Just Another War – Chapter Two
The pale blonde instantly felt bad about what he said to Harry and though it wasn't like him, he wished he could take it back. He never actually would, but it was the thought that counts, right? That was how Draco felt, anyhow. Harry was still glaring daggers at him, but he was not resisting Ginny's hand on his chest. Draco felt his eyes drift to Harry's robotic arm. It looked so... unnatural.
It wasn't visibly robotic-it was covered with fake skin-, but the way it moved was so jerky and swift you could tell it wasn't a real arm. Draco absently remembered that scene of the War.
Potter let out an ear-splitting shout of pain, and Draco turned his head towards him. He was kneeling on the dusty ground, blood pouring from a spot just below his elbow. Another scar for Potter, Draco thought savagely. Potter regained his ground and pulled out his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" he yelled at the opposing Death Eater. The black-clad man fell to the ground, dead as the dirt that covered the barren land on which they fought.
Draco turned back to his own enemy; he would worry about Potter later, this was important. His supernatural enemy hissed at him and raised a clawed hand to strike. Draco raised his wand and bellowed, "Redire Aninum Mundum!". The creature shrieked wildly, then disappeared in a cloud of maroon smoke. That was the last of their enemies. He wondered how Ron and Ginny were doing; Ron and Ginny had split up with them when they had reached a fork in the road-around ten miles back.
"Potter!" he called, "are you alright?" He knew it was a stupid question, but he couldn't stop himself from asking. "Like Hell I am!" Potter yelled back. A stupid answer for a stupid question….
Draco sighed, and took a small bite of the chicken and rice. It tasted fine, but he wouldn't admit that. He choked a little as his eyes wandered to the picture of Potter's mother. But now it wasn't Potters mum, it was his mother. And his dad was holding the knife above the small boy's arm and now blood was pouring… Draco screamed.
Images of black, morbid murders surfaced in his mind. His father once again stood over him and he cowered back against the familiar wall of Malfoy Manor. He held a knife-a beautiful curved, steel blade and a woven leather handle. The light from the room made the blade shine with an intense flame. His father loomed over him, ready to strike at any moment. He covered his face with his hand instinctively. His father brought down the knife....
Something hard slapped his face. He jumped and stirred. He was in Potters house-what was he doing there?-and Sirius stood in front of him looking worried. "Draco... are you all right?"
Draco suddenly realized what happened; he had another mental flash-a power only special wizards had. It was sort of like a premonition, but only showed horrible images of your past that you never wanted to see again... It was more of a curse than a power, Draco thought. He had first received the mental flashes when he was seventeen; they had been with him since.
Every once and a while, they'd appear and he would go to into sort of a trance-like state. They never seemed to happen when something important was going on though. Sometimes they would happen when he was eating, or showering, but never when he was battling or working. It was odd.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a mental flash."
"You're creepy sometimes, you know," said Harry, who, in the heat of the moment, had forgotten all about the father crack Draco had made.
"I know," Draco alleged gently.
"Oh, shut up!" Sirius said stridently. "Now, lets finish eating; Harry, have you got anything to drink?"
"No."
"Why?"
Ginny burst out laughing. "Harry, you idiot! Conjure up something to drink!"
"Oh…" Harry said sluggishly and conjured up some milk.
Sirius laughed and conjured some soda. "Harry, dear, un-shut-ins drink this," he said and handed Harry a can.
"Oh, right."
Draco watched Harry take a huge swig out of the soda can. Suddenly, Harry face contorted and he seemed to barely be able to swallow it. "Merlin! It's so... sweet, and sugary!" he said and reached for the milk he had previously fabricated. "That's normally why we drink it, Harry," said Ginny sweetly with a teasing timbre.
Harry coughed, "I don't see how."
"Easy," Sirius said. "Put it to your lips. Spill some in your mouth. Swallow. Good!"
"Shut up!"' Harry snapped and imbibed the milk. "You're all just weird!"
Draco smirked and drank his soda.
"Oh, and Sirius?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Yeah?"
"Ever," Harry said in a warning tone, "ever call me dear again, and you're dead."
Once everyone had cleared their plates and their sodas, Draco announced, "we should go. Minister Zabini wants to see us... immediately." It was common knowledge of Blaise Zabini's sudden jump through the Ministry. With her grades and charm, the Wizarding World had naturally voted her for Minister. "I guess we already broke that rule," said Sirius fondly.
