some bread.
On the surface, Draco looked fine, but Harry couldn't shrug the notion that something was wrong. Harry hadn't seen the blonde since breakfast which was several hours ago. Everything had been ok then, but now… He couldn't put his finger on it, but something had changed. Draco seemed to be ignoring Harry, yet whenever Harry looked the other way, he felt silver eyes burning a hole in his back.
'… what do you think Harry?'
Harry startled. Blimey, he'd have to stop doing that.
'Sorry Hermione, what?'
'Smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches? They're fancy enough aren't they?' she asked again hopefully.
Draco snorted.
'Look Hermione, this is my home, not yours, making them my guests, not yours! Therefore I will be deciding the menu, without your help thank you very much,' Draco insisted. 'Besides, the elves have been working on the food platter since breakfast, so there's no point arguing about it now'.
'Fine,' Hermione huffed.
'It is indeed,' Draco agreed pleasantly.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and got back to counting and rearranging furniture.
'Everything is running smoothly Draco. Those elves are quite impressive, as is this room by the way,' Luc said, as he walked into the room.
'Thank you for checking on that for me Luc,' Draco said, smiling warmly.
It irked Harry more than a little bit that the French wizard got one of those lovely smiles, while Harry was being studiously ignored. Harry checked the time.
'About ten minutes before the guests start arriving. Just leave it Hermione, I'm sure there are enough seats, and if not, we can always conjure up some more,' Harry said. He cast another quick glance at Draco. 'Are you sure it's alright for him not wear a glamour?'
Hermione nodded impatiently.
'Of course. As soon as the guests arrive, they'll know they're at the Manor anyway,' Hermione explained. 'And don't worry, they won't blab, I made sure of that'.
The wicked smirk on Hermione's face was impressive, bordering on terrifying.
'What did you do?' Draco enquired curiously.
'Oh, just a bit of a secrecy spell, a confidentiality spell and a little spell I invented to filter out any imposters,' Hermione said casually. 'You have nothing to worry about, I assure you'.
Draco looked at her with admiration.
'Somehow, I have no trouble believing that,' he said.
Luc and Harry exchanged a look and grinned. Draco looked up at the sound, looking at Harry for the first time since he'd walked into the ballroom. Harry's breath caught at the odd, intense look in Draco's silvery eyes. Harry stared hard, trying to identify that look, but was unfortunately interrupted by Hermione.
'Come on Draco, time to open up the floo,' Hermione announced.
Five minutes later, the first guests appeared in the enormous black marble fireplace. Hermione stepped forward and welcomed them.
'These are Mr and Mrs Shaw. They took over Ollivander's wand shop when he retired two years ago,' Hermione introduced them.
Draco welcomed them officially and asked them to take a seat. After that, the floo lit up again and again as new guests flooded in. Harry was pleased to greet some familiar faces such as Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown and the Patil twins. They didn't have time for more than pleased exclamations, a quick hug and a promise to catch up later, before the next set of guests arrived. Harry felt Draco stiffen beside him as Blaise Zabini stepped out of the floo, followed closely by an elegant looking Pansy Parkinson. The tall wizard rushed forward and enveloped Draco in a tight hug.
'Draco,' he croaked happily. 'Merlin am I glad to see you're alright! You had us so worried…'
Draco looked shocked for a moment, but then wrapped his arms around Zabini and squeezed back tentatively. Harry found himself not at all pleased to be witness to this particular fond little reunion. The hug lasted entirely too long in Harry's opinion. He glared at Zabini's back, silently willing him to let the fuck go already.
'Oy! Stop hogging Draco you big brute!' Parkinson huffed, shoving Zabini playfully. Harry liked her already.
'Sorry love, come here'. Zabini opened his arms and Parkinson slid in to make it a group hug. Maybe she wasn't that nice after all, Harry thought suspiciously.
Draco pulled back a little bit to look at his two old friends.
'She make an honest man of you yet?' he asked lightly.
'That she did mate, that she did,' Zabini responded, letting go of his friend and kissing his wife fondly.
Harry heaved a sigh of relief, which made Draco look at him oddly. Draco opened his mouth to make a comment, but Hermione cut in, introducing the next guests.
'We'll talk later darling,' Parkinson said. She gave Draco a quick peck before being escorted off by her handsome husband.
Looking at the -obviously in love- pair, Harry decided they were both quite nice after all.
Harry was busy greeting guest after guest, some familiar, most not. The ballroom was filling up nicely. The Weasley clan were the last to arrive.
'Harry!'
The exclamation and a blur of red was all the warning Harry had before being almost smothered in multiple Weasley hugs. They were all there, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and his wife Fleur, George, Charlie and his girlfriend Joanne, Ginny… They were all there except for Percy of course, who had been estranged from the family for years and Ron who Harry knew was looking after the children. Hermione had assured them that Ron was most definitely on board and they'd be meeting up with him later in the week.
Harry was startled to find Dean Thomas there, who turned out to be Ginny's fiancée no less. He remembered seeing the former Gryffindor's name in an article about the Bald Eagle Society. Dean noticed his old friend's quizzical look, thumped him on the back and mouthed Later with a wink. Harry was a bit nervous to speak with Ginny again after so long. He was relieved to find both Luc and Draco flanking him instantly as he faced his former girlfriend.
'Hello Ginny, nice to see you again. You look well,' Harry stated politely.
Ginny smiled graciously and inclined her head.
'Thank you Harry, it's good to see you too,' she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
Harry was pleased to notice the atmosphere between them was quite placid. Like Harry, she'd obviously long since moved on. Observing her with Dean, Harry thought she looked happy, and he found himself happy for her.
