Disclaimer: Oh yes, of course they're mine. Just as the sun is made of ice
and money grows on trees. Miss Rowling? If you wish to sue please find
someone else, I can't even afford a lawyer let alone a settlement.
Warnings: Nah, nothing you can't handle if you made it through the last few chaps.
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Blood & Nails.
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Part Sixteen. Killing Me Softly.
Not even the stupidest person in the world could miss that Harry was getting increasingly edgy, so Draco sure didn't. He did what he could to try and relax his lover, but nothing seemed to work very well. Harry wouldn't discuss the Mortel case with him, and it looked as if that was the only one anyone was working on. Morgan was usually over most nights and the two of them sat in the living room, muttering to each other, which annoyed the hell out of the blonde.
He didn't like to sit around doing nothing when something was clearly 'going on' just like Harry had said. But he had stood at the door most nights, listening to what they were saying. It didn't help much, but it gave him the feeling of not being completely left out.
Harry didn't want 'to worry him' as was put every time he asked about the case, a trait Draco loathed to the point of almost punching the other man whenever it was mumbled at him. They would always fall silent when he went into the room, something else the blonde was hating.
So, he came up with a solution one night. Harry never took *all* of his paperwork during the day, that meant it was simply a matter of waiting until the next day and breaking the locking charms.
Which is exactly what he did the second Harry walked out the door. Well, that's what he tried at any rate, it actually took him about twenty five minutes to break the spells but finally he was victorious and the box lay quietly on the floor. The smoking would pass, the blonde decided and he lifted the lid off.
He lifted out all the folders, noting they were all dated and in order, for when he wanted to return them. He felt slightly guilty about going through Harry's things, but reasoned that he had a right to know what he'd almost been put to death for.
He reached for the one with the earliest date and recognised the name on the front. Samuel Matthews. The name Dumbledore had asked him about that day he had woken up. It was dated only a few days after he and Harry had moved in together.
He opened it up to find the preliminary report, date, time, statistics of the boy, basically all the uninteresting stuff and quickly flipped that page over. Muggle photos had obviously been introduced into the Wizarding world, because none of them in the file moved at all. The first one was of the crime scene and Draco looked at the young boy who had been nailed to a wall with his throat slit. It didn't bother him as much as it should have, he had seen some people do worse. He picked up the next photo.
It was a close up of the artificial scar that had been cut into the boy's forehead. That annoying prickling sensation started up in the back of Draco's mind. The one he had gotten constantly until he had settled into his apartment. He justified that it was only natural that he'd experience it with this sort of thing too.
Next photo was a close up of the slit across the boy's throat, not interesting, so Draco moved on. The last photo in the file was of words that had been written across the wall in what Draco assumed to be the boy's own blood.
It would be hours until Harry was home so he didn't have to worry to much about that, but he did set up a warning system in case anyone should come over. He flipped to the next page and got settled on the carpet comfortably. It was a hand written report, most likely Harry's personal opinions about what could be going on.
He tried to imagine what it must have been like for Harry, an Auror Trainee, to see a small black haired, green eyed boy with a lightning bolt scar, nailed to a wall with his throat slit. Then he tried to picture how Mortel-Draco would have reacted. He knew the real Draco would have seethed, mostly in silence, as he had a very hostile protective streak when something or someone he cared strongly about was threatened.
And Draco certainly saw this as a threat. Harry must have too, given the tone the report was written in.
'In accordance to Auror Training Protocol 83 that states all Trainees must be allowed to view formal case files on request, the first year Trainees Group that I belong to, was granted permission to observe Case File 343042779. I have requested that I receive copies of all material once I have graduated. This is still a pending matter.
It is in my opinion that someone intended for me to know of this case as I learned of this case by an anonymous note that had been left in my letter box at my London apartment.
Surely only the killer could have done this, and I am working with my friends during our own time to see if we can come up with a list of possible suspects. Any ideas shall be passed on to our superiors.'
