Chapter 33 – Tending To Business On My Home World
Harry wanted his personal truth-tellers available for the questioning of Narcissa. Since Harry and Ron would be involved, Hermione and I were more than willing to participate. Of course, Cissy was more than eager to participate. We had one stop to make, prior to traveling to the Ministry. Harry wanted to have Draco in reserve. In a slight change of plans – Odin was as enthusiastic as Cissy to participate. Apparently, he had been very disturbed not to know that Narcissa had been a guest in 'his' fortress and wanted to learn what she and Frijjo were really doing and what had caused Frijjo to flip her status from guest to prisoner. Narcissa had been so shocked when she learned that her presence in that luxurious cell put her on the 'kill list', that I felt confident she would be willing to talk.
I sent a Stone message to Luna, telling her that we had found Narcissa alive and wanted her to join us in meeting with Draco. She was already at Malfoy Manor, doing her weekly infant check and promised to prepare Draco for our arrival. I decided that we should give her a half hour lead, before Apparating to the Manor. I didn't want to bring Odin or Cissy to this meeting, but Odin declared "I must meet Draco and little Erin. They are important. So, the four of us found ourselves at the main entrance to Malfoy Manor, with Luna opening the door for us.
"Luna told me that mother is alive," Draco gave us the heads-up, coupled with the reaction that he was very happy to receive the news. He had been angry with his mother for months, but on hearing the report of her death, realised how much that loss crushed his spirit. "She and I have a great deal to discuss. She has not treated me as an adult, and I have not communicated well with her. We each viewed the other as weaker and less reasonable that we are, because, basically, we have never understood each other. I'm an adult; I'm a father; I have business skills; I can defend myself; I will rebuild this family's finances - that project is well underway. Father bullied both of us. I always saw mother as weaker and not as smart and determined as she is. I think she practiced seeming weaker than she is. I over-reacted to her and McGonagall. I hated being lied to, as if I was a stupid child. I hated her excuse that anything bad she did was necessary to protect me. I didn't need that protection and I question if that was the real reason. We need to understand and accept each other as we are. Her death would have cheated us of that opportunity.
"I want to meet with her. Luna says I can do that tomorrow. I know you will question her before then. I want to be there for that. I need to hear what she says in front of truthtellers. She doesn't have to know that I can hear what is happening, but I must be there. I have to know." This last was said in a strange tone which combined pleading and aggressively demanding. I could tell that he expected Harry to refuse him. I know this, because a stunned look spread upon his face, when Harry agreed.
"In return, I want you to talk to your mother, in my hearing, after we are finished questioning her. I need to know to what extent she can be trusted - I'm thinking close to not at all, but I could be wrong. I need to know the seriousness of her misdeeds. I agree with you: it is highly unlikely that what she did was done primarily to protect you."
That settled, all of us headed to the Ministry, leaving Luna in charge of little Erin. Harry left orders with his aurors that nobody but us was to be admitted to either the actual questioning of Narcissa or to be allowed to listen in. Harry, Shacklebolt, and Mrs. Longbottom were the questioners, the three of us were the standard truth-tellers, while Odin decided to be questioner, truth-teller, and general scene stealer. Harry's assistant kept Draco company in the listening chamber.
"We have many questions, but perhaps it's best to begin with you telling your story about how you got together with Frijjo and ended at the fortress as both guest and prisoner."
Narcissa sipped at her very hot tea and seemed to be composing an answer as she sat in silence for two full minutes, which included a lot of glancing down, trembles, and spilling a fair amount of tea down the front of her jail robes. "I felt a fresh rush of worry for my son. I can't pinpoint why. Perhaps it was just nerves. Perhaps I felt shut out of his life and didn't fully trust him to run his own affairs. The spate of neo-Death Eater attacks unnerved me. I understood that Draco, Erin, and I were among their top enemies and knew they would attack Draco. I was in hiding and felt relatively safe. I can care for myself better than my friends and family believed. I tolerate Polyjuice quite well and made unsparing use of it, when I ventured into public view. I checked ln Malfoy Manor as frequently as I dared. On one of my visits to Hogsmeade, I encountered Frijjo. I asked for her help. She said that an exchange of favours might help both of us. She agreed with me that Draco was in great danger. She promised to find the malefactor, that's the word she used, behind the plot against Draco.
"I mentioned that my past efforts to negotiate with the Death Eaters involved trading artifacts they sought in return for an Unbreakable Vow to help me protect my son. I admitted that I had joined Ginny's Quest and begun my own in order to acquire the magical artifacts which legend says are granted to successful Questers. There was danger, but a chance to secure Draco's safety was well worth the risk. Frijjo told me that Ginny and the rest of you had lied to me, when you said there was no such reward. Frijjo knew exactly what the reward was meant to be. She had already acquired it and would give it to me in return for my help. As I strongly suspected, the reward was a highly magical sword, a sword more magical than the Sword of Gryffindor. This sword is real. She showed it to me and allowed me to hold it in my hands. It is a very heavy sword. I couldn't use it, but my son is strong enough. Just holding it, I could feel the strength of its magic - it coursed through my body and made me tingle. Frijjo took the sword back, telling me that I would have to earn it. She said she had so much magic that she didn't need it."
