Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, which is just as well, because they keep ordering me around. Draco, especially, will not do what I want him to.
Precious
-Catspook
Chapter 5: Confusion
What a day! Although he himself had not been called to the scene, Percy had been kept more than busy by You-Know-Who's unexpected reappearance. Percy, along with half a dozen other ministry officials from various departments, had been sent to Hogwarts after the ministry interrogation of Crouch jr.
They had been ordered to discern what Dumbledore had discovered from his own interrogation of the Death Eater. However, when they arrived, they had found Dumbledore gone, off to face You-Know-Who, and everyone but Percy had returned to report to the Ministry. Percy had stayed behind to wait for Dumbledore's return and (as per him mum's request) make sure that Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and especially Harry were all right.
But Percy had another reason to stay. Barty Crouch jr. had revealed under veritaserum that You-Know-Who had kidnapped Percy's mentor, Mr. Crouch sr., and tortured him, but Mr. Crouch (brave Mr. Crouch!) had managed to escape. The Department of International Magical Cooperation had been temporarily suspended, and Percy, as Crouch's assistant, had been put in charge of finding him.
Percy desperately hoped that Mr. Crouch was still alive, but he also felt incredibly guilty. He should have known that there was something off about those instructions from Mr. Crouch! At the moment, the moment being 2:38 am, Percy was rummaging through the Hogwarts library trying to find a useful tracking spell. Hogwarts had the best library of magic in Britain, and it was probably Percy's only chance of finding Mr. Crouch alive.
Percy was so engrossed in his search that he didn't hear Ron and Harry walking up behind him until, "Percy? Percy? HEY, PERCY!"
"Ah!" Percy jumped, badly startled. "Ron! What are you doing out of bed! It's past two a.m.!"
"Dumbledore's back," Ron answered, "You-Know-Who is dead. Again." Harry seemed very quiet and subdued.
Percy nodded. "Good. Go on to bed, now. Mum will be worried."
"That's not all, Perce. They found Mr. Crouch."
Percy dropped the book he was holding. "Is he alive?"
"Yeah, but he's beat up pretty bad. He's in the hospital wing."
"The hospital wing? Here?"
"Yeah. Hagrid found him on the edges of the Forbidden Forest."
"Oh, thank Merlin," Percy sighed. He returned the book he had dropped to the shelf as he said, "Thank you for telling me, but you should both go back to bed now. I suspect that classes will be canceled tomorrow, but you should still get some sleep."
Ron nodded, unusually complaint (well, it was past two in the morning after all), "G'night, Perce."
"Good night." They left without another word.
If Percy hadn't been so distracted, he might have wondered why Harry was so quiet, but he was thinking only of Mr. Crouch. When he got to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had finished with Mr. Crouch, and all Percy could do was wait for him to wake up. As Percy waited in the chair by Mr. Crouch's bed, it occurred to him that he should inform the ministry that Mr. Crouch had been found alive, but he didn't know how to do it without leaving Mr. Crouch's side. His dilemma was solved, however, when Mr. Crouch's former house elf (Winnie? Wicky? Winky!) suddenly appeared.
The creature had obviously been crying for some time, and she burst into new tears when she saw Mr. Crouch. "Master Crouch sir!" She started wailing, but Percy immediately shushed her.
"Shhh! Mr. Crouch needs his rest. But you can do something to help him, all right?"
The elf stopped crying and looked at Percy hopefully. "Yes, sir! Winky would to anything to help Master Crouch, sir!"
"All right. I'm going to write a letter to the Ministry to tell them that Mr. Crouch has been found, and I'll need you to take it to the owlry and send it for me."
"Yes, sir! Winky will do what you ask, sir! Right away, sir!"
"Good, just wait a minute while I write." Percy dug a quill, inkpot, and parchment out of his pocket (he was never without these vital bureaucratic tools) and wrote a quick letter to the ministry. Winky immediately popped away with it, and Percy put his head in his hands, finally admitting to himself how exhausted he was.
O~O~O~O~O
Draco awoke alone. Well, not exactly alone; Dibby was on the floor by his bed, but Lucius was gone, and that was worrisome. Draco could also tell by the brightness of the light outside that it was late in the morning, later than when his father should have woken him for breakfast. "Dibby!" he yelled, startling the sleeping house elf.
