Chapter 1
Each crack had a name. Its own identity, story; each had an individual shape, with unique pits and end points. There were five thousand four hundred and fifty eight of them, ranging in size and position from short horizontal squiggles to long vertical spirals running the length of the crusty, decayed cell wall. Draco Malfoy knew all of this, in his mind they were stamped and imprinted and had been thought about so often, that every fact about them, had been carefully catalogued into his brain and had became so familiar that all information Draco knew, no longer needed language to express. It simply was, just like the sky was blue, it needed no justification - not anymore.
For eleven tedious years, he had sat in the same position, staring at the same blank, never changing walls of the same cell, in the Azkaban fortress. The real torture of the place as Draco had found, was not the ever-present Dementors, but the monotony. The way that everyday, he woke up to the same bone chilling tingle, to the same food, the same barren cubicle devoid of any furnishings, and that nothing, pleasant, unpleasant or otherwise, ever happened.
The first years, had gone by relatively painlessly. His mind had been filled with thoughts of years past. Images of people had flickered through his mind and guilt had dwelt only momentarily, for his will power had remained strong and he had refused to linger on the images of those no longer among the living.
But the happy memories soon deteriorated and screams, begging, and the sound of his former Lord's cackle were all that Draco could focus upon. The cruel feeling of that comes only to a murderer would well in chest and before his fifth year had come and gone. Draco Malfoy had been consumed by remorse.
Desperate for human communication and lonely, Draco had given life to his cracks. At times he believed they spoke to him and that he answered. But of course, they did not; and he did not. The vocal chords that had once so actively shouted taunts, were now rusty and unused, and the only sounds their owner omitted anymore were grunts and groans.
A sharp tapping on the desk caused Harry Potter to raise his gaze from his paperwork. An angry looking Fred Weasley stood with his hands on the edges of the table glaring at him. Harry looked mildly at Fred, "Can I help you?" he dreaded the answer, thinking he already knew what Fred was going to say.
"You damn well better!" Fred burst out, his freckles turning a brighter shade of red, "HARRY! There terrorist attacks are causing us to loose business left and right! If this keeps up, George and I will GO BANKRUPT!"
Harry sighed deeply; over the past few months' attacks had been happening everywhere. Citizens were being killed in every sort of public place imaginable. After a group of Hogwarts students had been killed in the Weasley twin's joke shop the month before, by a masked costumer, people were slow to return. He chose his words carefully, "Fred, we're doing all we can. Its not like the Aurors around here have just been sitting on their asses. We're out in the field 72 hours a week. The thing is," he paused wondering if he should disclose the information to Fred, deciding to do so, he continued, "there is no information about their whereabouts or even who they are. We have reason to suspect that they're Death Eaters that have released. However, we cannot prove anything, the ones we've examined thus far have always had terrific alibis and you know that truth serums were made illegal for use without evidence of a crime."
Fred's eyes looked sad, "I'm not saying your not doing anything Harry, I just thought this was all over when you killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"So did I. But it appears we were both wrong."
Someone knocked loudly on Harry's door, interrupting the conversation. Ron Weasley poked his head through the doorway, "Erm.Harry." He said looking nervously from his angry older brother back to his friend, "Dumbledore's here. Says he has an idea for catching the terror groups."
Harry stood up so quickly that his papers were brushed off his desk. Scowling, he bent to them up, keeping his eyes fixed on Ron, "Is he in the waiting room?"
Ron shook his head, causing his reddish bangs to fall into his eyes, "Naw, he's in my office. I thought it might be better if you had somewhere more private to talk."
Harry nodded, "Talk to Fred, he's your brother after all."
He left, without anything further being said and shut his office door tightly behind him. He strode down the hall towards office, as the Head Auror for the ministry of magic, Harry's own office was large and very impressive to behold. Ron's on the other hand, was somewhat less of a masterpiece. He entered the small office to find Dumbledore ensconced upon Ron's easy chair. The chair was the only furnishing of the office that Harry was extremely jealous of. He took a seat in the short swivel chair in front of the desk. Ron loved his swivel chair, he used it to intimidate people. He found that suspects were much easier to scare if they were lower than him and could be moved around at high speeds with a flick of his wand.
Dumbledore rose as he entered and smiled warmly, "Hello Harry. I trust you are well?" But as they both knew, it was a mere formality. No one at the ministry was "well" anymore.