Draco closed his eyes, picturing Mortel-Draco sitting around with Harry and Hermione, trying to work out who it could be. "Arsehole." He muttered and flicked to the next page. It was clearly his own writing, he and Harry must have pooled their efforts together.
'In accordance to Auror Training Protocol 83 that states all Trainees must be allowed to view formal case files on request, the first year Trainees Group that I belong to, was granted permission to observe Case File 343042779. I have requested that I receive copies of all material once I have graduated. This is still a pending matter.
Someone's fucking with my boyfriend and I don't like it. If the gutless little prick doesn't come forward, I'll hunt him down and give him a few scars of his own, arrogant fucking bastard.
I don't like the anonymous note thing. I don't like the connection to Harry. I don't like the bloody words written on the wall and I sure as fuck don't like the subliminal message in the case file number.
Change the number or I'll'
It looked almost as if some one had ripped the paper away as he wrote, a long line dragged from near the last word to almost the edge of the page. Draco smirked, he knew what he could be like when he was in protective mode and that sounded exactly like something he would have written, handing it in to his superiors or not. He looked at the case file number in confusion though. He couldn't see anything wrong with it and shrugged.
He closed up that folder and moved to the next in line. It was dated almost a year after Samuel Matthews. More photos, this time a girl who couldn't have been more than six. Basically the same, but no scar this time. He flicked to the writings, Harry's first.
'It is believed this is the work of the same killer from the unsolved Case File 343042779. Same method of execution, with possible Muggle Religion connections, as seen with the nailing of the hands.
No words, or scars this time but the young, muggle girl had been under observation for acceptation to a Wizarding School once she reached of age, just as Samuel Matthews had been accepted to Hogwarts only days before his death.'
Draco slowly went through all the files as Harry pondered on who the killer could be and through his theories. From that it was someone who worked at the Ministry all the way to his theory of mental illnesses such as split personality or schizophrenia.
The theories written in Draco's hand writing were less colourful. Sticking to the traditional, jealousy, hate, and obsession arguments. He couldn't help but agree with those, but he was partial to the paranoia one Harry had written down. Something about that seemed to make sense, and as it had been the killer that had written and collaborated with Harry on these, then he had to concede that they held some merit.
He looked them over and studied the facts. Most of the victims had been young, only two that he had the files of, had been over fourteen. Most of them were muggle borns or muggles, so it didn't look like Mortel wanted to take on a fully grown wizard.
Draco considered that rather cowardly for a cold-blooded killer and made a note to tell Mortel that when the bastard was trapped.
Considering his past, he could see how people had been so ready to believe it had been him. He used to be a cowardly, spoilt, muggle-hating and mudblood-hating prick, but the war had forced everyone to either grow up or die. Most people just didn't know that about him.
He hadn't even much cared about the whole mudblood - pureblood thing when Mortel had taken over his body. Draco snickered while he packed the files away, as he remembered he'd had a rather surprising crush on Hermione after that time she had slapped him in third year. Something about the way her eyes had fired up, making her look alive and vibrant.
Or something about the way his face had burned after the slap. He had discovered he quite liked the stinging pain. After that, Draco had always had a thing about pain.
Which was probably the reason his friends had thought it might have been him. But the thing that was confusing him, and had been for awhile now that he was back into the swing of things and curious about his past, was why they hadn't found out about Mortel when he had been given Veritaserum at his trail.
Harry never spoke about the trail and few other people knew much about it. He considered asking his parents or Professor Snape, but decided to leave it for awhile. Harry still got this odd look on pain and guilt whenever Draco tried to bring it up, and he hated seeing that.
His parents would just rant and rave about the Ministry's unfairness towards anyone with the last name Malfoy despite everything they had done during the war. That was something about the slight oversight Lucius had when he tried to get Dumbledore fired during Draco's second year.
And Professor Snape never liked to speak about the Ministry ever, about anything. Something about the teacher's own past made Draco stay silent, not wanting to agitate someone who had helped him so much.
