At first, I must apologize for my mistake in the last chapter. When Fred tells Julia about Lucius mentioning her, he says Potter. Of course, Lucius doesn't know Julia is indeed Potter, so that was just a mistake made by me. I should have written Zabini.
Sorry about that.
On with the story...
Meetings and what about Neville?
When Julia arrived at Malfoy Manor that evening, she couldn't deny that she was nervous. She had never actually been here before, not as Julia, nor as Harry. The building was impressive, and Julia could see many similarities to the Snape Manor. But this manor was bigger, and had a sort of glorious air around itself that made Julia wonder what sort of powers there where around the estate.
When she got to the front door, it opened and Draco Malfoy was standing there, waiting for her. He gave her a small smile, and she returned it hesitantly.
"So, Zabini, what are you and my father up to? I swear it drives me nuts not knowing whats going on." He showed Julia inside and she was about to answer him when Lucius entered the hall and walked over to them.
"Ah, Ms Zabini, I take it that your journey was safe? You can't be to careful these days." He took her hand and she bowed her head in greeting. "Yes thank you, I had a pleasant ride here."
A houself appeared and took her coat, and then she was showed to what must have been the drawing room. She was amazed over all the old things and antique furniture that where preserved inside the large manor. It seemed as she had stepped into another time, and she liked it. The place looked like it was done for royalty, and there was no wonder that the Malfoy's acted like they did when they where surrounded by this glory 24/7.
"Draco, why don't you wait for our guests while I have a word with Ms Zabini here." Lucius asked his son, and Julia could see that Draco wanted to object, but he kept quite and did as he had been told. When Draco disappeared, Lucius motioned for her to sit in one of the armchairs. "Care for a drink Ms Zabini?"
Julia nodded. "Yes thank you, I will have a glass of white wine if you have some." Lucius walked over to what looked to be the bar, and a few moments later, Julia had a glass of wine in her hands and Lucius strolled over to the sofa with a whiskey in his left hand.
"So, who have you managed to convince? Draco is in, also Alexander Vane, a former death eater. I have also spoken to Mr George and Fred Weasley."
Julia nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that you had been talking to them, a surprise I must say. Then I have been in contact with my uncle, Severus Snape. I am sure you know him?"
Lucius nodded. "Yes, he and I had a good relationship before the rise of the dark lord, and a while after that." He sipped of the whiskey, urging her to continue.
"I have also spoken to Alastor Mad eye Moody, I think he will be a great asset to us if he agrees to join us."
Lucius didn't look too pleased about her last choice, and whatever he had been trying to say was forgotten when Draco entered the room again with all the eralier mentioned people. Alastor came first, scanning the room with his magical eye, and then scanning the blond aristocrat before him.
"Greetings Malfoy, you look good." Alastor grumped, and Julia decided that Alastor had wanted him to look worse for wear, and was not pleased that Malfoy was as good as he was.
"Alastor Moody, long time no see. I heard you left the Auror office?"
Alastor mumbled something Julia wasn't able to hear.
After him, the twins came, both greeting all of them before joining Alastor on the sofa that he had seated himself on. Severus Snape entered the room next, and he walked over to Julia to give her a brief hug, before turning to his former best friend. "Lucius." Severus reached his hand towards the blond, and Lucius shook it firmly. "I'm glad to see you here Severus."
Julia noticed that there was much left unspoken between them, and she guessed that they would need to work this out later, when they where alone. She guessed that there had been some kind of disagreement between the two of them, and she suspected that it had something to do with Lord Voldemort. She stored those thoughts back into her mine for later, and focused on the man in the entrance to the drawing room.
He was tall. His hair was a striking red color, and his face was pale. His eyes where blue, and a smile crossed his face when he looked around the room. Julia knew that this man was tricky, she could see it in his eyes. He greeted Lucius and then he turned to her. He looked at her up and down, and Julia fought the urge to glare at him for looking at her so intimidating.
"You must be Julia Zabini? A pleasure. My name is Alexander Vane, and old friend of Lucius."
Julia tried to sound polite when she answered him. "Nice to meet you Mr Vane, I'm glad that you where able to come."
Draco entered and they all got seated except for Julia and Lucius who remained standing. After all, it was easier to talk while standing, and this way, they could see each other better. Lucius indicated that she could start, and she nodded.