"Yes, as I trust you are sir." He responded, allowing the tradition to continue, breaking out of habitatual speech he said, "Sir, Ron said you had an idea? About the attacks?"
Dumbledore held up a hand, "Yes, yes. May I suggest that you sit in this chair behind me? For what I say, may not be pleasing to you. Or for that matter to Mr. Weasley."
Having had enough experience with his old headmaster, Harry took the offer and sat in Ron's comfy lazy boy and reclined himself slightly.
Dumbledore adjusted his half moon spectacles and stated, "I wish for you to retrieve two prisoners, former Death Eaters, from Azkaban prison. I want you and Mr. Weasley to each keep one in your home, and when they have recovered question them thourghly and see what they know about meeting and hiding places for Death Eaters. They'll be free of course, if they agree to help, whether or not their information proves to be useful - so long as they don't lie."
Harry stared, "Why me?" he demanded, "Why Ron? Wouldn't it be better to put some straight from the academy Aurors on babysitting duty?"
"A couple of Death Eaters are hardly babies, Harry." Said Dumbledore flatly.
"And how long would I have to stay at home with them?"
"You'll hardly be at home." Dumbledore responded, "After the first week or so, you will be here, like normal interrogating and your Death Eater will be undergoing strict examination, after that, he will accompany you in the field."
"WHAT?" Harry yelped.
"Look Harry, if your not up to it."
"I'm up to it." Harry said, suddenly realizing how childish he sounded.
"Glad to here it. You'll need to get Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Brooks as soon as possible?"
"Woah.wait a minute. MALFOY? And BENNETT?"
"Is that a problem?" Dumbledore asked mildly.
"Well Bennett's alright I s'pose, but MALFOY?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter. From what I hear, both have examplatory behaviour records, and both have shown signs of genuine remorse, I'd be letting them out in a couple of months anyway, this is just a good way, for them to earn some points with the community and to allow us to monitor them. Harry, you're a professional, don't let school boy grudges lead your adult life. Do your job."
"Yes, sir."
"Right, and one more thing Harry, Malfoy, prior to going to prison, had a daughter. Her mother, Pansy Parkinson, was killed in an attack last month. Thus far, Lila, has been living with her grandmother and will continue to do so, for a while, but; eventually I expect you to reconcile her with her father. As he will be in your charge."
This dumbfounded Harry, and try as he might he could not get himself to say a word. His thoughts raced, but nothing came.
"Right, off you go Harry. I'll be stopping by sometime tomorrow morning. You'll probably find that Malfoy is in a very bad state, but he'll recover a bit after a shower, and some food."
Harry turned and left the room, but not before Dumbledore caught him mumble, "Reduced to a bloody cook for Malfoy.wonderful."
The Azkaban halls were drearier than Harry remembered. His last visit had been years ago, before he'd been made Head Auror. As the commander in chief, he rarely bothered to deal with criminals once they were safely tucked away inside the fortress. He shuddered as a Dementor swept past him. He had to admit, if Malfoy and Brooks were in any kind of stable minded condition, they would have to be stronger than he was. Already, he was fighting the urge to faint.
At his left, Ron looked a different picture. Unlike Harry, he was marching boldly ahead, clearly relatively comfortable with his surroundings. Ron made frequent trips to the prison to collect and drop off prisoners. Harry still wasn't sure how Ron felt about the fact that he had been promoted while Ron hadn't; he hoped that all was still fine between them.
They stopped at the entrance to one of the cells, and Ron pulled a key out of his pocket and sighed, "Core, I wonder what Bennett'll look like. Most of 'em come out looking like they've just crawled straight from the grave. You know Harry," he said, suddenly thoughtful, "Oh all the Slytherin's I always thought Bennett was the best. He wasn't nasty like the rest of them."
"Well," Harry said matter of factly, "He must have been really, or he wouldn't have killed all those people?"
"Yeah," Ron said as he turned the key, "I guess since I'll be alone with him for a couple of weeks so I'll have plenty of time to ask why."
