Chapter Fifteen

Harry, Cedric, and the rest of the team didn't arrive until six in the morning. Draco heard the elevator ding as they stepped out and sounds of them hushing each other as they opened the door silently, perhaps expecting him to be asleep, but they really shouldn't have worried. He was standing at the balcony with a mug of hot tea in his hands and staring at the city before him, the thoughts in his head more than enough to keep him awake. As they entered the room, Draco found his gaze seeking out Harry first, just to see if he was alright, but to his surprise, Harry's eyes flickered up as well, meeting his. For a moment, they stood there, neither of them sure of what to do. But just as the corner of Harry's lips quirked into a smile, Cedric hurried over to Draco, and the moment was broken.

"Hey," Cedric greeted him. He looked exhausted, dark circles heavy under his eyes, but turned to Draco worriedly, "Were you able to get any rest? I'm so sorry, it's been a long night, not to mention the fact that you had to see all this violence and nearly died-"

"Don't worry about it." Draco reassured him immediately. "I'm a nightclub manager, remember? I'm nocturnal. And this isn't my first time seeing violence. Or my first near-death experience. This won't traumatize me too much."

Cedric was about to chuckle at the first half of what Draco said, but after hearing what he said next, stopped and stared at him in shock. "What?"

"Yeah. Considering my background, I suppose this shouldn't be too surprising." Draco shifted self-consciously and changed the topic. "How did it go? With Carrow and the police and everything…"

Everyone had filed into the living room to settle down, and as Cho passed around mugs of tea and plates of snacks, seemed to be revitalizing. However, when Draco asked about the long night they just endured, a collective wave of exhaustion washed over their faces and they slumped back with a groan.

"We still have a few loose ends to wrap up later today, but we've managed to take care of the most pressing problems." Harry answered from where he was seated on the couch, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "The Chinese government won't be interfering too much with this case, and we've made sure that the MI6 still doesn't know that you are working with us."

"That's good to hear." Draco nodded.

"Which leads us to the next part of what needs to be done." Cedric pulled up a chair for him. "We've debriefed Harry already about the incident, but we'd like to hear it from you as well. Could you tell us what happened, from top to bottom?"

"Sure." Draco sat down. When he glanced up, he realized that everyone was staring at him. Cho and Dean were regarding him as impassively as ever, and Parvati was still simmering with barely concealed hostility. Despite himself, Draco felt a twinge of unease. But Cedric was to his left, looking at him encouragingly, and Harry was to his right, his lips now definitely quirked into a smile. A part of Draco relaxed, and he began his account of what happened.

He told them about how Nott was a dead end, and the argument with Harry that followed. Then, about the taxi and the assailant and the hunt through the alleys, before arriving at how he was nearly shot and Harry's retaliation. Finally, he told them about the sound of the gunshot and his discovery of how he had been saved by a mysterious figure…

"Are you sure you weren't able to catch a glimpse of him?" Cedric's asked. "Does he have any notable traits we can use to track him down?"

Draco closed his eyes, trying his best to remember what he had seen. But other than a faint silhouette of a head and shoulders leaning out a window, he couldn't recall anything else.

"I've got nothing." He admitted.

"That's alright. Let us know whenever you do happen to remember anything." Cedric said kindly. He asked Parvati, "Can you pull up the security feeds of those alleys?"

"Already on it." Parvati responded, typing away into her laptop. However, after a few minutes, she turned to Draco furiously. "Are you fucking with us? Nobody's entered that building for the last two weeks!"

"What?" Draco was stunned.

"Yeah." Parvati glared at him. "What the hell are you up to, huh? Talking about some random idiot, trying to make yourself seem less like a suspect-"

"Parvati!" Cho exclaimed.

Parvati stopped abruptly, blanching. She still looked angry, but there was now a trace of alarm on her features, and she quickly turned back to her computer, averting everyone's gaze.

"Carrow's gun was silenced, but I also heard the sound of a gunshot, so I can confirm that there was another person present." Harry voice cut coldly through the room. "The fact that he didn't appear on camera only shows that he knows what he's doing, and that makes it even more important that we find out who he or she is, and what he has to do with the Death Eaters and Dragon Killer."

"Exactly." Cedric agreed.