"Yeses, master Draco, sir?" she groveled.
"Where's father?"
"Dibby is not knowing, sir. Master Lucius sir was telling Dibby to watches master Draco while Master Lucius was taking a bath, sir. Dibby is not seeing master Lucius after that."
Draco nodded; his father had probably decided to sleep in his own bed, and ended up sleeping late. Draco pushed back the blankets and slowly levered himself out of bed. "Master Draco, sir?" Dibby asked nervously.
"What?"
"Should Master Draco be doing that, sir? Master Draco, sir, is very ill, sir."
Draco frowned. "I'll do as I like. Now go hit yourself, or something."
"Yeses, sir," Dibby whimpered and disappeared. Draco took a moment to collect himself, then slowly made his way across the room. The walk down the hallway was a long one, and he paused for a long moment before opening his father's bedroom door. Lucius was not in his bed, and it didn't look like he had been, either. Draco glanced around in confusion until he spied the door to the bathroom. He ran to it, opening the mahogany door cautiously. Lucius was on the floor, lying in a pool of blood.
"Oh, father! Father, please wake up! Please wake up, please..."
O~O~O~O~O
"Perce? Wake up, Perce."
"Hm?" Percy blinked sleepily, surprised to find himself in a sitting position, his head resting on his folded arms. Then he remembered Mr. Crouch. He glanced at his mentor, who was still asleep, and looking relatively healthy, if a little gaunt.
"Percy? Are you all right?"
"Mum? Dad?" Mrs. Weasley rushed over and hugged Percy so tightly that he was certain there would be bruises. Mr. Weasley just stood back, looking tired. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to make sure everyone was all right," Mrs. Weasley explained, "How are you?"
"Fine. Now that we've found Mr. Crouch, fine. How's everyone else?"
"Ginny and the twins are fine," Mr. Weasley answered, "But we decided to let Ron and Harry have a lie-in considering how late they were up last night."
"How did you know they were up late?"
"Professor McGonagall told us," Mrs. Weasley replied, "The poor dears, they must be exhausted. And I'm especially worried about Harry."
"Why? I mean, with You-Know-Who dead, it must be a relief for him."
"Well, yes, but this whole business with Barty jr-"
"Uh, mum?" Percy gestured to Mr. Crouch. He didn't want his mentor to wake up and be reminded of his recent trauma. And Percy *certainly* didn't want his mother to be the one to do the reminding.
"Oh, right. Percy, dear, why don't you come down to the Great Hall and have breakfast with everyone?"
"Um, thanks, but I think I should stay with Mr. Crouch."
Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Are you sure? Don't you want to be with your family?"
"Of course, but, well, there's no one else to stay with Mr. Crouch," Percy had sent Winky away because she couldn't seem to control her loud crying, "I don't want to leave him alone."
"Oh. Well, all right, then. But promise me you'll eat something," Mrs. Weasley doted.
Percy blushed. He didn't know why he was embarrassed by his mum's concern - and he felt rather guilty for feeling that way - but he still thought it was more important to stay with Mr. Crouch.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left. Percy sat silently until another house elf appeared with breakfast. Percy ate absently, and was surprised to find that, twenty minutes later, he had finished everything on the tray. He'd had no idea that he was that hungry. As Percy was wiping the grease off his hands, he heard moaning coming from Mr. Crouch's bed. "Mr. Crouch? Are you awake?"
"Weasley?" Percy smiled; Mr. Crouch had remembered his name!
"Yes, sir. How are you feeling?"
"Fine, fine. How did I get here?"
"Rubeus Hagrid found you by the edge of the forest last night."
"How is the Potter boy?" Crouch demanded, struggling into a sitting position. Percy, of course, tried to help him, but Crouch just waved him off.
"Harry? He's fine."
"Where is he right now?"
"Gryffindor tower, having a lie in, I believe."
"And where is Professor 'Moody'?" Crouch asked with a sneer.
"Do you mean the real Moody or..."
"My son," Crouch growled, "He was discovered?"
"Yes. By Harry Potter, actually."
"And where is my son?"
