Chapter Twenty-Eight: Truth

The others were very quiet as Draco and I explained what happened—how Narcissa Malfoy had a change of heart, decided to keep Harry alive, and how Lucius went along with it. We went on to explain how Voldemort had gotten suspicious of them, killed Lucius, imprisoned Narcissa—how Draco took over, rescued me from Azkaban (we left out the part about him killing Astoria). Neither Ginny nor Ron said a word—I could tell they still weren't entirely convinced by the story, but they trusted me enough to go along with it. Harry just listened, his expression unreadable. When we'd finished, he was quiet a moment before speaking.

"Thank you, Draco."

Draco raised his eyebrows slightly. "I wasn't really expecting you to believe me."

"I know more than most that who you are is a choice, not a destiny," he said with a weak smile, "despite how it might seem."

Draco returned his smile, and the conversation changed course. Harry wanted to know everything that had been going on in the past seven years, but we decided it was best to keep the bad to ourselves as much as possible for the moment. Because of that, I didn't really have much room to talk, since I'd been in solitary confinement in Azkaban for almost the entire time.

I didn't plan on telling him that any time soon.

While Ginny and Ron told him about Fred Junior and Teddy (he was living with Bill and Fleur and their daughter, Victoire, somewhere in the middle east) I stood and joined Draco at the back of the room. Even though he was obviously not part of the group, he was still smiling as he watched them.

"What's the smile for?" I asked as I leaned against the wall next to him.

He glanced at me. "It's just good to see you all together again."

I raised an eyebrow. "Draco Malfoy is sentimental?"

He chuckled. "Believe it or not, yes. I was always secretly jealous of what you all had together."

"From a distance, you seemed pretty happy with your cronies," I said with a small smirk. Almost immediately, my smirk faded. "But you never were, were you?"

"With those troll-brains? No." He shook his head. "They were only friends with me because of our parents. And I was only friends with them because—well, they were the only ones who weren't afraid of me, or my father I should say. I acted the way I thought I should, how I thought a 'leader' should act, but it never really felt—right."

He glanced at me again. "Every second I've spent with you has felt right."

I averted my gaze. We both turned our attention back on the others.

"Oh, Ron, you haven't told him your big secret yet!" Ginny said with a grin.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "What secret?"

Ron smirked and transformed. Harry's jaw dropped. Ginny laughed at his expression as Ron changed back.

"You are teaching me," he said in awe. "Merlin, Ron, how did you—?"

"Let's get you back to handling this body, first," Ron said with another smirk.

"That reminds me," Draco said, turning to face me again, "your time's running out, Astoria Greengrass. You have two, maybe three days left in that body. There's more Polyjuice potion already with Astoria's DNA in it back at the manor. I'll go get in and be back by tonight."

"Wait!" I grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "You can't go back there! You're the main suspect in Seamus's escape."

"Of course I am," he said nonchalantly. "It'll be fine, I'll just pop in and out—"

"But what if they're at the house? I told the servants not to let anyone in, but I don't think that'll make much difference—"

"I'll be fine, Hermione," he said with a smile. "No need to worry."

I bit my lip as he turned again.

"Let me go."

"What?"

"They still trust me," I said, almost pleading with him now. "I won't be interrogated if I go back there—they may ask me where you are, but I'll just say I'm not sure, somewhere in America."

"Hermione—"

"Just tell me where it is, and I'll get it."

"Why are you so worried?"

"Because I—I care about you," I stammered. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

He seemed surprised to hear me say those words, but not surprised enough to consent. "I care about you too."

"Well, it's safer for me than it is for you, so it's only logical I should go."

He was quiet for a minute before sighing. "Fine. Straight there, straight back."

"Straight there, straight back," I repeated with a smile.

I approached the others again and told them what was happening. None of them were happy about it, least of all Ron, but I assured them I would be fine. I gave Harry an awkward hug before hugging Ginny and kissing Ron. When I opened my eyes after the kiss, Draco had left the room.

It was easy to find my way back to the portkeys, back to England. When I arrived at Malfoy Manor, there didn't seem to be anyone there. As soon as I walked through the front door, however, the young maid from earlier jumped.

"Miss," she said, panic in her voice. "I know you said not to open the house to anyone, but I thought you'd want me to make an exception—"

"I'm sure Miss Greengrass doesn't mind me visiting. Do you, Astoria?"

I looked up at the grand staircase. Voldemort was descending it, his red eyes peering into my soul. I felt a flash of panic, but hid it away and bowed.

"My Liege," I said with a steady voice. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Walk with me."

Reluctantly, I followed him into the study.

"Close the door," he ordered with his back to me.

I obeyed, my heartbeat quickening. When I turned back around, he was staring at me again, and his gaze was less than friendly.

"As you know, a very dangerous criminal escaped custody this morning."

"Yes," I breathed.

"What," he said sternly, "were you doing there?"

"I apologize, my Liege," I said quickly. "I should have counseled with you first—I suspected Draco might be involved in the break-in at your palace, but I feared you were losing faith in me so I wanted to find out for myself—"

"So you told my security," he said, raising a hand to silence me. "So Mr. Zabini testified to me before I sent him to Azkaban. And so, I was willing to believe it."

He crossed the study to where there was a small television in the corner. "Do you know why I've brought these muggle devices into the wizarding world?" he said after a moment.

"To garner loyalty?"

"That," his long fingers touched the television set, "and they're incredibly useful. I can make an announcement, organize a funeral, and the event is seen throughout the globe simply by the flip of a switch. Rather ingenious, wouldn't you say?"

My breathing was quickening. "Yes, my Liege."

"A similar invention of the muggles that I've found particular useful is the security camera," he said, his voice turning harsher. "I had one installed in every room at my headquarters."

"Then you know I had nothing to do with it," I stammered. "You must have seen what happened—someone knocked me unconscious, took the prisoner while I was out—"

"Yes, it did appear that way," he said. Suddenly, in three large strides he was directly in front of me, his face inches away from mine.

"But he recognized you."

My heart stopped. "He—he did?"

"'Merlin, am I glad,'" he hissed. "I'm assuming he was going to say, 'to see you'? Those were the words that came out of his mouth when you entered the room. Now tell me, Miss Greengrass, why would a member of the rebels be glad to see you?"

I was silent. I thought about reaching for Astoria's wand, but I knew it would do me no good. There was nothing I could do but stand there like a statue, staring into those evil red eyes, fear overcoming me.

He pulled out the elder wand and pointed it at me. I tried to take a step away, but he grabbed my face with his free hand, holding me there.

"Legilimens."

The assault was so strong, so merciless, that I started convulsing and fell to the ground. In thirty seconds, it was all over. He knew who I was, knew what Draco had been up to, knew Harry was alive—

His eyes were bulging. He let out a scream of frustration and anger, the most horrible sound I'd ever heard. I curled into a ball and shut my eyes, preparing myself for the inevitable—

"CRUCIO!"


A/N: ...yeah. Review!