"Let's go," said Draco and Apparated. The rest pictured the Ministry building and followed suit.
Sirius walked into the building and hissed at a few officials, glaring. Harry walked behind him, sniggering. It was superior until Draco passed the office. The office-the office where his father used to work. He gulped. He couldn't move past the door. He remembered being beaten senseless inside that room. They all heard the screams and they didn't care, didn't give a fuck. Draco slid back in his mind…
"Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"
"Father I'm sorry-" the pale boy cowered as a hand whacked him. He fell over. The man brought out a wand from his pocket. "This should teach you, you lazy boy-"
The boy screamed and twisted around, crying. The pain-oh god it hurt. He tried to focus on something cheerful but what was cheerful in his life? He heard footsteps approaching the room. "Help!" Draco cried, scared out of his wits. His father laughed and kicked him. Someone walked in. "Lucius-oh, I'll come back."
They left, Draco sobbed. They left, and I'll never ever leave.
It was Harry this time that took him by the shoulders and brought him back to reality. "Damnit, you got to stop doing that," he said.
"It's not like I can help it."
"I bet you could if you tried!" Harry said fiercely.
"I could not!"
"Could too!"
"I see something's never change," a feminine voice said. Blaise Zabini walked towards them, dressed in very official robes that suited her high-ranking position. Her long, flowing blonde tresses hung to her waist, plated and tied with denim colored ribbons. Her violet eyes sparkled with laughter. Though Blaise was the Minister of Magic, she treated everyone in the Ministry as equals-no matter what his or her rank. She was always open to ideas and suggestions; she was also a believing person. Meaning, she didn't need evidence to make her believe something.
"Shut up!" Draco snapped, though it was at Harry. "It's not my fault, so shut the hell up!"'
Harry growled and sauntered towards Blaise. "Hi," he said softly. It was good to see Blaise again. "Your agent is a pompous asshole!" Blaise grinned and nodded.
Luckily, Sirius was there to hold Draco back. "Stay," Sirius growled, "and shut up, Harry."
"But I don't want to!" Harry whined, much like a spoilt child. Draco noticed Harry visibly calm himself, red in the face. "Er... yeah... sorry," he said, blushing.
"Moron," said Draco.
"Shut up," Ginny snapped, "you don't need to be picking fights."
"I'm so glad one of you has a brain," said Blaise thankfully. Though she was the Minister of Magic, Draco knew she thought them as equal to her as they had been at Hogwarts. "Hey!" Ron, Harry, Draco, and Sirius interjected. "I resent that!" All of them exchanged glances, blinked, and then laughed.
"You mean resemble?" Ginny asked amiably, smiled, and turned to Blaise. "They haven't stopped fighting since we arrived at Harry's flat! It's like having children!"
"A Marauder, a Marauders son, a Malfoy and a Weasley; what did you expect?" Blaise asked. Ginny smirked. "Come into my office, we have work to do."
Draco and Harry glared at each other, and then followed Blaise through the Ministry building and into her office. There were five cushioned chairs sitting there. Blaise waved her had and invited them to sit down. Harry, who had not sat in such a comfortable chair since his Hogwarts days, sunk and relaxed in the chair. The rest of the group sat straight, pale-faced, and serious. "It's good to have you back, Harry," Blaise told him with a smile.
"I never said anything was permanent," he replied blankly. Blaise blinked and, for a second, her eyes looked hurt and confused. She looked at Draco who shrugged back and try to give her the impression, "Well, I got him to agree to this assignment, didn't I?" Blaise nodded. "We shall see, Harry," she said, "we shall see."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry demanded, eyes blazing.
"It means," said Ron, "that you're reading to much into it."
"Thank you, Mr. Weasley."
"You're welcome," said Sirius, beaming. Blaise smiled and shook her head. Draco rolled his eyes. Sirius Black could be such an idiot at times. It was like he was trying to make up for the youth he missed. Draco didn't have a problem with this, but the man was nearly fifty years old! It was time to start growing up a bit. Even Weasley-Ron-was more mature than Sirius was, and that, in Draco's not-so-modest opinion, was saying something. Fifty years old, indeed.
"I have here," said Blaise, interrupting his thoughts and laying her hand on a stack of papers. "A profile on each person that has been murdered recently. Ginny," she turned her attention to the young healer, "I want you to go through these and see if you can find anything in common between the victims. Sirius, you help her with this." Sirius and Ginny nodded confidently.
