A/N: All right, thanks to all my reviewers. I've noticed that the reviews lately seem to be more specific than usual, you know, more than just one-liners. And I appreciate that, I really do like to find out what people think. Thanks again to Tigoamy for betaing. Also, thanks to Chickens of Doom who made a good point about the fact that wands are not technically necessary for apparition. I will modify the previous chapter to reflect this in short-order, if I have not already done so before uploading this one. To answer a couple of other review-questions: I think Snape saying "The Dark Lord will get you for this!" is justified because Snape was in a lot of pain and frustration when he said it, and no one can be expected to be overly eloquent under such circumstances. Also, I had intended to make it generally apparent during last chapter that Nagini was in fact dead, and I hope that was clear to most of you. Finally, yes, they've still got Snape's wand at the moment. Okay, with that, let's get on with the chapter.
Chapter 12
The Truce Spell
There was stunned silence in the room for about three seconds after Draco made his announcement. That is to say, rather, that there was stunned silence from the humans concerned. Kreacher had once again taken up his ecstatic muttering at the sight of Malfoy.
Harry was on the point of drawing his wand on Malfoy, but reckoned that he would have time to take his head out of the fire once he saw the wand being drawn. And since he couldn't curse the man, he might as well listen to him.
"Fine, I'm listening," said Harry irritably. He was not, at this point, harboring any hope that Malfoy may make the process of finding Ginny any easier. As Harry reckoned, Malfoy must simply have been the pawn Voldemort sent to tell Harry where Ginny was being held prisoner. Once he went there, there would obviously be a duel between him and Voldemort, which could obviously not end well considering that Voldemort was still immortal. Two of the Horcruxes were still at large, even though Nagini was now most definitely dead, after being Avada-ed not once, but twice.
Malfoy laughed coldly. "No Potter, I need to talk to you alone. And it needs to be some place where I don't have to have my head stuck into a fire-place. So we shall need to meet somewhere."
"What, you expect me to meet you somewhere so that you can set up an ambush for me? I'm not stupid Malfoy," Harry said.
"I have neither the time nor the patience to argue that point with you at the moment," retorted Malfoy. "But I'm sure that a negotiating session could be worked out on terms which you would be comfortable with. Or at least on terms that you can't refuse considering that your girlfriend Ginny Weasley is currently standing petrified in the room behind me."
"You haven't turned her over to Voldemort yet?" asked Harry incredulously, trying to figure out whether this was simply another ploy. Malfoy, of course, shuddered at the mention of Voldemort's name, but Harry had grown fairly used to getting this response from people when he said that name, so he essentially ignored it.
"We shall discuss this at our meeting, Potter," said Malfoy, who was getting rather impatient.
"Fine, you come to the gates at Hogwarts again, and I'll bring enough reinforcements so that you won't try to pull anything funny," demanded Harry.
"Not quite what I had in mind Potter, and you should remember that I've still got a bit of bargaining power here. I propose that we meet in a neutral location, just the two of us." Harry was about to open his mouth to counter this proposition, but Malfoy continued. "I know that you don't trust me Potter, and I don't trust you either. Fortunately, there is an ancient spell that can soothe both of our minds and give us the chance to discuss our terms."
"Oh!" Hermione squeaked. It was clear that she knew what this spell was, and even in the depths of her worry for Ginny and the situation in general, she apparently could not help but be excited about the prospect of witnessing such exciting and obscure magic as the spell in question seemed to be.
Harry reckoned that if Hermione was that excited about it, then it must be a legitimate spell, so he figured he'd follow along, although he definitely strongly resented allowing himself to be led by Malfoy. "Fine, Malfoy, what spell are you talking about?"
"It's called a truce charm. If we have it cast on the two of us, then neither of us will be able to harm the other one until we both agree to call the charm off. If either one of us attempts to do anything to harm the other person before we both agree to call off the charm, then the violator will be killed before even carrying out the harmful action. For instance, if I were to attempt to get you hurt by telling some Death-Eaters where we were meeting so that they would be able to kill you, I would die before I even had the chance to fully divulge the information," explained Malfoy slowly, apparently taking great pride in knowing something that Harry was so obviously ignorant about.
It reminded Harry forcefully of his first encounters with Malfoy prior to the start of term in the first year. Between his encounter with Malfoy in Madame Malkin's and his encounter with him on the first train-ride to Hogwarts, Harry had discovered Malfoy to be a cocky little kid who knew a good bit about the Wizarding World but was too arrogant and prejudiced for his own good. Harry reflected that Malfoy hadn't really changed very much from who he had been during those first few encounters.