To Be Continued.
Warnings: Nah, nothing you can't handle if you made it through the last few chaps.
.
.
.
Blood & Nails.
.
Part Sixteen. Killing Me Softly.
Not even the stupidest person in the world could miss that Harry was getting increasingly edgy, so Draco sure didn't. He did what he could to try and relax his lover, but nothing seemed to work very well. Harry wouldn't discuss the Mortel case with him, and it looked as if that was the only one anyone was working on. Morgan was usually over most nights and the two of them sat in the living room, muttering to each other, which annoyed the hell out of the blonde.
He didn't like to sit around doing nothing when something was clearly 'going on' just like Harry had said. But he had stood at the door most nights, listening to what they were saying. It didn't help much, but it gave him the feeling of not being completely left out.
Harry didn't want 'to worry him' as was put every time he asked about the case, a trait Draco loathed to the point of almost punching the other man whenever it was mumbled at him. They would always fall silent when he went into the room, something else the blonde was hating.
So, he came up with a solution one night. Harry never took *all* of his paperwork during the day, that meant it was simply a matter of waiting until the next day and breaking the locking charms.
Which is exactly what he did the second Harry walked out the door. Well, that's what he tried at any rate, it actually took him about twenty five minutes to break the spells but finally he was victorious and the box lay quietly on the floor. The smoking would pass, the blonde decided and he lifted the lid off.
He lifted out all the folders, noting they were all dated and in order, for when he wanted to return them. He felt slightly guilty about going through Harry's things, but reasoned that he had a right to know what he'd almost been put to death for.
He reached for the one with the earliest date and recognised the name on the front. Samuel Matthews. The name Dumbledore had asked him about that day he had woken up. It was dated only a few days after he and Harry had moved in together.
He opened it up to find the preliminary report, date, time, statistics of the boy, basically all the uninteresting stuff and quickly flipped that page over. Muggle photos had obviously been introduced into the Wizarding world, because none of them in the file moved at all. The first one was of the crime scene and Draco looked at the young boy who had been nailed to a wall with his throat slit. It didn't bother him as much as it should have, he had seen some people do worse. He picked up the next photo.
It was a close up of the artificial scar that had been cut into the boy's forehead. That annoying prickling sensation started up in the back of Draco's mind. The one he had gotten constantly until he had settled into his apartment. He justified that it was only natural that he'd experience it with this sort of thing too.
Next photo was a close up of the slit across the boy's throat, not interesting, so Draco moved on. The last photo in the file was of words that had been written across the wall in what Draco assumed to be the boy's own blood.
It would be hours until Harry was home so he didn't have to worry to much about that, but he did set up a warning system in case anyone should come over. He flipped to the next page and got settled on the carpet comfortably. It was a hand written report, most likely Harry's personal opinions about what could be going on.
He tried to imagine what it must have been like for Harry, an Auror Trainee, to see a small black haired, green eyed boy with a lightning bolt scar, nailed to a wall with his throat slit. Then he tried to picture how Mortel-Draco would have reacted. He knew the real Draco would have seethed, mostly in silence, as he had a very hostile protective streak when something or someone he cared strongly about was threatened.
And Draco certainly saw this as a threat. Harry must have too, given the tone the report was written in.
'In accordance to Auror Training Protocol 83 that states all Trainees must be allowed to view formal case files on request, the first year Trainees Group that I belong to, was granted permission to observe Case File 343042779. I have requested that I receive copies of all material once I have graduated. This is still a pending matter.
It is in my opinion that someone intended for me to know of this case as I learned of this case by an anonymous note that had been left in my letter box at my London apartment.
Surely only the killer could have done this, and I am working with my friends during our own time to see if we can come up with a list of possible suspects. Any ideas shall be passed on to our superiors.'