"What did this sword look like?" Odin demanded in a very loud and intimidating voice.
Narcissa stumbled around verbally as she tried to give an accurate description.
"Bah! Blank your mind of other thoughts and focus upon the image of the sword as Frijjo presented it to you. Focus upon how it felt in your hands. I will pluck the images from your mind."
They each must have done exactly that, because Odin recognised the sword. "That is the lost coronation sword of the royals of Vanir. It is called the Sword of Vana. It was kept in that village and vanished with the last royal ruler. Like many magical historical artifacts, it was hidden away and lost for millennia. Frijjo must have found it. Frijjo told us that she dared not enter the village because it was filled with her enemies, but I am almost certainly that the sword was hidden in that village. The sword is extremely old and is imbued with more than a moderate level of magic. It is not a super-powerful magical artifact, but it carries great emotional value to the Vanir, especially the royals. It most certainly would have strengthened Frijjo's case to be the legitimate queen. I guarantee you this: Frijjo never would have given you that sword. It was too valuable to her. You were duped. What did she trick you into doing for her?"
"I know now that she tricked me. I was desperate and she was the strongest person who seemed willing to help me." She was crying now. Shacklebolt gave her his handkerchief and poured some more tea for her. "You already know that I searched your camp on Asgard at her request. I tried to enter Odin's forge and observatory. I tried to break into Valaskjalf and even Valhalla. It was difficult, with so many of the damned guard birds always prowling the sky. I didn't know how much they could see at night, so I took some chances. I didn't find anything, and I never was able to enter any of Odin's special places. I did enter the buildings on Ginny's Asgard land. They aren't at all secure. There were crates of calcite and quartz crystals in the large building, along with a couple large lodestones, but no gems, not even a ruby. I told all of this to Frijjo and she gave me a new assignment, back here in Britain."
"How did she contact you," Harry asked. "How did she know you had completed that task."
"She probably just knew the longest the assignment should take to complete. It was three days after I gave it up as useless, that Frijjo appeared next to me, while I was at what I thought was my totally secret house. It was very scary. I had protected the house with every charm I was able to perform and thought myself safe. I'm studying a book of spells and drinking my evening tea, when Frijjo Apparates right in front of my chair. I don't see how she could have found that house. Do you know where I live?"
This was directed at Harry. "No, I don't know where your house is, and we've been trying to find you for quite a few weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the British government knows of your house. Ginny and I had a secret house in the Muggle, er British world, and its location, complete with pictures inside and out, was in a file that Special Branch had on me. They also knew where my grandmother's house was and where the Dursley family had moved, even the house that Dudley didn't tell his parents about. I didn't see a file on you, but I'm quite sure one exists, since they knew quite a lot about your former husband."
"Yes, it's easy to forget how much their people resources exceed ours. They lack magic, but they have so much to make up for that lack. To continue my story, Frijjo wanted to find Adrienne Celine and her son. I thought they might be staying with Madam Bones. I got lucky. I had staked out the townhouse on the day you moved them. I saw them come out of the townhouse with three of your aurors. Fortunately, I tried to avoid a splinch by aiming to empty spot wide of the group. I was ten feet in the air and Apparated away before I landed, to a place where I could land in soft earth - the just-tilled backyard garden of my own hide-away. I know it was an awful thing to do, and put Adrienne, the child, and your guards at risk, but I contacted Frijjo and told her where Adrienne and the child were hiding. She had taught me how to reach her through the Black Stones. She thanked me, saying 'Vili will pick them up'. I was to wait for another assignment."
"We caught Vili; he is Odin's prisoner. Adrienne and her son are safe."
"You may not believe this, but I truly am gladdened to hear that. I wanted to save my son. Costing another mother her son was... something I shouldn't have considered and wouldn't have, had I not been so desperate. When Frijjo gave me the assignment to find Adrienne, I got a strong sense in my mind that the Manor was under attack. Frijjo and I rushed to protect Draco. There were no aurors outside the house, but five glowing red devils were trying to break through the door. I killed one and Frijjo slew the other four. She is a far better fighter than I. When I knocked on the door, the auror inside the house told me that Draco and Erin were away. I asked if my friend and I could come inside and have a stiff drink - we had just defeated devils who were attacking the house. Your very officious auror told me 'I don't know anything about that, Mrs. Malfoy. I'll bring you and your friend each a glass of Scotch, but your son has left standing instructions that you are not to enter his house. Can you imagine that! Then he closed the door, while he went to fetch are drinks. We drank them, handed him the empties, and were gone. I felt so sad and humiliated. The attack and that treatment fed my desperation. It was a real low point for me. I think that's why I didn't allow myself to worry what might happen to Adrienne and her child."