"Is he telling the truth?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yes," answered Hermione and McGonagall in unison. Oddly enough, Harry had quite forgotten that McGonagall was in the room. She had been letting him do all the talking since it was so obvious that Malfoy wanted to talk to him. Harry realized how ironic it was that the Headmistress of Hogwarts was deferring to allow a 17 year old to control the conversation in her own office.
Hermione seemed to have forgotten that McGonagall was present as well. "Oh, I'm sorry professor," she said hastily, "you can explain."
"No, that's all right, you seem to have it under control," said McGonagall politely.
"Well, Harry, basically he's telling you everything you really need to know about the spell," said Hermione. "It really is such an interesting piece of magic. If it weren't for this spell, medieval Europe would never have had a moment without Wizarding Wars going on. All the Medieval Wizards were too paranoid to trust each other, and they never would have been able to get to the negotiating tables if it hadn't been for this spell. Frankly, I don't see why you shouldn't talk to him if he's willing to do this spell. It can't hurt to at least hear him out, and maybe he'll be able to tell you something that could help you find Ginny." Hermione finished with her voice in a hopeful note but her facial expression was a skeptical one, as if she was not willing to accept that Malfoy could possibly have anything helpful to say. Harry basically saw it the same way, figuring that Malfoy would still probably simply just tell him where Voldemort wanted to have their rendezvous. Still, Harry couldn't quite figure out why Malfoy would go to the trouble of bringing up such an old ritualistic spell to do that.
"Fine," agreed Harry. "What do we need to do?"
"We cross our wands and each say, in unison, 'Fido Bellicum.' Now, obviously, the catch is, we have to trust each other enough to allow the other to draw his wand without trying to cast a spell. But the spell also requires the each of us to point our wands at ourselves, so we'll never actually have to have the prospect of having the other person's wand pointed at us. Are you ready?"
Harry was still somewhat confused about just exactly what was going on, but figured that Malfoy would not try anything with 3 other people in the room. Harry drew his wand, pointing the back end of it toward Malfoy.
Malfoy shifted his head in the fire, and his wand hand poked out of the fire, his wand also pointed toward himself.
Harry knelt down beside the fire to bring his wand to a level with Malfoy's. Hermione craned her neck from behind Harry, not wanting to miss seeing such a spell being performed.
After crossing their wands, Malfoy and Harry each pronounced "Fido Bellicum."
After the spell was complete, Malfoy continued. "Okay then. Now you just have to ask everybody else to leave so that you can tell me where we're going to meet."
Harry would have felt rather awkward asking McGonagall to leave her own office, so he was relieved when Ron, McGonagall, and Hermione each left of their own accord. Kreacher stayed put. "Kreacher, I order you to follow Hermione and do whatever she tells you to do until I see you again. Once you see me again, you are to go back to following only my orders."
"Yes, sir," said Kreacher, who was seeming a little bit dejected that Harry had become more adept at closing any loose-ends in his order-giving.
Within seconds, Malfoy and Harry were alone in the room. Or, that is to say, Harry was alone with Malfoy's head in the fire-place. But at any rate, the stage was set for a private conversation which would allow the two enemies to determine a place to meet to discuss the terms of... the terms of what? Was Malfoy expecting Harry to simply surrender himself to Lord Voldemort in exchange for Ginny's life? Or would there be other options put on the table? It seemed to be too early for Harry to get his hopes up about such a prospect.
"So, Potter," Malfoy drawled, "it's only fair to let you decide the place that we meet, wouldn't you say?" Harry was aggravated by Malfoy's tone of voice, which betrayed absolutely nothing about his emotional state or what he might be planning to say at the meeting. Then, as Malfoy had obviously caught an oversight of his that even Harry had not spotted, "And write it down, instead of speaking it out loud. If you say it out loud, the portraits on the walls will be able to hear, and they could tell your friends where to go. And we certainly wouldn't want them to interrupt our little chat, now would we?"
Harry wasn't so sure that he wouldn't rather his little chat be interrupted, especially by people from his side, but he figured that it wouldn't do to aggravate Malfoy at this point, on the ever-so-remote chance that he might actually be willing to make Harry an offer that was somewhat useful.
So, he wrote down on a slip of parchment, picking the most neutral location that he could think of, "Ollivander's Wand Shop." The building had been deserted the previous year, when the world-famous wand-maker Ollivander had suddenly disappeared from his normal headquarters in Diagon Alley.