As the Weasleys moved off to find their seats, Hermione cast a Sonorus and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. All eyes turned in her direction expectantly as she started to speak.
'On behalf of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter I'd like to welcome you all to Malfoy Manor. As you all know, we're here to discuss the current political climate in the wizarding world in general and more particularly, the role the "Bald Eagle Society" has continued playing in it'.
Harry looked around the room as Hermione methodically listed all the ways in which purebloods had been systematically victimised. He saw a lot of solemn faces, all listening intently, sometimes nodding grimly as they heard the familiar charges. They all looked shocked though, as Hermione related what happened to Draco, even if she did so in the most delicate of terms. Harry stole a quick glance at the blonde, only to see him stand tall and face the room stoically.
'All of you have been involved in either small acts of rebellion against the ministry, the Bald Eagle Society and its followers. Unfortunately, you have been unsure before of just who you could trust, making it difficult to ally yourselves and together make a bigger impact. From now on, this will change,' Hermione stated, her voice clear and determined.
'Look around you. There are almost 150 Wizards and Witches here, from every part of Wizarding society. These are your allies. All of you have made a difference already. Mr and Mrs Shaw here, have been secretly supplying purebloods with a wand when they had none'.
The Shaws flushed and looked equally embarrassed and pleased at the sudden attention. Hermione went on.
'Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson have made part of their estate in Italy into a refuge for Wizards and Witches who needed to flee England. They have a little network going with the Phillpots and the Baddocks handling things on the English side. Musidora Baddock was in fact heading for Malfoy Manor just as soon as they heard about Draco being released from house arrest. Unfortunately she came too late to prevent the kidnapping'.
Draco turned to Blaise and Pansy in surprise. Both smiled warmly at their friend, but a look of regret was clear in their eyes. Harry was sure they would have given anything to spare the blonde his ordeal. Harry grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it softly before releasing it. Draco looked at him for a moment, gave him a small smile and then turned his attention back to Hermione.
She'd been listing the various acts of resistance that the assembled Witches and Wizards had engaged in. It turned out Neville had been collaborating with Seamus in handing out food parcels and small sums of money to those who needed it. Neville flushed hot pink, all the way to the tips of his ears as Hermione talked about his efforts.
The Weasleys had been the most open in their resistance, helping to gather evidence for appeals and advocating better treatment of purebloods through official channels. The engagement between Ginny and Dean had to remain a secret, as Dean had been busy trying to infiltrate the Bald Eagle Society. Hermione went silent after that, giving Dean an opportunity to tell them of what he'd learned so far.
'I've been trying to infiltrate their ranks for almost a year now, but progress has been slow. They are very secretive and I've only just recently found out the name of their leader. I did hear your name mentioned several times Draco, and it worried me. I tried to find out what had happened to you, but they operate on a strictly need-to-know basis'. Dean faced Draco and said: 'I'm sorry Draco, I realise I should have tried harder. I knew they were bad, but to be honest, I didn't realise they'd go this far…'
Draco swallowed.
'You couldn't have,' Draco said curtly. But then he gave the former Gryffindor a quick smile and continued: 'Thank you for trying though. You too Pansy, Blaise… I- I didn't realise people had… Tried I mean. For me. Thank you…'
Harry shivered as he saw the look of vulnerability flash over Draco's beautiful features. Hermione, noticing Draco's discomfort, smoothly took over.
'Recently Dean has been making some progress. On my suggestion, he let Harry's name drop with one of the more influential members. They were very interested to find that Dean and Harry used to be friends,' Hermione continued with an apologetic glance at her friend.
Harry scowled. She could have told him this before the meeting, couldn't she? Not that he wouldn't do anything to help Draco. Or the other purebloods of course, Harry thought quickly. He gave Hermione a small nod, encouraging her to continue.
'I have developed a plan that I am confident will succeed. As you can all plainly see around you, there is much more resistance to the system then you could have imagined. This is only the tip of the iceberg. You all have been active, actually doing something to make things better. For every one of you, there are at least ten Wizards and Witches that have been dissatisfied with the way Muggleborns have been promoted and Purebloods discriminated against. They've been passive so far, but all they need is a little push'.
Harry fidgeted with his robes uncomfortably, well aware of the fact that until recently, he'd been one of those Wizards.
'Our resistance will only work, if we go out in the open. This is the only way that other Wizards and Witches will dare to speak out, choose our side openly and defy the ministry. We will however need to set up our plan carefully, making sure everything is set up perfectly before our first public move. I will tell you more about these plans and everyone's roles in them, after lunch. I have the big plan outlined clearly, but the details need filling in. I am counting on all of you for input on that,' Hermione concluded.
Draco stepped up and took the floor.
'Lunch is served. Please take this opportunity to eat drink and mingle. It would be good if you got to know each other a little better. We have a lot of work ahead of us, work we'll have to do together. Now, please enjoy your meal'.
Draco snapped his fingers and delicious looking plates of food appeared. House elves apparated in to hand out drinks. Draco smiled smugly at Hermione as people started piling the delicious food on plates, all but ignoring the modest plate of sandwiches at the very end of the buffet.
'Oh shut up!' Hermione muttered darkly.
Draco widened his eyes in mock innocence and replied: 'I didn't say a word!'
Draco looked positively gleeful as Hermione stalked off in a huff to go talk to the Weasleys. Harry would have liked to stay right there and talk to Draco for a bit, but the blonde was hauled off by Parkinson a second later, right before he himself was crowded by a flock of former Gryffindors. Harry eyed the striking Wizard wistfully, before turning back to catch up with his friends.
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Yes, reviews still very much welcome :-)