A/N: So I really like this chapter too :). I hope you all do as well. Also, I have started a new story that I'll start posting soon enough. I like it a lot and I'm sure you will too. Thanks for reading!
Draco's POV
My parents were here. They actually came. They were actually doing something for me that was the most important thing in my life at this point. They were going to help me keep Harry safe.
"You're here," I said dumbly.
"You wanted us here so we came," my father replied in a gruff tone, but his eyes gave away how he was really feeling.
"I'm just surprised that you actually came and you brought friends," I commented as I gestured to those who were standing behind them. I knew that some were already a part of Dream Big, but others I knew were not. There must have been 15 people.
"How about we go into the conference room?" Harry asked, motioning behind us. They started towards us and we both turned and went into the conference room. Everyone filed in, taking seats or standing. Granger came in behind us. She and Harry both looked at me expectantly and I realized I was expected to lead this meeting. I glared slightly at them both and then turned to face the group, gulping. I took a deep breath and began.
"First off, thank you for coming in today. I know that this must be hard for you, but it is still appreciated. I am not sure how much you know, but I'll give you the short version. Avery is stirring up trouble. He wants to do something to Harry. We suspect kidnap him. I know that what will make this over quickly is if we can all work together to defeat them."
"Work together with whom?" one of the Death Eaters asked.
"The aurors," I said calmly.
Lots of eyebrows lifted in surprise at this. "You want us to work with aurors? That will surely backfire," another one stated.
"It will backfire if you do something stupid. Look, we don't have a choice. How many of you have enjoyed being out of Azkaban and feeling safe because the Dark Lord isn't around anymore?" I demanded. Many of them exchanged glances. "I know I have. You don't have to agree with the purpose the aurors serve, but you do need to work with them to keep the life you have. Clearly you feel something about this because you are all here today. We have to do this," I continued.
"Yeah, but Potter clearly hasn't been kidnapped yet," Nott senior pointed out.
"No, but it could happen at any time, no matter how protected he is. We need to be prepared," I replied.
"I highly doubt that," Nott senior drawled.
"Look, we knew something like this could happen. We didn't think it would happen so soon, but we knew it would. As much as I loathe to think about it, we do need to work with the aurors and at least be prepared for what is to come. Potter may never be kidnapped, you're right, but at least we'll be ready. We can't go back to the way life was before. I've enjoyed life again and I know you all have too," my father said sternly.
That got everyone's attention. I looked over at him gratefully and he nodded slightly at me. I glanced at Harry who was looking at me encouragingly. I was about to speak when someone else spoke up.
"How do you know what's to come anyway? All that is known is that there was a note left the office was ransacked, and the altercation that was very similar to old Death Eater antics. How do you know more than that?" they asked.
I glanced at my parents whom both nodded. I looked back at the rest of them. "We've spoken to someone who was part of this new group," I replied.
A few of them sat up straighter, leaning forward to listen more closely. "Who?" another asked.
"Rabastan Lestrange," I replied.
Several people gasped. "Of course they would be a part of this. How did you talk to him?"
"He sought Narcissa and me out at our home. He is currently tied up securely. He doesn't want to be a part of what Avery is doing. He came to warn us. We've all spoken to him and he speaks the truth. We haven't confirmed that they want to kidnap Potter, but isn't it what we used to do?" he paused and many of the others nodded in agreement. I glanced over at Harry. He looked a bit uncomfortable. He smiled at me though and the look was gone. "We need to stop them and if anyone can, it's us. We know how we worked. The aurors know what we let them know, but if anyone can stamp them out, it's us," my father insisted.
"Do we even know where they are? How can we possibly stamp them out if we don't know where they are? We haven't fought for a long time. How can we get prepared?" Nott senior demanded.
"Well, that is a complication, but I'm sure we can-" I stopped because Harry interrupted me.
"Actually, I might know where they are," he said quietly. I looked at him in surprise. This was news. Why hadn't he told me? I crossed my arms and looked at him expectantly, trying not to show that this bothered me that he hadn't told me something. He looked away from me looking slightly guilty. "This morning, someone from the Magical Creatures division came to me and told me that they've noticed strange behavior from some creatures in the Albania forest," he continued.
I felt the blood leave my face and I glanced at everyone else in the room. They all looked as if they'd seen a ghost. I was afraid that this would cause many of them to leave. My mother was the first to recover. "That makes a lot of sense. That's good information, Mister Potter. Now, we know where they are most likely; let's discuss how we are going to get rid of them once and for all," my mother responded.
Many of the people looked at her in surprise. My mother had never really been vocal back then, but it was clear that she could command a room, just as much as my father could. "Um, we could use the Manor. There's plenty of room and it would be nice to use it for something good," I said, my voice shaking slightly as the fear of this new information floated around in my mind. I pushed it towards my fear cage and pushed it in, locking it up tightly again. I calmed almost instantly.
The door opened and I turned to see Weasley and Auror Nicholson coming in. They both paled at all the former Death Eaters in the room. He looked around and once he settled on Harry and Hermione, he seemed to relax some. He moved past me and walked over to Harry. He leant down and whispered something to him. Harry nodded and said something back. Ron stiffened and stood up rigidly. He looked at me. I had no idea what had been said.