"Okay. I know that you all know to some extent why you are here. Let me just remind you that you are allowed to leave whenever you wish. We have invited you because we trust all of you, and we are hoping that you want to hear us out." She paused and took a sip of wine before placing the glass on a small table before she continued.
"A while ago, I decided to do something useful in this war. I have been active in it before, but was forced to hide for a while because of different things going on in my life. One thing with this war is that once you enter, you can't walk away. If you stop serving the Dark Lord, he will hunt you down and kill you. If you work with Dumbledore and decides to walk out of it, you will be seen as a traitor and a death eater."
She walked over to the other side of the room while she was talking, and was now staring out through the window. She heard Lucius speaking.
"Ms Zabini approached me about her idea of a new way to go in this war, and I think it has a merit. The idea is that we will work with two things. One, we will slowly cut of the resources to both sides so that they get more limited. Two, we will help those who wish to leave the war behind them, mostly families to death eaters and other people trying to stand outside of this madness. Also, if someone wishes to leave any of the fighting sides, we will interrogate them and perhaps help them to hide too. I and Ms Zabini can't do all this ourselves."
When Lucius went quiet, Alastor Moody was the first one to speak. "You mean that we should help death eaters out of their own foolishness?" Julia could hear that he was on his way to get angry, and she stepped in quickly before Lucius could give him an angry reply.
"All death eaters doesn't work for Voldemort out of free will Alastor. Many of them are forced into service by their parents, or sometimes even by their children. And those who want out, they goes to Dumbledore, seeking help. All he does for them, is offering a place as his spy. When they return to the dark lord, all they have done is offering both sides they services. Instead of working for one powerful man, they work for two. Both sides will kill them if they betray them. Maybe Dumbledore doesn't kill them off himself, but he sends them to the ministry where they are sentenced to Azkaban." Here, she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, and she turned away from the group, hiding the fact that she was about to cry.
After a moment she felt Severus warm hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him with a sad smile.
"Are you alright Julia?" he whispered, and she nodded while brushing away a tear that made her way down her cheek.
"I know at least a few in the Dark Lords service that would do anything to get out of it, among them a pregnant woman who lost her husband a few weeks ago. He was one of the Dark Lords more trusted servants." Mr Vane shifted in his seat and when Julia turned around she saw that he was looking down at his hands.
The twins had until now been quiet, so had Draco. The twins shared glances at each other and after a few seconds, Fred spoke up. "We are in. There is a reason why we are not members of the Order, and thats because we can't support Dumbledore's methods. This, we can support, and we will be happy to help."
Severus, who was standing behind Julia now, placed both his hands on her shoulders. "I'm with you."
Julia almost cried in relief. Both the twins, who meant so much to her, and her uncle, would support and stand by her in this. Draco nodded his head at his father, indicating that he where in too, and both Vane and Moody did the same.
Lucius walked over to a table where he picked up some parchment and a quill. "Everyone will sign these. They state that if and when anyone wishes to leave, you will be unable to talk about this organization, in any other way, you will be free to go."
They all signed the parchments and then Alastor rose. "I will have to report to Dumbledore, we will be having a order meeting tonight. Why I even bother to go, I don't know."
An half an hour later, they all agreed on meeting in two days again. Until then, they would try to contact a few more people, and they had to come up with a place they could use as head quarter. If they here to use Malfoy Manor, people would wounder about it, so that was not an option.
When everyone had left, Julia, Lucius and Draco seated themselves and for a moment, they just sat there, looking into the fire burning in the fireplace.
"Ms Zabini, do you have any idea about a place we could use for this purpose?" She looked at Lucius. "Call me Julia, Ms Zabini is to formal for my liking."
"Very well, you may call me Lucius then."
Julia gave the blond aristocrat an amused smile. It was funny really, how someone who tried to be so formal and cold, could at times be a really human being. She knew that Lucius Malfoy was a proud man, and while that was a good thing in some cases, people tended to look at him with disdain for it. They thought that he was arrogant, and maybe he was. But, Julia could see that the man only showed an image to others, and she knew that she would find something more under the surface later on, when he learned to trust her.
"What is it that you find amusing?"
"Nothing."
Draco sighed. "As fun as this is, father, Julia, we have a problem to solve."
Both Julia and the senior Malfoy nodded.
"We could use one of the Malfoy estates, but I fear that they are all watched by the ministry. And I suggest we try to find a place that isn't monitored by anyone."