When Harry showed Malfoy the piece of parchment, Malfoy gave a small nod of ascent, and said, "Okay. I'll meet you there in 10 minutes, as you've still got to walk off of Hogwarts' grounds to disapparate. I'd suggest that you Floo there, but I imagine that it would have been taken off the network now that his shop's been abandoned."
What was this? Malfoy was actually talking to Harry civilly for once. True, he had been smug throughout this whole encounter, but he was less offensive than normal. Harry's curiosity continued to mount after Malfoy withdrew his head from the fire. Harry left the Headmistress's office, telling the others that he was going to have to meet Malfoy personally.
McGonagall and Hermione nodded their assent, although each looked quite as curious as Harry himself felt.
Ron was not quite as pleased. "I don't trust him. I've never heard about this Fido Bellicum spell, but I have heard of Draco Malfoy, and I have a feeling that he'll figure out a way to dodge the effects of the spell and hurt Harry anyway, if given the chance."
"Well," said Hermione rationally, "if he does, he's a much better wizard than any of us thought. No one in the history of Magic has ever figured out a way to break a Truce Spell, and it'd be rather impressive if Malfoy was the first one to pull it off."
"Yeah, Ron," said Harry, attempting to reassure Ron. "I don't know why, but Malfoy really wants to seem to talk to me, and I don't think he'd give up the opportunity by scaring me away if he tried to curse me. And he could pretty easily have killed you while you were paralyzed in front of him, but he didn't. Malfoy's acting rather strangely lately, and maybe that will act in our favor tonight. At any rate, if he tries to curse me, I still think that I'm better at him in dueling. And if he broke the truce first, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to break it."
Ron was still reluctant to trust Malfoy, but could see that Harry was set on going. "Well, anyway, you'd better hurry if you're going. If Malfoy's using this extra time before you get there to set some kind of trap, you don't want to give him any extra time to do so."
So Harry walked with a quick pace back down to the gate of the Hogwarts' grounds.
As he walked, he fumed about what an eventful night this had been so far. He had accomplished quite a lot. In his duel with Snape he had proven that he was up to snuff in Occlumency and was capable of defeating a wizard whom, as substandard a person as he might be in other ways, was quite good at dueling. Beside that, he had succeeded in the original goal of the evening, which had been killing Nagini. But he had not had time to relish in either of these victories given the fact that Ginny was now in mortal peril even as he walked.
As the words "mortal peril" flashed across his mind, Harry's mind was drawn irresistibly to the clock in the Weasleys' house, on which all the hands representing the different Weasleys were already pointed at "mortal peril." The one benefit of that was that at least Mrs. Weasley wouldn't know that her daughter was at this moment in more danger than she normally was. Harry knew, of course, that someone would soon have to notify her, but he thought that any extra moment of relative peace that Mrs. Weasley could grab was worthwhile. She was a very nice woman and did not at all deserve the stress which she had already been subject to over the past several years.
This train of thought carried Harry clear to the gate at the edge of the grounds, and once on the other side of it, he did not waste any time in apparating to Ollivander's abandoned wand shop.
Upon arriving, he found himself looking at Malfoy by the light of a self-contained levitating fire that Malfoy had apparently conjured while waiting for Harry.
"So, what do you want?" asked Harry shortly.
"No need to be so impatient, Potter," taunted Malfoy calmly. "We'll come to that in good time. I want you to know, first of all, that Ginny is still safe. She has not been turned over to the Dark Lord. I am here to make an offer concerning how she may be able to avoid that fate."
"So you're willing to release her... for what?" asked Harry, who was torn between anger and curiosity. He was leaning toward anger, of course, but felt that anger was not an emotion which was proper to display in a negotiation session. Especially one in which the stakes were so high. "And besides, why hasn't Voldemort come looking for her yet? Isn't he wondering why you haven't turned her over?"
"He would be," said Malfoy calmly, tossing and catching his wand in his hand, "if he had ordered me to capture her in the first place. But he had not. Of course, I will hand her over if you don't accept my terms. The Dark Lord would certainly not turn down such a gracious offering as a young girl as important to you as Ginny is. And I suspect that he would be pleased to have her company for other reasons than pure strategy as well. She is rather good-looking, I must admit," sneered Draco.
