Chapter Ninety - The Order of the Phoenix
Draco's head snapped up as soon as Harry entered the room. He began to rise from his chair, his face colored with anxiety. Without leaving time for speech, he instantly demanded, "Where is my mother?"
"She's still talking with my mum," Blaise replied, gesturing for Draco to sit back down.
Draco did not seem comforted by this report, and he only resumed his seat after Blaise added, "She's fine."
Millie took a step forward, her arms crossed over her chest as she announced, "It's time we hear it. What's the story?"
Draco appeared not to understand her.
"What story?"
"Don't try to play stupid," Harry said harshly, "We want to know what you and your mother are doing here!"
"I… I don't know…" Draco stammered, looking toward the floor as he spoke, "I don't even know where 'here' is…"
"Come off it," said Blaise, "You wouldn't be here if Remus hadn't given you the exact address. You really expect us to believe your mum brought you here without an explanation?"
"Yes... I mean, no… It wasn't… She only…"
"So which is it?" Harry demanded. He was growing impatient with Draco's stammering.
"I thought we were going to stay with Mrs. Zabini!" Draco said, his voice high and pleading, "That's all she told me before… Before we came here…"
"So the two of you just fancied a spot of tea, did you? Figured you'd drop in on your old pal and just happened to stumble into Grimmauld Place along the way?"
"It wasn't like that…"
"Obviously."
"Will you let me finish? I'm trying to tell you that we had to leave!"
"Why? Your father finally sick of seeing your pinched face all the time?"
Draco suddenly slammed both of his palms against the table. He was on his feet in a moment, his eyes flashing as he shouted at Harry, "I saw him, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Saw who?" asked Blaise, though Harry could guess the answer from the frightened look in Draco's eyes.
"Him! The Dark Lord. He Who Must Not Be Named, or whatever you want to call him! I saw him, I… I know Dumbledore wasn't lying when he said he'd returned."
Blaise and Millie had become perfectly still. They were staring at Draco in astonishment. Only Harry maintained his composure as he said, "So what? I could have told you that myself. It still doesn't explain why you and your mother came here, Malfoy."
Draco shook his white-blond head and looked down at his feet again, though now his expression was clouded, as if he was reliving something he would rather forget.
"He came to the manor… To our house. Mother didn't want me there. She sent me upstairs. But I… I was curious. I stayed where I could watch them as they entered the hall. My Aunt Bella came in. I knew something was wrong, then. Aunt Bella… She's supposed to be serving a life sentence in Azkaban. Then some others followed that I didn't recognize. And finally, I saw him… I was just for a moment, but…"
Draco's narrative trailed off, but Harry didn't need to hear the rest. He knew what Draco must have seen. The flat, snakelike features. The red eyes with their slitted pupils. Lord Voldemort was more monster than man. Harry allowed the silence to remain undisturbed until Draco took a shuddering breath, collected himself, and continued.
"I went to my room. I suppose… I suppose you could say I was hiding. I don't know what they all talked about, but he didn't stay long. That night, I couldn't sleep. I kept seeing that face and… And I was still pacing my room when my mother came and found me. She said my father's allegiance to the Dark Lord put us all in danger… That we could be killed if we stayed. We left that very night… That was over a week ago. I haven't seen or spoken to my father since."
"A week?" Millie asked suddenly, "But you only arrived this morning! Where have you been staying since then?"
"Mother took us to an inn at first," Draco explained, "But she said it would be dangerous to stay in one place too long. Father might come looking for us, you see, and if he did…" Draco faltered again before abruptly stating, "We went to see your mother, Zabini. After that, Professor Lupin showed up, and he brought us here."
Draco still referred to Remus as their teacher, though it had been over a year since he had instructed them in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry knew the rest of the story without needing an explanation. Remus, as the secret keeper, allowed the Malfoys to come to Grimmauld Place. What he still didn't understand was how Remus could do such a thing, knowing that Narcissa Malfoy and her son could be spies for Voldemort.
"Why should we believe you?" Harry asked, voicing his doubts aloud, "Why should we take the word of a Death Eater's son?"
"My mother is not a Death Eater!" Draco shouted. He took two quick steps toward Harry before Blaise and Millie intervened, stopping Draco in his tracks, but not preventing him from staring Harry in the eye as he said, "Check her arm if you don't believe me! You think I don't know about the Dark Mark? That I haven't seen it on my father's arm with my own eyes? Yes, my father is a Death Eater. But not my mother. She never joined the Dark Lord!"