"Draco, Harry, and Ron, I want you to go to each of the victims houses and look for clues and traces of the murder or murders. Understood?" The three of them nodded not un-similar to the way Ginny and Sirius had. "Good. Then you are dismissed."
Draco had a sudden thought. "What are you going to do, Blaise?" he asked.
"I'm going to sit back, relax, and drink lemonade," she said sarcastically. "Mr. Malfoy, I'm going to be recruiting help for this mission. After the fall of Voldemort," she looked at the five of them, "I thought we were rid of evil. I guessed wrongly, and the world is paying for it."
"Blaise," said Harry softly, "no matter how hard you try, there is always going to be evil in the world. There's always going to be that one person who wants to make everyone else miserable. All we can do is keep get rid of it. And, maybe, one day, there won't be evil any more."
"Thank you, Harry," she said, standing up and walked them to the door. She opened the door for them and they walked out. She waved cheerfully to them with a smile, notwithstanding her mood.
Back at Harry's flat-Draco decided this was their base-Ginny and Sirius were busy filing through records. "Sirius," Ginny said, "there's nothing in common about these people. Someone's just killing for sport."
"Keep looking, Gin," he replied, surfing through the huge stack of papers, "we may be missing something."
"I doubt it," Ginny countered, but kept surfing through his papers.
"Well, stop doubting,"' Sirius said firmly. "Death Eaters kill for sport, but they have something in common, all of them. Perhaps we should look at the victims parents or relatives…."
"Great idea!" Ginny said, jumping up. She picked up some parchment and scribbled down a note then sent an owl off to Blaise. "You're a genius, Sirius."
"I'm aware," he said lightly, and smiled.
"Well," Ginny said, sitting down and setting the paper down on the coffee table. "Now all we have to do is wait for Blaise's information on the victims parents." She didn't really see how this information could help. But, then again, Harry was wanted because all of the Potters' were wanted, right? Right, she confirmed herself in thought, think positive, Ginny, think positive. Back in their Hogwarts days, when they were still in war, Harry had told her it was her one fault.
"You're too pessimistic, Ginny," he had told her, "think positive. If you think negatively, you'll just get negative results, in war and in life." Harry spoke so passionately sometimes, sometimes he was a real jerk sometimes though. She supposed this was just his mother and father coming out in him. "What are you thinking about?" asked Sirius.
"Oh, nothing," she said softly, going slightly red.
"Liar," Sirius said quietly and continued his work. "Hey, both these people were killed. And they both like pink; maybe that's it. They were obsessed with pink, in fact, their house was pink-inside and out. And they only wore pink."
"Yuck!" Ginny said.
"Hell, I'd kill them, too," Sirius said playfully. Ginny swatted his head and looked through her papers. "I'd kill myself." Ginny said quietly with a sigh.
Ginny shuffled through some of the papers. After a few minutes, she looked and looked at Sirius. "Pink?" she asked and they both laughed appreciatively.
"Hey," she said, "what about these two? They both had dogs...." Ginny snorted. This wasn't working; hardly any of these people had anything in common. Ginny wanted so bad to help and find some evidence, but there just wasn't any. Think positive, Ginny.
"Okay, this isn't working," said Sirius, "I suppose we'll just have to wait for Blaise's info."
"Think positive, Sirius."
"Oh, shut up!" Sirius said, conjuring up some lemonade. He took a sip and let out a nice, long "aah!" after he finished.
"Well, really, Sirius, all's dandy in the world. People dieing, childless parents, starvation, but, hell, we've got McDonalds so it'll all be okay!" Ginny did not really mean this, but it seemed the right thing to say at the time. A Weasley spurt, one might call it.
Sirius spit his lemonade out laughing. "Ginny, you freak!" he said.
"No, I'm just a Weasley," she said congenially. "Want a cookie?"
"Ginny, it's not the time for cookies," Sirius said, taking a bite.
"Oh," Ginny said, "so your morals rise as your stomach fills?"
"Basically," said Sirius, grabbing another and eating it. Ginny smirked. "Well," she said, "take the whole plate then." Sirius glared and accepted the plate with a grin on his face. "I'm doomed," said Ginny, "Sirius Black on sugar high." Then Ginny added randomly, "Sirius, how did you ever manage to stay single?"
"I didn't," Sirius said, not catching the humor. "In fact-"
"Shut up, I don't want to know."
"Oh, thanks."