The door swung slowly open and the pale light of the hallway filled the small cubicle. Hunched on the floor, was a small huddled figure sat, its head was cradled in its hands, and when the smoky light touched it, it let out a soft moan. Harry stared, he had half expected to see the round laughing face of the fifteen-year-old Bennett that he remembered, and instead he saw a ragged, tortured being that could barely be considered human. The creature turned and looked up at them with sorrowful eyes, he just looked for a moment before making an effort at speaking and failing. He cleared his throat loudly and tried again, "Is it time?"
Ron was confused, "Time for what?"
"For my kiss?" Bennett didn't seem frightened or sorry to say this; he just said it with a pure kind of simplicity that made Harry's heart ache.
Obviously, it had the same effect on Ron, "No!" he interjected quickly, "We're taking you out of here."
"Out?" Bennett's brow furrowed with perplexity.
"Yeah, you know.to a house." Ron said,, clearly unsure of what to say.
Bennett mouthed the words "To a House" silently and fixed Ron with a look of utter bewilderment.
"Here, Ron," Harry said, gently pulling Bennett to his feet and guiding Ron's fingers to his upper arm, "You take Bennett, and we'll go get Malfoy, okay?"
"Malfoy?" Bennett repeated dreamily then with a tranced sort of happiness he said, "Draco!"
"Yes" said Ron indulgently, he spoke slowly as if to a small child, "We go get Draco."
Bennett smiled, an effort, which caused his dry lips to crack and begin to bleed. Ron grimaced.
The hallway down which they walked was packed with Dementors, as they walked Harry could hear the screams of the prisoners, he couldn't even imagine how he'd find Malfoy, Bennett had come as a shock and he wasn't nearly as well guarded.
Carefully, he chose a key from his ring and inserted it into the last door. He turned the key and stepped inside.
'You're standing on Isabel." A voice said clearly and quietly.
"Wh..What?" Harry stammered uncertainly.
"She's under your feet.don't hurt her." The voice stopped and broke, Harry could here sobbing in the cell, though it was far to dark to see.
Harry waded through the cell until he ran into something solid. Reaching down, he touched Draco's shoulder and said gently, "Come on, get up, we're leaving."
In the end, he had to haul the weeping prisoner out of the cell, it was a difficult task, but one he was able to do without his wand, due to Draco's lack of body weight. Once he got him into the dimly lit hall, Harry took a good look at his former enemy. Malfoy was painfully thin, his skin sallow, his hair once clean blond was so streaked with dirt that it appeared to be a deep musty brown, his normally clear crystal eyes were bloodshot and dull. He wavered as he tried to keep up with Harry as they walked down the passage; his leg muscles clearly had not received regular movement for quite some time.
He met Ron at the end of hall, and correctly interpreted Ron's horrified look. Ron gently pulled Bennett over to Malfoy, "Look, Bennett, Draco's here to join you."
"Draco." Bennett mumbled happily, looking straight past Malfoy. He seemed to see someone in the distance and apparently was pleased by it for he began waving in earnest.
Malfoy paid no attention to his friend's antics. Ron looked at Harry with concern, "Harry, they've both gone completely mad. How're we ever supposed to get any kind of information out of them."
Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore said they'd be better after some food and shower, sleep probably wouldn't hurt either. You know" he said after a pause, "Its funny, I thought I'd be really mean to Malfoy, you know, to sort of pay him back. But, now that I see him, I can't be. He's not who I remember, he doesn't remember me."
Ron clutched Bennett Brook's elbow, "Well, I'll see you Harry. In a week or so." With a pop, he and Bennett vanished from view.
It took Harry nearly and hour to persuade Malfoy to walk inside his house, he had a strict policy with himself that he never appaparated into his home, generally he ended up with several broken pieces of furniture when he did.
When he'd finally coaxed his new 'guest' inside, he sat the Death Eater down and proceeded to raid his refrigerator he threw everything that did not need to be cooked before it was eaten (bread, cheeses, sandwich meats the lot) onto a tray and set it in front of Malfoy, who just looked at it. In the end, he ended up sitting by Draco and placing each piece of food into his hands until Draco threw a piece of bread on the floor, Harry determined that he was finished eating,
Escorting Malfoy by the arm he lead him upstairs and clothing and all shoved him into the shower and turned on the water. At first, Malfoy just stood there allowing the water to run over his body, but then, he began to scream, loudly, as if Harry was trying to kill him. Sighing, Harry picked up the bottle of shampoo and began to scrub the Death Eater with it. An hour later, a clean, hoarse Malfoy emerged from the shower, looking calmer.