"That doesn't prove anything!" Harry countered, "She still married your father, didn't she? She could still be on his side!"
"My parents are separated!" Draco said, his voice rising to a frantic pitch Harry had never heard from him before, "My mother is terrified! I haven't spoken to my father in days. I don't know where he is or what he's doing for the Dark Lord. I don't even know what my mother is telling Professor Lupin at this moment! And now the Dark Lord is back and we're all in hiding and… And I just want to go home!"
Harry didn't like Draco. He never had. But he didn't believe Draco could lie this convincingly. Against his own judgement, he was starting to believe that Draco's story was true.
"I guess you're out of luck," Harry said coolly after Draco concluded his rant. "Looks like you and your mother will have to stay here a while."
Draco's eyes widened in shock. This was clearly not the outcome he had been expecting.
"We're going to stay here? With all of you?"
"Don't get too excited," Harry added sarcastically, "There's no way I'm sharing a room with you."
"We already share a dormitory at school."
"Exactly. Summer holiday is supposed to be my break from you."
"He can share with me," announced a voice by the doorway. Harry spun around, his hand nearly reaching for the wand in his pocket. Blaise and Millie were also looking at the newcomer in surprise, unaware that their conversation had been overheard.
Ron Weasley stood in the doorway, holding a bit of the Weasley twins' Extendable Ears in his hand. Like Harry, he did seem thrilled to see Draco, but he repeated his assertion that Draco could share a room with him and his brothers while the others looked on in shock.
Harry and Ron had not spoken to each other much that summer. Although they had been living under the same roof, proximity had done nothing to further a sense of camaraderie between the two boys. If anything, Ron had taken even greater pains to avoid Harry's notice than he had before. Harry often wondered if this avoidance stemmed from guilt at having misjudged Harry. Voldemort's return had served as proof that Harry alone was not the one responsible for all the terrible things that had happened over their four years at Hogwarts.
As usual, Ron was carefully avoiding Harry's gaze. He stared instead at Draco, awaiting his response. There was a time when Draco might have sneered at Ron's invitation, but the school bully of yesterday had vanished. Instead, Draco merely nodded his head in mute acquiescence.
Before anyone could say a word more, the back door of the kitchen swung open, and Mundungus Fletcher stumbled in.
"Oh," he said, shuffling a pair of muddy boots on the doormat. He grinned, showing off his yellowed teeth, "Am I interrupting, sumthing?"
"What do you want, Dung?" Harry asked irritably, adopting the nickname he'd often heard his godfather use for Mundungus.
"Sirius around?" Fletcher asked, knowing full-well what the answer would be. "Need to speak with him 'bout sumfink. Where's he gone off to?"
"He's busy," Harry replied shortly. He wasn't sure what the adults were discussing with Mrs. Malfoy, but he was certain that they didn't want Fletcher to be a part of the conversation.
Fletcher was giving Draco a curious once-over. Not seeming to attend to Harry's answer at all, he replied "Sure, sure… I'll just wait in the parlor for him, shall I?"
He sauntered off, sidling around Ron, who wrinkled his nose as if Fletcher let off a smell similar to his nickname.
"Tail him," Harry instructed Millie, "Make sure he doesn't try to pinch anything."
Millie nodded before shifting into her animagus form, a peregrine falcon, and sailing from the room on silent wings.
Mundungus was one of Remus's recruits to the Order. Apparently, he had once been helpful during the first war against Lord Voldemort. But the years had apparently not been kind. Mundungus was now a known sneak-thief and con man. Despite all that, Remus insisted he was still a good contact for news of what was happening on the street, especially among communities that the Ministry rarely took notice of. Beyond that, Harry couldn't comprehend what good Mundungus did for their cause. If anything, he thought Fletcher's presence would put people off.
Already, Harry had caught him sneaking about the house when he wasn't expected. Once he had even tried to pry one of the gold-framed paintings from the wall, not knowing that most of them had been affixed with a permanent sticking charm.
Mundungus might not have been trustworthy, but at least he was definitely not working for Voldemort. Harry turned his attention back to Draco. He believed that Draco wasn't lying about what brought him there, but he couldn't say the same for Mrs. Malfoy. Friend of Mrs. Zabini or not, she had chosen to marry a Death Eater. It was difficult to believe she didn't harbor the same dangerous prejudices as her husband.