"Sirius, wait a second," Ginny hit his arm with her hand. "Look at this. The Death Eaters supposedly killed one man of this family but not his twin sister, why do you think that is?"
"Odd," said Sirius absently. Ginny knew he didn't think that was anything important. Ginny, on the other had, did think it was essential, but didn't say anything.
Sirius didn't reply. "Sirius," Ginny said. "Do you think Remus would be any help here? This seems like his type of thing."
"Remember, Ginny?" Sirius replied, "him and your other brothers are already on another mission."
"Oh, yeah," she replied, dully disappointed. Remus could have been such a help to them now. They needed another person with brains, Ginny thought. Sirius doesn't count. If only Draco was here, he's great at this type of thing.
Sirius suddenly started spinning the empty cookie plate around on his finger, thus proving Ginny's "brain" theory. Yes, they definitely need another person. "Sirius!" she said. "Would you please pay attention?"
"Oops," he said, setting the plate down and reaching for his stack of papers. "Sorry, Ginny."
"When will Blaise write back?" Sirius moaned ten minutes later.
"I think we need another person," Ginny said quietly.
'What are you insinuating?'
"That we need another person," Ginny said lightly and conjured up some soda. She sipped her and calmly awaited Blaise's owl.
It took two hours for Blaise's owl to return. Partly because it took the strength of two owls to carry all the paperwork, and partly because Blaise was busy with the recruits; or so Ginny assumed. Which, she remembered briefly, you shouldn't do. Remember, she thought. Draco explained the consequences of assuming to you.
Blaise's personal note was a short and rushed, "keep up the good work guys!" followed by her flowing, cursive signature. Ginny groaned and began shifting though the new paper work, as did Sirius. "DAMNIT!" Sirius suddenly yelled.
'What?' Ginny asked, alarmed.
"I got a paper cut!" Sirius groaned. Ginny burst into laughter. "It's not funny!" Sirius whined then continued going through the paper work. " 'Know what, I found something in common!"
"What?" Ginny gasped. "What is it?"
"They all got killed."
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!' Ginny shrieked, cuffing him behind the head, hardly. She repeated the process three times.
"Ow! Stop it! It's true!"
"That was totally inappropriate!" Ginny told him fiercely. "What a heartless, cruel, killer-like thing to say!"
"You know how much you look like your mum right now, Gin?"
"Flattery will get you no where Sirius Black."
"It was worth a shot."
"Sirius…" Ginny said warningly.
"Well, I was suspected of killing thirteen Muggles and being a Death Eater, so can't I make bad remarks?"
"NO YOU CAN'T!' Ginny shouted and angrily went back to the paperwork.
"I'm sorry." Sirius said sweetly and began working.
"Damn you!" Ginny snapped. "You have too much charm and you're voice is too sweet. I'm supposed to be mad here!"
"Sorry." Sirius repeated.
"Oh shut up." Ginny said and smiled.
Shuffling through file after file, Ginny still couldn't see anything in common between the people murdered. She found herself wanting Draco's help more and more with each passing minute. Not that she had any feelings for him, but she was positively certain that would've already gotten somewhere with his-or Harry's-help. It was all just so hard. She was a Healer! It wasn't her job to sort through papers.
Far away, in the balmy country of Glasgow, Scotland, a search was taking place. Two men, obviously Ministry Aurors, and a man rumored to look like Harry Potter were investigation houses. Whether this man was actually Harry Potter or not, witches and wizards were anxious to know. One of the men, a tall, red-haired one, seemed annoyed by all this attention.
"Go away!" he shouted at the mob of onlookers. "You're not wanted here!" However, to his anger, they were not listening to him. "Look!" they called in unison. "It is Harry Potter! He's come back!" Harry was suddenly caught up in the crowd of vicious reporters and fans and had to be eventually rescued by the blonde and red-haired men. He straightened his robes and they walked towards a white house with pink shuddered. All men visibly shuddered at the vibe the house gave off.
Though it was mainly white on the outside, the inside was purely pink. All shades of pink decorated the small flat, dark pink, hot pink, light pink and even a lavender-like color. The only thing that was not pink was the bloodstains on the vibrant pink carpet.
"Gross," Harry groaned, looking at the all pink rooms and chairs. "These people were maniacs."
"Harry, shut up and work, please?" Draco asked, shuffling through some papers on the fireplace. "I'm going upstairs, maybe something will help up there," he announced.