"Azkaban by now, I'm sure."
"Wait... if you caught him, what of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
"Dead. Dumbledore defeated him last night."
"Any from our side hurt?"
"Not that I know of, but all I heard of the last battle was that Dumbledore won."
"So when are the aurors coming for me?"
Percy's eyes went as wide as saucers, "What? Why would the aurors come for you?"
"If they caught my son, you should know why. I'm sure they asked him how he got out of Azkaban in the first place."
"Well, yes, but..." Percy didn't want Mr. Crouch to go to prison! It was true he made some mistakes, but... "I think the aurors are busy rounding up the last of the Death Eaters. Maybe you should get some rest, Mr. Crouch."
Mr. Crouch looked pointedly at Percy, and Percy was afraid of receiving one of Mr. Crouch's famous tongue-lashings, but Mr. Crouch didn't say anything, he just flopped back down tiredly. "So you're here to guard me until the aurors come?"
"Of course not, I just..." Percy trailed off. He didn't know how to say what he wanted to say, or even if saying it was appropriate. And didn't seem to be acting like himself.
"Yes?"
"Well, I wanted to make sure you were all right."
"Right," Mr. Crouch said dryly.
"You don't believe me?" Mr. Crouch didn't answer. He just lay on the bed stiffly and stared at the ceiling.
After many minutes of uncomfortable silence, Percy blurted out, "I'm sorry."
Mr. Crouch gave him an odd look. "What on Earth for?"
"I should have known that there was something wrong with those instructions you kept sending. I should have followed up on it; gone to your house or something."
"That would have been a violation of Ministry policy."
"Well," and this was very hard for Percy to admit, "Maybe Ministry policy isn't always right." Mr. Crouch laughed wryly.
"Hard to admit; isn't it, Weasley?"
"Yes," Percy relied sincerely.
"But it's never wrong when we want it to be," Mr. Crouch sighed.
"What?"
"Never mind, Weasley. Now tell me, how exactly did Barty get caught?"
"Well..."
O~O~O~O~O
"Ugh, I feel sick," Draco moaned.
"I told you the chocolate chip pancakes were a bad idea," Lucius smirked. Draco pouted.
"They never made me sick before."
"Did you pour a quart of syrup over them before?"
Draco glared at him. "It wasn't the syrup. I was all that soup you made me drink; it ruined my stomach," he whined.
"So it's my fault, then?" Lucius teased.
"Yes."
"Well, then I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it better?"
"No."
"Oh, my poor dragon," Lucius sighed melodramatically, pulling Draco into his lap. Draco curled up into the fetal position and let Lucius stroke his hair. Lucius smiled as Draco pouted harder; he could tell that Draco was actually reveling in the attention.
O~O~O~O~O
The day had been very uncomfortable for Percy. Mr. Crouch had made a valid point about the aurors; once things calmed down, they probably would come to arrest him. Mr. Crouch himself was still in pretty rough shape, and he was confined to his bed in the hospital wing. Percy was resolved to stay by Mr. Crouch's bedside until he was better, but Mr. Crouch was becoming increasingly distant and depressed, and that was taking a toll on Percy.
Furthermore, Percy's family had been confused by and disapproving of Percy's loyalty to Mr. Crouch, and Percy didn't know what to say to them. Percy didn't know why he was the only one to worry about Mr. Crouch, but he was. At the moment, Mr. Crouch was asleep, and he would stay that way if the two doses of dreamless sleep potion he had taken had anything to say about it. And that was good, because the twins then decided to run into the hospital wing yelling, "Perce! Perce, guess what!"
"Shhh! Mr. Crouch is sleeping!" Percy hissed.
"Sorry, Perce."
"But you are never going to believe this!"
"What?"
"Sirius Black is innocent!"
"And Peter Pettegrew was Scabbers!"
"What! That's impossible!"
"No, it's not. You see, Pettegrew was the secret keeper all along, and he framed Sirius for killing all those muggles."
"And they're both animagi. Pettegrew, you see, is a rat, and that's why Scabbers lived so long."
"How do you know this?" Percy asked, dazed.
"Pettegrew was with You-Know-Who when Dumbledore killed him."