Draco closed his eyes, picturing Mortel-Draco sitting around with Harry and Hermione, trying to work out who it could be. "Arsehole." He muttered and flicked to the next page. It was clearly his own writing, he and Harry must have pooled their efforts together.
'In accordance to Auror Training Protocol 83 that states all Trainees must be allowed to view formal case files on request, the first year Trainees Group that I belong to, was granted permission to observe Case File 343042779. I have requested that I receive copies of all material once I have graduated. This is still a pending matter.
Someone's fucking with my boyfriend and I don't like it. If the gutless little prick doesn't come forward, I'll hunt him down and give him a few scars of his own, arrogant fucking bastard.
I don't like the anonymous note thing. I don't like the connection to Harry. I don't like the bloody words written on the wall and I sure as fuck don't like the subliminal message in the case file number.
Change the number or I'll'
It looked almost as if some one had ripped the paper away as he wrote, a long line dragged from near the last word to almost the edge of the page. Draco smirked, he knew what he could be like when he was in protective mode and that sounded exactly like something he would have written, handing it in to his superiors or not. He looked at the case file number in confusion though. He couldn't see anything wrong with it and shrugged.
He closed up that folder and moved to the next in line. It was dated almost a year after Samuel Matthews. More photos, this time a girl who couldn't have been more than six. Basically the same, but no scar this time. He flicked to the writings, Harry's first.
'It is believed this is the work of the same killer from the unsolved Case File 343042779. Same method of execution, with possible Muggle Religion connections, as seen with the nailing of the hands.
No words, or scars this time but the young, muggle girl had been under observation for acceptation to a Wizarding School once she reached of age, just as Samuel Matthews had been accepted to Hogwarts only days before his death.'
Draco slowly went through all the files as Harry pondered on who the killer could be and through his theories. From that it was someone who worked at the Ministry all the way to his theory of mental illnesses such as split personality or schizophrenia.
The theories written in Draco's hand writing were less colourful. Sticking to the traditional, jealousy, hate, and obsession arguments. He couldn't help but agree with those, but he was partial to the paranoia one Harry had written down. Something about that seemed to make sense, and as it had been the killer that had written and collaborated with Harry on these, then he had to concede that they held some merit.
He looked them over and studied the facts. Most of the victims had been young, only two that he had the files of, had been over fourteen. Most of them were muggle borns or muggles, so it didn't look like Mortel wanted to take on a fully grown wizard.
Draco considered that rather cowardly for a cold-blooded killer and made a note to tell Mortel that when the bastard was trapped.
Considering his past, he could see how people had been so ready to believe it had been him. He used to be a cowardly, spoilt, muggle-hating and mudblood-hating prick, but the war had forced everyone to either grow up or die. Most people just didn't know that about him.
He hadn't even much cared about the whole mudblood - pureblood thing when Mortel had taken over his body. Draco snickered while he packed the files away, as he remembered he'd had a rather surprising crush on Hermione after that time she had slapped him in third year. Something about the way her eyes had fired up, making her look alive and vibrant.
Or something about the way his face had burned after the slap. He had discovered he quite liked the stinging pain. After that, Draco had always had a thing about pain.
Which was probably the reason his friends had thought it might have been him. But the thing that was confusing him, and had been for awhile now that he was back into the swing of things and curious about his past, was why they hadn't found out about Mortel when he had been given Veritaserum at his trail.
Harry never spoke about the trail and few other people knew much about it. He considered asking his parents or Professor Snape, but decided to leave it for awhile. Harry still got this odd look on pain and guilt whenever Draco tried to bring it up, and he hated seeing that.
His parents would just rant and rave about the Ministry's unfairness towards anyone with the last name Malfoy despite everything they had done during the war. That was something about the slight oversight Lucius had when he tried to get Dumbledore fired during Draco's second year.
And Professor Snape never liked to speak about the Ministry ever, about anything. Something about the teacher's own past made Draco stay silent, not wanting to agitate someone who had helped him so much.
To Be Continued.