"We're coming, too," said Harry and Ron simultaneously. They proceeded to tromp up the stairs after Draco, thumping as they went along. The first room they stopped in was a loft of some sort. Hot pink lounge chairs and a pale, pink couch decorated it, there was a small, clear box lying sideways on the floor. The box stirred.
"There's something alive in there!" said Harry amazedly; usually when Death Eaters attacked, they left no signs of life. Draco approached the box warily, trying to determine whether or not this was a trap of a Dark wizard. Lifting the box cautiously, he examined it. But at the first glance inside the box, he dropped it and it went rolling across the room.
"What is it?" asked Harry, not being able to contain his curiosity.
"An animal of some sort.
"Shut up, guys," said Ron fiercely, also disturbed by the pink but not wanting to show it. "It's just a hamster." And he happened to like hamsters; they were cute. Of course, it had been Hermione that had showed him his first Hamster. It was when they were sixteen and he was at her house for the summer.
"Bugs!" she had called to the gray hamster with a white face and big ears. "Come here, Bugs!"
"Why did you name that silly thing Bugs; it's almost as bad as Pig."
"Ron, silly," she replied in a relaxed voice that one could only hear during the summer. "He's named after a cartoon I used to like."
Ron blinked at her, confused....
That night they had shared their first kiss, and it had been so nice... wonderful even. Ron missed her so much it was like half of him was missing. Even now.
"'Ron? Ron? Ron!" Harry shouted, waving his hands in front of Ron's eyes. Ron jumped back, giving a slight squeak and backed into the wall.
"Don't do that," He gasped and tried to compose himself. Harry looked at him oddly and went back to poking things.
"God, these people needed help," he said, looking around the room again. "Bunch of fairies, I swear to Merlin."
"Or a bunch of Slytherins," Harry said quietly.
"Oh, shut up!" Draco snapped. "Slytherins don't like pink!"
"Pansy did."
"DO NOT TALK ABOUT THAT THING."
"Why not?" Ron asked innocently. Even though he missed Hermione, he still enjoyed annoying Malfoy just as much as he used to. He was such an easy target; so many things ticked him off so easily.
"Because."
"That's not an answer," said Harry smartly.
"It wasn't a question either."
"Yes, technically, but..."
"No buts, keep looking."
"Stiff necked Slytherin," Harry said and lifted one of the lounge chairs, hoping that there was something under it. There was not, unfortunately. "I don't see anything here but pink and blood."
"And a hamster," Ron added.
"Well, will you actually look and stop bothering me with your incompetence?" Draco said, at a loss for words.
"Yes sir, captain jackass sir," Harry said, giving a mock salute, but didn't move.
Draco growled and stormed off downstairs, annoyed. Ron looked at Harry and they both laughed. "Some things never change, do they?" said Harry wistfully. Ron shuffled around the main room for a bit. "I wouldn't say that, Harry."
"Ron..."
"I'm fine; lets keep looking.
"But-"
"Lets keep looking," Ron said firmly.
"There's nothing here," Harry pouted and poked a few things. "Draco?" he called.
"What now?"
"Anything interesting to poke at down there?"
"SHUT UP, HARRY!" Both Ron and Harry sniggered and moved to another room.
"You'd think;" said Harry, holding up a beautiful pearl necklace, "if they can afford necklaces like these they could afford to paint their house a decent color." Harry said, holding up a pearl necklace.
Ron shrugged and continued shuffling around the room. "You'd think so."
RedFeather: End of chapter. More to come. My partner's not here at the moment so you'll just have to here me blabble and blob for a while, okay? Yes, I thought you'd love that. (Coughnotcough) Anyways. A short thank you section for the reviews we got…
Crazed Spyromanic: You can't fix everything with magic, you know. That would just make life too simple. And, no, it wasn't Ron's fault that Hermione died-he just thinks it is. All of them do in their own special way. No, G/D are not together yet, but if I have anything to say about it, they will be! ^_^ I think I answer the Weasley Clan question. And the Minister of Magic question. No! I love questions! They're so helpful! I even have one for you! Why are you complaining that we don't have any grammar errors? Is that a bad thing? Do you want me to make it grammatically incorrect just for you? ^_~ j/k, but I am curious.
NobodysBitch: Eee! It's YOU! ^_^ I'm glad you like it. I like it too, to be honest. I'll prolly be on again tonight or Monday. Maybe I can get on AIM tomorrow night if I'm lucky.
R/R as always.