Malfoy seemed to have gone into a sort of trance from his washing and was now staring at Harry with a sort of amiability in his gaze, which frightened even a seasoned Auror.
Harry contemplated whether or not he should feed his Death Eater again, but decided against it. He dragged the rather stoned state Malfoy up his stairs and shoved the protesting man into a bed. When Malfoy tried to rise, Harry pulled out his wand and quickly performed a tying charm. He waited and watched whilst Draco struggled against he bonds, but eventually quieted and fell asleep.
Harry wandered down the stairs, exhausted. He decided to contact Ron through the fireplace, to see how he'd got on with Bennett. Kneeling, he recited incantation and waited. A moment later, he saw Ron's room appear and Ron's freckled face greeted him. Ron looked as tired as he felt.
"How'd you get on with Malfoy?" Ron asked.
"Took me an hour to get him inside the house and he went crazy once I'd started showering him. How's Bennett?"
"Bit weird at first you, know. All dreamy, but I played some music just to calm his nerves a bit and he started to settle down. He ate a couple pieces of chicken, then I showed him where the bathroom was and he showered. Didn't seem to realize really what was happening to him, but other wise he was alright. You had to wash Malfoy?"
"Yeah.he's really out of it. I'm hoping he'll be better by tomorrow or I'm going to call Dumbledore and tell him Malfoy'll be no good what so ever."
"Play him some music" Ron said wisely, "It does wonders. I don't know why."
Harry snorted, "Yeah, I guess I will, it can't hurt. I mean, at the moment, he's upstairs tied to his bed.so he obviously can't get any madder than he already is."
"Oh yeah." Ron seemed to have had a sudden thought, "Dumbledore said Malfoy had a kid? How're you going to tell him?" Harry sighed, "I've no idea. I really don't. But its not as if I'll have to worry about that for a while. I want him to be completely normal when I tell him.
"Malfoy? Normal?"
"Well, as normal as he can possibly get anyways."
Umph, ends a bit corny, eh? Anyway, I love those who will review.to the rest of you.bleh. - Intoxicated Nymph
Each crack had a name. Its own identity, story; each had an individual shape, with unique pits and end points. There were five thousand four hundred and fifty eight of them, ranging in size and position from short horizontal squiggles to long vertical spirals running the length of the crusty, decayed cell wall. Draco Malfoy knew all of this, in his mind they were stamped and imprinted and had been thought about so often, that every fact about them, had been carefully catalogued into his brain and had became so familiar that all information Draco knew, no longer needed language to express. It simply was, just like the sky was blue, it needed no justification - not anymore.
For eleven tedious years, he had sat in the same position, staring at the same blank, never changing walls of the same cell, in the Azkaban fortress. The real torture of the place as Draco had found, was not the ever-present Dementors, but the monotony. The way that everyday, he woke up to the same bone chilling tingle, to the same food, the same barren cubicle devoid of any furnishings, and that nothing, pleasant, unpleasant or otherwise, ever happened.
The first years, had gone by relatively painlessly. His mind had been filled with thoughts of years past. Images of people had flickered through his mind and guilt had dwelt only momentarily, for his will power had remained strong and he had refused to linger on the images of those no longer among the living.
But the happy memories soon deteriorated and screams, begging, and the sound of his former Lord's cackle were all that Draco could focus upon. The cruel feeling of that comes only to a murderer would well in chest and before his fifth year had come and gone. Draco Malfoy had been consumed by remorse.
Desperate for human communication and lonely, Draco had given life to his cracks. At times he believed they spoke to him and that he answered. But of course, they did not; and he did not. The vocal chords that had once so actively shouted taunts, were now rusty and unused, and the only sounds their owner omitted anymore were grunts and groans.
A sharp tapping on the desk caused Harry Potter to raise his gaze from his paperwork. An angry looking Fred Weasley stood with his hands on the edges of the table glaring at him. Harry looked mildly at Fred, "Can I help you?" he dreaded the answer, thinking he already knew what Fred was going to say.
"You damn well better!" Fred burst out, his freckles turning a brighter shade of red, "HARRY! There terrorist attacks are causing us to loose business left and right! If this keeps up, George and I will GO BANKRUPT!"