It took all the restraint Harry had not to attack Malfoy at this point. He might even have forgone the magical route and simply punched Malfoy repeatedly in the nose. But the small part of Harry's mind which was still thinking rationally was quite aware that such action would undoubtedly be counted as breaking the truce spell, and would therefore result in his own death. So he took a deep breath and, struggling to keep his voice from turning into a shout, said, "What are your terms, Malfoy?"
"When I was about to kill Dumbledore, he offered me protection from Lord Voldemort for myself and my family if I were to refrain from killing him. I was on the verge of accepting the offer at that moment, but I was prevented by that idiot Snape and the other Death-eaters," Malfoy started. Harry was rather stunned at how quickly Malfoy's loyalties had turned. In years past, he had always been firmly loyal to Snape. And although Harry knew from certain eavesdropped conversations that during the previous year their relationship had become a bit strained, he had not expected Malfoy would call him an idiot. But then, Slytherins were certainly not known for their loyalty. Malfoy continued, "Once Snape and I reported to The Dark Lord, he was furious at both of us because I had not proven my worth, and Snape had not allowed me to. I was under the Cruciatus Curse for almost a half-hour total, over that night."
Harry cringed in spite of himself. Harry had experienced the Cruciatus curse a couple of times over his life, but he knew that suffering for a half hour, even in smaller chunks, over the curse of a night, would have been quite enough to break most wizards. Harry was rather surprised that Malfoy had not ended up in St. Mungo's.
"I'm not looking for pity," spat Malfoy, who was obviously quite more offended by Harry's pity than he tended to be by his insults. "I'm simply explaining myself here so that you can understand why I'm attempting to switch my loyalties. I realized at some point during the torture that being forced to submit to such torture was the ultimate sign of subordination. Every man under the Dark Lord's regime is no better than a bloody house-elf. And I'm not even sure that the Dark Lord can even win this damn war. I mean, sure Dumbledore's dead now, but that was as much my doing as it was the Dark Lord's. He had never figured out a way to get his troops into Hogwarts' castle. And since the connection I made had been broken in the aftermath of Dumbledore's death, there has not been another attack on the bloody castle in spite of the fact that it's now being run by McGonagall. And in the sixteen years since he's first attempted it, neither him nor any of his other troops have been able to kill you. And I don't much fancy myself playing the house-elf to a Dark Lord who can't even kill a half-blood Gryffindor who didn't even know he was a wizard until he was 11 years old."
Harry was perplexed. Was Malfoy attempting to surrender here?
"Why are you so confident that we can save you from Voldemort? How do you know you're not already in too deep?" asked Harry. He had two motives for posing this question. First, it was really starting to make Harry angry that Malfoy still seemed so secure in his position. He wanted to cause Malfoy to squirm. Merlin knew the little brat deserved it. But his other motivation was that Harry himself wasn't quite sure how he would deliver on these terms even if he wanted to.
"Well, Dumbledore mentioned something about making it look like my mother and I were killed. And I'm sure that your lot could still pull that off now, even without the doddering fool Dumbledore. And I also happen to know that your lot has a headquarters that the Dark Lord's side has not yet been able to infiltrate. Snape was able to get himself in there, since Dumbledore trusted him; but since he wasn't the Secret-Keeper, he still can't let anyone else in. I suppose Dumbledore had been the secret-keeper, but I'm sure that you could figure out who the current secret-keeper is, and you could get me there. My mother and I could spend the rest of the war there, as Dumbledore had suggested. And if it looks like your lot is about to lose the war, I can kill myself before I'm captured. I have no intention of withstanding the Cruciatus Curse ever again if I can help it. And, of course, if your lot do win, I imagine that I'd be in a better position having surrendered now than if I waited until the Dark Lord was killed to do so," explained Malfoy.
Malfoy seemed to be sincere. And what was stranger was that he seemed to be being a complete Slytherin about all of this. He was acting not out of nobility, but simply weighing his options. He could live as a slave under Voldemort's regime or as a free man on the other side. It was almost enough to make Harry believe he was actually serious in his will to surrender. It didn't do much to help him believe that Malfoy actually deserved their protection though. But, of course, there was still the question of Ginny.
"If what you were aiming to do was surrender, why didn't you simply do that, instead of going to the trouble of kidnapping Ginny first?" asked Harry.
"You really are stupid, aren't you, Potter?" asked Malfoy. "I needed to prove to you lot that I still had something to offer you. Even the supposedly kind Dumbledore didn't bother to offer me amnesty until I was threatening his life. I couldn't expect you lot to let me off scot-free without my offering something in return. So my proposition is that your side gets Ginny and holds me prisoner in a secure location until the end of the war. At that point, I should gain amnesty from any prosecution after the war."