"And the ministry just finished interrogating him and they declared Sirius innocent! And that's not the best part..."
"What else?"
"Since Sirius is Harry's godfather, Harry doesn't have to go back to the Dursleys!"
"Isn't that cool?"
"Yeah," Percy replied vaguely. Scabbers? Percy's first pet, that poor, starving rat he found in Diagon Alley, was a murderer?
But the twins had continued to talk, "Mum and Dad are leaving."
"Mum wants you to come see 'em before they do."
"All right... Mr. Crouch should be fine for a few minutes..." Percy was too distracted to notice the twins roll their eyes. Percy followed the twins down to the front doors, still in shock.
"Percy, are you all right?" Mrs. Weasley asked, "You're as white as a sheet!"
"Yeah... I'm fine, mum."
"Are you sure? I know you've been working too hard. You should come home, at least for the night, and get some rest."
"No. No, I can't."
"Percy..."
"No, Mum, I can't; there's still no one else to stay with Mr. Crouch. It's my responsibility."
"All right, but I want you to take some time off after this whole thing is over."
"Mum-"
"No buts, Percival Weasley," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "You work entirely too hard; you are going to make yourself seriously ill one of these days."
Percy hung his head, "Yes, Mum."
"Good boy." Mrs. Weasley hugged him; Percy hugged back, although he was unaware of doing so.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left shortly after that, but not before Mrs. Weasley had imparted more motherly wisdom to Harry, who was being unusually quiet. "Now, Harry dear, be sure to get some sleep tonight. I'm sure your godfather is all right."
Why wouldn't he be? Percy wondered, he was just granted his freedom. But Percy didn't say anything; it really was none of his business. Once his parents were gone, Percy returned to the hospital wing while Hermione herded everyone else back to Gryffindor tower.
O~O~O~O~O
"Doctor Uberan told you to take it easy, father. I'm sure that includes spending the night in bed, preferably yours."
Lucius frowned, "So we're back to that, are we? Draco, I'm just fine. Now drink your potion."
"Not until you promise me you'll go back to your own bed and go to sleep."
"No. This is a half dose; you can't have more or you could get addicted to the potion. I refuse to leave you alone tonight."
"But I can't sleep if I'm worried about you."
Lucius smiled, "I thank you for your concern, but you are more important. Now drink."
"But-"
"Drink."
"But-"
"Now."
Draco pouted dramatically, but took the goblet. He gave Lucius a dirty look before downing the potion. It took longer for him to fall asleep than before, probably because of the reduced dosage. Lucius tucked him in and, regardless of Draco's petulant behavior, stroked Draco's hair soothingly until he fell asleep.
O~O~O~O~O
"Please...please...stop, please…get off me!" Draco's pained moaning escalated into a terrified shriek, despite Lucius' desperate attempts to wake him.
"Draco, wake up! You're safe here; wake up!" Lucius tried to shake Draco awake, but he was too busy trying to keep a hold of Draco's flailing wrists to do it properly. Lucius finally screamed for Dibby and ordered the horrid creature to toss a bowl of cold water over Draco's head.
Draco jolted awake, gasping and sputtering. Lucius immediately cast a drying charm on Draco, himself, and the bed, then gathered Draco into his arms and rubbed the boy's back vigorously to warm him up.
Draco clung to Lucius, sobbing brokenly. "Shh, it's all right, precious... it's okay... you're safe now... shh..." Lucius rocked Draco gently, trying to calm him down. Eventually, Draco's crying dissolved into a rather bad case of hiccups, and Lucius had Dibby bring him a potion to stop them.
"Here you are, drink this." After he drained the vial, Draco leaned against Lucius' chest, totally exhausted. Lucius tried to tuck him back in, but Draco grabbed a hold of Lucius' robes and refused to let go.
"Please, father, don't leave. Stay with me."
"Don't worry, I'll be right here."
"No, stay with me. Please."
"All right." At least Draco was reaching out to him now. Lucius kicked off his shoes and climbed under the covers. Draco immediately cuddled close, whimpering softly. "Shhh, it's all right. Go to sleep, my dragon." Draco drifted off shortly after that, but for Lucius, sleep was much longer in coming.
* End Chapter 5 *