"A poor excuse for very shabby behavior," Shacklebolt muttered, loudly enough for all of us to hear.
"So, did you know that Vili and some of his demons attacked the pyramid?" Harry asked.
"No. How could I. It doesn't surprise me. That's obviously why they wanted my information. A day later, Frijjo contacts me, telling me we are going on a trip to her castle. Before we go, I must find a woman of about my build, who wouldn't be missed, 'Petrificus Totalus' her and Apparate her to my house. Frijjo said she would join me there in exactly one day. She said we were on a tight schedule, so I must move fast. If this step of her plan went well, the sword would be mind, but I would owe her more favours in the future. She said normally she wouldn't give me the sword until I had served her more extensively, but that she thought the sword would steady my nerves and that my value to her in my state at the time was vastly diminished. I found an appropriate street drunk in London, performed the 'Petrificus Totalus' and Apparated her back home six hours before Frijjo arrived. She gave us our encounter suits and we marched onto that dead world."
"She intended to free Vili, did you know that was her plan," Odin demanded.
"Not then, no I didn't. She didn't share her plans with me. She showed me two smooth pebbles, each with a colorful pattern and with two silver wires, connecting three spots on the stone. I remember she spoke very precisely "One of these is our key into what will become my castle. The other turns the castle into a death trap. I don't know which is which. Your friend here will walk ahead of us with one of the stones. How the castle treats your friend will tell us which pebble we must use. It is only fitting that the castle should be mine; it was built by my greatest love.' We marched a long way to the castle. A little after we could clearly see the castle, my captive was incinerated - just ten paces in front of us. There was no flame, she just turned black, and hot, and was a charred lump on the ground. Frijjo said 'just leave her, she's obviously dead and will be a warning to others. I'm not about to carry her. I didn't want to touch her, I couldn't if I wanted to, she was glowing with heat. I felt it as I passed her. We entered the castle. We made a stop in the basement to free Vili, then went up to a glorious penthouse apartment for a wonderful meal. I know I should have felt awful - I all but murdered that poor woman, but if I'm honest, I was feeling very pleased. Frijjo brought out the sword and allowed me to practice with it. Once again I felt its power."
"Frijjo had the sword at the fortress? I don't believe it! How could we have missed it."
"I tell only the truth. It was there. I can't say what happened after I became prisoner. I did nothing to anger or disappoint her. It was just 'people come, you must move', then I found myself falling and the world turning black. When I awoke, I was where Ginny and her friends found me. You told me that Frijjo and Vili were gone. From Odin's statement, I take it you didn't find the sword."
"No, we didn't. Frijjo is dead and Vili is my prisoner. Neither carried the sword on their person. They must have hidden it. Ginny should search her pyramid and the pyramid between worlds. I have no idea where Frijjo may have traveled, before she died. Clearly, the fortress must be searched yet again and Vili very closely questioned."
"Your alliance with Frijjo ended with her death, if not with your imprisonment. What do you want to do now?"
"I want to recover my equilibrium and live with my son and his family. Ginny should release the Greengrass girl from Questing. Draco will need her"
"I'm certainly willing to release her. I always was. She was very determined to Quest. I thought you pushed her in that direction."
"I have changed my mind; perhaps she has also had a change of heart. The prize we sought has gone missing."
"My government needs to know what you did, while you were missing, apart from your adventures with Frijjo. What did you do on this world? Did you act against our or the British government?"
"I made some money in the Muggle world; I bought a house; I investigated how the neo-Death Eaters were connected to The Daily Prophet. Like you, I discovered a link to Barnabas Cuffe. I did not work against you or your government. I wouldn't do that. I thought I might require your future help. It didn't feel safe to approach the Ministry with what I learned so I passed it all to Mister Lovegood. I have no interest in the British government, apart from the folder you say they probably have on me; I do not work against them."
We all agreed that Narcissa had told the truth.
"Draco wants to meet with you. He has heard everything which was said in this room."
We listened. Narcissa did not tell Draco anything of significance to us, beyond what she had told us. It was almost all how much she loved him, how much she had feared for his safety, how determined she was to accept that she must step aside and accept that he should and could run his own life, and how much she just wanted to be Erin's grandmother and live with her family. Draco said he was willing to give that a try.
On the way out, we found Deputy Minister McGonagall arguing with two aurors. She immediately turned her attention to Harry. "It is very unfair for Narcissa to be questioned without friend, family, or solicitor present - probably illegal as well. You should have met with Draco at once.
"We did, he's talking to his mother now. We must be off. We meet with the international Wizards tomorrow. Rest and preparation are needed. We will start preparations in my conference room in two hours. You are welcome to join us.