He cleared his throat. "Um, hello… Auror Weasley and Auror Nicholson," he introduced, gesturing between himself and her. He cleared his throat again and shifted. "So, I took the information I received earlier and sent a team to look into it. They are monitoring the situation, but have confirmed there is definitely activity in the forest there. It doesn't appear that anyone is there at the moment, but they appear like they plan to come back. This is a big break in this case and I think that with some preparation we'll be able to apprehend anyone involved with this latest threat. I hope that you will be willing to cooperate with us as I believe it is the only way we can successfully take care of this and restore balance and order once again," he explained.
"You believe, Auror Weasley, that the aurors can't do it by yourself then?" one of the Death Eaters questioned.
I glanced at Weasley and saw his color changing to red, but then he took a deep breath and his coloring lightened. "Clearly not all of the current aurors are competent and I am also willing to admit that I can't take them down myself. I am not a Death Eater expert. All of you are, and I mean that as a compliment of sorts, not a put down," he replied uncomfortably.
Many of the others looked at him in surprise and some even looked at him in appreciation. "Mind if we confer in private?" my father asked.
I glanced at Harry and Granger. Weasley and Auror Nicholson were already on the way out the door. "Um, yes, of course," I said. Granger stood first and walked out. Harry stood and stopped next to me. I glanced at my parents and they both nodded. I turned, placing my hand at the small of Harry's back, as we headed out. I vaguely heard gasping behind me, but I didn't care anymore. Anyone can know that I'm with him. I'm not going to hide it. I closed the door behind us. I glanced back in and saw people staring at us and then they began talking at once. I sighed and looked away. I hoped this would go in my favor.
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Lucius POV
I watched as Draco walked out with Potter and it was obvious that he didn't care who knew how he felt about him. I heard a collective gasp from those in the room with me. I rolled my eyes and turned to them. They all started talking at once. They acted as if this was the news of the century. Granted, I was even more surprised when I found out that they were together so I guess I couldn't blame them.
"Yes, yes, Draco and Potter are together. That's not what we're here to talk about though," I said in annoyance.
"You're alright with this, Lucius?" Nott senior questioned.
I shrugged. "It's who Draco wants to be with." I couldn't change a thing about it, even if I wanted to, but after talking to Draco and Potter separately, I knew that they were the real deal. I could demand that Draco end things with him, but it would be pointless. Besides, I honestly didn't care about that. It made things different and very nontraditional, but that didn't matter to me. Draco was giving me a second chance to prove that I loved him and cared about what he wanted. I wasn't going to mess that up.
"But it's not-" he tried to interrupt.
"Enough. Who my son chooses to be with does not affect you in any way. Let's move on to the issue at hand. What are we going to do about this problem?" I snapped.
Anyone else who wanted to discuss Draco and Potter, immediately stopped. They looked at each other for several minutes, thinking about their options. "Our options are to do nothing and let them do what they're going to do and stay out of it; or we work with the aurors and take care of them before they can ruin what lives we have built since the war ended," Mrs. Parkinson laid out.
We thought some more. I already knew mine and Narcissa's choice. We were here after all. I imagined that the others would agree with it as well. "Well?" I asked.
"Let's put it to a vote," Narcissa offered.
Everyone nodded. "Everyone who is willing to work with the aurors and stop Avery, shoot out purple sparks. Everyone who is opposed, shoot out orange sparks," I said.
We held up our wands and cast our vote. I looked around nervously and saw that everyone was shooting purple sparks. There were no orange sparks. I nodded. "So it's settled. We'll convene at the Manor this evening. We need to come up with a plan. Until tonight," I said. I stood and everyone else followed suit. I looked at Narcissa who remained seated. She looked a bit surprised.
"What's the matter, dear?" I asked her, sitting down again.
"I'm just surprised. I thought there would be some who would be against it, but there wasn't. They're doing this for our son," she responded.
I lifted an eyebrow. "I think they're doing it more for themselves. They aren't that reformed."
She laughed and shook her head. "I suppose that's true. Regardless of why they're doing it, they are and that benefits Draco and Mister Potter, of course," she replied.
"Do you really think they belong together?" I asked. I looked out to where Draco and Potter were standing, watching the others leave.
She followed my gaze and smiled. "Yes. They are meant to be," she said quietly.
I sighed loudly. "No hope of changing his mind?"
"Not at all," she said as she looked over at me. She patted my hand and I sighed again.
Draco came in followed by Potter. "Well, what did you all decide?" he asked nervously.
I watched as Potter reached out and touched Draco's arm and saw Draco relax at the gesture. He did know him better than I thought. It was obvious that even if I fought tooth and nail, Draco would ignore every reason I gave him for not being with Potter.
"I hope that you've kept the Manor up nicely," I told him.
His eyes widened. "They agreed?" he asked. I nodded. He smiled broadly which surprised me because I had forgotten what that smile looked like. I hadn't seen him smile that way since he was a child. That revelation made me both happy and sad that I hadn't seen it in so long and I was to blame for that. He turned to look at Potter and pulled him into a hug.
"Would you really try to break them up?" Narcissa commented quietly.
I watched them for a moment. "No," I said quietly. She squeezed my hand and smiled at me.
Draco separated from Potter and walked around the table to Narcissa. He leaned down and hugged her. The look on her face was another reason I couldn't harm the fragile relationship that we were building again. She let him go and he turned to me. He didn't hesitate when he leaned over and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, father," he said to me. He stood up and wiped at his eyes. I wiped at mine and found that I had a similar reaction as him. I cleared my throat and stood. Narcissa followed.
"Is the Manor ready?" I asked.
Draco nodded. "Tibbles is there. He'll take care of it," he replied.
I nodded. "We'll see you later then," I said. Narcissa and I left. It was going to be strange to go back to the Manor.