Harry sighed deeply; over the past few months' attacks had been happening everywhere. Citizens were being killed in every sort of public place imaginable. After a group of Hogwarts students had been killed in the Weasley twin's joke shop the month before, by a masked costumer, people were slow to return. He chose his words carefully, "Fred, we're doing all we can. Its not like the Aurors around here have just been sitting on their asses. We're out in the field 72 hours a week. The thing is," he paused wondering if he should disclose the information to Fred, deciding to do so, he continued, "there is no information about their whereabouts or even who they are. We have reason to suspect that they're Death Eaters that have released. However, we cannot prove anything, the ones we've examined thus far have always had terrific alibis and you know that truth serums were made illegal for use without evidence of a crime."
Fred's eyes looked sad, "I'm not saying your not doing anything Harry, I just thought this was all over when you killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"So did I. But it appears we were both wrong."
Someone knocked loudly on Harry's door, interrupting the conversation. Ron Weasley poked his head through the doorway, "Erm.Harry." He said looking nervously from his angry older brother back to his friend, "Dumbledore's here. Says he has an idea for catching the terror groups."
Harry stood up so quickly that his papers were brushed off his desk. Scowling, he bent to them up, keeping his eyes fixed on Ron, "Is he in the waiting room?"
Ron shook his head, causing his reddish bangs to fall into his eyes, "Naw, he's in my office. I thought it might be better if you had somewhere more private to talk."
Harry nodded, "Talk to Fred, he's your brother after all."
He left, without anything further being said and shut his office door tightly behind him. He strode down the hall towards office, as the Head Auror for the ministry of magic, Harry's own office was large and very impressive to behold. Ron's on the other hand, was somewhat less of a masterpiece. He entered the small office to find Dumbledore ensconced upon Ron's easy chair. The chair was the only furnishing of the office that Harry was extremely jealous of. He took a seat in the short swivel chair in front of the desk. Ron loved his swivel chair, he used it to intimidate people. He found that suspects were much easier to scare if they were lower than him and could be moved around at high speeds with a flick of his wand.
Dumbledore rose as he entered and smiled warmly, "Hello Harry. I trust you are well?" But as they both knew, it was a mere formality. No one at the ministry was "well" anymore.
"Yes, as I trust you are sir." He responded, allowing the tradition to continue, breaking out of habitatual speech he said, "Sir, Ron said you had an idea? About the attacks?"
Dumbledore held up a hand, "Yes, yes. May I suggest that you sit in this chair behind me? For what I say, may not be pleasing to you. Or for that matter to Mr. Weasley."
Having had enough experience with his old headmaster, Harry took the offer and sat in Ron's comfy lazy boy and reclined himself slightly.
Dumbledore adjusted his half moon spectacles and stated, "I wish for you to retrieve two prisoners, former Death Eaters, from Azkaban prison. I want you and Mr. Weasley to each keep one in your home, and when they have recovered question them thourghly and see what they know about meeting and hiding places for Death Eaters. They'll be free of course, if they agree to help, whether or not their information proves to be useful - so long as they don't lie."
Harry stared, "Why me?" he demanded, "Why Ron? Wouldn't it be better to put some straight from the academy Aurors on babysitting duty?"
"A couple of Death Eaters are hardly babies, Harry." Said Dumbledore flatly.
"And how long would I have to stay at home with them?"
"You'll hardly be at home." Dumbledore responded, "After the first week or so, you will be here, like normal interrogating and your Death Eater will be undergoing strict examination, after that, he will accompany you in the field."
"WHAT?" Harry yelped.
"Look Harry, if your not up to it."
"I'm up to it." Harry said, suddenly realizing how childish he sounded.
"Glad to here it. You'll need to get Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Brooks as soon as possible?"
"Woah.wait a minute. MALFOY? And BENNETT?"
"Is that a problem?" Dumbledore asked mildly.
"Well Bennett's alright I s'pose, but MALFOY?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter. From what I hear, both have examplatory behaviour records, and both have shown signs of genuine remorse, I'd be letting them out in a couple of months anyway, this is just a good way, for them to earn some points with the community and to allow us to monitor them. Harry, you're a professional, don't let school boy grudges lead your adult life. Do your job."
"Yes, sir."