"But once we agree to hide you, how would we know that we could trust you? You obviously have no qualms about bartering your loyalty for your own gain," countered Harry.
"Bloody hell, Potter. Sometimes you are so stupid. You'd swear that hanging around that filthy mud-blood Granger so often, you'd have picked up at least some of her intelligence. I could simply make an unbreakable vow to not leave the premises of wherever the prison is. Then if I'd leave, I'd die. Really, Potter, there's no reason for you not to take this deal. Unless you're too full of yourself to accept an offer from me, or if you're not really as attached to your girlfriend as everyone seems to think you are," said Malfoy.
And as much as Harry hated to admit it, Malfoy was right. Although Harry was not necessarily convinced that the Order would not have agreed to hide Malfoy had he not first kidnapped Ginny, it was certain that he could not now refuse to help.
"Why did you need to talk to me about this instead of McGonagall or someone else in the Order?" asked Harry.
"Two reasons: First, Snape mentioned at one point that you technically owned the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, so I knew that if I was to stay there you'd have to be consulted eventually anyway, so you were the one to convince. Also, I figured you'd have more vested interest in Ginny than McGonagall would. And if I convince you, I know that no one will have the nerve to oppose letting me surrender, even if they might otherwise. They'd be so impressed by your 'nobility' in reconciling with me that they wouldn't have the nerve to contradict it," Malfoy's tone made it clear that he thought this fact to be somewhat ridiculous, even if it was helpful to him.
"I suppose your right," said Harry slowly.
"Well, then, Potter. What'll it be? I shall take you to Weasley if you recommend to McGonagall that I be granted amnesty and safe haven in Order of the Phoenix Headquarters for the Duration of the War, along with my mother and my father if he ever gets out of prison," said Malfoy.
"I can't necessarily guarantee the amnesty of your father, Malfoy," said Harry reasonably. "He's already been prosecuted for crimes he has committed. You may still be able to get off scot-free, as you didn't technically kill Dumbledore and have not been formally prosecuted for anything. Same goes for your mother," said Harry.
"Yes, well... you could be right about my father. But you should at least be able to offer that your lot will attempt to protect him from Voldemort if he tries to retaliate against him for my defection, assuming that the killing ruse doesn't work," bargained Malfoy.
"Fine," said Harry, with some difficulty. It was costing him a great deal to bargain with such a conniving wizard, but he really had no choice. "I accept your terms. Now take me to Ginny."
"Give me your wand, and I'll apparate us there. You will be able to take Ginny with you back to Hogwarts, along with me. I'll give you your wand back once you fulfill your end of the bargain. I still can't bring myself to fully trust you, but I reckon that your wand should be a sufficient deposit as you seem to think yourself too noble to break your word. And don't worry, even if I have your wand, I still can't hurt you before we end our truce, which would after-all require you to have your wand back."
Harry obeyed, hating himself all the while for following Malfoy's orders again. He swore to himself that he would never again allow himself to fall into a position where he was forced to bargain with a death-eater, albeit a defecting one. Harry grudgingly grabbed on to Malfoy, and was immediately transported along with him into a dimly lit room.
"Where the hell are we now?" asked Harry, feeling uncomfortably out of his element.
"We're in Malfoy Manor," said Malfoy. "And I'm not sure that I like letting you be in here, so let's get out, quickly. There's Weasley," finished Malfoy, pointing over to a wall where Ginny was chained, dungeon-style, though she was clearly conscious. Leave it to the Malfoys to have a dungeon in their manor. "She can't talk, at the moment; I got tired of her complaining so I silenced her. You can undo that once you get your wand back. For now, let's just get this over with and get back to Hogwarts. If you grab onto her while you're apparating, the chains will stay back here and she'll be freed."
So Harry did so, and soon enough, the three of them had materialized once again in front of the gate at Hogwarts.
"Oh, right," said Malfoy. "I suppose I'll have to wait on this side of the gate. When I tried to walk through them earlier, there was an invisible wall there. I suppose the gate is trained to recognize students and let them through, but not anyone else."
"Could I have my wand back?" asked Harry.
"No, you have to come back here with McGonagall and advise her to take me and my mother to the headquarters first," said Malfoy.
"Fine. But first reverse your spell on Ginny, I want to be able to talk to her," said Harry.
"Oh, fine," said Malfoy. "She can go with you, but she's not getting her wand back either until you bring McGonagall back here."