"We'll be keeping an eye on you," Harry warned, though this was mostly for show. He merely wanted to keep Draco in line.
"C'mon," Ron muttered to Draco, "I'll show you our room."
Draco hesitated only a moment, as if waiting for Harry's permission to leave. Harry held his gaze a moment longer before stepping aside, allowing Draco to pass by him into the hall, where he followed Ron upstairs.
"Filthy Hobbitses! What a mess," Blaise said with a sigh, running a hand over his close-cropped hair.
Harry opened his mouth to agree, but before the words could escape his mouth, there was a piercing shriek from the hall, followed by the screams and screeches of Sirius's mother. Thinking that something had happened between Draco and Ron, Harry dashed out of the room, only to find Millie, still in bird form, flapping her wings frantically in Mundungus Fletcher's face. Fletcher had his arms raised, trying to fend off her talons, while at his feet Kreacher the house elf tripped him up with every step. Their racket had caused the curtains covering Walburga Black's portrait to fly apart, and the portrait screamed curses and expletives at the intruders.
Harry and Blaise rushed past the dueling trio at the foot of the stairs and hastily pulled the curtains shut, muffling Mrs. Black's cries. The uproar brought Sirius out of the room where Mrs. Malfoy was being interrogated. He looked from Harry and Blaise, holding the curtains closed, to Mundungus, still attempting to extricate himself from Millie and Kreacher. For a moment, his expression was dark and murderous. Then he suddenly burst into laughter.
"What's this, Dung?" he asked in a jovial tone, "Testing my home security?"
Millie took the opportunity to swoop down, landing in human form on her feet.
"I caught him trying to pilfer something from one of the bedrooms," she said breathlessly.
"Oh? And what was it you took, Dung?" Sirius asked, still smiling, though the dark expression had returned to his eyes.
"Master's locket!" Kreacher wailed, still gripping onto Mundungus's trousers and reaching for an object in one of his hands. "He's taken Master Regulus's locket!"
For the first time, Harry noticed a glittering object dangling from a chain in Mundungus's hand. He knew instantly what it must be. It was the same locket he had pulled from the Sorting Hat. The one they believed had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, and that somehow ended up in Regulus Black's possession.
"That's enough, Kreacher!" Sirius snapped, "I'll not have you attacking my guests! Even if they are petty thieves! Go on, get out of here!"
"Theif! I'm not a thief!" Mundungus cried in protest as Kreacher obediently popped out of the room, but Sirius interrupted him.
"I suppose you're just an admirer of fine jewelry, then," Sirius said, snatching the locket from Mundungus's hand, "Don't bother making up an excuse, Dung. Just wait for me in the kitchen. I'll be with you in a moment."
Mundungus obligingly stumped off back down the hall. Harry wondered if he was actually there to talk to Sirius, or if he would quietly slip out the back as soon as he was out of sight. He supposed it didn't matter. He was more interested in the locket that Sirius now draped around his neck.
"You still have it?" Harry asked, not sure why this revelation surprised him. "You didn't give it to Dumbledore or anything?"
"No…" Sirius said, looking a bit guilty, "I know I told you that Remus and I would figure out what it was, but… Well, with everything else going on… And Kreacher being so obsessed with the thing. I gave it to him to shut him up, but perhaps it would be better if I hold onto it for now…"
It gave Harry an uneasy feeling to see Sirius wear the locket, but before he could mention this to his godfather, Sirius asked him again about their room assignments.
"He'll share with us!"
Harry and the rest looked up. Ron, Fred, George, and Draco were craning their heads over the banister of the floor above. Ron had called down to them in a stage whisper, anxious to avoid another outburst from Mrs. Black's portrait.
Sirius looked up at them with a slight frown. In the same half-whisper, he called, "Are you sure? Your room isn't already overcrowded with the three of you?"
"It'll be fine!" the twins assured him, flashing a thumbs up to emphasize their approval of the plan.
Sirius directed a glance at Harry that rankled. It seemed to suggest that he should be as accommodating as the Weasleys. Harry looked away haughtily as Sirius said, "Alight. I'll come up later and conjure another bed."
He started to turn toward the kitchen, but stopped short, as if something had just occurred to him. Turning back toward Draco, a half smile on his face, Sirius said, "Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."