"Right, and one more thing Harry, Malfoy, prior to going to prison, had a daughter. Her mother, Pansy Parkinson, was killed in an attack last month. Thus far, Lila, has been living with her grandmother and will continue to do so, for a while, but; eventually I expect you to reconcile her with her father. As he will be in your charge."
This dumbfounded Harry, and try as he might he could not get himself to say a word. His thoughts raced, but nothing came.
"Right, off you go Harry. I'll be stopping by sometime tomorrow morning. You'll probably find that Malfoy is in a very bad state, but he'll recover a bit after a shower, and some food."
Harry turned and left the room, but not before Dumbledore caught him mumble, "Reduced to a bloody cook for Malfoy.wonderful."
The Azkaban halls were drearier than Harry remembered. His last visit had been years ago, before he'd been made Head Auror. As the commander in chief, he rarely bothered to deal with criminals once they were safely tucked away inside the fortress. He shuddered as a Dementor swept past him. He had to admit, if Malfoy and Brooks were in any kind of stable minded condition, they would have to be stronger than he was. Already, he was fighting the urge to faint.
At his left, Ron looked a different picture. Unlike Harry, he was marching boldly ahead, clearly relatively comfortable with his surroundings. Ron made frequent trips to the prison to collect and drop off prisoners. Harry still wasn't sure how Ron felt about the fact that he had been promoted while Ron hadn't; he hoped that all was still fine between them.
They stopped at the entrance to one of the cells, and Ron pulled a key out of his pocket and sighed, "Core, I wonder what Bennett'll look like. Most of 'em come out looking like they've just crawled straight from the grave. You know Harry," he said, suddenly thoughtful, "Oh all the Slytherin's I always thought Bennett was the best. He wasn't nasty like the rest of them."
"Well," Harry said matter of factly, "He must have been really, or he wouldn't have killed all those people?"
"Yeah," Ron said as he turned the key, "I guess since I'll be alone with him for a couple of weeks so I'll have plenty of time to ask why."
The door swung slowly open and the pale light of the hallway filled the small cubicle. Hunched on the floor, was a small huddled figure sat, its head was cradled in its hands, and when the smoky light touched it, it let out a soft moan. Harry stared, he had half expected to see the round laughing face of the fifteen-year-old Bennett that he remembered, and instead he saw a ragged, tortured being that could barely be considered human. The creature turned and looked up at them with sorrowful eyes, he just looked for a moment before making an effort at speaking and failing. He cleared his throat loudly and tried again, "Is it time?"
Ron was confused, "Time for what?"
"For my kiss?" Bennett didn't seem frightened or sorry to say this; he just said it with a pure kind of simplicity that made Harry's heart ache.
Obviously, it had the same effect on Ron, "No!" he interjected quickly, "We're taking you out of here."
"Out?" Bennett's brow furrowed with perplexity.
"Yeah, you know.to a house." Ron said,, clearly unsure of what to say.
Bennett mouthed the words "To a House" silently and fixed Ron with a look of utter bewilderment.
"Here, Ron," Harry said, gently pulling Bennett to his feet and guiding Ron's fingers to his upper arm, "You take Bennett, and we'll go get Malfoy, okay?"
"Malfoy?" Bennett repeated dreamily then with a tranced sort of happiness he said, "Draco!"
"Yes" said Ron indulgently, he spoke slowly as if to a small child, "We go get Draco."
Bennett smiled, an effort, which caused his dry lips to crack and begin to bleed. Ron grimaced.
The hallway down which they walked was packed with Dementors, as they walked Harry could hear the screams of the prisoners, he couldn't even imagine how he'd find Malfoy, Bennett had come as a shock and he wasn't nearly as well guarded.
Carefully, he chose a key from his ring and inserted it into the last door. He turned the key and stepped inside.
'You're standing on Isabel." A voice said clearly and quietly.
"Wh..What?" Harry stammered uncertainly.
"She's under your feet.don't hurt her." The voice stopped and broke, Harry could here sobbing in the cell, though it was far to dark to see.
Harry waded through the cell until he ran into something solid. Reaching down, he touched Draco's shoulder and said gently, "Come on, get up, we're leaving."