Malfoy gave Ginny her voice back, and Harry and Ginny walked together until they were a bit away from Malfoy. At that point they took a brief stop to enjoy their reunion.
Harry hugged Ginny close. "I was so worried, Ginny. Please never scare me like that again!" advised Harry.
"Well, maybe if you'd take me along on your important snake-killing missions, I wouldn't have time to get myself in trouble," said Ginny with a sly grin. Harry found it amazing that this girl who had just moments ago been a prisoner in Malfoy's Manor was apparently none the worse for wear and still in good humor. But then, Harry remembered, Ginny had been through considerably worse experiences in her day.
After a brief reunion-kiss, they made their way back up to the castle. Within another ten minutes, a very confused McGonagall, Hermione, Kreacher and Ron were following Harry and Ginny.
"Wait, you mean he's defected?" asked Ron, on their way back down to the gate. If nothing else tonight, Harry thought with a bit of humor, which was possible since Ginny was safe again, he was getting quite a work-out tonight.
"Yes, apparently," said Harry. "He's got a couple of conditions though... Although I suppose we could take him by force now... He just knows we won't. Something about our nobility or something."
"Can't we kill him?" asked Ron, who apparently still hadn't gotten over the emasculating feeling of having his sister kidnapped right under his nose.
"No, Ron, we've got to have principals. If we give up on things like that, then Voldemort's principals will win even if he himself doesn't," said Hermione impatiently.
"Would you guys mind arguing some other time?" asked Harry impatiently. "Professor McGonagall, do you know who the Secret Keeper for Grimmauld place is now?"
"Yes, it's me," said McGonagall. "Why?"
"Well, that's the conditions of Malfoy's surrender. He wants to be kept prisoner at Grimmauld place along with his mother for the duration of the war, and then be released without charges once the war is over."
"I suppose that could probably be arranged," said McGonagall thoughtfully. "At least we could house him in Grimmauld place with his mother. But the charges wouldn't really be up to me."
"Well... He's not in much of a position to quibble at the moment," said Harry. "He can't refuse the terms any-more. I think he knows that even with some charges he'd be in a better position now than if he waited until the end of the war to surrender."
"That's probably true," agreed McGonagall.
The conversation on the rest of the way down to the gate was basically consumed by each of the others asking Ginny about how her ordeal had been and whether she was okay.
Once they all saw Malfoy, McGonagall talked shortly. "Yes, we'll allow you safe haven until the end of the war, and although we cannot technically offer a plea-bargain at this point, I will personally attest that your defection at this stage should be taken into account. You come with me now, and I'll take you to Grimmauld place where you shall make an unbreakable vow to neither leave nor do anything destructive while you're there. Within the next few days, we shall retrieve your mother and create a farce to make it appear that both you and she were killed while trying to resist an Order raid on your house."
"Okay," agreed Malfoy. He handed Ginny and Harry back their wands. As a formality, though neither would really have a chance to hurt each other in the foreseeable future, they also ended the truce spell.
"All right, then, the rest of you are free to go," said McGonagall. "I believe a celebration is in order, as I learned from Hermione that our mission tonight was ultimately successful."
"Wait a second," said Harry thoughtfully. "Why don't we have Kreacher go with Malfoy to keep the house livable and whatnot?"
"That sounds like a good idea," said McGonagall.
"All right, fine," said Harry. "Kreacher, you are to take care of Malfoy. You may follow whatever orders he gives you just so long as none of these orders will cause harm to any person or any of my possessions." He knew that Malfoy would not even be able to give orders of this type given that McGonagall's unbreakable vow that she would make with Malfoy once he got to the house would prevent him from causing any harm.
After that, the four teens began walking back toward the castle, McGonagall and Draco disapparating with a pop behind them.
"Well," said Harry with slight amusement as they walked. "That was one interesting night."
A/N: One interesting night indeed. At least I hope so. Because if not, then it was pretty much a waste for me to write over two chapters about it. Well... anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you like it so far. I'm not sure if you're all going to buy the Malfoy defection, but I hope I did a good job of explaining how it really is in keeping with his Slytherinesque character. Oh well. That said, I myself don't think that this is one of my better chapters, not overly exciting or funny or even romantically satisfying. But it was necessary to the plot, and I think it showed a bit about both Malfoy's and Harry's characters as I intend to portray them. So, hopefully you lot liked the chapter anyway. Let me know! One more thing, quick, Fido Bellicum is from Latin and means, approximately, I trust the enemy..