Draco forced himself to smile and nod in thanks. He was grateful that they had stood up for him, but Parvati's words rang in his ears, and the damage had been done. The team must have thought he staged his brush with death to throw suspicion off of himself and get written off as soon as possible. They still suspected him of being the Dragon Killer.

From the moment Cedric had shown him the Dragon Killer files, Draco knew that they were dragging him in under the pretense of 'needing his connections' to surveil him, because it was glaringly obvious that he was the prime suspect. And he chose to go along, in part because he did want to stop the murderer before he killed him, but also in part because of the fact that the Dragon Killer's brand was identical tattoo on his shoulder, and he would love to know what role he unwillingly played in this decision.

Parvati's words were a jarring reminder. They would always see him as a suspect. He could never truly trust them. But at the same time, even with this reminder… god, he didn't want to admit it, but why was it that there was still a part of him that wanted to trust them? He remembered flaunting with Cedric over their ability to speak Chinese. Choking from the spiciest curry he'd ever eaten in his life. What the hell, now that he thought about it, even the stupid fights with Harry brought a smile to his lips. He didn't want to believe that the happiness he experienced was fake and unreciprocated…

Draco's phone buzzed, and he turned to it gratefully, glad to have some distraction from his thoughts. It was a Wechat friend request, but the ID was in Russian. Frowning, he accepted it. If it was a scammer or something, he could easily block and delete them, but the moment he tapped on the button, his phone buzzed again. The person had just sent a message. It wasn't very long, and it was in English, so Draco decided to skim it quickly, but the moment he read the first line…

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Heavens help him, he was so fucked.

"Draco, you alright?" Cho asked.

Draco glanced up to see everyone looking at him, which was unsurprising, considering how he must be paler than a ghost. But what did surprise him slightly was the concern in Cho's voice, and how Dean was watching him with traces of worry on his features.

"No." Draco said bluntly. "Bellatrix Lestrange is coming to Shanghai."

There was a moment of silence as the shock sank in. Then, the room burst into chaos as everyone began shouting all at once.

"What the fuck? Lestrange hasn't left Eastern Europe in years!" Dean yelled.

"She's here because of Carrow's death, I'm sure of it." Cho muttered harshly.

"What does she want with you? Let me see the message!" Parvati demanded.

"Everyone shut up!" Cedric ordered. He turned to Draco anxiously. "But yes, I'd like to know as well. What does she want?"

"She wants to talk to me." Draco's voice sounded hollow, even to his own ears. "Alone."

"Don't." Harry said immediately. Draco glanced over. Harry looked grim, his jaw tight with determination and his eyes flashed darkly. "You won't make it out alive."

"I probably won't." Draco agreed. If there was a statement in the world he could wholeheartedly believe in with every ounce of his being, it would be that one. Carrow's death was likely what brought Lestrange to Shanghai, and to everyone else, that was the reason why Draco was fucked. However, both Harry and Draco knew Lestrange's avenging of Carrow's passing wasn't the only reason why she wanted to see him. "But I'll still meet her."

"No." Harry shook his head. "She's too dangerous. You'll be dead the second she steps through the door."

Draco shrugged and gave a wry smile. "First of all, if Aunt Bella wants a meeting, she sure as hell will end up getting one. I'd rather have it in one of my bars over a drink than have her show up in my apartment unannounced with a gun to my head. And secondly, this is the biggest lead we're going to get for the case. Lestrange knows more about the Dragon Killer than we do, and we'd be idiots not to take this opportunity."

There was a moment of silence as everyone fell into contemplation. Harry was frowning, looking as if he still very much wanted to protest, but at the same time, knew what Draco said was true.

"God, Draco." Cedric exhaled and buried his face in his hands. "I can't apologize enough for taking advantage of your connections, putting your life at risk, and just dragging you into this mess. And I can't thank you enough as well, for helping us out so much with this case, opening up so many doors, and for just… bearing with us. We are not an easy group of people to be around."

"Don't worry about it." Draco said reassuringly. Unconsciously, he touched his right shoulder, where the dragon tattoo was concealed behind his long sleeves. Despite himself, a part of him wanted to let tell them about it. To let them know that the Killer's symbol was inked on his shoulder, so that they could work together to figure out what it meant. But at the same time… Draco did not want to even imagine their reactions when they found out that he had been concealing such an important piece of evidence from them this whole time.

Draco sighed. "You're not the only ones with questions about the Dragon Killer."