Julia could agree to that. The last thing they needed was someone knowing their every move. They needed a place that no one cared about anymore...a place who where somewhat hidden...
She sat up abruptly when she remembered something.
"Maybe I have a place we can use. I have never been there, but it's mine."
Draco looked at her curiously. "Where?"
Julia sighed. "Potter Manor."
Neville groaned when Kingsley for the second time threw him into the wall with his disarming spell. They where training him to defend himself against surprise attacks and so far, it wasn't going that well.
Neville had never been known for his magical ability, and it wasn't until his fifth year he had started to understand anything that had to do with defense. And it all was because of Harry.
Harry had understood him, Harry had been one of his only friends. When he had been sentenced to Azkaban, Neville had been unable to believe that he was guilty. He had wanted to speak his mind, but instead he kept quiet, something he regretted now.
When the wizarding world had been informed of Harry's death, Neville had refused to believe it. But it was true. He was gone, the wizarding world's hero was gone, and with him, their only hope to win the war. Neville had been invited to the funeral, but he had refused to attend. To him, the funeral was a joke. People that Harry had never known, people who had betrayed him had attended, and he didn't want to be one among them all. He felt sick every time he thought of Hermione and Ron. They had cried and cried over their best friend, when they had so coldly broken his trust when he went off to Azkaban. And then, the worst of all. He had been innocent.
Neville's respect for Dumbledore and the order disappeared that day, also the little trust he had in the magical community over all. He had wanted to leave, but he had been to slow. Dumbledore had caught him before he had managed to leave.
Here he was, the new Boy Who Lived. Dumbledore had told him a short time after Harry's death that he had been mistaken, and that Neville was the real Chosen one. Neville had laughed, believing it to be a joke. But it wasn't. Dumbledore had been serious, and Neville had been taken to head quarters to train.
Neville was slowly starting to see exactly what Harry had gone through, and remembered those times he had been a little jealous of him. He silently asked for forgiveness when Kinsley hit him again. This time, he managed to remain standing, but only barely.
"Good, you are getting better." Kingsley went over to the bench and drank out of the bottle of water he had brought with him.
Neville sank down on his knees and breathed heavily. He was tired as hell. He looked up when Kinsley approached him.
"Sorry son, I know I'm tough. Dumbledore's orders." Neville fought the urge to lash out on the man. Dumbledore's orders! As he was some kind of a god!
"I don't understand why I have to go through this."
Kinsley smiled at him. "Harry asked that many times too, but eventually he understood that he had to." Neville snorted.
"You mean that he started to complain. I don't think he ever understood why all this was necessary. It's insane to give one person such a a big responsibility as you all gave him. You practically handed him all the worlds problems and told him, "Be a good boy and solve these until I'm back from my meeting.." That's just insane!"
Kinsley looked around in the room, walked over to the door and closed it. after that he threw up some kind of shield around the two of them.
"Neville, I know this is hard. I am sorry, but Dumbledore watches our every move. Listen. I know that you are not the Boy who lived, just as much as you do. There is still one person who's alive who can defeat Voldemort, but Dumbledore doesn't know this. You can't tell anyone, but if you talk to Moody, he may have a way to take you out of this."
Before Neville could answer, Kingsley had taken down the shield surrounding them and unlocked the door. "I think we can leave it at this for tonight. There will be a meeting in a few minutes, Moody will arrive shortly."
He winked at Neville and Neville gave him a small nod. He had understood the message. Kingsley wanted him to talk to the old auror tonight, and Neville would do it after the meeting.
He walked out of the training room together with the auror, and headed for his room for a quick shower. who could this person be? Had to be some old wizard no one knew still existed. Yes, that had to be it. Or maybe it was someone else? He would find out in one way or another.
Ron apparated to Grimaldi Place 12. The meeting was about to begin, and he would be reporting about his latest findings. He had been ordered to watch the Malfoys, and tonight, there had been some unusual activity around the manor. He hadn't been able to identify any of the guests Malfoy had invited, but he knew it meant trouble.
He looked around before heading over the street and towards where the house was hidden. He was tired as hell, and to be honest he was quite tired of this mess. During the two years he had been an adult, he had done nothing but spy and fighting with dark wizards.
Aside form this, he had been working on his own project. He had for years and years now been trying to find a way out of a quite serious problem. He was nearing a solution, but as long as things where as they where, he could do nothing. All he could do was hoping that he one day would be forgiven, but who would forgive him?