In the end, he had to haul the weeping prisoner out of the cell, it was a difficult task, but one he was able to do without his wand, due to Draco's lack of body weight. Once he got him into the dimly lit hall, Harry took a good look at his former enemy. Malfoy was painfully thin, his skin sallow, his hair once clean blond was so streaked with dirt that it appeared to be a deep musty brown, his normally clear crystal eyes were bloodshot and dull. He wavered as he tried to keep up with Harry as they walked down the passage; his leg muscles clearly had not received regular movement for quite some time.
He met Ron at the end of hall, and correctly interpreted Ron's horrified look. Ron gently pulled Bennett over to Malfoy, "Look, Bennett, Draco's here to join you."
"Draco." Bennett mumbled happily, looking straight past Malfoy. He seemed to see someone in the distance and apparently was pleased by it for he began waving in earnest.
Malfoy paid no attention to his friend's antics. Ron looked at Harry with concern, "Harry, they've both gone completely mad. How're we ever supposed to get any kind of information out of them."
Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore said they'd be better after some food and shower, sleep probably wouldn't hurt either. You know" he said after a pause, "Its funny, I thought I'd be really mean to Malfoy, you know, to sort of pay him back. But, now that I see him, I can't be. He's not who I remember, he doesn't remember me."
Ron clutched Bennett Brook's elbow, "Well, I'll see you Harry. In a week or so." With a pop, he and Bennett vanished from view.
It took Harry nearly and hour to persuade Malfoy to walk inside his house, he had a strict policy with himself that he never appaparated into his home, generally he ended up with several broken pieces of furniture when he did.
When he'd finally coaxed his new 'guest' inside, he sat the Death Eater down and proceeded to raid his refrigerator he threw everything that did not need to be cooked before it was eaten (bread, cheeses, sandwich meats the lot) onto a tray and set it in front of Malfoy, who just looked at it. In the end, he ended up sitting by Draco and placing each piece of food into his hands until Draco threw a piece of bread on the floor, Harry determined that he was finished eating,
Escorting Malfoy by the arm he lead him upstairs and clothing and all shoved him into the shower and turned on the water. At first, Malfoy just stood there allowing the water to run over his body, but then, he began to scream, loudly, as if Harry was trying to kill him. Sighing, Harry picked up the bottle of shampoo and began to scrub the Death Eater with it. An hour later, a clean, hoarse Malfoy emerged from the shower, looking calmer.
Malfoy seemed to have gone into a sort of trance from his washing and was now staring at Harry with a sort of amiability in his gaze, which frightened even a seasoned Auror.
Harry contemplated whether or not he should feed his Death Eater again, but decided against it. He dragged the rather stoned state Malfoy up his stairs and shoved the protesting man into a bed. When Malfoy tried to rise, Harry pulled out his wand and quickly performed a tying charm. He waited and watched whilst Draco struggled against he bonds, but eventually quieted and fell asleep.
Harry wandered down the stairs, exhausted. He decided to contact Ron through the fireplace, to see how he'd got on with Bennett. Kneeling, he recited incantation and waited. A moment later, he saw Ron's room appear and Ron's freckled face greeted him. Ron looked as tired as he felt.
"How'd you get on with Malfoy?" Ron asked.
"Took me an hour to get him inside the house and he went crazy once I'd started showering him. How's Bennett?"
"Bit weird at first you, know. All dreamy, but I played some music just to calm his nerves a bit and he started to settle down. He ate a couple pieces of chicken, then I showed him where the bathroom was and he showered. Didn't seem to realize really what was happening to him, but other wise he was alright. You had to wash Malfoy?"
"Yeah.he's really out of it. I'm hoping he'll be better by tomorrow or I'm going to call Dumbledore and tell him Malfoy'll be no good what so ever."
"Play him some music" Ron said wisely, "It does wonders. I don't know why."
Harry snorted, "Yeah, I guess I will, it can't hurt. I mean, at the moment, he's upstairs tied to his bed.so he obviously can't get any madder than he already is."
"Oh yeah." Ron seemed to have had a sudden thought, "Dumbledore said Malfoy had a kid? How're you going to tell him?" Harry sighed, "I've no idea. I really don't. But its not as if I'll have to worry about that for a while. I want him to be completely normal when I tell him.
"Malfoy? Normal?"
"Well, as normal as he can possibly get anyways."
Umph, ends a bit corny, eh? Anyway, I love those who will review.to the rest of you.bleh. - Intoxicated Nymph